Jim Jarmusch is one of those extremely few American filmmakers who have found success without any big studio backing. He has complete control over his films and Hollywood’s best actors want to work with him. I wrote an earlier post about him here.
What he says in one of those rules, regarding ‘originality’, is something which I never forget.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
The main idea of your story can come from any of the sources or combination of sources. The script I’m working on currently, for my short film, had it’s genesis in my first ever script I wrote for my scriptwriting class. When I first decided to make the short film, around 3-4 months back, the first idea which came to me was something very different. As always, I had a theme first, which in that case was about moments. That how small moments change the course of relationships. It had six different characters and one setting. Now, the more I thought about it, more I started seeing problems in that story. Even though most people I discussed the idea with liked the story. In fact, my one filmmaker friend still thinks I should do that story about moments rather than the current one. Anyways, for around a month, at least four other completely different ideas came to me and I spent some days each before rejecting each of those ideas. I started getting restless and said to myself that enough of fooling around and I will now choose one of these five ideas and go ahead. And then suddenly one day, while I was in a bank chatting with a teller, this current idea came crashing down to me. And, I knew that this was it. Later I realized, as I started developing the outline in my head, that how this current idea sort of combines at least three of those earlier five ideas plus some important elements from my first script which I wrote last year.
Our Time is Up is a very clever short film. What I found really interesting in this short was that even after the main character encounters the tragic news, and the story shifts entirely, the tone of the film remained the same till the end. Also, notice that how well this short demonstrates the character arc for each character in the film. Not only the doc, but every single character in the film changes. The central theme of the story, that how impending death can change an emotionally cold person, was not really very novel for me. But, the short still worked for me because of the way the story was told. Each of doc’s patients was an interesting character and I think the dialogues were crisp, very funny and insightful. The production standards and the lighting enhanced the tone of the film. I have always believed that good films are about few moments which work so well that they always stay with you. In this short, the Asian girl’s predictament about how to wash the soap which washes the main soap to remove bacteria was one of those moments for me.
As I become more and more busy with many things happening in my life, it is becoming quite difficult to carry on with my blogging the way I have done till now. As some of you might already know, I’m currently working on my first short film project; a project extremely important for me. With my current job and other regular commitments, it’s already a challenge to find enough time for that. No matter how much I love reading your blogs and commenting on your posts, it does take some time from my shrinking schedule. So, for some time at least, I have decided to change certain things.
No, I don’t intend to quit blogging or take any break. But, henceforth, my blogging will be more professional in nature wherein I will be mostly writing about film related stuff and, hopefully soon, about my film too. In terms of following other blogs or sites also, I will be mostly following only those blogs or sites which are primarily film related or run by fellow budding filmmakers/script writers/film professionals. Of course it doesn’t mean that I wont be following your blogs at all, but yes, it wont be as much as before. It goes without saying that all of you, whose blogs I follow, are much better bloggers than me and what I have gotten from you guys during all these years is invaluable. So, please don’t take it as an offense if you don’t see me commenting on your blog for the next few months. Because it has nothing to do with your blogging, but with the stuff happening at my end. And, of course, you are still most welcome to visit my blog and share your thoughts if you want to.
