|
 Recently
three DVDs landed on my desk. Two producers solicited our site after
I asked for submissions, and we said “yes, send your work.” One sent
his DVD on his own. I looked at all three and my first reaction was
to write the following line: The best thing I can say about these
films is to say nothing. Then I thought “that is unfair.” Though I
thought each in its way was not very good, I felt I owed it to these
fledging producers and directors to say, if I could, something
constructive. I also knew that I did not want to make screening
everyone’s self-made project a habit. Without being arrogant, there
is simply not enough time in the day to screen people’s work and
then review it.
When I used the word submissions in my note of intent, I meant
written submissions, articles for The Digital Filmmaker, not amateur
films usually constructed with home video cameras and edited on home
video systems. Because inexpensive equipment is readily available
and basic editing is not difficult to learn, a new wave of hopeful
filmmakers is on the rise. This does not mean many will succeed.
That is how it should be. But if these films are any indication of
quality, then we are all in for a long and arduous journey.
Now, strap in and prepare for a bumpy ride. Remember, those of you
who submitted these films, you wanted The Digital Filmmaker to
review your work.
One of the films. And I use that word advisedly, was amateurish,
poorly produced, directed and written, a ham-handed attempt at
science fiction. The humor was juvenile, the acting third-rate, and
the photography as if done by a child. There were a few inferior
special effects, but with the new equipment available to everyone
today, these are usually a part of the editing package and not
difficult to create. I cannot, nor will I, applaud this as a first
effort and therefore excuse its lack of talent. I will spare you the
name of the director and the name of the film. It is too long by
half and a candidate for the award of worst film I have seen this
year. My advice to the budding filmmaker is simple. Learn your craft
first and then try something new. Call this a failed experiment and
toss it into the shredder where it will do no further harm to our
senses. Thankfully, it lasted only 33 minutes.
Another short film running 23 minutes, A Sense of Place by Paul
Emile Helzer, who I assume is a first time director, is much better,
though pretentious. It has a documentary feel, with mostly beautiful
photography, decent editing, but whose story eludes me. Is it a
documentary? Is it an attempt at a visual tone poem? Watching it, I
wondered if Mr. Helzer somewhere over-dosed on avant-garde films or
maybe even watched some work of the German impressionists from the
early part of the last century. His vague and esoteric take on place
and, probably, his personal role in it dominates his vision and
makes it difficult for me to understand his film. However, ideas are
at work here and though they do not emerge clearly, the attempt to
say something may bode well for the future.
 The next set of DVDs I received are universally a mess. Released by
World Traveler Adventures, the publicity says these films document
“The European and Middle Eastern Techno-Traveler Movement.” I did
not know there was such a movement, but after looking at some 150
minutes of the six films, 23 Minute Warning, Storming Sarajevo,
Mission to India, African Expedisound and Reclaim the Streets, the
theme often repeated throughout in various ways, is this quote from
one of the travelers: “The message is in the music.” I realize I was
not missing very much. Each of these videos is essentially the same
in style and execution. In each, grungy disc jockeys pack their
equipment onto trucks, get their equally grungy hangers-on to
journey with them as they go off to conquer what they consider to be
the embattled parts of the world. They do this with what they call
“techno” music. They generate their sound at raves, wherever they
park their trucks. Raves, for the uninitiated, are uninhibited
underground dance parties, often fueled by drugs and are in defiance
of authority. The music has a heavy, sometime infectious and
cascading beat that we in America call “house” music. These
travelers, many of whom are older than one would think, liken
themselves to new hippies. Not quite slackers because they do
travel around the world and they do have their own definition of
ambition, there is very little to recommend how they live.
Good intentions do make good films. The interviews are often shot on
the run -- except in 23 Minute Warning -- and the accents
notwithstanding, because the sound was poor, I could not understand
a word the interviewee said. Add that most of the characters were
not very interesting and the value of the films as even
entertainment weakens. Continuous traveling shots do not make a
travelogue. And the occasional remark about the place they are
visiting, where Sarajevo or Africa, as an attempt at context, also
fails. Often shot in available light, and out of focus, then edited
sometimes in disconcertingly heavy contrast, sometimes to the beat
of the music, made watching these films more difficult than it
should have been.
Looking at these videos, which may be the longest set of home videos
in history, one needs dedication, time, few interruptions, and maybe
even enough chemicals to get you through their pervasive
tediousness. All we have is a common theme that the music that
accompanies the rave in symbiotic relationship will change the
world. No character emerges in any of the pieces with which we are
emotionally involved. I know the filmmakers will say that their
themes that dance music and raves will take over and change the
world, is enough. They are wrong. They surely will do little to
change the world. The people involved may have had a good time on
their adventure, but is not enough to produce a compelling set of
films.
In the future, if anyone wants to send me a screener, here is my
warning. Feel free. I will try to look at what you submit. If you
send anything to me, you must send a detailed note describing your
film, the equipment you used, and the time it took to make your
film. If I look at anything and I find it beneath the quality I
believe it should have, I will not review it. Other films may end up
in a pile at the side of my desk and never get a look. Either way,
it is a risk budding filmmakers must learn to take.
.........................................................................................................................
At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
