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| David Lyman |
Each year students from around the globe congregate in Rockport to take part in these now near-legendary workshops. Says Lyman, "What goes on in a one-week workshop or master class transforms people, allows them greater insight into their career potential. The experience does not change people, it just helps them become more of who it is they can be. Each summer I see hundreds of professional photographers, writers, filmmakers, actors, as well as amateurs find renewed commitment to their craft; find the light within them that allows them to overcome the blocks in their path to reach new heights of self-realization." Lyman recently spoke to MM about his nearly 30 years of experience as educator and entrepreneur in Rockport.
Jennifer Wood (MM): How did the idea for the Workshops first come about? They were founded in 1973; were you covering film back then, as well?
David Lyman (DL): Hollywood and filmmaking did not play a role in The Workshops in the beginning. We started as a summer school for photographers. The second summer Mary Ellen Mark came to teach a workshop. She was dating Conrad Hall, the cinematographer who won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy. He'd just finished The Marathon Man and joined Mary Ellen for a vacation. Connie was amazed at the process by which photographers learned so much in a week. "It would be a great thing to offer this type of experience to cinematographers," he said, "but you couldn't get the motion picture film processed in time."
I filed the idea and that winter called Connie to see if he would like to lead a one-week Master Class for cinematographers. It would not be a workshop, but a master class where he would critique the work students brought. Eighty filmmakers came to that class-it was huge success. When I asked Connie to return the following summer, he begged off, but put me onto an up-and-coming cinematographer from Hungary, Vilmos Zsigmond. Vilmos came the summer of 1976 and after three days of sitting in a dark theater watching students' reels and short films, he said: "let's go outdoors and shoot something. You can process E-3 Slide film, can't you?" Yes, we could.
A grip company from Boston drove up a truck full of light and we shot day for night, close-ups, matched sunset light on an overcast day. Looking at the slides the next morning, Vilmos, the students and I realized we could teach lighting using slides without having to explore a frame of motion picture film. Vilmos and I developed a film lighting course for the following summer and it remains one of our most popular. Billy Williams, Laszlo Kovacs, Russell Carpenter, Peter James, Walter Lassally, Bruce Surtees, Dante Spinotti, Owen Roizman, Victor Kemper, Woody Omens, Isidore Mankofsky and other major Directors of Photography have lead this class over the past 27 years.
MM: How have the workshops changed since their inception? Not just in an educational scope, but as far as the students, technologies, the campus itself, etc.?
DL: The basic "transformational experience" has changed little over the years, only that we can now do it better. What has changed is the technology by which storytellers and imagemakers do their work. The processes and methods are the same whether you are using a still, film, video or DV camera. The DV camera, Avid and now Final Cut Pro have "democratized" the process and allowed virtually anyone to enter the field. Before it took years before you could learn how to make a film or a really great photograph. The craft, which is a combination of mastery over the tools and materials with mastery of the "creative process" took five years or more. Today we can teach someone how to operate a DV camera in five days, and if they already know how to use a Macintosh computer, how to use Final Cut Pro to edit their film or tape. The quality of the product has not improved. As with the introduction of the automatic still 35mm SLR camera, there are a lot more mediocre images around. We are now awash in mediocrity. The next step will be to find a way to edit out the noise and spend our time watching works that transport us to a new level of awareness-that's the job of the storyteller, to show us ourselves through the metaphor of someone else's experience. The technology has made it easier to make something, but not make it better.
MM: How many courses can a person take in one week in your workshops?
DL: A workshop means total immersion, full-time, no tennis or outside distractions. Students are up at dawn to photograph the sunrise and will not retire until after 1:00 a.m. We start Sunday evening with a briefing of what the week will be like, how to make the most of the experience and introductions-the week is full from then on.
Mornings are for classroom work, lectures, critiques, demonstrations and discussions. Afternoons are practical work in the studio or on location. In the evenings, after dinner, there is night location work, or screenings of films and slide lectures by the guest instructors. Around 11:00 p.m. many people gravitate to the bars in Camden for a few beers to debrief and chat about what really matters: careers, how to balance family-life with a career and how to get ahead in this business. Friday evening, after the lobster, there is a screening of what each class produced that week. By Saturday, everyone is worn out, but full of new ideas, fresh insight and the warm glow of new friends and new possibilities.
MM: What are the requirements-academic and otherwise-that you look for in prospective students?
DL: A willingness to let go, to make mistakes, to reach, stretch and fall flat on one's face if necessary. If a student is willing to embrace the experience, that attitude will ensure the week will be truly a "transformational" one. Each workshop lists the levels of technical knowledge and experience for those who apply. Our Website provides more information on prerequisites, other workshops and career paths for those applying.
MM: You offer a number of programs abroad. How are these arranged and determined, and what is the process for a student to become part of one of these trips?
DL: We now offer workshops and field experience in Cuba, Mexico and soon, the Island of Crete, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and Patagonia. Once people have learned to tell a story with the new DV cameras here in Maine, they want to explore the world. I like to do that myself, so we organize these expeditions in conjunction with National Geographic Traveler Magazine to take people to exciting places to learn more about making documentaries and using the process of storytelling to learn more about a culture and a people.
MM: Part of your philosophy seems to be that the way to learn is to make mistakes, which is a truly refreshing statement.
DL: There is nothing wrong with a mistake. "Show me a man who never made a mistake and I'll show you a man who never accomplished anything." Most people abhor making a mistake. Their upbringing and education has instilled in them that it is wrong to make a mistake. The truly creative people-less that five percent of the population, according to the Myers-Briggs-do not mind making mistakes, for they are not called mistakes. They call them exercises, tests and attempts at finding a better way. Making mistakes allows us to see new possibilities, for what to some is a mistake to us is a discovery of what does not work. Edison made 10,000 attempts (mistakes) in his process of finding out how to make a light bulb work without burning up.
MM: How have technological changes affected your courses over the years? For example, how has the advent of digital technology changed your course offerings?
DL: We do see a definite impact of the smaller, less expensive cameras and editing systems. Our high-end 35mm film camera workshops, which were our most popular workshops, have now shrunk in enrollment, and new mini-DV workshops have become popular. Teaching editing was difficult 10 years ago-RM-440 video editing and flatbed editing were cumbersome. Avid changed all that, but Avid was still expensively prohibitive as a tool for the independent filmmaker. Final Cut Pro and the mini-DV cameras are now major players. Everyone interested in making a film or telling a story can now afford the technology. As an institution, we are small enough to move quickly when the technology changes. The industry helps us by providing us with that technology and with experts to help us develop the training. Canon loans us 8 mini-DV cameras, Arri loans us 16mm and 35mm cameras, as does Panavision. Panasonic and Panavision loan us the high-definition digital video cameras.
MM: The campus is situated in the town of Rockport, Maine. How do you think this setting helps your business and your visiting filmmakers?
DL: Rockport is an ideal setting for a conservatory such as The Workshops. It is one of the reasons the Workshops have grown and been so successful. It is a small, quiet, seacoast fishing village. Here there are no distractions, no noise, nothing to interfere with the contemplation, study and work at hand. It is a village of 1800s Victorian architecture and craftsmanship. There is a harmony here between landscape and man's presence. There is enough activity and people around to provide material for the documentary workshops and a pool of actors for the dramatic workshops.
MM: If you were to give a prospective student-in any discipline-some words of advice before coming to Rockport, what would they be?
DL: Taking a workshop is a major step in anyone's career. A one-week workshop will be a week you will never forget-the experience will be imprinted in your memory. You will remember what you learned, the people you worked witWh, the lobster, the late night chats with fellow filmmakers, the inspiration you felt over listening to one of the instructors talk about their career beginnings. The first step is to come see us for a portfolio review or a look at your reel or resume. As a "career advancement" school our mission is to help you find a way to get better at what you do and to find out what it is your soul tells you you should be doing. And make sure you are well-rested when you arrive.
For more information on The Workshops, please visit www.TheWorkshops.com