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Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
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| John Seale and Anthony Minghella prepare for a battle scene. |
The desire to re-shoot is inevitable.
Six months after I finish shooting a movie, I look at it with a horrifying eye. 'What was I thinking of? That's so silly that I'd love to reshoot it.' In one funny kind of way it's because of the editing; you see the rhythm and the flow of the film and you'd love to reshoot it.
Looseness comes with age.
I find that as I get older I'm loosening up more and more. And Anthony is very complimentary in saying "I think it's getting better and better."
The economics of light.
The way I light is for the reality of the situation. I light for that only.
A picture doesn't have to be pretty.
I've never believed in pretty pictures for pretty pictures’ sake. You can't have everything pretty like a commercial, otherwise it takes away from the power of the performance and the situation.
A film is performance.
I love getting two or three cameras in there and grabbing a performance, because I think a film is performance. If you haven't got it, you haven't got a film. It can be pretty, but won't go anywhere because it hasn't got a performance. So I believe in performance first, and even if I have to drop my lighting values or desires by 50 or 60 percent, I'll do it. Because if the actor is ready to perform and I'm still trying to get it together, I just say 'I'm ready, let's go' because they're ready.
The actor has the power.
I believe that the actors' power is a lot more powerful than mine. I'm not there to create the scene; I let performance do that.
Your best film is always the next one.
You put so much into every project, I find it very hard to say 'Hey that was the best one.' One of them won an Academy Award for me and sometimes, I shouldn't say this, but I've got to question whether it was the right film chosen. Because overall it was a damn good film, and sometimes the vote in the technical department benefits. But I think I've done photography in other films that is probably as good as or better.
It's very hard, because I regard every one of them as different and feel I'm doing the best with each one. I don't have a favorite. I always believe it will be the next one because I'm going to really throw everything into it.
Filmography for John Seale
Cold Mountain (2003)
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
At First Sight (1999)
Static (1998)
City of Angels (1998)
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
The American President (1995)
Beyond Rangoon (1995)
The Paper (1994)
The Firm (1993)
Lorenzo's Oil (1992)
The Doctor (1991)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Rain Man (1988)
Gorillas in the Mist (1988)
Stakeout (1987)
A Sense of Sound (1986)
The Mosquito Coast (1986)
Children of a Lesser God (1986)
The Hitcher (1986)
The Empty Beach (1985)
Witness (1985)
Silver City (1984)
BMX Bandits (1983)
Goodbye Paradise (1983)
Careful, He Might Hear You (1983)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Fighting Back (1982)
Ginger Meggs (1982)
Gallipoli (1981)
Doctors & Nurses (1981)
The Survivor (1981)
Fatty Finn (1980)
Dawn! (1979)
The Odd Angry Shot (1979)
Weekend of Shadows (1978)
The Irishman (1978)
Break of Day (1977)
The Last Wave (1977)
Caddie (1976)
Mad Dog Morgan (1976)
Deathcheaters (1976)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Alvin Purple (1973)
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It’s Official—Pre-production Begins
“I never ask people for permission to make a film. Instead, I present them with the fact that I’m making a film. If they’re wise, they’ll get in on it early.”
—Francis Ford Coppola
Last week our unit production manager for Rufus Rex officially started work and I paid UPS an astounding amount of money to deliver a letter to the Republic of Georgia officially inviting our lead actress to the United States. We’re also officially in pre-production on the grassroots (my preferred term, since I dislike “microbudget”—no art should be defined by its budget) movie Rufus Rex, which my 15-year-old son, Nick, and I wrote together last winter.
Posted 07.8.08 | Grassroots Moviemaker | No comments yet...
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