SET OF RULES
Dear Film Spring Workshop Participants,
Welcome to our web page. I am very happy that in November after months of discussions we will be able to spend three weeks together, not only discussing but also making our collective feature film. Let me call it “Open Film Project”. It is open because we are going to do it together.
I do hope that by shooting our film we will learn something about ourselves. I do also hope that by discussing and rehearsing various styles and models of making a movie we will learn if it is possible to be faithful to our own emotions and, at the same time, to be open for the others' ideas. If, and to what extent, making a movie is a process we fully control, or if we are just "accoucheurs" and then wise parents who listen intently to a new, independent, sovereign life – our film.
Someone said that making a good film was conditioned by three elements:
- a good script
- a good script
- and once more a good script
After years of experience on varied locations I must admit that, in my opinion, it is true. Unfortunately we do not have much time for that most important part of our work (I mean the screenplay writing process) and this why we need to work quickly.
Let me thus propose a few rules that should accompany our work.
First - Everyone is invited to take part in the process of writing or composing our script. I’d like to remind you that our movie is supposed to tell a love story of two foreigners who meet for some reasons on Hel Peninsula in Poland. He, for example, is a German yachtsman who happens (the wind has changed) to anchor his sailboat in the port of Jurata. She is Swiss, working as a receptionist (graduate in training) in a hotel in Jurata.
Please write down your own ideas, even those incomplete, concerning film characters, scenes, and takes.
Secondly, having put our ideas for the story on the web page, we consent to change, develop and discuss them. And here we touch a very slippery subject – creation. Its real power is often very close to the most intimate part of our ego and a fear of criticism very often censors and blocks our ideas. But listen! What we are about to do is fun.
We are children again, we are back in the kindergarten and we don’t worry if another child is breaking down our castle of building blocks; we’ll simply build another one.
Fine, this is what ”Idziak says”, but I am not going to expose myself. I am not ready to open my soul. If you think this part of our collective work should be anonymous, we can do it; we can write our script using pseudonyms. I am waiting for your suggestions!
Last but not least-our Open Film Project is a first time experience for all of us, including myself. But I hope we will manage to invent a system that is good for everyone and, what’s more important, productive and creative. In order to do so, I encourage you to be active. If we don’t start immediately we have very little prospect of writing a good story.
Stage One. Writing and story/ideas selection
As I've mentioned above, the first stage is dedicated to accumulate general ideas for the film. It is obvious that they have to be a subject of verification but, at the same time, what I really count on, they could be complementary one to each other. In other words, please try to keep your eyes open and think how and if it is possible to include your ideas with the ideas of the others.
It is usual that we keep aloof and are very often blind to plain truth and emotions of the others. This is why the corridors in the film schools are packed with Fellini-like, Spielberg-like and Wenders-like students. Do I have to remind you how (in most cases) their first films look like?
A sign-board of our script workshop is very simple: try to sell what you got, but be openminded (ready) to buy from the others and do not take offence when your goods are not sold. Simply think why.
Who should take part at this stage? Everyone, in my opinion. It does not mean that all of you have to. I count on a very active participation of the majority at this stage, but I consider that the participants who have no writer's temperament and do not want to or feel insecure should not be mistreated for all that. Andrzej Wajda or Ridley Scott have never written a single film script.
Moreover, I assume the cinematographers will take part actively when we start talking about the style of our future movie.
Once again I have to point out that what we are planning to do during the Film Spring Camp is not a reflection of your individual artistic wishes and visions. We are supposed to look for a sound architecture of our movie. For a structure which is transparent and gives space for everybody to participate. We need a script that has a clear and readable dramatic structure, understandable premises, and based on well-formed characters and a strong plot. Finally we should remember that if there is no conflict there is no drama.
The ideas and plots which provide the above mentioned elements are going to be taken under consideration. I mean that our Camp is not for Tarkowsky or Antonioni. The ideas are not going to be verified for their artistic potential only. What we are looking for is a platform which could be very original and rich, in its details, but as a whole transparent and clear in its structure.
Finally, we will have to face up the 'nasty' verification process and decide which of the individual ideas should be selected to go to the next stage. I suggest the following procedure: - Discussion about the potential of your ideas - Vote for the most promising.
In case you would be unable to do it in a democratic way, I'll make a decision (you can see at once, that my sense of democracy is spiced with a bit of dictatorship). Of course I will take such a decision with the help of our producers. As you may guess we have certain financial limits and it might happen that some of your ideas are not feasible. I hope that for those whose ideas will be not accepted the world will not end.
The world is not perfect and when I analyze my personal experience as a cinematographer I must honestly say that many times I have been working with directors who have a completely different understanding of the philosophy of film creation.
Hopefully the idea of the Film Spring Camp is not going to evaporate and we will have an opportunity to meet again in the future for the next workshop and try to realize the ideas we will not have voted for this time.
I would like to ask you as well to obey a few more rules which, I hope, make us more efficient.
- Rule number one :
- less talking, more doing (writing outlines instead of commenting it). We, human beings, are born malcontent and I propose, for the time of work, to freeze this nice habit of 'being against'.
In other words, and it is
- Rule number two :
- criticize your colleagues' ideas only when you have some alternative to propose. I don't like it, and I personally would change this and that in such ways. Think positively and leave your own ego for your individual projects. We write this script together and we have to be ready for compromise.
Finally we have to discuss our timetable. I think that the selection and the decision about which of your ideas, stories are going to be shot, should not be taken later then at the end of July.
Stage Two. Writing a script
For this part of our collective work we not much time. By beginning of October we must have our completed script.
However, remember that at the beginning of our Camp, before we start shooting, we will have additional 2-3 days for rehearsals with our actors and it gives us additional time for final adjustments and changes to the dialogues, plot, action, etc.
This is why, at this stage of our work, we should concentrate on the structure of the script above all. It ought to be a text that meets basic drama principles, a text with recognizable parts (acts) and functions, a text easy to classify in its genre (a comedy? psycho drama? magical realism? etc.). I assume that, at this point of our cooperation, we will already know who is better at structure building, who has better dialogue ideas, who has literary talents and who can 'only tell us a good anecdote for the potential story'.
Kieslowski, when he was writing with Piesiewicz, was always doing it the same way: they talked for hours about ideas and scenes but the very process of typing, writing and composing was in Kieslowski's hands. In other words Piesiewicz was coming with the anecdotes and Kieslowski was giving them a dramatic form.
As far as the style of our movie is concerned I hope that, at this stage, our cinematographers will be active and suggest ‘right wrap” for our film. Recall your beloved frames coming from the movies you’ve ever seen and reflect on how to visualize ‘our story’ in a different manner.
Here we can start to talk also about an organizational aspect of the filmmaking. How to reform the system of movie making after all? And how are we going to proceed with our small experimental film?
The next truly important step is to think about the cast. I have no doubt it would be a lot easier to write when you had an opportunity to watch casting tapes at home. It's mean that I expect ideas for the actors as soon as possible of you. I don’t want to talk about the organizational details of the casting now because it is a tricky problem. But we need to do it later.
If everything is on time, we will allow ourselves to write alternative scenes, e.g. two versions of dialogues for the same scene. We can try to add alternative sequence or any additional subplot scenes.
Finally, there is no point to be frightened about writing our script. It is not for sale. More than that, we are in an extremely comfortable situation because our producers have bought our script not even knowing it. And I promise that if we are not satisfied with the results of our screenplay we would still begin our work in October. Score (Partitur) would be enough.
And in case of disaster- we will go to Hel Peninsula with our empty hands anyhow and we will make a movie called “Blow out II”. (La Grande Bouffe - M. Ferreri) We will put the cameras and let them roll, we will dance, eat, drink and argue about who is the greater artist.
Feel most welcome.
I am looking forward to meeting you soon
Slawek Idziak
PS. My letter is very optimistic. However we have to consider a less optimistic scenario. What happens if you won’t finish our script in time, if we have to skip the idea to write original script. In such a case, I believe we have two possibilities: to make an adaptation of a literary work or a remake of an existing movie (here I already have one idea).