I love when Bradley Beesley visits the class; there is something inspiring about that man. He is very different from our guest 2 weeks ago, Peter Esmonde, who left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. Instead of being cynical about post-graduation and entering the film industry, I liked how he told us about people he knows that have started out as production assistants for different television shows and have eventually worked up to becoming executive producers. Although this takes a good amount of years, it is still nice to know that we can start somewhere after we graduate and work ourselves up the ladder to the position we would like to be in. I know there are other ways to make it in the industry, but starting out at the bottom isn't so bad, and heck, you'll learn a ton on your way up.
Bradley's work was again very well done, especially his piece on the conman hypnotist. The subject was phenomenal and his work was out of this world! Bradley said that when you look at it all on paper it's just epic, and I have a hard time imagining how much more crazy it could get. I was very suprised I hadn't heard of the guy, but I think that makes it all the better for selling purposes. It's a very fresh story instead of one that has been played out. I definitely think it has a very good chance of being sold to a production company. This, in and of itself, was very interesting as well. I never really thought about how you could make a short documentary and sell it to another production company to be expanded/remade, but it makes sense. I wonder how much he could sell that short for to a company wanting to produce a feature length narrative? And I wonder if you could run a business making short films and selling them? That's something we could all do right now even in school.
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Unfortunately I missed Bradley's last visit, but I really enjoyed it this time around. Hearing from filmmakers such and Beesley, and Fiege etc. has really been inspiring. Its always nice to hear success stories and to see the different paths from film students to the professional world.
ReplyDeleteI've always been fascinated with Discovery and the Travel channel and hearing from Beesley about storm chasers was really cool, and sounds like an amazing job/project. I haven't had the chance to see any of Beesley's films but after watching some of the clips I'm sold. I want to see all of his work, especially the Okie Noodling series. I thought that the clip he showed from Okie Noodling part II was absolutely beautifully shot and had me hooked immediately.
Like Alex said I think it is a really interesting idea to make short documentary films and use them as a treatment or pitch for a feature. It's always something to have in mind when you run across an amazing story.
All in all I've enjoyed the visitors we've had so far this semester and found them all to be inspiring.
CLH
Seeing as it has been a few weeks since Bradley’s visit, I want to mention some of the things I thought were pretty interesting to hear about and that made some sort of impact on me. I have come to realize more and more how vital good interpersonal skills are to filmmaking and Bradley only bolstered this idea. Bradley talked a lot about the extent to which a filmmaker goes to get a good story and some of the kinds of relations you build with these people over a long period of time especially in documentary filmmaking. Setting up/conducting interviews, making phone calls, scheduling meetings are all things essential to filmmaking that are only productive when you build a good repore with your subject. But, even when you think you have it all figured out and you think you can trust someone to come through, like in the case of the con man, you can’t really control what a subject does, you have to treed lightly, and adjust to what ever obstacles are put in front of you…at the end of the day do what you love and just love what you do.
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