The Ecstasy of Influence

In producing a film, you often hear the director state their desire to create something "never seen before" or "unlike anything else". When people think about these words coming from the mouth of the creative visionary behind the work of art they are watching, they think, "Of course!". We view the world of art and artists as an inherently original and creative world breaking free from the status quo. But, is this idea of unique creation true?

Jonathan Lethem's article The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism presents an incredibly interesting way to look at artistic and cultural exchange in the world. It runs dangerously close to defaming a lot of big entertainment business practices and copyright protection. Lethem illuminates that artist as a champion borrower of cultural and influence (what romantics like to call inspiration). He states,

"Kenneth Koch once said, “I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.” It was a charming confession, and a rare one. For so many artists, the act of creativity is intended as a Napoleonic imposition of one's uniqueness upon the universe—après moi le déluge of copycats! And for every James Joyce or Woody Guthrie or Martin Luther King Jr., or Walt Disney, who gathered a constellation of voices in his work, there may seem to be some corporation or literary estate eager to stopper the bottle: cultural debts flow in, but they don't flow out. We might call this tendency “source hypocrisy.”

The influence of another part of culture is not something to be feared or denied, but embraced by the artist. This sort of outlook on content creation is incredibly liberating to the artistic community at large. Artists must draw from the world around them, reshaping and creating anew in the process. The production of a great film does not come through the reinvention of the wheel, but through the streamlining of the design and fresh presentation. We, as artists, must not fear the source of our ideas!

Lunsford's Lowdown on Literacy

In an effort to recruit crew for this film, I sent out a Film School-wide email to first and second year students. Upon seeing the number of response, I was SHOCKED by many of the emails that I received. Many of them had no semblance of structure, completely lacked polish, and were entirely informal. While I understand and appreciate the advent of internet writing and email, it is essential to present yourself well upon your initial introduction to someone whether it be in person or digitally.

Clive Thompson's exploration of the Andrea Lunsford study on literacy works to dissuade readers from the common perception of the societal decline in writing ability. She displays our world as one where a new wave in writing is taking place that replaces the letter writing society of yesterday. I appreciate and agree with her view that the proliferation of online writing helps people in, "assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across." But while this new ability may help content creators write for an audience, we cannot overlook the lack of polish found in today's writing. A street musician in New York City may know how to work the crowd and draw an audience, but that doesn't make him or her a successful artist.

Reflection

Looking back at the utilization of this blog, I've realized the amount of expression I have produced through the ease of publication on the web. At any moment that I have a thought, any content that I have to share, any information I want to link, can all be posted in an easily accessible blog post available anywhere! Through this information exchange, I have been able to reexamine my own thoughts and better understand my product.

The growth that has come from the creation and exploration of a blog does not even mention the amount of creative development to be gained from the design process associated with it. Understanding an effective layout and utilizing it to echo the ideas and themes of the blog is as essential as the content itself. This sort of visual spacial reasoning and design is necessary in most any form of modern publication and information exchange as we evolve into a more and more media frenzied society.

There's no sensation near as pure...

Fresh in are the new pieces of concept art from Sam Ogden (Production Designer). They can be seen below.

For the past two nights we've spent hour after hour recording each of the songs for the show and we're finally finished! After this coming Sunday you'll have the chance to hear all of the songs in their most complete form to date (while still rough). Hearing Allan (Vanya) and Sydney (Svetlana) in the booth was fantastic. It's really going to be an exciting show to see.

Scenechronize me!

The pre-production for ZRC has been infiltrated by the future of film information exchange. Signing up for an account at www.scenechronize.com, the ZRC team information exchange exists almost entirely digitally. This resource has changed work flow for us, improved communication, and aids me and my team in pulling this movie together.

In a medium as incredibly visual as movies, still images created by members of the team are incredibly necessary to the clear communication and understanding of everyone's ideas and thoughts. While people's words can be used to communicate their feelings and understanding of certain scenes, moments, themes, these things will not be blatantly displayed on the screen. Through the use of images, these ideas are effectively translated to a visual medium which can be utilized in the actual film.

Looking at ZRC through the lens of Media Studies

Reading through the DMA Media Studies field guide, the history of Media Studies jumped out at me as an interesting look at the way we view media as a society and the way I produce it as a filmmaker. As Masterman said, I have been empowered by the "host of media tools" with the ability to publish content that I would not have been capable of creating 30 years ago. This paradigm shift necessitates a new way of understanding all of this content, and a way to frame it within society.

Rain, rain, go away...

In spite of the incredibly rainy week we've been having, ZomRomCom has been moving along at a rapid pace.

Over the weekend, we cast BOTH of the leads roles. Sydney Torin Shepherd of the UNCSA School of Drama will be playing Svetlana, and Allan Washington of the same school will be playing Vanya. We're thrilled to have both of them on board, and have already put them to work in auditions. Leo Hurley (Composer/Musical Director) and Hannah Emerson (Choreographer) have had wonderful rehearsal with the pair, and I look forward to keeping you posted on their progress.

Monday brought some very thought provoking meetings with a number of faculty members from the Film and Drama Schools. We had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with Kevin Stites (UNCSA School of Drama interim faculty best known for his work on 13 Broadway shows) to discuss the film and our process. Leo and Messiah (Director) were able to toss around some great ideas with him and integrate some of his advice into our future plans.

Today we were given the chance to work with Carol Wood (UNCSA School of Filmmaking professor) developing storyboards, and damn is she good! Great brainstorming, problem solving, and planning all around the board as Drew (Cinematographer), Sam (Production Designer), myself, and Messiah worked at the boards from afternoon until late evening. We finished things off with our first viewing of the dance and some excitement for the day to come.

Make sure to stop back by the blog this weekend when I'll be posting storyboards for the film, some sketches, and look samples.

-John Eric