10 reasons to shoot a silent movie....

[mainstreetprod]

As a sound mixer, I will never understand why there is so much hate for sound, why it is always viewed as a pain.

Sound helps you tell a story, it's not your enemy, sound is your friend.

I think you are, sadly, one of those "directors" that seriously lacks education in this particular domain.

Yes, the sound mixer is generally the crew member that complains the most on the set. But it's just because we want do our job AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE.

Maybe you've had only bad experiences in the past with the members of the sound department and that traumatized you in some way ?

A movie without sound is boring and ininteresting, even if it's got the best story. Remember that most well renowned directors always say that sound is half of the cinematographic experience, that it's as important as the moving pictures (they only SAY IT though...).

I don't blame you wanting to do a "silent" movie, but you just seems to want to do it for the bad reasons.

As someone said in another post, you should also do your next project without a camera too.

Cordially,
Stéphane Blanchardon.

I think you misinterpret a bit. I'm about as sound friendly as it gets - long time audiophile, have run sound reinforcement for churches professionally, guitarist & harmonica player with a room full of sound gear, possess all the boom and mic gear necessary to shoot a feature. I even wrote an article on our blog about the importance of production sound:

http://faithflixfilms.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/how-to-get-great-production-sound-the-basics/


Our past films were shot only with a boom op, so it was up to me to get the levels right while shooting and later to do the "rough" post production work, including the score, done with stock music. We had a pro do the final mix. I'm quite proud of the final product - both movies got DVD distribution and the distributors were happy with the sound. My hearing is suffering due to many years of sound work, yet on our "just above no budget" movies, I can understand every word of dialogue. Can't say that about quite a few higher budget films I've watched.

My wife writes and directs our films. Our decision to shoot MOS came from a conversation we had about faith based movies. Many are considered lame because they have cheesy dialogue. It occurred to us- what if you got rid of the dialogue? And it developed from there.

My "10 reasons" post was not intended to tick off sound mixers. It's simply a statement of how liberating it is to not have to deal with sound issues while shooting a movie- nothing more. I know from experience how hard production sound is to get right and have nothing but respect for professional sound mixers. Next time we shoot conventional feature, I hope to have the budget to hire not only a boom op but also a mixer to raise the bar a bit.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

My wife writes and directs our films. Our decision to shoot MOS came from a conversation we had about faith based movies. Many are considered lame because they have cheesy dialogue. It occurred to us- what if you got rid of the dialogue? And it developed from there.

But that's not how to get rid of 'cheesy dialog'.

I do have opinions about 'faith based' film making, and the language chosen is one element. I have the same opinion of 'Hallmark movies' for the most part, whether they are 'faith based' or not. And needless to say, FCC regulated TV is not my 'idea model' either.

One other element for me, is the G-rating factor. I await an NC-17 faith based film. I think the closest that Hollywood (or non-hollywood for that matter) was "The Passion of the Christ"(2004). Any 'cheesy' dialog was buried in one of Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew... (Although Greek was the language of learning in the era in that area... but I digress...).

 

[mainstreetprod]

But that's not how to get rid of 'cheesy dialog'.

I do have opinions about 'faith based' film making, and the language chosen is one element. I have the same opinion of 'Hallmark movies' for the most part, whether they are 'faith based' or not. And needless to say, FCC regulated TV is not my 'idea model' either.

One other element for me, is the G-rating factor. I await an NC-17 faith based film. I think the closest that Hollywood (or non-hollywood for that matter) was "The Passion of the Christ"(2004). Any 'cheesy' dialog was buried in one of Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew... (Although Greek was the language of learning in the era in that area... but I digress...).

Maybe not NC-17, but "Blue Like Jazz" is considered to be gutsy filmmaking in the faith based world. Regardless of how you stand on it, fact is the audience for faith based movies will not buy this type film and therefore distributors tend to stay away. Average consumer is female, 40+ with kids. She's not looking for gritty.

 

[MayhemFilms]

As long as your story is good. -Anthony

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Maybe not NC-17, but "Blue Like Jazz" is considered to be gutsy filmmaking in the faith based world. Regardless of how you stand on it, fact is the audience for faith based movies will not buy this type film and therefore distributors tend to stay away. Average consumer is female, 40+ with kids. She's not looking for gritty.

There is also "Grace Unplugged" scheduled for an October release with a PG rating. From the trailer it was targeting a different group than 40+ female with kids.

 

[Steve House]

...
My wife writes and directs our films. Our decision to shoot MOS came from a conversation we had about faith based movies. Many are considered lame because they have cheesy dialogue. It occurred to us- what if you got rid of the dialogue? And it developed from there.

...

Far better to work on getting better writing and acting :laugh:

 

[Noiz2]

RE: faith based filmmaking - though it should probably be a new topic in probably a different forum...

It's not my "thing", generally and I am fundamentally not inclined to like films that preach.

That said there are a fair number of Mormon films that are surprisingly good. And when I say "mormon films" I'm not talking about a Mormon who is making films. There is an entire Mormon film industry, I was quite surprised, because they didn't feel Hollywood was making films they wanted to see. There are gangster films and rock star films, musicals, etc. It's quite varied and the quality level is quite high.

And there is Seth Worley who does a lot of "Christian" films, mostly web series. They also often have a message, because that's who he is making them for, but they are quite well done and a lot of fun.

I'm pretty much an atheist, though not a hater of religion - I just don't buy the "magic" - I do see the social and historical value.

Anyway the point is I'm not going to like a faith based production because of it's faith basis but because it was a well made piece of filmmaking. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, though they often appear to be.

The hoaky dialog comes from folks focusing on the message instead of focusing on making a good film. Ironically as "propaganda" the well made film that insinuates it's message is MUCH more effective than the message film that isn't well done. The latter only appeals to the converted.

Even if your goal isn't "promotional" your better off. You get wider viewership, and even if you don't convert a single viewer you present your message in a way that doesn't turn off or scare folks, so you promote understanding.

The Mormon films I've seen are much more about "human issues" with a cast of characters who are mostly Mormon. No obvious "message" at all. Seth's series were created to promote, demonstrate certain concepts (like loyalty) so while they "preach" an idea it's not strictly a Christian one but a generally good one. And he has done a fantastic job with visual FX and the writing is pretty good (in the goofy SiFi genre).

Seth's site http://sethworley.com/

A few Mormon films I thought were fun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Provo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobsters_and_Mormons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists_at_our_Barbecue_(film)

They are fairly hard to find I stumbled on one accidentally and then managed to find a few more.