Are you more critical of local productions?

R

raymondluo

Well-known member
There is a stigma from where I reside in when it comes to independent productions (or even big ones, since the film industry in Singapore is pretty minuscule) where people tend to look down on/ be over critical of locally produced films.

Albeit some notable filmmakers who've made presence internationally, are the same issues I've seen in Singapore are as prevalent as any other country?
 
If by "local", you mean in a country other than the USA, then I'd say here in Australia there is a bit of that. A lot of the general public equate "Australian film" with dull, arty crap.

The problem is that most Australian feature production is government funded, so in the past a lot of the money has gone to films deemed to be "socially relevent", with mainstream commercial ideas and genre films being largely ignored, and struggling to find funding to get off the ground. There just isn't as much money here as there is in Hollywood.

Those that do get off the ground then tend to suffer from a lack of development, being rushed into production because that's where all the money has been allocated. Unfortunately the lack of development often shows in the finished product.

Did you know that the original "Saw" should have been an Australian movie? But they couldn't get even the meagre amount that required here, so the creators took it overseas.

Thankfully, attitudes from the funding bodies do seem to be improving. Genre projects are getting funded. Unfortunately filmmakers have years of bad impressions engrained in Australian movie-goers minds to overcome.
 
Ozhair said:
If by "local", you mean in a country other than the USA, then I'd say here in Australia there is a bit of that. A lot of the general public equate "Australian film" with dull, arty crap.

The problem is that most Australian feature production is government funded, so in the past a lot of the money has gone to films deemed to be "socially relevent", with mainstream commercial ideas and genre films being largely ignored, and struggling to find funding to get off the ground. There just isn't as much money here as there is in Hollywood.

Those that do get off the ground then tend to suffer from a lack of development, being rushed into production because that's where all the money has been allocated. Unfortunately the lack of development often shows in the finished product.

Did you know that the original "Saw" should have been an Australian movie? But they couldn't get even the meagre amount that required here, so the creators took it overseas.

Thankfully, attitudes from the funding bodies do seem to be improving. Genre projects are getting funded. Unfortunately filmmakers have years of bad impressions engrained in Australian movie-goers minds to overcome.
Click to expand...

Same goes for here in Canada. Our projects are generally government funded. If not, then we just wouldn't have any films being made and no one would get work and there'd be an influx of Canadians moving to LA (more so than there already is, lol).

We are known for our Documentaries and Animation. We come out with top notch stuff because these things are generally cheaper, and the national film board pushes these genres.

However when it comes to narrative films we usually think "great, a straight to DVD or made for TV movie."

Now it's been improving, especially with a lot of Hollywood productions being filmed here. Unfortunately to Americans, "filming in Canada" is cheap and looked down upon, so they try to keep productions at home (including governor Schwarzenegar), and so a lot of us haven't been getting work and the industry is being held up a bit.

But we've been pushing the boundaries with films lately. Bon Cop Bad Cop was a huge film in Canada, especially in Quebec. It had a high production value, some stunts, very well put together, amazing cast, amazing funny and clever script, and very Canadian.

But since I can only count on one hand how many amazing films have come to theaters that have been purely canadian... just goes to prove my point.

Canadian Television has been getting that mentality as well, but in the past few years a lot of our shows have been competing with American ones, so that mentality isn't there anymore.
 
The old expression about "the grass is greener..." comes from the misguided belief that it can't be any good if its local and everything great happens somewhere else. This is at the root of why so many people pull up stakes and feel they have to go elsewhere. Its more for their own headspace than anything else.
 
Ryan Paige said:
Sometimes the grass really is greener, though.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, maybe blue grass or a little more turquoise. LOL

I think the mentality that you speak of is everywhere - even in the states. The Southeast has been trying to combat the stigma of movies made here for years. And indiependent cinema always gets a bad rap - at least 95% of the time. I truly believe the hardest anyone will ever work is just getting started.

I'm confused though on why other countries (Canada, Austraila) can't raise funds. Question 1 would be how much money is one trying to raise? I mean you can make a good movie for less than $500K. So if someone is trying to raise $5 million, sure that'd be a problem almost anywhere.

And remember for every SAW you see there was probably 20 other Austrailian filmmakers rushing to the US that you never have seen or heard of.
 
Its the same way with music also, a good local band has to go somewhere else to be respected i think. The Beatles went to Germany, I think for a year or so and when they came back to the U.K. they had gotten a reputation, and everyone was excited to go see them. But they had to be accepted in Germany first. If you've seen "Backbeat" then you know what I'm talking about. People are weird hehe.
 
jls4 said:
I'm confused though on why other countries (Canada, Austraila) can't raise funds. Question 1 would be how much money is one trying to raise? I mean you can make a good movie for less than $500K. So if someone is trying to raise $5 million, sure that'd be a problem almost anywhere.
Click to expand...

It's not the amount of money that is trying to be raised, it's that there aren't any investors. The only way to get a film made (for say $500K) is to get grants from the government and other organizations. I'm no expert on this stuff, but I've heard that's how it works.

Guess I'll find out when I need to raise funds.

Also the government gives out these funds to allow people to make their films so that there are more jobs here. I think it's also to prevent films from going to the states to find investors.

Maybe it has something to do with the success rate of Canadian films as well, and no one wants to risk their money on a Canadian indy film.

But I'm just guessing.
 
Canada makes some good movies but most can't get into theatres more than a few days or so. So most are seen on TV on CBC, CityTV, Bravo. etc.

Canada's feature film budget (Telefilm) for the whole country is something like $22 million CDN. Which won't pay for donuts in a Michael Bay picture! $1.9 million tax payer dollars went to a Uwe Boll picture last month. Most funding guidelines still say no excessive violence. Maybe that's why there's no CDN govt funded Tarantino or Nelveldine/Taylor yet.

http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=20015

But there were private companies like Lionsgate that started in Vancouver which are a different thing altogether.

You can follow news of Canadian and Hollywood movies being shot in Canada here:

http://www.hollywoodnorthreport.com/index.php
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top