Friends in bands

roxics

roxics

Veteran
Ever since I was a teenager I could throw a dime in any crowd and hit a musician. Of my core group of friends I've had since I was 14 years old (20 years now) about half of them have been musicians and been in bands. I'm a little envious of these people. They tend to be tight with each other and share that common bond of music. They meet other musicians and gain more contacts and friends as a result. Whether they are talking about musicians together or jamming together or going to see each others shows. It seems like musicians just know more people in general. Especially if they are part of a niche genre of music.

As a filmmaker I've only ever met a couple other filmmakers locally in that same 20 years. If anything it seems like we've been more competitive with each other than collabrative. I don't really understand why.

Maybe I'm just in the wrong town. But the sad part is that you can go to pretty much any town in the US and find musicians who know each other and hang out and maybe have even worked or jammed together.

So where are all the filmmakers? Is there something particular about filmmaking that makes it less communal? Why are we not like musicians, why are we not getting together and talking about films, jamming out some short films with each other, going to screenings and being tight with each other?

If filmmaking has to change due to the industry changing, maybe we should adopt the model that musicians have been using for decades. Maybe we need to be making shorter films that are 3-5 minutes long and showing them in bars to people who are drinking and standing around. Maybe we need to get together and create bands and create albums of these 3-5 minute short films. Maybe we need to jam out with other filmmakers and make shorts with each other.

I've gone to coffee shops to see a few short films in the past and the atmosphere is more like a dull and boring poetry reading where people are demanded to be quit and pay attention. It's not fun and vibrant like a live concert for a local band. Nor is it as social from my experience.

I guess I'm longing for that sense of community that I see my musician friends have. More than just some online forums.
 
Im with you sonny, but people react to music and film very differently - and yes filmmakers tend to compete for resources rather than nuscians can jam together and shares resources at a moments notice
 
You can't compare the two. Pro, semi-pro and amateur musicians just naturally bunch together, and run an effective dep system. If you can't do a gig, you put somebody else in for you. Money is rarely why they do it, although lack of money seems a common feature. Film makers are stranded into specialisms. So a documentary film producer might never make a wedding video, and a wedding video guy might never do a music video. Everyone competes, and their 'status' is often set by equipment, not talent - the opposite of most musicians, who although they may aspire to expensive kit, often do pretty well without it. You can easily have a group of musicians, but a group of film makers is a rarity, unless you join video clubs, but these tend to be (from my experience) more social than productive. Music has infinite variety and is something almost everyone can feel some association with. Film making is just nowhere near so mainstream as an activity.
 
paulears said:
You can't compare the two. Pro, semi-pro and amateur musicians just naturally bunch together, and run an effective dep system. If you can't do a gig, you put somebody else in for you. Money is rarely why they do it, although lack of money seems a common feature. Film makers are stranded into specialisms. So a documentary film producer might never make a wedding video, and a wedding video guy might never do a music video. Everyone competes, and their 'status' is often set by equipment, not talent - the opposite of most musicians, who although they may aspire to expensive kit, often do pretty well without it. You can easily have a group of musicians, but a group of film makers is a rarity, unless you join video clubs, but these tend to be (from my experience) more social than productive. Music has infinite variety and is something almost everyone can feel some association with. Film making is just nowhere near so mainstream as an activity.
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Yes... it's kind of like a whole bunch of lead guitarist getting together...they are all great players, but it doesn't make a band!
Believe me when I say, bass players envy other bass players, guitarists envy other guitarists...so on & so forth. (been there, done that)

I hear you though and have been looking for like-minded filmmakers, crew, etc. in my area for over 5 years with no success. I have even been
to all the local filmmaker groups and they all seem like a big competition and never want to give away their 'secrets', crew or location contacts.
Just keep plugging along & doing your thing.
 
I met a local Steadicam Operator through one of these film groups, and even though he'd known me for years, he declined my offer to pay him for a training session. "I don't teach" was his answer, and refered me to someone who did, in a different city!
So much for "helping each other". Some of these people are hopeless. Shortly after that I had a steadicam related injury for trying to learn on my own.
 
I just chimed in to say Friends in Bands is a great movie title. Maybe about the perks of knowing musicians?
 
roxics said:
Ever since I was a teenager I could throw a dime in any crowd and hit a musician. Of my core group of friends I've had since I was 14 years old (20 years now)
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Whoa, I read that as you being 20 years old now, and I thought "he's been posting here since he was 12?"
 
I know many many filmmaking professionals at my lo-cal, but absolutely zero amateur/indie film folks.

Just a thought... You might consider adding your location to your info here so others from your area will know.
 
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