Where have all the stories gone?

Nektonic

Nektonic

Veteran
James Cameron spoke with a site called Movie Line about the declining importance of story in the Hollywood machine.

http://www.movieline.com/2011/01/james-cameron-sinks-universals-battleship.php

And a response I find interesting in relation to the article from the first link.

http://www.badassdigest.com/2011/01...meron-calls-out-the-story-crisis-in-hollywood

I have to say, some interesting things mentioned in these articles. It is nice to hear someone in the industry like James Cameron saying a lot of the things that movie fans have been complaining about for the past several years in regards to the type of material that ultimately gets produced in this day and age.
 
I found that response great.

It seems to me the real problem is how do we get the general audience to demand that level of cinema? Especially after reality TV and the like has proven that expectations are almost non-existent.
 
Well the good news is that if studios only create this pre-chewed babyfood, that'll probably create a demand from the general public for something original and if the studios won't take a chance with that it leaves the playing field open for independent filmmakers.

If we can solve the low cost marketing and distribution problem, that is, so we can actually reach the audience.
 
I've seen a lot of great films in 2010-11. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I certainly don't expect everything that comes out to be incredible, and the few thrown in with every group of releases seems perfectly reasonable to me. If people want to watch films that are really unique and have a great story, they can find them; there are a lot of new channels, mostly involving the internet, that makes this easier than ever before, and there are more things being released than ever before.

But not everyone wants that. Some people want the familiar, because they're just going for some entertainment, a way to fill up part of their day; they aren't us, which is fine. People are allowed to like what they like. That's just how it works, and the market caters to the masses. This isn't new. By doing so, the studios make enough of a profit on whatever teen targeted pseudo-drama they picked up that they can make something we've never seen before, they can take that risk.

I feel the low cost marketing and distribution challenges have been overcome. A good marketing person has an incredible amount of low cost or free tools available. If you have a great product and understand what you're doing it's very possible, sometimes easy, to get a following. Distribution is definitely more difficult, but if you can get a good following, that can be proof to a distributor that you're worth printing on some discs. It's doable.
 
Pookie said:
Hmm...

Avatar was hardly a Hemingway now was it...
Click to expand...

Not trying to turn this into an avatar thread :p

I always default too NOT WHATS BEEN DONE but HOW ONE DOES IT

Yes, Avatar was an old story, but the manner in which it was executed was solid.
 
I love that article. It really is a question of, what standard should you hold for your films?

I just know that trying to explain why I hate transformers to someone who loves it, is like trying to talk to a brick wall. "Character? Story? An ounce of originality and cohesiveness? What's that?"
 
I don't think any films better embody Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy than Titanic and Avatar.
 
Rainer said:
I don't think any films better embody Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy than Titanic and Avatar.
Click to expand...
I wasn't gonna go into this, but poo poo it.

Best advice about filmmaking I ever got, anywhere, was Don't Despise The Industry You Go Into.

This should be commandment number 1 for filmmakers everywhere.
 
Rainer said:
I don't think any films better embody Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy than Titanic and Avatar.
Click to expand...

Really, you're going to have to back this one up. You don't like those films, I understand. I don't think either film is beyond critical reproach. But examples of creative bankruptcy?...Both are films Hollywood would have run screaming from if James Cameron wasn't the force behind them. A 200 million chick flick that everyone knows the ending to? A 300 million dollar film not based on a pre-existing property, with an environmentally conscious message, giant blue aliens as the heroes, and dependent on untested technology? They were both fairly risky endeavors that had people in the industry scratching their heads. Films based on board games are TRUE examples of Hollywood's creative bankruptcy, because it lays bare the truth that they don't care what the story is. All they care about is brand recognition. I thought movies based on TV shows was bad enough, but at least the success of a TV show is based on narrative content that can be transferred to film. Board games have no narrative content. They are just a familiar brand. They might as well be making Diet Coke: The Movie.
 
Fahad said:
Jawa, I'm not sure what you mean by this, but if you don't think you can bring something better to the table, why get into the industry at all?

I'm not calling you out personally, i'm just saying.
Click to expand...
No that's okay. I'll take that one too.

Because it's a job that I like doing. I get to decide my own hours. When it pays, it pays well. I get to tell stories for a living. I get to hang out and work with other creative people and all the movies I would have watched otherwise, well now I get payed to see them because it's part of what I do for a living.
I enjoy filmmaking. It's something I've always been interested in as a craft, and it beats working at a supermarket for the rest of my life.

You might be doing this believing you will change a century old business from wanting to work as effectively as possible in a financial sense, but that won't happen.

If you dislike the business you're in for it being what it is, maybe you're in the wrong line of work?

That's what I mean.
 
Hollywood isn't about creativity. It never has been. Sure, there are creative people and creative moments, but that is not why Hollywood is in business. It creates a product it can sell, Period. It just happens to sell a product that can require a certain amount of creativity. But just like the company that makes plastic widgets, it's going to use the least amount of the required material necessary to make a profitable product.
 
Rainer said:
I don't think any films better embody Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy than Titanic and Avatar.
Click to expand...

I think this needs a twist. I don't think any films embody society's desire to be pandered to better than Titanic and Avatar (or a host of other films reaching back to the dawn of cinema)
 
Jim Brennan said:
Hollywood isn't about creativity. It never has been. Sure, there are creative people and creative moments, but that is not why Hollywood is in business. It creates a product it can sell, Period. It just happens to sell a product that can require a certain amount of creativity. But just like the company that makes plastic widgets, it's going to use the least amount of the required material necessary to make a profitable product.
Click to expand...
There is that on the one side of the coin, and on the other there's this:

In order to make a movie like for instance Transformers, you need hundreds of people making thousands of highly creative decisions to fit the film within the confines that make up the mainstream mold.

Making a film that's marketable means you work within those limitations, and as we all know, limitations and creativity walk hand in hand.

That's why a film like Transformers is just as much art as a film like Antichrist.
 
Jawa Ex Machina said:
There is that on the one side of the coin, and on the other there's this:

In order to make a movie like for instance Transformers, you need hundreds of people making thousands of highly creative decisions to fit the film within the confines that make up the mainstream mold.
Click to expand...

I agree with where you're going, but I don't see it as the other side of the coin. No doubt that lots of creative people work on even the worst films and I don't mean to sound like I am diminishing that. But Hollywood as a whole has no interest in putting any more of its raw materials (whether that is cash, creativity or ca-ca), into a product than they have to in order for it to create a profit. It has been a successful business model for a century. I have no problem with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top