fictionsmith

I recently saw a trailer for an action movie that had no real recognizeable name actors in it… It looked well produced, explosions abundant, and even someone leaping from a building onto a helicopter.

All I could think was: “That must have been horribly difficult to shoot and I am not the least bit enticed to see this movie.”

I started to wonder if I was just becoming jaded to spectacle in movies.  Bigger explosions, faster races, etc…  I’m into epic scenes, but will those soon become mundane when I’ve seen enough of them?

I haven’t scene the latest big robot movie, and while I enjoyed my action figures of yesteryear, I’m not terribly interested in G.I. Joe.  The hook for these movies seems to be “Hey, look at us!  We used to be toys you loved!  Plot?  Uh, look over there! Explosions and Megan Fox on a motorcycle!”

.:Navel-gazing
I determined I much more care about the people in the story than the expensive-to-produce spectacle.  Granted, I’m at the ‘indie’ level of producing, and those types of things aren’t even viable.

Perhaps this is why I like when sci-fi becomes about the people (a la Serenity) instead of the technology.  A bit of eye candy is great, but you have to have a meal of a story behind it.  I need to care about the two people that are fighting each other and feel like the stakes are real and personal.

But drama is hard to sell.  Comedy is worse.  People have to be hooked into a story either by an actor (“Oooh, I want to see what Robert Downy Jr does with that role…”) or a unique plot element that makes you curious (“Wait, the protagonist has to tattoo things on his body because he can’t form new memories?”)  On an indie level, unless superbly acted, you’re not going to hook an audience in to become interested in the lives of someone they don’t recognize and have no level of trust regarding a certain level of assured quality for their entertainment…

.:Shelves
Want to know what’s depressing?  Walking around Blockbuster, looking at all of the new titles on the shelves (“Hold on, this has Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas as the two leads and I’ve never heard of it…”)  I try to keep myself up to date with Apple Trailers and anywhere else that has announcements that movies coming out… so to see a glut of direct-to-DVD movies with actors I know and enjoy sitting on the shelves when marketing has never reached me… really brings things into focus.

.:Silver Lining
But, I’m making a movie.  I can’t afford Morgan Freeman or Antonio Banderas, but I’m making a movie.  I love the process, being with friends, creating something we can all sit back and enjoy, so maybe I shouldn’t get bent out of shape when a pipe dream (theatrical release) seems further away and just enjoy that my story is getting told.  I know enough people that would love to be in production on an indie flick that they wrote, so I’ll take that cue to shut up, appreciate that some people can afford explosions and helicopters, and I that I have enough resources around me to tell a character driven story that will hopefully make people smile.

-R