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Breathing Underwater
and other prerequisites for the first-time filmmaker
By Daniel Davila, director of Harrison Montgomery
(premiering at the International Latino Film Festival in New York)
My wife tells me that if you believe with enough conviction, you can do anything. She cites, as a reasonable experiment, breathing underwater. I think she's nuts - a wonderful, creamy, macadamia breed of dysfunction that is actually a gift. A gift no indie filmmaker can live without.
This gift is composed of two parts innocence, three parts passion and a dash of raw stupidity - and it is crucial, particularly at the outset of a career. Beware, though. Many a filmmaker has plunged off a cliff under this impulse. Remember, there is a pinch of stupidity in the dream of making a movie, and, like chipotle or vanilla, a little goes a long way.
When and how this stupidity comes into play makes all the difference. Stupidity at the first will color all downstream results. The ill-conceived project can't but be poorly executed. By contrast, without stupidity the young filmmaker will fold at the first pressure of inevitable rejection. The fully pragmatic artist will confront the clear and overwhelming truth that most films are failures, financially and artistically, and slink quietly from the room.
Unfortunately, deciding when and how to apply stupidity is near impossible. There is almost no way to identify instantaneous stupidity, unless it is of the overwhelming variety. Even that is hard because the most audaciously idiotic-sounding idea, in the right hands, might be genius.
Therefore, the filmmaking universe, unable to measure or comprehend relative stupidity, looks to another facet of the madness to determine the relative merits of a project: passion.
Passion is, in itself, a difficult word because volume often masquerades in its place. Loudness of speech, intention or idea is not the same as heartfelt clarity of purpose. Here we get to an important caveat. Passion is necessary but not sufficient. It is the expression of this passion driven by the innocent belief that your perspective is unique in human experience that will win the support of the necessary partners in the collaborative realm of filmmaking.
The producing team for our film Harrison Montgomery learned these and other lessons in the grand journey from script to picture lock. We were a generally intelligent crew: four people with more education than is reasonable, from institutions that pride themselves on the ability to intimidate. We weren't so much into stupidity. We were going to figure out how this movie made sense mathematically, and present it as one might offer a bond issue to Florida snowbirds.
This approach was grossly ineffective for the simple reason that we weren't offering a bond issue. We weren't a rated security; we were a film. And damn it, if somebody's going to put a year of greens fees into a project, there'd better be some goddamn fire behind it.
So instead of a measured approach, we had to stride boldly into the field of artistic egotism with the conviction of prophets, and spit the flames needed to warm investor's wallets.
As the director, I drilled into what I already knew was a fresh and unique project for the riches lurking beneath my understanding. What I discovered was the heart of our film - the themes and truths that needed to be shared. Harrison Montgomery is a movie that invites people to wake up, to see the world around them and engage in the magic that is possible in the everyday.
It was the cold reality of economic imperative that pushed me to understand my own movie. This understanding has served as the rudder for the entire process since. It is also the font of the stupidity that compelled more than 200 people, including an Academy Award winner, to work on a tiny film directed by a first-timer. |
What I would like to believe, as the film makes its way into the world, is that this craziness will infect others. Anything grand in life is difficult. But the journey need not be, if we can open ourselves to the sublime; if we can open our hearts.
It is no coincidence that the lead character in Harrison Montgomery is an artist. It is no fluke, either, that his journey allows him, ultimately, to engage in his art. This is the potential journey for all. We all struggle with the limitations of our perceptions. We get wrapped up in the narrative of our existence and miss the opportunities to perfect our art - to bring ourselves wholly to any given moment and, in so doing, express the deep truth of who we are.
That an audience will come to understand this in seeing Harrison Montgomery is my hope. Ambitious? Yes. But you see, I believe with enough conviction that it will. You can ask my wife about that when she gets out of the pool. -MPM
Photos courtesy of the filmmaker.
Harrison Montgomery premieres July 23, 2008 at the HBO New York as part of the New York International Latino Film Festival, which runs July 22-27. Click HERE for ticket information.
official site - www.harrisonmontgomery.com |
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