Advice From Charles Chaplin - On Belief, Directing, And Persistence.

Chaplin is one of the few true geniuses of cinema. When I read the things he says about his work, I am always on the lookout for little hints as to what he did to bring out the best in his work. Any thoughts or beliefs he had - I wanted to explore them. Not only has he left a legacy with his films, but also his views on creativity, film directing, and the power of imagination. Here are some of my favourite Charlie Chaplin quotes.

"Persistence is the road to accomplishment."

"I neither believe nor disbelieve in anything. That which can be imagined is as much an approximation to truth as that which can be proved by mathematics. One cannot always approach truth through reason; it confines us to a geometric cast of thought that calls for logic and credibility."

"I believe that faith is a precursor of all our ideas."

"I believe that faith is an extension of the mind. It is the key that negates the impossible. To deny faith is to refute oneself and the spirit that generates all our creative forces."

"Over the years I have discovered that ideas come through an intense desire for them; continually desiring, the mind becomes a watchtower on the look-out for incidents that may excite the imagination - music, a sunset, may give image to an idea."

On Directing:

"Simplicity of approach is always best."

"Photographing through the fireplace from the viewpoint of a piece of coal, or travelling with an actor through a hotel lobby as though escorting him on a bicycle; to me they are facile and obvious."

"When a camera is placed on the floor or moves about the player's nostrils, it is the camera that is giving the performance and not the actor. The camera should not obtrude."

On What We Now Know As High-Concept Event/Disaster Movies:

"The theme of most of these spectacles is Superman. The hero can out-jump, out-climb, out-shoot, out-fight and out-love anyone in the picture. In fact every human problem is solved by these methods - except thinking."

"It requires little imagination or talent in acting or directing. All one needs is ten million dollars, multitudinous crowds, costumes, elaborate sets and scenery."

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Directing With What You've Got - Following The Unfolding Process.

"Will someone shut up that fridge!" shouts the sound guy. "Will someone shut up that sound guy!" says someone else. "Oh no, now the big giant heating system in the building next door is ruining the sound, I can't work with this!" screams the sound man. So everyone starts arguing but everyone is a bit stuck because the sound man is the only person with sound equipment, and he's getting pissed off.

This could all be solved quite simply, with a character saying, "Damnit, what is that horrible noise?" or "how can you sleep with that coming from next door?" or "Oh My God, my ass is making a fridge like sound, do you hear it?" -- Whatever it might be -- more often than not, ESPECIALLY on low-budget productions, what you can do, and really should do - is follow the unfolding process and go with it. Make it a part of your scene, a part of your story.

Late last year I was doing a zero-budget short film on a handheld camera. The sound was awful -- but I allowed for it to be part of the film. In one scene, an actor kept getting distracted by all the sounds in the streets. He also does some directing himself and was very aware that his wonderful acting could have been lost because of the sound of some guy who randomly started drilling opposite us in the middle of the shoot. I solved it on the spot by saying, "don't worry about the sound, I'll take care of that, just focus on what you're doing. And if the sound bothers you, it'd probably bother your character too." With this permission, he went on to really make it a part of the scene. Coincidentally, I cut this scene from the movie but that was not for technical reasons, but because it didn't quite fit in with the final edit.

I have found this method of filmmaking to be essential to working on a low-budget - and more often than not, it's actually very liberating, and most importantly-- it makes scenes more natural. Rather than being ruined by location problems, you make them a part of what is happening. About five years ago I was doing a short film and the day before one of the actors phoned me, very upset, because he'd broken his ankle, so he could no longer do the movie. I asked him if he still wanted to do it, and he did, so I reworked the scenes a little; and his character was able to have a broken ankle. It's more realistic that way, after all - if someone in your real life breaks a leg, you don't drop them from your life; it just means things change a little.

This more flexible and real approach to directing can have remarkable results. With the handheld-camera short I just told you about, I had one scene left to shoot - and it was a couple breaking up. However, I lost an actor the day before, and couldn't get a suitable replacement. In the end, I did a scene with just the actress; and found a way to still tell the same story, of the same break up. Most directors would reschedule- causing problems for everyone. As it turns out, that impromptu reworking of the scene led to it being my favourite scene in the film. It's funny how these things works out.

I'm not suggesting the Directors out there change the way they work overnight. And of course, sometimes scenes do need meticulous planning and every detail is integral to the unfolding story-- however, when problems are often being thrown at you, keep your eyes open, because as much as it is a problem it is also, equally, a chance for opportunity. A chance to use the very moment you are in to your advantage. And if you handle it right, it will show -- because what happens is so natural, and realistic - because you are directing and handling the scene in the way the world seems to be intending at that moment. Most actors I've worked with love this, because it becomes less like acting and more realistic and believable, because they are reacting to things that are really happening in the moment.

I'll end with one more example. Imagine you are unable to get a scene done because of the ole' classic "we're losing light!" -- well, depending on where your story picks up in the next scene, maybe you can do it in the night? 'But we have no lights?' - then do it in pitch black! Imagine how romantic a romance scene would be in pitch black, or how mysterious a mysterious scene would be, or how scary a scary scene -- there are always possibilities.

"NO, It HAS to be daylight! It has to be during the day because the next scene was shot in daylight and it needs to match up!" -- That, of course, happens a lot. So you have two options, a) Reschedule, re-rent equipment, make everyone miss a day from their jobs, etc etc, or b) shoot it with no light.

What do you do? Well, who knows, every film is different. But maybe you could shoot in dark and still have it as day-time. If it is an office scene, maybe the scene takes place in the basement where there are no windows. If it takes place in a field, maybe it's from the Point-Of-View of a character who is keeping his eyes closed. Who knows! Make the problem an opportunity-- and that way, everything will get done and everyone will be happy!

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A 2010 Bloggies Nomination, and Dreaming On A Bigger Scale.

I was never totally sure anybody would read this. But here you all are. And it's gotten me thinking and dreaming about the film industry. Let me try and explain without sounding completely insane.

This blog, Kid In The Front Row, has really been about me filling a gap I've found growing in recent years--- the gap of the story. The gap of the character with good intentions. The gap of writers who write through inspiration rather than set guidelines on how to sell a screenplay. I have been wanting, for a long time, a community of people who just want a good story, and who want to be inspired, and who want to write stories from their hearts. And it was then I figured, well I can try and start that myself. And that's what this blog was, and is, it's about finding Jimmy Stewart in the modern era. It's about writing from the heart again.

This blog is one of the five blogs nominated under the 'Best Entertainment Category' -- and of course, this is immensely exciting and unexpected for me - I never knew that people would be so interested in this. Through google followers and networkedblogs, this site has some great, active, readers-- not to mention the people on the film blogs groups and the lurkers who show up on my stats but I have no idea who you are. I'm glad you're here.

And the fact that this little blog where I ramble about Chaplin, and ramble about finding and nurturing creativity, the fact it's been nominated at all --- it gives me belief and hope that, on a wider, bigger scale, this is still what people want. And maybe, just maybe, on a big cinematic scale; maybe the return of Jimmy Stewart is near.

Okay, I don't actually mean the return of Jimmy Stewart. It's unlikely he'd be available and let's face it, he'd be worth a bigger paycheck than anyone else in Hollywood right now. But maybe people are yearning for a bit of heart and soul again. It's a tough one because upcoming writers are taught all these stringent guidelines now on what a film is, and what's marketable. But occasionally; someone ignores that and makes 'Once,' or 'Funny Ha Ha' or even 'Juno' - and it just hits you that, yes, this is what a movie should be about. This is why we love the movies.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm saying. I just know that I get some really wonderful emails from people and that people have gotten a lot from the interviews with professionals and from the inner-critic and writers block articles, and it's good to know that people do care - that they do love a good story and expression, it's not all about films like the one where Megan Fox's boobs flap about and big metal things collide with each other for hours.

Thank you for the nominations, and you can still vote for me for the next day or two to make me a finalist out of the five nominees in the 'Best Entertainment Category' http://2010.bloggies.com/. But bare in mind, if you do vote for me and I become a finalist, I will then ditch my love for cinema and instead become a fame-hungry, explosions-and-sex-scenes blogger, with predictable endings. You've been warned......

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just give me one thing that i can hold on to.

There's something great about two people connecting on screen. It can be at it's most powerful when it's done without words - or sometimes even more so when it's done through music, in some way.

This moment in 'Into The Wild' is my favourite part of the film, if not any film. Chris McCandless has been on his journey into the wild, full of these ideas and ideals of his place in the world-- and then he meets this girl. And he's passing through, and she's falling for him.. and as it turns out, they're not meant to be together. But for this one minute, as they sing this song -- they have more of a connection than most of us have in a lifetime. And it's moment like this that really leave me in awe at the true power of the cinema.

"Just give me one thing, that I can hold on to

To believe in this living is just a hard way to go"

-Written By John Prine

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Are Dreams Like Movies?

My dreams are a lot like movies. Badly written and often with terrible endings. Frustratingly, I am cast in most of them but have yet to receive a paycheck. I often feel like one of those over-worked silent film stars, made to shoot three films a day with actors who are vastly inferior to me.

One of the disappointing things in recent years has been how my imagination has often done remakes of old favourites. One of my best dreams was from 1999, the one where I fly to the shops to kiss Meg Ryan but get stuck in one place, unable to finish the journey. Annoyingly, it was remade in 2008, with me in the lead role again but this time with Hilary Clinton as the woman. This was bad enough, but two nights later I had the same dream again but Hilary was replaced by Albert Frickley, my local priest.

I feel as if maybe the funding for script development was cut in recent years, as my recent dreams have not been up to the standard of the previous classics. For example, last night I dreamt I was just waiting in line for ice cream. It lasted two hours. When I finally got to the front of the line, an elephant asked me why I dress like a cowboy. I told him I don't so he stole my money and made me wear a dress. I felt this was vastly unrealistic but I feel my complaints were not received well as the next night, as if by punishment, I had a dream that lasted for three hours. And it was a musical. And it was in Russian with no subtitles. This wouldn't have been so bad if they had not been out of popcorn.

My dreams are often stressful as, even though I broke up with Kate Nosefall two years ago, she still turns up in my dreams almost nightly. The plus side you may say is that at least these dreams are X-rated; but unfortunately I have no joy in watching my ex-girlfriend in bed with my local Priest.

Are your dreams like movies?

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