Episode - 001

Cullen

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. I'm Cullen McFater and I'm from Toronto, Canada, and this is Clark Coffey. Joining me from Sunny California, Orange County. How are you doing?

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Clark

And doing all right, man. How are you?

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Cullen

I'm great. I'm great. Awesome. So why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and say a little bit about yourself?

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Clark

Hey, I got it back over to me. Well, yeah, everybody. You certainly don't know who we are yet, but. But we'll well, tell you a little bit about ourselves so that you kind of have an idea of who we are and where we're coming from as we start our series of podcasts that we're going to basically dedicate to the discussion of Werner Herzog and initially his masterclass that he's got on Masterclass dot com, which Colin and I both have done and actually met through.

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Clark

And then we'll probably end up discussing his films and his writings and he's got several books that he's authored and he's done an endless number of interviews both in print and on in video. But we're going to kind of go use all of that material as a jumping off point to discuss film, film, philosophy, filmmaking, even like creative process philosophy of art, and maybe even just a little, you know, application to life in general.

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Clark

So a little bit of background about me. I, like Colin, said, I'm out here in Orange County, California. I am pursuing a career in filmmaking. I have only been doing so, though for about ten years. I'm in my mid-forties, so I started pretty late. I used to work in advertising, didn't like it, felt like it was kind of sucking the soul out of my body.

00;01;44;14 - 00;02;11;11

Clark

And I had always wanted to be a filmmaker and had always loved film. So I decided to set out to try to be an actor because that's what I saw on camera is what I saw on screen. And that was kind of the most immediate, recognizable role in the world of filmmaking for me. And I did that for about like, like singularly for about eight years and boy, do I have some really wacky stories from that experience.

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Clark

But actually, I mean, it was a very great experience. But as I kind of pursued that career in acting more and more and more, I realized, you know, I'm going to have to to take on some of these other roles that exist in the world of filmmaking. If I'm going to do anything in this industry instead of just, you know, waiting for somebody to invite me to act, I thought, you know, maybe I can start to write my own stuff.

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Clark

Maybe I can, you know, direct my own stuff, produce my own stuff, etc., etc.. So more and more I was exposed to these different roles and actually ended up really loving a lot of these things, although writing still scares the crap out of me. But what I really, really, really love directing and so I've kind of been putting my energy more towards that.

00;02;56;15 - 00;03;25;13

Clark

But I'm certainly, you know, I would say in the beginning of my career, but I have written and directed and acted in quite a few performances for the stage. And then over the past eight years or so in front of and behind the camera, from short films to even now, Recently, I am directing and producing a handful of documentary and narrative features that I'm in progress on.

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Clark

So yeah, I don't know. In a nutshell, there's me.

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Cullen

Tara Cullen Well, yeah, I, I've got less years than you, but I similarly, I started, I was interested in film as a, as a kid. I got really interested around the time I was five or six and I would use the old, you know, hi8 video camera that we had at home to make movies. And but as a kid, you know, and going even up to high school, I primarily did more acting kind of similarly to you.

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Cullen

And that was not out of a desire to be an actor, but it was more out of when you're a kid, yeah, it's easier to act than it is to make a movie because of course, you know, there's a little bit more behind being a director than it is just to, you know, go join a spring play or something like that or a school play.

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Cullen

So I did a lot of acting, basically since I was a kid. I did a lot of improv stuff with Second City and places like that. And then when I was in high school, I went to a kind of notable arts high school just outside of Toronto, and so I became kid. It's like I took I took a four, four years of like intensive acting school.

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Cullen

There. But I also knew that I never wanted to be, you know, an actor. I had acted in a few things and I'd done a lot of stage, but I never I always wanted to be, you know, behind the camera instead of in front of it. So all that while as a kid, I was making dozens and dozens of short films and now I, I teach a film class.

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Cullen

I work primarily as like a freelance cinematographer, and I direct a lot of my own stuff, but my own company up here in Toronto. Awesome that I make films first are through, and now we're actually just gearing up on our first feature now, which is really exciting. And it will be my kind of directorial debut when it comes to feature territory.

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Cullen

So excited about that.

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Clark

Yeah, that's super cool. That's going to be really interesting, different, you know, kind of different histories, different perspectives that we can kind of bring to this analysis and discussion. It's so interesting that you actually did go to an art school. I did not. And it's really interesting that you teach a film class because that's a big part of what Herzog discusses here in these first couple of lessons that we can jump into.

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Clark

But before we do, I want to draw some attention to the name of our podcast, which is Soldiers of Cinema. And of course, we did not just make that, but make that up on our own, as cool as it is. But we got that from Herzog himself. And, and he, you know, not just in this master class, but if you go back, you know, I think that he's used this phrase quite often, you know, over the past numerous decades.

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Clark

I love it. I think that it's an awesome descriptor of what my my hopes would be or my ideal would be as a filmmaker, what I would hope to achieve would be a soldier of cinema. But what does that mean to you? What do you think Herzog means? And what, if anything, does that mean to you?

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Cullen

Colin I mean, on a on a very basic level, I think it's about not doing anything passively. I think it's about being very active in, you know, something that you like if it's a creative output. And of course, this being specifically about cinema and about film, I think it's about, you know, if you're making something, you're fully invested in it.

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Cullen

You are a you are a soldier, you're you're you would, you know, crawl through the trenches on all fours to get a shot. You would you would you would put your heart and soul into the projects that you're doing. Yeah. As opposed to, again, as I said, just kind of being passive about it, obviously using it as a paycheck and kind of meandering the 9 to 5 job that you can technically turn a film career into.

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Cullen

But I think it's about kind of which is hard to rejecting that.

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Clark

It's like I you know it's hard to believe but yeah and I think just you know, it's an interesting analogy to just, you know, on many different levels how although I have never been to war and so I would never try to presume that I would know what that experience is like. And so in no way is trying to diminish, you know, what you know, that actual experience.

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Clark

But, you know, I think a lot of people use that analogy for what making a film is kind of like, whether it's, you know, just pre-production, trying to get funding or trying to get hired or, you know, at every step actually making the film. I mean, it is kind of seems sometimes like you're just fighting against, you know, nature itself, almost.

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Clark

The creative process can really be a profoundly challenging one. And of course, it's profoundly rewarding. But yeah, and sometimes your your fellow filmmakers feel like brothers and sisters in arms because your head is such a challenge. You know, But we can kind of bring that up in different ways over over time. And it's also I think, you know, there's there's a lot of points or there's a lot of points of conflict maybe between your ideals, your integrity and and compromise.

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Cullen

Even your vision, you know.

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Clark

Is that right? Right. And of course, certainly one of the things that Herzog is known for and he stands out for and he's an inspiration to me, is his his lack of compromise how how ever? I don't think I don't think that you could point to any one of his many, many films and say, oh, that was a compromised product.

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Clark

That doesn't happen.

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Cullen

It's never from a place of disrespect either, which is really admirable. Yeah, it's always a mutual understanding of like, okay, you've got to do your job. I've got to do my job. How can we both get what we want out of this?

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Clark

Well, yeah, or Herzog, But yeah, I think he's just he's an extraordinary example of, you know, of a person pursuing his vision endlessly. And I think that it's extraordinary. We don't have many filmmakers or many artists, period, like that, at least, you know, that are widely known because often it it requires such great compromise, whether, you know, whoever's paid for the film, your investors, the studio, etc., etc..

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Clark

I mean, it's just extremely difficult to make a film of any size without having just, you know, thousands of points of significant compromise. So, yeah, it's so that's why we picked it be interesting to to know what other people's interpretations of Soldier of Cinema are. I'm sure that this is going to come back because it's it's such an interesting phrase that describes kind of an overall philosophy or a theme.

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Clark

But let's go into some other things that that Herzog discusses in these first couple of lessons. And one of the big things he talks about is that he he mentions he's self-taught and pretty proud of that, I think. And and he kind of just comes right out and says he's like, you know, I don't think that film film school is worth it.

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Clark

It's expensive. And I think that you can paraphrasing Herzog here, of course. But but you know, you can kind of teach yourself everything that you need to know, at least logistically, to make a film in just a couple of weeks. And after that, it's, you know, take the money that you would have spent on film school and spend that on making your own films.

00;10;27;14 - 00;10;43;17

Clark

And not a lot of other people think this too. But let's kind of discuss that for a minute. What do you think, Colin? I mean, as somebody, you know, you get you didn't go to film school per se, but you went to a performing arts school and you teach film yourself in certain capacities. So like, what are your thoughts on that?

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Clark

On Herzog Take care.

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Cullen

Yeah, I think I think it kind of allows you almost when you're not in I think film schools are great. And what I always tell my students is that, you know, you can go and just just look at what you learn, look at the curriculums and look at things like that. And if you learn something, then it has value.

00;11;01;07 - 00;11;33;15

Cullen

But I think that the benefit that at least I've found and not going to film school and never like I've never taken film in an educational environment or anything like that, is is kind of the freedom to not have to worry about a lot of rules. And I don't mean safety rules, of course, safety's always really important, but I mean more in terms of of there's certain things that that what I notice at film schools kind of trying to drill in the heads of the students and it usually works I can tell the difference almost nine times out of ten, if I'm working with somebody who has a film school background versus someone who is

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Cullen

self-taught.

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Clark

Yeah.

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Cullen

And not saying that one is better or the other. But but I think that, you know, if you see.

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Clark

Some examples, like what would you So give me an example, kind of like some things you feel like that really stand out that you can kind of tell immediately like, oh, this person had gone to film school, even.

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Cullen

Something as simple as something like storyboarding. And I know a lot of people who come out of film school who who don't storyboard, but I think that there's there's almost this kind of, you know, academic take on something like if if a shoot is you know, if you're if you're improvising a shot or if you're like, I'm not sure if that shot's actually going to work anymore or something like that, or you're changing things around.

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Cullen

One thing I often hear is, you know, from film school people is just like, Oh, what? We should have storyboarded. Whereas I often find that kind of organic coming up with shots on the day or looking at something and going, That would be a great shot. Let's change this too. There is actually something that makes films better rather than sticking to, you know, like kind of like a bible of production that you need this shot, then this shot in the shot, right?

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Clark

You know, like maybe people who've gone to film school sometimes maybe get a little dogmatic in what they've been taught, perhaps. Yeah.

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Cullen

Yeah, that's a good word, I think.

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Clark

Yeah, I think I've seen that too. And it's, you know, it's probably. Yeah, it's interesting. You know, definitely, you know, film school is often extremely expensive and so that's certainly a, you know, a very real practical consideration. I mean, I think a lot of people just flat out couldn't afford it. And I think you certainly I mean, I don't think there's any question that you don't have to go to film school to become a filmmaker.

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Clark

So first and foremost. So if you're out there listening, you know, by all means, I mean, don't feel like I just want to say do not feel like that this is going to be some kind of, you know, obstacle that you're not going to be able to get past.

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Cullen

Like I'm making great school out of your career, right.

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Clark

That it's a make it or break it thing. I mean, please don't. Please don't. Because, you know, especially in today's day and age with all of the I mean, I do agree with Herzog. I think that from a logistical standpoint. Right. From a technical standpoint, I do think that you can learn at least enough to start to get going and to make your own short films.

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Clark

I think that you can learn, right with just some YouTube videos. There's so many you know, you can learn the basic fundamentals technologically of of how to shoot something. And then and then you learn on the job and.

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Cullen

You know, yeah, I was going to say is that that you know people will often say the value of film school is that you're learning about like these professional environments. But every single time I've been on a set, or at least when I was starting to work on sets, there were no people that were unhappy to teach me something or to explain something to me.

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Cullen

And, you know, rather than paying tens of thousands of dollars to to learn that I'm paying, yeah, yeah, I'm being paid at that point to learn this stuff, which is great. And I think that, you know, there's even a huge difference I have noticed on sets of and I've never run a bigger set like, oh, everything I've directed has always been very indie, very barebones crew, which I love.

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Cullen

Yeah, But every time I've worked on a bigger set, either as a DP or as a camera operator, I've noticed even when there are things that the people that are at film school or were at film school are are treated differently than the guys who are self-taught. Not in a really not in a negative way, Like it's not like one of them is trashed on or anything like that.

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Cullen

But yeah, you just notice that often the guys that we're at film school are sort of given more rigid guidelines and sort of said, you know, do this, whereas the guys that weren't at film school were often kind of invited to tag along to bigger jobs that they might not be involved in and things like that like. So while the people that were at film school on this actually was is a direct example for my job.

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Cullen

I worked last year. Peers at film school were all told to kind of set up all the interview spaces and, you know, get the bars up with the the cloth and things like that and the couches all set up. Yeah. And the WHO at this point I was a camera operator. I wasn't working as a P.A., but the who were were not with that program from that film school.

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Cullen

Yeah. Again, they were just kind of invited to tag along to different things and just kind of observe and they didn't have to, you know, necessarily be working and actually setting things up at every, every waking moment they could. They were a lot more, I think, invited to just come on and observe the process and things like that, which was really interesting.

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Cullen

I thought that that was kind of yeah.

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Clark

I mean, I think, you know, I think, you know, my experience, right? It's there's always a time and a place, but, you know, just a couple of thoughts to I mean, not to get too far sidetracked into like a how to as opposed to kind of discussing Herzog's comments. But just real quickly, I mean, you know, depending on where you live, I mean, there are a lot of opportunities to to learn how to you know, to learn how to make film.

00;16;14;24 - 00;16;38;11

Clark

If you've not been to film school, you know, some of them seem a little obvious. Maybe more so than others. But, I mean, you know, obviously grab a camera any which way you can and start to make your own films. There are so many resources online. It's just almost even, you know, it's tough. There's almost too many. But but certainly you can pick up the barebones kind of minimal stuff.

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Clark

But, you know, like you said, I mean, go be a a there is even if it's a small production and you're in your town, you know, go shadow somebody, people are usu usually people are really open to if you're professional, if you're polite, if you're kind, if you're courteous, if you're not pushy, and you ask at the right time and place, in a way, you know, they're definitely you can find people out there who will allow you to shadow them.

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Cullen

Yeah, there's no harm in asking. That's kind of what I learned.

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Clark

So and it's a tradeoff, right? I mean, you know, you can go work for free on a production in order. Basically consider yourself an intern in order to learn. I mean, I've. I've done that myself. I mean, I, you know, even after I kind of had a career and had done stuff, I would, you know, I would offer myself up for to be a camera assistant, for example, for a couple of times so that I could learn how to operate a, you know, a specific type of camera.

00;17;29;20 - 00;17;48;09

Clark

This case happened to be a read. And I was really curious about using certain type of lenses, which they had. And so, you know, I was like, well, hey, I will I'll carry your crap and kind of be a camera assistant here so that I can learn some of this stuff. But, you know, other ways to you can learn that aren't maybe as obvious is kind of go in a different role.

00;17;48;24 - 00;18;03;00

Clark

You know, I remember when I was first starting out now I was pursuing acting. So it was, you know, felt a little bit more in line. But I ended up learning a lot more about what the crew did than I did about acting as a background actor. So I would I would you know, I did this for a few months.

00;18;03;00 - 00;18;28;23

Clark

I wouldn't suggest doing it for very long because there's definitely a law of diminishing returns. But for, you know, for a handful of times, you know, that was a way that I could get on a totally I mean, you know, the biggest sets out there. I mean, we're talking major studio feature films, major studios, television shows. I'm standing right there watching the actors work, watching the crew work, you know, and what you're able to learn about the hierarchy of who does what and how to set.

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Clark

I mean, it was extraordinary what I could learn. And I'm being paid to do it. And because, you know, it's like you're standing around doing nothing. 99% of the time when you're a background performer, performers, a stretch. But you know, when you're in background, but you I mean, you can learn so much if you just pay attention.

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Cullen

So I think and sort of in line with Herzog's philosophy, too, I think that my personal take on us all too, is like, even if I wasn't making money in any of this, I would still be doing it. Yeah, I'm really lucky to be able to make money doing this and to be doing what I love. And even, you know, I had no dreams that I would be working even on indie sets as a cinematographer as quickly as I did.

00;19;08;29 - 00;19;28;09

Cullen

And I was really lucky to have gotten there, you know, faster than a lot of people do get there. But I think that even if I wasn't making money, even if I wasn't doing that as a job, I would, you know, absolutely still be making movies on my own. As you know, even out of office, I would be you know, it would be doing and most of the things that I've made thus far have been at a loss there.

00;19;28;09 - 00;19;48;07

Cullen

They're there because I you know, I liked to do them. And especially with personal projects, things like that, like I'm not selling these to any big studios and getting getting, you know, royalties back or anything like that. I usually just release them online for free because I don't really care about, you know, making a huge paycheck off of my own things at this point.

00;19;48;12 - 00;19;54;24

Cullen

When I can do that, that'll be great. But but at the moment, it's just one of those things that I'm like, you know, I'm doing it because I love it. Yeah.

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Clark

Yeah, for sure. And maybe that's part of a little bit of what it means to be a soldier of cinema to work through those tough times. But, you know, there are lessons further down the road here where Herzog does talk about, you know, financing projects and developing a career. And we can kind of definitely dive more into those topics when we get there.

00;20;12;01 - 00;20;29;10

Clark

But, you know, another thing that Herzog mentions in this lesson is, you know, and which is it's crazy to think about. I mean, it's so interesting to think he talks about how, you know, he grew up in the middle of the Bavarian APS and Alps and he didn't see a film until he was 11, which was which is extraordinary.

00;20;29;10 - 00;20;51;00

Clark

Of course, like most of you listening, hear it, myself included. And you to Cohen. I mean, we've been so steeped in in film and television, you know, from the from that our most infantile times probably I mean, it's hard to even imagine. And that's probably a big part of why his voice is so singular and unique, because he wasn't so much of that.

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Clark

Yeah, but, you know, Herzog recommends watching films, which, you know, and we're going to find that this is this happens very rate with great regularity with Herzog. You know, he kind of says like, well, hey, I didn't see films until I was 11. And then he's like, I suggest you watch films to learn how to make films. It's kind of a funny irony, you know, a little bit.

00;21;11;10 - 00;21;43;21

Clark

But but Herzog talks about, you know, watching films to learn, and he uses specific film in that lesson. Viva Zapata as an example. He kind of just showcases he's like, you know, here's a great example of like of a character introduction of Marlon Brando's character in that film. And he kind of walks through that opening scene there, but a little bit, you know, For you, how important was that watching other films?

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Clark

Did that was that a big part of your inspiration? Do you feel like it was a big part of your learning?

00;21;49;13 - 00;22;08;27

Cullen

Oh, I mean, without being by process of osmosis, Absolutely. Yeah. Like even if you're not actually actively watching films to learn something from them, you're just going to take inspiration from the things that you like. But I also, you know, on a flip side of that, I don't watch that many movies. Strangely enough, I don't have a preference or.

00;22;08;27 - 00;22;09;21

Clark

Kind of ever well.

00;22;09;21 - 00;22;23;08

Cullen

I mean, average before quarantine, I would say, was about maybe twice a week, and now it's probably one every two weeks. And I think that's just because I've been going to films and I think it's because I've been trying to create a lot and been trying to kind of get things.

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Clark

What about what about when you were young? Do you kind of do you have to do like where were you like a film fiend when you were?

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Cullen

I was definitely I was well, I was I was the type of person that would watch you know, I would watch the entirety of Lord of the Rings, and then I would watch the 50 hours of behind the scenes of the movies afterwards.

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Clark

And you've heard of the ring? Yeah.

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Cullen

I mean, that was insane. But like, same with Jaws. Like, I would watch Jaws and then I would watch the, the entire behind the scenes making of I would watch every facet of those things, even when I had you know, I remember one of the earlier things I had was the Star Wars special editions on VHS.

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Clark

Nice.

00;22;56;22 - 00;23;09;22

Cullen

And those ones were the ones where you couldn't just select the, you know, obviously no menus on VHS. So. Right, right. You would have to watch the whole movie. And then after the credits roll, you would get the behind the scenes kind of special edition.

00;23;09;26 - 00;23;10;04

Clark

That's.

00;23;10;04 - 00;23;24;11

Cullen

Also making movies and things like that. So I remember doing that. And I think honestly, if you looked at those tapes, the parts of the tapes that would be completely worn down would be the parts of the special like the making of because I you know, I would just I would watch those over and over watching it. You know, An Empire Strikes Back then.

00;23;24;11 - 00;23;46;00

Cullen

I'm going to think it was Norway and being on location. It was just such that it was like it was like watching Indiana Jones and realizing that you could be Indiana Jones without really the danger of it, that that, you know, as a director, you could go and still leave out all these experience is Yeah, but, but you're there and you're getting paid and you're making something.

00;23;46;00 - 00;24;06;09

Clark

That's right. This was actually like an art and a craft and Yeah, could potentially be a profession. Yeah, well, you know, in Herzog talks about that too, and you know, about how he kind of first realized that that film was that there was an artifice, that it was fake, that, you know, he mentions that he noticed that the exact same footage was used a couple of times in a film.

00;24;06;09 - 00;24;31;05

Clark

And he's like, wait a minute, I just saw that, you know, that same guy fall off, that, you know, whatever it was. And that was kind of like an awakening for him. Like, oh, wait a minute, This is actually this is a crafted thing. This is, you know, and it's so, so interesting that you talk about, you know, when you were young, having access to all of these behind the scenes featurettes and the making of the director's commentaries and things.

00;24;31;14 - 00;24;53;19

Clark

You know, of course, people of my generation, we didn't have any of that. So, you know that all of the the kind of infrastructure is in for I mean, everybody knows what IMDB is now. Everybody knows box office reports, everybody know, you know, there's so much making of and that's that's just part of the marketing of films now is kind of the story of how they're made.

00;24;53;26 - 00;25;05;05

Clark

I mean, you know, some of my favorite films, it's like, you know, my pop in my Alien DVD or Blu ray, and you know, there's the film is 2 hours long and there's like 8 hours of, you know, features.

00;25;05;06 - 00;25;05;19

Cullen

Entry.

00;25;05;27 - 00;25;34;29

Clark

Documentaries, right? It's like mind blowing. But, you know, like a lot of people, like myself, generation, we didn't have any of that. And I'm curious, like, know, I don't have any specific recollection like Herzog does of when I realized that filmmaking was a thing that, you know, professional people did. And this was actually a career and there were actors and there were director, you know, and all this kind of I can't really remember when that was, but, but, but I am definitely a fan of that making of content like you are.

00;25;34;29 - 00;25;53;16

Cullen

I think it's interesting too, because I've heard like even Peter, you know, to go back to Lord of the Rings, but Peter Jackson basically said that, you know, you don't why go to film school when you've essentially got a, you know, 25 hour film school? And the maker of the DVDs, right. Like you go through every single facet of of the production of those series.

00;25;53;16 - 00;26;14;01

Clark

Really? Yeah, That's a really great point. You know, and it's so that Yeah, so there is just another resource that people have today that they didn't have before. And, you know, some of these commentaries, some of these making of's are definitely more useful than others. I and for different reasons but absolutely. You know especially, you know, go find your favorite films.

00;26;14;01 - 00;26;34;03

Clark

Go find films that really speak to you, that touch you and see if there is a director commentary or a making of. And a lot of times these may even be on YouTube or other places online, if not definitely on the DVD or Blu ray or HD discs, and some of them are extraordinarily insightful. So yeah, good point.

00;26;34;03 - 00;26;57;20

Clark

Another great resource I it's interesting, I don't know if there's any way we could really, you know, come to any true understanding of it, but I wonder if there if that makes any difference. You know, the generations younger who grew up just almost since birth, you know, steeped in this making of content versus people who didn't have any access to this, you know, And we had to kind of figure out our own like, you know, what was going on.

00;26;57;20 - 00;27;19;21

Clark

It I mean, I definitely feel like it kept the creative process a mystery for me until much, much later in life. You know, I do. I do very you know, I do remember thinking like, these aren't even like real human beings. Like, what is this magic? You know, not literally, but I mean, you know, like, who are these people?

00;27;19;21 - 00;27;30;05

Cullen

Like, like Herzog says about the guy falling off the cliff. And then in a later battle scene, he falls off the cliff again. And it's this realization of like, oh, there's something being manipulated here. There's this isn't just real.

00;27;30;24 - 00;27;40;27

Clark

And I just meant like, yeah, there's that. But it was just I guess what I was trying to say is that it took me so much later in life to realize that this was something that maybe I could do.

00;27;41;07 - 00;27;41;16

Cullen

Yeah.

00;27;41;26 - 00;28;05;12

Clark

Because. Because it didn't seem like real people. I mean, I grew up in Missouri. I grew up in the Midwest to non-autistic parents. I mean, it was, you know, so that's part of it there. But I mean, it was like maybe I don't know. I was just I'm just kind of wondering out loud. It's like, I wonder if had I been exposed to, you know, to to these making those more of this stuff, I'd be like, oh, yeah, they're just people like this.

00;28;05;16 - 00;28;24;09

Clark

These are just like normal people like anybody else. And this is just a job, basically, you know? But yeah, I mean, it just seemed like such a mystery to me for so long. And, and I think that some of that even kind of sticks with me to this day, you know, where I'm like, I hold the process in such kind of or, you know, I'm I'm in such all of it, you know, films that I really, really love.

00;28;24;18 - 00;28;30;16

Clark

I mean, Herzog even kind of, you know, in his films, I'm just like, wow, You know, just.

00;28;30;25 - 00;28;32;14

Cullen

Just like, how did they pull this off?

00;28;33;00 - 00;28;39;28

Clark

Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, what are your thoughts on that? It's like, obviously there's no, like, right or wrong answer. But what do you think? Just having grown up with all that stuff.

00;28;40;04 - 00;28;53;09

Cullen

And to go back to Jaws, I think that Jaws was the first time that I ever was affected by a movie subconsciously that like I got out of watching Jaws and I didn't want to slip out of bed. I thought I was going to slip into the ocean and to get over that fear.

00;28;53;09 - 00;28;53;19

Clark

I love.

00;28;53;19 - 00;29;10;11

Cullen

It. But but to get over that fear, I went and I watched all the making of of it, you know, three, six, I want to say six or seven at the time. Oh, wow. And I just sat down and watched the entire making of the movie. And then suddenly the movie wasn't scary for me anymore. Suddenly it was, you know, watching that movie.

00;29;10;11 - 00;29;29;24

Cullen

And there's still there's frightening scenes. And, of course, that still affected me and still do to this day. But the movie itself wasn't this thing that was creeping into my real life now. It was something that I was like, How do I get into that position where I can scare people and I can get into, you know, get into to making a giant shark?

00;29;29;24 - 00;29;44;17

Cullen

And a lot of that for me was actually it came in through stop motion because I had kind of unlimited budgets. When you when you think about that and it's very similar to people who do you know other types of animation is that or even something like writing a book is that you don't really have a budget for those things.

00;29;44;17 - 00;29;56;12

Cullen

You can do whatever you want. So I had all these Lego sets and suddenly, you know, I had a dinosaur battle in my movie, whereas that would cost millions and millions of dollars to do on a real set. I had these little Lego things that I could play around with, and.

00;29;56;12 - 00;29;59;15

Clark

There you go all the time in the world, time and imagination.

00;29;59;15 - 00;30;23;05

Cullen

And it's also the kind of the hardships of it, too, because the amount of times that the T-Rex head would fall off or something like that. And I kind of learned how how difficult it is kind of logistically to make these things. But now I think kind of to more answer your question, I think that what it did for me is it set up a real expectation and quite an accurate expectation about what it's like to be on those sets.

00;30;23;05 - 00;30;45;07

Cullen

You know, one, I think the one really great thing about a lot of those behind the scenes making of content things is that they usually don't sugarcoat things. You know, if something goes wrong, it's usually kind of, if anything, the focus of those those documentaries as opposed to a lot of other things that kind of just show you the happy side of it or just show you the the, you know, the everyone cheering along and being being happy together and seeing.

00;30;45;19 - 00;30;59;29

Clark

All those documentary, those documentaries are kind of trying to tell their own story. Right? Yeah. And there's no story if there's no conflict. So that's an interesting point. So it sounds like maybe you felt like those things kind of gave you a more realistic expectation that like.

00;30;59;29 - 00;31;00;24

Cullen

For sure, for sure.

00;31;00;24 - 00;31;06;22

Clark

It's hard. This is like hard work, just like anything else. I mean, yeah, Interesting, man. I hadn't thought of that.

00;31;07;12 - 00;31;30;10

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, it really. I think prepared me in that in that kind of weird way to do like, I know, you know, even even on a very basic level of just set procedure of like, you know, you learn why the clapperboard is there, you learn why, you know, what's the boom operator doing while people are setting up the lights and things like that.

00;31;30;10 - 00;31;31;27

Cullen

And you just kind of look for. Yeah.

00;31;32;06 - 00;31;49;27

Clark

It's it's like tedium. I mean, I think it's like it kind of I think that's it, you know, it's it even Herzog mentions this. I mean, you know, it's clear that Herzog this is what he's spent his entire life doing. It's is clearly his passion. And, you know, even he is like, God, you know, filmmaking can be such profound tedium.

00;31;49;27 - 00;31;59;00

Clark

It's like mind numbing. You know, I've like, literally heard him describe it that way. And, God, I mean, if anybody's been on a set, you know, it's like it really can I mean, it.

00;31;59;03 - 00;32;00;07

Cullen

Can be just him.

00;32;00;11 - 00;32;21;05

Clark

Grinding. I mean, just grinding. So it's, you know, that's interesting. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's, you know, so you were kind of exposed to more of the realities of filmmaking at a much younger age. And, you know, it frankly, let's be honest, I didn't have any exposure to that or understanding of it until much, much, much later in life.

00;32;21;05 - 00;32;35;07

Clark

I mean, probably didn't really get an accurate gist of that until I actually started, you know, being on sets. And it was like, oh, my gosh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It's kind of a bit of action. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, like.

00;32;35;08 - 00;32;55;13

Cullen

Yeah, you just kind of yeah, I well, I've got kind of funny anecdote to that. Yeah, I, I watched George Melia at a very young age, like the Voyage to the Moon and stuff. And, you know, as many people might know, George Miller was a magician. And so that's kind of always how I thought of film. Like ever since I was a really young kid, was that it's essentially illusion.

00;32;55;13 - 00;33;11;26

Cullen

It's yeah, it's an optical illusion. It is it is like we are the magicians going out and and creating these magic shows. And that's one of and the same way I've never really been super into magic. Like, it's not like I ever had it. That was never like when I was kids that would pull up cards and do card tricks and things like that.

00;33;11;26 - 00;33;21;06

Cullen

But I've always been into more interested, if anything, in pulling back that curtain and learning how those tricks are done and in very much the same way, that was kind of where my interests lie and film.

00;33;21;21 - 00;33;53;02

Clark

Interesting. Yeah. So. So yeah, well, you know it and so like we mentioned, these are these can be powerful inspirations, powerful tools of education and information. I'm just curious, like, what were you like a handful of like those films that were the biggest inspirations to you? Do you kind of remember that I mentioned a couple of hands, but his but I'm just curious kind of what what do you feel like or a handful of the films that were most inspirational to you as a kid where you were like, I want to do this?

00;33;53;02 - 00;34;05;04

Cullen

Pretty much all of Hitchcock's big ones, you know, Psycho North by Northwest, Vertigo. Yeah, I mean, my dad was a big Hitchcock fan, so I watched a lot of those as a little kid North by Northwest, everything with that rear window.

00;34;05;04 - 00;34;07;15

Clark

You're not trying to sound fancy here now, are you? No, no, no.

00;34;07;15 - 00;34;17;09

Cullen

I remember I your window was like my favorite movie as a kid, and. Wow. And that was that movie. And I just made a rear window parody just a few months ago. So. Yeah.

00;34;18;14 - 00;34;32;26

Clark

But I mean, that's extraordinary. I feel like as a kid, I probably would have been so profoundly bored by that film. I would just be perfectly honest. I don't think that I had the patience or, you know, attention to, I think.

00;34;32;26 - 00;34;46;23

Cullen

As the hyping up of my dad that my dad would always talk about these movies as though they were like, terrifying. So I couldn't be bored because I was just waiting for the next scary moment in them. And now I'm thinking at all times that I was going to be horrified. So, you know, especially the psycho and things like that.

00;34;47;02 - 00;34;53;24

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, so Hitchcock's larger films, but what else? For some it's Jaws. You mentioned Jaws.

00;34;54;22 - 00;35;14;21

Cullen

Jaws. I mean, as I said, Jaws was kind of the first time I was ever really actively involved, like scared by a movie beyond just a screening that I that I kind of like gave you a list that you could or. Yeah, and I had no understanding of why that was. But it was something that even just in a really young age, you still sort of get that in your head that you can like, Oh, they did something to me.

00;35;14;21 - 00;35;32;06

Cullen

Even I can't put it into words as to why. Yeah, Jaws. I loved a lot of old westerns, things like a lot of John Ford's and oh, wow, you know, you can make it. My dad was born in 1955, so it's kind of what he grew up with, Right? So I think that's likely why a lot of that was passed on to me.

00;35;33;01 - 00;35;55;04

Cullen

And things like a bridge too far, like I was obsessed with with war movies as a kid, too. I remember one of the first bigger movies that I made with a friend was we made this stop motion D-Day movie about and we used for, you know, the little plastic army men and stuff like that. We had these sweeping battle shots where my friend would be zooming in on the the little figures dying and I would be pouring tomato sauce on them and things like that.

00;35;55;17 - 00;35;57;27

Cullen

So but it was just it was like it was like.

00;35;57;27 - 00;35;58;14

Clark

This unit.

00;35;58;17 - 00;36;12;10

Cullen

Because he would pan the camera to the left and I would run to all the figures on the right and knock a few of them over and pour the stuff over. And then he would pan back to the right and I'd run around the camera and all the things that were off screen. So again, it was like a magic show where you're you're showing you're not showing the trick.

00;36;12;10 - 00;36;13;22

Cullen

You're just kind of revealing.

00;36;13;22 - 00;36;44;10

Clark

Yeah, yeah. I think that's a really yeah, it's a, it's a very interesting and I think accurate analogy to make. And cinema is definitely illusion, There's no question to that. And, and often hopefully it's quite magical. Yeah it's that's that's really interesting that Herzog it's an older Spielberg flick that even though you're much younger than me your inspirations are films that were because they were kind of passed down from your father that there are older films.

00;36;44;23 - 00;37;13;18

Clark

Interesting. I think like for me, you know, my inspirations were I grew up, you know, well grew up in the eighties mostly, but I was born in 76, so just Jaws would be a great example to steal Berg's earlier stuff. I also but I kind of had a not as highfalutin inspirations as yours. I kind of was raised on a lot of genre flicks, so we're like, Your father was watching, you know, Hitchcock and and John Ford.

00;37;13;18 - 00;37;19;06

Clark

I my father was watching Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and.

00;37;19;29 - 00;37;21;15

Cullen

Those were a lot of fun.

00;37;21;15 - 00;37;48;01

Clark

Mad Max and the Road Warrior and Poltergeist and, you know, these kind of films I grew later to really appreciate Hitchcock and, you know, some of these other. But yeah, I kind of grew up and was inspired by a lot of genre epics, but specifically Mad Max and The Road Warrior, those were two films that really, really stood out in my mind as just the physicality of those films.

00;37;48;01 - 00;38;12;11

Clark

And I think that's something that I really enjoy about Herzog's films, is that his films are very physical and, you know, I just want to make a quick, you know, it's like, well, who cares? We could kind of get off on all kinds of topics. You know, one of the things that Herzog mentions consistently is that, you know, he explains why people are like, Why in the world did you drag that that ship over the mountain in Fitzcarraldo?

00;38;12;11 - 00;38;32;14

Clark

Like, why in the world would you do that? And and and explaining his motivations for that and explaining many other of his motivations, he says because I want people to be able to believe their eyes. People can't believe their eyes anymore. When you're watching like a Lord of the Rings, for example, or any other number of films, all of the Marvel movies, you can't believe your eyes.

00;38;32;14 - 00;38;50;19

Clark

Everything is fake. Everything is fake in these films. I mean, everything. And I think that's, you know, obviously I wouldn't wasn't able to articulate it, but as a kid, Mad Max and especially the road Warrior, you you could believe your eyes.

00;38;50;19 - 00;38;52;16

Cullen

So tangible right there with you.

00;38;52;20 - 00;38;55;09

Clark

But it's like you really know this has happened. Yeah.

00;38;55;12 - 00;38;57;05

Cullen

Did you feel your people.

00;38;57;22 - 00;39;22;00

Clark

You know, they're moving at speed. These are real people. They are actually performing these stunts. This is really happening. And there is just something now we can go into this know later when he touches when Herzog kind of talks about this more and other lessons. But I think there is a very significant real impact. And I think that there is definitely something there.

00;39;22;18 - 00;39;41;09

Clark

The difference between being able to believe your eyes and really and not and not being able to believe your eyes. Right. It's like to take it back to this magic analogy, right? It's like if you've got a magician performing tricks in front of you and you're just like, I can see the trick. I know what you're doing. You're completely removed.

00;39;41;09 - 00;39;54;23

Clark

There's like, no immersion, you know? Right. I mean, that's kind of the point. If you already know how the tricks done or used or they are not good magicians and you can see how the trick is being done. It's not really magic, is it? It's not very entertaining.

00;39;54;29 - 00;39;59;29

Cullen

It's like, say, the Illusion show, which is it's not really all right.

00;40;00;14 - 00;40;18;24

Clark

But if the magician is extraordinary and you're sitting there in front of them and yes, you know, it's magic, like, you know that it's not they're not actually really manipulate in time and space and breaking the laws of physics, but you can't figure it out. It's like they're really doing it. The physicality of that is like, wow, whatever they're doing is so exceptional.

00;40;18;24 - 00;40;41;26

Clark

I cannot you know, this is like real. I don't know, you know, because obviously it's like, you know, it's a film, you know, this isn't really a post-apocalyptic world where there's no gasoline and people are, you know, killing each other over a drop of gas. You know, that's not real. But within that, what they're doing is real and visceral and physical and tangible.

00;40;41;26 - 00;40;50;09

Clark

So it's I think that's one of the things that really stands out for me for Herzog's films that that kind of draws me to them.

00;40;50;09 - 00;40;52;01

Cullen

But yeah, Oh, totally.

00;40;52;13 - 00;41;14;01

Clark

Yeah. So, you know, Herzog talks about this is kind of interesting, right? Because this could be pretty subjective. He talks about, you know, consuming good film, you know, And we just use kind of some examples here, right? I mean, your example of Herzog and Jaws, my example of George Miller and Mad Max. And, you know, what do you think good cinema is now?

00;41;14;01 - 00;41;23;27

Clark

It's totally subjective, of course. But, you know, Herzog is talking about exposing yourself to good cinema. Do you think what do you think that like what meaning do you think that has Is there any objective meaning to that?

00;41;24;09 - 00;41;39;15

Cullen

Just to not to to say that it's everything can be organized into those two meanings, but on one hand, it's something that is, you know, not utterly critically acclaimed but well-regarded, well-received, something like a godfather that is very clearly, you know, everyone kind of agrees.

00;41;39;15 - 00;41;40;18

Clark

It's like in the canon.

00;41;40;18 - 00;41;56;14

Cullen

Yeah, that's a good classic movie. And the other time would be I would say. So really, anything that you can learn from, you know, like I've had great experiences watching some movies that aren't necessarily the the best, like Ed Wood. I love Ed Wood. You know, a lot of his movies. Yeah.

00;41;56;17 - 00;41;57;23

Clark

I think. Oh, you know, but.

00;41;57;23 - 00;42;01;26

Cullen

I mean I mean even his is really. Yeah, not the timber. I do love the Tim Burton one.

00;42;02;12 - 00;42;06;23

Clark

Okay. Got you got some actual Atwood's actual films that he directed. Yeah. Yeah.

00;42;07;04 - 00;42;22;11

Cullen

And I find that those are so interesting is it's basically just watching this dude that has such a passion, but he's so misguided in so many ways, and you kind of learn, okay, what, you know, what could I have done differently? What could I, you know, and things like that, which I think is really, really valuable for.

00;42;22;11 - 00;42;45;11

Clark

So you can learn from films that aren't technically, I guess, great, right? I mean, yeah, I think that's an interesting point. I think you can. I think, yeah. So that would maybe be a little bit where we might differ from Herzog's comments here. But I agree. I mean, I think and I think good cinema exist everywhere. I think that good cinema can exist in a in a genre flick.

00;42;45;11 - 00;43;20;03

Clark

Good cinema can exist in a studio film. Good cinema can exist in any country, in any language and any era good is certainly subjective. But I think ultimately, you know What speaks to you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it's it. Yeah. But I think you're right, though. I mean, I think it's worth, you know, even if you have to kind of push yourself, you know, especially today, it's so easy to do so with, you know, all of these, you know, Netflix Hulu Criterion Collection is online, all of these different resources.

00;43;20;03 - 00;43;24;22

Clark

I think it is good to push yourself past maybe just what you've been watching. You know, you say.

00;43;24;23 - 00;43;36;06

Cullen

You weren't out real fast, too. I think that's the thing. When you just watch like a list, your list of just like, oh, I want to see this. I want to see this, you know? Yeah. Bring something different in the mix can be a really lovely surprise and really refreshing.

00;43;36;22 - 00;44;13;22

Clark

Try different genres. Try different areas. Try different countries. Try different. Yeah. At push yourself. I mean, and I have to do this a little bit, you know, it's like I think all of us or most of us probably kind of fall back into the things that are most that our comfort zone, so to speak, you know, like, well, I know that I love this genre or I know I love this director or I maybe don't like to read subtitles or whatever your thing is, you know, I think it's really a good thing to at least occasionally push yourself and and go watch some other films.

00;44;13;22 - 00;44;34;05

Clark

I think you can learn so much from watching some silent Era films, so you can learn so much from watching foreign language films. You can learn so much from watching them, so absolutely. Absolutely. I think we I think it's like watching with a conscious intent is is an important aspect.

00;44;34;08 - 00;45;00;25

Cullen

Another aspect to kind of talk a little bit about. But something else that Herzog says in his opening lesson is this universality, and it's this universal rules of film. And I think that watching films from different genres, watching films in different countries is a great way to introduce yourself into like, what are universal rules and what do they mean, what, you know, I can watch a movie in Japan and I can watch a movie in Made in Texas, and I can mute them both and I can still understand what's going on.

00;45;00;25 - 00;45;10;09

Cullen

If the filmmaker is visually minded and kind of is very visual storytelling and there's there's universal rules there that carry off internationally in any any movie.

00;45;10;10 - 00;45;29;06

Clark

And there's some that do and some that don't. Yeah, absolute. And I think that's a really good point. That's a really good point is to kind of see and that's, you know, watching films from different eras, everything from different, you know, the grammar or language of film has been solidified for the most part for quite a while. But there are definite differences.

00;45;29;06 - 00;45;53;28

Clark

And, you know, you go back in time and you see not only differences in acting style, but you see different philosophies of storytelling, you see different camera subjectivity, different editing and yeah, I think that's a good point to kind of compare different films from different countries, different languages, different areas, and kind of see what what is universal amongst these things and what.

00;45;53;28 - 00;45;55;02

Cullen

Yes, yeah, yeah.

00;45;55;02 - 00;46;13;11

Clark

So really good point. Yeah. And I think you mentioned that you can kind of watch and absorb through osmosis and you can also, you know, what I often do is I'll kind of my first, my first watch of a film will be like that. Exactly. I'm just an audience. I'm just hanging out here. I want to be entertained I want to get sucked into the film.

00;46;13;22 - 00;46;28;07

Clark

And if it's a film that stands out to me for whatever reason, then I think, you know, I go back and I watch it. Okay, let's I want to kind of break down here. Let's see what they're doing. You know, what what did they do that made me feel this way or what stood out to me, you know, and kind of just analyze it on a different level.

00;46;28;07 - 00;46;32;10

Clark

So you can always do that, too. You can enjoy a film on multiple levels and.

00;46;32;11 - 00;46;54;19

Cullen

Perhaps to kind of even if anything, kind of wrap up the all the conversation or all the topics we've had. I've actually heard people that I that I know went to film school whose teachers told them I always advise reading this script or the screenplay before you watch the movie, which is bizarre to me, which is completely the antithesis of anything you should be doing because you should be watching the movies is very rector's intended.

00;46;55;05 - 00;47;02;24

Cullen

And then if you want to do the research afterwards. But but you know, to give yourself a preconceived notion or to give yourself you know, this is.

00;47;02;24 - 00;47;03;24

Clark

Interesting that you.

00;47;03;24 - 00;47;06;07

Cullen

Figured, yeah, it's it's really and it's I've heard it from multiple.

00;47;06;08 - 00;47;06;20

Clark

People from.

00;47;06;21 - 00;47;13;12

Cullen

Capital different film schools and it's like why would why on earth I can't think of any positive.

00;47;13;12 - 00;47;28;21

Clark

Maybe so yeah, maybe somebody listening can kind of give us, you know, shoot us an email and let us know why that is. I mean, I have often read a script after. Yeah, yeah, many, many, many, many times. I've read a script afterward, but I don't think I've ever read a script prior.

00;47;29;01 - 00;47;36;20

Cullen

Know. In fact, I would be actively avoiding doing so if I do. I saw a screenplay from a movie and I you know.

00;47;36;22 - 00;47;57;04

Clark

I remember when Hateful Eight script was leaked before the film came out, and I was like, Don't even get me close to that. Yeah, it's like the last thing. And I, when the world I want is to have the film ruined for me because I've read the script beforehand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Well, did we where did we miss anything else that.

00;47;57;15 - 00;48;20;25

Clark

That Herzog covered there in those first couple lessons? I pretty much touched on almost everything, man. Yeah, it is. And I just want to go back quickly because he uses a specific example. I think is like is really helpful. It's funny, he kind of is not making fun of but kind of calling out. It's like, you know, I, I talked to a lot of film students and he's like, they think film history started at Star Wars.

00;48;20;26 - 00;48;22;12

Clark

You know, what is that? 77?

00;48;22;21 - 00;48;23;27

Cullen

Is that 77 star?

00;48;23;29 - 00;48;43;24

Clark

Yeah. And it's so amazing to me to say, I mean, first of all, I'm old, so star Wars is within my lifetime, just barely. But so it's hysterical to think that people, you know, kind of have that might have this thought that film history started in 77. But but, you know, I guess I guess it's possible. I mean.

00;48;43;24 - 00;48;59;21

Cullen

That's the irony there is that film is very old but also very new, which is kind of an it's an interesting art for that reason that you can literally go back to, you know, a Western made in 1902 was technically a contemporary movie then. It wasn't set in the Old West. It was set in present day for them.

00;49;00;04 - 00;49;15;27

Cullen

I always talk about why the Western to me is such an interesting genre to go through, because you literally essentially go through modern entire iterations of life in the West that are being recorded in real time. And then you get up to this, this romanticized vision of the frontier and all that. Yeah, that's another conversation for some time.

00;49;16;13 - 00;49;36;07

Clark

But you're right. I mean, I think in an overall perspective film is a pretty young art form. Yes. And you compare it to music and painting, sculpture, writing. Of course, those art forms have been have been around for much, much, much, much longer than moving pictures.

00;49;36;07 - 00;49;48;07

Cullen

And if anything, that's why you should try to expose yourself to all of it, because it's not really that difficult to do. Yes, that's possible. Yeah, it's not hard to really go back in time and examine older movies. There's not, you know, absolutely not that long.

00;49;49;00 - 00;50;08;18

Clark

Yeah. All right. Well, I think we've just about covered most of the major topics that Herzog himself covered in these first couple lessons of master class. So we will go ahead and wrap it up now and we'll cover the next couple lessons and our next episode. But Collin, I want to thank you so much for joining me today.

00;50;08;18 - 00;50;24;03

Clark

I had a blast and I'm looking forward I'm looking forward to our future episodes and I'm excited to see what kind of feedback we get from this. And I hope you listening out there enjoyed it and we'll look forward to hanging out with you next time then.

00;50;24;09 - 00;50;24;27

Cullen

Now see you guys.

00;50;24;27 - 00;50;27;06

Clark

All right. Until then, signing off.

Episode - 002

Clark

Hey, everybody. I am Clark Coffey. And with me here is Cullen McFater and this is Soldiers of Cinema Podcast, where we explore the works and philosophy of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog. What's up, Cullen?

00;00;19;05 - 00;00;22;12

Cullen

Not much. I'm happy to be here. Happy to be back. It's a lot of fun.

00;00;22;19 - 00;00;28;07

Clark

I'm glad you're happy because, man, it would be weird if we were doing this and you were like, really unhappy to be here.

00;00;28;07 - 00;00;29;18

Cullen

Like, you were really no interest.

00;00;30;02 - 00;00;32;29

Clark

Like, I don't even know. Why am I here? This sucks. I hate that.

00;00;32;29 - 00;00;36;07

Cullen

A big gallon of whiskey beside me and I've got to get through it.

00;00;36;12 - 00;00;41;12

Clark

Well, maybe that's a good idea. Maybe one of these days we can do an episode that's kind of like a drinking game in it, and we can, you.

00;00;41;12 - 00;00;43;23

Cullen

Know, it'll be our walking arc. Watchable commentary.

00;00;43;24 - 00;01;02;22

Clark

Yeah, actually. Hey, there you go. One of them will do, like, some commentaries when we finally get through the masterclass lessons and we get into Herzog's films. Yeah, maybe we can make a drinking game out of it at some point. All right. But anyway, well, I'm glad you're happy to be here. I'm happy to be here, too. And for those of you listening, I hope that you're happy as well.

00;01;02;22 - 00;01;23;07

Clark

I hope it's all just one big love fest. So on today's episode, so last episode, we went through and discussed lessons one and two in Herzog's Masterclass. And this this episode here we're going to go through lessons three and possibly four. We're going to have to see how much time it takes to get through Lesson three. But that's where we're going to start today.

00;01;23;21 - 00;01;36;09

Clark

So we'll just dive right in. So at less than three, Herzog comes right out of the gate with read, read, read, read, read. Do you like reading Cullen? Can you read?

00;01;36;25 - 00;01;48;27

Cullen

Do you? I mean, sometimes I question that. Sometimes I. I know many people who say No, no, I do enjoy reading. I actually weirdly enough, though, I read probably more nonfiction than I do read.

00;01;49;05 - 00;01;49;29

Clark

Fiction about that.

00;01;50;06 - 00;02;02;06

Cullen

Yeah, I find that that's kind of what draws my my mind, which is odd because, you know, when it comes to film, I, I much prefer to create in a fictional setting as opposed to, you know, I love doing documentary, but but my.

00;02;02;09 - 00;02;02;28

Clark

Preferred art.

00;02;03;10 - 00;02;04;20

Cullen

Certainly lies in narrative. Yeah.

00;02;04;26 - 00;02;13;29

Clark

Well, I mean, so, so definitely in listening to Herzog, I think he makes it pretty clear that, you know, in his opinion, reading is vital.

00;02;14;12 - 00;02;15;01

Cullen

Yeah.

00;02;15;09 - 00;02;37;24

Clark

To becoming the best filmmaker that you can be. And, and, and I think Herzog, when he talks about reading, he talks about reading some pretty, you know, in his words, high caliber stuff. And he has a couple of example examples that he mentions in in the lesson the poetic Edda, which I do have to admit I have not yet read.

00;02;38;13 - 00;02;56;13

Clark

And then he mentions the peregrine, which I have read and can speak to in a few minutes. But I mean, so let's just start off with that, that basic first premise. I mean, do you agree with Herzog? Do you think that reading is vital to being a good filmmaker? What are your thoughts?

00;02;56;16 - 00;03;23;19

Cullen

Yeah, I do. I do think that there is something stimulating about, you know, um, while novels and literature aren't necessarily inherently visual mediums, I would say most people that read visualize when they read, and I think that's ever the more important as somebody who works in a visual medium like film being able to visualize and being able to, you know, even come up with specific shots on, you know, that's what I find when I read.

00;03;23;19 - 00;04;00;05

Cullen

Sometimes I'm like, How would I shoot this? Like, how would you know? What would what would the the shot look like for this, this instance or this idea? How can you capture that in a visual medium? And so I think that just that that exercise of allowing your brain to come up with a visuals that are stimulated by, you know, either somebody else's work or even if it's something that's a thousand years old, you know, that I think is is inherently inherently helpful and valuable to anybody who wants to be a director or even, you know, be a screenwriter or a cinematographer.

00;04;00;05 - 00;04;07;12

Cullen

I think that it it all kind of plays into it. And I think that, yeah, reading is kind of like exercise for the brain, I find for sure.

00;04;07;12 - 00;04;24;28

Clark

I think I would even go a little bit further. I think you're kind of talking about it in a bit of a practical sense where it where it's, you know, exercising your imagination and visualizing, you know, how to tell stories, visual manner. You know, I would I would go further and say, I mean, why and how to articulate this.

00;04;24;28 - 00;04;50;15

Clark

I mean, I think reading is just it does so many things for you. And, you know, especially, you know, Herzog's examples are one of his examples, I think is only maybe 50, 60 years old or so. It's not that old. The peregrine and then yes, get to is much older and I'm not sure how much older, but I think it's maybe a couple of thousand years old and probably off by several hundred years.

00;04;50;15 - 00;05;16;19

Clark

But it's older. But, you know, sometimes it might be a little bit harder to pick up some of these older writings. But, you know, I think, you know, often there's a reason why they've stood the test of time. It's because they're pretty substantial works. But I think it's also it's worthwhile kind of you know, we talked last episode about watching films from different eras and from different geographies, from different people.

00;05;16;25 - 00;05;32;20

Clark

And I think that's that applies with reading as well. You know, to if you love comic books, that's great. But you know, maybe expand your reading vocabulary and break out some of the classics. But yeah, I mean, I think reading.

00;05;32;21 - 00;05;54;19

Cullen

To me, it's always about challenging to write. Sure. And I think it's interesting that you mentioned something like graphic novels or comic books or even, you know, audiobooks. Um, audiobooks have blown up in the past few years, but I always find that, you know, that even then it's more of a passive experience. You're being read a story, whereas even if you don't love sitting down and reading a book, a lot of the time, that's it.

00;05;54;19 - 00;06;05;04

Cullen

It is. Again, like I kind of said earlier, it's like it's like working out. It's like, you know, you're sitting there to work out the muscles that you might not always work out.

00;06;05;17 - 00;06;32;19

Clark

Well, and I think in a couple of different ways. So that's a great point. And I'll add to that by saying that, you know, some of the muscles that you're working out, I think in a practical sense, your attention span and I think in today's day and age with the Internet and, you know, 140 characters or a quick Wikipedia page read or, you know, a quick five minute article on whatever your favorite site is, you know, everything is chopped into such small bite sized pieces today.

00;06;32;19 - 00;06;50;24

Clark

And I think if you if you do not get yourself inside a book on a regular basis, your attention span will start to shrink. And I've noticed that in myself. And as scary as like, oh my gosh, what's going on here? It's like you can't focus for more than a couple of pages. Holy crap. You know.

00;06;50;26 - 00;07;19;16

Cullen

And even beyond traditional literature, too, I think that like even reading documents, whether it's historical documents, like I would consider the poetic Edda almost more of a historical document than of course it's it's an artistic, you know. Yeah. A poetry kind of right almost to the word extravaganza. But even something like I read like I remember a few years ago, I just sat down one day and read the entire FBI file on the Zodiac Killer.

00;07;19;16 - 00;07;23;05

Cullen

Like at the end, it was like 300 pages, and I just went through the whole thing.

00;07;23;05 - 00;07;35;20

Clark

Doesn't Herzog bring up like, does I think he requests, like, urgent request, but, I mean, he suggest you should read the Warren Commission report. Right? And the assassination of JFK. I think that's in the assignment.

00;07;36;15 - 00;07;36;24

Cullen

Yes.

00;07;37;01 - 00;07;59;02

Clark

Yes, of course. Along with this class. But so. So there you go. And we can kind of talk about I don't know exactly what Herzog had in mind as to why you should read it. But, you know, especially when he talks about how, you know, facts don't make truth, but then he goes and assigns this reading of what is, for the most part, just an aggregation of facts that Warren report.

00;07;59;08 - 00;08;29;28

Clark

But it's interesting. But but yeah so attention span. But then I was also going to say and probably more important, although obviously having an attention span is it's important to be able to hold long, complex stories in your mind and imagination. But your empathetic muscle is what I think is the ultimate muscle that reading exercises and certainly, of course, film and music and other art mediums can can activate your empathetic muscles.

00;08;29;28 - 00;08;52;16

Clark

But I think that reading good literature is a unique combination of, you know, of challenge, imagination and, you know, really, really working that into those empathetic muscles over a long period of time. You know, where there's a story in a film maybe be an hour and a half, 2 hours, you know, a television show might be 45 minutes to an hour.

00;08;53;04 - 00;09;25;04

Clark

You know, song may be five, 7 minutes. I mean, you know, holding this long, complex narrative in your imagination and really empathizing in nuanced, complex ways with these characters and situations and worlds that you may never experience in your regular life. I mean, over over hours and hours and hours. You know, I think what that can do for you as an artist and just as a human being can't be replaced by by anything else.

00;09;26;20 - 00;09;43;28

Clark

So, yeah, I mean, I guess we both agree it sounds like we both agree. And I don't know for everybody out there, I'd be interested, you know, how much how much reading you do as a filmmaker. And yeah, is it, is it something that you really carve out time for and do it conscientiously? I nor do.

00;09;43;28 - 00;09;46;10

Cullen

You disagree that maybe may maybe some people think that it's.

00;09;46;10 - 00;09;47;18

Clark

Not necessary.

00;09;47;18 - 00;09;47;26

Cullen

Right?

00;09;48;00 - 00;10;11;16

Clark

It might be so yeah I think it will get some people shooting some emails and let us know. But I mean, it's interesting to see, you know, as Herzog describes his experience being able to hold some of the it sounds like some original manuscript on parchment of the poetic edit in his hands and what kind of gravitas that kind of held for him is very interesting.

00;10;11;16 - 00;10;20;05

Clark

I think it just illustrates how, you know, the significance of the of being close to this. I don't even I mean, how would you even describe it?

00;10;20;15 - 00;10;27;20

Cullen

I almost take it as for him, it's like it's like being able to touch another world of artists from 1100 years ago, right?

00;10;27;24 - 00;10;28;19

Clark

Absolutely.

00;10;28;19 - 00;10;51;29

Cullen

Of of like realizing this this human connection on a very basis of just creation and, you know, creation of art and creation of of you know, what's funny to me about a lot of classical art, you know, not not contemporary. And, I mean, you know, dating back thousands of years is that there is always been this sale of ideas.

00;10;51;29 - 00;11;17;24

Cullen

And maybe even if it's not for specifically, you know, literal money, there's this sale of you have people consuming something that somebody else has created just from their brain. And I think if anything, I think that might be we might take on on where Herzog kind of really connects with these like these old documents is the fact that he he's there now.

00;11;17;29 - 00;11;24;28

Cullen

You know, he's he's doing that now. We're all doing that now. We're kind of living out this this age old tradition of of civilization.

00;11;25;12 - 00;11;36;00

Clark

Yeah, Well, and I think it's interesting to his case, the forgotten dreams, I think, is it kind of shares or kind of illustrates maybe it's a really interesting.

00;11;36;00 - 00;11;36;11

Cullen

Movie as.

00;11;36;11 - 00;11;42;06

Clark

Well. It's a very beautiful movie and illustrates kind of that, you know, Herzog's desire to kind of reach through the ages.

00;11;42;15 - 00;11;42;25

Cullen

Yes.

00;11;43;03 - 00;12;13;19

Clark

And and and and touch these ancient civilization. And it's like you kind of said, yeah, it's very interesting. And there is a very profound sense to that. If you've ever been to an ancient, you know, some kind of ancient place in the world, you know, it's like we went to my wife and I visited a Skellig Michael of off of the coast in Ireland, and it's one of the most ancient still standing.

00;12;15;11 - 00;12;35;29

Clark

I don't know what you would call it. There's like, these stone huts. There was like a group of monks lived on this tiny island, and it's one of the oldest known, you know, a manmade structure is still left in the world. And it's like older than the pyramids. And there really definitely is a a powerful, powerful sense that you get me in there.

00;12;36;06 - 00;13;04;02

Cullen

I can even remember when I was in Rome, there is a church, a church that I think was built in the 15th century that was built on top of a pagan church that was built probably in the three hundreds that was then built on top of like a nomadic village. And so you enter this church in Rome, you go down these steps probably you're probably, you know, 200 feet underground at this point at the bottom.

00;13;04;02 - 00;13;24;17

Cullen

And you're walking through these caves where these nomads used to live back, you know, thousands of years ago. And you see these drawings on the wall and things like that. And I think one of the you know, it's funny that you mentioned cave forgotten dreams, because I think one of the really interesting parts where Herzog, in his narration about movies, where he he says, you know, perhaps the people who painted these walls would have been filmmakers today.

00;13;24;22 - 00;13;30;07

Cullen

Yeah. Would have been, you know, you know, it's there's such a through line of of artistry.

00;13;30;14 - 00;14;02;12

Clark

Yeah. It's just and it's just I think it's one of the just this, this this thread throughout all of human history of our need for story is just yeah I think it's there's very fundamental connective thread that kind of runs through all of humanity, across culture, across geography and across time. So and that's that's really powerful. It's almost kind of sort of trying to glimpse and touch like a little piece of like pure distilled humanity, you know?

00;14;02;12 - 00;14;27;21

Clark

So I particularly kind of enjoyed his description of that in the lesson. And I think it's, you know, you can do a little bit of that. You can replicate that, a little bit of that by reading really good literature, literature that's stood the test of time. And you don't have to go necessarily, you know, halfway across the world or to the North Pole or to Rome, although these things are wonderful and you should travel as much as possible.

00;14;28;01 - 00;14;49;12

Clark

But yeah, I mean, you know, grab yourself a book at the library or, you know, buy one at the store or download a file to your Kindle or whatever you like to do. But, but yeah, it's, it's pretty extraordinary the power of story. And that's probably why all of us are here, because we all agree. So let's then move into then a little bit of it's funny.

00;14;49;12 - 00;15;06;20

Clark

So Herzog kind of makes a bit of a little, you know, a little transition here at this point. He talks start talking about editing, and it talks about how you can learn from reading literature a little bit about what good editing is. You want to talk about that a little bit.

00;15;07;15 - 00;15;38;13

Cullen

Yeah. So I think, you know, Herzog's example, the kind of example that he gives in the lesson is about, you know, when you see someone walking into a room or walking upstairs, you don't have to show all the busywork you can, you know, cut from somebody entering a home to their bedroom and you fill in the blanks. And I think the relation there, at least to me, is in the idea that, you know, when you're reading a book, you are reading between the lines of what the author is telling you.

00;15;38;13 - 00;15;59;06

Cullen

You're you know, if there is an inference and it's very similar in editing where it's you're not showing every single literal step of the way of this story, there is inference of even if it's as simple as you see someone getting into a car and then you see them getting out of a car elsewhere, you've inferred that they are driving or have driven to that location.

00;15;59;06 - 00;16;22;19

Cullen

And I think that there's kind of this, you know, if anything, there is almost a subconscious begging of the audience to use their imagination to infer. And there's much bigger examples of that. Of course, there's there's movies that their entire stories are based on inference and based around, you know, interpretation. And the answers aren't given nearly as clearly as other films, but.

00;16;23;09 - 00;16;23;20

Clark

Yeah.

00;16;23;25 - 00;16;24;17

Cullen

And I think you know.

00;16;25;10 - 00;16;47;10

Clark

Is of course there's yeah, because of the film and certainly from piece of literature to piece to literature. I mean here you kind of, you know, he's jumping off from discussing the poetic Edda, which is, you know, a very condensed type of storytelling. It's, you know, if you've taken a look at it, I mean, it's it's, it's a poem basically, in effect.

00;16;47;10 - 00;17;05;10

Clark

And it's form is very symbolic and it very condensed. And so he's kind of, you know, drawing this analogy of, you know, of editing a film in that manner, That film should be story condensed.

00;17;05;24 - 00;17;06;06

Cullen

Yes.

00;17;06;18 - 00;17;32;18

Clark

Yeah. And obviously there's like a lot of literature that's very expanded, you know, that's not condensed, but just and specifically, you know, he had just come off of talking about the poetic Edda And yeah, I think you know in general so I've not read the poetic Edda I'm going to but I have it in pulp, but I have read a lot of poetry and, you know, I think good poetry is you could say you could define great poetry by kind of saying that its story condensed right?

00;17;32;18 - 00;17;44;12

Clark

Each word is so is so chosen, you know, so perfectly chosen in place that there's so much meaning and story behind, you know, even just a line of a few words. I think that, you know.

00;17;44;24 - 00;17;50;21

Cullen

You got haikus, right, Like haikus are literally five, seven, five. And it's it's it's.

00;17;51;07 - 00;17;53;03

Clark

What is a haiku? How many is it? Like three.

00;17;53;03 - 00;17;57;01

Cullen

So it's it's it's five syllables. Seven syllables and five and.

00;17;57;15 - 00;17;59;03

Clark

But it's even a shorter one.

00;17;59;03 - 00;18;00;20

Cullen

Which is there's, there's which.

00;18;00;20 - 00;18;03;01

Clark

One is like three, five, three or something or five.

00;18;03;05 - 00;18;19;16

Cullen

There's, there's really, there's a lot of like Irish ones which are similar to that. But you look at that and you go like jeez, there's but you can, you can evoke so much. Yeah. Something like that, you know, really can. That's what I mean when I say it's, it's about inference. It's about the audience or the reader. Yeah.

00;18;19;16 - 00;18;25;06

Cullen

Being able to infer from those lines and being able to visualize or use their imagination beyond.

00;18;26;04 - 00;18;54;28

Clark

So so yeah, I guess I would say, you know, not just reading is important. I would make even more explicit Herzog's call here that, yes, reading is vital, but you know, reading really good poetry, I think is could be extremely helpful. And that's probably something that a lot of filmmakers might not think about immediately. You know, you spend a lot of time studying, you know, technical aspects of filmmaking, how to use a camera, how to set up shots, how to light things, you know, even how to work with an actor or, you know, all these different things.

00;18;54;28 - 00;19;18;23

Clark

And you may not read a lot of poetry, but I really would strongly suggest to grab some good poetry. And good is subjective, but I mean, try to find some things to speak to you, but good poetry, I think one of it's one of its many characteristics is that it is really compressed, efficient storytelling, which is vital, I think, for any good film.

00;19;19;24 - 00;19;21;24

Clark

And I think you can learn a lot of I think.

00;19;21;24 - 00;19;47;05

Cullen

What's other otherwise interesting about the books too, and to to kind of almost not be like really heady and you know, grand about this is, you know, you must do this to be a good filmmaker, right? Right. They're great resources to just get ideas from like this, really, even on the most basic level, just to read a book and record ideas out of, you know, that's oh, there's this line about this, this person here that that could actually make an entire movie.

00;19;47;06 - 00;19;55;22

Cullen

And I've had experiences, I've sort of read something and gone, Jeez, that that would honestly be a really interesting story in its own just from, you know, a line or a paragraph of a book.

00;19;56;03 - 00;20;13;17

Clark

That's a really good point, you know, and we hadn't even talked about that. But absolutely. I mean, you've got to fill the well in order to draw from it. And, you know, I mean, look, it's garbage in, garbage out. I think we talked about that last time, too. It's like, you know, fill yourself up with as good a stuff as you can.

00;20;13;17 - 00;20;37;02

Clark

I mean, you know, literature and poetry stories that have stood the test of eons, you know, I mean, there's you know, if you spend your time filling yourself up with that stuff, it's likely that you're going to have better quality stories come out of you than if you spend all of your time watching reality television. I mean, I'll go out on a limb and make a really controversial statement here, but.

00;20;37;12 - 00;20;39;18

Cullen

You know, Yeah, well, I'll give you.

00;20;40;01 - 00;20;42;06

Clark

Maybe a place for reality TV.

00;20;42;13 - 00;20;45;00

Cullen

That loves how they talk.

00;20;45;00 - 00;21;04;22

Clark

It. Yeah. I mean, you know, he talks about pornography and how that kind of he uses that as an analogy. We can talk about that later about know it's a it's visceral and physical and real and how that's missing in modern film. I don't think he intended to be promoting pornography. You know, but he he was making an analogy.

00;21;04;22 - 00;21;36;07

Clark

But we can we could talk about that at another point. But but yeah so there's a place but I think it is important to to feel yourself up and you will find some I think some great ideas and it's just one it's something that could have been just a small tangent of, of something that you read a line in a poem or a certain something a character does or a certain, you know, something that was just a small part of what you were reading could just expand like a fractal into a whole new idea for you and send you off, you know, really inspiring you.

00;21;36;07 - 00;21;40;23

Clark

So absolutely. So there you go. Read, reread, read.

00;21;41;01 - 00;21;42;16

Cullen

Reread, reread.

00;21;42;16 - 00;22;04;05

Clark

And really, I'm not even going to try to do my my Herzog impersonation here. Maybe someday, maybe someday we could work up to that. But people are probably expecting it. They're like, Come on, how can you have a Herzog partner or not and do the Herzog voice? Wow, Maybe that's just part of you know, we have to keep some mystery.

00;22;04;05 - 00;22;21;20

Clark

We have to keep coming back for more. So maybe we'll do that another time. But but let's also let's talk a little bit, too, about you know, so The Peregrine is a book that I did read and you did read. We read it when we took the class. Now it's been a bit, but I mean, Herzog really, really hammers on this one.

00;22;21;20 - 00;22;40;01

Clark

You know, he talks about like I mean, look, he's like, if you want if you want to be a good filmmaker, read the Peregrine. You have to read the Peregrine. It's hysterical. And I remember when, you know, you and I were some of the first people that took this class. And Herzog's masterclass was one of, I think, the first couple classes.

00;22;40;06 - 00;22;41;26

Cullen

That were like or it.

00;22;41;26 - 00;23;03;21

Clark

There were like four. And and a matter of fact, one of them is no longer even available unless you purchased it. When it was out, the Kevin Spacey Masterclass, which of course, you can no longer find and we all know why, which is interesting. That's a whole other interesting conversation. But but yeah, it was one of the first lessons.

00;23;04;08 - 00;23;21;19

Clark

Masterclass was a very young company and I remember like going on to Amazon to buy the Peregrine and it was like, you know, had gone from, you know, number 51,732 in sales to like five, you know. Yeah, yeah.

00;23;21;19 - 00;23;23;21

Cullen

Because it skyrocketed.

00;23;23;21 - 00;23;41;26

Clark

Skyrocketed because so many people were buying it. But, you know, I'm curious. I mean, what do you think it is about the peregrine that Herzog finds so important? Like, what do you think is motivating him so strongly to share that in your opinion? And what were your thoughts on it having read it?

00;23;42;02 - 00;24;16;02

Cullen

I mean, I think in a conversation we've had before, you kind of put it really well, which is that it is about the the writer becoming the subject rather than judging the subject. And I think that that, you know, kind of is very is a very apt way to put it. Is that I think that it is it is you know, there's so many points in that book where it's about feeling the wind through the you know, through your entire being and the reverberations of of, you know, speed through your your your essence and things like that.

00;24;16;02 - 00;24;21;28

Cullen

It's so evocative of the language of of how you feel, like you feel like a parent that is reading it.

00;24;21;28 - 00;24;24;10

Clark

Beautiful. Yeah, It really is a beautiful book.

00;24;24;18 - 00;24;57;24

Cullen

And but no, I think that that's really an even in the the idea that Herzog kind of mentions this idea of judgment and getting rid of judgment when you're presenting a subject, be it in documentary or be it in fiction work, and become that subject, even if the audience doesn't, even if you show up film where you were totally in on this main character or whatever, and the audience doesn't connect to them, your movie's likely going to be better off for it because you are going to have a point of view when you tell that story as opposed to just being observational.

00;24;58;12 - 00;25;02;15

Cullen

Well, you know, be the more in it. That's things that's the that's the his classic quote, Right.

00;25;02;28 - 00;25;22;28

Clark

Well there's so many yeah, there's so many different points. I mean I would just say just purely you know, if if anybody listening out there hasn't read the Peregrine, you're thinking about it, you know, maybe you've you either have or have not watched Herzog's Masterclass and maybe you've heard the book before, maybe you have it. I will just second Herzog's advice or suggestion.

00;25;22;28 - 00;25;45;25

Clark

And then, yes, I you should read it for if for no other reason than it really, really is an extraordinarily beautiful book. I, I mean, I you know, when I didn't I was like I had no idea what this book was. I'd never heard of it. I had no preconceived notion. I'm like, okay, it's about a bird whom Isaac Herzog says, to try it, I guess I will.

00;25;45;25 - 00;25;50;18

Clark

It's only a few bucks. But I was frankly blown away. I was extremely and it's.

00;25;50;18 - 00;25;51;24

Cullen

Not that much either. No.

00;25;51;25 - 00;26;21;02

Clark

So it's not that long. It's maybe a couple hundred pages. Just, you know, a couple afternoons. You can read it pretty quickly. But I was really surprised by how moved I was by that book. And I think for me, there was a couple you're right. You know, it's the the author is in such awe of the peregrine that he is observing over time that he does, in a way become the subject.

00;26;21;20 - 00;26;46;07

Clark

And his and again, I'll go back to using this word empathy. His level of empathetic ability is so strong that he becomes this animal and you really get a sense of that in in his description of it over time. And it's a it's a really excellent example of a handful of things that I just want to take a minute to discuss.

00;26;46;07 - 00;27;10;15

Clark

I mean, so it's an extraordinary example of condensed storytelling. I mean, it is it is very poetically written book. It's just on that level. It's it's amazing. But it's also an extraordinary example of empathy from a storyteller. And I remember, you know, when I first started to get into this world of filmmaking and storytelling, it was from the perspective of an actor.

00;27;10;15 - 00;27;35;24

Clark

I was pursuing acting, I was doing acting, studying, acting. And that was, you know, one of the first things that I learned. But it takes you know, it takes time to really master was to never sit in judgment of your character, right? If you're in judgment of your character, then you can't be the character. And and so I think whether you're a writer or an actor or a director, this is a really key point.

00;27;35;24 - 00;28;07;12

Clark

I don't you know, you really can't overemphasize this. If you are sitting in judgment of your character or of this character, if you're an actor of the character you're playing, if you're the director of the characters in your story, if it's a documentary, if you're sitting in judgment of the people that you're talking to, like you and I, when we worked on this, you know, that documentary that we're in the middle of about conspiracy theories, and we were interviewing people who had it to us pretty far out conspiracy theories that they really believed.

00;28;07;25 - 00;28;22;23

Clark

I mean, it's very tempting. It's very tempting to sit there in judgment of them. But you really have to work to suspend that and to empathize with them and kind of try to become one with them in a sense. Yeah.

00;28;22;23 - 00;28;51;28

Cullen

And just to understand, you know, I think that even beyond just simply character as well, you know, any successful artist should understand the ins and outs entirely of their story and should be able to empathize on a grander scale with that story itself. And to the story that they're telling. And you can really tell sometimes when a director doesn't necessarily understand the material that even sometimes they wrote themselves or or.

00;28;51;28 - 00;29;09;26

Clark

Even for, I mean, first rate, it's further than understanding. It's yeah, definitely it's it's one thing to understand but to to own write to feel in your heart to instead of saying you know it's like again I'll kind of go back to if you're an actor and you're playing a character that does bad things, right? I don't know.

00;29;09;26 - 00;29;32;15

Clark

You know, he's a serial killer or she's, you know, whatever horrible character. If you're sitting there and you're saying, gosh, this person is a bad person, they do bad things. I don't think that way. I wouldn't do that. Well, then boom, right. They're like, How are you going to inhabit this person? Yeah, Yeah. And it's and we can really I mean, we could really expand on this and you could talk about this hour long time.

00;29;32;15 - 00;29;58;25

Clark

But I feel that it is so fundamentally vital for any artist in any medium to constantly be expanding and working and exercising your empathetic muscles, because that really is the heart of what you're here to do as an artist. Yes, It's not about how you put paint on a canvas or how you chip away at the stone in a statue, or how you light a scene or write a story.

00;29;59;04 - 00;30;25;16

Clark

I really feel that when you distill it all down to its most central essence, it's about how you empathize. And we can really I mean, obviously that could be we can really go off on that one. But I think to bring it back to the peregrine into the lesson here, that that's a really great example and it's also a good example of something else, which is so many different topics that we're going to get to talk about in greater length as we go through this.

00;30;25;26 - 00;30;54;25

Clark

But it's a great example of, in my opinion. Now, Herzog doesn't talk about this or anything, but I do feel like it is indirectly important, and I think that Herzog shows this in his work as well. So. Herzog I personally find that none of his films are propaganda ish or even didactic, right? No. And the Peregrine is an extraordinary example of a film that is not propaganda.

00;30;55;07 - 00;31;07;19

Clark

It is not even didactic. It's not telling you how to think. It's not telling you what what to do. But actually, this book is a really extraordinary pro conservation book.

00;31;08;03 - 00;31;14;29

Cullen

MM hmm. And what's and I think, you know, in line with what you're saying is it allows you to get there to that conclusion on your own.

00;31;15;15 - 00;31;16;24

Clark

Through esthetic or.

00;31;17;01 - 00;31;18;07

Cullen

Exactly exactly.

00;31;18;07 - 00;31;43;04

Clark

Static or and that is so key filmmakers out there, you know, aspiring filmmakers out there, writers out there, please, please, please. It's you know, I play how to say this. I mean, of course, we all have our ideals and we have our you know, what we feel is right and wrong in the world, the things that we're passionate about.

00;31;43;21 - 00;32;02;10

Clark

But when you sit down to create a work in this case a film, and it's this is strange and it's so hard to kind of to speak directly to this, but, you know, if you sit down and you write a script, you're like, okay, I want to I want to tell people that saying X, Y, Z is bad, okay?

00;32;02;10 - 00;32;28;08

Clark

And I'm going to craft a story around how I can express that saying X, Y, Z is bad and we shouldn't do it or we shouldn't think it. I feel like almost inevitably that turns out crappy. I just really do because I feel like you're putting your ideals ahead of the esthetic and that esthetic, or it's just stripped out of your art.

00;32;28;08 - 00;32;39;07

Clark

And and because I watch films where the ideals that are represented in the films are totally in line with my thoughts, even like, I'm like, I agree, I agree. That's bad. But this is a horrible film.

00;32;40;14 - 00;32;41;23

Cullen

But yeah, but this.

00;32;41;23 - 00;32;58;01

Clark

Is such a great example. This book is such a great example of using esthetic or to bring people to an understanding of your ideals. And actually, did you feel that to film that book?

00;32;58;01 - 00;33;17;10

Cullen

Without a doubt, Yeah. Yeah. I think that it was, you know, even just to reiterate the word empathy is through empathy. You are somehow brought on the side of yes, the author and their take away without the author explicitly having to sit you down and say, this is what I believe and this is what you should believe, too.

00;33;17;13 - 00;33;21;23

Clark

Yeah. And it was just it just it kind of just like emanated great.

00;33;21;27 - 00;33;49;04

Cullen

It's a really great life emotion, I think. Because because what I think that says to a lot of people is that when you disagree with someone in in life, that oftentimes a better way to reach an understanding with that person isn't necessarily to throw facts at them or to throw statistics at them. For sure. It is to allow them to empathize with with situations going on that it's very you know, it's that's super, super relevant, especially in today's climate.

00;33;49;09 - 00;33;53;12

Cullen

Yes. Where, you know, rather than just yelling at people and throwing or.

00;33;53;13 - 00;33;56;22

Clark

Which we have a lot of in today's day and age. Boy, don't we ever.

00;33;57;06 - 00;34;06;24

Cullen

You know, just allow people to get to those conclusions on their own and they will often now hold those views deeper than if you had just simply told them in the first place. Right.

00;34;07;06 - 00;34;28;12

Clark

Well, and I want to I'll even add to that, too, a little bit just from my personal experience. So I grew up in the Midwest. I grew up outside of Saint Louis, Missouri, in the suburbs of Saint Louis and pretty far out from Saint Louis. So I lived in, you know, it's place called Saint Charles. And at the time it was I mean, we had like a gas station.

00;34;28;12 - 00;34;48;02

Clark

And, you know, the high school that I went to was like out in the Bush wildlife, like the Anheuser-Busch family. It's like big preserve and whatever reserve. And it was like out in the middle of nowhere, right? I mean, just happened to be across the street from a Superfund radioactive site. But that's all.

00;34;48;29 - 00;34;49;07

Cullen

So.

00;34;49;23 - 00;35;26;04

Clark

So close sometimes at night. No, but but I lived out in the middle of nowhere in this small town in the Midwest, and I lived in a at least for we lived closer to the city. So I was exposed to diversity and different peoples and things. But but when I went, you know, for junior high on, we lived in a very homogenous place demographically and and not just demographically, but religious, you know, like politically religious, philosophically, a very, very homogenous conservative place.

00;35;26;25 - 00;35;49;21

Clark

And I'll tell you, you know, as a younger kid watching films like like a great example, I'll just point out was Gus Van Sant's My own Private Idaho, watching that film. And, you know, back then it was like, it's not like I picked this film, you know, because you couldn't do that. Back then. I was just like up at night watching movies, which I loved to do.

00;35;49;22 - 00;36;11;26

Clark

You know, my parents had gone to bed and I would creep back up into the living room and I'd put on this big, like air traffic controller headphones they had way back in the early eighties because I'm old and and I would put like, thankfully we had like HBO or whatever. So I'm, you know, get to finally control that one TV we had in the house and and and watch something that I wanted to watch.

00;36;11;26 - 00;36;32;27

Clark

But you know I just had to watch what was on. And I remember so specifically my own Private Idaho comes on. And, you know, I had been taught through my you know, just through my religious education, which my parents, you know, kind of had me go through as that was something they believed in. And of course, they exposed me to that.

00;36;32;27 - 00;37;17;12

Clark

But I you know, it was a way to expose me to different people with different lifestyles, with different backgrounds and histories, and in a way that wasn't painting them as some fake perfect people or some you know, they were real people with problems and challenges and whatever else, right? It wasn't like they were. But but just like going through these this journey with them, these stories and kind of getting to become them, as I watched the film had such a profound impact on expanding my, my like experience with other people in other lifestyles and other religions and philosophies and beliefs.

00;37;17;12 - 00;37;31;18

Clark

And so I just I cannot overstate how important that was for me, especially when I didn't have any other like role models or examples of that in my life at the time. Do you know what I mean?

00;37;31;22 - 00;37;35;13

Cullen

Yeah. No, it's it's a and an interesting connection.

00;37;35;16 - 00;38;01;18

Clark

And so, yeah, I feel like the peregrine, although it's about a bird. Yes. Is such a great example of that. And I think that's what Herzog is speaking to here in his own way, not try to speak for him. But that's my interpretation of what he's, you know, talking about that the absolute vital aspect of of of enlarging your empathetic heart as much as possible.

00;38;01;22 - 00;38;03;13

Cullen

Yeah.

00;38;03;13 - 00;38;09;26

Clark

So. All right. Anyway, there's my there's my story, But boy, we've got off on you. But.

00;38;10;13 - 00;38;34;22

Cullen

But I think. I think, you know, even just to add on to that real quick. Yeah. What's interesting to me about that story, though, is is like I've had similar experiences that probably the most recent one, which to me took me, you know, majorly by surprise was because I wasn't young. It wasn't by any means the first movie ever seen or the first type of movie I'd ever seen that kind of approach this way.

00;38;35;03 - 00;38;41;02

Cullen

But I don't know if you saw Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird, which was 2017 or 2018.

00;38;41;02 - 00;38;43;21

Clark

You know, I actually have not yet.

00;38;43;28 - 00;38;44;25

Cullen

And I just but.

00;38;44;25 - 00;38;47;05

Clark

I just but I haven't seen it, unfortunately.

00;38;47;05 - 00;39;16;10

Cullen

For some reason. And it's like it's literally a movie about about, you know, a girl in Sacramento, California, who's trying to get into college. And and so really on a basic, basic level, no similarities with my life. Yeah. You know, and I but I remember watching it, and for some reason I almost it was like because of those differences, I was able to empathize so much with the character and so much with the movie.

00;39;16;10 - 00;39;29;16

Cullen

And it it hit me in this really weird way as I was it where I was like, it's just like, you know, I without trying to sound melodramatic, like I feel this movie, I just I know exactly what it's like. Yeah.

00;39;29;16 - 00;40;00;29

Clark

And it's, it's, you know, in a it's tough because, I mean, we talk, you know, not to try to take this to a political place. I don't want to do that, but I but I will say that I think that so much of where we are today is, is coming from with so much division. Yes. Yeah. I think really, you know, this is an opportunity for us as artists to try to bring as much empathy as we can to the.

00;40;00;29 - 00;40;38;20

Clark

So yeah, it's an opportunity for you fellow filmmakers out there. That's why we're here. So. All right. So yeah, if you can't tell, we like the Peregrine, we agree with Herzog, we think it's a good read and we highly recommend you check it out and let us know what you think of it. All right. So and this so it's funny, Herzog, who I think is actually hysterical and it really cracks me up that he claims to not have a sense of humor, which, of course, is just yet more hilarity from Herzog because he's more self-contradiction.

00;40;38;20 - 00;40;41;09

Clark

He is so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course. Yeah.

00;40;41;19 - 00;40;42;25

Cullen

Which I think is his big joke.

00;40;43;02 - 00;41;21;24

Clark

He is so full of contradiction, which is just so awesome. I love it about him, but. But you know, he he's hysterical. He tells a story here at the end of this lesson three about encounters at the end of the world, which is which is a great flick if you've not seen it. And he's discussing his voiceover and he's talking about kind of finding his own voice and and he tells this hysterical story about how he was inspired by Unsolved Mysteries of all Things, which I just would have never guessed in a million years that that would be something that A he would be watching, be that he would be inspired by.

00;41;22;05 - 00;41;30;20

Clark

But that is hysterical. And you can really hear it. You know, he uses the specific example of that narration where the part where the poor penguin.

00;41;31;00 - 00;41;32;05

Cullen

Is going off towards the end.

00;41;32;05 - 00;41;36;26

Clark

Going off to die into the mountains all alone. And oh my gosh, that kills me.

00;41;36;27 - 00;41;51;14

Cullen

And I think it's funny too, because you think of Herzog like when he starts talking about this, this example where he says, you know, finding your voice and you think of like always talking about, you know, a figurative, you know, finding your voice. But he's he's know, he's literally talking about what was his timber going to be. Right.

00;41;51;21 - 00;42;02;21

Clark

It's like and I have to admit, you know, I have not yet done a narration myself, like documentary narration, and I'm a little scared of it.

00;42;03;00 - 00;42;05;07

Cullen

I that's what's funny, is that I did one.

00;42;05;12 - 00;42;05;21

Clark

Yeah.

00;42;05;21 - 00;42;38;22

Cullen

For the documentary that I've got coming out right now. It's just being scored right now. But what's hilarious is I remember doing this documentary and doing my narration for it and what, what was I doing? But imitating Herzog. And I remember thinking at the time I was doing it, going like this, or subconsciously and not not that I was I was I wasn't doing an accent by any means, but I was sitting there and I was like, I remember I did a first passed the narration and I just thought it was a far too quick and it was just there was no weight to the words.

00;42;38;22 - 00;42;55;12

Cullen

And so then I sort of went back and did the narration in his voice with the accent kind of going, you know, we are at the edge of the world, you know, finding things like that. And then I just kind of took the voice out and went instead to to saying like, you know, we're at the edge of the world.

00;42;55;12 - 00;43;11;12

Cullen

And using his diction and kind of the places. But I remember feeling kind of cheap about that and going, yeah, you know, I'm just ripping the guy off because he sees, you know, a master. NARRATOR. Sure. And then finding out that he had ripped off unsolved mysteries, kind of. Did it make you feel? Took that weight off my shoulders.

00;43;11;15 - 00;43;16;08

Cullen

I was like, oh, yeah. Even the even the greats, you know? Sure. Understand that nothing is wholly original, that.

00;43;16;26 - 00;43;41;07

Clark

Isn't that the age old, right? Like expert steel, you know, I mean, or professional steel, whatever. You know, I think you for sure. You know, it is interesting. We can speak a little bit too, because I think there is he does kind of speak a little bit too to that that metaphorical voice. Right. Your inner voice, your your opinions, your angle, your perspective.

00;43;41;07 - 00;43;58;22

Clark

Right. You know, I think he does kind of suggest that, you know, there is and he's talked about this in other places, too, which is why I can kind of you know, you can kind of sussed that out a little bit more from this very brief discussion. A couple of just a couple sentences here at the end of this lesson.

00;43;58;22 - 00;44;19;17

Clark

But he talks about this in greater length in other interviews and in some of his books about, you know, a lot of people are so consumed and worried about finding their authentic voice. And, you know, I need to use film to to figure myself out is almost like a therapy to find out who am I and where am I coming from.

00;44;19;17 - 00;44;37;13

Clark

And, you know, I'm sure that you've heard a lot of this and maybe you've even, you know, come from that angle. I know I have. I know that I definitely have. I think Herzog kind of pooh pooh is that a little bit, you know, And he's like, no, you don't need to do any of that. I'm exploring the story.

00;44;37;13 - 00;44;38;17

Cullen

Yeah, this is.

00;44;38;18 - 00;45;02;13

Clark

Great yourself and use the film as a way to explore your inner child And, you know, it's definitely not his style. It's definitely not Herzog style. But again, though, it's interesting and he is certainly full of contradictions because, of course, I think he actually does do that in his films to some extent. I think that I think he does.

00;45;02;25 - 00;45;28;21

Clark

But that doesn't mean that his comment doesn't hold some validity at all. I think that, you know, in all of the ways that you kind of hear about how Herzog works or whether it, you know, the sense of urgency that he creates for himself, the fury that he works himself into when he writes the the physicality of his shooting, the lack of storyboards and, you know, all of these type of things.

00;45;28;21 - 00;45;55;17

Clark

I mean, I think he's constantly trying to keep himself in a zone where he is not absorbed by a looking in. Right. Yes. An absorption of like self awareness or, you know, and I would agree. I mean, that, you know, when you're when you're in a state of flow and you're not thinking about yourself, I think that's when I do the best work, whenever I'm kind of self-conscious and I'm, you know, what's my voice here and what am I trying to say?

00;45;55;23 - 00;46;08;09

Clark

It usually doesn't come out very well, frankly, if I'm conscious about it. Right, If I if it's like a self-conscious way, I think there's no way for your authentic voice to not be there for me. Right?

00;46;08;28 - 00;46;14;00

Cullen

It's like everything that you do will have a personal touch on it. Absolutely.

00;46;14;00 - 00;46;51;08

Clark

Of course it will. And but I think it is easy to get caught up in that. I think I know I have. Boy, I definitely have. I mean, I can speak from such experience about, you know, I think, oh, jeez, what's my authentic voice? And, you know, I really have and it's kind of one of my personal challenges is to kind of drop that, let that go and just have faith and trust that whether it's in the writing process or whether it's, you know, as I write of shot list or I'm there on set, whether I'm an actor or I'm operating camera or I'm directing that, whatever I'm doing it, I just have faith that,

00;46;51;08 - 00;47;00;29

Clark

yes, like you're going to come through. So I don't know. Has that ever been something that's challenged you and your creative process? It certainly has me, I think.

00;47;01;01 - 00;47;19;24

Cullen

And I think it's something that I've learned to kind of not worry about, if that makes sense. Just to kind of understand that, you know, whatever voice I have will likely come through. Yeah. Again, as I said, naturally, just just every every every person has a fingerprint and an artistic fingerprint. And.

00;47;20;02 - 00;47;21;13

Clark

And yours is Canadian?

00;47;21;25 - 00;47;25;08

Cullen

Yes, exactly. Exactly. Just like my beer. It's just like.

00;47;27;07 - 00;47;36;00

Clark

I love it. I actually. I actually prefer the way you pronounce being read. But yeah, like I've been. I've been to the store.

00;47;36;08 - 00;47;37;04

Cullen

I've been to the store.

00;47;37;07 - 00;47;39;00

Clark

Which has been you say been.

00;47;39;09 - 00;47;50;21

Cullen

And it's something that some people do, some people don't. There's, there's a little bit of Yeah. Of local diction here if I Sure I think like if I'm, if I'm you know Yeah I would say I think I say been I think I said no.

00;47;50;29 - 00;47;55;09

Clark

Then I'm go back to the tapes I can go back to the tape and I you know that's.

00;47;55;09 - 00;47;57;06

Cullen

You're right, you're right actually I know.

00;47;57;16 - 00;48;13;02

Clark

I was just making this march up. Well, that's great, though. I mean an especially, you know, not to sound like an old fart like your dad, but at your age, I think that's awesome. I mean, I really do think that a lot of and we we will touch on more and more of these things as we go through more lessons.

00;48;13;02 - 00;48;28;08

Clark

You know, we've just covered three here and the next one we'll do for and we'll keep going. But I think so much of what Herzog does and I don't know if it's if it's really a conscientious kind of thing or if it's just he's intuited this. Right. And it's become a part of his process and he just intuited it.

00;48;28;08 - 00;48;56;29

Clark

But yeah, staying away from all of this over analytical, over processing, overthinking, which is what we're doing right here in this podcast. Now it's there's a little bit of irony there, but but you know, I think when he's in his creation mode, staying away from that I think is really vital. But what's interesting is that, you know, and you can see this so when he's working on a film, he's kind of moving away from this over analytical, self-conscious place.

00;48;56;29 - 00;49;23;09

Clark

But when he's but then he's got another mode and he actually spends quite a bit of time interpreting his own work, analyzing his own, you know, he says he doesn't, but look at all the interviews that he gives. Look at all the speaking engagements, where he goes through his films in great detail and discusses it with people. You know, he's like Herzog on Herzog and where he you know, there's just 500 pages of interviews.

00;49;23;09 - 00;49;36;14

Clark

I mean, he you can find more of Herzog talking about his films with other people and his philosophy of filmmaking than almost any other director I know. Yeah. Really? So I.

00;49;36;14 - 00;49;37;14

Cullen

Absolutely am. So.

00;49;37;14 - 00;49;55;26

Clark

So maybe that kind of shows that you can kind of there's a ying and a yang and you can you can have both. You can get into discussions and kind of intellectually or conceptually analyze these things. But then when you're creating, that's flip the switch. Let's turn that off and let's get you know.

00;49;56;23 - 00;50;12;11

Cullen

Let's just let's let's be in the moment. I mean, and it's the same kind of philosophy of like even on a set, a director that's not misguided with a director that is kind of all over the place, thinking of the next six shots in the movie and not just thinking about the one that they're on right now is often is that.

00;50;12;11 - 00;50;31;03

Clark

Can is present. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so it's interesting I do think a of it seems like as he describes it, a lot of his process is kind of is designed to kind of keep that let's keep the stay in this present moment stay right now and then when you remove all of this self-consciousness, that's actually when it's funny.

00;50;31;03 - 00;50;56;23

Clark

It's, you know, like a lot of things, there's kind of a the truth is kind of a paradox when you've stopped worrying about your authentic voice is when it arrives and moves through you. So. All right. Well, I think that's probably a good note to end this on, unless you've got anything less to add. Excellent. Well, I really enjoyed our conversation here on Herzog's masterclass.

00;50;56;23 - 00;51;10;07

Clark

Lesson three. I appreciate you hanging out with me. COHEN Thank you so much for that. And we'll look forward to lesson four next week. So thanks for listening, everybody. We will catch you on the flip side.

00;51;10;07 - 00;51;11;06

Cullen

Take care. Thanks, guys.

00;51;11;06 - 00;51;13;19

Clark

But right.

Episode - 003

Cullen

Hello and welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. This is our third episode. I'm Cullen McFater and today I'm joined by my lovely co-host, Clark Coffey.

00;00;11;10 - 00;00;12;21

Clark

Lovely. Oh, that's nice.

00;00;12;23 - 00;00;13;10

Cullen

There you go.

00;00;13;21 - 00;00;16;02

Clark

And I really appreciate that. That's awfully kind of you to say.

00;00;16;24 - 00;00;44;06

Cullen

And so today we're going to be looking at lesson four of the Herzog Masterclass, which is primarily about writing a script and kind of Herzog's takeaways on, you know, the three act structure and things like that and his kind of criticisms of perhaps the way that people traditionally are taught to write scripts, but also some of his kind of stylistic differences, perhaps even between each of us, that maybe there's some points we disagree with or agree on.

00;00;44;07 - 00;01;04;28

Clark

I'll tell you this. Just go so everybody knows COHEN so that, you know, I'm just going to lay it all on the line here. I'm just going to tell you that admit I'm admitting that this is the scariest part of filmmaking to me. Mm hmm. So. So this is going to be this is a topic that boy I need to think more about.

00;01;05;03 - 00;01;07;19

Clark

Or maybe I need to think less about. Hmm.

00;01;08;01 - 00;01;09;07

Cullen

But there's the real question.

00;01;09;27 - 00;01;28;08

Clark

But, yeah, but this is. This is you know, this is probably this is the area in filmmaking where I feel like I am, you know, confronting that blank page is probably are we're actually without question, it's the most terrifying aspect of filmmaking to me. So it's kind of a personal challenge that I am that I'm still kind of working on.

00;01;28;08 - 00;01;37;27

Clark

And I hear this from a lot of people, that it is one of the more challenging aspects of filmmaking. But yeah, so there's my admission here before we jump in.

00;01;38;17 - 00;01;45;24

Cullen

Oh, absolutely. I can't imagine being someone who solely screenwriters as a career. Oh, it sounds terrifying.

00;01;45;27 - 00;02;11;07

Clark

It's an extraordinary gift. You know? You know, people who who can write with consistent discipline just amaze me. And it's something that I'm trying to work up to myself. But but yeah, And clearly, you know, with the amount of, you know, I don't know, what do you want to call them, self-help books or how to books or I mean, you know, if you look at how many books have been written about how to write.

00;02;11;17 - 00;02;38;21

Clark

Clearly, we're not the only ones who struggle with this challenge because, my goodness, that's an entire industry unto itself. And some of these books, of course, have kind of, you know, become mainstays and and are referenced all the time. But and I guess they can kind of segway us right into, you know, right off the bat. Herzog in this class just throws down the gantlet is like three act structure character arcs.

00;02;39;01 - 00;02;40;22

Clark

Who needs them? Yeah.

00;02;41;05 - 00;02;43;15

Cullen

Yeah. Which is the most Herzog thing.

00;02;44;00 - 00;03;08;22

Clark

Yeah. And I mean, which is which is interesting. I mean, so let's talk about that for a minute because because it's, you know, I think when when people are taught screenwriting, I mean, the three act structure, maybe five structure, but mostly four films, you know, three act structure, beginning, middle and end character arcs started at a diner. I mean, there's a tremendous amount of emphasis on this.

00;03;09;05 - 00;03;09;19

Cullen

Yes.

00;03;10;00 - 00;03;19;25

Clark

Hey, what are you I mean, what are your thoughts? And let's talk a little bit about our own personal experience here. But yeah, so Herzog says, throw it out, you know, But what do you think?

00;03;20;25 - 00;03;40;16

Cullen

I mean, I think similarly to a lot of the other things we've talked about, I think there's a there's definitely a use and knowing kind of the rules. And then once you know the rules, you can kind of break them. And I think it's similar with writing in that I think structure is important when you're when you're starting out or when you're learning it.

00;03;40;28 - 00;04;05;02

Cullen

And in even in a lot of, you know, larger scripts, I think that structure is very important. But I also think that if you know what you're doing, you can get away with writing a really compelling script that doesn't necessarily follow the format of of a regular, you know, three act structure or, you know, with character arcs and things like that and some very, very mainstream movies kind of lack character arcs.

00;04;05;02 - 00;04;22;25

Cullen

And it's the talent of the screenwriter that really, you know, I think you've might have talked about this before, but like Back to the Future, technically, Marty McFly at the beginning, that movie and then the movie is essentially the same person. He hasn't really learned anything on a main character changing kind of scale.

00;04;23;00 - 00;04;26;02

Clark

That's that's George McFly is the character who goes through the arc.

00;04;26;03 - 00;04;26;24

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah.

00;04;27;01 - 00;04;27;26

Clark

Right. Yeah.

00;04;29;09 - 00;04;30;14

Cullen

So I think on the merits.

00;04;30;20 - 00;04;32;12

Clark

You know, they rate. Was that the name of the film? Yes.

00;04;32;16 - 00;04;34;15

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's his name? Place.

00;04;34;17 - 00;04;55;15

Clark

That's interesting. Right. So there definitely are characters who have arcs. But you're right. I think Marty McFly in that instance, didn't so much have the arc. It was his father, which is interesting and Marty was a catalyst for. And I think you find that in quite a few films, actually, where the main character doesn't necessarily change much but is a catalyst for the change of other characters.

00;04;55;18 - 00;05;25;13

Cullen

I mean, yeah, even even the Sergio Leone westerns, like, I mean, it's not like Clint Eastwood has a arc in any of those movies, but he definitely changes the settings around him and the locals. And that's very that's quite a common Western kind of trope really, is that like this mysterious stranger that is technically the main character, the protagonist doesn't, you know, have a real, real arc or set kind of development through the movie, but rather they're kind of more of a whirlwind.

00;05;25;22 - 00;05;47;05

Clark

Yeah. So, so you're thinking so just to kind of like, summarize. So you're thinking it's good to know about something that you should be aware of, but and you're kind of saying that maybe you should know about these things. It's kind of that old adage of like, you should you should know what rules you're trying to bend or break before you try to bend or break them.

00;05;47;05 - 00;05;48;00

Clark

Is that what you're thinking?

00;05;48;11 - 00;06;11;17

Cullen

Yeah, because I think the thing that I think the one thing that these rules prevent is messiness. And they they're really helpful in streamlining ideas. So even if you know you going to write a script that technically isn't a three act structure and you kind of strip away that aspect of it, you can still use elements of that structure to streamline your script and to make sure that it's straightforward and concise.

00;06;11;17 - 00;06;29;14

Cullen

Whereas, you know, the biggest issue I have with reading scripts from people who haven't, you know, even in the class that I teach, if a kid writes a short film, even that's, you know, ten pages long. Yeah. And they very clearly don't have any sort of background knowledge on screenwriting, is that it's just kind of all over the place.

00;06;29;14 - 00;06;43;10

Cullen

It's one of those things that you don't really think about, okay, what's even something as simple as just like cause and effect? Yeah, you can you can really easily miss out on because I find that most people, when they write kind of go into this trance where they have it all in their head and it might not, honestly, there's no.

00;06;43;10 - 00;07;04;18

Clark

Question on the page and definitely seen that too. And I've seen it even, you know from moderately you know, intermediately experienced writers there's no question I don't like get a little philosophical here for a second sort of kind of you know, and I have to say I'm torn. I'm kind of sitting here exploring this idea with you and our listeners in real time.

00;07;04;18 - 00;07;24;27

Clark

I there's a part of me that thinks, you know, it's in my own experience, I feel like a lot of my challenges that I have spent too much time analyzing is conceptual, you know, in kind of trying to wrap my head around storytelling conceptually and and I think that that has led to a little bit of analysis paralysis for me.

00;07;25;12 - 00;07;53;12

Clark

And there's, you know, part of me that thinks that story telling is an inherent capability within all of us, at least to some degree. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that writing would come naturally, but as far as talking about story structure, you know, I feel like, you know, story is not that this is some kind of revolutionary thought here, but, you know, stories are just external manifestations of our internal psyches.

00;07;53;12 - 00;08;17;01

Clark

Right? It's these are just when we write a story, it's basically putting down on paper how our brains kind of work as human beings, right? We, we, we go through life and take the experiences that we have and kind of present them to ourselves in a narrative, right? This is how we see our memories that, you know, we're our main character and our film.

00;08;17;01 - 00;08;42;25

Clark

And, and and so this is we built like we're just storytelling machines, basically. It's how our brains work. And so I feel like it's, you know, to a certain extent there is this innate in to it, you know, kind of intuitive understanding of story, right? As I think even young children, I mean, you can have them, you know, tell me about what happened to your day or, you know, And so there's a part of me that's, you know, it's that.

00;08;43;03 - 00;09;06;09

Clark

So to an extent, this exists inside of us. And I think what Herzog I mean, my interpretation is kind of like he's saying, look, if you spend so much time trying to intellectualize, conceptualize, analyze story, that there's a good chance you're going to get in your own way. And I think from hearing him speak, you know, that's what he's concerned about for himself, right?

00;09;06;09 - 00;09;20;29

Clark

It's like, hey, I don't want to look too closely into this. If I start to dissect this stuff, I'm going to get self-conscious and I'm not going to be able to do it. And I think that's a big part of why he likes to write with such urgency is because he doesn't ever want to give himself a chance, right.

00;09;20;29 - 00;09;23;00

Clark

To to to start like thinking.

00;09;23;00 - 00;09;24;01

Cullen

About overthinking and.

00;09;24;01 - 00;09;24;29

Clark

Writing and getting.

00;09;25;09 - 00;09;25;14

Cullen

Head.

00;09;25;16 - 00;09;53;24

Clark

Down. It's kind of like, look, just write. Don't think about it. Just write. And so I you know, so it's interesting. I mean, I think, you know, clearly there are a lot of people who think very differently. And maybe it just kind of comes down to what works for you. But, you know, there's another aspect to this, too, which is like I think one of the reasons his films are so unique and that his voice comes through so cleanly in them is that he does write that way.

00;09;53;24 - 00;10;11;05

Clark

It's a very intuitive way of writing, whereas if he were to have say, Let's go to film school and read a bunch of books on how to save the cat or, you know, our story and all these, you know, things, and he sat down and had his, you know, he put his postcards or his, you know, three by fives on the board and had his face.

00;10;11;17 - 00;10;12;17

Cullen

Rearranged all day.

00;10;13;07 - 00;10;36;22

Clark

Okay, What's my inciting incident or what's my you know, his films would probably come out looking a whole lot like everybody else's films. Yeah. But then again, I think your point is really valid that, you know, for people who don't understand story structure and how to put that into a script, then sometimes you just have a big mush of nothing.

00;10;36;22 - 00;10;43;14

Clark

So I, I don't know, like, I really, honestly don't know. I think I'm torn on this.

00;10;43;20 - 00;11;07;19

Cullen

Well, I think it's really interesting that you mentioned the thing about kids, too, because I think honestly, if you think about it, the way that children learn to lie is through getting out of, you know, trouble or things like that. More often than not, it comes from exaggerating elements of a story like, you know, I was on the playground and dramatic and my friend pulled out a sword and and we fought goblins.

00;11;07;19 - 00;11;20;28

Cullen

Right? And it's like, you know, kids lie like that all the time. And but they're not they're not lying, really. They're they're telling stories that. Sure. You know, that they just don't see the it's flare. It's right. Exactly. Exactly.

00;11;21;00 - 00;11;36;11

Clark

Adding to the dramatic effect. And so yeah and that so that's a good point to read. And even going further than that, I mean, that right when you're a kid and you're playing with your toys and you have this sort of plastic figure, the you build this entire imaginary world where, you know, it's it's all these things are happening.

00;11;36;11 - 00;11;43;20

Clark

Like if you're, you know, playing army out in the backyard or something, which I don't know if kids still do that. I'm old. But, you know, when.

00;11;44;03 - 00;11;44;18

Cullen

I was.

00;11;44;18 - 00;12;05;11

Clark

Ago when I did that, you had my little G.I. Joe guys or something. I mean, you create this entire world, right? Your you've changed the setting and you've got these characters and I mean that storytelling. So I guess that's what I kind of mean is that I feel like it's this is intuitive to a certain extent. I guess that doesn't automatically mean that that would translate.

00;12;05;11 - 00;12;30;14

Clark

Okay, well, how do you take these ideas and put them into a written format and maximize their dramatic effect and make them compelling? And so, you know, I think that that you're probably right to some extent that having some kind of conceptual understanding is really important. But probably each of us have to kind of find our own balance of, you know, overanalyzing versus, you know, allowing your intuition.

00;12;30;24 - 00;12;59;17

Clark

My imagination is that the best of both worlds might be to find a way within yourself to understand intellectually and conceptually, but then to kind of turn that part off when you're writing and allow that intuitive subconscious to flow. Because I really do think that's where the amazing things happen. I mean, I love films that have a dreamlike logic quality that aren't necessarily perfectly linear or make perfect sense rationally.

00;12;59;17 - 00;13;11;25

Clark

I mean, we have too many of those. I like films that kind of cut that really kind of reveal an interesting subconscious and then likewise are able to speak to my.

00;13;12;07 - 00;13;13;08

Cullen

Yeah, exactly.

00;13;13;15 - 00;13;21;17

Clark

Right. So I, you know, that's one of the things that I think really jumps out at me from Herzog's films and one of the reasons I really, really love them.

00;13;21;24 - 00;13;28;18

Cullen

So at the end of the day, to me it comes down to in any creative art form, I think sticking to any rule is a mistake, like sticking into it.

00;13;28;18 - 00;13;29;27

Clark

Too dogmatic, you know.

00;13;29;27 - 00;13;51;02

Cullen

Such exactly dogmatically is, is, is a mistake because you find and, you know, we sort of had this similar conversation in our first episode talking about or in a second, which was time at film school where it is and it, you know, kind of comes back to this whole idea of do you, you know, do you just follow those rules steadfast?

00;13;51;02 - 00;13;52;29

Cullen

And then because that's so.

00;13;53;03 - 00;13;53;17

Clark

Mindless.

00;13;53;17 - 00;13;54;05

Cullen

Constricting.

00;13;54;06 - 00;13;56;25

Clark

Mindlessly around. Yeah, automatically.

00;13;57;02 - 00;14;14;06

Cullen

And I've heard people many times, you know, in a in a screenplay and a perfectly good screenplay, not not my screenplays, but like screenplays I've written or three read with other people. And their complaint has been something like, you know, well, I just didn't see a very clear second act break. And it's like, well, what is?

00;14;14;06 - 00;14;15;09

Clark

They're like, Yeah.

00;14;15;27 - 00;14;19;08

Cullen

What is that? Where does that where does that? Because of course, it was compelling.

00;14;19;09 - 00;14;45;27

Clark

Because, my goodness, I mean, if you judged almost all of or maybe all of Herzog's films in that manner, they would all fail, right? I mean, and so, yeah, I think it's interesting and it's, you know, especially like I put myself, you know, back into my more unexperienced self, you know, decade ago or 15 years ago. And I remember reading screenwriting books and things and just thinking like, you know, okay, this is what I've got to do.

00;14;45;27 - 00;15;07;10

Clark

This is how I've got to do it. Or, you know, people who are in film school or something. And and yeah, I mean, that can really get you in trouble thinking that there's just one way to do it or this is how you have to do it. And there's discussion even further. You know, having lived in L.A. for quite a long time, I mean, there's just so many film schools, screenwriting classes that are at it.

00;15;08;09 - 00;15;30;25

Clark

And everybody seems to know like everybody is selling some like magic silver bullet for how to write an amazing script. And there's no question I can say that that's horse pucky that anybody out there listening, if you're kind of just starting out and you see somebody try to sell you like the top ten secrets on how to write a killer script or something, just run.

00;15;31;05 - 00;15;40;12

Clark

Just run from that. Yeah, Lord, don't spend your money on anything like that. Run from it, because that's just boy, that's just crap.

00;15;40;23 - 00;16;04;17

Cullen

Well, I can remember being in this Facebook group for screenwriting, and I remember I had to leave it because it was just so dogmatic. Like you would post something for feedback and you know, the people's responses would be something like, like some people were generally genuinely helpful, but a lot of people would be like, Oh, it's, it's, you know, your character description doesn't tell me about the man's height or his hair color.

00;16;04;22 - 00;16;18;13

Cullen

Oh, Lord. And it's like you're I'm sitting there just with my you know, with my head and my face in my hands going, like, what the what is this? You know, I think I think a lot of that comes from a desire of somebody who, you know, again, because a lot of this does come down at the end of the day to talent.

00;16;19;09 - 00;16;44;22

Cullen

But but I think that a lot of times it's the people that kind of lack that natural talent that go to the rules and go, well, I know the rules really well, so I'm just as good. And so they kind of become dogmatic like that and kind of go like, you know, I can't maybe I can't write a great script, but at least I know the rules and I can criticize somebody else's script and make myself feel better because they, you know, their script didn't have action lines like, I write them, right?

00;16;45;02 - 00;16;46;04

Cullen

Yeah. So it's kind of funny.

00;16;46;13 - 00;16;46;22

Clark

Yeah.

00;16;46;25 - 00;16;53;17

Cullen

And then even just I mean, even formatting is so such a thing that I mean, Herzog does mention that about, about, you know, formatting.

00;16;53;26 - 00;16;54;05

Clark

Right?

00;16;54;26 - 00;17;00;02

Cullen

You know, do you. There's definitely a reason for it. But you know, those.

00;17;00;03 - 00;17;21;06

Clark

Versus writing, you know, in a perfect script format. Yeah. Which, which I think he kind of mentions in this lesson that for the vast majority of his career, he just wrote kind of in a novel form in prose, and then only recently that he started to put, you know, use and I don't and I've not read any of his current scripts in original formatting, so I don't know.

00;17;21;06 - 00;17;26;05

Clark

But it sounds like moving more toward a quote unquote proper script format.

00;17;26;20 - 00;17;49;07

Cullen

I mean, I used to write on Google Docs and have to format every single margin myself, which was hell. But that's how I mean, Paul Thomas Anderson writes like that, apparently still to this day, he writes in Microsoft Word without any plug ins, and he formats every single line. And honestly, there was, weirdly enough, a rhythm that you got into when you were doing that.

00;17;49;07 - 00;17;52;14

Cullen

Like it was like almost like you were operating a machine, like a typewriter.

00;17;52;14 - 00;17;55;25

Clark

In fact, you think you're him as you get into a trance.

00;17;55;25 - 00;18;10;18

Cullen

I mean, I've written on a typewriter, not, you know, a full script, but I've I've played with typewriters before. We used to have one at my school, and I would type in it all the time. It was a lot of fun, but there is kind of that feeling of like so operating in old piece of machinery.

00;18;10;18 - 00;18;21;18

Clark

It's like a novelty for you. You're like, I just like a typewriter. And I'm like thinking to myself, Dude, I remember writing papers in high school on a time that yeah, because the.

00;18;21;18 - 00;18;23;06

Cullen

All the best, whenever it was, I remember.

00;18;23;08 - 00;18;25;20

Clark

I was like, that's what we did. Like, that's what my.

00;18;25;20 - 00;18;34;05

Cullen

Uncle had one that was like one of the ones that you could type out, you know, your entire sentence and then hit print and it was all printed out. You didn't have to worry about waiting things out. No. Yeah, but.

00;18;34;05 - 00;18;35;23

Clark

Had. But yeah.

00;18;35;23 - 00;19;00;10

Cullen

But no, I mean on that point there, there is definitely a kind of the way I always describe screenwriting to, to the students that I teach is that it's, it's just as much a technical blueprint and like document about the film as it is a storytelling device. And the best screenwriters will balance both of those things to a point where, you know, reading a screenplay, a really good screenplay, doesn't feel like reading a novel.

00;19;00;10 - 00;19;17;29

Cullen

It feels like there's a rhythm to it, like you can feel the shots and you can feel the, you know, the how the lines move into the next ones. And I like, you know, when I write, I don't I don't actually write all that much. I much rather get another like a, another person to write for me. And then I kind of tear apart that script and, you know, make it make it my own.

00;19;17;29 - 00;19;37;27

Cullen

But when I do write my own stuff, I really do like to have that rhythm to it. And it's not necessarily the way that a novel is written. It's much more, you know, there's there's beats. You can feel those action beats and you can feel almost like the best screenplay makes you feel like you're watching the movie really well.

00;19;38;01 - 00;19;38;18

Cullen

This is kind of the.

00;19;38;18 - 00;19;55;18

Clark

Basic, and I think it brings up a couple points, at least kind of peripherally, is that I mean, it certainly matters like who you're writing the script for. So as we're talking here, you know, we are kind of you and I are talking about script writing from the assumption that the person writing the script is the director, right?

00;19;55;18 - 00;20;15;21

Clark

Because I mean, we're talking about Herzog. He doesn't write scripts for other people. He you know, when he directs his own scripts. So certainly you have a much, much wider latitude. And I mean, you can write a script however you want if you're going to be the director and if you are financing it right, if you're funding it, you can write it however the hell you want.

00;20;15;21 - 00;20;37;21

Clark

So if it works for you, for example, where you write it in screen screenplay format and it's very visual and it has a very visual rhythm to it because that's what you need to kind of go back to it and use it as a blueprint for directing. And that's what you do if you want to write it in a in a kind of a novel form, then, and that works for you, then that's what you do.

00;20;37;21 - 00;20;45;25

Clark

And of course, if you're writing a script to try to sell it, if you read a script on spec or you know, then that's a whole different ballgame there, you know?

00;20;45;26 - 00;20;47;16

Cullen

Yeah, you can't make those choices.

00;20;47;16 - 00;21;28;01

Clark

That are, you know, it's yeah, then that's a whole different thing. And you really do have to stick to the two screen screenplay formatting and that, that kind of changes everything up that, that really omits a lot of options for you. But yeah, I mean I think and that's where, you know, let's, I think, you know, going back to Reed Reed read Reed Reed, I think reading a wide range of literature is important that will help educate your that'll help you find, I think, your own writing style that works for you as your exercising your imagination, as you read, as you are working to visualize the stories, the characters in the literature that you read,

00;21;28;01 - 00;21;47;05

Clark

you can start to kind of piece together what works for you. And then, of course, writing, I mean, getting in there and writing ideally every day, at least some is a is a you know, that's as you talked, you mentioned talent. I don't know. I might I might argue a little bit with you there. I don't know really what talent is.

00;21;48;00 - 00;22;11;19

Clark

I don't even know if talent is a thing that I can't really define or understand. So I kind of just don't think much about it. I think I think of like, just working, you know, if you want to be a writer, right. Every day, read every day and just just do it. I don't know what inherent talent means or not.

00;22;12;11 - 00;22;38;13

Clark

And let's say it even does exist. Well, if it is truly inherent and you can't change it or do anything about it, then what does that mean to me anyway? So, you know, just do it. I think sometimes we have a tendency I certainly know I've done this to myself where you start. Well, if you start thinking about it in terms of things that you can't control, like, well, there's this like innate thing called talent that's inside of me and it's just what I am.

00;22;39;10 - 00;22;58;04

Clark

And I don't know, I guess kind of not to get too far down another track here, but I kind of would just prefer to be like, well, I mean, they're going to write or I'm not. Yeah, so do it or don't. And this whole thing about talent, I don't even want to waste my time thinking about it because it doesn't feel like it's a definable thing for me and and it's not in my control.

00;22;58;04 - 00;23;01;22

Clark

So just say by you know, I don't know if that makes sense, but.

00;23;01;24 - 00;23;20;05

Cullen

I know I mean, I think of it more in a way of like, of luck when that and some people are just more naturally inclined to to be able to do something well, but at the same time, you know, some of those people can be equally as good as somebody who just worked at it and who didn't have that natural and inclination.

00;23;21;01 - 00;23;39;02

Cullen

And so it's completely to me, it's more of a it's a moldable thing that might set someone ahead in circumstance but can be overcome. Yeah. But I also think I mean, just in general note too, about about, you know, format and whether or not you should write every one of your movies in a, in a specific format or things like that.

00;23;39;12 - 00;24;04;10

Cullen

The two longest short films that I've made which each, you know, we're around 25 minutes or so, they were both written, you know, they were both neither of them had script and other them had screenplays. They had documents that that had the story in them. But at the documents were more like beat sheets or or like treatments that just kind of described what went on in the scenes, you know, for specific moments of dialog.

00;24;04;10 - 00;24;30;12

Cullen

Of course, I would write out the dialog. But as far as, as, you know, exterior for us today, you know, our hero walks into the clearing and pulls his gun and, you know, fires it like there was none of that. There was. It was, which I think is funny because for the shorter movies I've done, the you know, the shorter short films I've done, I've done almost always had had formatted screenplays.

00;24;30;12 - 00;24;56;02

Cullen

And then even the the feature that I'm coming up on right now is kind of one of those things where in as Herzog gets into later, where he says, you know, be prepared to throw out your script on the set. Yeah. It's one of those things that with my producers were really talking about and this is a also to be, you know, specifically about this this is a screenplay that was written by a treatment by somebody else that I then adapted into the screenplay format.

00;24;56;02 - 00;25;16;24

Cullen

So it wasn't even, you know, on that. General No, it wasn't even just something that came right out of my own brain. It was it was an adaptation of another work technically. And, you know, with the producers, we're in this kind of talk right now about like, let's just have fun with the location. You know, if something comes up on location, we're like, that actually might work way better.

00;25;17;06 - 00;25;25;24

Cullen

And I think that a lot of people stress about that and people see that kind of, you know, be again, be prepared to throw it your script if the dialog doesn't work, blah, blah, blah on.

00;25;25;24 - 00;25;44;27

Clark

Set when you have no budget, which yeah, you know, you and I are in that category for the most part. I'm assuming most of our listeners would be. And there's no question I totally agree with you. I mean, unless you're able to build the sets right, or, or lock down any location that you might want, you've got to be willing to do that.

00;25;44;27 - 00;25;54;19

Clark

You have got to be willing to allow what's available to you. So whether it's costumes, actors, sets, you've got to be able to to work with them.

00;25;54;19 - 00;25;56;23

Cullen

Not even whether I mean, even something as simple as.

00;25;56;28 - 00;26;11;09

Clark

It went, right, because you're just not going to be able to dictate it. And so then your choices are, well, do I work with it or against it? Right. And if you are dogmatically sticking with your script and you're not using what's there, you're really cutting off a lot of opportunity for. Yeah.

00;26;11;17 - 00;26;28;00

Cullen

So I think it's funny to look at it that way too, to look at it in a way of being afraid of it or kind of being against it, because I think that that's one of most fun aspects of filmmaking. And of course that's subjective. But like I, there's nothing more fun to me than just kind of being with a group of creative people on set.

00;26;28;00 - 00;26;48;15

Cullen

And and I think that that's, you know, a really nice way to approach it in that especially, you know, working with actors like your actors are, if they are, you know, not even necessarily if they're trained, you know, you could just have someone who who's who's a great actor who has never had formal training, but work with them, like be able to sit down with them and kind of go, okay, how do you feel?

00;26;48;15 - 00;27;08;06

Cullen

Because if anything, they should know their characters. Just as well as you know them. And you can then have a conversation about, you know, what? What do we want to do here? What what's what's interesting? And I think Herzog really talks a lot about even his conversations with Nicolas Cage on Bad Lieutenant, where they would have these, like long conversations about the character.

00;27;08;06 - 00;27;23;10

Cullen

But it wasn't about, you know, scene to scene motivation or things like that or what do I want in this moment? It was these really general conversations. And, you know, another example of that is Sigourney Weaver on Alien came from a theatrical background.

00;27;23;10 - 00;27;24;19

Clark

I didn't know her offstage.

00;27;25;08 - 00;27;28;23

Cullen

Oh, he's a it is. It's his lesser known Pixar.

00;27;29;04 - 00;27;32;01

Clark

So that I mean, he was on it. But yeah, you know.

00;27;32;17 - 00;27;36;05

Cullen

Ridley Scott doesn't actually exist. But that's just Herzog's pseudonym.

00;27;36;11 - 00;27;40;11

Clark

That's Herzog's like more studio work.

00;27;40;11 - 00;28;10;25

Cullen

But no, but he so Sigourney Weaver in that of course, coming from a stage background, had so much work on the character of Ripley like this, this binder, this massive binder of just notes that she'd made about this character that, you know, half of that stuff, probably the vast majority of that stuff, never ended up on screen. But I think that as directors and as writers and as actors and, you know, as the kind of core creative team in any movie you should, that is always going to inform decisions.

00;28;11;01 - 00;28;40;12

Cullen

And I think both of you and I can really speak to that just because we both do have acting backgrounds where it's like even if something as simple as, you know, what my character did yesterday never appears on the screen, my knowing that will inform the decisions that I make as that character in each scene. And sure. And a lot of that can come from loosening up on your script and kind of giving your actors the opportunity and your cinematographer even and anybody the opportunity to kind of go, you know, where do I want to take this?

00;28;40;12 - 00;29;07;00

Clark

Well, And I think, you know, to take it from acting back to writing, I mean, boy, and this is a topic we could just I mean, we could spend, you know, a thousand episodes on just writing, of course. And there are podcast out there that definitely do that. But, you know, a couple of things, you know, so talking about problem solving, which just goes back to being able to be flexible and using what you have to to tell your story as opposed to trying to, you know, shoehorn something into what you don't have.

00;29;07;08 - 00;29;34;17

Clark

I mean, I think filmmaking is, you know, probably 98% problem solving. I mean, especially as a director, certainly, you know, producer as well. I mean, this is what you're doing. Like it's it's just a constant stream of having to be having to creatively solve problems. I mean, I just I've never worked on a film where there weren't just, you know, I mean, every day was just a string of of I you can call them challenges, you can call them opportunities.

00;29;34;17 - 00;29;52;14

Clark

But I mean, no matter how well you plan, ultimately you're going to get there. And on the day you're going to have so many decision points and you can kind of see it as like taking opportunity or as, you know, just fighting every one of those opportunity points to just, you know, stick to exactly what you've got on on the page.

00;29;52;20 - 00;30;23;14

Clark

And at this level where, you know, at this kind of budget, you just you can't control all the variables around you. You know, we're not, you know, Christopher Nolan or David Fincher, who can make $150 million film and control every single variable, you know, and have such a like, sanitized set. And then of course in post get to CGI everything the way they want it, you know, So, you know, not that they don't have their their own challenges and opportunities and creative problem solving.

00;30;23;14 - 00;30;43;16

Clark

Of course they do. But I mean, I just I think that that that's such an important thing to remember is to, you know, to remain flexible is just so key and to see those as opportunities. Yeah. And not get caught up. And then and then you also you talk about as you talked about the background or the homework, the background work that actors do.

00;30;43;23 - 00;31;16;04

Clark

You mentioned Sigourney Weaver in this huge, you know, Trapper Keeper. I don't know. I said Trapper Keeper, I just do you remember? Can I just imagine? I imagine Sigourney Weaver, you know, this is like and this one was alien. Was that like 70, 79, 79? So you think about this, you know, Sigourney Weaver, she's young and she's got this like purple trapper, Trapper Keeper filled with all of her, uh, alien notes that anyone I don't know where my mind's going, but I just imagine Trapper Keepers were cool.

00;31;16;04 - 00;31;48;12

Clark

I missed them. I don't know if they're still around, but anyway, you know, same as a writer, though, right? So, you know, and this is there's a horror film that I'm working on as a producer and working with the the write this the writer of that script. We're going through the handful of rounds of revisions and of such a big part of what we're doing is making sure that that there is a universe that this script sits in that extends well beyond the pages.

00;31;49;03 - 00;32;20;08

Clark

And, you know, I'd be interested to know Herzog doesn't specifically talk about this, but my guess is that in his mind, he has a universe that these scripts sit in and that he may just keep them in his mind. But I think that's a big part of when he's writing, you know, a script in a novel form. He's actually that's a big part of it, is that he, you know, within the writing, there's so much more than what's going to ultimately literally be onscreen, but it informs what's on the screen in very important, significant ways.

00;32;20;17 - 00;32;41;28

Clark

Yeah, Yeah. And so in this particular film, the way we're going about that is just, you know, working together as a team to make sure that this universe is consistent. And there's a logic to it, at least within itself, right? And that it exists well beyond just the pages so that it does inform so that there's a density and depth of of information there on the screen.

00;32;42;04 - 00;33;03;21

Clark

That's compelling, that's interesting. So things make sense and have purpose within its own little weird, funky universe. So, you know, but he doesn't specifically speak to that. But I would be I would have been interested to kind of know, you know, but my guess would be that that he's got a lot more there in his head than what you just see on screen.

00;33;03;21 - 00;33;05;10

Clark

I think that's pretty important. So.

00;33;06;04 - 00;33;38;18

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, that's it's it's a great point because I think there's that just kind of like you said, and very much in line with that idea of, you know, an actor knowing what their character did yesterday, will inform the decisions they make on that day. Very similarly. You should know the rules of your world and things like that, and the world in which even if you're writing a drama that takes place in this very real world, there are still, you know, rules and there's still circumstances outside of your film that will decide factors within it.

00;33;39;09 - 00;34;11;06

Clark

Um, as a caveat, though, as a caveat, I would say. And B, you know, I would say you can go too far though in that direction where and I actually have run into this myself, where I've kind of had to stop myself, where you, you can get really caught up on that where okay, the cause effect, relationships, the motives, actions, the you know, everything that's happening has this like perfectly rational, literal, you know, train of thought that makes perfect, rational, literal sense.

00;34;11;18 - 00;34;17;26

Clark

Be really careful about that, because I think that's one of the ways that you can really take away what Herzog is talking about here.

00;34;18;07 - 00;34;19;23

Cullen

Which is, Oh, yeah, yeah.

00;34;19;26 - 00;34;46;00

Clark

Which is that, you know, the reality is, is that the crazy shit happens in the world all the time and, and things, you know, are human behavior. It can some time. I don't even know how rational it really is. Actually, when you boil it all down, it seems that we're quite emotionally driven. So I don't know. I mean, have allowed that's that space for your subconscious that things may not on surface, on face value seem to make sense.

00;34;46;00 - 00;34;53;22

Clark

Or why did this happen or why did that happen? But you know, I don't know. So just careful, you can go too far and kind of analyze out. I guess this kind of speaks to the.

00;34;53;26 - 00;35;00;07

Cullen

I think to to me, my mind, my mantra on that is kind of that the screen supersedes all if that makes sense in.

00;35;00;07 - 00;35;00;17

Clark

That.

00;35;00;17 - 00;35;25;27

Cullen

And, you know, so if I'm writing rules for a world, especially in something like where it doesn't maybe take place in our world or or there's very specific things about like horror or things like that where, you know, okay, these paranormal things do exist. What what are the rules around these ghosts? What my oma, what I always think about in my head is and a good example of that is the movie it follows, which a lot of people loved.

00;35;25;27 - 00;35;27;23

Cullen

I thought it was okay, but it was interesting.

00;35;28;10 - 00;35;33;00

Clark

It didn't jump out. Yeah, I heard rave reviews and I watched it and I was yeah.

00;35;33;01 - 00;35;37;27

Cullen

It was kind of, you know, it was it was it was a fun, fun hour and a half or whatever it was. But I didn't I didn't.

00;35;37;27 - 00;35;38;25

Clark

Think it was. Anyway.

00;35;38;25 - 00;36;14;20

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. But, but it's a great example of like rules in terms of what can this monster do and what can't it do. And there were points, especially near the end of that movie where they started to get a little fuzzy. And so that's that's kind of where I mean, to think about those things when you're writing. But at the same time, what I mean by the screen supersedes all is if there's something that happens in your movie on screen that breaks one of your rules, but what occurs on the screen makes up for it or explains it in a way that that kind of bumps over it.

00;36;14;20 - 00;36;46;17

Cullen

I don't mind it. It's one of the reasons that one of my least favorite film discourse kind of topics ever is talking about plot holes. Yeah, because I find that so, so often if you're watching a movie, you don't notice the plot holes really until you think about it afterwards. Yeah, which sometimes is an issue, but a lot of the times it's like, I don't, I don't care if, if, you know, I have to wonder why that person chose to drive to that location or instead of walk or vice versa or, you know, things like that I think are so, you know, if a great example of that is is Hitchcock with I can't read

00;36;46;17 - 00;37;05;16

Cullen

what movie it was but Hitchcock tells a story about an actor walking out of a hotel door and looking up at the building across the street. And Hitchcock said, Don't look up at the building across the street until you get to the curb. And the actor said, Well, I can see the top of the building from inside the lobby.

00;37;05;16 - 00;37;19;15

Cullen

I don't I don't actually need walk to the curb. And then Hitchcock said, Yes, you do need to walk to the curb because you need to get into the shot and look up so that I can then cut to the shot, right? Yes. And he was like, and then I have to cut to the shot of the building across.

00;37;19;15 - 00;37;41;16

Cullen

So I have to see you look up. And it's one of those things right, where it's like logically, I mean, that's not necessarily a plot hole, but logically, yeah, the guy could see the building from inside, but sometimes and that's kind of what I mean when I say the screen supersedes all that. There's certain there's logic that occurs within the way a camera captures a scene or a visual that might not fit with the logic of your script.

00;37;41;16 - 00;37;51;09

Cullen

And I usually try to focus on the logic of that camera because at the end of the day, that's what people are going to be seeing of your film is is the is what the final camera captured.

00;37;52;00 - 00;38;10;20

Clark

Yeah. Well and it's just too you talk about plot holes I mean I would imagine that if you looked at if any one of us looked at our own lives, even our actual real lives may have quite a few seemingly plot holes to an outside an outside viewer, I imagine quite a few. But, you know, even in even insanity, kind of has its own logic and rules.

00;38;10;20 - 00;38;45;15

Clark

But it's it's not something that we could, you know, dive into to the extent to which this subject might demand it. But but it is is something to to think about and to kind of, you know, look at and find your own technique in writing and maybe try both if you're kind of just starting off at a right as a writer to just see what you can do sit down and but let's so let it kind of like Segways in into that like okay so we've talked about it kind of philosophically, but, you know, Herzog talks about how he actually logistically writes in this lesson.

00;38;45;26 - 00;39;14;06

Clark

And for him, you know, he talks about really psyching himself up, you know, and and this, like, really speaks to me because, again, this is one of the scariest aspects of filmmaking to me. So psyching myself up is is kind of key. But he talks about how he gets inspired. You know, he starts off by reading, you know, what he considers high caliber writing, and he works himself up into, you know, he uses the word he's playing Beethoven loudly.

00;39;14;06 - 00;39;36;05

Clark

And, you know, this, you know, oftentimes on repeat the same song over and over and over. And he says that this carries him along, you know, and that he likes to write really fast. And he talks about writing entire scripts and, you know, two, five days. What are your thoughts on that and how does that contrast or align with with the your process?

00;39;36;09 - 00;39;56;10

Cullen

I mean, I think it's really I think everyone, again, has has their own method. And so I but I do kind of align with that. I listen to in a very different ways. So like for the documentary that I'm doing right now, that's just wrapping on the score I wrote that by listening to Haydn lately.

00;39;56;10 - 00;39;59;12

Clark

Ricky Coen You're you're rapping on the score.

00;39;59;25 - 00;40;00;22

Cullen

I am rapping, yeah.

00;40;00;24 - 00;40;01;23

Clark

Can you give us a few?

00;40;01;24 - 00;40;24;20

Cullen

Well, I mean, lay down a beat for me later, but I know that when I you know, I sat down, I listened to Gorecki and his symphony number three, and I wrote pretty much the entire which is like this this tragic, beautiful piece with this operatic singer over it. And, you know, I wrote the entire narration on that on, that over that score.

00;40;25;09 - 00;40;34;05

Cullen

And then there were other very literal times where I've written, you know, I wrote an entire script that was like kind of almost a Herzog thriller, this feature length script to Stravinsky's The Firebird, that entire.

00;40;34;08 - 00;40;56;29

Clark

I'm curious, like, I'm genuinely curious. I want to take you back even before this. So I'm just curious. It's it's, it's always interesting to kind of hear other people's creative process who Herzog shared his books with us. But I'm just kind of curious. I mean, before you even get to that point, how is there anything that you do, any kind of I'm kind of big on rituals.

00;40;56;29 - 00;41;08;12

Clark

We could talk about this, but I'm curious for you. I mean, do you just, like, grab a laptop, sit down on a couch and start writing, or do you have a space? Do you do you write at a consistent time of the day or is it all over? I mean.

00;41;08;18 - 00;41;25;13

Cullen

I don't I don't come up with ideas. I think that's that's kind of my my main by that. So all of any time I come up with something, a screenplay or whatever, it's from something that I've seen. So it's not something I thought of. Like I'm not somebody that up these things in the shower and then goes like, I got to write that down.

00;41;25;13 - 00;41;47;00

Cullen

It's always so an example is that that the Hitchcock kind of parody, not parody, but the Hitchcock style movie I just did that short kind of experiment. I came up with that because I was standing at my window one night and a bus pulled up and then drove away and I thought, Oh, be kind of neat. If someone like I got off that bus, who I knew was coming to either kill me or something like that.

00;41;47;03 - 00;41;49;13

Clark

And you don't call that coming up with an idea like.

00;41;49;29 - 00;41;52;10

Cullen

Oh, sure. I mean, no, no. I mean, technically, yes.

00;41;52;10 - 00;42;10;14

Clark

But this is curious to me. Okay. Yeah, this is interesting. Let's explore this for a second. So you're saying just we're using you as an example because I think so many people are challenged by this, by the by this process. So we use ourselves as guinea pigs and kind of to contrast and compare to what Herzog talked about in the lesson.

00;42;10;14 - 00;42;26;15

Clark

But so it's interesting that you said I'm not the kind of person who comes up with ideas, and then you go on to describe how you're standing in front of your window and you see a bus go by and your imagination takes off and you're like, Well, what if, you know, this person got off the bus and they were here to kill me?

00;42;26;27 - 00;42;33;10

Clark

And then it kind of blossoms from that. And I'm curious, why do you feel like that's not coming up with ideas? Like that's interesting to me.

00;42;33;10 - 00;42;50;19

Cullen

I see more of it is like the world generating those ideas for me because I'm not somebody who can sit, you know, I've got friends who can sit down at a laptop and just throw something out, rattle off, just, just rattle off a story. Whereas I'm someone who very much more like will kind of be signaled those ideas.

00;42;50;19 - 00;43;01;19

Cullen

And maybe that's one of the reasons that I prefer to get other people's scripts given to me for something to direct because I can. I then once I've got that starting point, I can go all over and I can I can.

00;43;01;29 - 00;43;02;26

Clark

Tweak, start.

00;43;02;26 - 00;43;24;01

Cullen

Generating ideas on my own and go, What if we do this instead of that and things like that? But when it comes to the, the like, the creation of those ideas, it's usually something occurring out of my control that I go, That's really neat. Even another example of that is the the movie that I made for Herzog's Masterclass back in 2016.

00;43;24;10 - 00;43;25;06

Clark

Yeah, way back.

00;43;25;06 - 00;43;42;20

Cullen

Was was created because I was taking in groceries from the car one day and I thought, wouldn't that be weird if there was a car sitting outside of my house? And I thought, Wouldn't that be weird if, you know, I was taking groceries and I came back outside and that car had been following me the day before and it's like, Oh, now, now it's now it's at my house.

00;43;42;20 - 00;44;05;28

Cullen

And that was the basis of that story that that I wrote and that turned into a movie. And it always also involves music, which is weird in that like normally what will happen is something like that. And then I will sit down and kind of start listening to music that it reminds me of. So again, like I said, the Stravinsky, the Firebird, that whole screenplay came out because I can't remember exactly what had triggered that thought.

00;44;06;12 - 00;44;25;12

Cullen

There was something with a pen. I remember I saw a pen somewhere. I went, That's that could be like a neat plot device if that pen had something inside of it, which is funny. But but then I wrote this whole thing on The Firebird by Stravinsky because that was the music that I kind of popped into my head or even the screenplay that, you know, I'm refining and tweaking with right now.

00;44;25;12 - 00;44;44;27

Cullen

That for the feature that I'm directing was Gordon Lightfoot, you know, which is very different than Stravinsky's The Firebird. But I just love listening to, you know, especially because Gordon Lightfoot, of course, is from, you know, northern Ontario, which is where we are going to be shooting this movie. And it just felt appropriate that I listened to to Gordon Lightfoot for for that.

00;44;44;27 - 00;44;47;05

Cullen

And it which, you know, it's it's interesting.

00;44;47;13 - 00;45;20;25

Clark

Now do you so it sounds like you've mentioned a couple examples where you're inspired by, you know, seemingly benign or mundane life things, which I think is very common or and I think Herzog mentions earlier and know one of the lessons somewhere being inspired, you know, taking where Herzog talks about specifically, you know, I think like for Fitzcarraldo, where, you know, he took one small little piece, which is the steamship being pulled over the mountain out of what he considered an otherwise totally boring narrative and made a film around that.

00;45;21;04 - 00;45;41;09

Clark

So, I mean, do you ever find it? In other words, I feel like inspiration, of course, is everywhere it can be in that pen that's sitting on the table. It can be in a bus that pools in front of your window. It can also be in other words, do you ever find yourself specifically inspired in other stories and in literature or films?

00;45;41;09 - 00;45;43;12

Clark

Because I very much do. Mm hmm.

00;45;43;22 - 00;45;47;26

Cullen

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We're the first to read, right? Exactly.

00;45;47;26 - 00;45;48;20

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;45;48;21 - 00;46;08;05

Cullen

The first. The first screenplay I ever wrote, full feature length screenplay ever wrote was right after I had read those Zodiac documents, as I mentioned in the last episode about reading. Yeah, I read those that full file and that I wrote, and that was a combination of that. And then I watched Fincher's Zodiac and I kind of got this idea.

00;46;08;16 - 00;46;17;21

Cullen

So very much so is, is the, you know, yeah, that kind of sense that, that synthesis of those two things that came into something that was just that was new and fresh.

00;46;17;27 - 00;46;33;06

Clark

Now, when you write, do you do you have any kind of like, do you have a space that you've set up? Are you do you like anything? Do you have a time of day? Because we can kind of talk a little bit about some of these things, but for you, is any of that a part of your kind of regular creative process?

00;46;33;06 - 00;46;33;15

Clark

No.

00;46;33;15 - 00;46;53;23

Cullen

In fact, the most successful writing stint I've done lately was when I wrote, I think 65 or 70 pages in a day. I was sitting on a chair comfortably. Yeah, yeah. I was so uncomfortable the whole time too, but I just could not. I think it was just when I was like, that's all constantly like, Oh, I should probably go and sit somewhere that'll be more comfortable.

00;46;53;23 - 00;46;55;24

Cullen

But I figured that would, that might ruin the.

00;46;56;00 - 00;46;56;13

Clark

Right.

00;46;56;13 - 00;46;59;01

Cullen

Room, the, that the rhythm I had going.

00;46;59;01 - 00;47;01;02

Clark

But the urgency that Herzog talks about.

00;47;01;02 - 00;47;18;26

Cullen

But no I think I think it's interesting is in contrast with what you said where you said that you do you like that kind of ritual, that that pattern. Whereas I, I don't find that at all. If I have something creative, I'll you know, even if I'm on a bus, I'll pull out my phone and immediately start writing something in a in a notes document on my iPhone.

00;47;18;29 - 00;47;40;21

Clark

Well, and that's, you know, I'm going to write for myself. It's something that I run into quite a bit, right? It's like you're not always you're not in control of when you're inspired necessarily. Right. And so I guess it depends on the extent to which you want to write. But, you know, for me, if I relied only upon, you know, if I only wrote when I was inspired to do so, I wouldn't do a whole lot of writing.

00;47;42;07 - 00;48;13;28

Clark

And so, you know, especially to push myself through, you know, 120 page script because, you know, even if my original idea was inspired, I have never had it be the case that that inspiration just carried me through an entire 120 pages without any dips. Right? It just didn't. It just didn't. It just never happened for me. And so it's interesting to Herzog, and maybe that's part of I obviously never want to speak for him, but just kind of imagining, you know, he mentions urgency as such a vital aspect of his process.

00;48;13;28 - 00;48;27;08

Clark

And I wonder if that's part of it. It's that, you know, when you get it, when you have that inspiration, write it like you did with that 60 pages. You're like, I don't even want to move off this uncomfortable chair, because if I move, if I stop this, if I let this go, it might run away from me.

00;48;27;22 - 00;48;46;04

Clark

So, you know, also, I think writing with great urgency, it kind of it it it forces you to separate the editing and the writing process now. Herzog It's another aspect of his writing. He talks about he alludes to. He doesn't touch his stuff after he writes it, which is kind of wild to me, and it's definitely not my process.

00;48;46;04 - 00;49;07;01

Clark

I Yeah, yeah. But, but, you know, when you write with right, it's kind of that that old adage, right. Drunk edit sober right where he's and he even has a story where wasn't he writing on that. Don't think he was necessarily drunk. I can't remember if he was or not. But he's writing in the in the bus full of soccer or football players and everybody is, you know, throwing up and everything.

00;49;07;02 - 00;49;41;18

Clark

But it's it's you know, for me and I think, you know, maybe the take home for people is not that this is an advice podcast by any means but you know to try a bunch of different stuff. I mean, I'm still trying. It's like sometimes I find like ritual you it works where I have, you know, I will read literature for 15, 30 minutes to kind of separate myself from the day, you know, to separate myself from all of the little, you know, the work issues or just life issues and things to kind of, you know, to to take me into a different mental state.

00;49;41;18 - 00;50;04;24

Clark

It's almost like a meditation, right? And then I have a space that I've set up that I write with. I write in and, and sometimes to for stretches, it would be a specific time of day that I will write. So I kind of know to prepare myself for this thing with my rituals. And that works for some people and, and so maybe it's worth trying.

00;50;05;28 - 00;50;28;04

Clark

But yeah, you know, for me it's like, boy, if, if you are somebody who is regularly inspired to the point where you have the energy to write a script, right? Well, I am jealous of you, but it's just not that way for me. Even if the initial ideas inspired it's a it's a process. It's like a very you know, and it's it's often tedious for me.

00;50;28;10 - 00;50;41;10

Clark

So I've not been able to get to the place where Herzog is, where he is able to write a script in five days and he doesn't worry about my process is very different. Maybe I should put more time into trying that the way Herzog writes.

00;50;41;10 - 00;51;04;23

Cullen

But I mean, again, it's one of those things, too, that once you have that amount of control over your project's totality, you you can kind of make those decisions. I think as an independent filmmaker, if I went to a producer and said I wrote the script, it's the first draft and that's what we're going with, I'd be left thinking I'd be requested, you know, to go and write a new draft.

00;51;05;03 - 00;51;21;14

Clark

We're going to well, this is this kind of would be an interesting segway into the next lesson, which will be our next episode, which is financing for us films. But I would argue that at both ends of your career, you kind of have this power, right? So right now I'm not writing anything for a studio I'm not.

00;51;21;14 - 00;51;22;11

Cullen

Supposed to have. The risks are.

00;51;22;11 - 00;51;45;18

Clark

Low, not trying to sell anything like I'm I'm writing to direct, produce my own film with my own money or, you know, private investors or whatnot that we've gotten. And so I may be beholden to them in some sense, but I control that because I set that up by saying, you know, you're investing in this, but it's not like you're going to dictate the script or the story or etc., or how we tell it.

00;51;46;00 - 00;52;13;21

Clark

So you have control over that. And certainly if you use your own money, which, like I said, Herzog talks about in the next lesson, I mean, you do have that control. Yeah. Yeah, you do. And it's and we can talk about this at different points throughout and in the next episode, in the next lesson. But you know, you're what your goals are really important and talk let's talk about actually a little bit here with writing you know what motivates you as a filmmaker.

00;52;13;21 - 00;52;38;19

Clark

As an artist is so important if you sit down to write because you want to be a famous director, because you want to break into the Hollywood system and be a be a cog in that machine. And I think there's a kind of loaded words. It's not that there's anything wrong, of course, with working within the studio system at all, but, you know, it really does make a difference about how you approach this.

00;52;38;19 - 00;53;05;27

Clark

If you are writing a script because you have a story that's burning inside of you to tell and you have to tell it and you're going to direct it and you're going to finance it, that's just it's such a different beast, right, than if you're sitting down like, okay, I want to be the next Quentin Tarantino. And I was like, You know, I've got to write a script that a reader at this Agent literary agent's office is going to be, you know, is going to think is great.

00;53;05;29 - 00;53;07;12

Cullen

Totally blown away by.

00;53;07;19 - 00;53;23;07

Clark

And write. And then I've got to you know I'm going to be I'm going to get into the Hollywood system and I'm going to be the next big director. I mean, being motivated consciously by those kind of goals, I think produces such a radically different film.

00;53;23;14 - 00;53;28;25

Cullen

Oh, yeah. I mean, unless you're a spec script writer full time, I would say write for yourself. Like even if.

00;53;28;25 - 00;53;44;07

Clark

You're I mean, I would write, I mean, I would say always write for yourself. I mean, I guess my point is this and this is what speaks to me about Herzog, is that, you know, his films, he's always writing from the place of, you know, they talk he uses different analogies, like the robber that's in your house, right?

00;53;44;08 - 00;54;14;16

Clark

It's it's that the story he can't not tell the story. He can't not tell the story. He's got to tell the story. And so and again, just kind of, you know, I think Herzog, the way he lives his life, the way like what we're talking about a philosophy of living and of art. It's living in a way where you can open yourself to the world to such an extent that you can be inspired, you know, to to have to create something so intensely that it's like all you care about is telling the story.

00;54;14;24 - 00;54;25;00

Clark

You're not motivated by fame and fortune and prestige and, you know, all these things. Maybe those things will come to you in time, but it's almost kind of, you know, I just.

00;54;25;11 - 00;54;29;12

Cullen

They're always going to come naturally, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's not going to. You have to be able to force that.

00;54;29;17 - 00;55;00;15

Clark

Yeah. And I guess I'm speaking just to this to some extent because just of my time in Los Angeles and kind of being exposed to that whole that whole mess and, you know, maybe we could just do some podcasts, some episodes on, on that whole experience and all the stories I got from that alone. But I mean, you but it is it is really it does, you know, and maybe if you're sitting out there listening and and you've not kind of been been a part of that machine, it's it might be harder to understand how easily you can get sucked into that.

00;55;00;26 - 00;55;26;22

Clark

And it really does have a profound impact on your creative process. Right. Because all of your motivations and intentions moving into writing and are so changed by, you know, if your goal is to try to make it. And oh, it's just I mean, I've I think that's one of the things that really, really, really stands out to me about Herzog that really I gravitate to him for that.

00;55;26;22 - 00;55;43;24

Clark

It's a reminder to to try to stay pure and and focus on the story as opposed to other external goals of success. But anyhow, so yeah, well, I think we've pretty much covered most of the of the stuff that Yeah.

00;55;43;24 - 00;55;45;14

Cullen

That's, that's a great place to of.

00;55;45;18 - 00;55;55;21

Clark

Of this, of the stuff of the stuff of the, of the content that was in Herzog's fourth lesson. So do you have any other anything that we missed any other final words.

00;55;55;28 - 00;56;00;23

Cullen

No. I think just I think this episode I think that all sums it up really sufficiently.

00;56;00;27 - 00;56;06;10

Clark

I mean, it hey, at least as much as we can do in this episode, right? Of course. Boy, screenwriting could be, you know.

00;56;06;25 - 00;56;10;01

Cullen

On a diet. I think it is. I'm pretty sure there are podcasts based.

00;56;10;01 - 00;56;34;19

Clark

On that have hundreds and hundreds of episodes, which which I always imagined know. I always imagine. Herzog You know, it's so funny, you know, because here he is like, look, don't over it, don't overanalyze it, don't intellectualize it, don't, you know, get out of your head, get into your body and do this thing. And so I'm always kind of, you know, that's I feel like Herzog's looking over my shoulder, his sort of like, you know, head floating here above me, saying, What are you doing?

00;56;35;05 - 00;56;58;11

Clark

You know? Yeah, right. Just right. But anyway, all right, so cool. Well, well, thank you so much, Colin. Thank you. This afternoon, as always, it's been a blast. And for everybody out there listening, I hope that our ramblings have been enjoyable and have maybe given you something to think about. So we look forward to seeing you next week where we will cover it.

00;56;58;11 - 00;57;06;29

Clark

Lesson five Financing First Films. Until then, everybody, have a wonderful week. We'll catch you on the flip side.

00;57;07;11 - 00;57;08;07

Cullen

So you guys my.

Episode - 004

Clark

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. In this episode today, we are going to be discussing cinema and Herzog, everything Herzog and like we've been doing in the past few episodes, we're going to be talking about his masterclass lessons. Today we're talking about lesson five and with me to do that is Mr. Cullen McFater. How are you doing, sir?

00;00;24;10 - 00;00;25;11

Cullen

I'm great. How are you?

00;00;25;14 - 00;00;46;01

Clark

I'm doing all right. Welcome again to the podcast. Happy to have you here. So let's just jump right in, Willie. We're talking about financing first films in less than five. What a huge topic and one that we all struggle with. I think, you know, Herzog himself still struggles with this, and I don't think you ever get to a place Hartley where you don't.

00;00;46;11 - 00;01;05;27

Clark

And it's certainly something that's a challenge and an obstacle to sort out when you're when you're first starting out. So, wow, I think a lot of people here are going to have a lot of experiences of pain and suffering in regards to this one. And we can share some of our stories of pain and suffering and also hopefully triumph.

00;01;05;27 - 00;01;17;17

Clark

But, you know, right off the bat, Herzog comes out of the gate and says, If your story is amazing, then money will hunt you down. What do you think about the truthfulness of that in reality, sir?

00;01;18;09 - 00;01;18;21

Cullen

What's your.

00;01;18;21 - 00;01;19;11

Clark

Experience?

00;01;19;27 - 00;01;53;07

Cullen

I think that it is untrue. I think that on a very basic level, if you had if that were true, then we'd be seeing a lot, you know, higher quality, huge budget productions. But we don't see that. We often see those, you know. Yeah. Or more apt director or say that the ones that people consider to be the the big high quality people oftentimes they themselves have to you know struggle with down to a few but but Herzog being one of them and other directors they definitely have to struggle to get their films.

00;01;53;21 - 00;02;13;23

Clark

Financed it seems they do and it certainly seems like of course, like many things are subjective, but it seems as though many very poorly written scripts are turned into films as well, are they not? So, I mean, I would love to believe this, and I certainly think in a general sense, of course, the stronger your script, the stronger your story, the more likely you are to get it made.

00;02;13;23 - 00;02;36;06

Clark

I think that's you know, it's some truth to that for sure. And certainly the more passionate you are about your script, the more you believe your script is exceptional, the more you believe in it. I think that by far and away, the greater your chances that you're going to get it made, because you're going to be there having to pitch your story, having to convince other people that it's worth making.

00;02;36;06 - 00;02;59;24

Clark

And that passion is vital in doing that. So certainly from those perspectives, I think, you know, kind of maybe philosophically what he's saying, there's definitely truth in it, although it may seem sometimes in a literal sense, it's not always the case, But I would certainly rather start out with the the best script I possibly could. You know? I mean, it's there's so many obstacles against you.

00;02;59;24 - 00;03;03;27

Clark

It's certainly not a good way to start off with a crappy script like that.

00;03;04;29 - 00;03;17;00

Cullen

And I think even even on a, you know, the basic principle of it, it's like you have to especially if you're planning on directing your own thing, you have to be prepared to sell yourself to just kind of for sure you as a part of that production for sure.

00;03;17;00 - 00;03;32;26

Clark

And you know, also just, you know, not only let's say and we're going to talk about this a little bit more, but even if you self-finance, you know, if you like, Herzog talks about you can make your own first film, a feature film for $10,000 in today's day and age. And you can you can definitely do that with today's technology.

00;03;33;16 - 00;03;57;12

Clark

But you know, what that usually means is that you're working with a crew and a cast that's likely not being paid or are being paid very little. And, you know, you have got to be passionate about your story and you've got to be able to convey that passion and inspire all of the people you're working with. And the more you can do that, I think, the better the quality your film is going to be.

00;03;57;12 - 00;04;15;03

Clark

But yeah, so whether it's even if you're not going to investors and certainly you have to be able to sell your passion and kind of get them excited about your story as well. But but even if you're not going into investors, you've got to do that with your cast and crew. So it's certainly vital. So, I mean, I can't imagine it blows my mind, you know.

00;04;15;14 - 00;04;32;23

Clark

Tell me your experiences, but I've got to find a way to be passionate about my story. And, you know, kind of in that moment, that story has to mean everything to me, even if it's something that I've not written. I've been hired. I've been brought on to work with. And maybe it's not the story that I would have necessarily written myself.

00;04;32;23 - 00;04;49;23

Clark

You know it. I got to find a hook in to it, though. I've got to find a way. And it's not. I don't I would never want to say that I'm tricking my way, my tricking myself into being passionate. But I mean, I really have to genuinely find an angle, find a perspective, find a hook that gets me excited or I just can't work on it.

00;04;50;00 - 00;04;58;23

Clark

Yeah. So I think from that perspective, like, you've got to find a way to feel in some way like this story is like that. You know? An amazing story, right?

00;04;59;21 - 00;05;25;13

Cullen

Oh, totally. Without a doubt. Yeah. And I mean, the reason for that, too, is beyond just the creative decisions that you make as an indie film director, you're going to wind up wearing so many different hats every. And if you are not just as passionate with the, you know, the post-production as you are with the production, or you're not as passionate with marketing that thing as you are with with choosing an angle on the on the day of or something like that.

00;05;25;14 - 00;05;44;17

Cullen

Yeah. Then it's going to, it's going to fall flat and that's, that's you know, I've had those pitfalls too, where it's like I, I'm not a big fan of doing post-production sound. I don't, I don't really love doing it. I like doing Foley But when it comes to actually sitting down and mixing those tracks, yeah, I'm not a big fan of it and.

00;05;44;17 - 00;05;45;14

Clark

It's tough to keep that.

00;05;45;17 - 00;06;03;01

Cullen

I had to kind of catch my yeah, I've had to catch myself and kind of go, go, you know, if I let this go, if I drop the ball on even just the sound in post, this could severely harm the movie. Yeah. So, so, you know, you've got to find a way to be as passionate as you can about every single facet.

00;06;03;01 - 00;06;08;04

Cullen

Again, like you said, even if it's not necessarily your script and something that you've been brought on to do.

00;06;08;10 - 00;06;32;01

Clark

Yeah, and I, but I and I will say this to just, you know, in, in kind of the highest level kind of sense, you know, I think there is truth in what Herzog saying. And it doesn't always necessarily play out literally, but you know, that passion that that whatever that story is in a way has got to be to you the best story on earth in this moment.

00;06;32;09 - 00;06;32;17

Cullen

Yeah.

00;06;32;22 - 00;06;58;09

Clark

And because that's the that that passion, that intensity is going to be the only thing that's going to be able to carry you through the entire process that is filmmaking. Because, I mean, it's it just takes such an extraordinary amount of energy and time and money and just, you know, it's such a process that that you've really got to be able to find a way to hold that in your head and heart like that and and spread that passion.

00;06;58;18 - 00;07;24;19

Clark

Yeah. So, you know, I think in that sense, what he's saying is true. But let's talk about so, you know, there's so many different ways that you could finance your first films. Herzog specifically calls out financed, self-financing. So he's like, Hey, go work, save up money, get ten grand in a savings account. And then you can you can make a first feature film that way.

00;07;25;16 - 00;07;54;06

Clark

And it sounds like from Herzog's experience, this is what he did on his first few short films. He went out and worked and financed these films himself. Of course, in today's day and age, we've got crowdfunding, you know, all kinds of potential ways to invest. You could get just private investors, friends and family, etc., etc.. What were what are some of the some of the ways that you financed some of your first films and like the successes or failures that might have, you know, that you've your stories you can share from that?

00;07;54;10 - 00;08;00;22

Cullen

I mean, coming out of high school, a friend of mine and I tried to crowdfund, which didn't work out. We were looking for.

00;08;01;25 - 00;08;17;02

Clark

Well, tell us a little bit about that, because I think crowdfunding, you know, it's something that a lot of people look to. It's something that I that I'm involved actually in a in a horror feature film right now. We're actually in the process of doing a crowdfunding campaign for that. I can I can speak to that a little later.

00;08;17;02 - 00;08;22;09

Clark

But what tell us a little bit more about that project. This was it was it was this the first film that you had tried to finance yourself?

00;08;22;22 - 00;08;48;03

Cullen

Yeah. I mean, technically, I made a ton of short films before, but they were all little kind of. Yeah. Short for yourself. Nothing. Nothing. Huge. Yeah, right, Right. Some of them had gone to festivals, but, like, you know, not nothing big, you know, nothing came of them essentially. But and so this one was we were trying to get five grand to make a, a, a longer form short of a shorter form short that we had done as kind of a proof of concept.

00;08;48;03 - 00;08;48;10

Clark

Which.

00;08;48;10 - 00;08;57;01

Cullen

Is kind of maybe where we fell flat. It was so convoluted to plan, but, but yeah, so we, we, we reached out and we, we did make some money on it.

00;08;57;04 - 00;08;59;01

Clark

Now, did you what platform did you use?

00;08;59;01 - 00;09;00;05

Cullen

We used Kickstarter, which.

00;09;00;06 - 00;09;00;12

Clark

Probably.

00;09;00;19 - 00;09;18;18

Cullen

The big mistakes because Kickstarter, if you don't reach your goal, you don't keep any of the money where there's, there's other crowdfunding platforms where you don't have to hit your goal. It's a flexible goal and you can kind of keep that money even if you don't reach the, you know, five grand that you wanted or something like that.

00;09;20;06 - 00;09;38;06

Cullen

But we used Kickstarter just because it was kind of the big thing at the time and we didn't reach it. And honestly, in a way, I'm sort of glad that we didn't because we never actually went ahead with that movie. Of course, we'd all just graduated high school and so my friends were going off to university and things like that.

00;09;38;23 - 00;09;54;16

Cullen

And so it was kind of one of those things where we like, Well, if we have the money to do it, we'll do it. But if we don't get the money, then we'll just not do it. And reading back on it and kind of thinking back on that project and what that would have been, I don't think it would have turned out, you know, as well as as we had hoped back then.

00;09;54;16 - 00;10;01;09

Cullen

I think just even reading the script now is kind of like, Oh yeah, I'm glad that that wasn't my debut on the world stage.

00;10;01;09 - 00;10;17;20

Clark

Maybe worked out for the best, which maybe speaks a little bit to Herzog's, you know, first point there that we discussed, maybe the story wasn't strong enough, but can you give us any insight into why you felt like that Kickstarter campaign didn't fly for you anything? I mean, you might have learned.

00;10;18;02 - 00;10;24;22

Cullen

What I think we didn't realize is that half of that crowdfunding stuff is marketing. The crowdfunding.

00;10;24;22 - 00;10;25;03

Clark

Yes.

00;10;26;04 - 00;10;59;05

Cullen

You can. Ton of it sort of, Yeah, exactly. A ton of it. And it sort of sounds ironic, but, you know, if you're looking for five grand on Kickstarter or whatever, be prepared to spend, you know, at least a few hundred dollars on their services that will, you know, put you at the top of email listings or just put you on their front page and things like that, or just get you get your name out on different social media kind of things because you'll be constantly I'm not sure if you guys have or if you've had the same experience with this, but when I was doing that kind of a crowdfunding campaign, I was getting

00;10;59;05 - 00;11;06;21

Cullen

emails every single day from services that were like, you know, four, $5, we'll put you at the top of this. Oh, yes. We get.

00;11;06;28 - 00;11;07;24

Clark

Come out of the woodwork.

00;11;07;24 - 00;11;08;24

Cullen

In readers and come.

00;11;08;26 - 00;11;09;26

Clark

Yeah, yeah.

00;11;10;12 - 00;11;17;22

Cullen

And I think that, that, you know, some of those I'm sure are less legitimate than others, but I'm sure some of them are very legitimate. I'm sure that there are there are some.

00;11;17;28 - 00;11;20;00

Clark

I don't know. I question that.

00;11;20;11 - 00;11;32;19

Cullen

Why? Just more in terms of just the the like when it comes from actual Kickstarter? Yeah, I think just having, you know, paying to have your your project on the front page of Kickstarter I'm sure makes a huge difference.

00;11;32;19 - 00;11;32;27

Clark

Right?

00;11;34;02 - 00;11;41;07

Cullen

And so, I mean, again, it kind of seems counterintuitive to be like, well, I'm trying to make money on this platform that I am now returning that money to too.

00;11;41;14 - 00;12;27;07

Clark

Yeah, but it's a little. Right. Well, it's certainly I mean, a couple of points that you mentioned, you know, that you found yourself I mean, it's you can find yourself spending a, you know, order of magnitude greater time marketing and maintaining a crowdfunding campaign than you actually are on the film itself. So it's definitely you know, it's it's tough, you know, and I think, you know, Herzog doesn't go into crowdfunding so much and he just kind of more specifically talks about keeping your budget low and and working within about a $10,000 budget, which is still it's a considerable amount of money, but it is obtainable, I think, for most or many people.

00;12;27;14 - 00;12;54;23

Clark

Obviously, everybody has different financial situations, of course, but $10,000 is a relatively reasonable I mean, even if it takes a couple of years for you to save, that might on it. You know, I think the and this is some of the crowdfunding thing, right, too. To crowdfund $10,000 might actually end up tying you up longer than it would be to just save money on your own and put that time into the story, into the film itself, as opposed to the crowdfunding campaign.

00;12;54;23 - 00;12;57;28

Clark

But you also, you know, you're beholden to people as well. Let's not forget this.

00;12;58;07 - 00;12;58;15

Cullen

Yeah.

00;12;58;15 - 00;13;04;15

Clark

So Kickstarter. So I mean, did you have any little like swag or what were your.

00;13;04;19 - 00;13;12;21

Cullen

Yeah. So, ah, you know, it was pretty standard as far as those things go. Like, you know, if you donate ten bucks, get a poster, or if you.

00;13;13;06 - 00;13;18;22

Clark

Ever signed headshot of cult favorites, Hey, can I get one of those? Do you still have any left? I'd like one.

00;13;18;23 - 00;13;21;04

Cullen

I should have taken one when I was down in L.A., but.

00;13;21;07 - 00;13;22;11

Clark

Oh, man.

00;13;22;11 - 00;13;44;09

Cullen

But. But no, things like that. Like just, you know, sign up. And I think as the tiers got higher, you know, if you don't like 500 bucks, which we never got, but it was one of those things where you you have a with an Asterix creative input and Yeah. Get chance to see the the the you know working progress of the movie and things like that if you wanted to at some point wouldn't want that.

00;13;44;13 - 00;13;48;12

Clark

And that might be where things can get. Yeah. The creative input stuff that Yeah.

00;13;48;13 - 00;14;03;14

Cullen

Yeah I mean that's the thing you kind of have to you kind of have to sell yourself outright and not the other way that I was saying, but you kind of almost like that's why I've kind of straight up and never done it again. And I think have made much better movies on my own dime than I would have if I was doing Kickstarter.

00;14;03;14 - 00;14;15;16

Clark

Or anything like that. So let's speak to that then. So. So the Kickstarter campaign did not go through you ended up not making this film, but so how how did you eventually successfully financed your first film? What did that look like?

00;14;16;21 - 00;14;44;21

Cullen

My first I actually have to think about what I would consider my first kind of major, you know, crude film, not, of course, Big crew, but like something that I had other people putting their time and effort into as well. And I kind of have two of them. Um, one of them would be a movie that I made in 2018, which was just me basically behind the camera and no crew for most of it, and then one actor for primarily the movie.

00;14;45;08 - 00;14;56;03

Cullen

But I also don't really count that one because I think that that's something that, you know, there wasn't a lot of logistics around what we could do with that because it's primarily shot, you know, very close to home and things like that. So it wasn't really.

00;14;56;03 - 00;15;20;27

Clark

But let's pause for a second on that was pause for a second on that, because, you know, one of the things that Herzog goes into to a great extent on this lesson is that you really have to be smart about controlling your crew and cast and that, you know, I mean, it is definitely one of the biggest ways that you can impact the affordability, let's say, of your project is to work with as few people as possible.

00;15;21;10 - 00;15;43;06

Clark

So, I mean, it sounds like that you followed this advice, something that, you know, you did you've taught yourself. I know that you didn't go to film school, right? So you taught yourself all of these different how to operate camera, how to operate sound, how to do lighting, etc., etc.. And the only thing you can't technically do, I guess, is be behind the camera and in front of it at the same time.

00;15;43;06 - 00;15;43;27

Clark

So you had.

00;15;43;27 - 00;15;45;19

Cullen

You'd be surprised if you said.

00;15;45;19 - 00;15;50;17

Clark

Well, you know, it's okay, fair enough. If you put it on sticks, you're right. You can you could you could.

00;15;50;28 - 00;15;57;00

Cullen

Have made short, short films like one minute short films that this is true. This I think I would drive myself insane doing anything longer.

00;15;57;00 - 00;16;11;11

Clark

Yeah, that might it might be pretty tough, but. But I mean, I just want to use it. So this one of the examples, it's like, okay, well, the crowdfunder thing didn't work. You I want to make films. You got to just go with what you've got sometimes. And what you had was yourself and another person and you made a film.

00;16;11;11 - 00;16;16;23

Clark

So maybe this wasn't a film that had an audience or anything like that, but I bet you learned a lot from it. I mean.

00;16;16;23 - 00;16;22;17

Cullen

I learned a ton. It also got into a festival in L.A., which was kind of neat and things like, Yeah.

00;16;22;20 - 00;16;23;05

Clark

Fantastic.

00;16;23;05 - 00;16;34;17

Cullen

Panelists there. But I think the other thing too, and to not to talk your ear off about about gear, because I think that that's kind of a misconception a lot of people get into is that the way the film.

00;16;35;04 - 00;16;35;09

Clark

Are.

00;16;35;10 - 00;17;04;12

Cullen

Just that that kind of talk is that people are like, Oh, I need the best lens. But on on the other hand, kind of threading the needle of that conversation a bit. Yeah, I knew early on that no matter what I did, I wanted to primarily own most of my equipment just because I didn't like the idea of being beholden to a rental or even just borrowing somebody else's gear and, you know, having to risk not being able to have that gear again if I needed to do reshoots or anything like that.

00;17;05;26 - 00;17;23;13

Cullen

So I very, very early on, you know, my first job that I ever worked, I was delivering pizzas. And the reason that I was delivering pizzas was because I was like, I'm saving up for a nice camera that'll last me a few years so I can get a nice set of lenses and that can be kind of my gear when I move into bigger things.

00;17;23;13 - 00;17;47;15

Cullen

And then I can also get jobs using that stuff. I can also, you know. Yeah. So I started working jobs as a cinematographer for, you know, larger indie budgets that could could afford to pay me. And then using that money and kind of regurgitating it back into my own projects. So when I say, you know, I totally agree with the mantra of like gear is not everything, You could make a movie on an iPhone and it could be way better than somebody who has an Alexa.

00;17;47;25 - 00;18;17;23

Cullen

But at the same time, I also quite early on was like, you know, I want to make sure that I own this stuff. Then if I'm going to invest in equipment, I'm not going to rent it. I'm going to primarily own my own camera. I'm going to, you know, own my own lighting things. And that, I think, really opened me up to be able to make a lot more or just just to to be less stressed about like I'm beholden to somebody else so that whether it's the rental house or something like that.

00;18;18;00 - 00;18;47;09

Cullen

Yeah. So on this one, one person, one crew movie that I did, which wound up, I think the runtime of it was about 25 minutes that really came in handy because we went up shooting it over the course of like four months. And if I had to, you know, repeatedly go back and rent that equipment, I think I would have stressed me out and I probably would have, you know, probably would've taken longer, not as a matter of financing, because I think the rental costs probably would have been below what I paid for the camera.

00;18;47;09 - 00;18;53;22

Cullen

Yeah, but at the same time, it just gave me such, you know, ease of mind knowing that that was shooting on it was mine.

00;18;53;29 - 00;19;25;00

Clark

And I know, you know, because I know you all share with the audience. I mean you, you have a particular interest in like especially high interest in cinema cinematography in which not every director necessarily would. So, you know, part of part of your skill set is operating camera is doing deep work. And so yeah, certainly I think this makes sense for you because that, you know, other directors may have less interest in mastering kind of the cinematographer side of the craft.

00;19;25;00 - 00;19;46;07

Clark

Of course, I think that every director should understand, right, should hopefully have a base level of understanding. But but you want to go above and beyond that. And so I think it makes sense. You you have your own equipment so you can hire yourself out and you can not only do you continue to learn and refine your skills on these jobs, but you're actually able to make money that you can put back into your own project.

00;19;46;07 - 00;20;02;05

Clark

So that makes sense, which where it may not make sense for everybody else. But like you mentioned, you know, I think I think I do see that a lot of people say, you know, I don't want to make a film until I have X, Y, Z camera or until I have this lens or until that, you know, and I really would urge people to not do that.

00;20;02;11 - 00;20;25;09

Clark

Yeah, Yeah. And it's right. It's, you know, hopefully you're always kind of working on I'm not going to use the word networking because that's not what I mean, but that you're involved in a community of fellow filmmakers in your area, in your community, because this is right. This is where you're going to go for crew and actors. But, you know, inevitably somebody is going to have gear that you can borrow.

00;20;25;15 - 00;20;43;20

Clark

It may not be an Alexa, it may not be rare, but somebody is probably going to have some equipment that you can borrow. Or worst case, you know, like you said, most towns have some place where you can rent gear or heck, you can shoot something on your iPhone, for example. So don't let that stop you.

00;20;44;04 - 00;21;05;13

Cullen

And I mean, that's exactly it, right? Is is that had I not either made enough money in those jobs to to get what camera I desired or whatever I I'm sure I still would have made the movie for sure that I in even in that movie I did for lowlight scenes borrow a friend of mine, Sony A7 or say a7s right whatever the really good low one is.

00;21;05;13 - 00;21;09;11

Clark

Yeah. Yeah I think they're mirrorless Yeah yeah yeah.

00;21;09;21 - 00;21;36;08

Cullen

So without a doubt you know I think that's the lesson kind of for me is like you look at every single avenue that you can possibly take and do not be afraid to take, take, take, you know, be polite about it, but don't be, don't be afraid to, you know, go into a store even and just kind of ask, you know, do you mind if I shoot here when you guys clothes or do you mind if I you know, maybe I can trade off a promotional video for you guys and shirts can let me shoot in here.

00;21;36;08 - 00;21;39;14

Cullen

Things like that are so important and to have the confidence to do that.

00;21;39;23 - 00;21;50;13

Clark

But let's go back. I want to ask, so what was so that whatever it is that you consider your first film, how did you eventually how did you find it that you self-financed that? What did you. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

00;21;50;14 - 00;21;52;15

Cullen

Is entirely self-financed.

00;21;52;15 - 00;21;54;16

Clark

If you don't mind. What was the budget roughly.

00;21;54;25 - 00;21;57;20

Cullen

Thinking back on about probably four or five grand.

00;21;57;23 - 00;22;15;05

Clark

Okay. And so and what was your experience with that? I mean, so you've put your own money into it. I just tell us a little bit about that experience. Did you put together a budget beforehand? Like how did you kind of know that that was what you wanted to save or was it the other way around? No, it was okay, I've got four or five grand.

00;22;15;05 - 00;22;16;10

Clark

I want to make the film I can make.

00;22;16;10 - 00;22;31;06

Cullen

I mean, I was working at the time that I was doing it right. I was actually where I was, essentially. And I think that that's another misconception that people make, is that they think that the budget up front, you get the money and then you make the movie where as so many indie films, you're you're basically making the money as you make the movie.

00;22;31;22 - 00;22;45;19

Clark

So this is a good point. This is a good point. If you're in control, you're not beholden to anybody. And if you kind of you know, if your crew is small, your cast is small, so that you kind of know that they're going to be around, you can make a film over time. Absolutely.

00;22;45;19 - 00;23;06;04

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. And that's that's again, that, you know, like you just said, you kind of hit the nail on the head there, that keeping things small like that means you're less dependent on a larger group of people. And keeping things local means that you're less dependent on locations and you're more likely to know people in the area who are willing to, you know, let you shoot in their house for an afternoon or something like that.

00;23;06;14 - 00;23;24;04

Cullen

Absolutely. But but yeah, no, I so I didn't have a budget out from the outset. I didn't even really have, you know, going back to what we were sort of talking about the last episode, I didn't even really have a script for it. I had a treatment and I made a master short list, so I knew every shot in the movie what we needed to get.

00;23;24;20 - 00;23;33;26

Cullen

And it was something like a few hundred shots. And I just kind of, you know, we just started making it. We really just went out. And how long did it take you and.

00;23;34;04 - 00;23;35;12

Clark

How long did it take you roughly?

00;23;35;17 - 00;23;51;19

Cullen

Oh, jeez, I think I started in, you know, production in like from pre to post-production. I think I started in April of 2018 and the movie didn't actually come out until June of 2019.

00;23;52;07 - 00;23;54;12

Clark

So that's actually not even that bad. Yeah, no.

00;23;54;13 - 00;23;55;26

Cullen

I've heard, I've heard much longer.

00;23;55;26 - 00;24;23;23

Clark

But. Well, and you know, even looking at Herzog's films, I mean, you know, it's so I think it's it's if you sometimes it's easy to kind of get caught up in thinking that most other successful films are made all in one go or very quickly and it is almost always not the case. You know, we talked last episode about Herzog writing a script in five days.

00;24;24;07 - 00;24;46;09

Clark

Well, he may write a script in five days, but it takes him five years to get the film made. Yeah, I mean, I just, you know, so sometimes it can be really disheartening. So I just kind of want to, like, maybe put a little love out there into the audience and just, you know, if you're a filmmaker and and you're struggling, you've been working on trying to bring, you know, a script to screen or bring a story to an audience for years and years and years.

00;24;47;01 - 00;25;10;13

Clark

Understand, remember that that's this is common. This is this is completely status quo. It takes years often to bring a feature film to to total fruition. So, you know, try not to get like, you know, even our our legendary hero, Herzog here has had films that have taken him years and years to film. So a big part of that is financing.

00;25;10;22 - 00;25;31;07

Clark

So and just it's a really good I think sometimes when you you know, you you hear Herzog say, you know, save up to ten grand and then make a movie. Maybe it's save up a few hundred dollars and shoot for a weekend and then save up a few hundred more dollars and shoot another weekend. And, you know, I think as long as you're planning, you can completely make this work.

00;25;31;07 - 00;25;33;19

Clark

I've seen it work. I haven't done it myself.

00;25;33;19 - 00;25;43;03

Cullen

So it's even like I think people forget that that a lot of the things that go into like oftentimes the actual shooting of the movie can take less time than the preparation.

00;25;43;03 - 00;25;44;05

Clark

Oh, by far from work.

00;25;44;06 - 00;25;56;07

Cullen

And and so I mean, even on to this this, this feature that's coming up, the first one that that I'm actually in the director's chair for is a wait no we don't have director's chairs on Herzog set for going.

00;25;56;11 - 00;25;57;20

Clark

Right right on.

00;25;57;20 - 00;25;58;25

Cullen

Man But you.

00;25;58;25 - 00;25;59;13

Clark

Stand.

00;25;59;18 - 00;26;03;12

Cullen

You know I'm I'm really lucky to have your producers on this unbroken.

00;26;03;12 - 00;26;03;27

Clark

Glass.

00;26;04;04 - 00;26;27;27

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. With maggots eating maggots. Oh, but. But I'm really lucky to have two producers on this that have kind of alleviated the burden of having to wear all the hats. As the director on that. And that's really, really helpful. But at the same time, you know, we're getting into this this kind of pre pre-production kind of mode right now where we're looking at budget and we're looking at what equipment do we have, what equipment do we need to rent.

00;26;27;27 - 00;26;30;25

Clark

Perfect Segway. He's going to be in it. Let's talk about budgets.

00;26;30;25 - 00;26;31;24

Cullen

Let's talk about budgets.

00;26;31;29 - 00;27;00;23

Clark

A bit, because that's definitely, you know, something that that Herzog speaks to quite a bit here in this lesson, I think. And it really is important and I, I think a lot of creative people don't want to be accountants. And, boy, I don't blame them. I don't want to be an accountant. It's not fun. It really isn't. But I think I agree with Herzog that it is so vital that, you know, if if this is your story, if this is your baby.

00;27;00;23 - 00;27;11;19

Clark

Right. So I'm assuming that this is you're not just a director for hire. Right. If we're talking about Herzog, people are interested in Herzog. And I'm assuming it's you've likely written the script or co-written the script.

00;27;11;28 - 00;27;14;04

Cullen

Yes, I've been involved in the creative process.

00;27;14;04 - 00;27;39;00

Clark

Yeah. It's like you, right? This is your baby. I mean, you've got to take that ownership all the way through into budget. And it's ideally it's great if you can hire somebody, hire a producer who has experience working with film budgets. And this it's great to partner up with somebody like that. It's not always possible. There aren't generally people like that with that experience that you're going to know in a casual relationship.

00;27;39;00 - 00;27;40;03

Cullen

Or even that be willing to.

00;27;40;03 - 00;27;50;11

Clark

Do is willing to do this for free because it's it's just not you know, this generally it's not like the actors, for example, you know, you can often find an actor who will work for free because they want to work and which I'm not.

00;27;50;15 - 00;27;50;27

Cullen

Real.

00;27;51;00 - 00;28;11;14

Clark

I'm not suggesting that you should make a habit of hiring people for free. I think that people should be paid. But you understand my point here. And so but but so likely on your first projects, it's you. And it may have to be completely responsible for the budget. And it is so important. And whether it's your money or not, it's equally important.

00;28;11;14 - 00;28;31;05

Clark

I just always kind of see it as my money. I actually even more if people have invested in my film, my responsibility to them is even higher than it would be to myself. But, you know, you really and again, we talked about creative problem solving in our last episode of certainly this carries through to this, but educate yourself on how to maintain budgets on a film.

00;28;31;24 - 00;28;53;26

Clark

And really, I think you talked about negotiating with locations and offering promotion opportunities and, you know, coopt marketing kind of things. I mean, yeah, it's a get creative and don't be afraid to ask and beg borrow. And Herzog says steal. I'm I'm not going to suggest people steal here He he has mentioned that you know.

00;28;53;29 - 00;28;56;27

Cullen

Our lawyers are telling us to disavow them. Yeah right right.

00;28;56;27 - 00;29;21;13

Clark

Right. But but you know, I mean, hey, I'm okay with stealing shots. I don't have a problem stealing shots. I've stolen a long shot. But when you live in Los Angeles, you kind of have to I think they require permits for practically every in your own home. So, you know. But. But let me go. But yeah, so it's it is important now on your film that you maintain on that one project that you maintain a budget at all or did you learn anything about kind of how to manage resources?

00;29;21;27 - 00;29;26;12

Cullen

Um, no, I think I think a big part of that oh, I think.

00;29;26;27 - 00;29;28;11

Clark

You just shot everything that.

00;29;28;16 - 00;29;30;15

Cullen

I did on the next, on the next.

00;29;30;18 - 00;29;31;00

Clark

The next.

00;29;31;00 - 00;29;53;04

Cullen

One. Oh, on this one because it was so I don't want to say loosey goosey but it was very, very loose, you know, because it was because the one, you know, and I was very lucky that the one main actor that was working with me, there were other actors in it that were very brief roles. But the one main actor that was in the entire thing was just as passionate about it as I was.

00;29;53;21 - 00;30;16;03

Cullen

So there was no issue with having to worry about, you know, any sort of like kind of in a in a negative sense, almost alleviated the logistics out of my my brain because I didn't have to worry about any of that. I kind of could just be like, yeah, you know what? We'll just go out and do this wherever because I know that he's going to be fine with spending, you know, all night just walking around some streets, getting shots.

00;30;16;11 - 00;30;37;18

Cullen

Mm hmm. The next film I did, which was bigger than this shorter runtime, but but much larger in terms of it was a period piece and things like that. So we actually did costumes and things like that. That was where especially because I was working at that point with a team of people as opposed to just myself, kind of as the creative kind of locomotive there.

00;30;38;20 - 00;30;50;19

Cullen

I was working with a with a team of people and we had actors who were giving their time to work with us. We had, you know, people saying, Come shoot on our farm with our real cows and things like that. It was a Western.

00;30;51;05 - 00;30;52;19

Clark

So no cows?

00;30;52;25 - 00;30;53;27

Cullen

Yeah, Real cows. No.

00;30;54;06 - 00;30;55;04

Clark

Not fake cows.

00;30;55;04 - 00;30;57;07

Cullen

No, no, no. Not those fake house that. Yes, that's what.

00;30;57;07 - 00;31;00;13

Clark

We call production value in real cow.

00;31;00;13 - 00;31;16;03

Cullen

Exactly. Exactly. But even I mean, I think that's where I really, you know, like you said, stealing shots. Like I spent, I think more of that day shooting just shots of the cows than I did shooting actors. And I got some really great, really funny shots of cows that are in the movie that.

00;31;16;12 - 00;31;43;17

Clark

We could totally divert here. And talk about Herzog's filming of Animals if we could, which is a very common theme. We won't. We won't. But I just want to point out, is this like something that you share with Herzog? I can just imagine you. Cohen I know this is where the my, my brain works, but I just imagine you with your with your black magic Mini Ursa and you're sitting out in the field and you've got a cow there and you're like trying to direct it, you know, a little to the left.

00;31;43;17 - 00;31;54;16

Cullen

Show me your eyes. Show me the soul. No, I mean, it was like yesterday I heard that there were wild turkeys in the forest near my house and I really grabbed my camera, ran out and started getting video of these wild turkeys because, oh.

00;31;54;16 - 00;31;55;17

Clark

My goodness, it's.

00;31;55;24 - 00;31;57;19

Cullen

Too funny. I'm going to use those somewhere. I know.

00;31;58;04 - 00;32;06;18

Clark

But but. Okay. So sorry. I did not mean to, like, take you off the track there. But. So you were saying so So yeah, this and that.

00;32;06;19 - 00;32;29;11

Cullen

On that production I was much more beholden to others. Yeah. And I think that in my mind got me much more thinking about, you know, we actually kind of, we had a little bit of a preliminary budget, nothing again, nothing like concrete. But we had, you know, okay, we want to buy we need a zoom lens. And again, I was thinking, you know, I'd much rather just buy one than than rent one.

00;32;29;11 - 00;32;44;12

Cullen

And we're not going to get a skinny one. We get those are thousands of dollars. So we got I think we put set aside 500 bucks for this can and 18 to 135, which actually worked wonders for the price that it is. It's a fantastic lens. You know, it's not a fixed aperture or anything like that, but it works great.

00;32;45;22 - 00;33;12;20

Cullen

But, you know, we put so we put aside money for that. We had even, you know, sort of less relate to budget, but more in terms of the logistics of production. We spoke to landowners, people that had like large swathes of forest. We spoke to a old historic pioneer house down the road from where I live, about possibly shooting there that wind up being out of our budget.

00;33;12;20 - 00;33;17;21

Cullen

But it was things like that that we're kind of thinking about, even, you know, in terms of like needing insurance for something like that.

00;33;17;21 - 00;33;18;11

Clark

Where right.

00;33;18;11 - 00;33;38;04

Cullen

That conversation came up and and things like contacting provincial parks. You know, one of the a lot of the movie was actually shot at a provincial park. And so being able to contact those places and saying, you know, can we shoot? Can we get a permit to kind of go in there and shoot or do we just go in there guerrilla style and kind of sneaker out in and get things like that?

00;33;38;04 - 00;33;43;05

Cullen

So lots of things like that that come down to the indie film way of of doing it.

00;33;43;17 - 00;34;03;08

Clark

Well, I mean, I would highly recommend, you know, from my experience, I mean, even when you're when you're setting out to shoot your first short films, you know, I would. And you know, even then it's just you and a few friends. There's likely not a lot of items there that are going to cost you money. But it's important, I think, to start just getting in the habit.

00;34;03;17 - 00;34;32;25

Clark

So whether if all you've got is, you know, the five pizzas that you're buying, you know, and it for an evening of shooting and that's your budget, I would always recommend getting in the habit of of keeping track of this stuff. Yeah certainly And certainly as your crews as your crew and your cast size increase and especially as you jump into working with union actors, I mean, you know, you definitely and you're spending your own money and especially if you're spending someone else's money and especially if you're doing crowdfunding or something, your accounting is going to be vital.

00;34;33;10 - 00;34;53;11

Clark

And again, it's not that you necessarily have to be that accountant, but it's important for you to understand and to be a part of that because it definitely, you know, can happen where, like Herzog mentions, you know, he uses an example of one of the films he was working on and the costume department had, you know, duplicates and replicates of costumes, even for background actors.

00;34;53;19 - 00;34;56;03

Clark

And he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, we don't.

00;34;56;03 - 00;34;57;20

Cullen

Why the hell would we hire?

00;34;57;21 - 00;35;24;24

Clark

Right? We don't need this. And, you know, because those things can happen. So it's it's to take responsibility for that and and make sure that you're going through these things is is really important. And you don't want to lose. You know, not that you're making filmmaking all about making money, but this is just an important reality. If you're asking for people to invest in you, you've got to act in a professional, responsible manner.

00;35;24;24 - 00;35;49;02

Clark

You've got to be a a a reliable, responsible custodian of those investments. And frankly, frankly, you should you know, I mean, you should be treating yourself with that much respect, too, if it's if it's your money, I mean, you know, you should be a responsible custodian of your own funds as well. But, I mean, I, I think that it's it's so important about setting your reputation and setting expectations in.

00;35;49;02 - 00;36;11;07

Clark

Herzog mentions. And I think he takes great pride in this, that he comes in under budget on his films and he works in his contracts to be a bonus on that. And it's clear that he takes pride in this. And I think we should all strive to be that way where there's like stories of, you know, of directors who are, you know, going millions and millions and millions of dollars over budget.

00;36;11;07 - 00;36;23;28

Clark

And these are kind of like these fantastical stories and well, you know, it's like I mean, I can't remember if this is actually the case, but I feel like Coppola in Apocalypse Now comes to mind. I didn't have to like, yeah, he went Howie over. He went just way over budget and.

00;36;23;28 - 00;36;38;09

Cullen

Even Spielberg on it with It's funny, but Spielberg on Jaws two is that was he went over budget and over schedule and then never did it again on any other movie. I think it was just such a learning experience for him that he never yeah, he took that responsibility afterwards to never let that happen again.

00;36;38;21 - 00;36;52;25

Clark

But I think sometimes it's romanticized, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's almost romanticized, but I would really urge people to start from the very beginning, even on your smallest projects and keep track of how much you spend on it and get in the habit of that.

00;36;53;00 - 00;37;11;19

Cullen

And I mean, when you mentioned the thing about the tech, the, you know, nobody wanted to be their own accountant and that's not being that's not fun, you know, to be. Behar I to me, what is kind of a blessing and a curse is that I hate doing that stuff, but I can't not I have to have my mind on budget.

00;37;11;19 - 00;37;31;22

Cullen

And I think that makes anybody really producer friendly. Oh, that makes you really marketable. Because even on again, on this feature right now, I'm coming up with, you know, the numbers that we need for four, you know, even just something as simple as like, okay, we'll need three zoom, see stands with boom poles. We can get those for, you know, a thousand bucks and things like that.

00;37;31;22 - 00;37;54;28

Cullen

Just coming up with with numbers like that. Right. And and making sure that you're on top of it. And I think the reason why and what you know, in lieu of hopefully what you're not then Lou in line with what you've been saying is because it is kind of the flowing blood of your production, you know, it is not to say it's the DNA because, you know, let's not put so much emphasis on money, but it is the flowing blood of the production.

00;37;54;28 - 00;38;02;24

Cullen

And I think that you need to acknowledge that and you need to have your fingers in that at all times. And be able to cut costs or if you can.

00;38;03;02 - 00;38;26;09

Clark

It's a great analogy and be educated, you understand. I mean, Herzog talks about understanding the cost of, you know, even a camel, you know, in another country. And I think it really does. You're right. You mentioned the producer friendly. I think that's so key and investor friendly. Don't romanticize thing where you're you know all you're a director and all you care about is the story and you know, all these other things be damned.

00;38;26;09 - 00;38;31;27

Clark

I just don't think this is realistic. And I it certainly not going to endear you to.

00;38;31;27 - 00;38;33;01

Cullen

And it'll harm your career.

00;38;33;06 - 00;38;57;08

Clark

Or harm your career, but it's so so yeah, you know, and look, it's life is suffering. You don't like numbers. Suck it up if you want to be a filmmaker, I think you really owe it to yourself to get out there and learn. And we're not going to go into, like the details of film accounting and budgeting. There's so many places that you can go online and even get templates, budgeting templates and things like this where you can.

00;38;57;10 - 00;39;25;28

Clark

It's there's and there's books written on this and the whole nine. So we don't necessarily need to go into the logistics of how to do that. Those things are available for you. But just the importance of it and it's I think it will be it gives you just a just one more layer of, I think, power as a director to have command over that, to be able to speak to your investors and producers from a place of knowledge about this is just I mean, it really does.

00;39;26;20 - 00;39;32;18

Cullen

I mean that's the thing. Make a big time. You hear about these these directors that, you know, their careers kind of fall flat or.

00;39;33;22 - 00;39;34;23

Clark

Kind of fade away.

00;39;34;23 - 00;39;53;00

Cullen

Fade away or something like that. It's you you hear about the set stories of them, and most often more often than not, it's it's it's lack of communication between producers or the studio. And there's certainly a such a thing as like studio interference of studios overstepping their balance. But even then, you know, you got to think again, who's financing the movie, right?

00;39;53;17 - 00;40;13;00

Clark

Even if it's just like your family, right? Like like, for instance, you know, we've got a film now. It's called The Devil Devil Circle that's in pre-production. It's a horror movie based on an East Coast legend about this. Well, I don't need to at this start to sound like a plug, but my point is, you know, it's like we're going to we have a crowdfunding thing on we funder.

00;40;13;00 - 00;40;34;17

Clark

But, you know, a lot of these investors are investors that the producers of this film know personally. And I know a lot of people I think, you know, I don't want to use that specific example, a specific example because I'm not sure. But there are definitely examples of people of filmmakers who I've gone to, you know, their friends and family in their community and ask for money from these people.

00;40;34;17 - 00;40;54;29

Clark

My goodness. I mean, do you want to be the person that asks your friends and family for money and then doesn't respect that? I mean, come on, you know it. And it's like even if it's not a studio, I mean, it should be a badge of honor that you would hopefully be proud to wear, that you are a responsible, educated person when it comes to the finances of your.

00;40;54;29 - 00;41;16;12

Cullen

And because then they're more likely to help you out again. Right? Of course. And I think I think, you know, even to to talk a little bit about that, too, and specifics. The so a great example, this is the so the the feature that I'm working on right now is actually a feature adaptation of a short film that I made last year that I was the director.

00;41;16;12 - 00;41;39;09

Cullen

That's That's an example of basically director for hire, where I came into that project not having written any of the script and just directed it and wound up liking that so much that I kind of got myself involved in kind of firsthand in in making this into a film. But the thing is that the lead actor in that movie we shot it at his parents house and it was a short film.

00;41;39;10 - 00;41;57;16

Cullen

It was it took us two weekends to shoot and middle of February. It was a lot of fun. Probably one of the best shooting experiences I've ever had. And when we were starting up production on this and we were figuring out locations and just the kind of very, very basic logistics of the movie that actor sort of said, you know, why don't we?

00;41;57;16 - 00;42;28;27

Cullen

I mean, he's still involved in the project, and he sort of said, Why don't we shoot it at my parents house again? Why don't we just use that? We have that location? And on one hand, I thought, that's good. You know, we have a location, we don't have to worry about renting it. But then there's also a certain point where I kind of call it like the bird jumping out of the nest where I felt myself and the producers agreed that, you know, let's take a step further and let's try and get a location that we can call our own, even though it's going to be more expensive and technically more risky.

00;42;29;04 - 00;42;33;13

Cullen

Yeah, you know, there's a point, I think in indie filmmaking, especially where you do.

00;42;33;21 - 00;42;34;25

Clark

Become a professional.

00;42;35;01 - 00;42;51;07

Cullen

Yeah, and you've got to take that leap of faith and kind of go, you know what? We could follow, you know, for example, Herzog's advice to a tee where we, we utilize that house, we know that they're his parents will be happy to have us. They're completely fine with it. But at the same time, I don't want to be beholden to anybody.

00;42;52;04 - 00;43;06;22

Cullen

And every time we have shot there, there has in this in the back of my head, like if we're shooting late at night, it's like, God damn, you know, I really don't want to keep these people up. I don't want to make too much noise. And so I just much rather have the experience of being somewhere else and having that location be your own.

00;43;07;12 - 00;43;24;29

Cullen

And I think that's that's the idea is cheap, is great. Try and do things and save as much money as you can, but also be so adamant to be cheap that you're you're cutting money on things that may make your production better. Be prepared to invest a little bit of more money into something that may make a big difference.

00;43;24;29 - 00;43;27;01

Cullen

Just like that, like hundred percent location. Yeah.

00;43;27;02 - 00;43;40;02

Clark

And to respect that, the collaborators on your film and to, you know, I think that's important whenever, you know, I would agree right be save money wherever you can but I don't think Herzog doesn't pay the people in his films I mean.

00;43;40;08 - 00;43;40;26

Cullen

Exactly.

00;43;41;10 - 00;44;13;18

Clark

And and this is something that I've seen so much is that even at surprisingly larger budgets, I've got, you know, filmmakers are asking actors or asking crew to work for free or work deferred, which ends up becoming free. Yeah. And and I you know, I think I would really strongly suggest to move away from that. I mean, even if it's, you know, I've done short films that I maybe had, you know, similar budget like you maybe four or five grand and I paid everybody on it.

00;44;15;02 - 00;44;43;23

Clark

It's even honorary if it's $100 a day, right? Even if it's $100 a day or it's gas money, certainly with catering and with food. But I feel like it really is an important step and for numerous reasons. And I think you kind of hinted towards like the impact of like, I want to step away from amateur and move into professional and, you know, yes, we could shoot in your parents home, but I want to be able to control the space.

00;44;43;23 - 00;45;04;04

Clark

So it's, you know, I'm going to pay money and we're going to move into a space that that we can control, that we've paid for. And I think that has a psychological impact. Right? It's like you start to feel like this is less of, you know, a gang of friends and we're just doing this for fun. And that elevates it to we're still friends.

00;45;04;04 - 00;45;08;23

Clark

But, you know, it's like we're we're professionals. And then I mean, it's a job and it's.

00;45;09;00 - 00;45;34;09

Cullen

You know, elevated the whole Yeah. To like, we immediately had a friend of ours who is a theater technician so, you know, stage theater technician and does lighting for that immediately came to us when he found out that we were doing this, this kind of thing. And I had a chance to talk to him and he said, you know, I'd love to help out as a grip, you know, And even a lot of times I think a lot of people also and they will thank you forever for this will come in and say, don't pay me.

00;45;34;09 - 00;45;51;01

Cullen

I don't want to make any money on this. I'm just here because I want to help out. If you still pay those people, they will be thankful to you forever because that just means that you are paying them for their time. Right. And again, like you said, even if it's just gas money, even it's just a small honorarium of $100 a day or something like that.

00;45;51;01 - 00;45;55;29

Cullen

If you're going to build yourself a bigger network and you're also going to.

00;45;56;10 - 00;45;58;23

Clark

And you'll your home. Yeah. And you're really makes a difference.

00;45;58;23 - 00;46;04;14

Cullen

So the likelihood that you make money on it goes down with all of that. But as Herzog said, it's money lost, film gained.

00;46;04;22 - 00;46;10;18

Clark

Wow. That's just kudos on that said I was just the man know I.

00;46;10;18 - 00;46;13;14

Cullen

Should be I should be a radio announcer. Oh, that must be a woman.

00;46;13;16 - 00;46;56;01

Clark

You should have your own podcast. But you know, you're right. And also, I think, you know, and it elevates everybody's game. I just, you know, as an actor, having been on that side of it, and the difference that it makes is it's it's difficult to overemphasize how important, even at $100 a day, the difference it makes when I walk onto a set and I'm being paid versus I walk onto a set and I'm working there for free or quote unquote, you know, credit, which one makes me which makes my head explode or exposure because first of all, what kind of exposure or credit do you think I'm getting from your film project if you don't

00;46;56;01 - 00;47;20;01

Clark

even have, you know, the wherewithal to pay people who are working on it, it's probably not going to amount to much. But you know, the difference that it makes between get it being paid and not being paid is, I mean, literally the definition of professional is that you're paid for what you do. And it just makes such a difference to know that you are valued by the production.

00;47;20;20 - 00;47;48;14

Clark

So I would strongly, strongly urge all of you filmmakers out there to do whatever it is possible, whatever you need to do to pay, even if it's a small amount of money. Everybody that works on your film set except yourself, except yourself, if you have to, you should be the first person you don't pay. But even then, I mean, the goal is always hopefully that you are bring value to a project and that you deserve to be paid to.

00;47;48;14 - 00;48;04;15

Clark

So there's certainly nothing wrong with that. You know, it's ideally your being. You're able to make a living doing what you love. So but yeah, I love that money. Money lost film gained. And you know, I just want to I have heard so many people say, don't ever put your own money into a film project. Oh, my gosh.

00;48;04;15 - 00;48;23;10

Clark

Don't ever put your own money into a film project. Well, I guess it depends on what your intentions are going into it in the first place. I mean, I think that if it's your story and if if it's your passion, if you have this burning desire to tell this story, then there's then and that. And that is the goal.

00;48;23;10 - 00;48;45;21

Clark

The goal is to tell the story. The goal is not to get rich or to make money or to be famous. If your goal is to tell this story, then you should absolutely put your own money into it, because that the point is to tell the story. And so I don't see anything wrong with it. If you're using film as a way to to try to like play some kind of market and make money.

00;48;45;21 - 00;49;06;29

Clark

And if you're worried RBI and all these kind of things, then you know, yeah, probably putting money into a film is not going to bring you any of those things because such few films make money. But if your goal is to is to make film, then money lost is okay. And there you know and there's nothing wrong with that.

00;49;06;29 - 00;49;31;25

Cullen

Exactly. Yeah. So yeah it's it's it's to me it's like an investment of your own. And not only not only maybe not an investment, they make a return, but an investment in your own career. And it gets, you know, and if you work hard enough at it and you do it regularly enough and you kind of develop that skill set, it gets really exciting when you get to a point where you go, Hey, I might actually be able to make money on this thing.

00;49;32;00 - 00;49;37;20

Cullen

Yeah, it kind of, you know, you reach that point, you go, cool, you know, Yeah, I'm out here and.

00;49;37;24 - 00;49;46;29

Clark

It's a cliche. It's a cliche, but the journey versus the destination and, you know, if you want to be a filmmaker, all you have to do to do that is to make films.

00;49;47;12 - 00;49;57;01

Cullen

And how I always think about it, too, is it would be even if I didn't want to do it as a career, it would still be a hobby of mine. And there are a lot of people who spend a lot more money on their hobbies.

00;49;57;12 - 00;49;57;21

Clark

Like a.

00;49;57;22 - 00;49;59;26

Cullen

Regrets thing about like auto.

00;49;59;26 - 00;50;00;09

Clark

Racing.

00;50;00;09 - 00;50;17;08

Cullen

Maybe there's the greatest part about this hobby is that it is a hobby I can make money with, even if it wasn't, you know, even if I wasn't doing it as a career, I could still. Yeah, like it's one of the only very few hobbies can, can make a return of actual monetary value. And not that you should be going into it with that only on your mind.

00;50;17;08 - 00;50;29;00

Cullen

But but it does have that benefit like. And that's why I think it's so silly when like you said, I hear people say like never put money into your own project, blah blah blah. Never. It's like I'm putting money into it because that's what I like to do, you know, even if I don't.

00;50;29;09 - 00;51;00;09

Clark

Make a record. And that really should be, I think, the primary motivator, right? I mean, it's something that you should you should enjoy the process. And if you let's say you took Herzog's advice and you spent $10,000 to make a feature film and you made a feature film and you had that as your end result, regardless of whether it breaks you in to Hollywood or returns you thousands and thousands of dollars because you sold it to Netflix or whatever the case may be.

00;51;00;20 - 00;51;25;27

Clark

I mean, to have a feature film $10,000, I mean, how much film school is $10,000? It's probably not much at almost any film school you can ever write. I mean, it's like that's pennies. The amount you will learn from that and the people you will meet and the experience you will have, I think. Yeah, I So I'm totally in disagreement with people who say, Don't put your own money in.

00;51;26;11 - 00;51;54;25

Clark

And I you know, some of the most extraordinary, wonderful experiences I've had personally have been, you know, being part of a film crew and or cast and working on these things. And it was I mean, you know, paying for like a fancy vacation to Hawaii wouldn't have been more enjoyable. So for me, it's no problem. And when the script is right and the story is there, I it's I completely agree with Herzog on this.

00;51;56;01 - 00;52;05;04

Cullen

And I think even then it's it's you know, one of the final things he says in this this is kind of, you know, what is your excuse even if you don't have ten K.

00;52;05;23 - 00;52;06;05

Clark

What is your.

00;52;06;05 - 00;52;14;16

Cullen

Excuse right now with the technology that's available for not going out? And even, you know, there are a lot of movies I've made that will probably never be seen by anybody.

00;52;15;10 - 00;52;16;02

Clark

It's okay.

00;52;16;06 - 00;52;18;19

Cullen

Still, you know, pick up a camera, go out, go outside.

00;52;18;19 - 00;52;26;23

Clark

And Herzog's last few films, I don't think I've ever been seen by anybody. I mean, it's so it's you know, you've got to learn somehow exactly what.

00;52;26;23 - 00;52;52;22

Cullen

Are the excuses of of not of not. And that was kind of what again what I coming out of high school when I when I graduated was kind of thinking like, you know, I'm not going to film school, so I'm going to be working even if it's not getting paid, even if it's not like working a job, I'm going to be with my camera as much as I can be, just shooting everything and just learning that, learning that experience and stuff like that.

00;52;53;04 - 00;52;57;22

Clark

Do you ever do you put your camera like on the other side of the bed? Like, do you lay it on the pillow?

00;52;57;22 - 00;53;01;08

Cullen

Yeah, Yeah, it's my camera on right now.

00;53;01;25 - 00;53;02;22

Clark

I love it.

00;53;02;27 - 00;53;03;15

Cullen

My webcam.

00;53;03;29 - 00;53;05;09

Clark

I love it, man. I love it.

00;53;05;09 - 00;53;07;20

Cullen

All right. I got a wig on it right now, but awesome.

00;53;07;20 - 00;53;27;18

Clark

I want to see some pictures. We'll get a post of pictures to the to the website for the podcast of that one. Awesome. Well, I think, you know, money lost film, gained experience, gained adventures had I mean, I think this is what life's all about. So. All right. Well, on that note, I think we're about to wrap it up here.

00;53;27;18 - 00;53;33;04

Clark

Come on. Do you have any last, final thoughts or anything that you you've expressed at all now?

00;53;33;05 - 00;53;34;16

Cullen

I think I've got it all out now.

00;53;34;16 - 00;53;35;04

Clark

All right.

00;53;35;09 - 00;53;35;14

Cullen

Well.

00;53;35;28 - 00;54;01;06

Clark

All right. Well, everybody, we hope that you enjoyed our today on Herzog's Masterclass Lesson five about financing films. We wish you all the best in whatever projects you're trying to finance right now. And and yeah, keep shooting. All right. Until next time where we all cover lesson six. Everybody, have a wonderful week. Colin, thank you so much, as always.

00;54;01;15 - 00;54;01;29

Cullen

Thank you.

00;54;02;07 - 00;54;04;20

Clark

All right. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip side.

Episode - 005

Cullen

Hello and welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Cullen McFater and I'm joined once again by Clark Coffey from Sunny California.

00;00;09;08 - 00;00;10;15

Clark

Sunny and Smokey.

00;00;10;23 - 00;00;12;20

Cullen

Yeah, I guess it is Smokey these days. Yeah.

00;00;12;20 - 00;00;14;26

Clark

Yeah. Unfortunately, unfortunately.

00;00;16;03 - 00;00;36;14

Cullen

Yeah. So today we're going to be talking about lesson six in Werner Herzog's masterclass, which is all about negotiation skills, both with, you know, financers and actors and things like that. Just kind of general skills that you should have going into a film career, but also perhaps something you can take away even if you aren't going into film.

00;00;36;21 - 00;00;41;16

Cullen

There's there's always gonna be negotiations in life. So absolutely, these skills are kind of universal.

00;00;41;21 - 00;01;14;20

Clark

And as always, Werner Herzog remains controversial as he is in many of his statements about filmmaking and art. He has certainly doesn't let us down here. Definitely has some potentially controversial comments about working on handshakes versus contracts, etc., etc.. We'll get into that stuff. But but yeah, so negotiation skills and right off the bat, Herzog mentions that you should be candid.

00;01;15;06 - 00;01;21;06

Clark

Well, that's yes, I think I would definitely agree with that. What do you think, Cohen? Should you lie when you're negotiating or should.

00;01;21;13 - 00;01;25;09

Cullen

Oh, always. Absolutely. You should tell them that you got like six other backers who are each putting.

00;01;25;09 - 00;01;49;10

Clark

In very well. You know, we laugh, but of course. But of course, this happens all the time. Yeah, unfortunately people are. And maybe sometimes it's that they are, you know, excited or passionate about the project. And, you know, best case scenario is a little bit of exaggeration. Kind of gets in there. Of course, sometimes people are just flat out dishonest and do anything they want to get some things done.

00;01;49;23 - 00;02;13;16

Clark

But this is definitely not controversial to me. I certainly agree with Herzog. I think that if you went longevity in this business, then it certainly behooves you to be honest. I'm curious, have you ever had any experiences where somebody was dishonest? Maybe it was like a project, somebody was wanting to hire you or or maybe a, you know, a collaborator or somebody?

00;02;13;16 - 00;02;15;17

Clark

I'm just curious if you had ever experienced anything.

00;02;15;18 - 00;02;23;21

Cullen

I wouldn't say like explicitly dishonest. Yeah, but I think a lot of people, like you said, they get kind of swept up in the passion of it. And so they'll exaggerate for.

00;02;23;21 - 00;02;24;09

Clark

Heights that.

00;02;24;09 - 00;02;29;05

Cullen

Maybe aren't. And, you know, sometimes that can be kind of harmless, sometimes it can kind of get someone into trouble.

00;02;29;11 - 00;02;29;25

Clark

No question.

00;02;30;01 - 00;02;45;23

Cullen

Later on. But, you know, I've had I've had the even just something like, you know, we're really hoping to make a return on this so you'll probably get paid. And then, of course, that doesn't, you know, always go into those things. I'm always kind of like, yeah, I'm probably you're probably going to make nothing on me.

00;02;46;05 - 00;03;07;20

Clark

Well, and that's, you know, and that's definitely my experience too. I mean, their deferred payment is a is a very popular type of payment here. You know, at our level where we're, you know, in the beginnings of our careers as filmmakers, I think many people have probably experienced that. I've certainly experienced that on the actor side when I was primarily pursuing acting.

00;03;07;28 - 00;03;19;22

Clark

I can't tell you how many gigs I had deferred payment, but I've even had production producer roles that were similarly structured. And yeah.

00;03;20;06 - 00;03;26;04

Cullen

I've heard horror stories too. I mean, we all have where it's like, yes, absolute chaos and things like that.

00;03;26;04 - 00;03;46;16

Clark

Yeah. And it's, you know, and there and we weren't, we're not going to get into the super nitty gritty of, of these kind of things. But boy, you know, I mean there are a million different ways to structure payment. And a lot of those ways, I would say probably 999,999 of them could leave you with no pay in the future.

00;03;46;23 - 00;04;05;27

Clark

Yeah, but, but yeah, I you know and so I think it just maybe the take home here is, you know, be honest yourself. And of course there's a lot of different reasons why you should do that, you know, to be a decent human being. But, but be, you know, be careful because people, you know, even honest people, they get excited and passionate.

00;04;06;07 - 00;04;38;02

Clark

And, you know, it's extremely difficult to get a film made. And sometimes people start to stretch that reality, just a hair to try to to get it made. So so definitely, you know, I think it's always, always be careful. Now it's kind of now we go into Herzog talks about attorneys and utilizing attorneys to do deals. So here we've just said, you know, there can definitely be a lot of pitfalls when it when when you're negotiating a contract, Herzog says stay away from attorneys.

00;04;38;02 - 00;04;38;21

Clark

What do you think?

00;04;38;21 - 00;05;00;05

Cullen

COHEN Yeah, I mean, I can totally see why someone like Werner Herzog would want to stay away from attorneys. Sure. I think that there's there's like a level to that in which they can kind of, you know, I think there's always going to be an issue with someone who fundamentally doesn't necessarily understand the process being involved in that process.

00;05;00;05 - 00;05;20;20

Cullen

And most entertaining attorneys understand filmmaking to a certain level. But but yeah, you know, there's there's there's always going to be a little bit of communication kind of headroom there. But I also think like for your own safety, I would always recommend just even, you know, sitting down with an entertainment lawyer or even a family lawyer just to not I mean, I don't mean like a divorce lawyer, but your family.

00;05;21;01 - 00;05;22;09

Clark

To have understood that.

00;05;23;07 - 00;05;26;01

Cullen

And just getting them to read over a contract or something like that, because the.

00;05;26;01 - 00;05;32;04

Clark

Attorneys, at least an attorney that is at least skilled at reading and understanding contracts is.

00;05;32;05 - 00;05;45;21

Cullen

Sometimes you can just get into a thing where there's legal jargon in there. And, you know, as much as you always want to expect the best intentions of everybody, there are times when people will intentionally throw things in contracts to to basically screw you over. Yeah. And to to you know.

00;05;46;02 - 00;06;03;09

Clark

I mean, I think it's interesting to point out. I mean, you know, I think there are levels in which I completely agree with Herzog, and there are kind of some other levels where I don't know that I would operate in the exact same way myself. I mean, you know, you got to look at where Herzog is in his career, too.

00;06;03;19 - 00;06;27;06

Clark

I mean, we're talking about somebody who has had a tremendous amount of experience making films over numerous decades. He is, for the most part, highly regarded and has built up a network in the industry of people that he has worked with many times before. You know, So he's probably in a different position than a lot of people listening to this podcast.

00;06;27;06 - 00;07;05;16

Clark

If you, you know, are in fact interested in pursuing a career as a filmmaker, you're probably not so well established. And so, you know, that's definitely a difference to consider. I mean, I think on the one hand I get where he's coming from. It's like, you know, I have had relationships like film, relationships, projects stalled for a year or more because the the the contracts were just so complicated, overwrought, and it just caused fear and confusion.

00;07;06;00 - 00;07;27;05

Clark

And so, you know, on the one hand, I really believe simple, plain language and short are definitely better. You really can't kill an otherwise potentially exciting, interesting project with just, you know, a just a ton of bureaucracy and legal fees. I mean, you completely smother a project with that. And, you know, attorneys tend to come from that angle, right?

00;07;27;05 - 00;08;00;21

Clark

I mean, that's what they've studied. That's what they spent their whole life doing. It's like, you know, they're not doing their job unless they've got a 60 page contract where every single possible contingency of outcome is, you know, hashed out to the nth degree. I mean, that can definitely just befuddle and confuse a project. So on the one hand, I get that, but on the other hand, I mean, I kind of agree with you that it's not a bad thing to have an attorney, at least to look over a contract, especially for a significant project Now.

00;08;00;21 - 00;08;06;20

Clark

I mean, it's like that. You've got to take that into account, too, right? If it's like you and a handful of friends making sure.

00;08;07;06 - 00;08;08;03

Cullen

You bring your attorney.

00;08;08;03 - 00;08;41;27

Clark

Along, I mean, come on. Yeah. Yeah, but but I mean, but if there's actual real if there's significant money or time involved or both, right? I mean, especially if you're going to be investing in somebody else's project, if you're a producer and you're putting money into it, I think, you know, the or if you're putting a substantial amount of time in it and the project has the potential to actually get distribution, has the potential to actually be seen, I mean, you definitely want to protect your interests, your your investment, protect your credit and how you're represented and what kind of creative input and control you have.

00;08;41;27 - 00;08;42;29

Clark

Mm hmm. Yeah.

00;08;43;08 - 00;09;12;14

Cullen

And not to speak for Herzog, but I think I think I can see kind of where he's going with this point, which is more of that, you know, during creative negotiation. Yeah, during, during points where you're going back and forth about about decisions that you are going to make as the, you know, let's say you're being hired as director, those things I can understand why you wouldn't necessarily want like at that point you're just kind of thinking let's let's talk about the picture and then we can get, you know, the legal stuff out of the way later at a set point.

00;09;12;14 - 00;09;39;05

Cullen

But I can understand why you wouldn't necessarily want to concern yourself with with legal jargon and all that at the beginning of the process or even just in an initial, you know, before anything signed. But I think, again, on the flip side of that is it's a very administer catchy phrase. But I think on the flip side of that, that phrase of, you know, don't negotiate with an attorney present or whatever, I would say that definitely when you're signing something, you want at least somebody to read that over for you, I guess.

00;09;39;20 - 00;09;43;20

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as as you said, you can get into some sticky situations, right?

00;09;43;20 - 00;10;11;19

Clark

And it could be, you know, and it's not even necessarily that somebody is out to get you and you're being actively screwed in a contract, but you could just not realize that you could have had potentially more, you know, more input in the creative process. Maybe you you know, or just to make sure that your credit is properly represented when it's all said and done, that you're able to put is represented properly, you know, in the in the credits for it or you know, that your investment is properly represented and accounted for.

00;10;11;19 - 00;10;34;20

Clark

And yeah, it's, it's you know and it's funny like I have you mentioned, you know, worrying about these things too early but I can't tell you how many times, just countless times that a what should have been a creative conversation has been completely cut off by somebody being, you know, darn near paranoid about the legality of something. Yeah.

00;10;34;22 - 00;10;49;12

Clark

Like, yeah, I mean, it's like, come on, you know, especially at this level, it's like, you know, you have to sign three if it's like, you know, somebody who's who has no credits and is like never produced a film in their life and they're like, You need to sign five in days before I can even show you. You know, the script.

00;10;49;12 - 00;10;51;12

Clark

And I, you know, I'm like, Oh, it's.

00;10;51;12 - 00;11;07;03

Cullen

Funny that you mentioned that because I think that's a very film school thing. Oh, is that so? I actually worked on and it was an it was a great I mean, if any of these people that I worked on this project with that I actually enjoyed the project, enjoy the people very much. But they were all students at a local film school here.

00;11;07;03 - 00;11;08;07

Cullen

One of the more.

00;11;08;13 - 00;11;09;00

Clark

Good ones here.

00;11;09;17 - 00;11;30;06

Cullen

And yeah, and I have people that work there too, that are in my circle, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but no, the they were so they were all students at this film school and I was acting in this, I was acting this with a friend. So, you know, whenever I'm acting I, even though I do have that experience of behind the camera, I really try and siphon myself off and I go, No, I'm the actor for this.

00;11;30;06 - 00;11;50;26

Cullen

I'm not going to make anything, any sort of comments on anything else. I'm just going to say, sit here and do my job. Yeah, but I can remember that even though around here, you know, just outside of Toronto and mostly within Toronto too, you don't actually need permits to shoot in public spaces. The only time you need permits is if something you were doing is disrupting public traffic.

00;11;50;26 - 00;12;17;28

Cullen

So whether that's walking traffic or like car traffic, that's really I mean, there are there are specialized. What about more buggy traffic? Oh, no, no, that's that's we yeah, we've got anti Amish discrimination laws here. But, but no we, we so you really don't and especially when you're out of the city like you know the worst that'll happen in the city is a cop will come up and ask you you know what's going on and you kind of explain it away and it's fine out of the city, nothing like it's in the suburbs.

00;12;17;28 - 00;12;34;05

Cullen

Nobody will ever care. But when we were shooting at this this hiking trail wants public property and there's like train tracks along. And that's why we were shooting there is because there's this I, I can't quite remember what the idea of the story was, but there were these train tracks and something had to do with the train tracks.

00;12;34;05 - 00;12;35;29

Cullen

And we were we were far away from them.

00;12;35;29 - 00;12;37;24

Clark

Wrong side of the train. Yeah.

00;12;37;24 - 00;13;07;16

Cullen

Yeah. Very, very spooky. But I remember any, any time a person would walk by the entire crew and they all went to this film school, I was again, I was not at that film school. I would pack up all the gear, put it all in their bags, and then sit. And it was like any time anybody would walk by, whether it was a car driving by or and and there was this whole contingency plan of like if somebody asks us what we're doing, here's our here's our, like teacher contact that we have to tell them.

00;13;07;16 - 00;13;30;03

Cullen

And we're just making a tiny short film for this university or this college. And I just remember sitting there and again, I was talent, so I just kind of sat there and didn't say anything, but I was just like, I can't imagine the paranoia there of like, you know what, you kind of I always say to a reasonable degree and obviously not compromising safety ever, but like, what is the worst that can happen in terms of just stuff like that?

00;13;30;10 - 00;13;49;29

Cullen

Yeah. Like if someone walks by and asks us what we're doing there and says, Well, you got to leave, the worst thing that would happen is, is, you know, the very worst case scenario there is a police would show up and ask us to leave. Like that's that's really the very worst scenario. So it's like, is it worth which would also never happen because technically you're there's no law that prohibits what you're doing.

00;13;49;29 - 00;14;08;28

Cullen

So you know just read up on the local laws and kind of don't worry about that stuff. But yeah, I do agree with you that there are times when it's like it really impedes progress, how paranoid people can get about and that, you know, that goes for location permits to everything from, as you said, like I've got to sign you to get you to sign an NDA before you read the script, stuff like that.

00;14;09;11 - 00;14;24;25

Cullen

You know, it's like at the end of the day, if I'm sending someone a script, maybe I'll, you know, the most real stake I'll put in it is just doing the watermark with their name on it. So at least if I know that it's being distributed, it was distributed by them. Yeah, but even then that's a pretty rare thing.

00;14;24;26 - 00;14;28;11

Cullen

Most people I send my scripts to, I can I can trust on a pretty basic level.

00;14;28;14 - 00;14;57;12

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. And I think again, it's like, you know, obviously people at different levels in their career and, you know, I think different levels of security, so to speak. Yeah, might apply. But I've just, you know, again I've seen it, it yes. And assuming here that most of this audience would be, you know, if you've if you're taking the masterclass lessons, maybe you're just a fan of Herzog's or but likely you're pursuing a you know, a career as a filmmaker and you're likely, you know, near ish the beginning of your career.

00;14;57;20 - 00;15;21;21

Clark

I mean, yeah, it's I've just seen so many times where people are just so terrified. And maybe you're right, you know, I hadn't thought about that, but it seems like the vast majority of those people were film school students, at least at one point. And not having been one myself, I'm not quite sure what the curriculum might be, but I'm sure they probably do go over quite a bit of how to protect yourself legally and and cover your own.

00;15;21;21 - 00;15;34;26

Clark

But but yeah, it's just been sometimes shocking to me how people are so terrified to share a script or, you know, discuss certain aspects of what a creative relationship or partnership might look like.

00;15;36;08 - 00;16;00;28

Cullen

And you know, what I find weird, too, is working on small projects and like, you know, personal projects are things that you kind of have complete creative control or you a group of friends have completely creative control about. And then the people that are constantly concerned about credit that that are, you know, never stop it. One thing changes in the production and it's like, am I still getting credit for this or are you getting credit for that now?

00;16;01;10 - 00;16;17;22

Cullen

Yeah, and it's I always think that that's that's so funny because it's like, you know, to me I don't worry about credit until the movie's done. And then I look back at the work that everyone's done and I credit accordingly. That's, that's, that's kind of how credit goes for me. I mean, of course there are instances when in advance things are signed about certain credits.

00;16;17;22 - 00;16;34;14

Cullen

But, you know, on a general note of like indie filmmaking or very small scale low to no budget filmmaking, usually that's just kind of how it works is you do the job and people might take on multiple roles that they weren't necessarily signing on to do. But they, you know, they actually kind of jump into those roles and then you credit them accordingly afterwards.

00;16;34;14 - 00;16;45;15

Cullen

But I think that's so funny that there's some people who are so, so concerned about, you know, you're steadfast in making sure that it all moments of of production that you know exactly who's getting credited for what. And well, you.

00;16;45;15 - 00;17;03;10

Clark

Know, and, you know, and just to say, you know, played a little bit, you know, a little bit of the other side of the coin here, I mean, this is one area where I think contract. And when I say contract, I mean you can have just a page, you know, contract doesn't have to be some 60 page long thing filled with legally is I think, you know, it's one of the things Herzog says here.

00;17;03;10 - 00;17;28;04

Clark

You know, the longer it gets, the less likely that you're going to actually make a film. Yeah, and I agree with that. To a certain point, especially at these kind of more, I don't want to say amateur, but kind of beginning of career phases. But but you can completely I mean, I think, you know, some people I think are paranoid about that maybe for reason, you know because they've done a lot of work that wasn't represented in the credits on a previous film.

00;17;28;04 - 00;17;50;29

Clark

I've seen that happen myself other times, people are just, you know, skeptical or afraid in general, or maybe they're, you know, hyper focused on what their credits are going to be. But, you know, oftentimes, too, you know, that's all people are getting out of working on a production at a lower level. They're not getting paid. And that credit, they're hoping will will add to their resume and leads.

00;17;50;29 - 00;17;52;00

Cullen

To the exposure pay now.

00;17;52;00 - 00;18;22;15

Clark

So I guess I think kind of sympathize a little bit. But those are things I mean, I've done that myself. Like I've got a documentary feature that I'm in pre-production on here, and we unfortunately did spinner wheels for quite a bit of time and we started to go down that route of having to convoluted a contract to designate that how, you know, we were going to work together at this stage where we're it's a biography and so we're working on, you know, ownership and position and all these kind of things.

00;18;23;02 - 00;18;39;05

Clark

And I just, you know, I just very simply in plain language, put exactly what I wanted my my credit to be. And this new work that I'm going to do and this is what I want my credit to be, which it appropriate to the you know, I can't say as a producer, I can't say I want to be named director in the credits.

00;18;39;05 - 00;18;51;07

Clark

Of course. But just to have that in writing, it's very clear it's up front. These are my this is my responsibilities. This is what I'm going to get paid for completing those responsibilities. And this is what my credit's going to be, very simply.

00;18;51;08 - 00;19;09;07

Cullen

And that's I mean, that's exactly what I mean, is that, that on a very basic level. Yeah, I, I totally that was kind of what I had actually recently just done two for this, this feature is that, you know, very up front. I just kind of said here's the here's what I will be doing, here's the roles that I'll be taking on.

00;19;09;07 - 00;19;31;02

Cullen

And me and the producer team were very clear that we also didn't want at any point, we didn't want the financials to compromise anything with with creative decisions that, you know, if there was a financier coming in that was offering, you know, an ample sum of money that we wouldn't want to compromise any of those creative decisions. But, you know, again, it was kind of exactly like you said.

00;19;31;02 - 00;19;42;23

Cullen

It was that upfront. We just kind of had a piece of paper. Yeah. And said, okay, so I'm directing, I'm EP and here's the roles that I'll be carrying out and kind of things like that. Just very simply, very simply.

00;19;42;28 - 00;20;04;15

Clark

But you know, it, it, it kind of, but it, I think it forces or it should. I mean, I think ideally when you're doing this, what it's forcing you to do is be very clear and very specific in your communication of expectation. And whether you put that on a piece of paper or not, that is such an important aspect of, you know, of creating a partnership, setting out to make a film.

00;20;04;28 - 00;20;30;28

Clark

I mean, and through every stage I think just to kind of reiterate here, sometimes it seems like common sense, but I've seen so many times where this doesn't actually happen in practice. To be very clear, you know, communicate well with the people that you're going into business with, create clear expectations of what's being asked from you and of what you know, of what your responsibilities are, but also of what your your powers.

00;20;30;28 - 00;20;40;12

Clark

I guess, you know, your what does that give you then, if I'm doing X, what do I get for Y? And that doesn't always have to be money, but it's, you know, some level of creative input or control or acceptance.

00;20;40;21 - 00;20;44;15

Cullen

That's super important hierarchy to establishing these things.

00;20;44;18 - 00;21;09;11

Clark

That said, I've just seen you know, where people have not set expectations properly and you've got two different people who are so on different pages of your expectations of what their role in the film is going to be and what they're going to get out of it when it's done. And and the two people didn't realize going into it that they were on such different pages and you get halfway into the film or, you know, you come to some kind of milestone and you're already in the thick of it.

00;21;09;17 - 00;21;13;22

Clark

And now these two people realize that they're just a completely different pages.

00;21;13;22 - 00;21;31;05

Cullen

Oh, I've had that experience on things that I've worked on, like I've had experience and things that I've done. I actually, you know, for a little anecdote, the Western that I did last year and I was so initially we were a friend of mine and I who who's still a really good friend of mine, co-wrote.

00;21;31;12 - 00;21;33;05

Clark

And we know you guys survived.

00;21;33;07 - 00;21;53;11

Cullen

Yes, exactly. But we co-wrote and then kind of stepped up and said, okay, let's co-direct it. And basically what it was was that so I was going to be kind of the director behind the camera doing most of the cinematography as well. And then he was he was co-directing and also playing not the main character, but a sort of supporting role.

00;21;53;18 - 00;21;56;28

Clark

And that's so tricky. The character thing is tricky, I mean, and.

00;21;56;29 - 00;22;14;09

Cullen

Well, but that's exactly what we found, was that we we got, you know, it was like the third day of shooting and it wasn't explicit arguments like nothing ever got hotheaded, but it was just very, very fundamental disagreements on certain elements of like, I'd be setting up a shot and you know, he would come over and sort of disagree with the placement of the camera or something like that.

00;22;14;09 - 00;22;27;23

Cullen

And yeah, so it became to a point where, you know, we sort of halted filming for a few days and had a phone call and I sort of said, I think what would do best for this is if, you know, and again, it wasn't supposed to be a power grab as much as it can kind of seem like that.

00;22;27;23 - 00;22;31;09

Cullen

But I sort of said, why don't I just take kind of the sole director's position on this?

00;22;31;10 - 00;22;31;20

Clark

Yeah.

00;22;32;00 - 00;22;49;18

Cullen

And then you can, you know, when it comes to the writing, you can totally, if we have any, any scripts, revisions or things like that, you're absolutely involved in that. But when it comes to like the on set kind of hierarchy there, it's going to really simplify things, especially since we have such different visions and it was the first time we'd ever really like co-directed something like that.

00;22;49;18 - 00;23;10;00

Cullen

And we realized that, yeah, that's the ideas for how we play out. Scenes are so different, and what you'll see with most co-directing teams usually is that they specialize in different areas like the Coens. One of them is super into, you know, working with the actors and and kind of and all that side of production. And the other one is much more into the DP, the cinematography, technical stuff.

00;23;10;00 - 00;23;16;13

Cullen

And same with the Lord, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, like most big director duos that co-directed.

00;23;16;25 - 00;23;17;21

Clark

Division, but a.

00;23;17;21 - 00;23;36;25

Cullen

Very clean division. And I think that and but at the same time of having a clean division, they have faith in each other that they'll fulfill the vision that they each share. Whereas what I found was that we didn't share a vision. We had a very different idea as to what the what the esthetic and what the, you know, the you just don't a general, what with the look and the feel of the movie should be.

00;23;36;25 - 00;23;55;15

Clark

But you can see I mean, had you guys before you even started shooting, had you communicated those expectations much more clearly, you wouldn't have had to have paused, shooting and know, of course, depending on the size and scope of the production, you know, you know, having to take a couple of days to sort that out when you're in the middle of it could be just devastating.

00;23;55;18 - 00;24;11;21

Cullen

So it could be it could be the final blow. Yeah. And I think that I mean, I'm glad that it happened on something like that where we were really in creative control of the project because it it like I'm actually quite frankly glad it happened period, because it taught me a lot about, you know, I'm, I just don't think I want to co-direct.

00;24;11;21 - 00;24;30;07

Cullen

I think that that's not my thing. And I'm glad that I learned that. But it also, again, going into this feature kind of taught me exactly that, that I really want explicit. And I think when I when I kind of meant to to sort of clarify what I meant before, one that I like, I don't mean to say that I don't care about credit.

00;24;31;26 - 00;24;50;14

Cullen

What I Moore meant was that I care about duties and tasks. And I think this is as much in line with what you're saying. I care about duties and tasks being carried out by the people who are assigned those roles, and so that when you get on set, you know what you're doing, you know where you know where to go, what to do, what to set up, and kind of how to prepare for the shoot.

00;24;51;23 - 00;25;12;15

Cullen

When I kind of don't really care about is is, you know, at least especially when things are so tense and production and stuff is just this like constant worrying of where the person's name is going to appear in the credits and things like that, which again, as you said, I can I can sympathize with when you're working on something with someone that you might not know very well, then of course you want that credit.

00;25;12;15 - 00;25;28;07

Cullen

But if it's if it's, you know, if it's I've got a group of three friends and me, so four of us total that that have for the past two or so years been making movies together almost nonstop and kind of trying to build up to this feature, which is what we're at now. And so we all know each other.

00;25;28;07 - 00;25;44;26

Cullen

We all know that there's not going to be a sudden shift in credit at the end like the last hour. And that, you know, I'm going to lose my my writer's credit or whatever. So that's kind of the point where I'm just sort of like, well, you know, let's just sit down and worry about the actual production aspect of these things right now.

00;25;44;26 - 00;25;57;03

Cullen

And then and then later on, once once we kind of get through the thick of it, we can we can reexamine those credits, even though they're already written out. We've got them written out, but we can reexamine them if anything's changed. Yeah. And kind of go that way. But well.

00;25;57;03 - 00;25;59;01

Clark

And it's like you trust these people, right? And this is.

00;25;59;01 - 00;25;59;22

Cullen

Yeah, exactly.

00;26;00;03 - 00;26;28;06

Clark

You know, And Herzog says, you know, doing a deal with the handshake, I mean, what's what's implied kind of behind that statement is a big, huge, giant pile of trust, mutual trust and huge, you know, And so he doesn't speak to that specifically. But what we can here for just a second, I don't think he means go make a handshake, deal with a total stranger that you've never worked with before and you have no idea who this person is and you've not vetted them and, you know, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

00;26;28;18 - 00;26;55;23

Clark

You know, he's talking about doing a handshake deal with somebody that he and he clearly trust. These people. So, you know, and this is no matter what stage of your career you're in, this is well within your power to do to research somebody, to take a look at what their track record is, and especially depending on the scope, you know, certainly if they're asking you to invest money or invest a huge amount of your time, I mean, you've got to do your due diligence.

00;26;55;23 - 00;27;19;03

Clark

And I'll say this and this this is from this is from experience for me, for sure. I used to think that I was a really good judge of character. And people would tell me, you're a really great judge of character, Clark. And I thought, I mean, I like the kind of it was an almost a pillar of my like how I saw myself.

00;27;19;15 - 00;27;29;15

Clark

And I think a lot of people kind of feel I'm likely I think if you asked, you know, 100 people, hey, do you feel like you're a good judge of character? I'm going to guess probably like 95 people are going to say they are.

00;27;29;25 - 00;27;30;02

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00;27;30;07 - 00;27;49;26

Clark

Yeah. And we have all these kind of intuitive keys that we kind of use. We think somebody is lying or not lying. Well, I will offer this this little piece to people out there. It's very likely. Matter of fact, it's almost a certainty that you are not as good a judge of character as you think you are.

00;27;50;06 - 00;27;50;16

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00;27;50;24 - 00;28;16;11

Clark

And that's because humans are not nearly as good a judge of characters. This intuitive kind of response that we have to people that that really convinces us it's very convincing to you inside your mind, inside your heart. But we aren't nearly not nearly as good at predicting people's behavior by just our intuitive sense of who they are. And this has been borne out in study after study after study after study.

00;28;16;23 - 00;28;39;14

Clark

And I would offer this suggestion to people to actually look at track record, to actually look at what is this person's history of work. Have they ripped off other people? Have they you know, are there people out there complaining that their work environment was crap or that they were horrible to get along with, etc., etc.? That's what's important.

00;28;40;09 - 00;29;02;04

Clark

And and sometimes, of course, that track record doesn't exist if people are just starting out. But, you know, inevitably there are people that they've worked with their previous projects. Don't hesitate to talk to those people, to reach out to them, to see what they're because that that's the only way to predict a person's kind of future performance is by looking at their past performance.

00;29;02;04 - 00;29;23;07

Clark

So as, Oh yeah, if you're getting ready to get in bed with somebody on a major project and it's going to take a lot of your time or your money or whatever the, you know, your reputation, you're always putting your reputation on line when you put yourself with a group of people to work on a project. I strongly I could not more strongly recommend that you look at the major primary collaborators that you'll be working with.

00;29;23;16 - 00;29;26;28

Clark

Look at their track record. So and the.

00;29;26;28 - 00;29;44;02

Cullen

Film industry is such a small world that the likelihood that you actually know somebody who has worked with that person before is actually really high. I've noticed that every time I get a job with somebody or I'm offered a position with somebody that I know, even if it's not like a very, you know, close friend or something, I'll know somebody that that has worked with them in the past.

00;29;44;02 - 00;29;54;29

Cullen

And so I can have a very candid conversation about, you know, what what was the working environment like? What was the you know, even something as like how prompt were the payments if there's payment involved? Absolutely. That's so important because that.

00;29;54;29 - 00;29;55;25

Clark

Is so important.

00;29;56;09 - 00;30;19;21

Cullen

I just said experiences before and then the payment didn't come for, you know, three months of me prodding to get that payment after. And I have no interest in working with those people again even though the experience it was were great. It's like, you know, not to say that I'm a stickler for, you know, I got to get my money back, but there just becomes a point where it's like, are you are you so focused on your own project that you're now undermining, you know, hefty efforts and bait?

00;30;19;21 - 00;30;40;02

Clark

Yeah, you have. Yeah. And don't feel bad about that either. I mean, you know, you even kind of, you know, hedged a little bit. You're like, hey, it's not like I'm, you know, just consumed by payments not way I do this. Yeah and I think we've all said that at some point or another I've had payment delayed as well, etc., etc. And you're like, I don't want to be that person who's like, seems like I'm only in it for the money or something like that.

00;30;40;02 - 00;31;04;00

Clark

But I always see this as like a sign of respect, right? I mean, unless there's been some substantial, you know, something has happened with production, you know, nobody's getting paid, you know, like, you know, something substantial. But I mean, barring extremely, extremely rare circumstance, if you're if this if your side of the bargain is not being fulfilled by the people that you've made that contract with, that this is just pure disrespect, you know, not going to work.

00;31;04;00 - 00;31;19;07

Cullen

And I've got that written right into the, you know, the contracts that I get any clients to work with is is, you know, I've got to think about new clients. I get half upfront. Oh, yeah. And then after the fact, you know, after the payment, it's, it's, you know, 30 days is the next thing. Yeah.

00;31;19;12 - 00;31;35;28

Clark

Let's put this in context for people. Let's talk about this. So what you're talking about now, correct me if I'm wrong, is you're like you're video like you're videographer or director for hire side of your. Yes. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So so we both have experience with this just for the people out there to get some idea of our context.

00;31;35;28 - 00;31;54;23

Clark

So now we're kind of talking a little bit less about making, you know, feature narrative films or documentary films. And now we're kind of talking about a gun for hire doing industrials, advertise video commercials, that kind of thing, you know? So I have never worked in that capacity without a contract ever.

00;31;55;04 - 00;31;55;25

Cullen

Absolutely.

00;31;55;25 - 00;32;18;05

Clark

Yeah, ever. And I would strongly you know, and of course, this is a little bit this is different. Herzog is not exactly talking about this kind of work, but what we can speak to it a little bit here. Yeah. I mean, I've never worked as a videographer or as a director for marketing type content without a contract. Now they're quite simple, but they always designate how much I'm getting paid.

00;32;18;19 - 00;32;35;24

Clark

They always designate what happens if I don't get paid and what amount of time. It always very specifically designates exactly what is being asked of me and exactly what the client is getting and exactly when they're getting it and how much that cost. I mean, to.

00;32;36;03 - 00;32;56;07

Cullen

In any caveats of of you know, I've got caveats in there for any broken equipment. And you know what things like that. And I think that the other thing, too is what I've learned is that and then if I can give any advice to somebody who's starting out, it is it is never rude to the other person to vouch for yourself.

00;32;56;07 - 00;32;57;21

Clark

Tell us. And so that.

00;32;58;02 - 00;33;10;27

Cullen

So I think a lot of people going into it think that, you know, if I so in my contract now I've got a thing that says, you know, after 30 days, if the payment isn't received, then a 1.5% compounding interest rate will be added. Wow.

00;33;11;05 - 00;33;14;14

Clark

You're so I think mine's like ten.

00;33;14;14 - 00;33;19;09

Cullen

I should I should up my shot, my prices. But even then it's rates have been going down.

00;33;19;09 - 00;33;26;19

Clark

So you know you're probably it's like you know now with rates like the feds got it at zero here in the U.S.. Yeah maybe you're more in line with reality money.

00;33;27;02 - 00;33;43;11

Cullen

But I think that's the the thing is, is, you know, you think of that like when I was first starting out, I was putting that in there. I was like, oh, does it sound like I'm threatening the person? But no, no, no, no. It is never. I think that a lot of people that are starting out, they for sounding rude or they they fit exactly.

00;33;43;11 - 00;34;04;13

Cullen

And it was the same thing when I was working as a bartender. You know, if my if my boss said, Hey, can you work late tonight, I would say, yeah, here's here's what I want to to extend my hours there. This is what I will be getting for that. And it's again, it's negotiation. Most of the time, those people, if they are if they have the money to pay you, they will pay you and they won't have any you know, they won't go.

00;34;04;13 - 00;34;24;02

Cullen

That person was rude because they asked for more payment because you just have to prove that you're worth that payment. But again, it's it's it's just one of the things that like I've just noticed that a lot of people are to kind of vouch for themselves in that way and to and to really set set the bar there to a to a point where you're going, this is what my terms are.

00;34;24;02 - 00;34;29;20

Cullen

And, you know, if those if everything goes well, then we'll have a great time, then it'll be fine and we'll have a great working relationship.

00;34;29;26 - 00;34;54;19

Clark

This is a good point, Colin. This is a really good point, you know? Herzog does it again that he doesn't speak to this specifically or directly, but this is a really good point. And, you know, to touch on is that, you know, you do have to value yourself regardless of where you're at in your career. It's really important to value yourself, whether you're an actor, director, writer, DP, whatever position you are on, set it.

00;34;54;19 - 00;35;09;27

Clark

It's so important to value yourself and it's okay. Not only is it okay, but it's I mean, if you're a professional, it's absolutely expected that you dictate the terms at which you want to be a part of this project. People will.

00;35;09;27 - 00;35;11;27

Cullen

Usually, weirdly enough, respect you more for.

00;35;11;27 - 00;35;42;19

Clark

Doing stuff. Absolutely. Yeah, of course. I mean, anybody who's worth working with, anybody who is worth working with will respect you. Matter of fact, if people have a problem and what of course, we're talking about dictating appropriate, reasonable terms. We're not talking about dictating ridiculousness. You know, if this is like your first, you're like, you know, dictating that you want a trailer for, like, you know, an RFI short film, then you know, you're going to be cast in as like a background.

00;35;43;03 - 00;36;07;00

Clark

Come on. You know, it's like within reason. But I mean, to, to be very clear and assertive, right? Politely assertive. It should be respected. And it's a good sign that you're not working with good people if they have a problem with that, If they have a problem with you saying, Hey, this is this is what I'm doing, this is what I expect in return, this is how I want to be treated.

00;36;07;05 - 00;36;25;19

Cullen

And being able to negotiate on the floor again with, like I said, with the caveats thing, where it's, you know, at TIFF last year when I was doing camera work for a TV network here, I remember I had a daily pay and one and that was a eight hour pay. It was no camera. What the day was. It was it was 11 hours, sorry, the 11 hour day.

00;36;27;10 - 00;36;49;08

Cullen

And I got paid a certain amount for those 11 hours. And there was one night it was the wrap night where we had to basically the whole way that TIFF works is that there's one hotel downtown that all of the media is done in. So like all the interviews, all that are all done in this hotel. So like every news organization, every entertainment, you know, entertainment, tonight's there, blah, blah, blah, you know, IMDB, they've got their suite set up, right?

00;36;49;21 - 00;37;03;16

Cullen

So it is basically this big building. And of course, when you're trying to tear that down at the end and you're trying to strike the set at the end of the week, it's going to take a while because you have to get everything from you to use the service elevators. You got to get everything out, you got to load the truck, blah, blah, blah.

00;37;03;16 - 00;37;21;14

Cullen

There's lots of trips up and down and stuff like that. And so I ended up being there about double the time that I was that I was being paid be there. And, you know, I very, again, calmly and respectfully kind of went up to the producer afterwards and I said, Hey, this will I'll likely invoice you for for these extra hours.

00;37;22;12 - 00;37;40;19

Cullen

And then we've negotiated a price and it was fine and there was no there was no, like weird, you know, harsh talk or any fight. They just kind of said, Yeah, of course. And we sat down and we negotiated what that. And I wound up getting paid essentially double what I was making because, which was that was the hourly it was exactly appropriate.

00;37;40;19 - 00;38;03;25

Clark

Right. You know, so I think that's a good example. Yeah. And so it's I think when you come from a place of, you know, you value yourself and you have, you know, a bit of self confidence and you're reasonable, then this is likely going to be the outcome. And again, it's and if somebody if he would have replied to you in a way that would have been completely dismissive or what I mean then you just know, okay, I check this person off my list.

00;38;03;25 - 00;38;20;22

Clark

I'm never working with them again, you know, don't deal. And then over time, you you build up a network of people who have treated you well and you've got along with and then, you know, this is likely what Herzog has done, right? Yeah, it takes time. But absolutely.

00;38;20;22 - 00;38;45;08

Cullen

So I mean, and much in line with what we were talking about last time, too. That goes for when you're in charge, too. I was very clear on the outside of this features that anybody on set I'd like them to be in the very least compensated for their time and not a honorarium or gas money or what some sort of monetary compensation for their time plus points in in their contracts of, you know, if we recoup costs that they they get a percentage of that recoup.

00;38;45;09 - 00;39;06;10

Clark

Good, good point. Good point. You know, so as a leader, so we've a little bit we've kind of been talking about if you're being brought on to a project by somebody else. But that's a really good point. COHEN If you're the if you're the head honcho, if you're a lead in the project and you're bringing people into your project, you know, do not shortchange this process.

00;39;06;17 - 00;39;34;18

Clark

You don't have to, you know, depending on scale, you don't have to overly formalize it again, you don't have to go to a 60 page contract with attorneys and everything. But, you know, I think the people that you bring on board are going to really, really respect you for being clear in your communication and being assertive and direct and, you know, even, you know, putting a few just putting expectations and putting returns on paper can be very simple.

00;39;35;00 - 00;40;01;13

Clark

But I really feel like if you're looking for a way to immediately, you know, step up your game for, you know, how how professional you're coming off and how much respect you have with your cast and crew. There is a darn good way to do it right there, and it wouldn't cost you anything but time. So and with that in mind, then let's jump to you know, Herzog talks about familiarizing yourself with basic legal terms and concepts.

00;40;01;20 - 00;40;41;06

Clark

And thank goodness we live in a day and age where you can do that practically for nothing online. There are so many simple contracts that you can look through and read. There are so many books that cover and content online that covers general legalese as well as legally specific to the film industry. And it's not that you have to jam all of your, you know, your contracts or agreements with people full of this legal ese, but having a basic understanding of how a contract is structured and what is going to give you the the ability to do what we just said to to not only discern what people are putting in front of your face

00;40;41;06 - 00;41;01;20

Clark

in asking you to sign, but to help you as the leader of your project, to put together simple but effective and clear contracts for all of your cast and crew. So there is and I will name any specifics, but there really are some I mean, if you just go, you know what? If you like, you know, books, there's books, there's YouTube videos, there's just there's like a ton of content.

00;41;03;00 - 00;41;14;25

Cullen

I mean, as you said, we live in a very wonderful era in that you can essentially you have a dictionary at your your doorstep at any time. And so you can very easily I a.

00;41;14;25 - 00;41;16;29

Clark

Dictionary at your doorstep. I've never heard that when.

00;41;17;00 - 00;41;18;28

Cullen

They show up to my door every day in the New York Times.

00;41;19;29 - 00;41;28;04

Clark

But is that what so Canada is so interesting to me in so many different ways. That's how we our words, we used to get phone books. I don't know if you're old enough.

00;41;28;05 - 00;41;31;10

Cullen

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was right at the cusp of that. Yeah, but.

00;41;31;17 - 00;41;48;02

Clark

You know, but, but that would be if, if our country actually delivered dictionaries to our doorstep, maybe we would be a lot better off. Maybe. You know, I don't anyway, but people probably wouldn't read them. But now I get your point. But I do.

00;41;48;02 - 00;41;58;09

Cullen

Think it's really I think it's really important that, like you said, is that making them simple, you know, don't try and throw in all these like now again, these legal jargon words for Yeah. For the sake of sounding.

00;41;58;24 - 00;41;59;14

Clark

Fancy, it.

00;41;59;14 - 00;42;09;06

Cullen

Just, just, you know, lay out what is, is going to be what the contract is covering essentially laid out in the simplest terms as possible.

00;42;09;07 - 00;42;24;08

Clark

Yeah. And usually it's just I mean and again, you can we're not going to get it. We're not attorneys and we're not going to give any specific advice or anything. But yeah, I mean, basically in a nutshell, it's you know, it's it's a record of what you're going to do and then what you're going to receive for having done that.

00;42;24;14 - 00;42;47;00

Clark

And I mean, it's you know, it's it's just expectations. This is what I expect to do and this is what I expect to receive in return. That's it. It's really that simple for this level. And of course, my goodness, if you're you know, if you're working on a $20 million budget of 10 million, 5 million, 1 million, I mean, then, you know, you're going to have more things to go through.

00;42;47;00 - 00;43;03;13

Clark

And I'll go back to how we started. I think it's prudent to work with an attorney who understands what they're doing if you're going into a project like that. But I think at the level that most of us are working at, you can really accomplish things with a very simple half page page agreement. I even just call them agreements.

00;43;03;13 - 00;43;21;20

Cullen

I mean, again, it's exactly what you said. It's it's it's negotiating it. That's the whole point of the thing, right? It's like don't I think again, it's another pre or like a misconception that a lot of people think that you almost have to have this like barrier of communication when you're writing a contract and or an agreement to just hand it to the person and hope that but no work on it with the person.

00;43;21;20 - 00;43;31;23

Clark

That collaboration exactly. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So another great point. Colin Yeah, it's not like you write this out in a dark smoke filled room and then you, you know, hand it to the guy that.

00;43;31;23 - 00;43;33;26

Cullen

You may have with him in that yellow light.

00;43;33;26 - 00;43;45;20

Clark

Saying, you must sign this. I think some yeah. And that's where it's like, I don't ever use the word, you know, on small, tiny projects. I don't use word contracts. Yes. It's intimidating and scary. I just say, hey, let's throw together an agreement real quick. You know, they're.

00;43;45;20 - 00;43;46;25

Cullen

Not divorce papers.

00;43;46;25 - 00;44;06;12

Clark

Let's just. But Right. Let's just both work out what we want out of this deal. And then we have it on paper and then we have a clear understanding like that. That's all I ever do there. But, you know, it's often Herzog speaks to this is it's more than just money. I mean there's this is an also an opportunity where you can name collaborators.

00;44;06;21 - 00;44;31;20

Clark

You can, you know, make as part of the components of your contract that you can work with certain people or that you can hire certain other. If you're going to be a department head to hire different people that you want to work with. I mean, there's so many different aspects of this. Yeah, I see it as an opportunity to kind of dictate your terms or come to good agreements with other people.

00;44;31;20 - 00;44;53;24

Clark

So, you know, I think Herzog speaks to this, too. And, you know, Herzog is huge on urgency. We've talked about, I think, just about every lesson here thus far. Urgency has come into play at least once. Herzog definitely doesn't like to mess around when he makes films, and it's no different here. He mentions that, look, if you if you can't make a deal relatively quickly, it's likely that you're not going to have one.

00;44;54;10 - 00;45;12;00

Clark

And I think for the most part that's pretty true. If if you can't come to an agreement on how to work with somebody now and what the project's going to look like, and it takes you more than a week or so to do that. Yeah it's unlikely that things are going to go.

00;45;12;01 - 00;45;22;24

Cullen

And if it does work, it's more often or not going to be a strained relationship. Yeah, because there's going to always be those back side things that you spent, you know, hours mulling over with each other and. Yeah, right. It's just it just it sucks the fun.

00;45;22;25 - 00;45;34;01

Clark

It just might not be right. It just may not be if there's that many, you know, sticking points or if the communication is that strained or whatever the case may be, maybe it's time to move on.

00;45;34;09 - 00;46;02;07

Cullen

Well, I think another another great point that Herzog makes, though, in this lesson is about the fact that, you know, especially working with larger financiers or if you're kind of, again, director for hire or you've been brought on to a project. Yeah. Except that you can always be fired and that that replacement is, you know, not too scary yourself, but let that kind of straw like make you strive to do better and to prove that you are the only person who should be capable of doing that job.

00;46;02;07 - 00;46;33;22

Cullen

And and I think that that kind of mindset really changes the way that you operate on sets, and it'll make you more willing to kind of, you know, both be flexible, but also be very confident in yourself and be able to sort of say, Yeah, you know what, I'm here for a reason and I'm going to I'm going to do what I can to to prove that not only should I be hired for this project or continue to be hired for this project, but I should be hired for other projects, too, because, you know, if there's producers that like you on one project, they will likely again call you back for four more and more

00;46;33;22 - 00;46;34;01

Cullen

work.

00;46;34;24 - 00;46;41;21

Clark

Interesting. So you're saying that just kind of keep in mind that you're not that you're expendable in a sense?

00;46;41;21 - 00;46;54;03

Cullen

I think, yeah. I think a lot of directors get this this head about them where it's like, this is my even if it's not a script they wrote, even if they were brought onto the project, just a direct they get this head about them that it's like, this is my project, you know, this is, this is my vision.

00;46;54;03 - 00;47;14;23

Cullen

I'm going to be I'm the one that's making this movie. And, you know, a lot of times those people can definitely be fired. It happens in major films. How many movies that, you know, big Hollywood blockbusters that came out in the last five years have we heard about directors being fired or being let go? We're splitting due to creative differences and kind of things like that.

00;47;14;23 - 00;47;20;29

Cullen

And it's like, you know, you're you have confidence in your work, but also understand that.

00;47;21;00 - 00;47;22;04

Clark

They have some humility.

00;47;22;07 - 00;47;37;14

Cullen

Have some humility and understand that, you know, you might you can screw up and you can screw up badly and do everything you can to avoid. Yeah. And make take every precaution you can to to make sure that doesn't happen. And and things usually, you know, wind up going pretty well.

00;47;37;14 - 00;48;02;02

Clark

Well, and that's I think just in general. Right. You do the best you can. It's you know, I think everybody who's in this industry has a passion about being in it because, my goodness, like, why would you be doing this if you weren't extremely passionate about it? Your likelihood of having a being able to provide a living for yourself and your family as a filmmaker is ridiculously low.

00;48;02;10 - 00;48;24;08

Clark

The stress and insecurity that comes from this career is ridic useless. So the assumption would be that you're quite passionate about it. So if you aren't, my goodness, ask yourself, What are you doing here? Right. I guess just in general, I mean, if you're on set and you're there's a million other places you want to be, I'd say go do something else.

00;48;24;28 - 00;48;42;22

Cullen

Oh, yeah. And but I think again, it just comes down to communication, especially on set with, you know, again, one of the first things that I spoke to the producers on this feature about was that we have to make sure we have an open line of communication so that if if I feel something's not going well on the set, we can have a private conversation about that.

00;48;42;22 - 00;49;04;05

Cullen

Not, you know, you never want to air that dirty laundry in front of the crew, but perhaps there's some time when you really just need to rant to somebody. And a producer can be a very good person to do that, too, because they often are the people in the position that can fix those problems. And at the same time, I said to them, If I'm doing something that you weren't happy with or that you feel could be done differently or whatever, then we can have that conversation.

00;49;04;05 - 00;49;23;01

Cullen

It's about, you know, people again, going back to that earlier point that I made, people get so afraid of of words they see coming off as insult when in reality, I think that you just have to have understanding that pretty much everyone on that set is doing their job to make the best movie they can. They can make it right top to bottom.

00;49;23;01 - 00;49;43;12

Cullen

And if you understand that even if there's a creative decision, yeah, ideally, yeah. Mean even if there's a creative difference between your, you know, vision and the producer's vision, at the end of the day, the producer's vision is to make the movie the best they can, just as yours is. So just talk to the people, you know, just, just be willing to be to have these conversations.

00;49;43;12 - 00;49;48;14

Cullen

And usually that'll be, you know, that can be that can oftentimes be a lifeline.

00;49;49;07 - 00;50;17;16

Clark

And this goes back to, you know, working with people that you can trust and being assertive but polite and communicating expectations and responsibilities from the get go. I think all of these things are kind of hand in hand. But let's talk a little bit briefly here in our last few minutes about negotiating specifically with actors. Herzog breaks out that section, kind of specifically talks about negotiating for actors, if I'm not mistaken.

00;50;17;16 - 00;50;47;00

Clark

I think he talks about making an offer to Christian Bale for like totally spacing the name of the film, which was it's a rescue done right. But that was the am I correct in that one Poland resolution. Is that the Christian Bale? Yes. The P.O.W.? Yeah. Which I quite like. I quite like that flick. But he talks about how, you know, reaching out to him and not being able to to offer Christian Bale anywhere near his going rate.

00;50;47;00 - 00;51;12;04

Clark

And, you know, obviously, this is not a problem that most of us are going to have in the sense that you're going to be reaching out to A-list actors and not being able to offer them their rate. Mm hmm. Hmm. Hmm hmm. But, you know, and Herzog is obviously a very unique position relative to most of us in the sense that he has a body of work that puts him in a position where he can have talent, wants to work with him.

00;51;12;09 - 00;51;13;05

Cullen

He's quite prolific.

00;51;13;06 - 00;51;35;13

Clark

Yeah, well, not just prolific, but I mean, he is legendary. Yeah. Come on. Here's why we're here. Like, this guy's a legend, okay? It's like a lot of people might be prolific, but that doesn't mean they're good is both prolific and good, you know? So I think, you know, he has access to a roster of talent that want to work with him, both in front of the camera and behind that most of us won't have.

00;51;35;27 - 00;52;04;07

Clark

But having said that, you know, there is definitely there are negotiations to be had for talent for your film, whoever you are out there. And certainly, you know, we start right off the bat with quality of script right. This is just ridiculously huge. If your script is killer, then obviously you're going to be much more likely to be in a good negotiator team position for talent.

00;52;04;28 - 00;52;32;11

Clark

You know, actors, I've seen a lot of cases where actors took quite a bit less than they might have otherwise taken because the role they felt offered a lot to them just as an actor or as an artist or as an opportunity to be seen in a different way. So I think that goes without saying, though. I mean, the stronger your script, the stronger your story, the more leverage you have in every single instance of, you know, of filmmaking.

00;52;32;11 - 00;53;02;17

Clark

But but yeah, I mean, and he talks about I think he talks also about, you know, convincing people to work on your film. How do you find actors negotiate, etc.. I mean, your passion for the project is so, so, so important. And there we kind of cut, right? It's like being being passionate. You don't want to stretch. You know, we talked to the very beginning, kind of stretching the your your the realities of your project because you're so passionate about it.

00;53;02;17 - 00;53;22;15

Clark

But I can't tell you how many times I've seen passion in the room went out and I don't you know what your experiences with this but passion and clarity of vision are so important. I mean, they are so vital as a director. Of course, that's what you do as a director. You're you are the person with the vision and you communicate that vision to other departments to execute it.

00;53;23;17 - 00;53;28;22

Clark

And I but I have seen so many directors not have clarity of vision.

00;53;28;27 - 00;53;30;27

Cullen

Oh, geez. Yeah, the silent types.

00;53;31;00 - 00;53;38;07

Clark

I just well or you know, and look, there's so many different types of people that you don't have to be an extroverted, gregarious, you know.

00;53;38;14 - 00;53;39;15

Cullen

No, absolutely not.

00;53;39;15 - 00;54;07;02

Clark

You know, used cars, you know, definitely not like the used car salesman. Sorry. If anybody out there is a used car salesman. I don't mean any disrespect. It's a shorthand. But, um, but, you know, I have seen it. I have seen it so many times. And it's a skill that you have got to work on it. Your ability to concisely with passion, present your vision for a film is so key.

00;54;07;24 - 00;54;29;15

Clark

And right here is a great area where it's key to be able to impart that passion to a you know, to a collaborator. Here we're talking specifically about actors, but it could be anywhere is so vital. And I and that starts with your connection to the story. In my opinion. It can't start with I. This is a stepping stone for my career.

00;54;29;22 - 00;54;59;00

Clark

I'm going to get recognition this. I'm going to get money from this. You cannot manufacture the kind of passion that comes from being deeply, deeply connected. The story that you're telling, you can't say, I just don't think you can fake it. And I think when that's real and you're sitting at a table with an actor or, you know, a prospective actor or you're, you know, writing a letter to an actor's agent to see if they could potentially take a meeting with you or whatever.

00;54;59;11 - 00;55;23;19

Clark

Mm hmm. You can't fake that. It is so key. And I have seen it happen. Like when when that director or producer sometimes, too, as part of a pitch. Have that true, deep, connected passion to a story. It's amazing. People. People are waiting for that. People are. They are just desperate to see that when you walk in the room with that, it just it just you just.

00;55;23;20 - 00;55;53;09

Clark

You can blow a place up, man. Yeah. You know, if you've seen this too. But you know, so that's so important. It's so key. I mean, I would, you know, and some of these skills you kind of have to practice. Not everybody is, you know, it sometimes it takes work. You have to really put in work to be able to kind of practice or rehearse your your pitches to to really get, you know, your ability to concisely tell your story to somebody to sell them on it, so to speak, can be rehearsed, it can be practice.

00;55;53;09 - 00;56;15;20

Clark

It is a skill that can be refined, you know. So I don't think that if it's not there innately immediately, that you can't, you know, work on that, you totally can work on that. I mean, I can only imagine. Okay. CULLEN Witnesses when there's be great. Could you just imagine Herzog in a pitch room or like in his industry, like he's in a meeting, you know, and he's like, trying to get money for this.

00;56;15;20 - 00;56;16;05

Clark

I just I.

00;56;16;12 - 00;56;33;00

Cullen

Love I would have loved to be in that where he where he realized that that Fitzcarraldo was was more, you know, interestingly about the boat than about anything else. Yeah. And like just hearing him kind of make that discovery and go, I want to make the movie about the boat.

00;56;33;25 - 00;56;59;22

Clark

I would so love I would so love to hear Herzog in a room, you know, especially maybe when he was, you know, I have a hunch he's never been one to to to beg or, you know, to really work to sell so much. But I think just his his true, genuine passion for whatever story that he is telling at the moment, it's infectious and it's really infectious because here we are right now, we're talking about him.

00;57;00;05 - 00;57;24;28

Clark

Look at the films he's made. And, you know, of course, not only is this important for sitting down and, you know, negotiating with actors or, you know, pitching to actors, but of course, this is like your passion and connectivity to the story is what, like why make a film if you're not? If you're not, it's yeah, but I just want to kind of reiterate and focus on how important that is, where I'm actually in the process of doing this now.

00;57;24;28 - 00;57;51;08

Clark

And I'm going to learn more from this and maybe I can come back in a later episode and share from this process. But, you know, right now we're in pre-production on a low budget horror feature film, and we've got the script, you know, pretty darn close. We're all pretty happy with it. We're in the process of fundraising for the film and we're doing pretty well, and we're at a stage where we're going to try to see if we can get some letters of intent, basically.

00;57;51;17 - 00;58;16;02

Clark

So we're reaching out to a handful of actors for several roles, people that we are inspired by whose acting we genuinely, truly appreciate, but who we also feel could be a good fit for it. For the roles and work we're sending out offer basically pitches to take meetings, and this is one of the great benefits of our IMDB pro.

00;58;16;02 - 00;58;24;13

Clark

For example, It's pretty darn easy to get a hold of a manager or an agent for somebody. Yeah, and, you know, we're going to see what happens.

00;58;24;19 - 00;58;27;09

Cullen

We get a free month trial for Andy Crowe. So if you're making a.

00;58;27;09 - 00;58;44;19

Clark

Major pro, if you are a sponsor of this podcast, please, by all means. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get it. Yeah, you can get. And just also, they offer so many discounts too. I know that I get a pretty substantial discount for being SAG-AFTRA. There are a lot of, you know, so there's a lot of avenues to go there.

00;58;44;19 - 00;59;04;08

Clark

But you're right, you could even get a month free. But you know, so I just want to say that that, you know, being able to communicate that passion of your project is just boom. It's, it's of super killer key. But yeah I will let people I'll keep you guys up to speed and let you know how this process goes.

00;59;04;08 - 00;59;05;00

Clark

I'm sure I'm going to be.

00;59;05;00 - 00;59;05;18

Cullen

As well about.

00;59;05;18 - 00;59;07;15

Clark

It. Yeah, I'm sure I'll learn a lot about it, but.

00;59;07;15 - 00;59;10;11

Cullen

I think we're about we're about the same place for both of our features.

00;59;10;11 - 00;59;13;03

Clark

They're all. Are you okay? You're doing the same thing right now, right?

00;59;13;03 - 00;59;20;07

Cullen

Yeah, right. I mean, at the moment we are basically finishing up scripts in pre with like budget and all that, and that's, that's okay.

00;59;20;15 - 00;59;42;22

Clark

You know, we'll kind of compare notes and we can share our experiences with our listeners here as we go because I'm definitely going to be learning from this as well as I have never had a name talent in a project yet that I've been a significant part of. So I'm looking really forward to seeing how this goes. Yeah, So good luck to you too.

00;59;42;22 - 00;59;56;06

Clark

And yeah, we'll let people know. What do you think? Cohen I think we've covered pretty much everything that Herzog touched on and added our own little spin and thoughts to it here. And any last parting comments about negotiations that you've got?

00;59;56;15 - 00;59;59;26

Cullen

No, I think I think we kind of hash it all out there.

01;00;00;26 - 01;00;28;29

Clark

Awesome. Well, once again, Cohen, I want to thank you for spending some with me here discussing one of my favorite directors of all time and his philosophies on filmmaking. I had a blast and I hope you listeners enjoyed it. And we will see you next time where we will discuss Lesson seven Location. It's awesome. All right, Cohen, Thank you so much, buddy.

01;00;28;29 - 01;00;30;19

Clark

And everybody, we'll see you next time.

01;00;31;01 - 01;00;31;13

Cullen

Thanks.

01;00;31;17 - 01;00;32;18

Clark

Bye bye.

Episode - 006

Clark

Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Clark Coffey and with me today is Cullen McFater and we're on Wow episode six Amazing, where we discuss Herzog's masterclass from Master Class icon. His lesson seven, which is all about location, is so. Cohen, thanks so much for being with me again today. I look forward to this conversation.

00;00;24;20 - 00;00;25;07

Clark

Thank you, sir.

00;00;25;16 - 00;00;36;23

Cullen

No worries. Yeah, I mean, it's a it's an interesting lesson because as as we both know, it starts out with Aguirre, which is probably the most stark and striking opening of.

00;00;36;23 - 00;00;38;08

Speaker 3

Any of his work. He's definitely one of.

00;00;38;08 - 00;00;38;29

Clark

The most memorable.

00;00;39;09 - 00;00;46;27

Cullen

And he's got the you know, that's when he has the people tied to trees because it was such a steep, you know, cliff face that they were walking down and stuff like that.

00;00;47;03 - 00;00;47;12

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;00;47;12 - 00;01;00;25

Clark

I'm telling you when I when I first I remember when I first saw this saw Aguirre and first saw this opening scene. I don't know about you. I have kind of a thing with heights. As in, I'm scared to death of them.

00;01;02;04 - 00;01;02;16

Speaker 3

Only in.

00;01;02;16 - 00;01;12;07

Clark

Specific situations. And it just so happens, like being on the side of a mountain would be one of those situations. Yeah, And literally my palms and feet started to sweat.

00;01;13;08 - 00;01;16;02

Speaker 3

Well, I mean, all this when I saw this opening to this.

00;01;16;02 - 00;01;19;20

Clark

Movie, it is so extraordinarily shot and does such a good.

00;01;19;20 - 00;01;20;03

Speaker 3

Job.

00;01;20;03 - 00;01;26;15

Clark

Of showing the scale and the danger of this expedition and sets the scene so amazingly.

00;01;26;27 - 00;01;29;08

Cullen

Yeah. And to think about carrying a camera up there to.

00;01;30;03 - 00;01;30;14

Speaker 3

Say.

00;01;30;14 - 00;01;44;25

Clark

I know, I mean, I literally I think my feet and palms are sweating now just thinking about it. Yeah, but it definitely does a good job highlighting the importance of location. I mean, imagine that film having been opened with any other scene and I just.

00;01;44;29 - 00;01;48;23

Cullen

Saw something that was fake. It was shot on a set of greenscreen or something like that, right?

00;01;48;23 - 00;02;18;02

Clark

Oh, yes. Well, we definitely can get into that a bit more. Of course, Herzog's stance on that is that is that, you know, one of his goals as he sees as a filmmaker, is to have an audience believe their eyes. And I agree it's vital. And in today's world of Marvel films, which don't get me wrong, have they're wonderful charms for sure, but so many films are so full of greenscreen and CGI now that you just don't believe anything, you literally don't believe anything that you're seeing on the screen.

00;02;18;02 - 00;02;51;00

Clark

I think it takes takes a lot of the visceral ness out of it. But but yeah, so okay, so locations important, I think, you know, Herzog goes into a little bit of what he had to do to get that location, months and months of obviously, he had to, first of all, travel to the Amazon to begin with. And then he has to spend months of his life in the Amazon going up and down rivers and, you know, hiking up hills and mountains and the jungle and probably a lot more than most people would do to find a location.

00;02;51;05 - 00;02;51;27

Clark

Do you have any fun.

00;02;51;27 - 00;02;56;17

Speaker 3

Stories of of what you've had to do to scout certain locations? I mean, I'm trying.

00;02;56;17 - 00;02;57;21

Clark

To think of any I might have.

00;02;58;00 - 00;03;09;13

Cullen

Scouting is always I think it's it's both fun and held depending on what the project is. Yeah, that I remember. I mean, one of my favorite locations ever shot was Iceland, which is, you know.

00;03;09;28 - 00;03;11;28

Speaker 3

Oh, wait, wait. Have you you have shot.

00;03;12;01 - 00;03;13;29

Clark

You shot in Iceland, is that correct? Am I here?

00;03;13;29 - 00;03;17;12

Cullen

Yes. Oh, not narrative. I shot documentary footage there, but.

00;03;17;17 - 00;03;19;24

Speaker 3

Okay. So tell us a little bit about that experience.

00;03;19;24 - 00;03;30;24

Clark

I mean, we're going to kind of jump back and forth here. You know, you're kind of discussing what Herzog thinks about locations, but also sprinkling in some of our own experiences.

00;03;31;26 - 00;03;33;17

Speaker 3

So tell us a little bit about that.

00;03;33;17 - 00;03;38;27

Clark

What the project was, how you found yourself in Iceland and and how that all kind of came together.

00;03;39;12 - 00;03;45;10

Cullen

I mean, honestly, it was a project that was born out of just the desire to go to Iceland, really.

00;03;45;10 - 00;03;45;27

Speaker 3

It was a.

00;03;45;27 - 00;03;48;24

Cullen

Friend of mine and I just just wanted to go somewhere and I thought, you.

00;03;48;24 - 00;03;49;25

Speaker 3

Know, So it's like one of those old.

00;03;49;25 - 00;03;51;04

Clark

Elvis films where.

00;03;51;13 - 00;03;54;08

Speaker 3

They like like, you know, why we want to go to Hawaii.

00;03;54;08 - 00;03;58;00

Clark

So let's just put a film in Hawaii and then get to spend a few months in Hawaii.

00;03;58;00 - 00;04;16;28

Cullen

Yeah. And so what I did actually though, was I so it was quite I mean, I see it was documentary was sort of half the footage that I actually got there is still sort of in the cutting room on a project that I've been wanting to make for ages, which is an adaptation of the Old Man in the Sea.

00;04;16;28 - 00;04;22;14

Cullen

It's like kind of like a science fiction adaptation of that, which would be interesting. A 30 minute is short film.

00;04;23;01 - 00;04;23;16

Speaker 3

And.

00;04;24;13 - 00;04;32;14

Cullen

I wanted to start it out on a alien planet, and that alien planet was going to be Iceland, because Iceland, that's like another planet.

00;04;32;15 - 00;04;33;23

Clark

That's a good place to put it.

00;04;33;27 - 00;04;34;21

Speaker 3

Yeah, but I wound.

00;04;34;21 - 00;05;00;22

Cullen

Up getting so much footage there that I just turned some of that footage into kind of a visceral auditory sort of audio visual experience, which was kind of fun. That that also was just a short film that I put up. But but no, I mean, Iceland is a country where 10 minutes apart it can go from sunny, sunny, sunny to snow to rain to, you know, wind that is knocking you off your ass.

00;05;00;22 - 00;05;21;10

Cullen

And it's like I remember one of the days that we shot, we went was that we went to the famous black sand beach, which is like this volcanic ash beach. And then the sky was overcast and the water was white. So you get this incredible contrast between these white, foamy waves coming up on the this jet black beach.

00;05;22;10 - 00;05;36;23

Cullen

And it was like, you know, it's one of the most dangerous beaches in the world because the waves, you know, it's the North Atlantic, people are not really aware of the fact that the waves can come in 30 meters more than than the last.

00;05;36;23 - 00;05;37;28

Clark

Break in of radius. Yeah.

00;05;38;00 - 00;05;59;10

Cullen

And and, you know, people have died. There's I think oh wow, I might this might be a rumor, but I'm pretty sure there's an average of about one death per year on that beach just from people not being aware of the fact the waves come in. But I mean, there's points where you're like around a corner kind of in a cave and suddenly the waves will come in so far that you can no longer get out of the cave to go back around to where you get out.

00;05;59;10 - 00;06;01;08

Cullen

You kind of have to wait for the waves to subside.

00;06;01;08 - 00;06;02;23

Clark

That sounds somewhat terrifying.

00;06;02;23 - 00;06;04;24

Speaker 3

So yeah, sorry for you. Kind of so.

00;06;04;24 - 00;06;23;24

Clark

So you wanted to go to Iceland and you thought to yourself, okay, how am I? Like, what can I do since I want to go to Iceland, then you kind of you put that in front and said, okay, what film can I make? Where you making kind of like a lessons, a darkness type thing a little bit. When you said it was kind of like, was it kind of an abstraction of the landscape?

00;06;24;22 - 00;06;39;04

Cullen

Sort of, Yeah, Yes. I mean, these so the the film that actually came out that I've been that I've made the short film was very much not planned in advance. It was something that again, I just had the footage to do and I cut it together.

00;06;39;04 - 00;06;41;29

Clark

So maybe, maybe not The best example of what Herzog's.

00;06;42;12 - 00;06;43;11

Cullen

Yeah, perhaps not, but.

00;06;43;11 - 00;06;44;11

Speaker 3

That's okay. No, but that's.

00;06;44;11 - 00;07;04;23

Clark

Okay because I think, you know, look, just take a step back here for a second. I mean, a lot of us as filmmakers that don't have the same kind of, you know, access to money or as Herzog mate, where he even, of course, is challenged by that. But, you know, oftentimes you have to you have to shoot with what you've got.

00;07;04;23 - 00;07;24;22

Clark

You have to shoot with what's available. And oftentimes the location can dictate kind of what you're able to shoot. So Herzog doesn't really talk about this so much in his lesson. But, you know, we can kind of speak to, you know, really utilizing the locations that you've got. And then somewhat writing the story around that to incorporate that.

00;07;24;22 - 00;07;28;12

Clark

So, I mean, that's definitely a valid way to do it, you know.

00;07;28;29 - 00;07;37;03

Cullen

And I think I mean, I think that a IT location is so intertwined with or obviously intertwined with.

00;07;37;03 - 00;07;38;05

Speaker 3

Stories, No question.

00;07;38;05 - 00;07;55;05

Cullen

You know, and another example like sort of just another quick anecdote is the the Western that I made last year. Of course, when you're shooting something like that, that's period. You have to make sure that your locations are basically locked off from any semblance.

00;07;55;05 - 00;07;55;20

Speaker 3

Of.

00;07;56;04 - 00;07;56;26

Cullen

Modernity.

00;07;57;02 - 00;08;00;03

Clark

Right. So not going to work if you've got a highway in the background with.

00;08;00;03 - 00;08;00;17

Speaker 3

Exactly.

00;08;00;24 - 00;08;01;27

Clark

Driving back and forth. Yeah.

00;08;02;10 - 00;08;30;02

Cullen

We got to there's a there's a provincial park, maybe an hour and a half north of Toronto called Forks of the Credit. And it is this beautiful, beautiful park. But it's one of those places that you can go and essentially set up a camera and turn it 360 degrees and then see nothing. And so, you know, it's like an hour hike through this forest, which we had to carry all the gear through and, you know, get to this waterfall and all this stuff and very, very fun, very tiring, but a lot of fun.

00;08;30;02 - 00;08;36;11

Cullen

But yeah, again, it's one of those things where it's like that location. Without that location, I don't think anything would have felt the way that it did.

00;08;36;11 - 00;09;01;02

Clark

And that's an interesting little microcosm. I mean, certainly, you know, you're not spending three months in the Amazon, but it was a challenge to get there. You know, I think I've worked on a lot of different types of projects. Some of those projects I was in control of, some I weren't. But it you know, I have definitely been a part of projects where the location was kind of an afterthought, right, where that here's the script, this is what we're going to do.

00;09;01;02 - 00;09;18;19

Clark

Okay, We've got our cast. Ed, You know, all these things are kind of laid out and then it's like, okay, where are we going to shoot this? You know? And I've been even where the director wasn't even a part of the, you know, the the location scouting or where it was really just, you know, very little thought was put into it.

00;09;18;19 - 00;09;35;13

Clark

Unfortunately. And, you know, they had done all this work in pre-production on so many other things. And we kind of get, you know, now we're down to a sliver of our schedule that's left for pre-production. And then now it's like, where are we going to shoot this thing? And it's it's so, you know, it can so make or break your film.

00;09;35;13 - 00;09;36;07

Cullen

Can suffer for it.

00;09;36;07 - 00;10;07;29

Clark

So it well, I mean, you know I think you know a lot of people are like obviously cast is vital. You know obviously the script is vital and a so much emphasis is put on those things and rightfully so. They're important. But I so many times I've seen where location is an afterthought. And whether it's an exterior interior, I mean, you cannot overstate the importance and especially especially as you know, maybe of filmmaker who's just starting out or a filmmaker who doesn't have a huge budget.

00;10;07;29 - 00;10;34;10

Clark

One of the the the most opportunity to increase your your production, you know, the your your production design to to is to is to find an amazing location whether it's an interior exterior. But you could oh my gosh. That can just, you know, just blow up the size and scope of your film. And so there's a tremendous amount of opportunity to there.

00;10;34;10 - 00;10;52;17

Cullen

I mean, I think it's hilarious because I'm sure that you agree that whenever I go to a new I went to a some friends and I rented a cottage this summer to go up for my birthday up in Cottage Country north again, north of Toronto. And this place that we rented. Anytime I go into a new place, my immediate thought is like, how can I shot here?

00;10;52;17 - 00;10;53;10

Speaker 3

Yes, yes.

00;10;53;10 - 00;10;56;13

Cullen

And so, like, it was this beautiful, beautiful, old, dark.

00;10;56;27 - 00;10;57;23

Speaker 3

Kind of make a note of.

00;10;57;23 - 00;11;07;08

Cullen

That farmhouse. And I did. Yeah. Yes. It's again, it's one of those things that in the feature that I'm coming up on right now, that is one of the potential locations that we're like, let's see if we can rent that in the spring and.

00;11;07;08 - 00;11;07;28

Speaker 3

Absolutely.

00;11;07;28 - 00;11;08;09

Cullen

Be there.

00;11;08;11 - 00;11;27;21

Clark

Absolutely. And so it's a this is an important kind of just, you know, a simple logistical thing. I mean, in your day to day life, always kind of be thinking, you know, how might I use this location again in another time, or what stories might even spring forth from this location. You know, sometimes the story can be inspired by the location that you've got available.

00;11;27;21 - 00;12;09;05

Clark

So but I'm curious, too, I want to go back to the story where you said, you know, you had to go hiking kind of out into the rural area a little bit to find a location for your western at night, because I think this is really important to Herzog's way of working. I tell me about if or not or how if so, that trek out into the woods kind of flavored or had an impact on the actual shooting that you did there because I have a hunch that the investment that you had to make in getting all the way out there and how that location and kind of had its own vibe or have it

00;12;09;05 - 00;12;13;29

Clark

had its own kind of impact on your crew and cast, did it tell me about that alone.

00;12;13;29 - 00;12;34;00

Cullen

Oh, yeah. I mean, it was funny. Yes. As we walked out there, we actually would stop occasionally and shoot some unplanned scenes that, you know, for there was there was a big montage sequence in it that of like a travel kind of sequence. And we would just kind of be walking to basically the end of this hike. There's a big waterfall.

00;12;34;00 - 00;12;47;23

Cullen

That was the goal of what we were trying to get, and that was the point of it. But, you know, occasionally we'd be like, That tree looks really cool. Let's, you know, set up here for 10 minutes and get a shot of of our lead actor walking around that tree or sleeping on it or something and then.

00;12;48;03 - 00;12;50;27

Speaker 3

Right inspired it inspired other other shots.

00;12;51;01 - 00;13;06;12

Cullen

And it even got to a point where we as we were walking there, we found a location for another scene that we didn't shoot that day because we needed other actors there. But it was one of those things where we didn't know we were going to shoot that scene and we saw this great lakeside location and we went, Oh, that's perfect.

00;13;06;12 - 00;13;25;29

Cullen

Let's let's come back here in a few weeks with our other actors and shoot that scene there. But I think that it was I mean, it was a super, super small shoot, like it was literally me, a another guy who was sort of the stand in for the villain because he was very, very much off screen. Like it was basically just an over its shoulder that we need that villain for.

00;13;26;01 - 00;13;50;15

Cullen

Yeah. And then the lead actor and that stand in guy was also helping me with some gear and stuff like that. And it's a behind the scenes sound and things like that. But yeah, no, I think, I mean it was a lot of it really. I think if anything and it goes back to kind of like we mentioned before, that the whole idea of green screen versus, you know, doing it for real, which I think not only for the audience to believe in it.

00;13;50;15 - 00;13;53;28

Cullen

Like I kind of want to add something on to that point. I think it makes the actors.

00;13;54;14 - 00;13;54;28

Speaker 3

Absolutely.

00;13;54;28 - 00;14;05;11

Cullen

In it more to like if you're even down or if you have a special effect on something. There's a huge difference between acting, you know, opposite a puppet versus acting opposite tennis ball on like a C stand.

00;14;05;16 - 00;14;06;00

Speaker 3

Well, that does.

00;14;06;00 - 00;14;09;11

Clark

Something, you know, And location absolutely affects you.

00;14;09;12 - 00;14;09;27

Cullen

Exactly.

00;14;09;27 - 00;14;30;09

Clark

The cast and crew. And I want and it's interesting, you know, I want to tie this in a little bit to this walking thing. You know, if if you've not in this lesson, I don't think. But in in in other lessons and in other interviews and discussions that Herzog had, he talks about the importance of walking as a mode of traveling.

00;14;30;17 - 00;14;53;00

Clark

Yes. And I just what I think this is an interesting time to bring this up. And in the master class now, we've not talked a lot or maybe at all, frankly, about the exercises that go along with the master class videos. But I want to bring up one of them here because I think it's it's especially interesting and it's changed actually since when the class was first put up.

00;14;53;04 - 00;15;05;07

Clark

And now there is a there's an exercise that talks about walking and it in its original form, the exercise was to walk 100 miles in any direction.

00;15;05;13 - 00;15;05;22

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;15;06;00 - 00;15;10;13

Clark

And I think now it says something like just walk a little bit or walk.

00;15;10;14 - 00;15;14;15

Speaker 3

You know, I don't remember the exact sort of verbiage, but it's, you know.

00;15;14;25 - 00;15;20;29

Clark

Right. They've taken 100 miles out. And I have a hunch it's maybe because the legal team looked at it was like, oh.

00;15;21;07 - 00;15;24;02

Speaker 3

Yeah, we might get some people, you know, who get lost or get hurt.

00;15;24;02 - 00;15;25;12

Clark

And then they come back and say, Hey, but.

00;15;25;26 - 00;15;28;05

Speaker 3

Master class, you told me to go walk 100 miles.

00;15;28;24 - 00;15;49;10

Clark

So I have a hunch that maybe that's what happened, but when you and I took the class, when it was first uploaded, it was 100 miles. And. And I did that exercise. Of course, not in one day, but over the course of I think it took me four days or so and I actually did it near you. Oh, yeah.

00;15;49;15 - 00;16;26;25

Clark

Around Niagara and Toronto. And I just want to say, I mean, you talked about how just in this brief kind of hike that you took where you kind of started to become one with your environment, you started to become aware of other opportunities for scenes and, you know, other shots. And I just want to say in general, it is I really do agree with Herzog here the importance of walking as a mode of travel to help you just heighten your senses, be more present, notice more around you, take some walks around your neighborhood.

00;16;27;10 - 00;16;49;12

Clark

Mm hmm. And instead of driving, instead of you know, where you're preoccupied and you're just on your way somewhere. And the journey is not important. Make the journey the thing and go walk, spend. I mean, days. Walk in your neighborhood, and you'll start to see your environment in such a different way. You'll see things that you never noticed before.

00;16;49;12 - 00;16;53;27

Clark

And you may really find some extraordinary locations, too.

00;16;54;01 - 00;17;04;18

Cullen

Here's here's a question for you. Did you have any moments on your walk where you went? I could shoot a movie about that or, you know, I could, you know, like any story ideas pop in your head or location.

00;17;04;18 - 00;17;05;14

Speaker 3

Absolute something.

00;17;05;14 - 00;17;43;09

Clark

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It you know, it was a so there was that but it was also just you know let me see it without trying to digress too much. I mean, it also I think is important for your state of mind as as an artist or as a creator, not to get too highfalutin here, but I there's something about kind of separating yourself from the day to day routine and the focus on getting stuff done and the focus of your goals and tasks and just the speed at which our life kind of is lived.

00;17;43;09 - 00;18;01;10

Clark

In today's day and age. There's something about pulling yourself out of that a bit and getting your feet on the ground and your head in, you know, just being outside and the sun on your face and the wind at your back. Hopefully, maybe it's in your face, you're having to go against it.

00;18;01;10 - 00;18;04;02

Speaker 3

But either way, who knows? But but to really.

00;18;04;02 - 00;18;24;02

Clark

Like, be connected and be present. And, you know, Herzog talks about that in this lesson. He says, you know, look, when I when I was shooting Agora, or maybe it was Fitzcarraldo, I think one of the two of those films, it's like, you know, I went and I ate their food. I lived in their villages. I you know, he in the same way that he's emphasized becoming one with your subject.

00;18;24;02 - 00;18;55;05

Clark

And this is when we're talking about the Peregrine book and also about becoming one with your location to extend and allowing that to impact you, to impact you in a poetic way and to raise your like to heighten your senses. And I think that's what Walking did for me. And I felt like it heightened my senses. It slowed me down and made me more present and and absolutely it's so it's more than just did I get some story ideas or did I find some locations?

00;18;55;18 - 00;19;27;12

Clark

I just felt like it was generally healthy and inspirational as just an artist in general. It's like a meditation. And and I've used meditation as, as preparations to kind of whenever I go into an artistic endeavor. Again, I don't want to get too far off the beaten path here, but what the heck? Just real quick, it's like when I was primarily pursuing acting, I would when I was getting ready to, you know, do some homework to work on a scene or work on a you know, work on whatever kind of story I was working on.

00;19;27;21 - 00;19;53;04

Clark

I would take about 15 minutes to a half hour to separate myself from the day, to separate myself from the my daily routines, my daily worries. And I would usually pick some kind of literature to meditate on. It was often the first letter of Rilke, or it was some Josef Cambell, but I would use that to kind of separate myself from regular life.

00;19;53;15 - 00;20;00;00

Clark

And I feel like walking is a really great way to do that, to So now I think.

00;20;00;24 - 00;20;01;15

Cullen

Sorry, go ahead.

00;20;01;15 - 00;20;04;14

Clark

No, I was just going to say and now I've kind of forgotten.

00;20;05;03 - 00;20;07;02

Speaker 3

The original thread here. No, I.

00;20;07;02 - 00;20;34;21

Cullen

Think I mean, I think it's interesting that you mentioned the idea of like getting into your surroundings and stuff, because, again, just to kind of go back to when we were talking about that, even just the hike to the waterfall that I that I was mentioning. Yeah. That the, you know, the lead actor, he got like sweaty and got, you know, actually felt like he had gone on this this, this long journey to to his family's farm which was the idea of the scene.

00;20;34;21 - 00;20;56;14

Clark

But and which is really it's kind of a microcosm a little bit. It's like let's look at, you know, Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo again, both of those films. I mean, you have a cast in a crew who are actually going on a real journey, and they're actually really doing the things that the film is about. Not that that always has to be the case, but I think that there is a correlation there.

00;20;56;14 - 00;21;17;12

Clark

There is, you know, it's like like you were saying, to actually get out there in nature, to take this walk, to do this thing and to pull yourself into sort of kind of another world, probably really helped your actor, not just in the physical esthetics that you describe, but probably in the mindset as well, I'm going to guess.

00;21;17;29 - 00;21;38;02

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely. I mean, and it's also, again, I think it's also one of those things where there's almost this this like switch of psychology that happens where people often think like, Oh, people are going to be pissed off if it's, you know, the weather's bad or if we have to be out on location or I find that people usually are happier to be out on location like people.

00;21;38;17 - 00;21;51;27

Cullen

Yeah. Oh really? At least in my experience, I've really enjoyed shooting. Like, even if it's in the winter. I mean, I've this was not movie I made, but I did shoot. We had a really bad winter here two years ago. We've had a bad couple of winters, but.

00;21;52;13 - 00;21;52;18

Speaker 3

I.

00;21;52;18 - 00;21;54;07

Clark

Thought you guys always had bad winters.

00;21;55;18 - 00;21;56;12

Speaker 3

In California.

00;21;56;28 - 00;22;05;17

Cullen

Sometimes. Yeah, exactly. But. But it was it was colder here than the surface of Mars two years ago, I think.

00;22;05;17 - 00;22;09;08

Clark

And do you have a Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit number for us?

00;22;09;18 - 00;22;15;23

Cullen

I mean, at that at that temperature, I think Fahrenheit and Celsius are pretty much the same. -45 degrees Celsius.

00;22;15;29 - 00;22;16;20

Speaker 3

Oh, my gosh.

00;22;17;00 - 00;22;18;15

Cullen

Which Fahrenheit?

00;22;18;20 - 00;22;19;19

Clark

It's crazy.

00;22;19;23 - 00;22;21;25

Cullen

But no. And it was so yeah, it was colder.

00;22;21;25 - 00;22;22;14

Speaker 3

Ridiculous.

00;22;22;14 - 00;22;34;00

Cullen

-49 Fahrenheit. Yeah, yeah, colder than the temperature of the surface of Mars. And like, so-called that the cameras weren't working. Like, we would turn on a camera and.

00;22;34;14 - 00;22;34;29

Speaker 3

For.

00;22;34;29 - 00;22;36;17

Cullen

Maybe 2 minutes and stop working.

00;22;36;17 - 00;22;38;27

Speaker 3

But also this a red. Was this a red.

00;22;38;27 - 00;22;45;14

Cullen

Or a blue? Well, this was a face. This wasn't my camera. This was a face or some seven, I think.

00;22;45;18 - 00;22;45;29

Clark

Okay.

00;22;45;29 - 00;23;04;09

Cullen

So only seven. And again, it was it was but it was like there was honestly like there's kind of an element of charm of just like feeling like, you know, this is filmmaking. Like we're out here making a movie in the winter and this is kind of what we get. And there was nobody was in bad spirits. Nobody was in, you know, a grumpy mood or anything.

00;23;04;09 - 00;23;20;24

Cullen

Everyone was kind of like, Yeah, you know what this is? And I think similarly with the group that, you know, you and I met through how many times did we sort of, you know, half jokingly, but also half seriously say like, hey, if we got a spot to shoot a movie in Antarctica, I'd be on that plane in an instant.

00;23;20;29 - 00;23;26;14

Cullen

Yeah, it was one of those things too, where it's like, it'll be difficult and it'll be cold and it'll be, you know, how weird.

00;23;26;15 - 00;23;27;24

Speaker 3

I think that's part of it, right?

00;23;27;25 - 00;23;33;16

Cullen

But I think, you know, there's that, there's that, yeah. There's that kind of war like attitude where you're like, Let's go through the.

00;23;33;23 - 00;23;34;16

Speaker 3

Trenches and.

00;23;34;17 - 00;23;58;25

Clark

It's an adventure. And I Yeah, and I agree. I mean, I think it certainly is a good way to separate the people who are truly invested in your project and those who aren't. If you do have somebody who's completely unwilling to go on that adventure and go on that journey within reason, right? I mean, I just want to take a step back and say, you know, you should be providing some necessities to your casting.

00;23;58;25 - 00;23;59;21

Speaker 3

Oh, of course.

00;23;59;22 - 00;24;29;05

Clark

You know, I mean, within reason. But yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that draws most of us to filmmaking is that it is an adventure. It's a it's a collaborative adventure. It's a journey. And it's often one that does involve quite a bit of struggle and challenge, but it's also one that involves a lot of finding yourself and coming to understand yourself and other people better through these challenges and overcoming them so or enduring them sometimes.

00;24;29;05 - 00;24;53;11

Clark

Maybe you don't always overcome them, but just enduring them alone is. So yeah, I think that location is a big part of that. And again, it's, you know, can you imagine, you know, a Gary, if they would have filmed that in a studio pool or Fitzcarraldo, if they would have, you know, filmed that with miniatures, I mean, it's laughable because, you know, it's it's just so integral to the film.

00;24;53;24 - 00;25;08;26

Cullen

Yeah. It makes such a huge difference. I mean, even just just I mean, look at any you look at any movie. And of course, like I mention this a lot because they're they're movies that I grew up with, at least. But the like Lord of the Rings is a movie that's filled with special effects.

00;25;08;27 - 00;25;10;26

Speaker 3

Oh, God. Yeah. It's it's like three.

00;25;10;26 - 00;25;12;15

Clark

Quarters of those films are CGI. But at.

00;25;12;15 - 00;25;19;03

Cullen

The same time, you look at the locations that they went to for those that like, you know, they built the shire, they went and built a.

00;25;19;18 - 00;25;19;25

Clark

It's.

00;25;19;25 - 00;25;42;07

Cullen

True the castle atop a mountain. And then you look at the difference between those movies and how, how real and authentic those movies do feel in a lot of those moments where they are legitimately on location versus something like The Hobbit, which again, same director, same franchise. Yeah, but 99% of The Hobbit, it was shot on green screen, whereas very, very little of the live action stuff and Lord of the Rings was shot on green screen.

00;25;42;14 - 00;25;46;21

Cullen

Most of the special effects, lot of the rings are just miniatures that would have been otherwise impossible to shoot.

00;25;46;25 - 00;26;10;24

Clark

And I did see a light, and I do feel like the weakest parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogies are those just full blown CGI sequences? Yeah, Frankly, you know, I feel that is the weakest. But I mean, look, I and, and I yeah, I you know, location is a is a vital aspect of having a real location grounding people to to being able to believe their own eyes in a film.

00;26;10;24 - 00;26;24;23

Clark

And I mean I just want to use this as an opportunity to throw in one of my favorite films of all time is not a Herzog film, but but but the Mad Max films. And I'm just going to find a way. I'm just going to try to find a way to, like, bring in George Miller and met.

00;26;25;00 - 00;26;25;27

Cullen

With everywhere.

00;26;25;27 - 00;26;26;13

Speaker 3

Even though they're.

00;26;26;13 - 00;26;57;18

Clark

Everywhere. But I mean, I do want to say I mean, look, you know, especially I'll use the Road Warrior as an example that that last 30 minutes of that film where you've got this this 30 minute long car chase basically is 100% real. It's real stunt men and women at speed, in real cars, on a real road in the middle of, you know, the actual Australian desert outback, you know, performing these stunts.

00;26;57;18 - 00;27;05;29

Clark

And it's still one of the greatest 30 minutes of just of kinetic filmmaking that I've ever seen. And the reason being it's real.

00;27;06;17 - 00;27;10;26

Cullen

And you look at the newest one, too, though, like you and Fury Road, so much of that movie was real.

00;27;11;00 - 00;27;13;15

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely. And I don't mean to take away.

00;27;13;24 - 00;27;20;19

Clark

Yeah. And that film as well, although they did utilize CGI there are a lot to manipulate backgrounds and things like that.

00;27;20;20 - 00;27;22;01

Cullen

The dust storms and things like that.

00;27;22;01 - 00;27;22;27

Clark

Yeah, exactly.

00;27;22;27 - 00;27;42;19

Cullen

But the reason I wanted to mention that was just because I think it's so integral to kind of talk about the fact that it's still can be done that, you know, you don't like. I think a lot of people just think that CGI is the way you do it these days. But even a movie in our movie that I'm not even that big of a fan of, but Interstellar, the Nolan one from 2014, the part.

00;27;42;21 - 00;27;43;24

Speaker 3

Of Matthew McConaughey.

00;27;44;07 - 00;27;57;15

Cullen

Like they went out to glaciers. They even the even the miniature effects are like they they used projectors instead of green screens to projected stars on the outside of like spaceship windows and things like.

00;27;57;15 - 00;27;59;18

Speaker 3

That, which can't be done. Yeah, not the hugest fan of.

00;27;59;18 - 00;28;19;18

Cullen

The movie, but but I think that the special effects and things like that in the way that they went and use locations and real, real, you know, visceral kind of things that you can feel and you can touch. I think that's the important thing. I don't think CG is ever going to get to a point that that will be able to perfectly replicate that.

00;28;19;18 - 00;28;25;05

Cullen

Because simply put, I think that, you know, there's there's just a difference on set that.

00;28;25;08 - 00;28;26;09

Speaker 3

Exactly people who.

00;28;26;09 - 00;28;26;21

Cullen

Are making.

00;28;26;21 - 00;28;27;13

Speaker 3

Even even.

00;28;27;13 - 00;28;41;18

Clark

When CGI gets to the place where it can perfectly, perfectly emulate reality, it will not have done that for a cast and crew. And and I think that's that's that's really vital.

00;28;41;18 - 00;28;42;01

Speaker 3

So.

00;28;42;24 - 00;29;14;28

Clark

I mean, let's see, what else do you know I want to talk about? So we've talked about the importance of location. And I think we've made it pretty clear we agree with Herzog locations are vital. It's an amazing opportunity for you as a filmmaker to increase your production value to to connect your audience viscerally, to have them believe in their own eyes when they watch your film, you know, And let's talk about, okay, well, like, how do you get these locations then, Right?

00;29;14;28 - 00;29;24;07

Clark

I mean, okay. So, yes, locations are important. Sure. We all agree. How do we get these locations? And Herzog.

00;29;24;20 - 00;29;25;16

Cullen

Won't get them all.

00;29;26;01 - 00;29;27;19

Speaker 3

Anyway. You certainly won't get them all.

00;29;27;19 - 00;29;51;22

Clark

But you know it. And of course. And it wouldn't be Herzog if this weren't the case. You know, I love on the one hand, he says, hey, you've got to be respectful of permits and respectful, be, you know, act with honor with the people that you you meet and come in contact with. He has several examples of, you know, giving his word when he said he wouldn't use footage, I think it was in North Korea.

00;29;51;23 - 00;29;52;06

Speaker 3

Yes.

00;29;52;20 - 00;30;05;28

Clark

Of course, you know, couldn't see the faces of these soldiers. But then, of course, you know, in the previous breath, he talked about forging permit documents of even forging, you know, the Peruvian president's signature on a.

00;30;06;24 - 00;30;14;02

Speaker 3

On a military kind of on pass. Right? Yeah, with a permit with for a location there. And so I just I love.

00;30;14;02 - 00;30;35;21

Clark

How he does that. I mean, it's it's one of the things that's so endearing to me about Herzog is that he is like the antithesis of dogmatic. I mean, it seems like he's just look, you know, situation to situation. You've got to, you know, think about what, you know, each of these situations and some of them, they call for forging documents and some of them may call for being completely honest and honorable.

00;30;37;16 - 00;30;38;21

Clark

It's just so interesting.

00;30;38;25 - 00;30;43;26

Cullen

Do you have any experience? I have some experience that is sort of similar.

00;30;43;26 - 00;30;46;16

Speaker 3

Maybe it was a little. Okay, let's hear it. Yeah, Yeah, let's hear it.

00;30;47;07 - 00;30;58;27

Cullen

So again, for this western we had, we've been looking for a few locations. So there's a law in Ontario that you can't that farmer can't burn down a barn for some reason. Like if you want to.

00;30;58;27 - 00;30;59;14

Speaker 3

Rebuild your.

00;30;59;14 - 00;31;01;26

Cullen

Barn, you can't burn it down. I don't know.

00;31;01;26 - 00;31;04;09

Clark

Why we have to tear it. I guess Maybe. Is it like an.

00;31;04;09 - 00;31;05;21

Speaker 3

Environmental, maybe.

00;31;05;21 - 00;31;18;13

Cullen

Something like that? However, there is a caveat in that law that you are allowed to burn it down if it is for a movie. So there are a whole bunch of farmers around Ontario, like farmers who are like, I just want to burn down my barns. They'll let you burn it down for free.

00;31;18;13 - 00;31;21;17

Clark

And now this is I have never heard anything like this before.

00;31;21;17 - 00;31;21;22

Cullen

Yeah.

00;31;21;23 - 00;31;23;16

Speaker 3

Which is I think is fun. Yeah.

00;31;23;24 - 00;31;39;01

Cullen

But we so unfortunately we did not wind up burning down a barn as much as we wanted to. However, we were looking at all these locations like old historic houses. And again, this, this provincial park near me. And we were trying to do the official thing where we were getting in touch with all these places and saying, Hey, we want to shoot here.

00;31;39;26 - 00;31;55;27

Cullen

You know, what's what's like the process of getting a permit and blah, blah, blah. And a lot of times it was things where it's like, well, you need upwards of $1,000,000 of insurance, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. And it's like, well, we are a tiny, you know, it's like four person crew with a shoestring budget.

00;31;55;27 - 00;32;18;03

Cullen

We don't have that type of money. So we did eventually just kind of go, let's just bring our cameras, let's just bring a lot of backpacks and go for a hike. And just every once in a while we'll set up right and set up shop. Now, the most, I would say risky time we did that was same location, that provincial park.

00;32;18;03 - 00;32;33;15

Cullen

And it was when I mentioned earlier that we had we said, let's come back here and shoot this location, that scene here at this lakeside think really beautiful location. The issue with that part was that the initial place we were going to shoot that that was less interesting was very close to my house. And it needed guns. Fake guns, of course.

00;32;33;18 - 00;32;46;18

Cullen

Right. And so it was way we were right at our house. Yeah. So we said, how can we possibly shoot this and be careful and make sure that there's nothing going to be, you know, the police are going to be called or that people aren't going to freak out and that we're not going to get.

00;32;46;18 - 00;32;47;17

Speaker 3

Arrested because at.

00;32;47;17 - 00;32;54;21

Clark

Least here in America, I don't know about Canada. But, you know, I mean, cops could just you know, if they thought you had a gun, they might just shoot you. Yeah.

00;32;54;22 - 00;32;55;19

Cullen

Open fire. Yeah.

00;32;56;00 - 00;32;56;10

Clark

Yeah.

00;32;57;01 - 00;33;15;01

Cullen

So we what we did was we bought these pylons. So yellow construction pylons that say film on them, film shoot, and we put them all over the trail like, like very near where we were shooting, but basically anywhere where you could see us, we had film shoot, film, shoot, film, shoot. And this was not official by any means.

00;33;15;01 - 00;33;21;05

Cullen

We didn't talk to the the, you know, the park guards or things like that. Park trooper things.

00;33;21;09 - 00;33;21;18

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;33;22;05 - 00;33;41;19

Cullen

We, we, we just put all this stuff up so that anyone walking by would hopefully see these things. We had people standing at both ends of the trail around where we were shooting and we were just trying to make sure. And because at the end of the day, what we thought was, I'd rather, you know, have park ranger come up and say, Hey, you can't shoot here, you got to leave.

00;33;41;19 - 00;33;56;00

Cullen

And because they saw the pylons, then somebody walk by without the pylons, see someone holding a gun and go, you know, I'm calling the cops. Sure. But yeah, it was kind of a funny little thing where it was like, okay, we're going to be in and out in a half an hour. We're going to get this scene done.

00;33;56;00 - 00;34;19;11

Cullen

Luckily, there was no dialog. It was just a it was just like, you know, six or seven shots. Yeah. And, you know, at home, I mean, that goes for another thing with location, period, though I think that guns on set with guns on location, guns on set. I try to minimize that at all. Even even if it is a situation where you fully contacted the police and got all the safety, I think that still.

00;34;19;11 - 00;34;21;25

Clark

Is extra precaution. Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

00;34;22;16 - 00;34;39;19

Cullen

But no, it was it was it was kind of again, it was fun. Luckily, everything went smoothly and stuff like that. And but we had you know, that was the day that we had the most people on set specifically because we were like, We want to lock this down. Of course, we can't actually prevent people from coming through the space, but we wanted people of both ends to just sort of say, Hey, we're just doing a film shoot.

00;34;40;01 - 00;34;43;04

Cullen

You know, there's people in costume down there, so don't don't worry about them if you see them.

00;34;43;04 - 00;35;10;00

Clark

Yeah, usually people are. I mean, you asked me if I had any stories. Gosh, I, you know, living in L.A., in Southern California, I think it's there. There are greater requirements for permits. I think people you know, it's and I've even read I don't know if this is 100% sure, but I like to read I mean, if you're shooting in your own home and you've got, you know, X number of people or something like that, you still have to get a permit.

00;35;10;00 - 00;35;30;10

Clark

I mean, obviously the city is extremely savvy, you know, But it's very not nobody. But it is more people are likely to demand compensation for locations because it's I mean, this is just you know, it's a center of this industry and yeah, you know, you're not going to be able to put a camera on stakes and go out on the street and shoot.

00;35;30;11 - 00;35;55;26

Clark

It's just not for very long. So you really do have to hone, hone your shot stealing techniques. And boy, I mean, I've done it all, you know, whether it's, you know, like just rigging cars with cameras and driving down Hollywood Boulevard to get exterior shots without having to get out of the car and, you know, using smaller, quote unquote, less professional looking cameras because it draws less attention.

00;35;56;10 - 00;35;57;27

Cullen

You could play off as a tourist.

00;35;57;27 - 00;36;13;09

Clark

And I mean, it's yeah, I've it's just a matter of fact, I'm trying to think where I have in a production that I've been a major part of actually had permits and it's far and few between.

00;36;14;15 - 00;36;14;27

Speaker 3

Very.

00;36;14;27 - 00;36;33;29

Clark

Far and few between. But you know, one of the benefits of living here, even though you're in L.A., is that you're surrounded by so many different landscapes. I've shot in Death Valley, and we've just gone out to Death Valley and shot. You want to talk about an amazing location to shoot? We didn't get any permits. We just went out there.

00;36;34;08 - 00;36;45;12

Clark

Now, one of the drawbacks of that, though, was that we didn't realize it was still going to be so high. And I got heat stroke almost, and we're throwing up everywhere. It was about 120 degrees.

00;36;45;12 - 00;36;45;22

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;36;46;01 - 00;37;06;05

Clark

But so you've got to be careful. Do your research about your location. But, but yeah, I mean I've, I've shot in Griffith Park without permits and just we got there at the crack of dawn. We, we shot a sunrise to get a little golden hour in. But to do it when we there'd be a lot less people and that worked out.

00;37;07;27 - 00;37;27;00

Clark

Yeah. I've one of the other tricks that I've used a lot and boy I hope this isn't going to give anything away here that's going to give me in trouble. But I have maybe heard of I'll just say this. I've heard of other people doing this thing where they will rent a location on Airbnb and say that.

00;37;27;01 - 00;37;29;09

Speaker 3

They don't give it away.

00;37;29;29 - 00;37;32;20

Clark

And and then they actually shoot.

00;37;32;21 - 00;37;36;03

Cullen

A movie. Don't give it away. Don't give it.

00;37;36;03 - 00;37;39;16

Speaker 3

Away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so I've heard of people doing that.

00;37;39;16 - 00;37;41;00

Clark

I've heard of people doing that.

00;37;41;13 - 00;37;42;28

Cullen

Oh, I would.

00;37;42;28 - 00;38;03;08

Clark

And it's potentially cheaper. It's substantially cheaper than actually going to somebody and saying, Hey, I've got it, I want to shoot a film. Can you, can you rent me your location for a film shooting? So you know it. But it is, it's a line of, you know, and it's a tough one because I really don't want to be dishonest to anyone.

00;38;04;22 - 00;38;26;23

Cullen

I mean, I think it's it's the it's the difference to me. And I mean, it's interesting you mentioned the beginning of the Herzog verse. You know, him talking to the North Korean guard versus him with the Peruvian army. Yeah, it was Peru. Yeah. And I think to me, I think that the distinction there is is like, what's worth the risk?

00;38;26;28 - 00;38;30;05

Cullen

What is a worth the risk? But also, where's the horror?

00;38;30;05 - 00;38;30;21

Speaker 3

Well, and why.

00;38;30;22 - 00;38;31;00

Cullen

Is.

00;38;31;08 - 00;38;31;16

Speaker 3

It like.

00;38;31;16 - 00;38;46;14

Clark

What are you doing? Right. Yeah, it's like I think there are, you know, these things aren't ethically black and white. It's a gray area and I think there is like a there there is bureaucracy, which is just basically red tape. Right. Which is.

00;38;46;14 - 00;38;47;13

Cullen

Is the most annoying thing.

00;38;47;13 - 00;39;07;17

Clark

In the world. You're not hurting, right? You're not hurting someone. You're not you know, you're violating a rule of bureaucracy, right? Yeah. But you aren't putting anyone at risk. You aren't, you know, taking away someone's livelihood. You're not hurting their property. You're not, you know. So I think that's what I get a sense of, at least for myself.

00;39;07;25 - 00;39;27;22

Clark

And it seems like this is what Herzog is saying. You know, you don't ever want to put yourself in a place where you're damaging someone's property or damaging nature, even frankly, although, of course, I think that Herzog quite got some flak about destroying some of the Amazon there when he moved that ship over the hill. And that's a whole other conversation.

00;39;27;22 - 00;39;50;19

Clark

But, I mean, you know, there is there is definitely breaking bureaucracy, you know, breaking rules that are just kind of bureaucracy and breaking rules that are actually putting people at risk are hurting. People are, you know, so each of us as filmmakers have to kind of thread that needle and walk that line just as we do in life.

00;39;51;01 - 00;39;51;10

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;39;51;19 - 00;40;15;16

Cullen

I've got I've got a funny maybe one final little personal anecdote, too, involved in this, this idea of like risk and and this Herzog's style of shooting, perhaps. And I hope that I don't get in trouble for it because it will still technically work for this place. But yeah, so it wasn't a movie that I was making. It's a friend of mine who I actually taught initially and has become sort of somewhat of a colleague kind of since I taught him.

00;40;16;05 - 00;40;33;17

Cullen

And he was doing this, this very, you know, wild kind of fun, crazy movie that he that he's been making for the past year feature. And one of the shots required him and his friends to be on the top. Our former high school lighting fireworks.

00;40;33;24 - 00;40;36;11

Speaker 3

You know that they already know.

00;40;36;18 - 00;40;37;19

Clark

Of where this is going.

00;40;38;04 - 00;40;41;00

Cullen

I he said, I need someone to operate the camera here.

00;40;41;08 - 00;40;43;04

Clark

Wait, do we need a disclaimer? Do we need to.

00;40;43;04 - 00;40;44;08

Cullen

Be I don't do this.

00;40;44;08 - 00;40;45;21

Speaker 3

Don't do this at home? Yeah.

00;40;45;22 - 00;41;04;22

Cullen

Our lawyers are telling us to say not to do this. So I just I was actually on the roof with them, though. I was just on in the parking lot operating the camera. But the funny thing was that I actually had to be at this guy work at my former high school. Now, I do a lot of both, like course, content advisory for the film course and things like that and guest artist work and some, you know, promotional work for them.

00;41;05;14 - 00;41;17;24

Cullen

I had to be there that day to work and so I was there at like six in the morning as the sunrise filming this kid and his friend on the roof lighting up fireworks.

00;41;18;00 - 00;41;18;28

Speaker 3

Oh my. And I was.

00;41;18;28 - 00;41;23;11

Cullen

Like terrified that there were going to be cops called because I was it's kind of hard to discretely light fireworks.

00;41;23;20 - 00;41;23;28

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;41;24;11 - 00;41;31;26

Cullen

And then so that happens. We all just struck everything, instantly drove away. We had this like meeting point set so we could get away. It was like a bank robbery night.

00;41;31;26 - 00;41;32;18

Speaker 3

And then, you know.

00;41;32;19 - 00;41;47;18

Cullen

I went back to bed for like an hour, woke up and went to work at the exact place that I was, which is hilarious. But I mean, it does come in to like like you said, you know, it's anyone's livelihood at risk. That's a great story. But William Friedkin on the French Connection talking to I don't know who it was.

00;41;47;18 - 00;42;01;14

Cullen

It wasn't I don't know it was the head of the MTA, but it was some sort of department head at the MTA. And he said, you know, Friedkin goes up to him and says, We want to do this, this chase scene on the subway where the cars chase in the subway. And we want to get it all as real as we can.

00;42;02;02 - 00;42;02;24

Cullen

The car actually.

00;42;02;24 - 00;42;03;02

Clark

There's a.

00;42;03;06 - 00;42;04;03

Speaker 3

Subway delay.

00;42;04;16 - 00;42;24;08

Cullen

And the the MTA guy said, you know, I would love to let you do it, but I'd be fired. I would be fired and never be able to get another job in this industry in my life. And William Friedkin said, okay, I'll give you a selection of the profits of the movie. Oh, he let us do this. I have not so that if you get fired, you can you can, you know, you can retire.

00;42;24;24 - 00;42;42;26

Cullen

And the guy was like, well, I don't know if it's going to be a good success, blah, blah, blah. And Friedkin convinced him eventually. So he did it and he let him do it. They did that amazing cars chase under the subway and on the subway and all that. Yeah. And the guy got fired. But now then he retired immediately because he made, you know, the movie did well, and so he made this money and this is legit.

00;42;42;27 - 00;42;44;10

Speaker 3

This is legitimate. I mean.

00;42;44;14 - 00;42;52;14

Cullen

I've never read it. A legitimate account of it, but it's a kind of maybe it's a lifestyle, but I'm pretty sure it's actually true. I heard it at a screening of The French Connection.

00;42;52;14 - 00;43;27;13

Clark

Well, maybe if any of our listeners here, you know, we can call out the cumulative mind here, you know, the head here of our audience. And if anybody hears anything more about this, but it's a great story. And at Friedkin, I believe it could happen. Yeah. So no, yeah. It's you know and it's it is it's it as with, you know, I think one of the wonderful things about filmmaking in general is that it is like such a creative I mean, it's just every single aspect of filmmaking is this gray problem solving area.

00;43;27;13 - 00;43;35;03

Cullen

I describe it sometimes as the, you know, you're building a sandcastle on a beach and the waves are coming in and it's literally just using your hands to clean the restaurant.

00;43;35;15 - 00;43;37;02

Clark

And sometimes frantically.

00;43;37;02 - 00;43;37;28

Speaker 3

Right, right, right.

00;43;39;12 - 00;44;03;29

Clark

Wow. Well, you know, it's interesting that you talked about you felt like it was a heist because I love it. It's you know, again, in in wonderful Herzog style, he finishes this lesson with such a great, you know, quote or statement. And he talks about, you know, it's like, you know, what's that? What's the final rule? The final rule is leave, get away with film.

00;44;03;29 - 00;44;26;21

Clark

Leave with film. You know, do what you must. Don't complain. Buckle up, get away with film. And I love this analogy that he makes that we're thieves, you know, And that the loot that were the loot that we're out to get is, is, is film. And you've got to go to these amazing places, right? I mean, that's where the treasure is hidden.

00;44;27;07 - 00;44;45;08

Clark

That's what. Right. It's not on the beaten path. It's not out in the open. It's not the thing that's been shot a million times before. You've got to go out there and find new visions to bring back to an audience. You've got to go find those treasures and that we're like bank robbers. And what we do is hit and run.

00;44;45;08 - 00;44;46;26

Clark

And I just oh, God.

00;44;47;23 - 00;44;52;02

Cullen

It's a great line. I mean, he could inspire anyone to go out and shoot right now. I think.

00;44;52;20 - 00;44;53;28

Speaker 3

I'm telling you, like I'm getting.

00;44;53;28 - 00;45;17;26

Clark

Excited. I'm like, okay, God, you know, I've been with COVID and everything. I've been doing so much planning, writing, planning pre-production, and I've not gotten to get out and shoot in a long time. And I'm like, especially as I as I reiterate Herzog's words here, I feel like I've got to I'm getting in spite of that urge. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;45;17;26 - 00;45;34;17

Clark

And so I think that's, you know, that's a great way to look at it. And I think, you know, it's like maybe we're a Robin Hood, you know, of where we're like stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, you know? But we're taking these visions, taking the, you know, being able to, to.

00;45;34;21 - 00;45;35;10

Speaker 3

But I mean, that's that's.

00;45;35;21 - 00;45;41;03

Cullen

About that's what I like about film is that even when you are stealing, you're not actually taking anything you're replicating.

00;45;41;11 - 00;45;41;18

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;45;41;18 - 00;45;46;25

Cullen

And it's the same, it's the same thing that, that classic thing of just like, you know, the trophy hunter versus the photographer.

00;45;47;03 - 00;45;47;19

Speaker 3

The target for.

00;45;47;19 - 00;45;51;11

Cullen

Just gets just as, you know, much more beautiful in my opinion of a result.

00;45;51;27 - 00;45;54;08

Speaker 3

That actually killing right? Yes.

00;45;54;12 - 00;46;09;20

Cullen

And I think that that kind of can be said for all film is that like, you know, especially with things like that's why I love to I know there's the there's the half of me that of course, is always whenever I'm seeing something amazing for the first time, if I'm in a mountain range, I love to take it in with my own eyes.

00;46;10;00 - 00;46;23;22

Cullen

But I also do like to have a camera there with me because I just it is also just so much fun to just discover new ways to capture that and to, you know, express it. Not to be one of those people that, you know, goes to a concert and holds their phone in front of their the whole time.

00;46;23;22 - 00;46;25;06

Speaker 3

Oh, God, please don't be.

00;46;25;06 - 00;46;35;14

Cullen

Like, that's the worst. But but I think there's a happy middle ground of of, you know, being able to take it in while you're there. But also be able to come out with something with it and.

00;46;35;26 - 00;46;36;11

Speaker 3

Be able.

00;46;36;11 - 00;46;36;16

Cullen

To.

00;46;36;23 - 00;46;37;04

Speaker 3

Yeah.

00;46;37;12 - 00;47;02;21

Clark

Footage and I agree and for me it is a little bit off the path here but for me it's it's a compartmentalization I guess in a sense. And I, I don't know how you think about this film as a whole. It got it's not a Herzog film. It got middling reviews, I think. But the what was the I know I can't remember the exact title, but it was the Walter Mitty movie.

00;47;02;22 - 00;47;04;12

Cullen

Oh, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Secret.

00;47;04;12 - 00;47;04;27

Speaker 3

Ben Stiller.

00;47;05;04 - 00;47;30;26

Clark

And that Ben Stiller. But there is a fun scene near the end with Sean Penn where he is, you know, this don't want to give away the film so much, but it's, you know, basically Stiller's character ends up after a very long journey on this hillside, this mountainside, with Sean Penn. And they have this conversation. Sean Penn plays a like a world renowned photographer in the film.

00;47;30;26 - 00;47;47;18

Clark

And they have this conversation where Sean is like, you know, he's been searching for this moment for a very long period of time. And he's gone to great lengths to get this moment and he lets it go. He doesn't take a picture of it because he just wants to be in the moment and doesn't want the camera is a distraction.

00;47;48;06 - 00;48;15;11

Clark

And I, I for me, I've kind of compartmentalized where when I'm on a personal journey somewhere or I'm, you know, I'm there kind of like as an individual person, I tend to prefer to be present and to not have a camera with me or see what I'm seeing through that camera. But then I can like flip a switch and it's like, okay, now I'm like working.

00;48;15;18 - 00;48;25;22

Clark

I'm creating Clark. And I, you know, and then I get off the camera and I and I work. But for me, I see it as like I've had to kind of compartmentalize it for me. So I don't know.

00;48;26;16 - 00;48;53;29

Cullen

Well, I think I mean, again, with this Iceland thing too was like Iceland, half a vacation and half of a footage banking kind of experience. So I could just get a bunch of B-roll in Iceland. But there was never a moment where I felt that I missed out on something. And again, it was similarly, I was very, very careful to make sure that, you know, if I was at a location, I was sitting there and enjoying it and looking at it and, then I'd go, okay, I'm going to, you know, set up my camera and I'm going to I'm going to.

00;48;54;06 - 00;48;58;25

Clark

Maybe I'm just old, maybe I'm just old. I think social media has got me really burned out from that.

00;48;59;02 - 00;48;59;25

Cullen

Perhaps Yeah.

00;48;59;25 - 00;49;15;06

Clark

And maybe it's just a generational thing, too. I know. I think a Herzog, you know, that he has talked about and I can't place exactly where this was, if it was an interview, if it I don't think it was in one of the masterclass as maybe it was in an interview or a guide for the perplexed or something I can't remember.

00;49;15;06 - 00;49;33;28

Clark

And maybe somebody can call that out for me where he talks about, you know, that there are private moments and that you keep that to yourself and that that's like for your own life. And then there is film. And so that kind of spoke to me. But yeah, I think for myself, I had to kind of compartmentalize it and kind of separate myself.

00;49;33;28 - 00;49;54;15

Clark

But, you know, sure, it's like it's not like you're you turn off this like I'm I'm always when I when I'm there or seen things. Okay, you know, what stories could this maybe tell? Wow this would you know what kind of what what look, you know, how could I use this location or something like that? But there's definitely moments where I'm like, in this experience right now.

00;49;54;15 - 00;49;57;05

Clark

Yeah. And I don't. I don't want to pull out of camera.

00;49;57;16 - 00;49;58;11

Cullen

No, totally.

00;49;58;11 - 00;50;00;07

Speaker 3

Yeah. Yeah.

00;50;00;07 - 00;50;11;00

Cullen

And maybe just before we wrap up, I did find out that it is it is in fact, true that they gave him a percentage of the budget and he lived happily ever after in Jamaica as well. The director, William Friedkin, says.

00;50;11;11 - 00;50;32;10

Clark

Well, I'll be damned. I mean, there's no better way to end the podcast than on that wonderful note. So there you go. All right. Well, thank you so much, Collin, as always. I've had a really thoroughly enjoyed our conversation here about locations and the Werner Herzog Masterclass live lesson. What was this one?

00;50;32;10 - 00;50;33;28

Cullen

Seven and seven? Yep.

00;50;34;04 - 00;50;41;03

Clark

Wow. It's just blowing my mind that we're already we're done here with with episode six of our podcast. This time flies when you having fun.

00;50;41;03 - 00;50;41;29

Speaker 3

All right. Exactly.

00;50;42;07 - 00;51;07;09

Clark

So next time, then, we will be discussing Herzog's masterclass Lesson eight, which is leading the platoon. That's going to be a fun one. All right. Well, thank you so much, as always. Cohen. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Everybody out there for listening. We appreciate you. We hope that it's been fun and maybe even slightly informative. And until next time, everyone, have a wonderful week.

00;51;07;09 - 00;51;10;15

Clark

And steal those shots.

00;51;10;29 - 00;51;12;02

Cullen

And read, read.

00;51;12;02 - 00;51;15;21

Speaker 3

Written. All right. Bye, everyone.

00;51;15;27 - 00;51;16;12

Cullen

Bye bye.

Episode - 007

Cullen

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Cullen McFater and joined once again by Clark Coffey. And today we're talking about lesson eight in the Werner Herzog Masterclass. This one's all about leading the platoon and, you know, leading being a leader on set as a director or even, you know, as a producer. This is kind of a universal kind of instruction for what you can do on on a film set to make things run more smoothly.

00;00;39;11 - 00;00;54;17

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, just a jump right into it, really. I think that Clarke, you and I kind of have I think you would agree with me when I say this that a really great or something that would put you to an advantage on a film set is to learn really every facet of what goes on and know by both.

00;00;54;17 - 00;00;55;19

Clark

You know, absolutely.

00;00;55;19 - 00;00;57;27

Cullen

Experience acting right and I think.

00;00;57;27 - 00;00;59;07

Clark

Extremely helpful. Yeah.

00;00;59;08 - 00;01;11;10

Cullen

Just on a specific level, they're like, yeah. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to anybody who wants to direct is take a few acting classes. Well, yeah. Learn how to communicate those things so much better.

00;01;11;15 - 00;01;40;16

Clark

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great advice. And, you know, Herzog does, you know, mention in this lesson the importance of understanding at least a little bit. I don't think you're you're working to be an expert in every single aspect of filmmaking. I don't know that that's practical, but certainly having a working knowledge of every aspect of filmmaking and so, you know, getting a chance to, you know, operating your own camera light in your own, you know, at some point, at some point in your learning process.

00;01;40;16 - 00;02;17;10

Clark

And certainly working with actors is I mean, that is such a vital area. And it's one I you know, I see especially in directors just starting out that that's likely that that's one of the more challenging areas for newer directors. But but frankly, I hear stories even from well-established directors with quite a bit of experience that it challenges at all levels and absolutely studying acting for a period of time, working in a room with actors in their class, I would say, you know, six months or so, I would give it actually a decent amount of time.

00;02;17;15 - 00;02;31;14

Clark

Yeah, that's not going to turn you into a great actor studying it for only that period of time. But what it will do is certainly open up your mind and your heart to what the actors process is, what they go through, because it's a hell of a challenging job on set.

00;02;31;14 - 00;02;35;12

Cullen

So it'll just arm you with the knowledge to be able to communicate effectively with them too.

00;02;35;13 - 00;02;36;03

Clark

No question.

00;02;36;04 - 00;02;41;13

Cullen

Huge part. Yeah. I've had experiences on sets where the directors clearly don't have that.

00;02;41;13 - 00;02;42;21

Clark

Oh God, that knowledge.

00;02;42;22 - 00;02;58;15

Cullen

And it's mean. It's like, oh, it's, you know, and I luckily, I mean those some instances I have been acting with Solomon since I've been doing, whether it's deep work or just camera work or whatever. Yeah. And it's just one of those things where it's you're kind of standing there like, No, no, no, just, just talk to them.

00;02;58;15 - 00;03;11;23

Cullen

Don't you know, people just don't know how to, not to, to be very frank and not to, you know, put anyone down. But people sometimes just don't know how to to direct actors in that way or in an efficient way. Well, it's not automatic.

00;03;11;23 - 00;03;30;24

Clark

Yeah. I mean, it's none of us. None of us are born, you know, with this innate knowledge. And so, yeah, it's, I think and we're going to touch on quite a bit more of this. But yeah, I mean, being the director on set requires a tremendous amount from someone. And part of that is that, you know, you're going to have to know a little bit about every single position.

00;03;30;24 - 00;03;58;03

Clark

And yeah, and I think, you know, acting is such a delicate art, frankly. And, you know, one of the directors biggest challenges is to create a conducive environment for actors to really be able to do their work and do it well and absolutely, you know, understanding what that's like to be on that side of the fence will not only help you communicate better with them.

00;03;58;03 - 00;04;16;07

Clark

And every actor is going to have a slightly different way of of needing to be communicated with them. And you're going to see that, you know, if you study acting for a while. But but creating a set that's conducive for good performance is is just a it's a it's obviously one of the vital aspects of directing. So I couldn't agree more.

00;04;16;07 - 00;04;35;17

Clark

But I you know, I would extend that even further. You know, it's edit some of your own work and most of us now in this day and age I mean that's one of the great things about where we're all at with the technology of filmmaking is that you're likely not only are you going to get a chance to do this stuff, but you're probably going to have to do some of this stuff, know all these things on your first few films, right?

00;04;36;18 - 00;04;49;03

Clark

I never set out wanting to be an editor, but hey, who was going to edit those first half a dozen short films that I did? You know it's going to be me. But but it really did teach me a lot.

00;04;49;03 - 00;05;13;14

Cullen

I mean, I only make I talk all the time, but with my students and I say, like you should not only is learning to edit good for, you know, being able to edit your own shorts and things like that, but it's also super important to learn how to think like an editor when you're dress and to kind of be on set and go, Oh, you know what, we need to pick up an insert of, you know, a hand on that doorknob over there because that shot's not going to cut with that shot.

00;05;13;23 - 00;05;35;11

Cullen

And kind of just being able to have those moments on set and to be able to, you know, work around that and kind of think about this master playlist of like shot a shot, what is going on? And it's actually kind of funny because I know that a producer will often say that, you know, what I want to do is make sure that the director doesn't have to think about seven scenes down the line or six scenes down the line.

00;05;35;11 - 00;05;59;22

Cullen

I want to make sure that their job is as simple as possible so they can think about the scene that they're on. And that's great. And that's, you know, that's that's hugely advantageous for any director. But at the same time, that's more logistical stuff. Whereas as a director, you should be thinking about the whole movie creatively. If you constantly have with the last scene, with the last shot, with the last 10 minutes of the movie, were prior to this moment, especially, you know, as most movies are not shot consecutively.

00;06;00;13 - 00;06;07;28

Cullen

Right. You've got to really get a grasp of of that kind of idea of like what's coming before this and what's coming after this.

00;06;08;21 - 00;06;09;01

Clark

Well, you.

00;06;09;01 - 00;06;10;18

Cullen

Know, that's the joke. Sorry. Go ahead.

00;06;10;18 - 00;06;13;29

Clark

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. Please, go ahead. Hey, you're telling a joke, man. I want to hear this.

00;06;14;19 - 00;06;30;19

Cullen

It's not a very funny joke, but it's a it's a it's like an old the not old either, but there's there's the old kind of thing that a bunch of people who have worked with James Cameron always say that he can do any job on the set better than the people that are doing them. And whether or not that's actually true is, you know.

00;06;30;20 - 00;06;53;07

Cullen

Right. No, Right. But I think that the the message there is is clear that, you know, again, like you said, as a director, you should have a knowledge of what every department is doing, not an expertise, because as you said, I don't think a working knowledge. But yeah, exactly. You should be able to go to the lighting crew and have a conversation with them about what's going on, costumes and yeah, you know, be aware of everything going on on the set.

00;06;53;07 - 00;07;22;11

Clark

And I want to just say to you, just, I think editing is, you know, they're all they're all, of course, vital. But editing is so fundamental. I mean, editing is what makes film. Film. Yeah. And, you know, I just want to add a little bit more to what you said was that, you know, it's not only about being able to think in, you know, what's come before and what's come after, but it's you can really tell, you know, when you spent time editing, you start to understand the rhythm of scenes.

00;07;22;18 - 00;07;48;25

Clark

Editing is really going like when you really have to sit down and you have to massage these moving pictures into into scenes and into, of course, a final film. I think you get a much more visceral grasp of rhythm and of how a scene moves from one to the next. You know, you'll start to pay attention to being able to shoot where it gives you the option to to cut on action or movement.

00;07;50;02 - 00;08;19;03

Clark

Just all these little things that are almost even hard to articulate necessarily, but that add up to a rhythmically satisfying film and editing can really help you see how that's actually done. And it's not to say that you're going to be, you know, and ideally, I think, you know, a director shouldn't be editing their films, but but the director obviously is working, you know, right there, side by side.

00;08;19;04 - 00;08;30;02

Cullen

But in the editing suite. Yeah, you know, Yeah. Knowing what the decisions that are being made are like why they're being made. And I mean, as many people say, editing is really the last writing phase of a movie.

00;08;30;07 - 00;08;46;23

Clark

Absolutely. I mean, so easy and it's so easy, right? I mean, just logistically, I mean, there are there are many software options that are not very expensive or even free. You use do you now, do you just not to get too into the nuts and bolts here, but do you use Da Vinci?

00;08;47;05 - 00;08;49;01

Cullen

I do. I have the full version, though.

00;08;49;06 - 00;08;54;28

Clark

But. But isn't there still like it's maybe it's limited to like ten AP but do they still have kind of the free edition?

00;08;54;28 - 00;09;09;23

Cullen

Yeah, Yeah. The free version still exists. So there you go. I believe limited that I never used it. I only ever had the full version. Right. But yeah, I think it's, it's limited to 1080 or so but yeah, exactly. It's, it's a, it's free will. And Ellie that is industry standard really for rating but.

00;09;09;23 - 00;09;31;14

Clark

Premiere pro is I you know I don't know how much it is now I've got the entire suite of Adobe products and I think it's somewhere in the realm of like I don't know how much it is. I think, oh jeez, I don't even want to say it's not outrageous. And they may give sometimes, you know, a free month here and there, but you only have to pay for it for the period of time you're using it.

00;09;31;24 - 00;09;59;23

Clark

Yeah. And relatively speaking, it's it's ridiculously cheap for the power that you get from it. And there's so many tutorials, too, on YouTube that are totally free tutorials on all these software, whether it's Da Vinci or Premiere or I don't know how many people are using Final Cut anymore, but you know that it's it's it's very available Yeah almost anybody so I highly recommend that it's.

00;09;59;23 - 00;10;05;20

Cullen

Aerials are all over the place online you don't need to go out and take a class or you can just literally look it up and watch a few YouTube videos.

00;10;05;20 - 00;10;20;04

Clark

And they've gotten quite a bit more user friendly, too. I mean, maybe, I don't know, it's hard for me to judge. I've been using them for quite a while. They seem mostly sometimes there's some quirks that are really wackadoo that have me scratching my head. But I mean, for the most part, you know.

00;10;20;18 - 00;10;21;24

Cullen

I know, but.

00;10;22;08 - 00;10;25;21

Clark

Yeah, well, Avid is the one that I don't have as much experience with as.

00;10;25;21 - 00;10;28;21

Cullen

It. I don't think we'll ever be user friendly, though. I do think that's their shtick.

00;10;28;28 - 00;10;52;12

Clark

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Right. It's like they have to keep that bar, that barrier to entry high so that it's extra special. I was curious. I want to touch on something else. I want to go back just a little bit because it's extremely interesting to me personally and my experience as a director. So you talked about how you had taken acting classes and how that was That was like right off the bat you were like, I highly recommend you do this.

00;10;52;12 - 00;11;06;24

Clark

Obviously that had an impact on you. Can you maybe share with our listeners was there anything in particular you remember that kind of stood out, something that really that you really were able to take from those classes?

00;11;06;24 - 00;11;07;21

Cullen

I mean, I saw I.

00;11;07;22 - 00;11;09;04

Clark

On set as a director.

00;11;09;04 - 00;11;23;02

Cullen

I think we've I think we briefly touched on this before, but I yeah, I've been I've been doing acting for my whole life, like since I was a child. And then I went to high school with this, you know, that specialized Asian. So I was doing taking act classes literally every day for four years straight. Wow.

00;11;23;28 - 00;11;24;22

Clark

I didn't know that.

00;11;25;00 - 00;11;33;24

Cullen

And so, you know, I did a lot of stage performances and things like that. But very different type of acting than film acting. But for sure, there's the there are carryovers.

00;11;33;24 - 00;11;34;28

Clark

But yeah.

00;11;35;07 - 00;11;59;27

Cullen

But I think that the biggest takeaway for me was just being, again, just that communication of like being able to if I'm an if I'm an actor and I am, I'm doing something that the director doesn't particularly like or isn't really feeling the energy of being able to know that process and go up to an actor and give them notes that an actor would understand or that can take away rather than just saying, Do it more like this, you're able to say you're being exterior.

00;11;59;29 - 00;12;00;25

Clark

Be sad and.

00;12;00;25 - 00;12;29;11

Cullen

Say to an actor, you know, you can just have that conversation with in the way that makes it easier for an actor to kind of get where you're coming from. Just say like, you know, take it from a place that you're no longer happy with that character or something like that or, you know, this general. Of course you would you would have more specific notes in a movie, but just being able to have that communication and again, it's one of those things that I just notice and I would never you know, I'd never crossed the line if I were if I wasn't directing something and go, maybe you should tell the actor like this.

00;12;29;11 - 00;12;54;16

Cullen

I just kind of stay silent and and judge from a distance. But, but, but listening to directors who very clearly don't have that acting experience but try and give those notes when you just kind of think in the back of your head like there's a lot more effective ways of getting across what they want right now. And, you know, I think it's again, it's that it's not even about turning into a really good actor and being a director who can also act out the scenes along your actors.

00;12;54;16 - 00;13;03;27

Cullen

Like that's not what it's about at all. I think to me it's about the ability to communicate the ideas and and to understand the process that actors usually go through and.

00;13;04;07 - 00;13;34;19

Clark

And to empathize care. And I would say and to empathize with it. You know, I want to like I countless times, you know, from my career, earlier career, where I was working with much younger directors, like I had was, you know, in a handful of AFI films, AFI students, their films and things and brilliant people, fantastic school. But I did notice that it would happen often where they would set up, and this is just not understanding any kind of actor process.

00;13;34;19 - 00;14;10;20

Clark

You know, they, they would not allow for any time for the actor to do any work before, you know, extraordinarily emotional scenes. Right. Or, you know, just so even in scheduling a film to have some kind of understanding of the actress process, I mean, I can't tell you how many times it would be schedule would be set up where, of course, you know, the last shot of the of the of the entire shoot is like this you know, the the most amplified emotional climactic scene for the actor.

00;14;10;20 - 00;14;26;17

Clark

Right. And and then there's like there's literally no time to do anything. They're like, okay, we've got 15 minutes to do this from three different setups. And I'm like, You've got to be kidding me. And just know as so, you know, just a total lack of understanding or even even.

00;14;26;21 - 00;14;35;14

Cullen

Starting with that sometimes to like when, when a director is like, okay, what is going to be this huge emotional monologue moment or something and just go, just go.

00;14;35;25 - 00;15;09;03

Clark

It's like, okay, we haven't even met each other. We've, you know, we don't have any kind of rapport. We've not worked, you know, boom. And yeah, so it's, you know, so not even just a communication, but just an overall empathy and understanding. And that, you know, affects everything from scheduling to to, to that order of, of setups and shots and whether you're working from wide too close or maybe vise versa to help save an actor's, you know, save their energy, you know, or help that it's just so, yeah, I couldn't recommend it more.

00;15;09;13 - 00;15;36;07

Cullen

But I mean, again, just being able to blend all that stuff to like, I've really, like, like one of my preferred ways of shooting any moment of dialog isn't just doing over the shoulder and getting coverage of inserts and stuff like that. And Herzog does go over that in his first couple episodes. Yeah, but rather I like crafting a really well blocked, you know, almost like a tableau and having the actors play those scenes out in one scene, like theater take exactly like theater.

00;15;36;19 - 00;15;58;11

Cullen

And what that not only does that make a really interesting visual style, I know Bong Joon Ho also really likes that style of just kind of having a still observational camera look in on a scene, but it also allows the actors to and, you know, I know there's interviews with like Samuel Jackson talking about this, too, where he says, you know, when that when that is the style of filmmaking, the actors can play off of each other.

00;15;58;11 - 00;16;15;04

Cullen

It's not me sitting at a table with a camera in my face. No, delivering the line 16 times over and over again for every single different angle. Yeah. US getting a moment and acting out a scene together and just capturing that on. And that's not to say that you can't do neat things with the camera because there are so many again, I mean, look at Bong Joon Ho.

00;16;15;08 - 00;16;19;01

Cullen

His scenes are directed like that, but I don't think anyone would say that his shots are flat or.

00;16;19;01 - 00;16;19;07

Clark

Yeah.

00;16;19;15 - 00;16;23;00

Cullen

Or, you know, or fly on the wall. Even. And they're just.

00;16;23;00 - 00;16;24;02

Clark

Great. Yeah.

00;16;24;02 - 00;16;41;21

Cullen

They just allow the actors to work. And I think that's where this blending of the whole process comes in it learning. Yeah. You know, just a touch of every single department where you can go, All right, this is how I'm going to work with the actors, and then I'm going to combine that with the way I'm going to communicate that with the camera department and kind of say, this is what we're looking at and you're trying to bridge that.

00;16;41;21 - 00;17;10;19

Clark

That's a good point. That's such I just want to go back for justice. And that's such a great point, too. You know, it's not even in communication to the actor or, you know, conducive nice to performance in how you've constructed the entire set and schedule. But the actual construction of the shots themselves and, you know, being keenly aware of how actors work and how important it is to be able to be in that moment and be with other actors and as much as possible.

00;17;10;19 - 00;17;37;07

Clark

I mean, I think this is one of the reasons that Herzog goes to such great lengths that he goes to to actually be in the Amazon, to actually be pulling the ship over the mountain, to actually be in the places, you know, to have Christian Bale actually eating the real maggots is that it's you know, and because we've seen this in so many films, I think we've talked about this and, you know, other episodes, right, Like where everything is green screen actors are performing to a tennis ball.

00;17;37;10 - 00;17;49;10

Clark

Yeah. You know, nothing's real. Nothing's there. And it's like you're doing everything imaginable to destroy an actor's ability to give a great performance. When you do that.

00;17;49;14 - 00;17;50;19

Cullen

In that manageability.

00;17;50;20 - 00;18;07;23

Clark

Reality and it's Yeah. And, and so really like I think until like, until you've been on a stage or been in front of a camera and you're trying to do it yourself, you'll never know exactly what that experience is like. And it's so powerful to have. I would even go so far. I would suggest that you have theater experience.

00;18;07;23 - 00;18;33;02

Clark

I that's where I started theater. I mean, I would actually even though there are important differences, I would highly recommend to people who are interested in being filmmakers, being directors to actually do some work in theater. Yeah, actually, you know, I started out acting on stage and it was an important experience, learning to work with an ensemble, with a group of people to put together a live performance.

00;18;33;02 - 00;18;58;01

Clark

There's I mean, first of all, it's just wonderfully fun and a great experience. But but then I actually moved to that to actually directing theater performances, and I actually directed theater well before I ever directed film. And it was such a powerful learning experience and especially and specifically that that aspect of working with actors because there's such a rehearsal process that you don't get Generally when you make film.

00;18;58;01 - 00;18;59;05

Cullen

Oh, absolutely.

00;18;59;05 - 00;19;06;22

Clark

That it's a really, really powerful opportunity to hone your craft in communicating and working with actors.

00;19;07;01 - 00;19;30;08

Cullen

Yeah, I always, if I can, if I'm ever doing a movie, I always vouch for. First of all, it's time for rehearsal time because it's so vital to me, like just to be able to have the actors watch that. Because again, that's another thing that you kind of learn of being an actor is the amount of times I would be rehearsing scenes over and over again for weeks on end for for a stage performance.

00;19;30;08 - 00;19;45;11

Cullen

And then, you know, two and a half weeks in, I'd make some realization about the character or some some realization. But the scene where it would completely change things for the better, for sure. It's like it took me two and a half weeks to get there. I can't imagine the opportunities that are missed by just skipping rehearsal processes.

00;19;45;12 - 00;20;05;05

Clark

What are the thing? Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I try to do so it's not you don't always get rehearsal time. And I I'm working on a feature film now in pre-production on a horror film that's going to be shot up in Seattle and we're not going to have rehearsal. And the reason we're not going to have any real rehearsals are because it's just logistically not possible.

00;20;05;05 - 00;20;47;03

Clark

The budget will not allow it. We'll be hiring people, many people from Los Angeles, and we cannot afford to travel them up to Seattle and room and board them and feed them for rehearsal time. It's just not going to happen. So but one of the things that I found can be extremely useful, especially when you can't have rehearsal time, is to work with, you know, this is can be remotely right over the phone or via Zoom now or in person is to work with each actor and just kind of see get it and start early, start as early as you can and kind of be there with them as they go through their homework.

00;20;47;07 - 00;21;12;11

Clark

I mean, an actor should be as soon as they're hired and they've got the script, they should be working right there. They're doing their homework and different actors will have different ways of doing that homework. But it's so important to be there with them and be and really be communicating and, you know, give them a ton of space, which you I mean, you if you if you cast them, that means to you that should mean that you trust them as an actor.

00;21;12;29 - 00;21;40;26

Clark

But be there and you'll start to learn what's their process, What direction are they heading in with their characters? How are they seeing the film? And you can massage your vision as a director, which certainly you should have into their work so that everybody is on the same page. So even if you can't do a rehearsal, I think this is a really powerful tool to work very closely with your directors and with their sorry with your actors during that homework process.

00;21;40;26 - 00;22;12;19

Cullen

Yeah, Yeah. And I think I mean, again, it's, it's one of those things that's, as you said, so many movies, especially indie flicks, don't really have an allowance in the budget for rehearsal. But yeah, if you can, I would say always push for it as much as you can because there's even things like just getting options in rehearsal and kind of, you know, just sitting down in a, in a studio and just kind of saying, okay, let's try this scene, but let's have you come in as though you are really low, energy is low, you're tired out, and then you can do the scene like that.

00;22;12;19 - 00;22;24;05

Cullen

And then if that doesn't work, then you can say, okay, let's try it. Now that you're frustrated, you're coming in, you're high energy, early, hotheaded, you're coming in, you know, and it's like it again, it's things like that in theater that you could do so often that you can do over and over again. Because, of course.

00;22;24;15 - 00;22;27;19

Clark

Nice try. You should try to get you should try TV.

00;22;27;21 - 00;22;28;25

Cullen

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

00;22;28;28 - 00;22;31;16

Clark

I like I've shot TV. You want to talk about.

00;22;31;23 - 00;22;32;03

Cullen

You.

00;22;32;03 - 00;22;38;06

Clark

Want to talk about no rehearsal? You want to talk about it even further? You should try soaps. Oh, man.

00;22;38;06 - 00;22;38;22

Cullen

Yeah, I've got some.

00;22;38;23 - 00;22;40;00

Clark

Yeah, I've got some funds.

00;22;40;10 - 00;22;44;09

Cullen

I think I've seen you. I think you showed me some of your. You showed me some of the things that you write.

00;22;44;13 - 00;23;13;19

Clark

It is. It is wild how fast you shoot on a soap and you're. You're like, always shooting. I don't even know if. Yeah, it's just extraordinary. But even a regular TV and just, you know, I one of the things that actors I just to give like a small window into you know if you don't aren't familiar a ton with what actors do you know most work for actors actually kind of comes from television most paying work comes from television.

00;23;14;08 - 00;23;37;05

Clark

Just just not as many films shot. There's not as many roles. So commercials or television, but we're talking about legit. Where TV, you know, 95% of the time an actor, when you're cast for a television role, you don't get to do anything. You don't even talk. You know, you pop out of your trailer on set the day of the shoot, and you walk into an action scenario.

00;23;37;19 - 00;23;58;04

Clark

It's wild, man. I mean, you're not talking to the director, you're not rehearsing nothing. You hardly met anybody. You've likely hardly met anybody, even, you know, it's amazing. I'm talking about this is like costar type roles, which are usually what's offered to two actors who are kind of starting out. But every actor has to go through This is my point.

00;23;58;14 - 00;24;10;10

Clark

So, you know, a lot of actors, they have the capability to jump in and run, but certainly being there to help them and work with them is something that they're going to really appreciate. So.

00;24;12;04 - 00;24;16;20

Cullen

Yeah, no, I mean, it's a TV is is a it's a different beast.

00;24;17;16 - 00;24;24;28

Clark

We can talk about. Yeah, we can maybe have an episode where we talk. I've got some great stories from so from from all that time on Bold and Beautiful Man.

00;24;25;15 - 00;24;29;20

Cullen

I mean, I mean, even just down to, like, lighting. You don't even have time to. It's like, put up a light and shoot it.

00;24;30;01 - 00;24;53;29

Clark

Well, it's the everything is just everything's lit in a generic sense, such then at least for a soap. For soap, obviously for a single camera. I mean, there's you know, some shows are lit with the meticulousness of a feature film, obviously, of course. But, you know, and I want to point out something that we like, we kind of missed, but it was but Herzog actually starts this lesson off with this.

00;24;54;08 - 00;25;11;16

Clark

And it's a good time to bring it up now because, you know, we're talking about I mean, it can seem overwhelming, right? You've got to you know, you've got to know about all these different departments as a filmmaker. And it it's a lot. But, you know, I am I am I am kind of I don't know how to say this.

00;25;11;16 - 00;25;34;25

Clark

I'm like, it makes me smile, makes my heart kind of smile to hear that Herzog is still, you know, his first moments on set. He kind of suffers from imposter syndrome, you know, And he's like a little bit scared. And he's thinking to himself, Well, he's doubting himself, Can I do this? Is this, you know, am I you know, am I an imposter?

00;25;34;25 - 00;25;58;13

Clark

What have I done to deserve being here? Am I good enough to be here and I mean, seriously, it's like, makes me feel so much better to know that even somebody with as much experience as Herzog, somebody who seems, you know, so in command of his voice and his vision as an artist, as a filmmaker, still has this happen every time he's on set that for, you know, that first shot right before that first take.

00;25;59;13 - 00;26;26;20

Clark

And so, you know, just for everybody else out there listening, I mean, even Herzog has these moments of doubt. It's just an it's an ongoing process of learning and refining. So it doesn't mean I don't I don't want anybody out there to take from this that, well, you know, before you ever set out to direct your first project, you know, you should spend a decade, you know, studying acting, then studying cinematography, then studying, you know, costuming, then study.

00;26;26;20 - 00;26;49;24

Clark

You know, get out there and do it right now and start learning. But it certainly don't stop learning and be sure to spend time learning a lot of different departments. A lot of different areas. Yeah, but I don't know, I think I was I was happy. Like it made me smile when Herzog started off the lesson that way, personally, I'm like, Oh shoot, it happens to him.

00;26;49;24 - 00;26;58;20

Clark

Yeah. BSG is it happens to me all the time. Exactly. I mean, do you ever do you ever get that? Do you ever get imposter syndrome? A little bit, Because, gosh, I yeah, I definitely do.

00;26;59;11 - 00;27;19;14

Cullen

Yeah. No, I mean, of course I, I think that that was I mean, one of the most difficult things about the that Hitchcock kind of experiment I did recently was I felt totally just abysmal after it because I was like I was balancing acting and it was the first time really on a major thing that I balanced acting and directing at once, which I was never doing again.

00;27;19;22 - 00;27;20;08

Cullen

Yeah, but.

00;27;21;00 - 00;27;21;07

Clark

That's.

00;27;21;08 - 00;27;39;02

Cullen

Challenge. I just remember I remember feeling like just so inadequate both before and after enduring when it was just like you're trying to and I mean, I know that, I mean, I, I've done enough work before that I know that I had directed something, but it was, it was such a major feeling of dread of just like, Oh, I can't do this.

00;27;39;02 - 00;27;39;17

Cullen

It was yeah.

00;27;39;29 - 00;28;06;14

Clark

So, yeah, I just it's like I really think there's a, there's a great book out there, The Courage to Create, which I highly recommend anybody read. But it's, it's so true that it takes courage to create. Creating is not easy. I don't care what medium you're working in to kind of bring forth something from your imagination and bring it into the world and realize it is scary.

00;28;06;14 - 00;28;29;10

Clark

I think it's just kind of part of the human condition. If it's not scary, that might actually even be a problem. You may not have enough skin in the game. If it's not scary, you may not you know, there may not be enough of you in it if you're not at least a little bit afraid. But but yeah, it's made me feel a little better that he can relate.

00;28;29;21 - 00;28;53;22

Clark

So I want to talk to, you know, about moving into what I think is the most important, you know, So we've talked about that a director should have this working knowledge of every aspect of filmmaking. But I want to I want to talk about what I think is even more important than that. And that, I think fundamentally defines the role of director.

00;28;53;22 - 00;29;17;03

Clark

And that is vision. Mm hmm. Yeah. That I mean, 100%. And, you know, Quentin Tarantino, I won't quote him, but I can kind of paraphrase a little bit. I remembered reading either reading the interview or watching an interview where he, you know, kind of felt overwhelmed by what we've all just what we've just talked about here, you know, about, oh, my gosh, you know, I don't know how to operate camera.

00;29;17;03 - 00;29;49;18

Clark

I don't know every lens available. I don't know, you know, Oh, my gosh. It's just it's overwhelming. What kind of light is this? What kind of light is that? Oh, geez. You know. Well, film stock. Yeah, right. Like, I was overwhelmed. But then he came to some realization, I think maybe like another, you know, more elder director talked to him and said, Hey, your job is to have the vision and to communicate that vision clearly so that everybody, every other department head understands that vision.

00;29;50;13 - 00;30;15;24

Clark

And that's your number one job. And if you got that down, you're good at that. That's that's the most important thing. And I do agree. It's great to have this working knowledge of everything, but I've seen countless times directors on set, not either. They don't have a clear vision or they can't communicate that clear vision. And I mean, that's what you're there to do.

00;30;15;24 - 00;30;17;28

Clark

That is literally what you're there to do.

00;30;18;03 - 00;30;19;09

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

00;30;19;22 - 00;30;40;21

Clark

So, you know, Herzog talks about that, about how important it is to to not only have that vision, but then to be able to communicate and even further to be able to inspire everybody else on your set with that vision and really be able to light a fire under people and get them on board and excited about that vision.

00;30;40;21 - 00;30;41;04

Clark

You know?

00;30;41;05 - 00;31;07;10

Cullen

Yeah, And I've got to say too, that the times that I've seen film sets fall flat or things not work are when people take direction as like a managerial position and only a managerial position and get on set and they're there. Their whole role is in their eyes just to kind of sit there and keep the sandcastle up and just kind of look at everyone and go, you know, here's what you have to do, here's what you have to do.

00;31;07;14 - 00;31;16;28

Cullen

But but offer no. Which, of course, is a part of it. But but offer no insight into like the actual creative side or what what is the point of this kind of thing? And one.

00;31;16;28 - 00;31;17;13

Clark

Hundred percent.

00;31;17;13 - 00;31;18;29

Cullen

What are we going for right now?

00;31;19;00 - 00;31;46;23

Clark

I've been there, too. I've been there, too. And it's heartbreaking because it takes so much energy to pull a set together, to pull a film project together. It's such a gift to be on set with a team of people, to be making film, and then to have somebody there at the top. Our leader who doesn't have a burning passion and a clear vision is heartbreaking, man.

00;31;46;23 - 00;31;58;24

Clark

It's why. Why? Because you might as well be an accountant, you know? I mean, great. Go be some middle manager in some like, accounting firm or something if you just manage people that way. My goodness. You know.

00;31;58;24 - 00;32;12;24

Cullen

Oh, exactly. That's that's the thing is it's like, you know, just either either a lot of times it's like you either you have one chance on set to get it to establish kind of the norms of the set. And, you know, as Herzog again, goes into like these rituals.

00;32;13;00 - 00;32;13;11

Clark

Yeah.

00;32;13;11 - 00;32;14;14

Cullen

And I.

00;32;14;14 - 00;32;15;09

Clark

Love, by the way.

00;32;15;09 - 00;32;21;27

Cullen

As stressful as it is, if you break, if you meet messed those things up, it can really reverberate through the entire production process.

00;32;22;13 - 00;32;44;03

Clark

Well, yeah, I totally agree. I mean, he even talks about he goes into this, you know, look at a couple of things real quick. I mean, one, you know, you're not always directing something that you wrote, right? Yeah. Now, now, my goodness. Look, if you wrote it and you're directing it and you don't have a clear vision and you're not passionate about it, then I don't even know what I can say to you.

00;32;44;04 - 00;32;47;27

Clark

I mean, because you wrote the damn thing. So I.

00;32;48;05 - 00;32;48;23

Cullen

And I've seen.

00;32;49;07 - 00;32;49;12

Clark

That.

00;32;49;12 - 00;32;50;10

Cullen

I've seen that too. Yeah.

00;32;50;10 - 00;33;06;28

Clark

I'm at a loss, though, for that. I guess I. Maybe you shouldn't be here doing this then. Frankly, if that's the case now. But it's not always the case that you've written it. You write a lot of times you get opportunities. For example, I am going to have an opportunity to direct something coming up in the future here that I did not write.

00;33;06;28 - 00;33;45;18

Clark

I, you know, closely worked on the, you know, some of the story and everything like that and feedback and whatnot. But I didn't write it. I didn't originate the story. But you in those cases, you've got to find some kind of hook into it for yourself that's personal or make one. In this particular instance, I was able to have input early enough in the process to to put some of myself into that script and that helped me kind of find a hook in and find a way for me to understand the story that I could really rally around and get passionate about.

00;33;45;18 - 00;34;04;17

Clark

And I think you've got to be able to do that, you know? So and you just have to work at it until you do. I would never go into a project, especially as a director, if I weren't totally passionate about it. But you can create that. You know, you can work to create that passion.

00;34;04;17 - 00;34;18;02

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I don't know about you too, but and maybe this is a bit of an aside, but I actually prefer directing things that I haven't written. Okay. Weirdly enough, I find that that connection.

00;34;18;12 - 00;34;24;28

Clark

Can you share a little bit about what? I'm just curious, just personally, you know, nobody's listening. Don't worry.

00;34;24;28 - 00;34;50;01

Cullen

No, I think that it it I think that the the best thing that you can do for yourself as a as a as a director or a filmmaker in general, whether you're writing and not directing or whether you're doing both or whether you're just directing is get as many eyes on the thing as possible and get as much feedback as you can from other people because you're basically exponentially increasing the likelihood that it's going to work with the general audience by going from even just one person working on a story to two people.

00;34;50;25 - 00;34;58;26

Cullen

So what I usually like to do is I like to get a script that's already written by somebody else and then read it as an audience member.

00;34;59;06 - 00;34;59;20

Clark

Yeah, and.

00;34;59;20 - 00;35;22;18

Cullen

Kind of go through that script as in, as in what I'd like to see in there and make changes that way and kind of go through like that. I mean, I know, same with with Kubrick. Kubrick was very similar in that he liked to most of his movies that he he made were based off of books and whether or not they were, you know, totally accurate to the source material is kind of irrelevant.

00;35;22;18 - 00;35;35;19

Cullen

It's more just the fact that he he's, you know, said in interviews as well that he his whole like the joy of his creative process was getting something else that was already preexisting and almost like turning it into a movie as opposed.

00;35;35;19 - 00;35;36;17

Clark

To making it starting.

00;35;36;17 - 00;35;37;24

Cullen

From complete scratch.

00;35;38;11 - 00;36;01;20

Clark

Well, and there's like, you know, there is for every director out there, there's a different way to work. And I, I tend to I actually tend to like what you just described as well. I think it's just because I'm not a great writer, or at least I'm not. I have a one of my greatest challenges is creating a script from scratch.

00;36;01;20 - 00;36;17;10

Clark

It's still very much a challenge for me. It's something I'm working on, but I definitely do have a skill for taking a preexisting story or a script and being able to get as much out of that idea in a.

00;36;17;10 - 00;36;17;23

Cullen

Punch it out.

00;36;17;23 - 00;36;36;23

Clark

As possible. Yeah. Or to or to kind of synergize it, you know, to to take some other ideas that hadn't made themselves aware to that original writer and, you know, hopefully elevate the script even more So it's I, I, I kind of am probably at the same in the same boat as you that that's my preferred way to work.

00;36;36;23 - 00;37;00;24

Clark

Now, of course, I would aspire to be, you know, writer director to actually craft by scripts from scratch. I aspire to do that, but I don't know that that's always necessary. You know, there are definitely great directors out there where who've directed either other scripts or adaptations of other people's stories. So no question, there's a lot of ways to go about it.

00;37;00;24 - 00;37;19;07

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, as you said, I mean, that's an important part too, is that there are a thousand different ways to direct and direct effectively. And there are some very famous directors that do write and direct all of their own movies. But there are also some that that really, you know, don't that just kind of are there for the direction part of it.

00;37;19;07 - 00;37;35;16

Cullen

And but again, like you said it it's interesting because it's it's so often for me it's like there is almost a writing process for me because there is almost a rewriting of that screenplay. And and turning it into something that I'd like to direct from the, the initial draft.

00;37;35;16 - 00;37;57;15

Clark

And in the process, you're make you're developing your passion for it. Yeah, exactly. Kind of yeah. Yeah. It's now you know, it's never happened to me, but I would imagine it would be the case though, that, you know, there are sometimes you may be hired to direct a project, of course, and you don't get the opportunity. You don't have the option to to radically or maybe even subtly change the script.

00;37;58;19 - 00;38;09;14

Clark

And of course, if you're directing television, this is definitely the case every single time, because the directors for television aren't the head honcho to the writer.

00;38;09;14 - 00;38;10;09

Cullen

Just coming in for an.

00;38;10;09 - 00;38;29;05

Clark

Episode or you're just coming in, you're a hired gun for an episode. And of course, you know, television is a writer's medium. So, you know, you you'll still have to find a way into that or hook into that for you. And that may take some gymnastics, so to speak, some imagination, gymnastics. But usually you can, you know, usually you can.

00;38;30;18 - 00;38;56;07

Clark

But, you know, let's segway into, you know, a little bit more of of how would I even say this? You know, Herzog talks about the way he kind of enters into this conversation is by talking about maintaining formality. He talks about, you know when you're working with your cast and crew, at least he said for the vast majority of his of his career, he said maybe this is changing a little bit now.

00;38;56;07 - 00;39;26;03

Clark

He's getting older, but he talks about maintaining formality to be kind, to be polite, to be professional, but to maintain some distance. And, you know, he tells a story, I think, about, Yeah, you know, unless he's like been, you know, like known somebody for ten years and and gotten drunk and, you know, like all these and been to prison and every, you know, not until he's like been through so much does he actually start to like speak, you know, casually with people.

00;39;26;03 - 00;39;39;11

Clark

Yeah. Hey what are you what are your thoughts about? I am kind of, you know, Torn. I definitely can see the, you know, some of the importance of that. But what are your thoughts on level of casualness or formality with your past?

00;39;39;12 - 00;40;02;20

Cullen

I mean, it's not how I work. I don't think I am somebody that, at the end of the day would be happy to go get a beer with the cast and the crew and kind of form those those relationships that are because I think that's that's a pretty important way of doing it for me. But I can also totally empathize with the idea of, you know, even him saying to Nicolas Cage that like, no, no, no, we show up on set and then we talk on set.

00;40;02;20 - 00;40;34;28

Cullen

And other than that, we don't speak and not even in a true way, but just in it, like this is how I work my process, right? I can understand that. And I think again, it's one of those things that it's like what works for some people works for some people. Well, I again, I think that I put more value on the the elements of like being able to make everyone comfortable with openly communicating on a set and and, you know, having an actor, having a relationship with an actor to the point where they can come up to me and kind of say, Hey, I'm not feeling this or I'm you know.

00;40;35;08 - 00;40;54;15

Clark

I certainly would want that. Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think I definitely would not want to reach a place of formality to such extent that an actor or crew member would be afraid of. Yeah. Of communicating with me. Boy, that would be the exact opposite of what I would want. But I mean, so and so for you.

00;40;54;15 - 00;41;15;29

Clark

I'm just curious then. I mean if is there any means with which or sort of ways that you kind of have some sort of divide though, like, oh, how do you maintain your directorial Like, I'm, I'm the director and yes, this is not, you know, I'm not a dictator or something, but I am the director. This is my vision.

00;41;15;29 - 00;41;23;03

Clark

And I mean, if you're too casual or familiar with people, do you find that that becomes a challenge then at all?

00;41;23;05 - 00;41;42;13

Cullen

I think that it's less about estaba pushing those boundaries and more about the attitude that you go in with. And I think that it's about how at least, at least in my experience, it's like you can change everyone's perception of you by just the way you talk to them. Okay, so if I'm talking to an actor on set, I'm still talking to them with authority and I'm still giving them.

00;41;42;14 - 00;41;44;19

Clark

That's because you like scream and yell and curse.

00;41;44;24 - 00;41;46;07

Cullen

Because, well, yeah, you you know that.

00;41;46;10 - 00;41;47;00

Clark

I mean.

00;41;47;00 - 00;42;03;28

Cullen

Sometimes they get a little bit physical, too, and all. I think the dog we're of course kidding but we're of course kids but but no like I think that again it's it's one of those things where it all comes down to just the way, at least for me. I mean, this again, it's one of the things that changes person to person.

00;42;03;28 - 00;42;11;24

Cullen

But but like, if I'm talking to an actor, I can I have no trouble being in charge while simultaneous, like being friendly.

00;42;12;00 - 00;42;12;14

Clark

It's about.

00;42;12;17 - 00;42;18;29

Cullen

Kind of commanding that respect, but also commanding that respect because you earn the respect, not because you're demanding the.

00;42;19;00 - 00;42;49;12

Clark

Westerners. There's a good distinction, and I think this is what Herzog speaks to, you know, understanding every department, that's one way that you earn respect. I that's a great way to put it. I think you're right. I think that you have to earn the respect as a director. If you walk onto a set and you're expecting everybody there to just hand over their respect to you without you having earned it, I think you're in for a much more difficult and less productive shoot than you have to be.

00;42;49;22 - 00;43;21;27

Clark

Yeah, to put it, to put it mildly. And you know, I even want to say, you know, maybe speak a little more to that. How important your your overall character is. You know it might seem like it kind of goes without saying, but I think that it happens often that, you know, people forget that characters aren't just the, you know, the people written it, the roles written into a story that you're going to shoot, you know, character is what you bring to set, and your character is vital on set.

00;43;21;27 - 00;43;45;24

Clark

As a director, you know, it's there is no division. You know, a director is just another word for leader, right? An effect. And and a leader is absolutely, positively, you know, completely holistically connected to every aspect of who you are as a human being. And I say, you know, we see so many issues with ethical issues, of course, with MeToo movement and.

00;43;45;25 - 00;43;46;23

Cullen

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

00;43;47;25 - 00;44;05;18

Clark

You know, it's I don't know if I and I'm not quite sure what the I mean, look, none of us are perfect. Of course I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. I know you think you are sometimes common, but. No, but, you know, I mean, nobody listening is perfect, and so. Yeah, but it is, you know. How honest are you in your life?

00;44;05;18 - 00;44;29;11

Clark

How patient are you? How loyal are you? Your your empathetic ability, your willingness to extend yourself to people? Those aspects of your personality in your day to day life is what you bring to set. And those the those are the those are the things that are going to either earn or lose your respect with everyone you're working with.

00;44;29;18 - 00;44;55;28

Clark

Yeah, you know, yes, you're making a film, but this is this is like somehow not separate from life or anything, you know? I mean, being a leader absolutely involves a high level of integrity, and that's not separate from your day to day life. So I you know, I think we've seen a lot of issues where, you know, people with very suspect ethics get into some really serious problems.

00;44;55;28 - 00;44;56;07

Clark

Yeah.

00;44;57;04 - 00;44;57;24

Cullen

Absolutely.

00;44;57;28 - 00;45;15;00

Clark

And again, of course, it's not to say that we're all perfect, but I mean, there's just some fundamental things that you should be bringing to set, you know, honesty and and, you know, this is this is a work environment. This isn't a pick up bar, you know, or something like, oh.

00;45;15;00 - 00;45;16;08

Cullen

Yeah, you know, that stuff is.

00;45;16;08 - 00;45;17;16

Clark

Yeah. Then yeah.

00;45;17;17 - 00;45;17;28

Cullen

You see.

00;45;17;28 - 00;45;30;09

Clark

It. I've seen it. Oh total and you know, disrespect for all kinds of things. Yeah. I've seen really nasty sexist behavior and.

00;45;30;10 - 00;45;34;08

Cullen

I mean, I'm sure you do too. I know tolerance for that kind of stuff. Like it's.

00;45;34;08 - 00;45;50;19

Clark

Well, and there shouldn't be. There shouldn't be because it doesn't, you know, and I've heard some people say, oh, my gosh, you know, look, if you if you get too pissy or this or that, you're going to you know, you're going to totally take away the you're going to make it impossible for people to be creative. You know it.

00;45;50;21 - 00;45;53;12

Clark

And that's just the horse pucky, man. It's not true.

00;45;53;23 - 00;45;53;29

Cullen

Yeah.

00;45;54;15 - 00;46;02;14

Clark

You know, if you if you need to be racist or sexist or whatever else it is in order to be creative, then.

00;46;02;15 - 00;46;03;10

Cullen

That's your problem.

00;46;03;10 - 00;46;33;29

Clark

You might need to take a Yeah, you might need to take a close look at what your, what you are qualifying as creative as being. Yeah. You know. Yeah. So yeah, I mean I would hope it would go without saying but you know, I don't care what level you're directing at if it's you in three friends you know, and you know you're working in your backyard, I mean just start off pushing yourself to be the kind of leader that you would want to have yourself and work toward that.

00;46;33;29 - 00;46;51;18

Clark

And that's a it's an ongoing process that will never end because we're flawed humans. And that's just the way it is. But at least push yourself to do so and so. And anyway, to tie that back in, I mean, I think that goes along with earning the respect of your cast and crew.

00;46;51;29 - 00;47;11;01

Cullen

And there is there's one conversation that I'll usually have with everyone on set, cast and crew, and that's just more that, you know, I have no problem with being friendly. I have no problem with having casual conversations and having fun. Yeah, but at the end of the day, I'm here to help you do your job, and you're here to help me do mine.

00;47;11;01 - 00;47;19;15

Cullen

And I just that's, that's, that's my expectation is that at the end of the day, that jobs are done to the degree that we're expected to do our jobs.

00;47;19;27 - 00;47;20;05

Clark

And the.

00;47;20;05 - 00;47;34;18

Cullen

Way that, you know, that we can have fun. But if that if that fun starts impeding on anything or if there becomes such a relaxed attitude that it's getting in the way of work, then we'll have another conversation. And normally I've never had really any many issues of weight.

00;47;34;18 - 00;47;46;21

Clark

Yeah, exactly. And Herzog speaks to this. And how do you avoid that? I mean, it's by doing right. Yeah. Set the example by doing he talk he gives some examples of being the first, you know, to never some extreme.

00;47;46;21 - 00;47;47;07

Cullen

Examples.

00;47;47;07 - 00;48;03;03

Clark

Some extreme examples, like I don't know that I would I might feel a little uncomfortable about walking into a minefield myself, but it makes a good analogy right? Yeah, metaphorical minefield. But yeah, of course. You know, in Grand Herzog style, he's got one of these great examples, you know. Well, I.

00;48;03;03 - 00;48;16;06

Cullen

Mean, that's another way of just of commanding a tent or not that sort of commanding respect. This is I've had points where I've been on sets where it's like I think that as a director you should be the first in line. Did exactly what you said.

00;48;16;19 - 00;48;18;22

Clark

You're the first to show up. There was one case where.

00;48;18;22 - 00;48;31;15

Cullen

We had we had fake blood on the ground. There was some fake blood outside on the ground. And we were like, Well, we need to make it look like a body has been dragged through this blood. And I said, All right, somebody dragged me through it, like, I don't care if I get like, we have to do.

00;48;31;15 - 00;48;32;12

Clark

We have some B-roll.

00;48;32;12 - 00;48;45;19

Cullen

I don't want to work. I wish we did. But but again, it was one of those funny things where I was just kind of like, you know, I'm not going to get somebody else to drag themselves through it. I don't care if my clothes get to have blood on them. So I just kind of lie down on the ground and got them to drag me through it.

00;48;45;19 - 00;48;46;17

Cullen

And I was like, There we go.

00;48;46;26 - 00;49;06;15

Clark

And it doesn't even have to be in such grand or physical, you know, but just, you know, being the first to show up, being the last, to leave, you know, to to behave on set, the way you expect other people to behave is so important. I mean, as the director, you are setting the tone for that entire set.

00;49;07;03 - 00;49;28;11

Clark

And it's it's you can't ignore it. You can't skate by it. It you are absolutely as the director going to set the entire tone for how people are behaving on that set. And, I mean, I guess that's why it's so important to bring the absolute best of who you are on to set every day. Because as the leader, guess what?

00;49;28;11 - 00;49;48;11

Clark

That's that's this is the job that you've asked for, you know, and that's a big part of it. And so if you're not present, if you're showing up late, if you're not well rested and, you know, goofing off, guess what? Other people are going to be doing? They're going to they're going to live only up to the example that you're going to set nine times out of ten.

00;49;48;11 - 00;49;50;06

Clark

And in my experience. So, yeah.

00;49;50;27 - 00;50;06;14

Cullen

And I think I mean, just to just to perhaps wrap up in these last few minutes. Yeah. I think that that all comes down to also, you know, with vision and all that and preparation and getting everyone to do their jobs as to do the doable and Herzog does that great talking about that great anecdote about trying to get ants.

00;50;06;28 - 00;50;07;28

Clark

Yeah, freezing.

00;50;07;28 - 00;50;24;11

Cullen

Ants. Yeah exactly. Two to go one temperature. You go one degree above the stars, they die, you go one degree below. They they get so, like, lethargic or lethargic that they don't move. And then just canceling that idea because it's like, I'm not going to sit here all day and make my crew wait for these ants to do something that they may never do.

00;50;24;12 - 00;50;45;20

Clark

It's a good point. And even a right and especially it's like, you know, we often think of Herzog. I love how he goes out of his way to point out, No, look, I accept no for an answer. He's like, people think I don't accept no for an answer. I definitely accept no for an answer, of course. And you know, that flexibility is so important and the end to have some sense of, okay, we need to we need to redesign this.

00;50;45;20 - 00;51;06;21

Clark

This is not doable. This may not be safe for my actors. It's clearly vital to have some sense of that. And I even would you know, another aspect of this flexibility of of doing the doable is to to take opportunity is the unexpected. The catastrophes that, you know, they talk about make catastrophes part of your story in this lesson.

00;51;07;06 - 00;51;27;25

Clark

I mean, there could be as long as it's safe for everybody there. You know, of course, catastrophe can mean many different things. It doesn't have to be a flood like the, you know, example that Herzog gives from Aguirre. But to just have that flexibility to take advantage of what's happening, and that can be even that could be a small thing.

00;51;27;25 - 00;51;51;00

Clark

Like an actor. May has an accident on on on during the scene. But that brings forth some really extraordinary behavior or really livens up that scene or to something substantial like your set is flooded and, you know, holy crap, you can either run away from that or you can incorporate that into the story and get some amazing footage.

00;51;51;00 - 00;52;14;10

Clark

So so absolutely, those are important. And I you know, he ends this is this is a funny one. Not a funny one, but this is it's an interesting ending on this lesson. Herzog talks about fortifying yourself. Right. We've talked about I mean, it sounds like and it is that you're asking a lot of yourself when you're putting yourself in the position of a director.

00;52;14;19 - 00;52;37;15

Clark

It is a big role. Yeah. And I think if you're taking it seriously, there is if you are asking a lot of yourself and I love that he ends this lesson talking about, well, how do you fortify yourself? And he says he uses language like, you know, I fortify myself with philosophy or find refuge in poetry, anchors of safety.

00;52;37;21 - 00;53;08;06

Clark

I love this language that he uses. And I think that it speaks to, you know, my kind of interpretation of it is how it speaks to how holistically intrinsic every aspect of your humanity is involved in being a director, how grounded you are, how you know, all like the way you see life, your philosophies of understanding the world around you when you're a director.

00;53;08;06 - 00;53;34;08

Clark

It just it brings forth everything from who you are. You should be bringing everything that you've got. And so to me, like working on being a better director is every single day. It's not just when I'm on set, right? Every day in my life. I mean, I you know, if I'm like working with a crew to build a fence in my backyard, I'm like, you know, trying to learn how to be a better leader.

00;53;34;27 - 00;53;38;16

Clark

Yeah. And I don't know. You know what? I just I think that it's.

00;53;38;27 - 00;53;41;07

Cullen

And it infuses in every single kind of acid.

00;53;41;08 - 00;54;09;16

Clark

And I'm so down to, like, what's the caliber of literature that you're reading? What's, you know, what kind of work are you doing on yourself to, to exercise your empathetic muscles, to expand your understanding of other people around you and of yourself? I just it's and that to me is it's in part overwhelming, but it's also extraordinarily challenging in a really wonderful way.

00;54;10;02 - 00;54;15;27

Clark

So that's that's my take home from that. I thought it was an extraordinary ending to that lesson.

00;54;16;04 - 00;54;17;19

Cullen

Yes. Yeah, totally.

00;54;17;28 - 00;54;42;26

Clark

Well, there we go. I think on that note, we'll wrap it up. Well, Cullen, as always, man, thank you so much for a wonderful conversation. I hope our audience enjoyed it as much as I have, and I look forward to next week's episode where we are going to discuss lesson nine of Herzog's master class set rules. So until then, everybody, have a wonderful week.

00;54;43;10 - 00;54;44;25

Clark

We will see you soon.

00;54;45;01 - 00;54;52;18

Cullen

Yep. See you guys then.

Episode - 008

Clark

Hey, everybody. Welcome to Soldiers of Cinema. The podcast. I'm Clark Coffey and with me today, as always, Cullen McFater. What's up? What's up, Cullen? Hello. How you doing? I'm doing all right. On today's episode, we are going to be discussing Herzog's Masterclass Lesson nine, which is all about set rules. Ooh, exciting stuff. Set rules. You love rules, right?

00;00;37;12 - 00;00;38;18

Clark

Colin, you're like, I'm a.

00;00;38;21 - 00;00;41;15

Cullen

Rules guy.

00;00;41;21 - 00;01;01;28

Clark

No, but there is a there is some really good, really good, some some great content in here, you know, especially, I mean, we kind of imagine that most of the listeners here, you're either obviously interested in Herzog or you are an aspiring or, you know, filmmaker maybe in the beginning of your career. And he covers some really important stuff in this lesson.

00;01;01;28 - 00;01;29;10

Clark

So we'll kind of dive in. But basically, you know, he talks about how to organize a set. And Herzog talks about himself personally being a one camera guy. He actually specifically calls out Mr. Christopher Nolan by name. And clearly he is fond of Mr. Nolan, I think because now it's funny, though, of course, because I think Nolan, in a lot of his action scenes in his films, uses like 20 cameras.

00;01;29;11 - 00;01;44;06

Clark

Yeah. Just brings them up, which is. But but, you know, hey, there's always exceptions to the rule. But I think, you know, unless you're shooting a special effects shot or a big action scene, I think he he you know, I'm actually not sure. Do you know, does he stick to one camera? Does Nolan.

00;01;44;07 - 00;01;57;03

Cullen

I think I mean, as far as I know, for his his like dialog and his his moment to moment stuff, that's not, you know, a huge effect shot where you're you're spending 2 million for a single shot. I do believe that it's it's one camera.

00;01;57;04 - 00;01;59;15

Clark

And we'll go with that We'll say well Herzog okay.

00;01;59;29 - 00;02;10;18

Cullen

What I do think is interesting, though, about even just the name of this this lesson being set rules is that it's not really traditional set rules even in like it's almost like.

00;02;11;03 - 00;02;11;27

Clark

And Herzog.

00;02;11;27 - 00;02;22;10

Cullen

Says like break certain certain kind of trends to make your set work better, which I think is interesting. It's not like, you know, you LaPierre's get the coffee, the guy's not.

00;02;22;10 - 00;02;44;20

Clark

Over there in the chair. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep. And we'll definitely get into that. But right. I think it's about, you know, I mean, you could almost say this is, you know, Herzog's take on how to create a conducive environment for great filmmaking. Yeah. Which, you know, with that being the focus as opposed to, you know, sometimes rules on a set can actually lead away from that.

00;02;44;29 - 00;03;01;14

Clark

So we can definitely discuss that. But I think, you know, it's about creating an attitude of focus as well. And I think that's, you know, he also mentions Nolan shoots film celluloid and of course he does. I know he definitely does that. And I think, you know, Herzog has shot all kinds of different medium. And Nolan shoots.

00;03;01;14 - 00;03;03;12

Cullen

Film for interesting reasons, too.

00;03;03;12 - 00;03;05;09

Clark

It's not exactly.

00;03;05;09 - 00;03;13;13

Cullen

The Yeah yeah. Well, it's not normally. I mean, a lot of people that shoot film, shoot film because they like the look of it, right? That they like, they like the grain they like the texture was nice.

00;03;13;14 - 00;03;14;10

Clark

For the focus.

00;03;14;10 - 00;03;32;10

Cullen

Several times on record, both the focus. But he also it's almost just like a traditional thing for him like that. He, he, he doesn't like grain in his images so he he likes the newest newest Kodak stocks that have very little grain. And he also but I think it's just his kind of way of going like this is how movies were made and should be made.

00;03;32;10 - 00;03;33;19

Cullen

And it's sort of like a traditional.

00;03;33;24 - 00;03;52;21

Clark

And I think, you know, Herzog talks about an attitude of focus and, you know, I don't know explicitly if her if sorry, if Nolan has come out and said this, but I know other filmmakers have now, I myself have not shot on film. I've been a part of projects that did shoot on film. I can tell you that there is a radical difference on set, though.

00;03;52;21 - 00;04;12;05

Clark

Yeah, between shooting film mean especially 35 millimeter film and shooting digitally digital shots. You can shoot all day long and it's just a matter of hard drive space, right? But when you're running celluloid through the gate, I mean, it's a lot of money, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I've got a.

00;04;12;05 - 00;04;19;04

Cullen

I've got ak3 16 millimeter camera sitting right beside me right now. And it's it's like shooting on that thing. And I do it very rarely because.

00;04;19;05 - 00;04;35;00

Clark

I've got a mean business. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's you. Absolutely. It's not just for fun and I mean it's, you know, for anybody out there that still shoots with a film, still camera, you know what we mean? You know, look at the types of pictures that people shoot with their cell phones. Oh, my God. You know, it's like a can't.

00;04;35;01 - 00;04;54;12

Clark

I wonder how many like, I don't even know what comes after, like, terabyte or. But G is a world is just filled with useless, ridiculous images of people's food or whatever else they have. Because, like, pictures don't cost anything to take anymore. You know, I feel like when when, when there was film, you would kind of, you know, you'd curate your images more carefully.

00;04;54;13 - 00;04;57;29

Clark

Well, that's certainly what happens. I think, when you're when you're shooting.

00;04;58;11 - 00;05;14;12

Cullen

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And not to not to divert too much, but but in relation to that, that's that's the exact reason why most of the time with I'm on vacation, I'll bring a film camera and a couple of rolls, a film because I don't want to be just looking through a camera the whole time. I want if I'm taking a picture, it's going to be.

00;05;14;17 - 00;05;15;29

Cullen

You want a very special moment?

00;05;15;29 - 00;05;40;17

Clark

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And so for that reason, I yeah, I think that definitely could contribute. But, you know, Herzog also talks about some other interesting things here. He talks about not having a director's chair. He actually uses the word load as he loads this, you know, to have his name on a chair, you know, and to have every actor and producer have a, you know, an area to like sit in and everything.

00;05;40;17 - 00;05;54;02

Clark

I mean, I think it sounds like he there's probably a couple of reasons, if I read into this a little bit, that he doesn't like that kind of stuff. I think you know it it Herzog definitely wants his shoots to be a physical event, you know, an athletic endeavor, if you will.

00;05;54;02 - 00;05;55;26

Cullen

And he doesn't like that diva stuff. He doesn't.

00;05;55;26 - 00;06;14;01

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. And so whether it's like fancy trailers and, you know, you're in boss director's chairs and all this kind of stuff, I mean, what does that have to do with filmmaking? What does that have to do with getting an image on screen? Oh, it really doesn't, Right? Has nothing to do with it. And then you open up all these, you know, areas of, you know, introducing hierarchy.

00;06;14;01 - 00;06;33;11

Clark

And this person is is worth more or more valuable than that person or why is this trailer, you know, this person's trailer bigger than mine or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And these things can just, you know, even on a smaller level, right. If you're if you're shooting, you know, very low budget micro-budget films and you're not dealing with trailers and things, you know, there can't be stuff like this.

00;06;33;11 - 00;06;45;03

Clark

Get in the way, though, on a smaller scale. And so I do think it's a good idea to if you can save yourself money and you can save yourself drama by kind of just staying away from this whole area, you know, and.

00;06;45;03 - 00;06;54;24

Cullen

How it's sort of almost like a trickle down effect that he talks about, where it's like if he doesn't have a director's chair, then everybody else might be kind of embarrassed, embarrassed, feel awkward about sitting in theirs. Right.

00;06;55;08 - 00;06;59;25

Clark

I mean, which I think is a great point is Herzog right now to 77 or 70.

00;06;59;25 - 00;07;03;04

Cullen

Two, he's either 72 or 70. I don't I think I look this up the other day.

00;07;03;09 - 00;07;26;09

Clark

Yeah, he's in the seventies. I mean, we can say that for sure. He's in his seventies. And so I'm thinking, okay, you know, if if a guy in his mid seventies is not going to sit down between takes, if he's going to be doing it, then, you know, if you're a 25 year old actor on one of his projects, yeah, you're probably going to feel a little embarrassed if you've got to go, you know, get your super comfy trailer or your, you know, embossed fancy, you know, director's chair.

00;07;26;09 - 00;07;26;21

Clark

So.

00;07;27;00 - 00;07;28;09

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

00;07;28;21 - 00;07;44;16

Clark

But, you know, and there's a line, though. There's a line right between like, you know, no creature comforts or no, you know, I mean, you don't want to go so far as to, like, say, you know, that you're not going to provide crafty for people or, you know, I mean, obviously there's a line here, right?

00;07;44;18 - 00;07;51;06

Cullen

I mean, my my philosophy on it is basically I want the set to be as comfortable as I can, but I want that comfort to contribute to work.

00;07;51;06 - 00;08;11;22

Clark

I don't want it to contribute to and be equally applied. Exactly. Every single person, every single person on set. And certainly, you know, not indulging in things like this, I think make that a lot easier to achieve for sure. You know, he also talks about this one. This one is really interesting to me at getting into video villages.

00;08;12;10 - 00;08;31;12

Clark

People some people swear by them, some people love them, some people. And Herzog, of course, is in the opposite camp. He's you know, he does not use a video village and he absolutely thinks that those are totally distracting and separate the director from actors. What's your take? Do you have it's one of the times.

00;08;31;12 - 00;09;01;06

Cullen

On on his more sort of very very concrete views that I totally 100% agree with him. Yeah. I've worked on a lot of sets with video villages and I've worked on some like when I lead to I don't like any of that stuff. I don't really like monitors. I'm I'm sort of in the middle ground in a way that I, you know, I like to have my video village is an iPad my hands with a wireless monitor that's that's what I like because I enjoy if I if I'm not operating normally, I try to operate as much as I can.

00;09;01;06 - 00;09;22;06

Cullen

But if I'm not operating and I'm away from the camera, then I have a I'm beside the camera with with, you know, the handheld monitor in my hands. And just so I can see the shot and the framing and all that, but but no, like, I think that and I've again, I've worked on sets where it's like the directors often the video village a take will happen and you just kind of hear like a shout like, Yeah, that was good.

00;09;22;06 - 00;09;41;17

Cullen

Let's go again far away. And it's like, you're not, you know, you're not there. You're not sitting beside them going that it should you should be close. And you know, that's, that's like a bad word now because we're in the middle of this pandemic. But, but, you know, in normal times you should be I like to be physically as close as I can to kind of feel that energy.

00;09;41;17 - 00;09;42;00

Cullen

And, you know.

00;09;42;08 - 00;10;05;04

Clark

And I have to agree. And I you know, I've never worked on I've never worked on a project myself where I had a separate, you know, video village that was far away from the shooting. I've been you know, I've had monitors, you know, small monitors next to me, right? Mm hmm. But, you know, I it's interesting and wicked kind of.

00;10;05;04 - 00;10;31;23

Clark

I'm like, I'm going to be kind of exploring this and thinking about this out loud right now in real time, because I don't you know, I don't know that I've got my ideas about this completely, perfectly, you know, polished and formulated. But I mean, and it's difficult to articulate, but there's a feeling there is certainly a feeling about whether I'm operating or whether and for me, my experience is more that I'm not operating, but I'm directing right next to the camera.

00;10;32;06 - 00;10;55;21

Clark

There's something about and maybe this comes from my experience in theater and directing actors on stage, but it's I feel that it's so important for me to be in a, an intimate communion with the actors and almost like in the scene with them. Yeah. Now, obviously I'm behind the camera. I'm definitely not.

00;10;55;21 - 00;10;57;07

Cullen

On your shoulders to speak.

00;10;57;07 - 00;11;20;09

Clark

In it, but there's about, there's something about but but feeling their energy, right? Yes, right there. And to be able to witness all of these nuances of the performances as they're happening live right there somehow helps me feel feel almost like another actor, I guess. I almost feel like I'm in the scene with them.

00;11;20;18 - 00;11;35;23

Cullen

I think for me, too, it's a lot of it is. I don't like feeling tethered, if that makes sense. I don't like feeling tethered to anything. So I, you know, again, that's why one of my first purchases when I got a you know, a fully fledged cinema camera was a wireless video transmitter so that I could exactly at your store.

00;11;35;28 - 00;11;56;28

Cullen

So I can't be right there, but I got the, you know, rather than having to peek around and look at somebody else's monitor that the viewfinder or whatever, if I'm again, if I'm not operating, I can just have the the monitor in my hand and walk wherever I want, if I can if I want to set an eyeline for an actor, I can literally have the monitor in my hand and put my hand up and go, No, that looks good.

00;11;56;28 - 00;11;57;29

Cullen

That looks pretty right there.

00;11;58;03 - 00;11;59;23

Clark

But you're still able to be right there.

00;11;59;23 - 00;12;01;10

Cullen

Yeah, I'm still right beside them.

00;12;01;11 - 00;12;19;16

Clark

I feel like that's probably the best of both worlds because, you know, and Herzog talks about and I really think this is if you can afford it, this is really helpful us to have, you know, somebody else, an assistant director, somebody I don't know who you know, who this might be for your crew, depending on their size and everything.

00;12;19;24 - 00;12;49;29

Clark

But to have, you know, somebody actually really focused on watching that output and just making sure that the technical aspect of this shot, just purely technical aspects of the shot, are, you know, are meeting expectation. Right. So it's just, you know, watching focus, framing, you know, that kind of thing. And maybe some you know, it's the consistency of script, consistency, that kind of continuity, things, stuff like that.

00;12;51;06 - 00;13;11;16

Clark

And so I think that that could be important. I've certainly got myself, you know, because if talking about, you know, only the good aspects of being right there in the action and not looking at it at an output at a video monitor, I mean, I have I have in the past missed some technical things because I was so focused on the performances.

00;13;11;16 - 00;13;24;19

Clark

I got so into being right there with the actors that I did miss things and so did the operator, you know, just, you know, missing focus and things like that, which make me crazy. Oh, I can't. Yeah, well, I mean.

00;13;24;19 - 00;13;40;25

Cullen

Even working documentary, that was kind of one of the things that we established when I was down in LA and we were shooting was that, you know, I was sort of, you know, I asked a few questions, but I was sort of doing the technical side, making sure that everything was in focus and that the lighting was, you know, even and that the sound sounded good.

00;13;41;05 - 00;13;55;14

Cullen

And you were focusing on getting those interviews done and things like that. And I think it worked out so well because that way. And I mean, we completely trusted each other in that way that you weren't coming over checking shot. I wasn't, you know, involved in your interview process. I was just kind of.

00;13;56;02 - 00;14;15;00

Clark

Had very great that's a great example. Systems you know it's vital because you can't do you cannot do all these things now you know we're going to go into a little bit about keeping the crew small. But the flip side of that is, is that you do have to have enough people to actually, you know, reach a certain level of competency in all these areas.

00;14;15;00 - 00;14;47;24

Clark

And it's you know, and I've done, you know, and videography work, which is is definitely a different thing than making a film. Videography work is definitely different when you're shooting commercials. Industrial, obviously there are some similarities, but there are some differences. And we can, you know, talk about that a little bit. If one, for example, is this single camera stuff and I want to bring this up because, you know, it's just a practical aspect of being a filmmaker is that, you know, a lot of times when you're starting out, you've got to make ends meet and a great way to make ends meet that also helps get you experience is to do videography work wherever

00;14;47;24 - 00;15;19;19

Clark

you're at, you know, shooting local commercials, industrials, employee training videos, you know, I mean, whatever it might be, right. Web content for small business owners or something in your area. And when I shoot those kind of things, I definitely like to go multi-camera, you know, because most of this stuff, a lot of this stuff is interviews and you're dealing with, you know, nonprofessional people or, you know, not they're not trained on camera personalities.

00;15;20;09 - 00;15;35;02

Clark

You're often working from looser scripts, things like this. And I don't know, you know, I don't know if you've done some work in this area, you had a good time. But yeah, but I definitely like to go multi-camera there because I find that it saves your booty big time. Yeah.

00;15;35;16 - 00;15;53;01

Cullen

Yeah. I mean even and that's, that's a good even in that aspect though there's, there's so many different styles of like there's this huge there's almost like this cinematic new wave coming into advertising that, that things are now exposed.

00;15;53;01 - 00;16;14;19

Clark

Can you describe that a little bit? I mean, I want to be honest, I am out of the loop a little bit on this. I, I have kind of crafted a world for myself in a world where there's advertising, you know, But I have I mean, I have reduced my exposure to advertising to such an extent that I really don't know what is this new?

00;16;14;29 - 00;16;24;22

Cullen

I mean, I don't really watch TV, so I'm not sure about actual TV ads, but things I've seen like, you know, sick kids here, the Childrens Hospital in Toronto.

00;16;24;22 - 00;16;28;01

Clark

We've actually been there. Yeah. Yeah. So they're a wonderful place. Yeah.

00;16;28;01 - 00;16;48;06

Cullen

They've just done this whole in the last year or a year and a half, this whole new advertising campaign that's like shot on anamorphic lenses like these, like crazy, like cinematic lighting, you know, everything's raised and it's really, it's the kids standing up to their, their illnesses. It's called Sick kids versus it's actually it's quite an effective ad campaign if anyone's interested in what.

00;16;48;06 - 00;16;49;10

Clark

Ridley Scott directed.

00;16;49;20 - 00;16;50;02

Cullen

Yeah. I mean.

00;16;50;02 - 00;16;51;11

Clark

You're like, you know, might as well.

00;16;52;20 - 00;17;17;06

Cullen

Although Ridley doesn't like anamorphic anymore. So but but yeah and it's this this and I the only reason I've been exposed to these things is just because some of the work that I've been doing has sort of been related and, and in that kind of that field. So it's been there's this but there is this huge like the amount of commercials these days that are shot on anamorphic is something that really is only picked up in the past maybe three years.

00;17;18;06 - 00;17;42;03

Clark

And I know and then on to book in that on the other end nothing like in to get too far off track here of Herzog's class but you know it's it touches on a lot of things so why not But there's also a lot you know I know living out here in Southern California with COVID and everything, there's also a lot of almost, I would call it like DIY commercials being done where actors are shooting their own commercials in their homes.

00;17;42;13 - 00;18;06;05

Clark

Mm hmm. I know that this has been done to some extent. So you've got a wide range, you know, because. Yeah, you know, obviously, you know, agencies are going to stop shooting commercials just because they can't get a crew together. Right. That's not going to stop that train. And so one of the ways they've gotten around it is to have people kind of self shoot or to, you know, remotely piece together a project.

00;18;06;05 - 00;18;14;12

Clark

But it's, you know, on a much smaller scale, sometimes with much less, quote unquote, professional equipment. So it can it can run the gamut, you know?

00;18;14;19 - 00;18;35;12

Cullen

Oh, totally, for sure. But I mean, just to just to return to the even the point about just the single cam versus multi-cam. Yeah, I, I think for me, you know, getting into like, why, why, why do I prefer one over the other when it comes to narrative film? I find that and I think that Herzog does sort of touch on this as well, and as have many other directors who prefer single cam.

00;18;36;19 - 00;18;45;01

Cullen

If I'm doing a shot, if I'm lighting a shot or I'm composing a shot, I like to pose for that shot, that camera.

00;18;45;01 - 00;19;05;06

Clark

That's no compromise, right? If you've got multiple cameras, you are inevitably compromising your mise en scene. Absolutely not to get like two missiles. And it's been a while. I don't know why that happens, but yeah, I mean, you're you're right. And I think that's one of the biggest. But it's one of the biggest drawbacks. You're kind of dividing all of your resources.

00;19;05;06 - 00;19;09;23

Cullen

I mean, even down to just the placement of a light and going, oh, well, that shadow looks off and that other stuff.

00;19;09;24 - 00;19;24;25

Clark

And you're actually outperforming it. Yeah, right. I mean, when you've got multiple point, multiple points of focus, i.e. the camera, then you're going to kind of inevitably going to you know, you're going to be dividing your your focus, your energy, you know. So absolutely.

00;19;25;02 - 00;19;42;09

Cullen

When it gets down to it, just just because it's easy or just because it's easier doesn't mean that it's better. You know, I know a lot of people who do prefer multi-cam and they go, if I'm shooting a dialog scene in there, there are benefits to it. I understand their desire to be like, Hey, if these two people are having a conversation at this table.

00;19;42;14 - 00;19;43;11

Clark

Especially if there's.

00;19;43;11 - 00;19;44;21

Cullen

Let's get the ring at the end and it.

00;19;44;24 - 00;19;52;08

Clark

Has a lot of improvization and the camera is can, can be a lifesaver in a sense. Yeah.

00;19;52;16 - 00;20;02;27

Cullen

But even even even non improvizational stuff, it's like, you know, I can see the desire of, of, you know, now we're getting both of the reactions and the performances to the same performance at the same time.

00;20;03;09 - 00;20;12;10

Clark

So, so rarely ever. I mean it's, I so rarely, you know, let me say it another way. I will so often cut up takes.

00;20;12;14 - 00;20;15;00

Cullen

Yes. I don't really cross cut a lot to that.

00;20;15;06 - 00;20;15;19

Clark

Right.

00;20;15;19 - 00;20;16;13

Cullen

That same take.

00;20;16;19 - 00;20;38;12

Clark

I can't imagine. Right. I've got, you know, so many takes within one. You know, it's within one scene when it's actually edited that I don't you know, that's not when it's scripted. It's not a big deal for me because I will I will often cut everything up anyway, because it's usually you're taking the best pieces of of different performances and having a multi-camera situation there probably wouldn't have added a lot.

00;20;38;12 - 00;20;57;21

Cullen

Yeah. And that being said too, I mean, I've never found myself in the editing room going, Damn this, this reaction doesn't matter up to this performance. Like usually actors are pretty good at getting that stuff down. So I've never had those issues that that people kind of praise multi-cam for so often. I've never really needed to rectify those.

00;20;57;21 - 00;21;15;11

Clark

But everything, you know, like we said, everything has a place. I do use it when I'm doing shooting industrials, doing interviews of, you know, people who have it or aren't used to being on camera. And so there's a lot of it's incongruity from one shot to, you know, from one take to the next. So I will do it.

00;21;15;11 - 00;21;28;24

Clark

And also, usually you're on a compressed that you're on somebody else's schedule. You have a very short period of time. And I'm often not in control of my shooting environment because I'm shooting on somebody else's location. So so there's a lot of compromises there.

00;21;28;24 - 00;21;32;06

Cullen

But shooting at other locations and. Yeah, yeah, there's Tanya.

00;21;32;16 - 00;21;53;03

Clark

Yep. So let's see where it will go. Like after this large digression here. So we were talking about video villages. Hmm. Yeah, I think just a kind of kind of maybe wrap that one up. I think so. It sounds like we both agree. I mean, I definitely prefer to be right there with the actors for reasons I just told, and it sounds like you do too.

00;21;53;03 - 00;22;02;23

Clark

And I think a good compromise is to have a monitor. They're close to you. And I do not have a wireless monitor, but God, that's got to be great.

00;22;02;23 - 00;22;07;05

Cullen

That and they're not even that. They're not really that expensive, too. I was shocked when I got one.

00;22;07;05 - 00;22;28;16

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So, yeah. Good stuff. Let's see you talking about. This is huge. This is huge. And especially, again, we're talking about probably smaller budget filmmaking, keeping the crew small. Mm. Oh, I mean, I feel like there are more reasons to do this than just budget, but.

00;22;28;25 - 00;22;38;11

Cullen

Oh, I was going to say, I think we both agree that even on a bigger budget, I the crew for me and I think Herzog says this as well is that crew. I want it to be as small as possible.

00;22;38;22 - 00;22;59;24

Clark

And I think, you know, it is interesting, You know, Herzog speaks to this in the lesson, and I have noticed this, too. And and even even with, you know, 50,000 or $100,000 budget films, you know, still very small budgets, micro budgets, but there's almost and, you know, I don't know exactly put my finger on exactly why this is.

00;22;59;24 - 00;23;24;13

Clark

I mean, I think it's like when we were kids or, you know, when we're when we're younger and we first get this inkling that we want to be filmmakers and whatever era of film that you kind of grew up in, whether it's like Spielberg or Lucas or Coppola, I don't know whoever, but you have this kind of like grand idea that you want to be this big filmmaker in command of this giant, you know, platoon of of crew and cast.

00;23;24;13 - 00;23;57;05

Clark

And, you know, we hear all these stories about, you know, like these epic films where hundreds of people were working on them. And it was, you know, and I feel like there is some kind of pull. I've noticed where there's there's this like pull for cruise to expand to get bigger. Totally Yeah. When they don't really necessarily have to be and I'm just I kind of I don't know I my only explanation for it sometimes is just that it's that it feels more professional or that it feels like a bigger production I think I mean, I.

00;23;57;05 - 00;24;08;07

Cullen

Think you just I think a lot of times people just assume that the more hands on set than the better. The faster it's going to be and the more efficient. And it's like I find the complete opposite, though. I find that to a point.

00;24;08;18 - 00;24;09;06

Clark

To a point.

00;24;09;10 - 00;24;12;25

Cullen

To a point, of course. So I wouldn't want to be doing a feature with myself and like one other guy.

00;24;12;25 - 00;24;30;21

Clark

But I mean, you do have to have your your fundamental bases covered. Yeah. And I will just and I will highlight sound here because I feel like it just it gets overlooked so much, you know? So definitely don't skimp on your your sound team. Yes. Just throw in that. They're just throwing that.

00;24;30;27 - 00;24;50;09

Cullen

Well, there's a really interesting interview on YouTube with the key grip, the lighting technician and the gaffer of Phantom Thread, which was Paul Thomas Anderson's most recent movie that came out 2017. Yeah, this is great. There's this great interview. It's like it's like 2 hours long and it just them talking about the process of making it and it's.

00;24;50;11 - 00;24;57;17

Clark

Really safe to say that's good for people because I'd like to people who are interested, I'd like to be able to point them to it. So yeah, it's a YouTube video and if you look up.

00;24;57;27 - 00;25;08;28

Cullen

If you just look up phantom thread lighting, gaffer behind the scenes, you should be able to find it. It's like, it's like a two hour kind of almost like a podcast video. But you know, video now.

00;25;08;28 - 00;25;14;10

Clark

Was this is, this isn't, this isn't like, like featurette stuff from the no.

00;25;14;11 - 00;25;17;13

Cullen

No, this is them. They did like a, like a livestream.

00;25;17;13 - 00;25;18;22

Clark

On YouTube that out. Yeah.

00;25;19;17 - 00;25;43;14

Cullen

But it's this really interesting thing is that they do talk in there about how to also you know like to keep this to the set small and they actually didn't even use a cinematographer on that movie they it was PTA Did yeah kind of a collaboration with again his lighting technician and his his key gaffer or keep dripping in gaffer and they all kind of, you know, made the lighting and the cinematographer selves.

00;25;43;24 - 00;26;11;08

Clark

You know, this is an area that I don't have a ton of experience in. And I'm just curious if if you do or maybe if anybody out there listening does, you could kind of write to us. But I you know, directors who do their own operating from a from a union guild perspective, I know there might be some challenges there, but I'm not really sure what that is or how you get you know, I just know that there have been some some issues in the past where directors have wanted to operate in that can kind of be an issue.

00;26;11;08 - 00;26;18;15

Cullen

But legally, I have no idea. I'd assume that's stuff that you can probably work out in the contract too, that like you could put stipulations in there that.

00;26;18;15 - 00;26;20;22

Clark

Negotiations with the guilds. Yeah, Yeah.

00;26;21;08 - 00;26;26;24

Cullen

Because I mean that's I've never really even thought I've never anything that I've ran a set that I've ran I've never done union.

00;26;27;02 - 00;26;27;10

Clark

Yeah.

00;26;27;25 - 00;26;44;18

Cullen

Because in Canada which is a little different than the states, you actually can't mix union and nonunion workers. If you're doing a nonunion set, you can't get anybody. Yeah, Yeah. So that's a little bit of a difference here is that you have to like if I'm doing a nonunion thing. Union workers could get in trouble for actually working on that.

00;26;45;19 - 00;26;53;13

Cullen

But no, I I'm not sure about the actual, the like stipulations in terms of of like rules around operating and things like that.

00;26;53;13 - 00;27;00;18

Clark

But suffice to say worth worth looking into for. Yes, of course. Yeah. Yeah. If that's your goals. But but I do.

00;27;00;18 - 00;27;31;15

Cullen

Think it's interesting though that again, it's one of these things where it's like you have a movie like Phantom Thread that is quite, you know, small scale in the grand scheme of things, but still larger budget, you know, multi-billion dollar movie. Absolutely. But but that they said that there were cases where there were like eight or nine people on set like that, it was so tiny and that it was really nice to it's it almost felt like you were back in like a almost like a learning session where you're like sitting there and you're just kind of it's just you and a few friends being like, Let's do this and let's figure this out.

00;27;31;15 - 00;27;37;27

Cullen

And I think, you know, that speaks to a lot of things that at least I, you know, I'm attracted to about filmmaking.

00;27;38;11 - 00;27;55;21

Clark

And and I would say, you know, it's obviously there are types of films that lend themselves to smaller crews and cast and others. Of course, it's you're going to be hard pressed to put together a marvel movie without utilizing like a thousand plus people's talents.

00;27;56;00 - 00;27;59;05

Cullen

Yeah, you're going to be hard pressed to put on a marvel movie, period. But yeah.

00;27;59;12 - 00;28;25;28

Clark

Well, for sure. But but, you know, it's, you know, one of the things I think is so vital as a director is that we talked about this in other in other episodes. Is this, you know, that you're kind of the holder of the vision, right? This this flame that is the vision. And your goal is to share that is to communicate it and not just communicate it so that people understand it, but communicate it so that people are also ignited by it.

00;28;25;28 - 00;28;50;18

Clark

Yes, they're inspired by it. And the more people that you've got on set, the harder that is to do. Yeah, it's just and this is just the nature of, you know, it's been you can only spend so much time with so many people in a day. And so if you're running a set with 200 people, you're likely not even going to know many of those people, much less, you know, be able to spend time with them to really ignite them.

00;28;50;22 - 00;29;00;07

Cullen

I mean, of course, to especially neither of us are famous, But I can imagine, you know, I heard Silver said, sorry, I was just I was just trying to be humble for myself.

00;29;00;07 - 00;29;03;00

Clark

Okay. I got you. I got. But that's good.

00;29;04;11 - 00;29;06;15

Cullen

But I've heard Spielberg sitting in a director's.

00;29;06;15 - 00;29;07;29

Clark

Chair right now. Yeah, Actually.

00;29;08;08 - 00;29;12;25

Cullen

Herzog is listening to me nodding slowly. He's right to my left. He's read, read, read there.

00;29;12;27 - 00;29;15;05

Clark

You're like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please.

00;29;15;11 - 00;29;33;28

Cullen

I've heard. I've heard Spielberg talk about this, that there's sometimes issues where it's like he is directing on a set and the extras or, you know, some kind of technicians or something will come up to him and start trying to have conversations with him about his movie because he's or his movies, his past movies, Steven Spielberg. And it's like, Oh, what was it like to make Jaws and things like that?

00;29;34;16 - 00;29;46;27

Cullen

And, and I saw I can imagine from a from a larger filmmaker's perspective or like even like Herzog and people like that is that, that there's another reason to want to keep your set small and that's just that's just. EGGERS Limiting.

00;29;46;27 - 00;30;16;02

Clark

Distractions. Yeah, yeah. And distractions. But you're right. So you and I and many people listening here might not have that particular challenge, but, but yeah, I mean and I think it's just it's, I mean for me it you know, everybody runs a set in slightly different ways. We have different personalities of course, and you know, but even going back to my my earlier days and directing theater, I feel it's important that there be, you know, a very like a strong cohesion almost.

00;30;16;04 - 00;30;43;29

Clark

Yes. Family. Yeah. And that's how I enjoy filmmaking and that's how I personally feel like better filmmaking is made an obviously there are fantastic films made where you know, the stories of on set behavior and, you know, the conditions on set are atrocious and horrible and they're still fantastic. Films come out the other end. But I think, you know, in general those films come out fantastic in spite of not because of it.

00;30;44;01 - 00;30;44;22

Cullen

Oh, exactly.

00;30;44;26 - 00;30;54;08

Clark

Yeah. And also to, you know, look, life is short. I don't want to spend my time working on sets where where there's where it's it's not fun where people.

00;30;54;08 - 00;30;59;26

Cullen

I mean, yeah, I'm, I'm working on this these things because I like to do it. I don't, I don't know why anyone would want to work on a set.

00;31;00;13 - 00;31;20;26

Clark

In that way. Right. It's a difference between a challenge, you know, and just full on torture. But I think it's easier to, you know, to maintain a read on the on the morale of a crew and help, you know, manipulate, not manipulate, but help affect morale in a positive direction. All the all of these things are easier when you've got I mean, I even.

00;31;20;26 - 00;31;35;04

Cullen

Want to say that that too, with with like flexibility, it's much more easy to say we're changing this job, so let's do it this way. And when you don't have to go down the line of 100 people and say, okay, we need the technicians to go up on that scissor lift and change that light.

00;31;35;04 - 00;31;45;24

Clark

Right. I'll just. Transportation, right. Just changing locations is it is a nightmare if you've got, you know, more people that can fit in a couple of vans. Yeah. Everything becomes more difficult. Everything takes more time.

00;31;45;24 - 00;32;11;04

Cullen

It does. It weirdly reminds me to of the difference between working somewhere like a larger restaurant and, you know, this is a little bit of an anecdote, but a larger restaurant versus a smaller still kind of, you know, fancier in with an Asterix restaurant. But but yeah, the difference there being so immense because it's like on one hand, you've got this huge place that's basically a factory, like you're just churning stuff out.

00;32;11;11 - 00;32;27;01

Cullen

On the other hand, you're like a McDonald's. Yeah, you're still maintaining this quality, but but on the other hand, you're in a smaller place. You're you're, you're still again, it's like that family thing. Like you don't have a concern with getting someone to come help you out with something or move a table or whatever. And I think it's the same way in film.

00;32;27;01 - 00;32;36;09

Cullen

I think that you you're going to have it's just more personal on the level of like you can't really avoid anybody. So yeah, you're going to have to get along with them.

00;32;36;09 - 00;32;39;29

Clark

Which sometimes could be an issue, but hopefully not. Hopefully not.

00;32;40;03 - 00;32;42;09

Cullen

Well, that's when it comes into your hiring. That's and of.

00;32;42;09 - 00;33;03;19

Clark

Course, you know and of course, look, I think most of us it's not even a choice. You know, most of us who are in the earlier parts of their career, you know, that's obviously upper echelons. There are fewer and fewer directors who get to work with millions of dollars in budget and, you know, even have the option. So I think for most of us, that's not even a question.

00;33;03;19 - 00;33;34;05

Clark

But but, you know, feel good about the fact that even if you did have that money, this is likely the best way to work. I think, you know, one of the ways that you can cut down on some crew and and this kind of combines both the aspect of being right next to the action, being right with your actors and and not being in a video village and having a small crew is you know, Herzog talks about he really emphasizes this, doing your slates and your last looks yourself.

00;33;34;08 - 00;33;52;12

Clark

Yes, I completely agree with this. I mean, this is great advice. And I hadn't even thought about this, frankly, until I watched this master class for the first time, however many years ago. What was that? Four years ago? Five years ago. But I took this to heart and it is. I highly recommend it. Yeah, I highly recommend this.

00;33;52;12 - 00;34;33;03

Clark

And, you know, for all the reasons that he states in this lesson to be kind of and I think this is great for me the most important part of it is that and Herzog uses a great kind of you know, little tells a little story about how he can do this, about being like the last line between that, you know, between action and your your cast to really be there with them and to to have that intuitive sense to be close enough that you're intuiting their energy, their readiness for a scene where they're at and, you know, to be able to buffer them from everything, all of the chaos that's kind of going on around

00;34;33;03 - 00;34;54;21

Clark

them, which is, you know, already a challenge for an actor. I you know, you and I both have some acting experience and, you know, you're working to kind of give yourself a bubble, so to speak, to be and to maintain your emotional states in this chaotic environment that is filmmaking and that can really be a challenge. And I think it's so vital for the director.

00;34;54;29 - 00;35;15;13

Clark

It helps you strengthen your bonds with your actors and, you know, and to be there to kind of defend them, you know? And Herzog uses this great little story about how, you know, he was he could kind of tell an actor still needs a few moments and instead of, you know, making them the center of attention and saying, wait, wait, wait, everybody, you know, our actor here needs more time.

00;35;15;13 - 00;35;17;19

Cullen

They're not. You make something up. Yeah, just you almost.

00;35;17;20 - 00;35;32;23

Clark

Right says, hey, you know, no, we need to, you know, can you double check this filter or. Yeah. Okay. Let me, you know. And he goes and fiddles with something in the background or something for a minute, just, you know, just to make something up to give him a chance. Oh, yeah. That's such a wonderful idea. Oh, totally.

00;35;33;02 - 00;35;39;24

Clark

Use this kind of, you know, with with some common sense and, you know, sparingly. But you would.

00;35;40;03 - 00;35;42;27

Cullen

Just go out and do what? Every take But every take.

00;35;42;27 - 00;36;13;21

Clark

Yeah, but these things really, I think that, you know, again, at least for me and maybe because my orientation to all of this is so actor focused for me. But I feel like all of these things, you know, being right there next to the camera, next to the action, slating being that last line or that buffer between the actors in action, I feel like will really, really help endear you to your actors.

00;36;13;21 - 00;36;19;12

Clark

They help you bond with them, which I think is so key and help your actress feel safe.

00;36;19;12 - 00;36;26;25

Cullen

Yes. Yeah. Safety is a huge thing, not even just safety in terms of like physical safety, but just safe, emotionally, emotionally safe.

00;36;26;25 - 00;37;00;10

Clark

Right. It's this and it's you know, and especially I can't you know, it's obviously it's vital for any level of filmmaking, but I feel like it is such a vital aspect of filmmaking. And at some of the, you know, more and, you know, introductory levels where you're maybe working with actors with less experience under their belt and, you know, it's actors need all the help they can get in the sense that whatever you can do to make that environment a conducive one, I mean, it's it's fragile.

00;37;00;10 - 00;37;04;00

Clark

Like what an actor does is a delicate business. Well, I always.

00;37;04;00 - 00;37;11;02

Cullen

Describe it sort of as like, you know, it's like it's like a rocket launch. Like there's this huge amount of pressure when you're counting down.

00;37;11;07 - 00;37;11;20

Clark

20.

00;37;11;20 - 00;37;14;18

Cullen

And you're going down and it's like you should be the mission control.

00;37;14;24 - 00;37;15;02

Clark

Yeah.

00;37;15;12 - 00;37;20;13

Cullen

The actor should just be able to sit in that rocket and be watched. When it happens. You should be the one that's checking on.

00;37;20;13 - 00;37;42;22

Clark

All of this and checking why. Quiet, safe little capsule, you know? Yeah, I like that. I like that. I like that analogy. That's a good one. So. So I told you, you know, it's like I said, I didn't do this before I watched this lesson. But I have really grown to love this idea. What about you? Is this something that you prep before the lesson, or do you practice it at all now or kind of.

00;37;42;22 - 00;38;17;04

Cullen

I don't know. I don't. I don't usually do. Usually I'll leave the slate for the first A.D. That's, you know, because normally I don't have somebody on on script supervision or anything like that. So the first lady will do that. But I do, I think I understand and I try and go with the the idea of this that you should be like I normally after Slate and all that, I will take a moment and you know as is pretty pretty standard, take a moment to just kind of have everything relax and then we're now on my time and the actor's time.

00;38;17;04 - 00;38;28;22

Cullen

And then I say, either when you're ready or action whenever, whenever I feel appropriate. But there's this, there's this kind of, um, yeah, there's an understanding where you kind of get like one last look at the.

00;38;28;23 - 00;38;31;07

Clark

You probably have one of those like, microphones, don't you, Or what do you.

00;38;31;13 - 00;38;35;08

Cullen

I do. I don't have one electronic ones so I've got one of the old timey like, Yeah, yeah.

00;38;35;08 - 00;38;39;16

Clark

That's what I mean. Yeah. And you have a beret I'm hoping you have to break into.

00;38;39;17 - 00;38;40;04

Cullen

And ask.

00;38;40;06 - 00;38;52;18

Clark

Safari like a ascot with like a, like a safari vest that has like you're in your viewfinder. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. I just want people at home to be able to picture me. Yeah, yeah.

00;38;53;20 - 00;39;01;26

Cullen

Yeah. No, I do. I do think that it's really important that, like, again, I have I've never done slates myself unless I'm the only person that's able to do them.

00;39;02;15 - 00;39;03;18

Clark

But you're still there. But.

00;39;03;19 - 00;39;10;03

Cullen

But I, you know, I'm there and I do. I understand the sentiment of it, and I think I just, if anything, just sort of take a slightly altered approach to it.

00;39;10;12 - 00;39;33;20

Clark

Yeah. No, that's just that's completely fair. I mean, there's multiple ways to do that. You know, I think it's. Yeah, absolutely. And as part of this, Herzog talks about Eileen's, you know, sort of protecting actors. And definitely, I mean, this is, you know, again, and I think you and I a couple episodes ago talked about the importance of actually taking some acting training and doing some acting yourself.

00;39;33;20 - 00;39;40;20

Clark

And when you do this, I think you'll really realize keenly how important it is to protect or defend your actor's eyeline.

00;39;40;20 - 00;39;41;08

Cullen

Totally.

00;39;41;08 - 00;40;07;09

Clark

And of course, there you know that the Christian Bale story, of course, when that happened, that made the rounds everywhere. And I think a lot of people thought that's interesting to hear Herzog defend Christian Bale here. Obviously, they work together and Herzog is obviously fond of him. But and I don't think correct me if I'm wrong, you've ever heard of of of Christian Bale, you know, misbehaving like no, I'm not that this even is.

00;40;07;09 - 00;40;11;08

Clark

But they've never even heard of him being this way before or since. Right.

00;40;11;11 - 00;40;18;25

Cullen

I can I can sort of you know, not to say that you should be speaking to anybody the way he's speaking to them, but I do in a way empathize with.

00;40;18;25 - 00;40;19;14

Clark

Absolutely.

00;40;19;14 - 00;40;27;28

Cullen

Why you would be like, I can't imagine being in the middle of a scene as an actor or as a director or as anybody on set, and seeing somebody fiddle with a light.

00;40;28;21 - 00;40;46;13

Clark

On camera on their cell phone, you know, texting or. Yeah, right, right. In your eyeline. And, you know, just for people to kind of understand, again, I think it's important to do some acting yourself and you'll see. But again, it's you know as a director so much of your job is creating this this safe place for your actors.

00;40;46;23 - 00;41;09;00

Clark

And a big, huge part of that is protecting their eye lines. And, you know, we're going to talk about this, you know, but keeping phones and walkies away keep, you know, when you have larger, larger sets. We've talked about the importance of a smaller crew or how that can be beneficial. Well, definitely one of those ways that's beneficial is that you don't have 50 people standing around doing nothing on their cell phones right.

00;41;09;00 - 00;41;27;17

Clark

When you're shooting. It's to minimize all these distractions, to minimize all these you know, when you've got a smaller crew, everybody has something to do. Almost every. Yeah, you know, you have a large crew. You're going to have people standing around doing nothing, twiddling their thumbs. Well, in today's day and age, it's going to be that they're going to be on their phone.

00;41;27;26 - 00;41;35;14

Clark

But and that's yes, of course, if we all know that. Christian Bale, what film was he? What was it, one of the Batman films? What was what now?

00;41;35;14 - 00;41;37;12

Cullen

It was Terminator Salvation.

00;41;37;26 - 00;41;59;25

Clark

Yeah, that's right. And actually it was, Oh, man, I'm going to I'm blanking out. But it was actually a fairly famous DP who was futzing around. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Who was it? Come on, help me out. Anyway, he's got his own. He's got his own series of. Of classes online. Yes. Yeah. And I'm totally spacing out and somebody out there.

00;42;00;17 - 00;42;01;07

Cullen

Shane Hurlbut.

00;42;01;07 - 00;42;02;26

Clark

Yeah. Shane Hurlbut Now if he's got.

00;42;02;26 - 00;42;03;23

Cullen

The Hurlbut Academy.

00;42;03;23 - 00;42;12;06

Clark

Yeah. It's not, if I'm not mistaken, I think it was probably and he was fussing with some lights during a take and you know, and that's, it's.

00;42;12;10 - 00;42;30;08

Cullen

The other thing too is that a whole bunch of his is co cast and not co cast but also crew members stood up to defend Bale on and said yeah it was it was, it wasn't I mean you're on such a high pressure set, especially with the amount of like, like effects and stuff like that in a situation like that that I can understand.

00;42;30;14 - 00;42;54;15

Clark

You're like, look, you know, at the end of the day, the actor is the person who's on, on that big screen. Yeah. And if the film sucks, let's face it, the actors are going to be catching a lot of that flak. Yeah, and even further than that, look, it's when when that when in between action and cut the actor, of course, is the absolute focal point or actors are the focal point of the production.

00;42;54;25 - 00;43;19;18

Clark

And the weight of all of that is on you right then and there. I mean, that's right. That's why everybody is there. Everybody is there to make those moments between action and cut count. And if you've got other you know, and so it's all on your shoulders. And if you can't rely on your crew to give you the space to perform when you're finally called to, that's you know, that's no fun.

00;43;19;24 - 00;43;40;03

Clark

But but yeah, again, I'm like you. I wouldn't I would not suggest that anybody rant in that way. But I can certainly empathize with why he would. And for for those people listening who maybe didn't quite understand why Christian Bale was doing that. That's why. Yeah. And and so just one more reason I think to be right there.

00;43;40;18 - 00;43;57;16

Clark

If you're a at video village, if you're, you know, 50 feet away from what's from the action that's taking place, it's unlikely that you're going to be able to see that and call it out. Yeah. And so, yeah, just, you know, Herzog talks about keeping phones and walkies away, and this is something that simple and I couldn't agree more.

00;43;57;22 - 00;44;21;26

Clark

I totally more. Yeah. Yeah. And especially if you've got a small crew, it's pretty easy to do this, you know, if anybody's going to be on their phone, then they have to be X feet away or, you know, outside of the room or away from shooting. And I think this is almost a hopefully would be common sense. But not they're just phones are just terrifically distracted.

00;44;21;26 - 00;44;26;00

Clark

Anyway I could go on and on about Yeah, no doubt about how I'm kind of.

00;44;26;08 - 00;44;32;21

Cullen

I always think it's the moment the phones come out on a set or like even even if you yourself look at a phone, it sounds like it's.

00;44;32;21 - 00;44;33;07

Clark

Just it's just.

00;44;33;23 - 00;44;34;04

Cullen

Gone.

00;44;34;18 - 00;44;55;11

Clark

Something's wrong, right? It's like, okay, wait a minute. Like, I'm checking out. I got to get back into this. Where? What's going on? You know, And of course this happens, you know, we're all human. And, you know, of course these moments are going to happen. But, you know, that's a really good point. It's like you if you have the pull, like if you feel this pull to get out your phone and check your social media or something while you're on a shoot, we use that as a sign.

00;44;55;11 - 00;45;15;22

Clark

Use that as a signal to be like, Well, okay, wait a minute, I'm checking out. What's up? Do I need to like, do I need to, like, get some coffee? Am I like, do I need to, like, remember why I'm here? Do I need to, like, reignite my my passion for the story we're telling? What's going on? You know, if if I can't be interested in it right now when we're actually shooting it, how can I expect an audience to be interested in it?

00;45;15;22 - 00;45;17;12

Clark

You know, when it's done so.

00;45;17;12 - 00;45;34;03

Cullen

And I mean, I think that the interesting thing about him, too, with Herzog is the scheduling that he does of his movies. And maybe that's a way to kind of quell that idea of like, there's no downtime, so there's not even a moment's notice to pull out the phone. And that's his idea of starting to shoot within 90 minutes of the call.

00;45;34;15 - 00;45;35;18

Clark

And I love that, which.

00;45;35;18 - 00;45;44;18

Cullen

Is a great, great idea. And it's a great and that's within I mean, it's not like he it's not like if they've got half an hour to spare, they're like, Oh, okay, everyone take five.

00;45;44;18 - 00;45;47;18

Clark

Like, oh, it's starting as soon as possible.

00;45;47;18 - 00;45;50;09

Cullen

And then at latest, 90 minutes, which I think is such a great.

00;45;50;09 - 00;46;11;27

Clark

Yeah, I love this and I am going to implement this on my next shoot. Yeah, I have definitely been on shoots now, not shoots that I was directing, but shoots where I was an actor that we may not have started shooting until 3 hours after. And now it's ridiculous. I just I can't tell you what a I don't know, for lack of a better word, downer.

00;46;12;09 - 00;46;40;11

Clark

I mean, it is just, you know. Oh, you know, there's already such an amount of tedium that takes place in a shoot because this is just, you know, it's the nature of the beast sometimes, especially as an actor, where you're kind of hurry and hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. But I think that's so much of what Herzog talks about, whether It's in his writing or, you know, here on set is about maintaining a sense of urgency.

00;46;40;11 - 00;46;55;00

Clark

And I love that idea. And so I think on my next one, we get this horror film in production and we start shooting hopefully next year. Yeah, I can't wait to try this. Yeah, no, I'm. I'm, uh.

00;46;55;02 - 00;46;59;01

Cullen

I'm going to utilize a lot of, a lot of things that are Hitchcock, Herzog says.

00;46;59;15 - 00;47;01;05

Clark

In the story, too. I know you're in.

00;47;01;05 - 00;47;04;22

Cullen

Yeah, they. The Alfred Hitchcock Masterclass.

00;47;04;22 - 00;47;06;24

Clark

But that would be if he could come back from.

00;47;06;24 - 00;47;31;17

Cullen

Yeah, Jeez, let's get some resurrection there. I mean, no, I do think that that's it's again, like I said, like I think a huge aspect of that is just again, not giving people not to say that you can't have downtime but like in that first that that first I would say three hour stretch of shooting is so vital that especially like in a morning that you really have to be like, all right, we're here, we're setting up and we're shooting.

00;47;31;17 - 00;47;41;15

Cullen

We're not we're not taking coffee breaks. We're not doing anything like that until we get through, you know, a chunk of our schedule today. And then we can we can do scheduled lunch.

00;47;41;21 - 00;48;05;02

Clark

And part of that, too, could be, you know, paid attention when you're in the process that we are in pre-production and you're working on your shoot schedules to keep in mind, you know, So start from the beginning right? Yeah. Production that, hey, you know, we want to have the cameras rolling tops, tops 90 minutes after call. So, you know, be efficient when you call people to set.

00;48;05;10 - 00;48;26;14

Clark

That's another kind of side of this that I've seen in a little more amateur filmmaking where not very much attention to detail was taken or consideration was taken for call times. And, you know, everybody in the entire film was called the set, you know, way before they were actually needed. It's just just, you know, kind of disrespectful, amateur.

00;48;26;14 - 00;48;27;08

Clark

It's a waste of people.

00;48;27;08 - 00;48;29;01

Cullen

Oh, yeah. I can't stand that stuff in.

00;48;29;02 - 00;48;49;07

Clark

By the time people get to a scene with, you know, by the time they actually start working, it's, you know, it's hard to maintain your energy sometimes. And it's just, you know, you can really have kind of a trough there. So I think all the way around it's a it's a really powerful little tool. And. Yeah, so 90 minutes.

00;48;49;17 - 00;48;51;10

Clark

Yeah. All right, man. Well.

00;48;51;26 - 00;48;53;11

Cullen

50 minutes for us. Yeah, I was going to.

00;48;53;11 - 00;49;05;20

Clark

Kind of 90 minutes. We like half. That's barely over half that. So yeah, really. And, but yeah, but I think, I think we've covered pretty much everything in that in this lesson. Colin, any last words here?

00;49;06;14 - 00;49;11;28

Cullen

Uh, Reed. Reed. Reed. Or should I say, what should I say? I should say rules.

00;49;11;28 - 00;49;14;10

Clark

Rules? Yeah.

00;49;14;10 - 00;49;23;08

Cullen

No, I think, I mean, again, I think that, that the things that Herzog say here, there are things that he has said are very interesting in terms of not this is not a very typical versus.

00;49;23;08 - 00;49;24;09

Clark

One this time. I know.

00;49;24;09 - 00;49;35;07

Cullen

Not very controversial, but but also not not rules that one would really want in that if that rules again, you think of like how to pass off a how to sandbag a light stand and things like.

00;49;35;08 - 00;49;52;29

Clark

That. Right. Right. And this is much more you know, that Herzog's masterclass as a whole is not that kind of thing. And there are no tons of places where you can get that kind of information. And those are good things to know. But really his masterclass is about is I the way I kind of describe it is it's about a philosophy of filmmaking.

00;49;53;12 - 00;50;29;04

Clark

Yeah. So yeah, so certainly if listeners here, if you haven't heard, seen or heard his masterclass at Masterclass QCOM and you're thinking about it, it is definitely more of a philosophy of filmmaking and of art as opposed to a really nuts and bolts like step by step, step by step kind of thing like that. But there are so many places where you can go and they get, get that kind of information for free or do you know other things volunteer or, you know, it's all little shoots you can go and I mean, hell, I learned a lot when I first came out here just doing background work.

00;50;29;06 - 00;50;43;14

Clark

Yeah. To be on a huge, you know, major studio set, television or film or commercial. I did all three. And you learn so much about those little nitty gritty things, but there's nowadays with YouTube and everything, my gosh, there's tons.

00;50;43;14 - 00;50;45;24

Cullen

You can see the Hurlbert Academy. Hurlbert, of course.

00;50;45;25 - 00;51;08;20

Clark

Oh, right. All right. Well, wrap it up here, everybody. I thank you for hanging out with us, We hope. Thanks so much, Ben Enjoyable. And thanks for being here. As always. A treat, especially just imagining you in your beret and your director's chair. Just fill my heart when I'm sitting right now. All right, guys. Well, until next time, where we will be.

00;51;08;20 - 00;51;15;05

Clark

What are we going to be talking about next week? I think next lesson is shooting strategy.

00;51;15;05 - 00;51;18;19

Cullen

Yeah, all of us doing strategy. So you're kind of getting into the. Yeah, the step here.

00;51;18;19 - 00;51;25;12

Clark

We are. We're like now we're get yeah, we're moving from pre-production to production. Exciting stuff. Yeah. Okay. So until then, we'll see you soon.

00;51;25;22 - 00;51;34;00

Cullen

So you guys.

Episode - 009

Cullen

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to episode nine of the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. I'm Cullen McFater and I'm joined again, as per usual, by Clark Coffey.

00;00;20;17 - 00;00;22;20

Clark

I'm still here. You can't get rid of me all around.

00;00;24;09 - 00;00;36;04

Cullen

Today we're going to be going over lesson ten. I know it gets a little bit confusing there, but the Lesson ten of the Herzog podcast sorry, the Herzog Masterclass. We are the Herzog podcast, and this one's about.

00;00;36;09 - 00;00;37;17

Clark

The Herzog Masterclass.

00;00;37;18 - 00;00;59;02

Cullen

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. This one talk about shooting strategy. And and so it's sort of related to our last episode, which was about basically everything going on before the cameras are rolling and like, you know, set rules and ways to prepare yourself. But now this is about the actual shooting and the, you know, the the point when the camera is recording.

00;00;59;02 - 00;01;00;10

Clark

Actually rolling and.

00;01;00;14 - 00;01;09;08

Cullen

How to get to that point and how to sort of more, I guess, rather than the set rules, a little bit more of a creative tinge on this one about about like a creative process to get you to that point.

00;01;09;16 - 00;01;13;23

Clark

And right off the bat, Herzog says come on prepared.

00;01;14;08 - 00;01;15;24

Cullen

Yes, that's his big thing.

00;01;15;26 - 00;01;41;23

Clark

Oh, my gosh. And it's it's it's awesome. You know, so I've seen this quoted in other places. If you if you read reviews of his masterclass and I think he's said this in other interviews as well. I know he has. It's one of his more famous kind of yeah. No, it's controversial, but you know, he definitely draws a line in the sand here and he's like, storyboards are the instruments of Coward's.

00;01;41;23 - 00;01;47;14

Clark

Yes. And if you want to do your your voice here, you can call in. But what a great line.

00;01;47;14 - 00;01;48;17

Cullen

Strength of cowards.

00;01;48;17 - 00;01;48;25

Clark

Yeah.

00;01;49;11 - 00;02;05;14

Cullen

No, I mean and that's it's an interesting because I think again, it's one of the things that's so it's such a it's like a soundbite and yeah so he does admit later that the he does the needed for things like there are caveats and things like that but I do. Do you storyboard card do you.

00;02;05;23 - 00;02;54;22

Clark

So so yeah I'll so I have I have never storyboarded but I have also never shot a scenes that had complicated special effects or really complicated quarry choreographed action. But what I have done is this. So I, you know, for other shoots, what I have done in preparation is I have made shot lists for myself, So not storyboarded, but I have written them out and for myself, what this gets me doing is it puts me in a very visual headspace where I can start to visualize the film scene by scene by scene moment by moment by moment.

00;02;55;06 - 00;03;27;08

Clark

Now, it's not necessarily the case that when I arrive on set, I'm following this to an absolute tee. But I do have to say that I don't show up unprepared, you know, Now maybe, you know, look, Herzog is clearly he's a gifted filmmaker and clearly he's got a lot of films under his belt now. And so a lot of things that are just intuitive muscle memory type things to him may not be so for other directors with less experience.

00;03;27;08 - 00;03;46;09

Clark

So, you know, when I'm shooting something that's got any kind of complexity to it whatsoever, I do put myself through the exercise of creating shot list and I try to push myself past, you know, just, you know, past the low lying fruit. You know.

00;03;46;09 - 00;04;07;03

Cullen

I think it's interesting that you say, like you said earlier, that when you shot list, it's for you. I almost find that you don't follow it to a tee. What I find is that shot listing opens me up and allows me to be more creative on set because I have a list that I so I know. Like, it's kind of counterintuitive, but yeah, because I have a short list.

00;04;07;15 - 00;04;16;18

Cullen

I know what I need to get, and that saves me the pressure of having to worry. Am I going to miss this shot in allows me to go, Let's throw a shot in here. Let's add a shot, the.

00;04;16;19 - 00;04;35;00

Clark

Riff off of it. Right. So, yeah, good way to think of it is like it's almost, you know, it's like if this were the, the, you know, the sheet music or something for a piece, you know, but instead of playing it. Nope, I know by note it's like it allows me to improvise. I take off from that place.

00;04;35;00 - 00;04;45;21

Clark

Right. But I think for me it, it just helps me break down the script and it helps me put it into kind of these visual blocks and, you know, which are just they're set up and.

00;04;45;21 - 00;04;55;25

Cullen

I sort of I find that I find too, that storyboarding sort of is the antithesis of that, that I find storyboarding really locks you into a visual style.

00;04;55;25 - 00;05;18;25

Clark

And I think it's a different way of thinking, right? Yeah, it's yeah. So, so when I shot List, I am, you know, it's really activating my imagination, right? It's I'm having to you know, I'm not taking my visualized imaginings and putting them on a piece of paper and then going onto set and then replicating that picture that I've drawn on a piece of paper.

00;05;18;25 - 00;05;24;08

Clark

Right. It's still language, it's not visual. And so there's still that.

00;05;24;23 - 00;05;27;03

Cullen

There's the moment where your brain visualize it.

00;05;27;12 - 00;05;53;08

Clark

Right? And so, you know, I don't know if Herzog you know, I would be curious to kind of hear what he might say about shot list versus versus storyboards. But, you know, and for me, I think, you know, the more shooting I do, the more comfortable I get improvising. But for me, it's I really I try to I don't want to get on set and then just grab the low lying, clichéd shots.

00;05;53;09 - 00;06;12;28

Clark

Right. The low line. Yeah. It's that you know, where it's just like a two for an over the shoulder, over shoulder. And it's like, I might as well be making a soap opera. Yeah, I know. I'm trying to. And not just for the sake of it though. I mean, not, you know, I'm not sitting here like, oh, it's Dutch angle, this thing just for the hell of it, you know, obviously motivated by story, you know, motivated by story.

00;06;12;28 - 00;06;29;06

Clark

But, you know, it just it's right. I mean, look, movies are visual mediums and which which of course you would think, Yeah, of course they are. Of course they are. But look at how many films and television shows don't seem to understand that. It's a visual storyteller.

00;06;29;06 - 00;06;30;12

Cullen

Rely on exposition.

00;06;30;16 - 00;06;54;14

Clark

Because it's basically it's basically shot theater in and a lot of television is shot theater especially. But a lot of films are too. And so at least for me, I'm trying to think of, you know, how much information, how much story can I convey visually. Exactly. So it's like trying to achieve a density of visual storytelling, at least for me, requires preparation.

00;06;55;03 - 00;06;56;24

Cullen

No, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

00;06;56;28 - 00;07;15;09

Clark

No, I just said, you know, but. But if I don't know. How many films has Herzog shot now? 40 some odd. I'm not sure. You know, when I get to a place like that, hopefully if I ever get to a place like that, you know, I mean, I think he's he's an he's at a level experience where these kind of things are muscle memory for him.

00;07;15;09 - 00;07;16;23

Clark

It's not exactly yet.

00;07;16;24 - 00;07;41;20

Cullen

So, I mean, I will say, though, about storyboarding and this is kind of almost proving his point. So the feature that I'm directing coming up, of course, is my first feature that I'm directing. Yeah. And the producers and I sort of reached an agreement where I said, okay, to ease your nerves, I will storyboard it. And so in that instance is essentially literally the instrument of Coward's because it's about using nerves.

00;07;41;21 - 00;07;47;05

Cullen

Yeah. So it does kind of prove his point that like normally I wouldn't, I don't storyboard, I don't find that they ever help me.

00;07;47;05 - 00;07;47;24

Clark

But you had to.

00;07;47;24 - 00;08;03;12

Cullen

Kind of but, but I said I said you know what I'll I'll and and they're being very open to the idea that it's not going to be steadfast. We probably won't even have the storyboards on set. It'll probably just be kind of a pre thing where we go through just the shots and kind of go, okay, here's here's what I'm thinking of for this moment.

00;08;04;20 - 00;08;08;13

Cullen

But yeah, it's literally, in that instance, technically an instrument of character.

00;08;08;21 - 00;08;36;05

Clark

And I think that's a really good that's a good perspective to bring to it, you know, And I think that's probably that's likely some of what at least some of what Herzog is actually speaking to, you know, sadly, the coward may not be you, the director, the cowboy may be your investors are producers. And, you know, it may be something that you have to do on occasion in order to in order to direct the film, in order to keep the film financed and to keep your position in it.

00;08;36;16 - 00;08;56;28

Clark

So so that those are you know, those are situations that you may come to. Now, of course, you can do the storyboard and then once you get on set, you know, do your thing. But sometimes, yeah, that's a piece of the bureaucratic machine that you have to that you have to do to keep the money happy. You know?

00;08;56;28 - 00;09;14;21

Cullen

Yeah, No, exactly. And I think that that's, that's in essence exactly the point is that I think that you do it is a lot of and of course this this episode isn't necessarily about that negotiation that was a few episodes ago. But just to reiterate the points from that, so much of it is about the give and take.

00;09;15;10 - 00;09;36;09

Cullen

So I know I could have totally put my foot down and said, No, I'm not storyboarding, I don't storyboard, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. But I said, okay, we can go through storyboards. The you know what I'm thinking of for the shots, however, and again, I put in like a little kind of stipulation where I sort of said, I don't want them on set, I don't want to hear anything about it.

00;09;36;09 - 00;09;47;08

Cullen

If, if the shot that we're doing doesn't fit for your storyboard or I don't want it, you know, that's my only caveat in this, that I'll do the same thoughts and but I'm not going to I'm not going to use them on set. I'm not going to.

00;09;47;09 - 00;10;13;05

Clark

These aren't going to be Bible that I deviate from. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that was smart of you, I think. And that's a good that's good advice for people. If you happen to find yourself in that situation where you're storyboarding for someone else. Mm hmm. Because it's their requirement. If, if you can work in some kind of stipulations like that where they're not on set or they're on set, but, you know, they they don't have to be the be all alpha omega.

00;10;14;02 - 00;10;15;06

Clark

Absolutely.

00;10;15;06 - 00;10;26;26

Cullen

Exactly. Yeah. And I think that even in that instance, too, it's it's one of those things where it's it's I think it's just keeping everyone happy, too, you know, like keeping keeping everyone comfortable.

00;10;26;26 - 00;10;29;22

Clark

But you've got to do it. You got to do it. You got to do. Yeah.

00;10;30;16 - 00;10;54;09

Cullen

And and, you know, as as Herzog said in the previous episodes, too, what's that? He will you know, he of course, he takes no for an answer of course seat Of course he's willing to compromise. And the only time, you know, actually just a real quick touch on the special effects bit to it was interesting that I understand in CG heavy movies with big effects sequences why you would use that.

00;10;54;09 - 00;11;20;24

Cullen

But in limited experience I have in special effects, I've almost found more interesting to not storyboard them and just again, to short list or kind of give an idea because then I can have fun kind of working on those effects afterwards. There was there's one effect that get very incredibly simple where I had to get words. I had to basically have figured a way for somebody to have a conversation with a piece of paper that they would write down a message on the paper, and then words would appear on the page.

00;11;21;02 - 00;11;21;12

Clark

Right.

00;11;21;19 - 00;11;41;05

Cullen

And I want to do it in-camera. I wanted to get it so that it would you know, it would fit in. So basically, I had made up like 50 different copies of this piece of paper with trying to make the handwriting identical. And then I would just in one shot, have the one piece of paper without that note and then swap out the piece of paper.

00;11;41;05 - 00;11;46;00

Cullen

But it was one of those things that I figured out on set I didn't write or during tests I.

00;11;46;09 - 00;11;48;03

Clark

Did this effect in-camera.

00;11;48;03 - 00;11;49;04

Cullen

I did it in-camera and was.

00;11;49;07 - 00;11;51;04

Clark

Like a slight motion. I'm trying to.

00;11;51;04 - 00;12;09;00

Cullen

Know. So what I did was I painted out the so I had the the one that so let's say that like the line that the character writes is like hello. And then the write the line that appears is, you know, good day. What I did was I had one note that said one piece of paper that only said hello.

00;12;09;08 - 00;12;30;23

Cullen

And then I had another piece of paper that said hello and good day. And then I tried to copy the handwriting exactly for the hello. So it looked like it was the same paper, right? And then I painted out the I had the initial hello plate without the good day and then I painted out the good day on the other plate and matched them and then kind of did this weird, almost like ink effect coming through the page.

00;12;30;27 - 00;12;34;15

Cullen

Okay. But again, I mean, that's that's not a kind of a bad.

00;12;34;28 - 00;12;37;19

Clark

But not to almost it is all about Yeah yeah yeah okay.

00;12;37;28 - 00;12;39;00

Cullen

But it was it was.

00;12;39;15 - 00;12;39;21

Clark

But it's.

00;12;39;22 - 00;12;50;16

Cullen

Just one of the things again that I came up with on, on testing because I was like, I don't know what this is going to look like. And I think that maybe that something that could be applied to those larger adult scenes and things like that where, well.

00;12;51;01 - 00;13;14;16

Clark

You know, it's interesting. I mean, I have zero I mean, I have I have flat out zero experience working in, you know, extremely heavy special effects late in films. And I always use Marvel movies as an example because they seem to be the epitome of these type of films. Yeah, but yeah, but even, you know, other films can have an extensive amount of special effects.

00;13;14;16 - 00;13;39;29

Clark

I think we might have talked about Fincher and, you know, he doesn't make action movies in that way in the vein of Marvel at all. But his films have quite a bit of special effects work, a lot of CGI as well, just a different type of application of CGI, but I would imagine the more complex you get, the more pre visualized, the more I mean, they've probably got to plan these things to get to within an inch of their life, I'm guessing.

00;13;41;09 - 00;14;06;06

Clark

And so maybe for simpler special effects, you can kind of, you know, sort things out on the day on set. But I'm guessing, you know, from what I've seen, when you really have some, you know, some significant, complex special effects, it's boy, these things are like pre-viz like crazy. I mean, it's like you're like, you know, they've got like a PlayStation four game of the whole scene before that.

00;14;06;06 - 00;14;29;26

Clark

You know what I mean? With all this crazy previs software they've got out now, you know, and you know, and it'd be interesting to speak to some people who've done extensive acting work on a film like that. And I'm imagining that that is one of the larger challenges of working in an entire greenscreen environment with little to nothing to react to.

00;14;30;02 - 00;14;44;15

Clark

Yeah, it's tough. So so props to people like Robert Downey and, you know, a lot of these actors who give pretty darn good performances and in, you know, in in a green suit, in a green room talking to a tennis ball. It's pretty I mean.

00;14;44;15 - 00;14;45;12

Cullen

There is that there is.

00;14;45;12 - 00;14;46;00

Clark

That to get to.

00;14;46;23 - 00;14;55;25

Cullen

That the the famous shot of George Lucas working on the Star Wars prequels where he's like highlighting what is real in the storyboard and what's going to be CGI.

00;14;55;25 - 00;15;14;20

Clark

I mean, and I feel like those are great examples of, you know, people have talked about those films to death, but yes, great examples of performances that just had to have suffered horrifically because there was nothing to react to. There was no real on set. But but not to get too far away here from from Herzog's masterclass. But well, that's cool though, and I think you know was smaller.

00;15;14;28 - 00;15;34;28

Clark

Right. And I think it has to do a lot with what, you know, as a director. Your experience level with these kind of things are going to dictate to what extent you can you can hold back and not do too much planning versus, you know, figuring things out on set. I mean, I don't think I'd recommend if you have no idea how you're going to get an effect shot or you've got a complicated choreograph scene.

00;15;34;28 - 00;15;39;10

Clark

I don't know. You know, I don't know about showing up and not having any ideas about how to do that.

00;15;39;16 - 00;15;40;25

Cullen

Especially if you're beginning.

00;15;41;02 - 00;15;58;16

Clark

Especially if you're beginning. But I have a hunch, though. I have a hunch that, you know, when Herzog says, you know, he doesn't he doesn't storyboard and he's kind of coming in unprepared, my hunch is that he's actually quite prepared. Yeah. It's just that he has it premeditated every single action.

00;15;58;27 - 00;16;00;15

Cullen

And he's open to flexibility.

00;16;00;15 - 00;16;14;26

Clark

And, yeah, I would never want to put words in his mouth. That's just my interpreter. And but I think unprepared and not premeditated to the end are not the same thing. I imagine he's actually very prepared when he walks on set.

00;16;15;06 - 00;16;15;21

Cullen

I agree.

00;16;15;22 - 00;16;42;08

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. So once he's there, Herzog talks about, you know, working himself into a state of intense vision during the shooting himself. And this is really compelling to me. He, you know, at many different areas in the filmmaking process, as Herzog talks about, you know, the importance of urgency and the importance of like working yourself into an intensity.

00;16;42;17 - 00;17;01;26

Clark

And I think this is this is super interesting in and again, this is just my interpretation. Obviously, you know, I never put words in his mouth or, you know, but my reading of that, what that is to me, I feel like he's clearly somebody who works in an extremely intuitive level. Yeah. And, you know, it's like there's this Myers-Briggs stuff, right?

00;17;01;26 - 00;17;24;05

Clark

His personality test. And, you know, some people are thinkers, some people are feelers, some people are, you know, Intuitive's and other people, you know, there's all these different kind of personality categories, which I can't remember them all right. Now. But I know for myself, I've tested as more of a feeling intuitive type person, and this kind of stuff really resonates with me.

00;17;24;05 - 00;17;45;28

Clark

And so it really speaks to me. And maybe this is part of why his films and kind of his philosophy of filmmaking really speak to me in general. I feel like we maybe come from some of the same places, but that's what I that's the sense that I kind of get that he really works from a feeling, intuitive place and and it's so much more about instinctual almost.

00;17;46;06 - 00;18;09;13

Clark

Yeah. And, and like working yourself into an emotional intensity that propels you as opposed to thinking and analyzing and planning. Right. Almost like I would imagine, like Fincher maybe is more of a director that works from that angle. Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but, you know, just just kind of the like over generalizing perhaps a little bit.

00;18;09;13 - 00;18;15;03

Clark

You know, I could see Fincher being like a thinking, planning, analyzing, cerebral kind of directing.

00;18;15;08 - 00;18;30;14

Cullen

And I think he I think you're not wrong there. I think he is quite that. I mean which is funny too though, because I think a lot of people get that wrong. And again, not to not to digress too much, but I think a lot of people get that wrong about Kubrick is that a lot of people think that Kubrick is meticulously planned.

00;18;30;14 - 00;18;51;15

Cullen

Yeah, you know, like, yeah, dictator on set who everything was was planned out in advance, whereas he would very often get on the set with no storyboard, no shots planned, and kind of plan the day as it went on and just kind of improvise and, you know, would go, why don't we you know, there's those famous shots of him walking around The Shining set with a viewfinder sort of going like, Where do we want to shoot this from?

00;18;51;15 - 00;19;02;29

Cullen

And so I think that that's again, I think people build up these personas about a lot of directors where it's like, what what's what's the best way to to draw a picture? Yeah, exactly. That's the thing.

00;19;03;06 - 00;19;21;24

Clark

We're all a mixture. We all of us operate at different, you know, levels of all of these metrics. You know, of course, none of us are completely intuitive and then not analytical. I mean, that's, you know, we're a mixture of all these things, but but it's the sense that I get, you know, as I try to suss out what Herzog speaking to in this lesson where he's talking.

00;19;21;24 - 00;19;47;00

Clark

And that's kind of that's how I apply it to myself. And and it's it's one of the reasons I love we just talked in our last episode about working right next to the camera, right, with actors right there. You know, it's a physicality. It's a it's it's it's such a feeling intuitive, you know, emotional thing. Or at least for me, when it's working.

00;19;47;08 - 00;20;09;28

Clark

It is. And I actually almost feel like it's that analytical kind of cerebral part of me is actually like, diminished or it's like when I know I'm really in a flow. Those things actually kind of recede quite a bit for me. And I really feel like I'm moving and acting and making decisions from a physical place if that even makes sense.

00;20;10;06 - 00;20;11;01

Cullen

No, I know what you mean.

00;20;11;01 - 00;20;31;05

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for me, Herzog, is this really makes sense to me and it really speaks to me now, of course, how you do this, everybody's got to kind of find your own way. I mean, this is, this is an integral part of everybody's creative process that some people are challenged with kind of refining over a long period of time.

00;20;31;05 - 00;20;55;27

Clark

Some people seem to intuit their creative process out very quickly and early in life. I've had to work pretty hard to refine and find mine. I don't know what your experience has been about yours, but but everybody's got to find their own ways to work themselves into this kind of emotional intensity. But I love I like just like it would be so, so, so, so amazing.

00;20;55;27 - 00;21;04;27

Clark

So obviously, you and I were fans of Herzog. This is clear. If you're listening, you're probably also a fan of Herzog otherwise. Okay, that's cool that your listeners are.

00;21;04;27 - 00;21;05;27

Cullen

They might be a fan of us.

00;21;06;03 - 00;21;29;27

Clark

Maybe they're. Oh, well, that's that's an awful sweet thought, but I just I would so love to be on set on a on a film with Herzog. I love how he talks about how this, you know, kind of, you know, coming without this premeditated, fully thought out plan keeps your crew and your cast on edge. It keeps them sharp.

00;21;29;27 - 00;21;51;06

Clark

And I, I would love to experience it. I would love to experience it. I think, you know, there is definitely an interesting aspect to think about this, right? If you don't storyboard, if you don't have everything fully premeditated and planned out to the end it, I would imagine that really does, right? I mean, obviously within reason. I mean, your actors have to know what scenes you're going to be shooting that you got to.

00;21;51;06 - 00;21;52;09

Cullen

Have like, yeah, right.

00;21;52;10 - 00;22;12;27

Clark

That I mean, I had just come out of the blue but but to really be physically there with your DP, with your, you know, with with your actors, you know, blocking scenes out or, you know, setting up shots and kind of working things in the moment. I think that's that really does help keep people present.

00;22;13;03 - 00;22;36;08

Cullen

Which again, is where I think again and I think not to assume anything, but I think that Herzog would agree, which is that I prepare so that I don't have to worry about that. It's that essence, right? Like I prepare I prepare to kind of like we were talking about the beginning, the episode, like I prepare to I prepare my shot list so that I can go off of it so that I that I don't have to so they don't have to follow it.

00;22;36;17 - 00;22;44;01

Cullen

Yeah. And I think that that makes things so much more easier and so much less stressful of, you know, if you're stressed and if you're thinking about like, oh, do I have this.

00;22;44;06 - 00;23;04;04

Clark

Is Sarandos your creativity stress. I feel like anxiety is the is the creative creativity killer. Yeah. For me at least. I mean, there's there's an edge that's good to have and that's, you know. Herzog just talking about keeping your cat crew and cast on edge. There's an edge. There's like an excitement that's good to have anxiety, at least for me.

00;23;04;04 - 00;23;22;06

Clark

And not so much anxiety will definitely, I imagine, like two hands around my you know, it's like creativity throughout. And it's no, it's no good for me. Yeah. I think some people may respond differently to that. But yeah, for me, I have to have kind of an energy as good anxiety. Not so much.

00;23;22;13 - 00;23;25;13

Cullen

Now. Exactly.

00;23;25;13 - 00;23;39;20

Clark

Now here's we're getting into a topic that Herzog covers here in this lesson that I, I definitely have some specific opinions about and I'm really interested to hear yours shooting coverage.

00;23;40;03 - 00;23;40;17

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00;23;40;25 - 00;24;14;01

Clark

And wow, I have definitely seen some different theories and application on many different shoots in this area. Yeah, but. Well, we'll start with what Herzog says here in this lesson, and then I want to hear your thoughts on this. But Herzog says avoid too much coverage. As a matter of fact, he basically says here in this lesson that he shoots very, very little coverage to the point that, you know, like people can be concerned.

00;24;14;01 - 00;24;32;16

Clark

You know, his producers can be concerned, the studios can be concerned. But he specifically mentions one of his actors, Nicolas Cage, being thrilled. And as an actor, yes, you would generally be thrilled because, wow, it takes a ton of the tedium and monotony out of a shoot if you don't have to be there shooting coverage all day long.

00;24;32;28 - 00;24;39;05

Clark

But so Herzog stance is avoid shooting much coverage. Cohen, what do you think?

00;24;39;14 - 00;24;50;26

Cullen

No, I agree. I don't I don't like coverage. I don't I there was a movie that came out last year, I believe, or two years ago, the bad times at the Isle Royale. I'm not sure if you saw that.

00;24;50;26 - 00;24;51;11

Clark

I didn't.

00;24;52;07 - 00;24;55;16

Cullen

It was all coverage. It was insane. It was like, well, tell me.

00;24;55;16 - 00;25;05;22

Clark

What to go to. So why do you not what do you what do you think of like when you say I agree with Herzog, I'm not a fan. Tell me a little bit more about I mean, what do you see?

00;25;05;22 - 00;25;28;00

Cullen

As I just know, I I think it's a big part of it is learning to direct like an editor and yes and no where you're going to cut and what you're going to to in when you're shooting. And I think that a lot of people that don't think that way and haven't trained themselves to think that way, they shoot a ton of coverage because it's you know, and again, there's there's an understanding to that where it's like, hey, maybe they want to make those decisions in the editing room.

00;25;28;00 - 00;25;46;22

Clark

But and that's I think that that's what that's kind of what it is. I think that what you're doing is procrastinating on your decision making. That's how it is. So for me. So I agree. I agree with you and I agree with Herzog. And I have worked on projects where I've worked with people who have the exact opposite take where their mentality is.

00;25;46;29 - 00;25;51;21

Clark

No, no, no. Let's get everything. Let's shoot everything we can possibly shoot. And that way.

00;25;51;21 - 00;25;51;29

Cullen

I.

00;25;52;06 - 00;26;06;00

Clark

Go back into the editing room because it's tempting, right? It's tempting. Let's think about it. It's like, okay, you're because here's the mentality. Generally. It's like this, okay, look, we spend all this money up to this point. We have everybody here, we have the actors, we have the crew, and we're on location.

00;26;06;06 - 00;26;06;22

Cullen

Let's get it.

00;26;06;23 - 00;26;25;00

Clark

Why wouldn't. Right. Like, why would we not shoot everything we can possibly shoot? I mean, and on surface face value, this makes sense, right? This makes kind of a logical kind of sense. It's like, Well, yeah, of course. Let's let's shoot everything that we could possibly shoot that way. No matter what happens in editing, we've got it. Like we can do something with it.

00;26;25;10 - 00;26;46;13

Clark

Yes, but I can not disagree more with it. Exactly. I think what you're what you're doing a couple of things in my opinion. So first of all, you're procrastinating on all the decision making that should be taking place right there on location. You should be deciding what the film is going to look like right there. And and like you said, you should be thinking directing as an editor.

00;26;46;16 - 00;27;12;28

Clark

You should be able to visualize this story in your head. I mean, you should have been visualizing it long before you're on set. But this should be the execution of those visual decisions. And if you're just shooting everything, then you're pushing all of those decisions back to the and to the editor. And even if you are the editor, if you the director are the editor, which happens, of course, on a lot of smaller projects, you're still that procrastination will not help you.

00;27;13;07 - 00;27;25;23

Clark

It definitely won't help you if you're giving all this footage to another outside editor. But it won't help you either. If if you're the editor and what I feel like is that it dilutes everything.

00;27;25;29 - 00;27;31;28

Cullen

Yeah, it makes. It's like spreading too much butter over like a big piece or too little butter over a big piece of bread. Right.

00;27;31;28 - 00;27;38;03

Clark

I was going to say, you can't have too much butter. Come on. Come on, man. Like, what's the. I don't even understand how this language that you're speaking.

00;27;38;13 - 00;27;42;16

Cullen

But no, I think that it does exactly that It loses the focus.

00;27;42;27 - 00;27;44;08

Clark

Absolutely. You should be.

00;27;44;15 - 00;27;59;10

Cullen

You know, if you're not if you if you don't have an idea or a vision, enough in that day's shoot to know the shots that are going to appear on the screen or hopefully appear on the screen, then what are you shooting for? What are you doing at that point? You're as Herzog says, you're a garbage collector.

00;27;59;22 - 00;28;22;28

Clark

Absolutely. Yes. I think that and I love it like he has such a wonderful way with language and which makes sense, of course. But yeah, I mean, it's absolutely and I've had this problem in specifically in documentary films that I've made and we're going to get he specifically touches on some some advice or suggestions for documentary filmmaking here.

00;28;23;10 - 00;29;05;25

Clark

But you know, I've had that problem where I was not focused enough and it was it was and I'm still working on this. I'm learning with a narrative film. I feel like I'm more in touch with this in documentary filmmaking. I'm working on it where I have a specific vision for the film. And it's a balance for me of letting the documentary tell me or show me where it wants to go, but having a concrete vision as well and actually taking the reins and shaping not not just like, you know, being a fly on the wall and letting the footage go where it will.

00;29;05;29 - 00;29;26;00

Clark

But actually, you know, having a vision and directing that documentary such that, you know, it conforms to some extent to my vision, although, you know, maintaining flexibility, of course, to go with where the footage takes you. But, I mean, I've come back from shooting documentary footage with so much footage, I can't even do anything with it now. Yeah.

00;29;26;01 - 00;29;49;12

Clark

It's like paralyzed and paralyzed because there's so many hours of footage. And now I'm sitting here editing or I'm trying to pass it off to another editor, and they look at it and they're overwhelmed. They're like, I don't know what what do you want to do with this? You have 100 hours of footage. So I've been down that road still learning when it comes to documentaries, but yeah.

00;29;49;18 - 00;29;57;12

Cullen

No, it can be it can be really difficult. It can be really especially documentary can be really difficult to prevent yourself because there's times when you're like, Oh, let's just let the camera.

00;29;57;12 - 00;29;58;00

Clark

Roll, right?

00;29;58;00 - 00;30;00;01

Cullen

And get everything and that can be really useful.

00;30;00;05 - 00;30;00;13

Clark

Well, and.

00;30;00;14 - 00;30;03;08

Cullen

It's also I can see where it can be absolute help.

00;30;03;19 - 00;30;12;24

Clark

I mean, I almost wonder if you could trick yourself into thinking, okay, I'm shooting with film. So like, you likely or not, especially with a documentary, you're not going to be shooting with film, but it's almost like if you could, like, convince.

00;30;12;24 - 00;30;26;28

Cullen

Yourself, I mean, in the very least I would say on on cameras, like the one that I have now, if I'm shooting in raw on, you know, at least you're going to run out of speed. A huge I could run out of space. And the you know, most cinema cameras don't really have a delete function on them. A lot of it's a.

00;30;26;28 - 00;30;30;14

Clark

Pain in the butt. You are right. You've got to. Yeah, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, of.

00;30;30;14 - 00;30;34;07

Cullen

Course. Have more, you know, more space than a magazine a film would. But.

00;30;34;16 - 00;30;51;27

Clark

And it's time. As opposed to money, generally speaking. But, you know, you could take the time and upload the footage and done it. You could do these things. But yeah, so I mean, sometimes in, in whatever ways you might be able to kind of game it and trick yourself into, into working with some kind of urgency and, you know, scarcity.

00;30;52;07 - 00;31;16;14

Clark

But yeah, so I've been down that road so I can definitely speak from experience, you know, and I've also been down that road on other projects for narratives where the idea was, let's just shoot everything. And it just that lack of focus just really and that procrastination of decision making never. I have literally never seen it help a film one time.

00;31;17;02 - 00;31;33;18

Clark

I mean, I've seen some small instances where it was like, Oh, thank God we had that insert or, you know, thank God we had this angle. But, but as far as actually helping a film or as far as actually making a film better or making, you know, actually having the story come together and editing, I've never seen it.

00;31;33;28 - 00;31;40;01

Cullen

And you know what I think the issue is? I think that there's a huge misunderstanding of, say, like a movie, for example, like Apocalypse Now.

00;31;40;13 - 00;31;41;04

Clark

Or the first.

00;31;41;04 - 00;32;04;13

Cullen

Work print cut was like five and a half hours. And sure, that works for that movie. And maybe that's how Coppola likes to do that. But I think people see that and go, Oh, that means that, you know, my first cut should be super long. And and, you know, it's it's it's one of the things that happens so often with film is that people assume that just because it's the way that somebody who's famous works, that they have to work like that and that's how they're going to make their movies.

00;32;04;13 - 00;32;13;05

Cullen

Well, but no, if I if my you know, if anything, a lot of the times my initial cut will be the shortest possible version I can can do of it so that I can then extend things and.

00;32;13;09 - 00;32;13;20

Clark

Oh, that's.

00;32;13;20 - 00;32;35;00

Cullen

Rare to breathe. That's I mean, it's not always like that, but it's it's you know, there have been times when it has been like that where it's like, you know, I've been like, you know what? That's too quick. I need to give that a moment to especially with composers, is that I'm I very much work with the composer in the editing process so that if my composer ever can say, Hey, can you add, you know, 2 seconds on to there?

00;32;35;00 - 00;33;07;24

Cullen

Because I think that would be a really nice sting for a moment there for the music. And it'll actually work with my editor to to compose to music. Of course, that is if there is music in the moment. But. Right, but yeah, I mean I can just people, people like you said and like, like as you said earlier, how we're all kind of a mix between these things that people I think my biggest piece of advice to, you know, especially when I'm teaching classes, is don't look at what somebody famous or successful did and just try and replicate that because the likelihood is that they're doing that because it works for them and it probably

00;33;07;24 - 00;33;21;22

Cullen

won't work for you. Just come up with a way to do it for yourself that then feels comfortable and efficient for you. Yeah. As opposed to just going, well, you know, Coppola did a huge cut for his first one, so I that's how I all of my first cuts will be.

00;33;21;28 - 00;33;48;10

Clark

And also you don't have the context of anything it you know that may actually be something I'm just making stuff up here but it's like you know Coppola success may be in spite of that, right? That may be a challenge for him that he's having to work through that you actually could be copying a maladaptive or, you know, challenging aspect of his creative process that he hasn't refined himself, you know?

00;33;48;10 - 00;34;13;27

Clark

So without context, yeah, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous to copy, you know, some piece of somebody else's creative process and try to incorporate that yourself. Yeah, that. But yeah, I context is key and yeah, you've got to find your and even with all of this I mean hopefully people you know it's you watch this masterclass you know Herzog has done this and he's given so many interviews about filmmaking and and there's so much content out there.

00;34;13;27 - 00;34;33;25

Clark

But, you know, really, I mean, the idea is not to copy mindlessly any of these aspects of filmmaking or creative process. It's and that's why we kind of like to say that this is, you know, we just use this class and his films and his works as a jumping off point to kind of discuss our own creative process and to help us find our own.

00;34;34;07 - 00;34;39;26

Clark

So it's never like, Oh, Herzog said, don't do this then, okay, I'm never going to do it. Or Herzog said. And I think.

00;34;39;26 - 00;34;52;18

Cullen

That that's a huge issue with a lot of film education. These days, especially online, is that you'll get, you know, these these channels that will will go into the specificities of how Deakin's like to shot.

00;34;52;18 - 00;34;53;06

Clark

And it's yeah.

00;34;53;09 - 00;34;55;04

Cullen

Now you've got to do this exactly like that.

00;34;55;10 - 00;34;55;23

Clark

Right.

00;34;55;27 - 00;35;21;22

Cullen

Come up with your own way. And but no, I think that, you know, to get back into the lesson before I, before I kind of derailed, I okay. I do think that the coverage thing is exactly for me. I think the reason that I don't do coverage often, too, is that I is that I, I enjoy shooting things in long sort of uninterrupted takes, which can be.

00;35;21;22 - 00;35;25;05

Clark

Interesting to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. As he does Yeah. Potentially save some time.

00;35;25;25 - 00;35;40;08

Cullen

And I don't even do that really is a timesaver to me it's just and again we discussed this a little bit in the working articles episode, but it's, it's something that I find I find a I'll get better performances out of actors if I can just allow them to do their thing. Yeah. And then allow the camera to do its thing.

00;35;40;08 - 00;35;40;24

Clark

I agree.

00;35;40;24 - 00;36;01;09

Cullen

In a take. Yeah. And, but on top of that too, I find that often compositionally it makes for a more like, you know, if I'm sitting it, if I have a conversation at the table instead of doing over the shoulder, sometimes I find that these conversations will be more interesting if they're sitting almost diagonal to each other at the corner and they can really get close to each other.

00;36;01;09 - 00;36;11;19

Cullen

An that way and lean into each other. And the the conversation now becomes something that's playing on screen as opposed to just this division of the two actors on the show.

00;36;11;19 - 00;36;26;25

Clark

It's nice to play around, too. I mean, obviously there is, you know, you can get to a place where you're you're shooting a one. Ah, that's so long and complicated that it's, you know, by it's, you know, much more complicated and takes much longer to set up and shoot than it would be if you were doing traditional coverage.

00;36;26;25 - 00;36;53;12

Clark

So it, you know, everything kind of depends and has its boundaries. But also it's fun to play around with, you know, recompose in shots on the fly within you know within a single take is can be really fun and can break things up as opposed to again, just your traditional, you know, two shot over the shoulder, over the shoulder, which is, you know, such a staple and is hard to get away from that entirely.

00;36;53;12 - 00;37;11;11

Clark

But it can also be a pleasant exercise or a fun experience when you're utilizing it, of course, to tell your story. But to to compose on the fly, to move from one composition to another. I mean, I personally enjoy it, and I think.

00;37;11;20 - 00;37;17;25

Cullen

Herzog loves that feeling of like the floating camera, too, right? He uses that so often where the camera is sort of exploring the space.

00;37;17;25 - 00;37;36;11

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's absolutely and it's it's you know, of course, depending on your project but where it's appropriate. But absolutely it can it can use in kind of a more subjective or involved camera and really making the camera a character so to speak in. Yeah. In the story.

00;37;36;21 - 00;38;03;10

Cullen

And that comes into I often I find that honestly for me looking at genre is a really good way to explore things that you would do without genre kind of stripping that away. But for example, choreographing an action scene or even just a, a, an intricate kind of dialog scene through like, say, an apartment. But looking at the way that West Side, West Side Story shoots their musical sequences.

00;38;03;24 - 00;38;20;23

Cullen

Yeah. And the way that things like that work or Singin in the Rain or whichever, you know, those classic golden age Hollywood movies where the camera feels like it's a part of the dance, and then you kind of take that and go, okay, let's strip away the music and the dancing. How could I make the camera feel like it's a part of the conversation that it's almost peeking in.

00;38;21;04 - 00;38;48;11

Clark

Or is a great genre to do this with as well? Or has such a subjective camera, such an involved camera. And yeah, so that's a great point. You know, taking a look at stylistic choices that are often associated with different genres and applying them in different or unique ways, that's that definitely can be a helpful exercise. But yeah, it's, you know, here Herzog is talking about saving time and again.

00;38;48;11 - 00;39;01;15

Clark

It's that can be a time saving device or if you're, you know, shooting like the the intro scene to Goodfellas, that may not so much be a time saving device. Yes.

00;39;01;15 - 00;39;05;15

Cullen

I mean, and that's that's exactly it is is the complexity of those setups.

00;39;05;19 - 00;39;06;00

Clark

Yeah.

00;39;06;00 - 00;39;16;04

Cullen

So depends on on what how much you're going to you know, how much time you're gonna spend on it. Yeah. If you're doing a oner for the sake of doing a oner because it's a, it's the impressiveness.

00;39;16;11 - 00;39;17;06

Clark

Well that's the.

00;39;17;07 - 00;39;18;06

Cullen

One or then that's you.

00;39;18;06 - 00;39;19;20

Clark

Should stay away from that regardless.

00;39;19;23 - 00;39;35;09

Cullen

Whereas I think that, and Spielberg actually is really interesting Waters because Spielberg, unlike that opening of of Goodfellas, the Copacabana, and unlike a lot of other directors who use one or Spielberg's one, those are actually very interesting because he almost hides them.

00;39;35;09 - 00;39;39;16

Clark

Very much of all. There's a great oh, there's a great YouTube video.

00;39;39;23 - 00;39;41;07

Cullen

Yes. It's every time a painting.

00;39;41;13 - 00;39;48;29

Clark

There you go. Every frame of which just let's categorically just say recommend that if you haven't seen every frame of painting.

00;39;49;01 - 00;39;49;27

Cullen

Fantastic chance.

00;39;50;06 - 00;39;59;06

Clark

YouTube's. Yeah, it's a YouTube channel, a series of videos, extremely well done I think sadly, the author of those videos has stopped making.

00;39;59;09 - 00;40;25;28

Cullen

Yeah he he said that he basically he always had an idea that it was going to run its course. It's like the amount of episodes he did. So luckily wasn't like a sad end. It was. It was very much the plan was. Yeah, but, but no, it's a great, great example of where I think, again, Spielberg is one of those people that again uses it both for efficiency of time on set, but efficiency of storytelling that it's like rather than again coming up with intricate sequence with the thousand moving pieces, the opening of Touch of Evil or something.

00;40;25;28 - 00;40;41;27

Cullen

Spielberg's using Wagner's because it's, you know, why cut when I could just have this person walk over there and have the camera follow them? Yeah. And, you know, and Kurosawa is a great example of that, too, where it's like you almost have with the one is a great way to hide them is, you know, have every shot, have a beginning, a middle and an end.

00;40;41;28 - 00;40;46;03

Cullen

So you start on a close up and then instead of cutting to a medium, just pull back the camera.

00;40;46;16 - 00;40;46;19

Clark

Yeah.

00;40;46;22 - 00;41;03;12

Cullen

And then you're in a medium. And then I think that, that and that's another thing again, that is super related to those those fifties musicals that you look at, musicals from the Golden age of Hollywood, fifties and sixties, and you look at once compared to today where it's almost like a cut on every beat and there's, there's this.

00;41;03;12 - 00;41;03;23

Clark

Super.

00;41;03;28 - 00;41;23;28

Cullen

Constant cuts and I think that it's incredible that you look back then and you feel so much more involved in immersed in the in the story, even though the editing is so much more tame and calm and is really is really, if anything, you know, restricted restraint and which I think it works for those movies where.

00;41;23;29 - 00;41;49;17

Clark

It doesn't have to be flamboyant. Yeah, exactly. You don't have to be flamboyant. I think that's a great point. And you've you've mentioned some great examples. And I would recommend to other people out there, other directors, to take a look at those examples. And those are definitely, I think, setups that could save quite a bit of time. You're shooting a lot less coverage and I think that they can contribute significantly to better storytelling.

00;41;49;17 - 00;42;11;22

Cullen

I will say though, if you're young or if you're starting out, go crazy. It sounds kind of funny, but but I when I was, you know, in early high school, I used to do crazy camera movements as much as I could do tons of editing. I remember my when I was going when I was graduating high school and I was applying to film schools and stuff just for, you know, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go yet.

00;42;11;22 - 00;42;29;28

Cullen

And that's one of the options. Like I did this this crazy samurai sword fight where there was like this flashback sequence and there was these crazy lights and fog and, you know, the editing was insane and there was the movement. There's potions that were so quick and all this stuff, right? Go crazy. Like, I feel free to do that.

00;42;29;28 - 00;42;30;28

Clark

And yeah.

00;42;31;01 - 00;42;40;16

Cullen

Because now I feel that like I've looked at that and gone, Oh, I'll pull back these things. Like I'll kind of harness that energy but not make it so outwardly flamboyant. Like you said, you've got it.

00;42;40;16 - 00;42;53;18

Clark

You've got to you've got to push far to kind of realize, yeah, absolutely. There's no harm in in really getting wild and crazy and exploring the boundaries of techniques. Absolutely. I think that's I.

00;42;53;18 - 00;43;05;08

Cullen

Mean, even you look at the starting careers of a lot of famous directors, you look at PTA, as we mentioned earlier. Yes. Great example is like looking at eight and Boogie Nights.

00;43;05;08 - 00;43;07;11

Clark

There was like Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

00;43;07;12 - 00;43;12;07

Cullen

You got those oners and you've got that. That's long Steadicam shots. Very. Jonathan Demme kind of.

00;43;12;07 - 00;43;13;04

Clark

Sort of movement.

00;43;13;24 - 00;43;18;05

Cullen

Movement. But now you look at his shots and they're they're composed and they're.

00;43;18;06 - 00;43;21;18

Clark

Solid, right? Solid. They're almost stoic sometimes.

00;43;21;18 - 00;43;39;19

Cullen

And I think I think one of the reasons that I would say go back and watch old Hollywood and watch movies from the forties and fifties, because the cameras were so big and heavy that they couldn't they didn't have the option to to go crazy with them. So everything had to be super accurate. And there was a level of preciseness.

00;43;39;25 - 00;44;06;29

Cullen

Yeah, that even the focus puller didn't have a monitor. They had to know the distance. There was this level of being completely precise. And even when there was movement in the camera that you had to be so, so, so accurate with it. And I think that is such a great way to learn how to even if you're shooting on a DSLR and you've got a big monitor in front of you and you don't need to worry about, you know, the weight of the camera or that focus or whatever, absolutely still try and emulate those styles.

00;44;06;29 - 00;44;28;04

Cullen

And if not for just a training exercise, because you'll find that being reserved often and being kind of restrained in those ways will keep that energy up. But it will also it'll just make things less hectic. It will make things look more precise and more, you know, more pointed, if anything. Right. A word for it, like you're pointing to a style in a direction.

00;44;28;16 - 00;44;52;19

Clark

Well, I think that's great. That's great advice. I would think, you know, anytime that you can, you know, practice your skills or kind of, you know, the more tools or, you know, the more technique that you have available to yourself, The it's like having paints in your and your palette right now. The more and more colors you have to paint with, the more options you bring, the better for sure.

00;44;52;28 - 00;45;13;21

Clark

So those are really great suggestions. And you know, especially in today's day and age, we live in the world of such small cameras, so much movement, so much shaky cam. It's kind of come back on a little bit. But, you know, we've got mockumentary style or documentary style film. You know, everything is shot with so much movement now.

00;45;14;00 - 00;45;20;12

Clark

It is I think it's a great idea to go back to those older eras when cameras weighed a couple hundred pounds. You know, and I think.

00;45;21;05 - 00;45;49;19

Cullen

Even a great example of that, too, of the modern style you're talking about, which was trying to emulate old style, was la la land. I didn't I didn't love la la land. And the reason for that was I found if you're trying to emulate the style of the fifties Golden Age musical with those big, heavy, bulky cameras and the sweeping dolly moves and things like that, shooting your entire movie on Steadicam to save time is not the way to do that.

00;45;49;19 - 00;45;59;17

Cullen

And so that movie really, I think, was a perfect example to me at least, and a lot of people like that movie. So I don't want to, you know, shoot on people's opinions. But that movie, to me at least, was a really great example of.

00;46;00;04 - 00;46;01;12

Clark

How how.

00;46;01;12 - 00;46;13;05

Cullen

To, you know, what not to do when you're trying to use a kind of reserved when you're emulating a very reserved style of filmmaking. Okay. It just sort of took me out of that.

00;46;13;05 - 00;46;30;14

Clark

I personally liked the film. Interesting. I didn't like it. All right. Don't get digress here too far. I didn't I didn't actually get into it the first like first time I tried to watch it, I only watched 15 minutes of it. I turned it off and then I rewatched it at a later date. And I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

00;46;30;23 - 00;46;54;11

Clark

But but that might be to a great extent because its contents spoke very specifically to me. Yeah. And had a lot of elements of my personal story that I really, really, really resonated with. So the movie really spoke to me. I'd have to go back and look. I didn't notice, you know, that I didn't notice what you have just called out.

00;46;54;20 - 00;47;01;08

Clark

But maybe I'll check that film out again and see what I think. And we provide a counter. Or maybe agree.

00;47;01;15 - 00;47;22;20

Cullen

I mean, that's the thing. But again, it's it's to me, I just I look and maybe that wasn't I you know, I haven't spoken to Damien Chazelle, so maybe his point wasn't too perfectly anyway. But I think it is a good example in that of of, you know, you compare the American scene from West Side Story versus the opening to La la land, and I say, okay, where where does America do things really well?

00;47;22;20 - 00;47;48;07

Cullen

Where does West Side Story do things really well and feel really immersive versus what's taking you out of a scene like the opening in Loveland? And again, you know, it's a popular movie that a lot of people love, so I'm likely in the minority on that one. But I do think I analyzing it in that way and kind of looking at the differences between a movie that's emulating those things versus the original sources is really an interesting kind of, you know, educational experience.

00;47;48;18 - 00;48;13;08

Clark

Well, right. Well, it's interesting. I'll go back and take a look at that. But for now, we'll pull ourselves back a little bit to to Herzog's lesson. But I love these digressions, though. This is this is you know, this is like one of the wonderful things about filmmaking. I mean, everything is connected to everything. And I mean, obviously, if you love film, you could speak to you could go off on all of these tangents for weeks and months.

00;48;13;10 - 00;48;37;06

Clark

Yes. Lifetimes, frankly, lifetimes so far. For me, it's been, you know, for about 30 years that I've gone off on this tangent to film. So with no signs of slowing down yet. So it's so that's one of the wonderful it's such a rich and complex medium that, you know, it's it's a blast. So. Well, let's move into documentary filmmaking.

00;48;37;06 - 00;49;02;10

Clark

So in the second half year of this lesson, Herzog speaks specifically to shooting docs. And and right off the bat, he talks about and this makes sense. This is in line with basically everything else that he said up to this point about filmmaking in general is to keep things small. You set up and shoot quickly, you know, and that he's always about maintaining urgency, right?

00;49;02;11 - 00;49;23;25

Clark

He's maintaining flexibility, maintaining urgency. You don't want to lose momentum. You want to keep an intensity. And I think he's spoken to all those things quite a few times. I totally agree. But he also there's something else that's important to think of here, and I've run into this numerous times when I'm shooting documentary type footage, when I'm shooting interviews, and that's that.

00;49;23;25 - 00;49;52;27

Clark

You know, you've got to remember when you're shooting a documentary, everybody that's going to be in front of your camera is not going to be a professional filmmaker. They're not an actor. They aren't trained. And most people feel uncomfortable in front of a camera, and they definitely are going to feel uncomfortable and can be intimidated. If you've got a huge crew with a ton of lights, you know, booms, and then you've got you know, the more people you've got, the bigger the footprint you've got, the more likely you are to intimidate.

00;49;54;04 - 00;50;09;05

Clark

And that's actually an important you know, that's an important thing to remember. And also to, you know, most or many situations, at least when it comes to documentary filmmaking, you're not going to be allowed to have a lot of it just logistically, you're not going to be led into most places if you have a huge crew.

00;50;09;08 - 00;50;10;24

Cullen

Or locations or a huge aspect of.

00;50;10;24 - 00;50;29;09

Clark

That. Yeah, exactly. And so, you know, just learning to shoot quickly with a small crew is going to be of such a huge benefit in a documentary film. You know, I would say even more so than a narrative, just because it's likely that the logistics of it will allow you to shoot with a large crew.

00;50;29;20 - 00;50;30;10

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah.

00;50;30;10 - 00;50;59;21

Clark

So, no, you know, he also and you and I have talked, I think this, you know, in line with shooting coverage versus really knowing exactly what to shoot. It's, you know, he talks about not leaving camera decisions to post, right? Yes. And and I know you've got some some thoughts on this, but Herzog is like, look, you know, just because you're shooting in 4K six, K eight, K 12, whatever it might be, don't leave your framing to post.

00;50;59;29 - 00;51;06;18

Clark

Yeah, don't just shoot with the idea that like, I can, you know, I can just compose this way I want and post I can crop in.

00;51;07;23 - 00;51;09;29

Cullen

It should be a last resort at most.

00;51;09;29 - 00;51;12;15

Clark

At most, yeah. Tell me about your experience with that.

00;51;12;15 - 00;51;29;10

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, I've done it. I'll say like guilty as charged in that I shot in 4K and, and it's not even a resolution thing for me because I think that you could, you could realistically get a short shot that is 700 or 720p on a movie theater screen. And I think that most most general audiences would hardly notice.

00;51;30;04 - 00;51;57;14

Cullen

But it's so it's not even like the lowering the resolution. It's nothing like that. I just think that, again, going back to the accuracy of what you're shooting. Yeah. That you should you should just focused intent. You're going to even just the way that lenses work that like there's there's aspects to barrel distortion on lenses that if you start rearranging a shot that there's going to be wonky side effects you just may not that may slip past you that are going to show up and it just it just it's the accuracy.

00;51;57;14 - 00;52;11;29

Cullen

And I think that anybody who's going in and shooting, you know, purposefully wide and then saying, but we'll just crop it in a little bit is is doing themselves a disservice in doing the visuals of their movie. A disservice. I mean, again, I've I've done that. I've I've in an.

00;52;11;29 - 00;52;12;19

Clark

Emergency.

00;52;13;00 - 00;52;31;29

Cullen

In emergencies. Yeah. In in a situation where I go either there's something on the edge of the frame that looks too awkward to be there or it's distracting that I just didn't notice was in there. Or, you know, sometimes it's something like the the B cam failed in an interview. And so I just need to get a picture up shot and.

00;52;32;00 - 00;52;34;04

Clark

You get right to change perspective again.

00;52;34;04 - 00;52;53;16

Cullen

It should be a it should be your last resort. It should be something that because it's not I won't say that it is like the worst thing in the world, but it is certainly something that if you're going in at all again, it all comes down to on set. Like if it's something that you're going into thinking of on set that, Oh, we're going to reach crop this, then you're going to be less specific and less accurate.

00;52;53;16 - 00;52;53;26

Clark

I agree.

00;52;53;27 - 00;53;01;19

Cullen

Camera. Whereas if you do it in post just as a save your saving measure, then then that's to me, that's a different thing. Yeah, exactly right.

00;53;01;19 - 00;53;19;02

Clark

And I agree. I think it just comes back again to it's about decision procrastination. I mean, why why are you pushing that decision back? You know, I think it's the same argument people use to shoot a lot of coverage that they use to do this, which is, well, hey, look, if we were on a high risk camera here, let's shoot real wide.

00;53;19;02 - 00;53;40;11

Clark

And then we have, you know, all the flexibility in the world to reframe this in post. It just never works out that way, though. You end up getting to post. I mean, imagine, you know, think about it. You get into post with 100 hours of footage, you know, 300, 300 hours of footage. And on top of that, it's all basically unframed, right?

00;53;41;03 - 00;53;44;01

Clark

I mean, come on, seriously, It's like you're going to think you're.

00;53;44;01 - 00;53;51;17

Cullen

Putting I mean, again, it's like you've put something in a paper shredder and now you're taping it together afterwards to make the Mona Lisa like you're not going to get it.

00;53;51;21 - 00;54;16;13

Clark

I think I think just psychologically, when you move with purpose, when you have a focused intent, when you're present there on the day you should be making those decisions on the day. Right. It's not like I mean, a painter doesn't paint a painting on like an extra large canvas and then, you know, take it, you know, and then give it to somebody and be like, well, you know, you can kind of like crop this however you want.

00;54;16;13 - 00;54;42;07

Clark

I just made it like really huge. It's extra big. And then, you know, you can just cut the canvas so that it's it's like, come on that you know, you should be working with, with, you know, and that's where I guess, you know, vision, right? It's like you should have the vision, you should be executing that vision. And I just I know a lot of people are going to you know, some people are going to say, but, you know, it just I leave myself so many options in editing if I do this.

00;54;42;19 - 00;54;53;00

Clark

And I just, you know, I hope I can articulate this well enough. I just don't think that's the case. I think what you end up with is just a bunch of generic garbage. Yes. Yes. Which is actually.

00;54;53;00 - 00;55;00;13

Cullen

Yeah, it's generic. That's a perfect way to put it, is that you're just you're not going to if you're not making specific decisions, then it's not going out. You're not going to have anything special.

00;55;00;13 - 00;55;12;03

Clark

Yeah. And so so speaking of garbage, I mean, and, you know, this is huge, Herzog said, Look, collect the remarkable. You're not garbage, right? We're not garbage collector. We're filmmakers.

00;55;12;03 - 00;55;16;26

Cullen

And if you shoot, it's he says to you, if you shoot 300 hours, you don't know what you're doing. And that's I love it.

00;55;16;26 - 00;55;28;11

Clark

But I think so if you shoot 300 hours, you don't know what you're doing. And I I've been there not 300 hours, but I have I have been in my own way at that place. And I can tell you from experience, it's totally true.

00;55;28;11 - 00;55;32;01

Cullen

And then you sit back and you go, Oh, God, yeah, I'm going to get through this, you know?

00;55;32;05 - 00;55;48;09

Clark

And I don't know if he says it's another lesson. I think he might, or maybe it's in some other interviews. But look, it's like we're not flies on the wall. You know, we're not security cameras, right? I mean, security camera is just records all day, every day waiting for something interesting.

00;55;48;10 - 00;55;51;18

Cullen

I'm sure you could make a movie out of that, but God would be pretty boring. Do that.

00;55;52;00 - 00;55;52;28

Clark

Do that as a writer.

00;55;52;28 - 00;55;55;29

Cullen

I shouldn't put that out on the Internet because it's going to get in someone's head. They're going to do it.

00;55;56;05 - 00;56;21;20

Clark

Yeah. Don't do that. Don't do that. As a filmmaker. Yeah, you know, move with purpose, move with focus and vision. And, you know, the idea is that what I love about Herzog, what really stands out to me is his like his obsession with new images as he defines them. Like, you know, to to finding new imagery to to bring to people, to bring to an audience to help.

00;56;21;24 - 00;56;39;12

Clark

You know, storytelling is about helping us understand who we are and why we're here and what is this thing that we're doing, which is life. What is this experience that is existence? It's it's helping us find a way to understand that all storytelling.

00;56;39;12 - 00;56;55;01

Cullen

Totally. Yeah. And just to just even, just again, like, just to kind of reiterate that, that imagine yourself as an audience member and think of how exciting it is to see something new on the screen. And you're right, when you when you watch a movie and it's like, I've never seen this before, that's the most amazing feeling in the world.

00;56;55;02 - 00;57;08;14

Clark

And that will very, very rarely happen on accident if you just, like, keep your camera rolling long enough. Yeah, Yeah. And if it does happen, if you do happen to get that, you're likely to be drowning in footage and you won't be able to find it.

00;57;08;14 - 00;57;10;15

Cullen

Anyway, probably won't be able to replicate it.

00;57;10;18 - 00;57;35;03

Clark

You've got to make it. You've got to execute vision and make it happen. So. Right. Yes. We are not garbage collectors. We are filmmakers. And what a fantastic final quote to end this episode on. Wow. Then, as always, culminate. It was a good one. This was a good one. I had a blast. So. Well, thanks, everybody for listening.

00;57;35;03 - 00;57;52;06

Clark

I hope that it was as enjoyable for you as it was for us. Next episode we will be jumping into lesson 11, which is going to be a good one. It's not the gear, it's you. This will be a good one. And I know, I know you're you're a gearhead.

00;57;52;17 - 00;57;53;02

Cullen

There we go.

00;57;53;02 - 00;57;54;15

Clark

And so this is going to be a good one.

00;57;54;15 - 00;57;55;15

Cullen

We'll have a good time. Yeah.

00;57;56;08 - 00;57;59;23

Clark

All right. Well, everybody, thanks so much for joining us. We'll catch you next time.

00;57;59;29 - 00;58;08;08

Cullen

So, yeah.

Episode - 010

Clark

Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Clark Coffey and with me as always, Mr. Cullen McFater. What's going on, buddy?

00;00;22;01 - 00;00;24;05

Cullen

Not much. Excited to be back again.

00;00;24;21 - 00;00;28;09

Clark

You all, as always. You sound excited, but, like, laid back excited.

00;00;29;04 - 00;00;30;11

Cullen

I don't want to scare people off.

00;00;30;11 - 00;00;52;21

Clark

Don't want to write another screen. If we were both as excited as me, it would be too much. So you've got like, the chill excited thing going on. Anyway, welcome once again, everybody. This is episode ten and we will be discussing Werner Herzog's master class. Lesson 11, not 1011. I know it's kind of confusing. We're wild like that.

00;00;53;05 - 00;01;16;29

Clark

And lesson 11 is about camera karma cinematography, a.k.a It's not the gear, it's you. Cullen I know you're going to have a ton of stuff to say about this. I know that you know more about gear than any single person I think I know. So I'll be excited to hear some of your thoughts on a lot of these things.

00;01;16;29 - 00;01;35;04

Clark

But, but yeah, right off the bat, as usual, as per Mr. Herzog, he jumps right into, you know, making a super huge declarative statement where, hey, get over the gear. It's not about the gear. It's you go out there and make a freakin film with a pinhole camera.

00;01;35;13 - 00;01;36;00

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00;01;37;05 - 00;01;40;29

Clark

Stop worrying about the latest and greatest gear. What say you, sir?

00;01;41;19 - 00;01;42;20

Cullen

I agree completely.

00;01;42;25 - 00;01;48;08

Clark

I Now wait. But. But the question is, how many films have you made with a pinhole camera? I'd like to add all.

00;01;48;08 - 00;01;50;15

Cullen

Of them, and I don't.

00;01;51;01 - 00;01;55;15

Clark

And I'd like to know, how long did it take you to shoot frame by frame?

00;01;56;18 - 00;02;16;10

Cullen

Um, no, I think that, uh, he's completely like I, as you know, I, I like gear. I like to play with cameras, I like lenses and things like that, But for sure, and I'm a big proponent of owning all of that. And like, I don't like to rent your equipment. I like to buy and have it be my own.

00;02;17;03 - 00;02;40;15

Cullen

However, with that being said, I don't think I've ever bought a new camera until the one that I currently have has kind of reached a threshold or a ceiling of of what I can do with it. Yeah. So for example, I'm doing a feature right now. I don't think with the last camera that I have, I've got the Blackmagic Ursa G2.

00;02;40;23 - 00;03;16;07

Cullen

Nice cam before this, I don't think that I would be nearly as confident to use for a feature film as I do right now with this camera. Yeah. And so that's kind of where I'm going. Like, you know, the first camera I ever had was an old, you know, hi8 tape camera and I had that for years and then I had a handy cam when I was little camcorders for years and then I had a Sony mirrorless camera for years and it was, yeah, again, every time I upgraded it was due to the point that I felt like I had both learned all I could on that camera and that I had reached a certain

00;03;16;07 - 00;03;19;09

Cullen

point where it was stagnating, what I could do with it.

00;03;19;09 - 00;03;43;14

Clark

I'm curious. So I'm curious. Do you have any kind of examples that you might share? There might be some filmmakers out there who, you know, they're they're just getting into filmmaking and they're trying to figure out, you know, should I upgrade? Or maybe even they're trying to figure out what should I get? I mean, do you have any kind of examples, the stories you can kind of share where you did realize, oh, okay, it's it's by necessity.

00;03;43;14 - 00;04;00;21

Clark

They need that. I need to go out and upgrade my gear as opposed to, you know, just kind of wanting it and needing it and kind of buying into the whole latest greatest, you know, you get to be and h catalog in the mail and you're like drooling over everything just because it's so you know, because it's so amazing.

00;04;00;21 - 00;04;07;04

Clark

But I'm just curious kind of what what if any particular cues you you might have had during that process.

00;04;07;11 - 00;04;32;28

Cullen

A lot of it is about ergonomics for me. Yeah, It's you know, of course I think that's the thing about the expense of film equipment is so often that cheaper film equipment may actually be equal quality wise in terms of the output quality too. Really expensive equipment. The expensive equipment is usually expensive because it is easier to use and more reliable, a lot more, you know, hearty and will survive for longer.

00;04;32;28 - 00;04;37;02

Cullen

Yeah, and lighting is a huge example of that, where you can get cheap lights that you know.

00;04;37;09 - 00;04;37;19

Clark

In here.

00;04;37;20 - 00;04;38;16

Cullen

As much light and.

00;04;38;17 - 00;04;39;18

Clark

I've been here have.

00;04;39;18 - 00;04;43;01

Cullen

Just as great of a quality of light as you know really expensive lights but.

00;04;43;01 - 00;04;46;01

Clark

You know reason you breathe on them and they're gone. Yeah.

00;04;46;08 - 00;04;53;06

Cullen

So an example of that would be with the again, the old black magic that I had was not great in low light. Yeah.

00;04;53;06 - 00;04;55;24

Clark

What did you had, Did you have the 4K.

00;04;55;24 - 00;04;59;05

Cullen

Yeah, I had the production camera. 4K. Okay. The big kind of not.

00;04;59;05 - 00;05;00;09

Clark

Big the big box.

00;05;00;10 - 00;05;20;00

Cullen

About box one. Yeah. It looks like a silver blob box. Yeah. And that was not good in low light and a lot of fixed powder noise issues. And it was kind of while I was shooting that western that we've talked about on here before. And we had a night scene and it was not even nighttime. It was pretty much dusk, really early dusk, and I couldn't see anything.

00;05;20;00 - 00;05;38;15

Cullen

And I wound up in post having to just pile a bunch of film grain on it because it was like so noisy. And that camera just was really limited in that, you know, it only went up to 30 frames per second. Yeah, it's the ISO. You only had three options for ISO 200, 400 or 800, so you couldn't even fine tune things like that.

00;05;39;11 - 00;06;04;21

Cullen

And I just got to a point where I was like, you know, I have the money right now to make an upgrade. I might as well as make my life easier. But yeah, I totally agree that it was never about, you know, and there's there's a lot speaking about cheap equipment. There's a lot of equipment that I have that is very cheap that I'm not out there looking for, as you said, looking to be in a catalog where I'm like, Oh, what's the latest, you know, thing that Aperture lights have put out?

00;06;04;21 - 00;06;05;08

Cullen

Or what's the.

00;06;05;18 - 00;06;05;28

Clark

Yeah, it.

00;06;06;00 - 00;06;20;21

Cullen

Was gimbal or things like that. Yeah, I don't really I don't like gimbals, I don't like things like that. It's usually a gear upgrade for me is usually something that is just in this for the sake of efficiency and for making my life easier and for the sake of like, Oh man, I want that camera because.

00;06;20;21 - 00;06;38;07

Clark

It's on hopefully propelled by a story, right? Yeah. I mean, ideally it's propelled by a story. I mean, it's you've got, you know, whatever stories you're working to tell, the limitations of your current gear are, you know, are providing a very real, you know, obstacle and that it's the story is pushing the gear.

00;06;38;21 - 00;06;49;22

Cullen

And I would have you know, I would have bought the the Ursa G2 if it was a 1080 camera like I don't care about 4K. Yeah but eight K 12 K whatever that doesn't, you know, that's such a big thing.

00;06;49;22 - 00;07;09;29

Clark

Oh wow. I mean, do you want to talk about that just a little bit? I don't want to go too often. Let's like briefly, let's touch base on this, you know, because that is right. I mean, a big part of this is is marketing, right? It's it's you know, we're all kind of exposed to just this onslaught of marketing messaging about the latest and greatest.

00;07;09;29 - 00;07;19;29

Clark

Right. And I mean, a big way, you know, that these camera companies continue to sell models, newer models is, you know, it's like the the k the resolution and it's.

00;07;19;29 - 00;07;20;27

Cullen

Got a bigger number on.

00;07;20;27 - 00;07;24;29

Clark

It is a big part of it. I mean, tell me a little bit about that. I mean, I actually.

00;07;24;29 - 00;07;29;24

Cullen

It's funny, I wrote a probably I think it was like a 30 page paper on this when I was at university.

00;07;29;24 - 00;07;31;02

Clark

Well, let's really dive in.

00;07;31;11 - 00;07;55;02

Cullen

Yeah, I can read my whole paper on them right now, but I mean, essentially image quality does not come down to the amount of pixels that you have in it unless you know, there's there's something that a term called actual fidelity or something that I can't remember. The exact term is. But essentially what that means is that there's a there's a certain point where the human eye no longer distinguishes.

00;07;55;02 - 00;07;58;11

Clark

It's like a law of diminishing returns in a sense. Yeah, yeah.

00;07;58;17 - 00;08;16;28

Cullen

Even at the point where you can see, even like there's no camera, even at 720p where you could individually count pixels. Yeah. What matters more is the quality of sensor in terms of the color, you know, the intake of the color. But those are the range, dynamic range. Exactly. Those are things that are more difficult to.

00;08;16;29 - 00;08;17;28

Clark

Notice because.

00;08;18;13 - 00;08;22;29

Cullen

They require a more technical understanding of how cameras work, whereas much more.

00;08;22;29 - 00;08;26;22

Clark

Nuanced range, something like that is so much harder to communicate.

00;08;26;22 - 00;08;33;09

Cullen

It's easier something saying that like 12 K, you know, right? It's got more pixels and it's, you know, everyone understands what high definition means.

00;08;33;14 - 00;08;45;00

Clark

It's like when we were kids, well, at least when I was kids and, you know, like it would be like Nintendo a bit. And then, you know, Sega comes out 16 bit, you know, 32. Yeah, it's kind of what it reminds me of when I was a kid.

00;08;45;02 - 00;08;57;04

Cullen

And it's exactly like that where it's like, is the quality of the game, you know? And that's what I always tell people too is that like and I made tons of movies on a shitty little high eight video camera.

00;08;57;07 - 00;08;57;27

Clark

Well, yeah, I've had.

00;08;57;27 - 00;09;17;18

Cullen

To record, you know, on to tape and then transfer that tape and, and it was never the quality of the camera that made those good because the quality of the camera, if anything, was a detriment to them. But they were good in spite of the quality of the camera. Yeah. And I think that that's the idea that Herzog's getting out with the pinhole camera thing, which is really, really something.

00;09;17;18 - 00;09;31;22

Cullen

And I try to drill in when I teach or when a student of mine asks me, you know, and most of my students are either early high school or late middle school. So really just kind of getting into that now, that level where you would start buying your own cameras and things like that. Well, and I always say that exact thing.

00;09;31;22 - 00;09;34;19

Cullen

It's like get something that is cheap, that takes video.

00;09;34;24 - 00;09;58;00

Clark

And I would I want to add to you know, I think I mean, you know, I never want to try to put words in Herzog's mouth or anything, but I, you know, just kind of speaking from, you know, a completely different art form as well. I remember when I was a kid and I first started playing guitar and, you know, my I was getting you know, I had an instructor and, you know, I was like looking finally to get a guitar, of course.

00;09;58;00 - 00;10;19;15

Clark

And you know, what I wanted, right, was like, Eddie Van Halen, Rest in peace, you know, like electric guitar. You know, I wanted like, huge Marshall Lamp and I wanted all this stuff right now, like, give me a bunch of pedals. And, yeah, my parents were like, No, we're going to get you a really simple acoustic guitar. And my instructor was like, Yep, that's exactly what you should get them.

00;10;20;17 - 00;10;40;18

Clark

And I was like, Why? Why, why? And my instructor said, Look, you know, in the beginning you've got that. It's all about mastering the fundamentals and all this extraneous stuff, right? All these effects, the amplifier, different, you know, pickup combinations, all this kind of stuff here. You're not ready for that yet. Of course, I thought I was ready for it.

00;10;40;29 - 00;10;43;27

Clark

And I guess, you know, sometimes I kind of feel like cameras can be that way.

00;10;43;28 - 00;10;44;23

Cullen

Oh, I mentally.

00;10;44;29 - 00;10;51;11

Clark

Master the fundamentals of tape, of getting an image, of capturing an image, just master the fundamentals.

00;10;51;11 - 00;11;06;16

Cullen

And as we've spoken about, too, you know, neither of us went to film school, but I have friends that went and they tell stories and I've met some of these people that they went to school with that I don't know particularly well, but I've just heard these kind of anecdotal stories about these kind of usually, you know, like a trust fund kid.

00;11;06;16 - 00;11;07;17

Clark

Who gets.

00;11;07;17 - 00;11;24;13

Cullen

His parents to buy him a read. And it's like my movies still aren't good. I'm still not getting accepted to festivals. I'm still not you know, I'm not getting good grades on my movies. And it's like you expect it. Then I think, again, it's completely in line with what you said. With the guitar thing. It's like you expect getting expensive guitars suddenly going to make you an impressive music musician.

00;11;24;20 - 00;11;25;16

Clark

It's just not the case.

00;11;25;21 - 00;11;38;06

Cullen

It's getting a red camera is going to suddenly make, you know, there are movies that are shot on reds, on areas, on on film that I think look like garbage. That I will add to that even more.

00;11;38;06 - 00;11;39;14

Clark

They're just not good stories.

00;11;39;14 - 00;11;55;29

Cullen

They're they're not good stories. It's great, you know, And, you know, even just but specifically for like the cinematography, right. Like there are there are movies that are shot on very expensive equipment, very expensive. Your high octane Hollywood movies that that I do think genuinely look worse than some movies that were shot on iPhones or shot.

00;11;55;29 - 00;11;56;27

Clark

On it can.

00;11;57;12 - 00;12;02;08

Cullen

On, you know, just just a like rebel a can and rebel.

00;12;02;15 - 00;12;28;28

Clark

Yeah. And this should be an empowering thing. I mean, I hope for you guys out there listening. I mean, this should be an empowering idea. You don't have to wait to have a bunch of money or to have access to, you know, an extraordinarily expensive camera. You know, we'll keep reiterating this over and over and over, but shoot with what you have and don't look at that, the camera that you have as some kind of limitation.

00;12;29;08 - 00;12;48;01

Clark

You know, a lot of time as with all kinds of you know, as with so many different aspects of making art, your limitations can actually be a great strength. They can help kind of provide a, you know, in a strange way, like a scaffolding that can actually help you build your work. So having a simple camera is Biebs.

00;12;48;02 - 00;12;54;02

Clark

Like, don't ever think that that should keep you from making your film. It really, really shouldn't.

00;12;54;02 - 00;13;15;23

Cullen

And it sort of I mean, it also can sort of seem paradoxical for me because, of course, I do have a quite an expensive camera. I've got a lot of lenses and things like that. But I think the idea for me is even if those were stolen or even if I was driving and they fell out of my car and all broke, the first thing I would do is go and get a $300 shitty little DSLR and start using that to make movies.

00;13;15;23 - 00;13;20;13

Cullen

I wouldn't just sit there and sulk and go, My movies are ruined because I lost the big camera. I can't make.

00;13;20;21 - 00;13;28;00

Clark

Movies. So what you're saying is, is that if all of your gear somehow happened to magically disappear, you'd be okay. What was your address again?

00;13;28;00 - 00;13;30;28

Cullen

COEN Well, luckily, the borders closed right now. Oh.

00;13;31;11 - 00;13;33;14

Clark

Gosh, you're right. You don't. Well.

00;13;34;09 - 00;13;49;18

Cullen

But but no, I mean, I think that's that kind of sums it up. I think we're we're in agreeance with Herzog on that. Yeah, That's like, you know, I don't I don't think he's expecting many first time filmmakers to actually go out with a pinhole camera and make a movie with that. Although pinhole cameras can be very fun to take pictures with.

00;13;49;26 - 00;14;12;29

Cullen

Yeah, but but I think his idea is just, again, that that if you couldn't tell a story in a single photograph with a pinhole camera, then how are you going to tell a story with a, you know, $15,000 red or Sony or Black Magic camera like Ryan? You know, you got to you got to master the fundamentals of visual storytelling prior to any of that.

00;14;13;12 - 00;14;34;22

Clark

Absolutely. And it's funny, you know, speaking of mastering the fundamentals now, this this is kind of funny to me. And Herzog certainly communicates this with all sincerity. I'd like to get your views on this. But Herzog talks about and you can maybe tell when I think because I'm laughing here, as I say it, he talks about not even allowing his deepest use of viewfinder.

00;14;34;22 - 00;14;58;19

Clark

Yeah, I just a I would love to be on the set. Now, with all due respect, I have a sneaky suspicion that his DP's generally use Viewfinders and his operators use Viewfinders. But. But I think again, this is kind of his way of of just really trying to drive home the point that, you know, I think, you know, hey, hey, maybe I've got it all backwards.

00;14;58;19 - 00;15;17;05

Clark

I mean, maybe, you know, maybe not. I'd love to see somebody shoot without a viewfinder. I yeah, I've never seen it done personally myself. And I would consider that quite an extraordinary feat to shoot an entire film without using one. But I assume you probably agree that you think maybe it's just a little bit hyperbolic just to have.

00;15;17;06 - 00;15;17;14

Clark

Yeah.

00;15;17;19 - 00;15;28;04

Cullen

I mean, I think I understand what he means again, too, with the, the idea of as a as a dip or as a camera operator, you should probably know at a certain focal length what's in the frame.

00;15;28;09 - 00;15;29;04

Clark

For no question should.

00;15;29;04 - 00;15;34;10

Cullen

Be able to. Yeah. But I think and perhaps this is his way of really stressing that. Yeah.

00;15;34;19 - 00;15;57;00

Clark

And I'm sure people can get it right. I mean, I'm sure you use the same camera and Liz's for a long period of time. I'm sure that your approximation can be extremely close. I mean I No, Yeah. So, you know, let me rewind that a little bit. I'm not saying that this is so far fetched, ridiculous that, you know, a really talented, skilled DP couldn't estimate within extremely close or what the frame.

00;15;57;00 - 00;16;08;19

Clark

Right. Right. Absolutely. And I mean, you know, if you use the same gear for a long enough time, your muscle memory I mean I've seen some extraordinary almost seemed like magical focus pulling and you know I.

00;16;09;09 - 00;16;11;12

Cullen

Didn't have viewfinders they had to know the foot.

00;16;11;23 - 00;16;45;15

Clark

You have to know that, right? You actually measure it out. You'd have to know what that depth of focus was going to be and stay within that. Absolutely. So. So yeah, it's not like I'm laughing like, Oh, this is impossible. I just I personally think that there's nothing wrong with using the viewfinder and Yeah, and it would but but I do think his point, his overall general point about you know, really kind of becoming as much one with your gear as possible to the point where you you can estimate that frame and the depth of focus very closely and you can understand the differences in lenses and things like this.

00;16;45;15 - 00;16;51;05

Clark

But but anyway, it's just funny, of course, Herzog, like always has a wonderful way of driving his points on.

00;16;51;21 - 00;17;12;02

Cullen

The fundamentals of what a lot of Herzog talks about in this whole masterclass and what, you know, what a very common tenet of teaching, whether it's film or anything, is. You have to essentially understand the rules to break them. So you're understand your camera in and out to the point where you don't need a viewfinder before you then rely on a viewfinder.

00;17;12;10 - 00;17;28;12

Cullen

Yeah, I think it's a good way to put it. Yeah. And so and that's the same reason that, you know, when I am teaching any focus pulling in the film classes I do, I don't let them use focus peaking. I say focus without focus. You can use it once you know how to focus. Yeah but.

00;17;28;21 - 00;17;29;12

Clark

Don't have a be a.

00;17;29;14 - 00;17;47;03

Cullen

Rely on focus peaking. So I turn it off and I make them you know pull focus just by doing that or storyboarding I say you know you can't don't take out the camera and see what focal length you need. Make a guess, make it, make an observation and try. And if you're wrong, that's fine, because that's the best way to learn.

00;17;47;17 - 00;17;55;09

Cullen

Yeah, but. But give yourself the chance. And if anything, put yourself in a position that that causes you to fail.

00;17;55;18 - 00;18;23;18

Clark

Well, I'll tell you it very nicely. And I tell you that, you know, it really does have. Yeah. I mean, and this. So sorry. I just. I didn't mean to cut you off there. I just. It's just like I it and I it's so important. You might wonder. Well, why. Okay, look, if I have focus peaking, if I have all these tools available to me, have these extraordinarily, you know, wonderful viewfinders, you know, or electronic viewfinders with, you know, all different types of histograms peeking and everything.

00;18;23;20 - 00;18;42;21

Clark

Like, why? Why should I need to to learn how to do so many of these things manually? Well, I'll tell you, it's like today, it's like and I have I am at such a sucker for this. I have completely fallen into this. But when I was when I first started driving, of course we didn't have GPS, nobody had smartphones.

00;18;42;21 - 00;18;49;08

Clark

I had a map or I just had to remember where things were. And I got around all over. We've both.

00;18;49;08 - 00;18;50;13

Cullen

Been pizza delivery drivers.

00;18;50;19 - 00;19;04;00

Clark

And I was a pizza delivery guy and I used to I used to string together four or five six pizza deliveries and I would just look at a map for about a minute and a half and I would map out every single delivery in order and I would go, Mm. And that's.

00;19;04;02 - 00;19;05;28

Cullen

It. Yeah. They allow us to use our phones.

00;19;06;05 - 00;19;31;28

Clark

And I'm telling you, I could not find my way to the grocery store that I go to 50 times a month today because I have become so reliant on my cell phone, on my jeeps and there will definitely come a time when you're shooting or you're going to be on location. And one of those tools that you've learned to rely on is going to fail or won't work in the specific circumstance that you're going to need it to.

00;19;31;28 - 00;19;34;04

Cullen

Be, or you'll be shooting on a medium that doesn't allow at.

00;19;34;10 - 00;19;40;04

Clark

All any number of mistakes, Correct. Any number or combination of these things. And what are you going to do then?

00;19;40;28 - 00;19;41;08

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00;19;42;06 - 00;19;49;18

Clark

And so and you think, well, what's the chances of that happening? Well, I think even with the best gear, the chances are actually not that far fetched.

00;19;49;20 - 00;20;12;02

Cullen

No. And I think even taking it a step further there, too, I've seen people who have, you know, no equipment failure, have focus peaking on learn to focus, pull with focus peaking who were awful at it even with vocal. Oh yeah you know that's their idea of focus is getting the most colored squares in a spot and not actually really analyzing the image for what it is of what's in focus.

00;20;12;02 - 00;20;13;14

Clark

And actually my point, right, And it's.

00;20;13;14 - 00;20;14;01

Cullen

Like you are not.

00;20;14;01 - 00;20;15;16

Clark

Even looking at the it makes.

00;20;15;16 - 00;20;18;09

Cullen

Your brain turn into like an autofocus thing, which is you know.

00;20;18;16 - 00;20;18;24

Clark

Yeah.

00;20;18;24 - 00;20;19;10

Cullen

The worst.

00;20;19;16 - 00;20;42;26

Clark

Yeah. So great points. And so I think we just, you know hammer home yet again the importance of really learning the fundamentals and then building upon that you know learn to navigate manually. Mm. And then you're not having to rely on the tools to the point where you're kind of pushed out of the equation. It's like at that point what do you, what are you there for then, you know?

00;20;42;26 - 00;21;13;04

Clark

Yeah. So, you know, he mentions and I've seen this film briefly or not briefly, it's a brief film, so I've just seen it. And you've not yet. But Herzog talks about the documentary film, and I think it's the English title is The Mad Masters, which is a 1955 short documentary. It's about 36 seconds long ish shot in the Gold Coast and has to do with colonialism and its impact on the people there.

00;21;13;16 - 00;21;43;14

Clark

And not that I would like pretend to understand complete context of this film because it would take a little bit more than just watching the film to obtain a complete context. But it's really an extraordinarily intimate view on some an important religious ritual that's taking place that the filmmaker has actually been invited to, to document. And Herzog uses an example of, you know, what you can do with such minimal gear.

00;21;43;14 - 00;22;02;24

Clark

And I think Herzog mentions like, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's like he has a hand-cranked camera. He can only shoot, you know, 24 second burst. He's got one lens. I do not remember the focal length of the lens that he had available to him, but I mean, really rudimentary gear. And I think it's just him. And I'm curious, I don't even know if sound was even recorded for this.

00;22;02;24 - 00;22;25;18

Clark

I I'm not quite sure if any of the sound is actually, you know, on location sound there. I'm not quite sure. But the bottom line is, is that it's a it's really an extraordinarily extraordinary film documents something really interesting and visceral and, you know, here's a guy with a camera that to most people today, they'd be like, you know, what the hell is this?

00;22;25;20 - 00;22;26;02

Clark

Yeah.

00;22;26;20 - 00;22;29;18

Cullen

So I, I do want to ask you a few questions, too.

00;22;29;18 - 00;22;29;25

Clark

Yeah.

00;22;29;25 - 00;22;52;18

Cullen

Yes. Relating to this and relating again to that idea, not just to talk about gear, but to talk about how how gear can affect your movie. Yeah. So firstly I, and we briefly touched on this before I think in another episode, but we've I don't think either of us have ever shot a full feature or even a longer short of our own on film.

00;22;52;24 - 00;23;18;15

Cullen

That's correct. I have shot I've shot you know, I have, as I said, I have a six millimeter camera and I've shot short things that, you know, again, very similar to what you just described or it's a hand-cranked, you know, push button thing that that goes for 24 seconds. And I think just to get into a broader scope of it, because you also mentioned the idea that he has not a zoom lens, just a lens with with a single focal length.

00;23;18;22 - 00;23;23;09

Clark

That's my understanding that he's just got a single focal length lens. That's correct. Yeah. But I don't going all the way.

00;23;23;23 - 00;23;47;28

Cullen

In going beyond beyond what maybe this movie is the limitations on this movie were, but just to a general scope of film altogether as well, the weight of cameras has gone down so much. Yes. I find not just in terms of just the ease on the camera upgrade or whatever carrying it, I find that all of those things restrictions are some of the best things for story.

00;23;47;28 - 00;24;01;01

Cullen

I agree. It's one of the reasons that another one of the reasons that I really wanted to get an upgraded camera was because I like larger cameras, because I like the feeling of and I've always described it this way.

00;24;01;01 - 00;24;01;23

Clark

As the heavy cam.

00;24;01;23 - 00;24;18;03

Cullen

Let's say let's say that I'm trying to shoot a scene and I need the camera to be in a corner and I need to be high up in a corner looking down at somebody and the camera's too big for that. It just won't work. I find that the second decision that I have to make, they're going, okay, that's not going to work.

00;24;18;03 - 00;24;42;09

Cullen

Now I have to actually think about the shot and go, what? What is the exact placement? Or if I'm shooting on a lens that, you know, say I'm shooting on a 50 and I don't have any other lenses with me, the idea of being restricted by that lens and going, All right, I can't get closer to that. So now I have to really think about what story can I tell with this shot, with these limited circumstances that I've got.

00;24;42;22 - 00;24;50;12

Cullen

I think that that makes you think way harder about what you're actually doing and the placement of the camera and what your, you know, the visual storytelling of the movie.

00;24;50;18 - 00;25;14;18

Clark

I would agree wholeheartedly. Yeah. I think that there is a strange kind of paradox, you know, kind of this weird paradox that goes on with the creative process where, you know, and I think for I mean, I guess by its very nature, right, any, any medium is a set of limitations, right? Yeah. If you're a sculptor, there's a certain set of limitations.

00;25;14;18 - 00;25;35;23

Clark

And then even further, depending on the material that you're sculpting in. Right. If you're a painter, that's a certain set of restrictions that are different than if you were a sculptor. And then even further, what are you painting on? What are you painting with? If you're a filmmaker, what you're shooting with camera wise, medium wise, lens wise, etc.?

00;25;35;23 - 00;25;55;26

Clark

I mean, so, you know, kind of by its very definition, right? All mediums are these set of limitations. You can look at them that way. And so, I mean, basically what we're doing when we sit down and we say we want to create something and then we pick some way to express ourselves, we're saying, what sort of limitations would I like?

00;25;55;26 - 00;25;56;07

Clark

You know.

00;25;56;23 - 00;25;58;15

Cullen

What are my what are my options here?

00;25;58;15 - 00;26;01;21

Clark

Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what you're doing. Well, it's.

00;26;01;21 - 00;26;32;14

Cullen

Also it's also one of the reasons that I prefer, you know, if I can avoid hand-held, I prefer to shoot on tripod all the time from for movies that I'm making, because I find again, that when you're shooting handheld and you're kind of, you know, there are some great handheld shots in movies that use handheld extremely well, but they're all almost to me planned like they're tripods, whereas I find a lot of people fall into when they're just doing handheld photography, just kind of going with the flow and almost improvising the camera.

00;26;32;14 - 00;26;49;18

Cullen

Whereas I find I'm on a tripod, I really have to know where everything's going to be because I have to make sure that, you know, if I'm still here, I have to make sure that I can get all the stuff in the shot and really plan that out. That's not to say there aren't places for handheld, and I view I use handheld when it's when it's appropriate.

00;26;49;18 - 00;27;17;26

Cullen

But I do think that and, you know, same again goes for these cameras that can go up to like 300,000 ISO or 256,000 ISO or whatever. And it's like, yeah, and you're basically throwing lighting out the window because you can, you know, you don't need to light anymore. You're I think that oftentimes the breaking down of those limitations, ironically, leads to almost a late not necessarily laziness, but just an overlooking of certain decisions that should still be really vital.

00;27;17;29 - 00;27;53;19

Clark

It might be less premeditated. It's true. It's possible. I mean, I think and we can, you know, to tie this in a little bit, you know. HERZOG Let's talk about operating camera in a larger camera. Smaller camera. There's no question these things have a a significant impact on your filmmaking. And you can certainly see this over time. You know, I think you and I have talked about this where cameras used to weigh, you know, a couple of hundred pounds and you look at how a film was shot, you know, And then fast forward to today where people are shooting with mirrorless, you know, just minuscule form factor cameras that weigh ounces.

00;27;53;26 - 00;28;20;04

Clark

Mm hmm. You can see just the profound difference in how most films look today, just based on that one change in technology, just that one alone. But, I mean, you know, Herzog talks about operating with his whole body. And I especially be curious what you think about this. I am like you. I like I like a full, more kind of formal, traditional form factor camera video.

00;28;20;07 - 00;28;30;05

Clark

You know, I'm not a big fan of small form factor. And I think if I if I was if I was understand you correctly, that's one of the reasons you wanted to move to the mini Ursa G.

00;28;30;13 - 00;28;32;10

Cullen

Correct. Yeah, because it's a little much larger.

00;28;32;10 - 00;28;32;27

Clark

It's a much.

00;28;32;27 - 00;28;35;06

Cullen

Larger not very many. Despite the. No.

00;28;35;09 - 00;28;58;17

Clark

Right. It's pretty substantial and it's certainly more substantial than that production camera you had, which is still, you know, which which even that is a bulky it's a very bulky, substantial camera compared to what a lot of people shoot with, like a Sony or whatnot. Nikon has some or, you know, these mirrorless cameras, which have some very interesting capabilities in a extremely small form factor body.

00;28;59;27 - 00;29;34;05

Clark

But, you know, Herzog talks about operating with his whole body and kind of and I love this because Herzog talks about this in so many ways over and over and over again. The physicality, the athleticism of filmmaking and it's interesting to me to watch Herzog kind of describe this in a master class, and he kind of gets up and pantomimes having a camera, but he talks about, you know, how it's it's a dance that you don't want to remove yourself from the physicality of what's going on and that, you know, this this, this helps you kind of, you know, I think, become one with the story you're telling and it allows like a certain flow

00;29;34;05 - 00;29;50;15

Clark

and lyricism and rhythm to to kind of develop. And I'm so curious. I mean, we're talking about different technology is different form factor cameras. What are your experiences? How do you like to shoot? What do you think about what Herzog says about, you know, how he likes to shoot?

00;29;50;15 - 00;29;51;16

Cullen

I think it's it's respect.

00;29;51;20 - 00;29;52;02

Clark

It almost.

00;29;52;02 - 00;30;07;06

Cullen

Lines up. Exactly. Because I think that larger cameras are easier to feel that weight and to feel that, you know, exactly like be you know, be one with the camera and how he sort of says it like move it with your whole body. And it certainly forces it.

00;30;07;06 - 00;30;09;12

Clark

Right. I mean, exactly. Which forces you to.

00;30;09;12 - 00;30;32;25

Cullen

Camera on your shoulder or if it's even if it's you're doing it in like an undersea slung or whatever. Um, I think a good camera operator is somebody who, you know, you'll watch them contort. And I had a little bit of experience with that when I was doing live camera photography or cinematography at TIFF when it which is very different than, of course, narrative, but just just contorting your body to get into that image.

00;30;32;25 - 00;30;52;13

Cullen

And it can it can be super uncomfortable. And that's why most camera operators have really bad backs. But, but, but it feels like there's just something, again, about the image versus just having, you know, a DSLR in my hand and being able to kind of hold my hand out and point it even beyond just the fact that smaller cameras tend to handle shakiness less well.

00;30;52;18 - 00;30;52;28

Clark

Yeah, there's.

00;30;52;28 - 00;31;16;09

Cullen

Just something about being able to just do that and to hold my camera out and, you know, be fine with it. And it's not versus really, really feeling the weight. And you look at someone like Peter Van Hoytema, who is he's done most of Nolan's most recent movies on IMAX. And like, he really pioneered this idea of doing handheld IMAX, which is insane because IMAX was like the size of desks.

00;31;16;09 - 00;31;16;19

Cullen

But he's.

00;31;16;19 - 00;31;17;02

Clark

Right.

00;31;17;09 - 00;31;38;27

Cullen

He's really, really pioneered this idea of it. And it's really interesting. And it's one of these things, again, that I really talk about in the class is I take a look at photography, handheld photography on smaller cameras and then something like an IMAX camera. And it's a completely different feeling. The IMAX camera almost feels like it's moving by itself, like it's this big.

00;31;38;27 - 00;31;43;19

Cullen

Like every every single movement of the camera is intentional. And it's. Yes, nice.

00;31;43;20 - 00;31;44;29

Clark

And yes, it's this is.

00;31;45;08 - 00;31;47;16

Cullen

And it's, you know versus purpose able to.

00;31;47;19 - 00;31;48;24

Clark

Weight conscious per.

00;31;48;24 - 00;31;49;20

Cullen

Flip a camera around.

00;31;49;20 - 00;32;02;27

Clark

Yeah right right. And as I try to fight you know because it might be, you know, challenging for maybe somebody to kind of kind of understand what was the big deal here. It's like, don't you want don't you want the camera to be more mobile? Don't you. Yeah.

00;32;02;29 - 00;32;04;02

Cullen

Like freedom to know.

00;32;04;13 - 00;32;31;05

Clark

And and certainly, like, make no mistake, there are some definite pros to smaller cameras. Like, I mean, absolutely there are. I mean, just, you know, but but I think what we're trying to kind of highlight is like some of the things that you might not instantly think of that are benefits of of a larger camera. But regardless, I think whether you're working with a larger format camera or a or a sorry, a form factor, not format, that would be a different thing, but a larger.

00;32;31;22 - 00;33;04;24

Clark

Yeah. Form factor. That's a whole different thing. Form factor, camera or small one. I mean, you know, even with a smaller camera, you can set things up. You can put yourself in a position where you are making conscious, deliberate, purposeful movements with, you know, with your entire body. And I think it really is about I mean, and this goes back to what we've talked about, about directing right at the action, about not being in a video village where you're right there with the action you are involved and present with the performers, with your actors.

00;33;05;03 - 00;33;11;23

Clark

And, you know, it's it's that that dance or that exchange of energy and being there.

00;33;13;12 - 00;33;38;07

Cullen

And that's you know, that's a really great time to actually bring up Herzog's philosophy on Zooms, which is ironic because Aguirre begins with a zoom. But but I think that yeah. Herzog For those of you who haven't seen the Masterclass or don't know that Herzog doesn't like zooms, or at least in this lesson, kind of speaks them about about don't zoom in to a subject we'll physically move in with the camera with your whole body.

00;33;38;07 - 00;34;07;15

Clark

Right? So he's not saying and which we can touch on this. This is kind of two different things. He's not saying, I don't ever use a zoom lens. He actually does specifically call out and I actually I love zooms for documentary work. I actually love them. And I, I don't know that I've ever I mean, I almost exclusively shoot documentary stuff with a zoom because it allows you to to change the focal length of your lens on the fly, which is vital when you don't, you can't you can't plan anything.

00;34;07;15 - 00;34;36;18

Clark

You're you're running and gunning. And I think for running and gunning zoom lens is extraordinary. Now there are tradeoffs and maybe you can you can explain those to people, but just your stop just having less light come in could be one of them. Image quality would be another potentially. But but what yeah Herzog is talking is actually making a zoom move, actually changing the focal length of the lens while you are shooting and using that footage in your film.

00;34;36;27 - 00;34;43;16

Clark

That's what he's talking about. What are your thoughts on that? I mean, are you as hardcore against using zooms in that way?

00;34;43;26 - 00;35;08;05

Cullen

No, I do. I like zooms. I actually really enjoy I think that I think it's a completely different effect. I think it's yeah, for me is that a zoom to me is like intentionally observational. It feels like you're almost prying in. Yeah. Whereas moving in to me feels more of an intentional movement or a deliberate like grand motion that is now even just to me, it's more, it's more it's a completely different emotion.

00;35;08;17 - 00;35;23;27

Clark

It is. I mean, I think yeah, when you see a zoom and I am trying to think of a documentary film that I that I can't think of one off the top of my head where I've seen an intense, you know, a zoom used in the actual film. I can certainly think of some narrative films where I've seen zooms.

00;35;24;03 - 00;35;24;27

Cullen

And he only loves.

00;35;24;27 - 00;35;57;20

Clark

Them. And, and Quentin Tarantino, of course, even more recently uses zooms and I feel like there's certainly a self-referential feel to them. There's a certain it's calling attention to the artifice of the camera. I think when you're using a zoom like that. And so if you want to say like when Quentin Tarantino, you know, he's postmodern and kind of really self-referential and is always referring to even his own films or other films or television shows, I mean, it's almost kind of, you know, just one more way that he's, you know, winking to everybody, hahaha.

00;35;57;20 - 00;36;06;25

Clark

This is a film which certainly may not be a what you want to do all the time in other films. And so, yeah, I think there's a place, but I think there's.

00;36;06;25 - 00;36;11;17

Cullen

Great there great for emphasis too. Like you look at The Shining, there's tons of fresh my memory.

00;36;11;17 - 00;36;13;26

Clark

Refresh your memory. Where do they. I haven't seen it.

00;36;13;26 - 00;36;20;11

Cullen

The first time that Danny sees the twins and it's operating on his face and it's like this. Great. Again, this really visceral.

00;36;20;16 - 00;36;22;19

Clark

Is it like a film, though, or is it actual?

00;36;22;19 - 00;36;24;06

Cullen

Just it. It is.

00;36;24;06 - 00;36;24;20

Clark

Like a.

00;36;24;21 - 00;36;32;23

Cullen

Split second crash zoom like. And it goes like and he uses them in Barry Lyndon as well. Yeah. There's really, really long like some of the longest Oh.

00;36;32;28 - 00;36;36;21

Clark

Like could have a really slow drawn out. I haven't seen either one of those films in a long.

00;36;36;21 - 00;36;50;09

Cullen

So yeah, I mean I think that again it's like any like any camera movement there's, there's if you're, if you're using the tool to convey a feeling or to on purpose explain a story, then that's, that's I think what it's there for. And I think again for.

00;36;50;09 - 00;37;00;12

Clark

Documentaries like I'm like I'm still racking my brain. I can't think of a significant documentary film that I have seen that utilized a Zoom move in the footage. Can you.

00;37;00;12 - 00;37;05;17

Cullen

Beyond beyond utilizing zooms to like re calibrate and kind of.

00;37;06;03 - 00;37;14;29

Clark

Kind of as a stylist I've seen kind of like maybe Errol Morris you know in a seated interview kind of use a reframing, you know, and kind of give it this.

00;37;15;11 - 00;37;17;09

Cullen

Like, of, like this feeling of dirty view.

00;37;17;09 - 00;37;23;26

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I but aside from that I really, yeah. I can't recall. Yeah.

00;37;23;29 - 00;37;31;13

Cullen

But I mean again it is, it is funny to me because that, that opening shot of Aguirre is I'm pretty sure starts zoomed in on somebody.

00;37;31;14 - 00;37;39;29

Clark

There's no question there's no it does there. Absolutely it does. And this is what's great. It's like Herzog, you know, he contradicts himself at every turn, which is wonderful. I love it. You know.

00;37;41;05 - 00;37;49;22

Cullen

But no, I mean, and just just to answer your question there earlier, too. It is. Yeah. Zooms these days are actually quite they're getting to the point where they're almost.

00;37;49;29 - 00;37;50;10

Clark

Facing.

00;37;50;15 - 00;37;59;24

Cullen

With Yeah. Which is great and they're lowering in prices but yeah it's like a cinema zoom. You're always going to have an equivalent focal length for the price that you pay. You're, you're always going to have a.

00;38;00;09 - 00;38;01;04

Clark

Higher F stop.

00;38;01;04 - 00;38;04;08

Cullen

Limitation. Yeah, Yeah. It's just less light and pretty.

00;38;04;08 - 00;38;05;26

Clark

Yes. We're talking sun lenses. Yeah.

00;38;05;26 - 00;38;32;08

Cullen

And you know, and again, cinema zooms are majorly expensive. There's one that I'm looking at picking up that's actually probably the cheapest by like ten grand for the quality of it. And that's more for me again, for efficiency is just that rather than sitting there and having to switch out a lens on set when I've got such a small crew working with me and when we got, you know, very limited time, I'd much rather just be able to, you know, if I'm going from a just, let's.

00;38;32;09 - 00;38;51;22

Clark

Just focus on Yeah, yeah. And, and of course you've got a lot more flexibility. You've got basically it nearly you know, it's an analog infinite focal length. Mm hmm. Increment between whatever the limitations of that particular lens are. So and again, I'll just read it, I think for Running Gun, you know, I think for documentary filmmaking, they're extraordinarily powerful.

00;38;51;22 - 00;39;06;04

Clark

You don't always have a chance to change lens. As a matter of fact, you know, you often don't have time to do that kind of thing. And being able to to, you know, recompose your picture on the fly, your image on the fly can just just be extraordinary.

00;39;06;04 - 00;39;30;09

Cullen

And again, it goes based with the theme of this. This whole episode is about, which is just know why you're doing it and understand why you're doing it and doing it with intention. Don't just do it because it's like, Oh, you know what? I'm just going to zoom in here because I've got the zoom lens on, um, you know, make sure that the point of your focal length is, is to tell the story to its best capacity.

00;39;30;09 - 00;39;46;18

Cullen

Yeah. Not to just be like, well, I'm going to get, you know, again, this kind of went on with her last episode too, where it's like, don't just get the options so that you can delay making that decision and then later on in post go. Actually, I like that one more because that one was there. Make those decisions on set.

00;39;47;04 - 00;39;58;03

Cullen

The zoom lens should be a tool to make things more efficient for you and to give you an easier time doing that. But it shouldn't be the decision maker. Yeah, and you shouldn't rely on it to do so, so well.

00;39;58;03 - 00;40;18;10

Clark

Speaking of making decisions, let's talk about what makes a great or good cinematographer. And let's start first with, you know, as a as a director, if if you're hiring or looking to work with a DP or cinematographer, do you have any like what are your thoughts on how to go about doing that?

00;40;18;22 - 00;40;31;06

Cullen

Oh, it's such a fluid role. I think that's one of the first There's one of the first conversations that every DP and director have is it's almost like the vice president, the president, or it's like, What are you going to take care of? What am I going to take care of? What are we going to work on together?

00;40;31;14 - 00;40;53;24

Cullen

Yeah, every director likes it differently. But I'd say that, you know, again, a cinematographer is in so many ways not only a technical role, it is a support position, a creative support position for the director. Yes. In that the director should be able to say, I want this for the for the DP and the DP. A good DP will understand what that vision is.

00;40;54;06 - 00;41;06;04

Cullen

You know, famously, Steven Spielberg and Jannis Kaminski don't even meet before movies now because Spielberg trusts Kaminski so much that he'll fulfill his, you know, his vision.

00;41;06;04 - 00;41;07;12

Clark

And that's Wild.

00;41;07;13 - 00;41;25;27

Cullen

Understands, you know, what Spielberg would go for for a certain shot. And I think that's to me what what makes a really good DP And I think again, it's difficult to narrow down because it's such a fluid role. It is You are there's no role of a deep that it would work on one movie and then work to a next movie and be doing exactly the identical things.

00;41;26;14 - 00;41;57;23

Cullen

I think they're what might be easier is what makes a bad DP, which to me would be very much overstepping your bounds and trying to break the hierarchy. And I think that things like that are really what makes things not conducive to a creative environment on set. Robert Ellsworth and who I actually think is quite a good DP, and Paul Thomas Anderson famously no longer work together despite the fact that they made of, you know, tons of brilliant, brilliant looking movies together.

00;41;58;00 - 00;42;02;03

Cullen

Right. It was because they I think they just didn't get along. And that's.

00;42;02;04 - 00;42;37;29

Clark

Wise. And I think I mean, and that's kind of seems like common sense are obvious, but it's so vital, right? Yeah. You can have an extraordinary look at you. Let's say you you're a director and you're looking to collaborate with a deep I mean, obviously this is this is first and foremost it's you know, not only do they that, you know, they're able to receive your vision, they understand it they can get on the same page with you but that they can, I guess, add to that or even you know without taking away from or adding to it in a way that changes their vision execute that vision.

00;42;39;06 - 00;42;40;29

Clark

You know, technically and.

00;42;41;00 - 00;43;02;05

Cullen

If I can give some advice to to lower budget makers to who might be might be starting out. Well a few things. If you're looking for a DP, just note that especially if you're younger, every single person that goes out and buys themselves a camera package is going to start calling themselves a DP, you know, coming out of film school or whatever they're going to they're going to say that there are.

00;43;02;05 - 00;43;20;03

Cullen

DP And I would also say, look beyond, you know, you'll get reels if you put up. There's tons of Facebook groups that are like, you know, find me a cinematographer, blah, blah, blah, and you can kind of post in those groups and say, Hey, I need a dip for this project, for this date. And so you'll get a bunch of people commenting on it with the reels and things like that, Right?

00;43;20;03 - 00;43;47;04

Cullen

Right. Look beyond those. I would definitely say, because being a DP is so much more than just selecting a good set of lenses and, you know, putting some lights up. Things can look very, very pretty. But I think that so often cinematographers use movies very especially very amateur cinematographers use movies as just options and opportunity for them to get stuff for their demo reel.

00;43;47;20 - 00;44;14;16

Cullen

So their whole goal is to make the most brilliant, pretty looking, you know, done up high octane, high concept looking lighting scenarios so that they can go look at this great, great set up. Whereas what I look for, or at least what I'm impressed by, by whether it's amateur or, you know, very professional, high level DPS, is this restraint really is is simplicity.

00;44;14;16 - 00;44;37;16

Cullen

And, you know, I always think that somebody who can shoot an entire scene with with a window and a bounce to me is going to be a far better and far more flexible and helpful and creative DP than somebody who just knows, you know, the latest ten hour lights that they can rent for a few thousand for a week.

00;44;37;16 - 00;45;01;22

Cullen

And then and then it goes up like that. It's very similar to kind of, again, the rest we've been talking about. It's like if you can't light, if you can't take a balance sheet and put it up with just natural light in the room and make that look good, then there's no way that just putting a whole bunch of you know, LED light panels and shining them at some scantily clad model is going to make you a DP.

00;45;01;22 - 00;45;03;04

Cullen

Can you tell that? I have a lot of experience.

00;45;03;04 - 00;45;12;07

Clark

No, I've seen it. I know exactly. I do know exactly what you're talking about. And I think it's a great point. I mean, you know, look, for people who can do a lot with very little and be.

00;45;12;07 - 00;45;16;26

Cullen

So careful with it to be very, very careful with choosing your DP because.

00;45;16;27 - 00;45;36;02

Clark

Certainly meat you know, I would absolutely say meet with people and I've even gone so far as you know of course like meat with them, But I've even gone so far as to, you know, do a little bit of work, just reviewing shot list and them kind of like camera test and, you know, but depending on the scope of your project, the budget of your project and everything of course.

00;45;36;02 - 00;45;57;00

Clark

But yeah it I mean of course you really can't put enough time and energy into it. And I think, you know, some of the things that Herzog talks about specifically in this lesson are, you know, he talks about, I think the, you know, the ability of a cinematographer to notice nuance and subtlety and, you know, tend to be to be so present there in the moment.

00;45;57;07 - 00;46;22;18

Clark

And, you know, I think he uses a specific example of this cinematographer noticing some subtext in a documentary situation where above a table, these three people were getting along and kind of kissing each other's butts and, you know, being very diplomatic politically. And this cinematographer actually noticed that below the table, literally like a literal table, that the body language of these three people was radically different.

00;46;22;18 - 00;46;44;15

Clark

And you could actually see the the unease and the, you know, resentment between these people do their body language where they thought they weren't being seen. And he uses that as an example of, you know, it was this is the kind of person I want to work with, somebody who is is they're fully present and is extremely sensitive and observant.

00;46;44;25 - 00;46;46;06

Cullen

Observant is the key there.

00;46;46;11 - 00;46;47;01

Clark

And that's that's.

00;46;47;01 - 00;46;50;23

Cullen

Really and that goes for that goes for documentary and narrative.

00;46;50;23 - 00;46;51;09

Clark

Absolutely.

00;46;51;24 - 00;47;13;02

Cullen

You know, because the best thing that you can possibly have in a deep is somebody who also recognizes actors and what their their strengths are visually. And I think that then to switch to switch points to here for just a real quick second rather than, you know, to talk to people who want to be DP's rather than people who want to be directors looking for DP's.

00;47;13;29 - 00;47;33;07

Cullen

I'd say that, you know, if I had very simple advice for somebody who wants to work as a cinematographer, it's not to go on YouTube and listen to, you know, hours of content on there about how to set up a different light to get a certain thing or to, you know, there's some stupid, stupid videos on YouTube. Like what F Stop is the best one.

00;47;33;07 - 00;47;34;13

Clark

Yeah, yeah. It's a.

00;47;34;13 - 00;47;35;19

Cullen

Real video and it's it's.

00;47;35;19 - 00;47;36;04

Clark

Bizarre.

00;47;36;22 - 00;47;39;13

Cullen

But but but rather.

00;47;39;20 - 00;47;40;01

Clark

Well, because.

00;47;40;01 - 00;47;43;01

Cullen

I just pick up a camera and start a family eating dinner.

00;47;43;09 - 00;47;43;18

Clark

Yeah.

00;47;43;25 - 00;47;51;08

Cullen

I couldn't do cooking, making, uh, you know, making food or something like that. And play with the light. Conrad And. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

00;47;51;08 - 00;48;09;22

Clark

No, I was just going to say I totally agree with everything you're saying. I just wanted to add and look at great art. Yes, look at look at art painting. Look at painting, graffiti photography. You know, it's especially looking at still still art because, of course, it really allows you to analyze a specific frame for a long time, of course.

00;48;09;22 - 00;48;31;14

Clark

But, you know, observe the moving picture works of masters as well. But I completely agree. And I just I mean, you know, like many art forms, there are so many videos out there, and I'm sure most of them by well-intentioned people that focus on how do I say this, where it's almost like, here's the secret, how to do this?

00;48;31;14 - 00;48;38;28

Clark

And if you just learn this thing, then you're going to know how to do it like you had mentioned. It's like, well, here's the here's like a perfect F stop for example.

00;48;38;28 - 00;48;51;18

Cullen

It would be like looking at the the Statue of Liberty and saying that, okay, that's a great work of art. Here's how you screw in a nail or rivet or something like that. And like, that's you know, this is the technique that they use to rivet together.

00;48;51;19 - 00;49;01;19

Clark

That's what I mean. Like, here's the secret, right? That's there's, there's so much of this like, here's the secret. If you want to be good at this, then here's the secret. How to do it. And of course, there never are any secrets. They're never da seven lines.

00;49;01;23 - 00;49;25;17

Cullen

You're you don't have to like Conrad L Hall. As I said, he's he's my favorite cinematographer of all time. I think he did some brilliant, brilliant work in his If there was ever a definition of, like, painting with light, he was the He was the one. Yeah. And he famously, uh, usually would just use a single light source and then just bounce it around the room with mirrors or with, uh, with bounces like sheets and things like that.

00;49;25;17 - 00;49;36;25

Cullen

And, you know, he was so, so simple in the way that he lit and lit for story and for mood and not just again, for gimmick.

00;49;36;25 - 00;49;37;10

Clark

Flash.

00;49;37;10 - 00;49;48;17

Cullen

A huge part of of a lot of DP's that are, you know, working in big or Hollywood movies these days as well that that go for flash and they go for a paycheck and they go for.

00;49;48;22 - 00;49;49;05

Clark

Yeah.

00;49;49;10 - 00;50;00;02

Cullen

You know, this this huge I'm going to set up a 50 by 50 light grid that's got, you know, moving colors all over it because it's gonna look really cool. It's like, well, who cares? I don't care about that.

00;50;00;05 - 00;50;19;00

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. But it's a it's a good point to be careful. You know, it's there's one thing I think to learn to teach technical skill, but to think that it's the end all, be all. Mm hmm. You know that this light's going to make you a good cinematographer or this, you know, whatever these, like, specific, like you'd mentioned, like, there's some perfect f stop or something or whatever.

00;50;19;00 - 00;50;26;28

Clark

It's, you know, definitely stay away from anybody that's trying to sell you some snake oil, that there's only one way to do it, and that that's the secret to do it, you know?

00;50;26;29 - 00;50;38;20

Cullen

And as Herzog says, too, it's kind of gets in this whole esthetic thing that he talks about, which is like, don't hunt for an esthetic. He never wants for an esthetic. And I think that that is a huge part of modern cinematography.

00;50;38;20 - 00;50;39;29

Clark

It's a really great point.

00;50;40;00 - 00;51;07;04

Cullen

You go on to Instagram and it's like if you look up hashtag cinematography or whatever, it's all about the esthetic of it. It's all about, you know, look at these these neutral browns and it's got this fall esthetic or something like that. Yeah. And whereas I think it's, it's the what I at least, you know, my intention if I'm whether I'm shooting my own thing or if I'm working on somebody else's project is to let the subject matter dictate the cinematography.

00;51;07;10 - 00;51;08;03

Clark

Yeah, yeah.

00;51;08;03 - 00;51;22;19

Cullen

No it not to make the decisions, you know, not to use it. I don't, I don't really care about color palettes. I don't care about things like that. I don't, I don't go into anything like that. I would much rather take a look at the image that we're getting on set and go, okay, how can I accentuate this?

00;51;22;19 - 00;51;42;23

Cullen

How can I take what is happening naturally, whether it be interior or exterior and and use that naturalistic elements to heighten it rather than to go in and go, you know, in advance, plan out every single little detail about where the light's going to be and what the color of that light's going to be, what the what the grade is going to be like afterwards.

00;51;42;23 - 00;51;43;01

Cullen

Right.

00;51;43;01 - 00;52;06;15

Clark

It's well it's such an interesting, you know, kind of philosophical discussion. And it's something that I just you know, it's one of the many things that I just love about Herzog that he gets me thinking about these things. But, you know, a couple of things here. I mean, one, he talks about favoring momentum over style. And it's interesting that he uses the word momentum because, again, I just you know, he has so much about urgency.

00;52;06;15 - 00;52;30;19

Clark

He's so much about physicality. He's so much about allowing, you know, create in a situation where the subconscious force is going to spring forth and be, you know, be careful about overanalyzing and over predicting and over manipulating things. And I couldn't agree more. I mean, he talks about in that lesson about, you know, be careful, you know, and I've been here, I've seen this, you know, I like I love DP's.

00;52;30;19 - 00;52;51;04

Clark

I'm not one myself. I love them. But sometimes you can you're on set and and you've got your performers are red hot. You've got you know, I mean, you're trying to manage the energy and emotion of your performers and you've got a deep who's wanting, you know, manipulate every single tiny.

00;52;51;08 - 00;52;54;07

Cullen

90 to put this out like a little bit too hot and like.

00;52;54;07 - 00;53;14;07

Clark

You know, and it's like, yes, I mean, I'm like, you know, I completely appreciate a person's dedication to doing, you know, everything that they feel like they can do to make a film wonderful. But you've got to know as a director where to to draw a line diplomatically and say, okay, hey, I appreciate what you're doing. But our focus here is the story.

00;53;14;07 - 00;53;34;29

Clark

Our focus is the momentum of story. And like you said, it's it's allowing the subject to dictate and realizing, of course, that, you know, there's compromises between every department. And I feel like performance is such an important one. I mean, performances we've talked about this, too, is such a fragile, transient, vaporous thing. If you've got that, if you've got that right there, go with it.

00;53;35;19 - 00;53;40;18

Clark

Don't don't stifle that by by just overproducing everything to the ears.

00;53;40;23 - 00;53;56;19

Cullen

You've really got to learn how to rein in perfectionism and whether that's your own or whether that somebody else on the crew or an actor or whatever. Yeah, I really I I'm not I'm lucky that I'm not a perfectionist because it's definitely a personality trait that some people just have. And yeah, their fault.

00;53;57;22 - 00;53;58;10

Clark

It's not their.

00;53;58;10 - 00;54;13;27

Cullen

Fault. Yeah well I mean, oftentimes it isn't like it's this compulsion, right? Yeah. And I, I'm very, very grateful that I'm not because there are so many times where something won't be perfect and I'll be like, No, it's good enough. I'm. I'm happy with that. And I think that we should move on for the sake.

00;54;13;27 - 00;54;32;13

Clark

And it's about priority moment. I mean, I guess, you know, Yeah, it's about priority. And I think, you know, in it like you were it just to kind of go back a little bit to what you would started talking about, you know, about this premeditated esthetic. I think it's so interesting to me that, I mean, there's no question that that Herzog has an esthetic.

00;54;32;13 - 00;54;45;21

Clark

I think you can see, you know, there are so many themes for sure in his films. You know, I think like his overriding kind of philosophy or his kind of the way that he sees the world comes through so clearly and.

00;54;45;22 - 00;54;48;25

Cullen

Even just visually, he really likes a wide angle lens and.

00;54;48;25 - 00;55;10;20

Clark

Visually he's got. Right. And it's I just love the way he ends this lesson, right, where he's like, you know, you know, he's he talks about not being very consciously preoccupied with his esthetic himself and even to the point where he is, you know, telling his collaborators, his DP is, hey, I don't you know, don't get artsy fartsy me.

00;55;10;20 - 00;55;34;15

Clark

I love that terminology. You know, I love it. But he's like, you know, there's something so interesting and key here, I think, to the creative process as a whole where he talks about, you know, look, I don't premeditate this, and yet here it is. Somehow all of my films, they clearly have an esthetic. You can't argue that they don't.

00;55;34;29 - 00;55;56;22

Clark

But but it's but I'm not working toward that. Yeah. The esthetic seeps in. Well, I think I happens and and I, I just love I love, love, love, love that. He's like, I don't know how that happens. Yeah, But what's more, I don't want to know. It's like this keeping the mystery. It's allowing. And he does this in his writing.

00;55;56;22 - 00;56;18;23

Clark

He does this in so many aspects of his creative process where he's like, I want the mystery to be. I want there to be a subconscious, spontaneous aspect to my work. Maybe that is his esthetic. I mean, it's like it it his voice, his his authentic voice comes through so clearly in the in so many aspects of his work.

00;56;18;23 - 00;56;40;24

Clark

And I think this is a big reason why I think, you know, we get so whether we're writing or whether we're you know, we're composing a shot as a deep I mean, I think sometimes we get so analytical, we operate so much from our shoulders up that we forget that there's actually this whole body of esthetic that lies here from your shoulders down.

00;56;40;24 - 00;56;41;27

Cullen

Just naturally, that.

00;56;41;27 - 00;57;10;29

Clark

You can't articulate with language or with I mean, there's this whole subconscious ocean of esthetic. It's inherent. It's like part of the human condition. And I think sometimes you really cut off this huge depth of esthetic by by only kind of recognizing or thinking that there's just this like shoulder up, like analytical aspect to esthetics. So I think it's wonderful.

00;57;10;29 - 00;57;14;03

Clark

I think it's like, no, I think it's this lesson's great. Yeah. Yeah.

00;57;14;03 - 00;57;35;11

Cullen

And again, it's, it's that idea of applying each image for what it needs to be and represent, which is just, you know, again, it hits the nail on the head and it's exactly like you said that, that we all, every single human being talks in a certain way and writes in a certain way and we are I'm not consciously thinking about the style of which I, you know, stringing together my sentences because you wouldn't.

00;57;35;11 - 00;57;50;27

Clark

Just able to yeah let's like he uses this great analogy it's like, look, okay, I'm writing longhand and he jokes, he's like, oh, nobody writes longhand. You'd send a tweet now, but, you know, but it's like, look, if you were so preoccupied by your handwriting that you wouldn't be able to actually write the sentence.

00;57;50;27 - 00;57;53;12

Cullen

Yeah, don't pay too much attention to style. You forget to write a book.

00;57;53;12 - 00;58;12;14

Clark

Yeah, Yeah, a good book I write. And I think it's so it's such an interesting point. And it's certainly what I mean. It speaks to me. It speaks to me deeply. It's certainly something that I need to be reminded of. Mm hmm. I have a tendency to kind of get, you know, shoulders up analytical. And so much of our creation really takes place in the body and the gut in the heart.

00;58;14;02 - 00;58;37;29

Clark

And it's just a great reminder of that, you know, that we are I think all of us, every single one of us were natural born storytellers. I think we're storytelling machines, and I think all of us have a unique esthetic. That's that's just fundamentally it's a part of all that we are. It's a combination of our DNA and our, you know, the nature and nurture combination that makes us all singularly unique.

00;58;38;13 - 00;58;43;26

Clark

And you can't just get to all of that with conscious premeditation. You just can't.

00;58;44;13 - 00;58;48;05

Cullen

Mm hmm. Exactly. No, it's it's a great way to end it, though.

00;58;48;06 - 00;59;07;27

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. All right, well, then on that note, everybody get out there, man, and start shooting and get to. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? That's right. With whatever camera you've got, get out there and shoot. All right, man. Well, as always call it, it's been a blast. Thank you so much for being here and for everybody out there listening.

00;59;08;05 - 00;59;15;18

Clark

We appreciate you as well. Thank you so much for hanging in there with us. I hope it's been an enjoyable one. And until next time, we'll see you then.

00;59;16;08 - 00;59;34;29

Cullen

See you in.

Episode - 011

Cullen

Hi everyone. I'm Cullen McFater and I'm joined by Clark Coffey and this is the Soldiers of Cinema podcast, the Werner Herzog podcast, where we talk about all things in his masterclass and go through those lessons as well as his broader scope of cinema. And today we're going to be talking about lesson 12, which is camera techniques.

00;00;28;27 - 00;00;29;12

Clark

Such as.

00;00;29;12 - 00;00;32;15

Cullen

Spatial orientation of the audience. Yeah, it's going to be great, believe it.

00;00;32;18 - 00;00;47;16

Clark

So I just want to say like a little like a just a sorry to interrupt, but just a little like I just want to pat ourselves on the back a little bit here that we are on episode 11, I think maybe ten would have been the episode we should have been like, it's kind of an anniversary even number.

00;00;47;16 - 00;00;53;14

Clark

But I just want to say here in episode 11, I'm pretty excited to me too. It's good to be here again with you.

00;00;53;14 - 00;00;57;02

Cullen

Cohen Yeah, it's great. Yeah, but this is a really interesting lesson, too.

00;00;57;18 - 00;00;59;23

Clark

Because it's hugely important. Yeah, it's.

00;00;59;23 - 00;01;08;29

Cullen

Hugely important, but it's not. I think it's another one of those lessons where it's like the name of it, Camera technique techniques might kind of trick you and make you think it's about something else.

00;01;09;18 - 00;01;40;06

Clark

Because you kind of right. You think of like when I think when I, when I think of camera techniques, right. I'm thinking, okay, like much more technical than what Herzog talks about in this class. I'm thinking about maybe like, camera movements. I'm thinking I mean, yeah, much more technical than what he discusses here. I feel like what he discusses here is actually really so much more about your actors and your set and manipulating those things spatially as opposed to camera techniques, in my opinion.

00;01;40;06 - 00;01;40;21

Clark

I think.

00;01;40;28 - 00;02;02;11

Cullen

Yeah, it's not about like Dolly zooms and all that stuff. There's a bit of that. I mean, there's a bit of stuff about, there's a little bit how you can use the camera to really, you know, either orient or disorient the audience. But you're right, it's a lot more about, I would say, the geography of scenes and spaces and how you can use the camera to show those things and use your actors in relation to the camera.

00;02;02;18 - 00;02;25;02

Clark

And it's hugely important. I mean, you know, I don't know that I'm not asking necessarily that we pick some specific film out to be mean. Maybe we should not do that. But I'm sure all of us, like you've seen a film, I've watched films where the spatial orientation just gets jumbled and you're not quite sure like how spatially characters are in relation to each other.

00;02;25;02 - 00;02;28;17

Clark

And it's really I mean, it just completely takes you out of the story, you know.

00;02;28;22 - 00;02;30;06

Cullen

Because then you're distracted by.

00;02;30;07 - 00;02;43;03

Clark

It. And I think you're totally right, because now you've switched from, okay, I'm in the story to now you're like, Wait a minute, where is this? Where are they right now? What? What They were they were just at the house. And now is this a different way? Huh? Well, and another.

00;02;43;03 - 00;02;49;29

Cullen

Thing that's interesting that Herzog mentions almost immediately is the 180 degree rule, which, of course, is kind of that.

00;02;50;05 - 00;02;51;26

Clark

It's one of the most intimidating that's like a.

00;02;51;27 - 00;02;55;08

Cullen

Real danger to anyone that's learning about film.

00;02;55;18 - 00;02;57;28

Clark

I'm going to put you on the spot. Do you want to describe it real briefly?

00;02;57;29 - 00;02;58;28

Cullen

Sure. Yeah. So just in.

00;02;58;28 - 00;02;59;28

Clark

Case. Just in case.

00;03;00;10 - 00;03;18;10

Cullen

Essentially, it would be that if I were, you know, the most simple way to describe it is if I'm having a conversation with Clarke and we're facing each other, that if the camera is to my right shooting Clark over the over my shoulder or something like that, that you would dry 180 degree line between me and Clark and the camera could not cross over that.

00;03;18;19 - 00;03;31;29

Cullen

And so what that does is it makes sure that if now if say again, we're getting in over the shoulder of my right shoulder into Hugh Clark and then if we were to cut to the same angle from you over your right shoulder, and to me, it would look like both of us were staring in the same director.

00;03;31;29 - 00;03;45;08

Clark

Eyeline. Exactly. Or eyeline, if you if you don't if you jump that line. Now, I lines look odd. And now the spatial relationship between those two characters, as it's seen by the audience, is totally confusing.

00;03;45;08 - 00;04;11;17

Cullen

You're like and I sort of I call it the primitive law of filmmaking. Yeah. And that's not meant in a bad way, but it's a simple, simple rule that is kind of necessary to keeping the audience in tune with geography. And I would also say too, that there are there are certainly ways to break it. However, there are very specific there's almost these like list of things that you have to check off if you are going to break it like, okay, do we see the change?

00;04;12;18 - 00;04;29;25

Cullen

Is it clear or is there a clear like body of movement that's that's moving into the next shot that then continues there? So, you know, at least a directional like kind of, you know, focus of that movement from an actor or something like that. There's there's very specific things that you could do to break it. But if you break it without doing those things.

00;04;29;25 - 00;04;45;21

Clark

It's going to definitely elicit, right? It's going to be quite jarring to an audience for sure. And most people, they won't even be able to necessarily say audiences would might not necessarily catch weight. You know, lines aren't matching what's going on. I think they just jump the line, but they're going to say, whoa, this feels weird to me.

00;04;45;25 - 00;04;50;00

Clark

What's going on? Are they talking to each other anymore or they like talking to somebody else?

00;04;50;00 - 00;04;57;13

Cullen

Like, are they staring? And they say, well, it turns from a conversation to somebody looking like they're in an audience, like discussing, you know, facing one place.

00;04;57;15 - 00;05;19;07

Clark

And, you know, it's and it's I don't I'm going to like, go out on a limb here. I don't know that I have the vocabulary to articulate this, like how you would do this perfectly to kind of verbally explain this visual thing. But, you know, one of the most difficult things to film is like a scene where you've got four or five people sitting at a table eating, talking.

00;05;19;16 - 00;05;34;02

Clark

Well, you know, it's when you've got so many different lines, you've got so many different people in this compressed, dense area of space and everyone is kind of, you know, at the same vertical height, everybody's sitting down. It can get really challenging.

00;05;34;08 - 00;05;41;24

Cullen

Well, there's three I almost kind of describe it as there's three different ways. You know, of course, there's more than three, but there's three really common ways of dealing with something like that.

00;05;41;27 - 00;05;42;06

Clark

Right.

00;05;42;24 - 00;06;02;01

Cullen

The first one, I would say is just locking those characters down and doing the kind of mental work to make sure that you know where everyone's eye lines are and the camera's locked down and you just, you know, which can be super difficult move. That did it really well recently. That was Knives Out, which has a huge cast of characters, good examples where people are sitting in, you know, rooms together.

00;06;02;05 - 00;06;02;16

Clark

Yes.

00;06;02;23 - 00;06;08;27

Cullen

Like I can't imagine trying to focus on who's talking to who, when, where, what. But it's.

00;06;08;27 - 00;06;12;26

Clark

Very clear. But yeah, but it does seem to facilitate. Well they do a very good job. Right.

00;06;13;05 - 00;06;20;26

Cullen

And the second one I would say is Tarantino does it in reservoir Dogs around the table where the camera's actually spinning around the table at all times.

00;06;20;26 - 00;06;21;07

Clark

Yes.

00;06;21;07 - 00;06;22;05

Cullen

That momentum.

00;06;22;10 - 00;06;22;24

Clark

Yes, almost.

00;06;22;24 - 00;06;25;20

Cullen

Keeps it moving. And even if there are, it almost kind.

00;06;25;20 - 00;06;42;03

Clark

Of and it's Wiest and Letts and, you know, just in case it's been a while since people have seen Reservoir Dogs. If it has been a while, you should go back and see it. It's a great film. But yeah, he keeps it very wide. So you're you're always, you know, whoever's talking to each other, both characters are always in the shot.

00;06;42;09 - 00;06;42;19

Cullen

Yes.

00;06;42;19 - 00;06;49;08

Clark

So that is obviously another way to do it. If you can then both characters, then their spatial orientation is obviously quite clear.

00;06;49;17 - 00;07;11;06

Cullen

Yeah. And he, he also one of the things that he doesn't that scene which makes it much easier if you're trying to do this is that even when the two characters are talking each other, oftentimes the character who's speaking is speaking to everybody. So they can sort of go back and forth between the characters. And even if you cut to them talking to one character and then suddenly they're talking to another in the next shot, it makes sense because you could just assume, okay, he turned his head right?

00;07;11;16 - 00;07;22;15

Cullen

The last way that I usually see or that is kind of commonly seen is kind of something that Bong Joon Ho does a lot, which is just doing a oner and not a moving oner, but just setting up the characters. If they're sitting at a table sort of.

00;07;22;22 - 00;07;23;19

Clark

Wise, like Last.

00;07;23;19 - 00;07;29;29

Cullen

Supper, like where they're all on one side. And the geography in this tableau is very interesting and they sort of talk like that.

00;07;30;18 - 00;07;34;25

Clark

Kind of Wes Anderson esque. Kind of very theatrical. Yeah, very theatrical.

00;07;35;00 - 00;07;46;06

Cullen

Which can work really well and honestly in terms of establishing geography is probably the easiest, but it can be very difficult to get a shot like that to look good. And it takes a lot of talent to kind of make it look like.

00;07;46;06 - 00;08;18;08

Clark

It is intentional. It is very difficult. And it's I would say I would I would say, look good. That's one thing. It's going to automatically create a style for your film if you're shooting those types of tableau type shots, that's really difficult. I mean, it's going to automatically, you know, put a twist on the style of the film that you may not want or may not be appropriate or, you know, but I, I mean, I, I go back kind of Wes Anderson, you look at all of his films, too.

00;08;18;08 - 00;08;37;10

Clark

Obviously, there's more than this one component that makes up his style. But those kind of symmetrical tableaux, everybody kind of in one shot that he does so much of, It's kind of one of the things that first jumps out of my mind. But it's it's hard to not have that impact your style very significantly if you're shooting that way.

00;08;37;19 - 00;09;00;26

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, those are kind of interesting ways of shooting. I think, as you said, these these wide, even if it's not necessarily people sitting at a table, as I mentioned, in Knives Out, sometimes it's just like people in a living room on couches and chairs and stuff. And they're not necessarily in a circle either. But that's such a key, key, fundamental thing to understand is eye lines.

00;09;00;26 - 00;09;22;22

Cullen

And because it's, you know, there's nothing worse than watching and it doesn't even begin to say student film because a lot of bigger budget movies do do this. When you have a group of characters speaking and it just makes no sense, like who's playing who? Where is that person looking? Well, why is that person suddenly talking to that person when in the last shot they were looking at that person or they were even in a completely different position?

00;09;22;22 - 00;09;24;15

Cullen

Yeah, it can be really difficult to master.

00;09;24;15 - 00;09;51;27

Clark

I mean, and so I think, you know, you and I both agree, and I think pretty much anybody would agree. Yes, this is important. Do you have anything I can kind of share a little bit about what I've done to kind of work on this for myself, if you might want to share some of what you've done? I think, you know, first and foremost, I think as someone who's a fan of film, I've watched film, you know, since I was knee high to a grasshopper and and have just steeped in it, you know, visual storytelling.

00;09;51;27 - 00;10;09;26

Clark

And so you start to pick up things. But of course, this is something you can practice when you're shooting and you don't even have to necessarily have a film, you know, a story that you're shooting. You can get some friends together without a script and you can start shooting conversations and you can start practicing this stuff just in the comfort of your own home.

00;10;10;10 - 00;10;34;14

Clark

I don't know if you've ever done this. I've done it on some complicated shots with a lot of characters, and especially when I've got some action where I create an overhead and basically like a schematic or like a blueprint, I guess from the letter. Yeah, yeah. And I've actually done that before just to kind of make sure, okay, I've got this kind of, you know, really thoroughly visualized in my head.

00;10;34;14 - 00;10;53;29

Clark

I understand, you know, where a character's going, where I'm going to put the camera, and then I can kind of visualize that, you know, what the edited result is going to end up looking like. And that's helped me a lot on set. So I don't get confused because it, you know, even when you've had a lot of experience, which I'm not even saying I've had, I've definitely had moments where I'm on set and I'm like, okay, wait a minute, Whoa, whoa, whoa.

00;10;54;00 - 00;11;12;23

Clark

You know, like, as okay, hold on. Now, where do we, you know, how is this going to how do we need to set up the camera here or set up the characters, too, to not get things confused. But those are some things that I've done. I think there's even apps that are free or near free that make visualizing, you know, shots like this very simple on for iPads or iOS or something like that.

00;11;12;23 - 00;11;19;23

Clark

But any suggestions you might have or, you know, ways that I found have been effective, I think a lot of it is supportive. But I was going.

00;11;19;23 - 00;11;32;11

Cullen

To say it's a boring answer for me. It's just prepare. Yeah, I think, you know, shortlisting and yeah, and just getting it down sometimes not as like I wouldn't necessarily say that I storyboard very frequently.

00;11;32;12 - 00;11;34;29

Clark

Right. Me neither.

00;11;34;29 - 00;11;44;21

Cullen

Utilizing a type sort of a proto storyboard for things like this where, like you said, where it's maybe it's not necessarily the actual shot's too shot on the, on the storyboard.

00;11;44;27 - 00;12;05;05

Clark

It's like an overhead map. Yeah. For me, it's like literally an overhead. And I just have like circles for characters and, you know, triangle for the camera. Yeah. And I just, you know, simply like the space that, I mean, I mean, it's a literally like a blueprint. And I'm just making sure, you know, and I can kind of have axes drawn and I'm kind of like, okay, you know, I've got X number of characters and here's who's going to be speaking and here's where they're moving.

00;12;05;05 - 00;12;18;25

Clark

And, you know, but yeah, a lot of it is kind of, I think just doing it over time, you start to get there, but hopefully you're the DP that you're working with is also there to help. Just make sure, you know, yes, they're not going to make mistakes.

00;12;19;00 - 00;12;32;25

Cullen

That's what's funny is that scenes like these can often be the longest to shoot. Yeah, because not only do you have to work at the spatial orientation of the camera in relation to the actors, you also have to make sure that at every angle there's no lights in the shot, there's no reflections.

00;12;32;25 - 00;12;33;13

Clark

There's no.

00;12;33;26 - 00;12;57;13

Cullen

Equipment in the background. For some reason. I mean, I was a big challenge with the Hitchcock movie that we just made, right? Was getting both reflections out of windows and being able to light the room without, you know, changing lighting to such a degree. When we turn around the camera to the other angle, Yeah. Suddenly, you know, you have to figure, okay, that light was there.

00;12;57;13 - 00;13;05;10

Cullen

Now we've got to move it over here. But that looks too different from the last shot. If that source was coming from there. But can be very it can be a really big headache. And that's why.

00;13;05;14 - 00;13;30;25

Clark

You know, you're bringing up a really good point. Let's talk about this a little bit more because, you know, up until this point, we've basically been talking about the spatial orientation of characters. Mm hmm. But you're talking but but there's so much more. Right. You're you're motivated lighting, like where is lighting coming from, keeping that consistent, you know, still maintaining in a in a properly lit scene to the esthetic that you're working to achieve or just, you know, for the sake of competency to have it lit.

00;13;30;25 - 00;13;56;16

Clark

Well, as you as you're turning the camera around and moving things back and forth to to make sure that these other aspects are consistent spatially as well. An audience may not be able to pick out exactly what's up. But if light start to come from all different areas, you know, in its like windows seem to disappear and reappear on different sides of things, that's definitely going to, I think, pull people out of the story.

00;13;56;16 - 00;14;05;26

Cullen

And I think it's that that amateur thing that everybody has done when they start making movies, which is just like, okay, we've got a light over here for this angle and then the reverse angle. We're just turning the light around.

00;14;05;27 - 00;14;06;15

Clark

Well, just turn it.

00;14;06;15 - 00;14;08;00

Cullen

Yeah, That's like, well, where's that light?

00;14;08;08 - 00;14;09;04

Clark

You know, like, yes.

00;14;09;06 - 00;14;36;25

Cullen

The best lighting setups are the ones that you have to do very, very little change to. If the angle switches that you, that you light the space like it's right, you know, it's authentic and it's real and you're kind of in there right. And I think that the other thing, too, that that really helped me with the Hitchcock movie in particular and is is if you have the space available to you in advance is I did an entire pre-viz of the entire movie.

00;14;36;25 - 00;14;52;00

Cullen

So absolutely every single shot I shot and I lit as as it would be in the movies that I knew, you know, okay, I'm standing here for this shot and then it gets a reverse on me. The lighting has to be the same. So I've got a light hitting the back of my neck because you see me in both shots.

00;14;52;07 - 00;14;52;16

Clark

Yeah.

00;14;53;10 - 00;15;10;09

Cullen

Where can I put the light? That's not going to be seen in either kind of things like that. That and then again, because I was doing a previous and I was actually seeing you worked at camera, I was able to, you know, spend a night literally just moving things around and making sure that it worked. So then the crew got there and I could just be like, okay, well, this needs to be there, there, there.

00;15;10;09 - 00;15;12;24

Cullen

There was none of that kind of like trial and error on.

00;15;12;26 - 00;15;39;25

Clark

Yeah, well, and I will say though, to, you know, on the flip side, on the flip side, I mean, we've talked about kind of, you know, spatial orientation, geography, you know, just maintaining consistency such that you're not breaking cinematic grammar and taking people out of the story. But there's also, you know, this there's a great opportunity here in this, the spatial orientation of all of your everything in your mise en scene.

00;15;39;25 - 00;16;04;29

Clark

Right? That these are great opportunities for storytelling. The position of your character is, you know, relative to each other, there's so much that you can do there to convey more story. This character sitting above or standing above another character, how far characters are from each other this has you know, it tells us a huge amount. Is there a big brass, intimate scene, you know?

00;16;04;29 - 00;16;14;29

Clark

Right. Is there you know, is there are there objects between two characters? Are there eye lines occluded or, you know, are they speaking through? I mean, there's just so much that you can do with this.

00;16;14;29 - 00;16;31;29

Cullen

And that's a great point to play with the the camera as a third character to Yeah. Is to you know, if the character's supposed to feel cold and kind of sterile, then zoom in on them from a distance and don't have the camera near them. Whereas if they're supposed to be warm and welcoming, then.

00;16;32;04 - 00;16;32;17

Clark

Right there.

00;16;32;20 - 00;16;51;04

Cullen

Is get get closer to them and things like that. And the Coen brothers are really great at doing that because so many of their scenes, they're, they're kind of dialog shot over shot scenes that are very, very basic scenes when you think about it geographically. But they still exactly what you said. You use those opportunities to tell stories.

00;16;51;04 - 00;17;01;22

Cullen

So because so many of those scenes in the Coen brothers kind of style is to make things very not intimate between two characters, very awkward, very kind of stranger. Exactly strange.

00;17;02;02 - 00;17;02;17

Clark

So what they.

00;17;02;17 - 00;17;11;24

Cullen

Do is often plop the camera between the characters and then just use wide lenses so it feels like they're further away from the camera. They actually are, which is, I think, quite genius, but very simple.

00;17;12;04 - 00;17;38;20

Clark

Well, it's also, you know, there's great opportunities for suspense, for foreshadowing, great opportunities to kind of set up story or plot points so that you can knock them down or pay them off later on. You know, in our brief conversation prior to recording here, you were talking about a Hitchcock flick specifically. Tell us a little bit about that Shadow of a Doubt, which is an 1843 film by Hitchcock that was a great example.

00;17;38;20 - 00;17;49;08

Clark

I felt like where he had kind of established the geography of that of the house, of the setting, and used that as well. Why don't you just go ahead and kind of reiterate some of what you were talking about earlier? I thought that was a great example.

00;17;49;17 - 00;18;14;13

Cullen

Well, I'd say it's it's super important in any genre, but in horror especially or in thrillers or something, it's supposed to, you know, scare an audience. It can be super, super vital to really lay out geography so that you can use that to your advantage to scare people afterwards and things like that. And in shadow of a doubt, you've got essentially the movie takes place in a small town, but primarily in a house, and the house has two entrances.

00;18;14;13 - 00;18;34;29

Cullen

It's got a main floor entrance at the front and then a second story entrance on the back, which is up a series of stairs. And what Hitchcock does is very early on in the movie, establishes the two entrances to the house and one as being kind of a safe entrance, that being the front door that the good people come through and the other being.

00;18;34;29 - 00;18;35;28

Clark

The good, the.

00;18;35;28 - 00;18;42;28

Cullen

Bad entrance that the the killer comes through, which is her uncle. Yeah. And that's not a spoiler because it's very much established. Right.

00;18;43;00 - 00;18;51;21

Clark

Because I think in 1943. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We did not going to have that spoiler alert. Maybe, maybe we'll go back and we'll put you know, it's only been over 70 years.

00;18;51;21 - 00;18;51;27

Cullen

Yeah.

00;18;52;14 - 00;18;54;04

Clark

Right. Only about ten years.

00;18;54;11 - 00;19;19;26

Cullen

But yeah. So you and so what you wind up having is that because we understand the geography of the house so well that later on you can use sound or Hitchcock does use sound to establish when danger is near because we know that this staircases at the back of the house, we know it creaks and we know the only person that uses it is this killer who then you know, there's moments where they're in the house and they're not paying attention and suddenly you hear this creak.

00;19;20;05 - 00;19;31;00

Cullen

You know exactly where the character's coming in, you know where our characters need to be. So Hitchcock is able to then put them in different places in the house where you're going, Well, why are you going there? Because he's coming in right there. And that's really, you know, it's a.

00;19;31;00 - 00;19;34;05

Clark

Great example of tension. Yeah, it's it's a great example.

00;19;34;15 - 00;19;50;00

Cullen

And I think that even just like you said, that this this spatial orientation, again, just to more on a broad level of like horror movies in general so often, is it about that about, you know, how many horror movies take place in houses where the characters are newly moved in or something.

00;19;50;09 - 00;19;50;16

Clark

And.

00;19;50;28 - 00;19;56;16

Cullen

The first scene is them walking around the house and going, Oh, this is my room, this is my room, this is my room. And you get this.

00;19;56;16 - 00;19;57;03

Clark

Hotel guy's.

00;19;57;03 - 00;19;59;12

Cullen

Idea of like, Yep, exact of poltergeist.

00;19;59;18 - 00;19;59;27

Clark

Great.

00;19;59;27 - 00;20;23;15

Cullen

The average this is is of course the there they don't you don't see them moving in but they're in a house that is kind of being rented for the mother the movie acting career and you like you know how many times can you picture that that long hallway in a house and it's like geography can be so important for for horror, I mean, as it is for any genre, but it's just a great example of how to use it in genre for sure.

00;20;23;15 - 00;20;25;13

Cullen

Well, it for it to your example or your vantage.

00;20;25;20 - 00;20;38;29

Clark

At the risk of getting way off track, you talk about horror and the importance of of spatial orientation and being clear on it. The Shining is a very interesting film to talk about in.

00;20;38;29 - 00;20;39;25

Cullen

Disorientating.

00;20;39;25 - 00;21;08;16

Clark

Too. And so. Right, which has which. Hitchcock also talks about, you know, so here this whole time we're kind of talking about the importance of of being clear and communicating, you know, that spatial orientation clearly. But there are definitely points in time where it could be beneficial to disorient your. Yeah. Your audience. And the lesson here in Herzog's lesson, he uses the example of lessons of Darkness where, you know, he's filming this just extraordinarily.

00;21;08;16 - 00;21;33;18

Clark

I mean, I it's so horrific and and just awesome. And the real meaning of that word, the scope of this and what's happening is just it's surreal. It's like you can't even take this in. And I think, you know, if he were to have tried to capture that more in a journalistic sense, I just can't imagine that it would have had the kind of impact that it had, you know, how he actually did the film in a very special way.

00;21;33;18 - 00;21;49;09

Clark

But that disorientation, I think, is so beautiful in that film because what's happening is so disorientating. It's like it's just it's like you can't even I can't even hardly articulate, I mean, to just see the world on fire and these fields of oil just burning it in and is describe it.

00;21;49;09 - 00;21;51;04

Cullen

Being shot like it's an alien.

00;21;51;04 - 00;21;51;16

Clark

Right.

00;21;51;20 - 00;21;53;12

Cullen

Witness to this stuff.

00;21;53;12 - 00;21;53;27

Clark

Right.

00;21;53;28 - 00;21;58;12

Cullen

It's so there's no explain explanation of the events. There's no.

00;21;58;12 - 00;21;59;16

Clark

No, no. There's no story.

00;21;59;19 - 00;22;09;01

Cullen

There's no horrible context. Exactly. There's it's just this probably the most bizarre landscape you could think of.

00;22;09;01 - 00;22;09;25

Clark

It's an abstract.

00;22;09;25 - 00;22;14;11

Cullen

Oil fields just being, you know, burst into flames. But it looks like living hell.

00;22;14;11 - 00;22;16;13

Clark

It's incredible. So it uses.

00;22;16;13 - 00;22;20;09

Cullen

That to his advantage, most certainly, especially when the camera flips upside down. There's that thing.

00;22;20;17 - 00;22;24;14

Clark

Not where it's where the fire is shooting down out of the. Yeah, yeah, right.

00;22;24;15 - 00;22;33;29

Cullen

And suddenly everything is like it's, it's as he puts it and very literally the world is turned completely upside down. Yeah. Which is a great example of, you know, exactly what we're talking about.

00;22;34;03 - 00;22;47;20

Clark

Agreed. And so that's, you know, an example he uses. But you know, to go back to horror, I mean in The Shining where you know, and there's a lot of kind of mythology about this film and a lot of, you know, urban myths and a whole lot of stuff going on. So we don't have to get into too much.

00;22;47;20 - 00;23;00;23

Clark

But I mean, and I'm not an expert scholar of the film, but I think he does and Kubrick does interesting things with the the spatial orientation of of hallways and rooms and things. Right. That's kind of not quite right. And the way.

00;23;00;24 - 00;23;02;03

Cullen

The maze is different in.

00;23;02;03 - 00;23;03;24

Clark

Every shot. Yeah, I think.

00;23;03;24 - 00;23;06;25

Cullen

They changed the layout of the maze in every single scene that it's in.

00;23;07;00 - 00;23;21;21

Clark

Right? It is. And so there are definitely moments where, you know, to shake things up into, you know, if the story calls for, you know, some confusion, that could be potentially a great way to illustrate that visually. But.

00;23;21;21 - 00;23;41;04

Cullen

Well, here's an example of that Very close to me right now that I can speak to very well is just a feature that I'm working on right now, which is so to put into context the difference between disorienting and orienting an audience. The initial draft of the script that we had done, my main concern was how disorienting it was.

00;23;41;04 - 00;23;58;17

Cullen

There was a lot of running from the backyard to the front yard, you know, up the stairs, down the stairs, all this stuff. And I was like, We need a way to orient the audience to this house because it's not intentional there. It's completely unintentional. Just it was the character needing to go to places and swallowing and it felt really disoriented.

00;23;59;09 - 00;24;31;14

Cullen

So we wound up just changing out the whole intro of the movie so that we do learn where everything is and what's going on. And then later on though, you can use that to disorient an audience by changing things, just like in The Shining, where whether it's, you know, I'm not there's nothing in the movie that actually physically changes, like to the degree that it does in The Shining where, you know, hallways change and things like that, but just changing the like, you know, it goes from day to night and it's pitch black and soft and you don't know what's going on and things like that that you know, you're you're just you're intentionally disorienting,

00;24;31;14 - 00;24;39;24

Cullen

the audience for a response. Whereas that can be very different from unintentionally. So, yes, like in a lot of action movies where you've got the shaky cam and.

00;24;39;24 - 00;24;58;26

Clark

Oh God, in horrible editing and yeah, don't get me started on that. It's this is one of my biggest pet peeves and frustrations with it. You and I were actually kind of discussing Marvel movies for a minute here before we started recording. And it's, you know, sadly and I guess I get why, especially in television, because it's so much cheaper.

00;24;59;03 - 00;25;12;13

Clark

It's so much easier to to just shoot action, chop it up into tiny little pieces and have a shaky cam and a bunch of quick edits and use that to impart the the vital density and the in the into.

00;25;12;16 - 00;25;14;07

Cullen

Doing intensity with air quotes.

00;25;14;09 - 00;25;25;27

Clark

Right. But but of course to actually have you know long shots and and really long wide shots and actually see what's going on requires I mean it's just much more difficult to shoot but yeah that's a whole other.

00;25;26;07 - 00;25;39;01

Cullen

And I do actually want to mention in close relation to this that he's kind of got a bad rap, but he's a very interesting director to study because oftentimes of the things that he likes. But Michael Bay.

00;25;39;25 - 00;25;40;04

Clark

Is a.

00;25;40;04 - 00;25;43;21

Cullen

Huge West Side story is Michael Bay's favorite movie.

00;25;43;23 - 00;25;44;09

Clark

Okay.

00;25;44;28 - 00;26;07;26

Cullen

He he loves West Side Story. And what's interesting about Michael Bay is that you can actually see the way that he uses the geographic setups in a song like America in West Side Story in his action scenes. And that's honestly, even though he does kind of have this stereotype about him, about about shaky cam and kind of quick edits and things like that, I actually rewatched the first time Transformers recently.

00;26;07;29 - 00;26;09;20

Clark

Okay, I'm surprised.

00;26;09;25 - 00;26;21;07

Cullen

Weirdly enough, it's quite geographic. Like, it makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of cuts in these action scenes. There's a lot of shaky cam. Yeah, but he does a lot of work to establish where everything.

00;26;21;07 - 00;26;33;20

Clark

Is when I feel like he keeps it clear. Huh? Which is really interesting. I can't speak to it myself. I don't think I've actually is that the one was saying Yeah, Shiloh, I may have actually seen it when it first came out or, you know, I.

00;26;33;21 - 00;26;35;26

Cullen

Yeah, I don't think I'd seen it since it came out. I mean.

00;26;35;26 - 00;26;38;08

Clark

I don't even know. How old is that movie now for.

00;26;38;09 - 00;26;49;26

Cullen

2007, I think it came out. Wow. And I saw it in theaters when it came out. And I think that I haven't seen it pretty much since then, but I was expecting going into it a lot of exactly what we're talking about in the negative sense.

00;26;49;26 - 00;26;50;12

Clark

Which is.

00;26;50;12 - 00;26;59;23

Cullen

Don't make sense. But he actually and I think I owe it a lot to his love of West Side Story and these Golden Age musicals where it's like I mean, if you when you get.

00;26;59;23 - 00;27;00;11

Clark

Down, well, that's a.

00;27;00;11 - 00;27;07;12

Cullen

Beautiful thing filming these things and this in the same way, you know, one's an action scene and one's a big dance sequence, but they're both massive set pieces with lots of moving.

00;27;07;12 - 00;27;09;23

Clark

With lots of movement. Yeah, that's a good point.

00;27;09;23 - 00;27;16;16

Cullen

I sense that he likes it, Whereas on the other spectrum of this, the Man of Steel movies, those newer Superman.

00;27;16;25 - 00;27;17;26

Clark

Which I've not seen any.

00;27;17;26 - 00;27;30;24

Cullen

Of those I've not seen since they can't theaters. But the final fight in Man of Steel is kind of a historical famous example of like not making any sense. You're just kind of throwing people into buildings and.

00;27;30;25 - 00;27;31;09

Clark

Yeah, like.

00;27;31;09 - 00;27;32;21

Cullen

Just dust and it's just.

00;27;32;21 - 00;27;46;21

Clark

Every right and you just have these cuts that are, you know, quarter of a second long with just a fist and a foot. And I've not seen it, but I've seen, you know, similar other, you know, other examples like this where it's just condoning lack of killing. I mean, it's clear that they just filmed a bunch of fighting.

00;27;46;27 - 00;28;10;17

Clark

They took a bunch of takes. They just chopped up a bunch in this place like these, you know, fractions of a second line. And usually you've got a lot of inserts and a lot of, you know, to try to impart the impact of, you know, fists and feet, whatever else. And it's just, Ah, yeah. And then of course there are other examples of, of extraordinary there's a couple of like what was the is it, is it old boy.

00;28;10;18 - 00;28;12;07

Clark

The original one. Is that where there's like.

00;28;12;07 - 00;28;14;24

Cullen

Some the hallway. Yeah there's a hallway hallway. And it.

00;28;14;24 - 00;28;19;13

Clark

I think was a daredevil kind of copied that scene and one of their.

00;28;19;13 - 00;28;35;02

Cullen

Yeah I never watched your show but I know that senior time you know what I we ended the season with like a one hour kind of thing that was inspired by watching it again. And that's why action. That's why I kind of wanted to talk about action horror, because there are two movies that are very easy to kind of point out the technique behind.

00;28;35;08 - 00;28;59;07

Cullen

Yeah, but you even look at the difference between something like, you know, you know, let's talk about a very famous movie, Star Wars. The difference between the fight between something like that Luke Invader fight and Empire when they're on Cloud City and then it's very methodical. Every shot is planned out. Everything makes sense. You know, a sweep of movement in one direction, matches with the next shot and things like that.

00;28;59;11 - 00;28;59;21

Clark

Right.

00;28;59;29 - 00;29;13;29

Cullen

And then you look at some of the fights from the prequel trilogy and they're just all over the place. It's it's very much turns into that more kind of Marvel style of filmmaking where, as you said, you're just kind of getting a series of VFX plates and then cutting them all together.

00;29;14;08 - 00;29;15;04

Clark

And hoping that it.

00;29;15;04 - 00;29;25;28

Cullen

Mixes. And oftentimes, you know, it may look similar and look congruent, but there's something missing. I think, subconsciously where you're just kind of going, Well, that doesn't really feel like real.

00;29;26;07 - 00;29;50;18

Clark

I feel I think it would and it kind of honestly, I mean, I think a lot of that translate to boredom, frankly. I think, again, I, I don't think that the average audience, you know, you're I mean, is it going to be able to articulate they they're not formulated in their mind. Oh, you know, that that this there's like a spatial geography problem here and you know or these edits are so quick and everything is such a they're such close shots.

00;29;50;18 - 00;30;02;03

Clark

I can't tell who I mean, it's unlikely they're going to articulate things like this. But I think it just like fundamentally it just manifest itself as like boredom. They're like, I'm not in this. I'm not into the story. I don't know. Yeah. And that's.

00;30;02;03 - 00;30;08;13

Cullen

The big danger about, you know, just to go back to geography is that I think that people check out if things don't make sense.

00;30;08;13 - 00;30;09;04

Clark

Right, or.

00;30;09;04 - 00;30;16;27

Cullen

Non intentionally make sense because I think that, you know, something like the Shining that does it really well and intentionally and right is planned out and methodical about it then that draws an.

00;30;16;27 - 00;30;35;05

Clark

Audience in and it's worthy and it's within an infrastructure of understanding. It's it's not that you don't understand everything. It's like you've created like you've you've taken the time. You've created an infrastructure of understanding your audience knows what's going on, but there's a space, there's a slow bang where there's this world. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;30;35;17 - 00;30;52;08

Cullen

But, but no, I think that again, yeah, you can have an audience check out at the snap of a finger if, if you don't really pay attention to that stuff because you're only going to, you know, film is technically a passive medium. You're not thinking about every single shot as you see it. It's not like reading where you have to read, write it.

00;30;52;12 - 00;31;10;14

Cullen

You're just you're you're being flashed images at your face that your brain makes sense of. And if your brain is now requiring you to actively make work or make sense of what's going on in a negative sense, where you're just kind of like, I'm confused, then yeah, you're probably going to check out of that movie and go.

00;31;10;14 - 00;31;33;15

Clark

Yeah, I'm done. Well, it's a good thing. You know, it's a good point that you make. I think, you know, looking at musicals, looking at horror films and looking at how action or shot, I mean, these these films can contain some of the most complicated and extreme examples of maintaining or manipulating the spatial orientation of characters and objects.

00;31;34;09 - 00;32;11;13

Clark

And so, yeah, I think that's great advice. I especially like your idea, you know, that looking at musicals does often involve a lot of people, and there's some like really interesting things to learn, I think from watching a lot of musicals. Yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I think, you know, it's interesting too. So, you know, we've talked about, you know, the importance of geography and then we've talked about kind of where, you know, when it might be appropriate to disorient your audience by manipulating those things, you know, like Herzog mentions a couple other things, kind of smaller, but let's touch on them here.

00;32;11;22 - 00;32;28;11

Clark

You know, he talks about the Kinski spiral, which is funny. I think both of us, when we were originally taking this class and we were doing one of the exercises, I think you and I both, you know, both had a character enter frame using this Kinski spiral.

00;32;28;11 - 00;32;28;25

Cullen

Yes.

00;32;29;02 - 00;33;03;23

Clark

I think it was part of the whole work. I don't remember exactly, but I think we had to make a short a short film and it was like, okay, you've got to make it. You know, you really can see space somewhere and use it somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's funny, you know, I don't know that I'd ever consciously recognize this except to say, I mean, I definitely, you know, we see the example of Kinski in Aguirre and then we see the example of Nicolas Cage in bed, lifted it and I, I may not have been able to have pointed out like, Oh, there's Kinski Spiral or it's the same.

00;33;03;23 - 00;33;36;08

Clark

There was a name for it. You're right. Yeah, right. But but I certainly recall, like the overall impact of how what an interesting way to inner frame. Yeah and you know and for me just to kind of expand that past just this one very specific thing, it's a good reminder of how important the physicality is of of your actors and the and that you and I have talked about this in another episode where we talked about wanting to direct right there from the camera being right next to the action and how it's a dance.

00;33;36;08 - 00;34;06;29

Clark

It's a it's a physicality. You're in a rhythm, especially when you're operating. You're there in the scene with the actor. I mean, you are absolutely in this scene. It just so happens that you're not on film, but you are definitely in the scene. And I think this really speaks to the importance of physicality. And so working with your actors on that, I think there's a there's another place where Herzog talks about how he talked with, you know, worked with Nicolas Cage on the physicality of it.

00;34;07;04 - 00;34;29;13

Clark

And also and with Gary, interestingly in they're very similarly they have very similar physicality. Yeah. Herzog talks of, you know, the uneven shoulders and, you know, this kind of story has like Miss Misinformed Arm and Cage's character has, you know, a broken back and his, you know, it's kind of twisted and his shoulders are are uneven and staggered.

00;34;29;26 - 00;34;49;10

Clark

But, you know, just one more example of how important that is. There's so much power can be had. I mean, again, it's a visual medium, right? And I think it's obvious, but I think it's so obvious that it's almost forgotten sometimes. I think so many examples of where people are trying to to say everything there is to say about a character through the dialog.

00;34;49;13 - 00;34;50;19

Clark

Yes, exactly.

00;34;50;19 - 00;34;52;16

Cullen

And so don't tell forgiveness. Yeah.

00;34;52;23 - 00;35;10;16

Clark

Yeah. And I'm like, just don't forget. Just don't forget. There's this whole world that you can explore with how you manipulate, you know, what kind of physicality are you creating for the characters? But then, but in, in conjunction, I mean, The Spiral is a great example of, okay, there's the physicality of the actor, but then how does that dance take place?

00;35;10;16 - 00;35;15;24

Clark

Then what's the tango? But with the camera and the actor, with the physicality together, it's just a great example.

00;35;16;03 - 00;35;19;27

Cullen

And just to real quickly, just to explain what the Kinski spiral is. Oh.

00;35;20;07 - 00;35;22;13

Clark

I don't know that it's it's it's.

00;35;22;28 - 00;35;43;12

Cullen

It's basically if you had a camera on a tripod that I as the actor, would be standing right next to it, like right pressed pretty much right up against the camera, but not on camera. So like, right two camera left something or could be camera right if you were to reverse it. And then I would take pretty much my left leg and step right across right into frame.

00;35;43;12 - 00;35;46;27

Cullen

And my face would be so close to the camera and almost spin as I do it. And then.

00;35;47;06 - 00;35;53;03

Clark

Like this, it's almost like a twist, like your body is twisting around into the front of the camera.

00;35;53;03 - 00;36;01;17

Cullen

Yeah I'm sure that you can if you Google the Kinski spot spiral, it should come up. But it's a very, very distinct way of entering frame.

00;36;02;07 - 00;36;02;23

Clark

And.

00;36;03;03 - 00;36;14;16

Cullen

I think that it's a great example, again, of of kind of again, as you said, that that bond between camera and camera movement and actors and the space and things like that.

00;36;14;29 - 00;36;36;00

Clark

So I've just confirmed I've just confirmed if you Google Kinski Spiral. Yes. And now this this is awesome. Okay. So you got Nick Cage and his performance in Bad Lieutenant. Of course, you've got Kinski's in Aguirre. I have not seen this yet, but apparently Nicole Kidman does this in Queen of the Desert as well.

00;36;36;06 - 00;36;37;07

Cullen

Oh, interesting. Okay.

00;36;37;08 - 00;36;56;01

Clark

I am I am going to check that out as soon as this podcast, as soon as we're done recording this. But I am like, hmm, I know that. So okay. So clearly, clearly, Herzog really loves this move and is still you. Well, Queen of the Desert is now a five year old flick, but still in a more recent film, he's using it.

00;36;56;01 - 00;37;18;00

Clark

But I think, you know, what are the other like kind of physicality that he talks about as the tree and walk? And this one was I'm going to have to admit, I'll have to admit it wasn't as immediately obvious to me what he was doing here. I didn't feel like the impact was as pronounced as the Kinski spiral at the spiral.

00;37;18;00 - 00;37;20;19

Cullen

I think I sort of got it on, weirdly enough.

00;37;20;19 - 00;37;31;15

Clark

Okay. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, why don't you describe it then, Like articulate for the people at home what you feel like Herzog is trying to do with the Nazarian walk and how soon? It very.

00;37;31;15 - 00;37;45;23

Cullen

Very simply it's a way of almost cutting together. A I guess, montage would be a good word for it. Of of far distances traveled and the way that he does it is he positions the actor really close to camera to start and then almost has the camera spiral.

00;37;45;23 - 00;37;46;18

Clark

Spiral into.

00;37;46;18 - 00;37;58;10

Cullen

A really intense angle and then follow them off into the distance. And if you keep cutting between these different shots, it just gives the impression that because the actor starts so close to the camera and then ends in the shot, so.

00;37;58;10 - 00;37;59;19

Clark

Far it's like stumbling.

00;37;59;19 - 00;38;00;16

Cullen

Over distance.

00;38;00;16 - 00;38;07;22

Clark

So I missed that. So. So are you saying that it's a it's just like a string of cuts that he's he's putting he's putting the string of these shots together.

00;38;07;22 - 00;38;12;18

Cullen

I'm not sure if it has to be a string or not. Okay. I'm okay. But, you know, even just having one.

00;38;12;21 - 00;38;13;00

Clark

Having it.

00;38;13;06 - 00;38;18;14

Cullen

Just because it's such a visceral difference between, you know, being so close and then suddenly at the end, you're so.

00;38;18;29 - 00;38;46;29

Clark

Far I mean, I almost feel like I get a sense of, you know, in my interpreting or just what I felt, not even interpretation, but just what my kind of intuitive reaction to it was, was that it's almost like like the actor, you get a sense that the actor is actually walking from behind the camera. So that's what gives a sense that that this actor has been move it right, that that he didn't it wasn't just action and he just or she of course just walked in, you know right there.

00;38;46;29 - 00;39;05;28

Clark

It gives a sense that like this character has been walking from far behind. The camera comes up over the camera, and then we kind of pick it up. Yeah, the camera finds in. Yeah, right. I think so. That's okay. Yeah. That's kind of appreciate you helping me kind of sort that out when I.

00;39;05;28 - 00;39;06;27

Cullen

First a quick side note.

00;39;06;27 - 00;39;07;21

Clark

Too. I do like.

00;39;08;08 - 00;39;11;18

Cullen

I do love his little names that he gives all these little techniques that he has.

00;39;12;06 - 00;39;32;13

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is quite nice. It is quite nice. Well, look at speaking. Okay. And to finish up, to finish off the episode, speaking of loving Herzog, the Iguanas, I think it's, I think it's kind of funny that they put this. I mean, I feel like it's, you know, the last third or so of this lesson, he's talking about iguanas.

00;39;32;24 - 00;39;33;15

Clark

And, you know, it's a.

00;39;33;15 - 00;39;34;01

Cullen

Long time.

00;39;34;01 - 00;39;58;14

Clark

On. I spent a long time. Now, of course, you know, Herzog animals play a vital role in so many of his films. It's a big part of his storytelling kind of repertoire, especially chickens, which I love. They talk about in another listen, I'm not sure, but but he uses an example here. So going back to bad lieutenant, he's talking about Nick Cage.

00;39;58;14 - 00;40;15;00

Clark

Is this, like, drugged out dude? Police officer And there's an iguana in a room and I think right here, Herzog is using like this, this small little kind of pinhole camera. And I'm not sure exactly what exact camera. It's almost like a probe camera.

00;40;15;00 - 00;40;15;16

Cullen

Some sort of.

00;40;15;19 - 00;40;39;21

Clark

Yeah, something tiny little like super wide angle, but very small, I think. Anyway. And it's kind of like the Iguanas POV almost. Right. And it's kind of, you know, he's utilizing this to, to, to show us the kind of put us inside the mind of Nick Cage, that he's the seriousness and the kind of, you know, disorientation and, you know, this addled, kind of placed that Nick is in or his character is in, rather.

00;40;40;02 - 00;41;01;18

Clark

But it's it's pretty hysterical, I suspect. Herzog talks about that. The Iguana biting him and, you know, like, you know, quite a bit his hand or something, I guess. And he could barely pry the jaws of this iguana off. And it's I don't know. It just illustrates once more it look like not everything has to be anything more than just a good story.

00;41;01;18 - 00;41;06;06

Clark

And I almost feel like this last part is just a good story for years. Yeah.

00;41;06;18 - 00;41;10;29

Cullen

And it's I mean, the shot is very interesting looking for sure. But I always find that the more.

00;41;11;03 - 00;41;12;07

Clark

Story part.

00;41;12;07 - 00;41;12;25

Cullen

Is the story.

00;41;12;25 - 00;41;14;25

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It's a.

00;41;15;00 - 00;41;20;07

Cullen

His. It's almost like his. His dedication to telling this story. That's so great.

00;41;20;28 - 00;41;43;07

Clark

Oh, well, there's no question. I mean, and I think not to. Again, we can wrap this up here in a few minutes, but, you know, look hurt. You know, just to sidestep here for just a second, I mean, as you know, an aspiring director, a filmmaker out there for everybody, you know, if you are Cohen, I'm assuming many people in the audience would are aspiring filmmakers.

00;41;43;07 - 00;42;10;16

Clark

If you're interested in the masterclass lesson, you know, you've probably been trying to pick up some pointers, right? I you know, I think it's such it's such an important lesson to learn here. You see. HERZOG You see how and this is all within an absolute like he is absolutely authentic. This is it's him. So this is not some fake kind of marketing thing.

00;42;10;16 - 00;42;31;21

Clark

But, you know, he has created such an extraordinary character. That is him. Mm hmm. And you speak to the devotion with which he, you know, the dedication with which he tells the story. And I think every story I mean, it's, you know, these things are very important to him. And I think he does a good job of honestly, like not taking himself too seriously.

00;42;31;21 - 00;42;55;12

Clark

But he takes what he does, of course, like clearly very seriously. Yeah. But I just love I mean, it's that intensity, it's that dedication. It's that, you know, he pulls you on board when he's telling stories. He's so clearly just, you know, a good storyteller. But it's it's just it's kind of just, you know, to have an example to kind of watch him talk about the his stories, that's something that directors have to do.

00;42;55;13 - 00;43;20;02

Clark

You have to talk about your stories to your fellow cast and crew. You have to share your vision with them. You, you know, hopefully you get to a place where you're having to share your vision with press and whether this is that, you know, just speaking at a Q&A at a small festival or you're being interviewed for, you know, variety, I mean, it's a big part of of what you'll have to do as a successful filmmaker.

00;43;20;02 - 00;43;25;06

Clark

And you could do a lot worse than watching him and learning from him.

00;43;25;15 - 00;43;26;12

Cullen

Yeah, totally.

00;43;26;28 - 00;43;31;11

Clark

So. All right. Well, I think unless you've got anything else to add.

00;43;31;21 - 00;43;32;24

Cullen

No, I'm. I'm. I'm good.

00;43;33;02 - 00;43;38;03

Clark

You're done. You're done. I'm like, man, I'm out of here. I'm going to go shoot something. Yeah.

00;43;38;04 - 00;43;38;16

Cullen

See it?

00;43;38;22 - 00;43;41;09

Clark

Well, yeah, you do have a few projects.

00;43;42;06 - 00;43;42;20

Cullen

I do?

00;43;42;20 - 00;44;07;02

Clark

Yeah. So that's. So this is good. This is exciting. And maybe in a future episode, we can share a little bit more about some of these exciting things that are happening with our own projects. But until then, Cohen, as always, thank you so much. Pleasure. And everybody listening out there. We appreciate it. We hope that it's entertaining, informative and heck, even if you just laughing at us, as long as you laugh, that's all we care about.

00;44;07;12 - 00;44;29;11

Clark

All right. So until next week, where we will be discussing what's next week, it's less than 13 in 13 working with actors, and I'm really excited about this one. Yeah, this is probably because I've spent so much time as an actor on the other side. I'm really excited about this one. I look forward to it. All right. Well, until then, everybody, take care.

00;44;29;11 - 00;44;30;05

Clark

We'll see you next time.

00;44;30;17 - 00;44;38;07

Cullen

My life.

Episode - 012

Clark

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Clark Coffey and with me as always, is Cullen McFater. Hey, Cullen.

00;00;17;24 - 00;00;18;06

Cullen

Hello.

00;00;18;11 - 00;00;43;02

Clark

And we're here with our Episode 12, covering the masterclass lesson 13 and we're super excited to be here. This is going to be an interesting one. The topic of of of Lesson 13 is working with actors creating the character. And I think this, this, this one could be juicy. There could be some good stuff here. So I'm excited for this.

00;00;43;02 - 00;01;15;24

Clark

This one in particular. I think it'll be fun. And to kick it off right off the bat, Herzog jumps right into discussing the importance the vital nature of casting for a project. And of course, I think this makes, you know, pretty much common sense, right? Seems important. Yeah, but how important is it? Cullen, You had a funny you were just talking to me earlier about, like, if you added up all the you know, that people say, you know, directing is like 80% cast.

00;01;15;24 - 00;01;18;02

Clark

He Yeah. And you were like, if you added.

00;01;18;05 - 00;01;19;01

Cullen

This half the picture.

00;01;19;02 - 00;01;20;11

Clark

Shade scenes, you know.

00;01;21;14 - 00;01;23;05

Cullen

It's like it gets like 900%, right?

00;01;23;06 - 00;01;56;29

Clark

Like directing is 80% casting, but, but then it's like 70%, you know, the script and then it's like 90% leading and it's kind of funny. So but, but it is it is clearly extremely important. I know that I've been part of projects where casting has been have done well, and it was a great match. And not only did the output like the actual story at the end of the film, at the end turn out well, but the process of making it was actually one that was joyful and fun.

00;01;57;07 - 00;02;15;08

Clark

And then I've been on the other side of it where the project didn't turn out so hot and the making of it was not very fun either. So I've been on both sides of that and probably most people, if you've done more than a couple of things, you've experienced both sides of it as well. So yeah, definitely, definitely important.

00;02;15;17 - 00;02;28;08

Clark

I don't even think there's anything controversial or special to say about that. So I think it's kind of like the next question is then, okay, well, it's super important we agree. Well, how do you do it? Like how, how, how do you cast.

00;02;28;26 - 00;03;01;16

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah. And there's so many different I mean, good dynamics between like, let's say you want good chemistry between your leads or whatever, and that can be found in so many different ways, which is kind of why it's a difficult thing to really nail down with like a simple answer. Like, I remember when I was doing acting, mostly stage acting, but I was in a play and where me and this girl, a good friend of mine, were the two leads for primarily most of the play.

00;03;01;16 - 00;03;19;11

Cullen

Like it was really just a two person show. There was a few other characters that came in every once in a while, but primarily it was us. And I remember feeling so great about that play because her and I had this, like really, really great rapport, both on stage and off stage. Oh, not really. Not maybe in the way that you would think.

00;03;19;12 - 00;03;39;07

Cullen

Yeah. Hey, sorry, it's a PG podcast, but. But no, like things like, you know, I knew because our characters weren't supposed to like each. They were supposed to be like, kind of like a weird sexual tension between what they were really supposed to, like, really not like each other kind of thing. And I realized that she was really angry at me in real life.

00;03;39;17 - 00;03;44;14

Cullen

She gave like an incredible performance. So I used to, like, eat her lunch and things like that.

00;03;44;14 - 00;03;44;29

Clark

And that's.

00;03;45;05 - 00;03;46;00

Cullen

Just make her really.

00;03;46;00 - 00;04;05;02

Clark

Angry. Let me play a little devil's advocate. I get like kind of down a tangent or, you know, alleyway here. But this interesting. So what you're talking about is kind of like this outlet. I'll just play devil's advocate. I don't want to be argumentative, but what you're talking about can really, I think, get you in trouble as an actor.

00;04;05;24 - 00;04;27;09

Clark

Yeah. You kind of rely on whatever relationship that your characters are experiencing in the story. If you're kind of relying on your relationship to be that way in real life on set, that could that could lead to some big problems. I know, you know, some actors do this kind of stuff and I think there's, you know, an appropriate you kind of manipulation that you might be able to do, right.

00;04;27;09 - 00;04;56;09

Clark

Where it's like if you're the the main bad guy in a movie, you might not want to be chumming it up with, you know, the rest of the the actors. You might separate yourself a little bit, but, you know, I think a lot of people run into some big problems doing that, right? I mean, how many times it's like how many times do you have the romantic leads in a story end up being romantically involved and look at all the marriages, relationships that's destroyed that hardly ever works out well.

00;04;56;20 - 00;05;01;16

Clark

Or, you know, what's that story? It was it was a Jared Leto who I.

00;05;01;16 - 00;05;03;00

Cullen

Know was sending things on the back.

00;05;03;06 - 00;05;06;04

Clark

Like used condoms or rats or something. I'm like.

00;05;06;12 - 00;05;08;09

Cullen

Oh, that stuff is bizarre.

00;05;08;09 - 00;05;30;01

Clark

That's fine. I mean, but the it's acting, guys. It's that's why it's called acting because it's not actually, you know, you don't actually have to have these relationships in real life in order to portray this onscreen or on stage. But but, but I guess what you're talking about, though, is that the chemistry between the two of you was worked on stage.

00;05;30;10 - 00;05;51;20

Clark

And that's such an important part of casting, right? I mean, and like you say, it's so complicated because you've got, you know, the individual look and feel and ability of the individual actor or actress that you've got in front of you. But then, of course, you're putting them together with other actors and is that chemistry going to work out?

00;05;51;28 - 00;05;55;10

Clark

It's it's extremely challenging. It's yeah.

00;05;55;17 - 00;06;20;11

Cullen

And well, but even on the flip side of that, too, there are some actors that have incredible, incredible onscreen rapport that don't like each other at all. Offscreen Sure. That don't get along and that it's, you know and so that's why I think it's it's a really tough challenge to kind of narrow down like specific tips or, you know, the advice even because it is it can't there's so many different ways that there is.

00;06;20;14 - 00;06;43;08

Clark

I have a couple ideas, though. I have a couple of thoughts. You're right. So certainly I'm not even going to pretend that you can you can kind of boil down or distill the effect of casting into some kind of like list of guidelines or something. You just can't. There is such an intuitive piece, right? That's like that. That would be like trying to explain how do you paint a good painting?

00;06;43;10 - 00;07;03;17

Clark

I mean, it's like you could talk about techniques and you can talk about different types of canvas and paints and brushes and different subject matters, but you can't, you know, that's just not something that can be taught. It is an art in and of itself. And I'm going to talk about casting directors in a second here because I do have a lot of respect for them, and I think good casting directors are really vital.

00;07;04;05 - 00;07;32;10

Clark

But what I'm going to say is, you know, a couple a couple simple things. I think, you know, some of the things that I see in especially in directors who are just starting out, they'll get a script and the writer will have often, well, all of these like, you know, the the gender, the the race, the, you know, sometimes like height or weight or all of these different kind of external qualities are baked into the script, right?

00;07;32;25 - 00;07;34;15

Cullen

Yeah. Which is always bizarre to me.

00;07;34;15 - 00;07;52;27

Clark

Right. And that's exactly my point. And so but I've seen this where, you know, and then, okay, so director, get script or let me say that if the director wrote the script right, they end up with this script and it's got all of these external kind of qualifications for the character that actually really aren't necessary at all, It's, it's, it's.

00;07;53;03 - 00;07;56;00

Cullen

Really nothing to do with, with they're great. It's actually.

00;07;56;00 - 00;08;18;06

Clark

Really rare. A lot of times like gender, it doesn't actually matter to the story and often sometimes it does. But I mean, age often doesn't matter, you know. So I mean it is so often where people will put themselves in a little bitty box for casting and they end up focusing so much on these external qualities. Yeah. And it's you're really cutting yourself off from a lot of opportunity.

00;08;18;25 - 00;08;35;22

Cullen

I remember a few years ago not to get too far into writing because ultimately it's about acting. But but I do remember a few years ago, right when I guess I was I was starting out kind of stepping into the professional world. I think I just graduated high school. I must have been five, five or so years ago.

00;08;36;05 - 00;08;48;08

Cullen

I was on one of those Facebook groups that does like screenwriting or whatever, and I post a page from a screenplay for feedback, just sort of saying, Hey, this, this, this, this introduction makes sense.

00;08;48;09 - 00;08;48;20

Clark

You know.

00;08;48;22 - 00;09;04;22

Cullen

Is it easy to read? And, you know, actually, to be fair, there are a lot of there was a lot of really good comments on there and a lot of things that said like, hey, this is good, but here's what you can work on, blah, blah, blah. But there was this one guy that was like just took it and rewrote it in his own words to basically be like, This is how it should be done.

00;09;04;22 - 00;09;13;17

Cullen

And it was all just exactly that. Like it was like your character description is not specific. Like you should have come in and be 35. His hair should be out his shoulders.

00;09;13;17 - 00;09;14;26

Clark

You're like, What?

00;09;14;26 - 00;09;34;01

Cullen

That makes no difference for what the character is. But I also for this feature that I'm working on right now, it's interesting that you mentioned gender because we actually from the third, so we wrote three drafts. There have been more than three drafts, but but three total drafts and there have been like point fives and point eight. And whatever ends with in there.

00;09;34;01 - 00;10;06;09

Cullen

But three major drafts have been written. And on the fourth draft, we decided to switch the gender of the main character and that was partially casting because we have someone in mind who we really want to play the main character. But it also I wanted to see how it reverberated through the script about, you know, if this character suddenly because the script is, you know, not to give too much away, but it's about a character arriving at their distant cousin's house out in the country and then having to deal with their roommates.

00;10;06;09 - 00;10;19;00

Cullen

And I thought, it's a completely different situation. If you're a man going out, then sometimes it can provide a really interesting change. So I would say even then, leave it open like always, always, always watching those things around.

00;10;19;00 - 00;10;36;00

Clark

Yeah, I mean, you can always adapt a script. I mean, and this is where I would even say, I mean, obviously, look, a script is vital. And we just joked a second ago about how, you know, if he added up all these percentages, filmmaking equals like, you know, 600% because it's the script is vital, the casting is vital to all this stuff.

00;10;36;00 - 00;11;01;13

Clark

But, you know, I really do think that there are a lot of aspects that a script of a script that can be modified, these specific little, you know, circumstances that could and should, I think, be modified to work around an extraordinary actor if they didn't fit kind of your preconceived notion of just these external qualifications. Right. So I would absolutely.

00;11;01;13 - 00;11;18;04

Clark

I'm completely happy to do that and often will. Yeah. I would so much rather have an actor that feels like they're a great fit that brings so much to the table. And I mean, I, you know, it's like maybe we can discuss that a little bit. I mean, I can talk about what I look for, you know, when I'm when I'm casting.

00;11;18;04 - 00;11;41;08

Clark

And I also let's jump in here to you know, Herzog doesn't really talk about this Herzog jump. So, you know, he's like, look, you know, it's they're choosing the right actor is the end all, be all, you know, understanding the arts of pain and all these things. But look, let's be realistic. There are very real and and and significant practical logistical limitations or considerations to casting.

00;11;41;08 - 00;12;07;14

Clark

And it's, I think, very rare that you can just absolutely pick just the best actor, period, without taking anything else to consideration. And, you know, I can give some examples. I mean, the horror film that we're working on now, we are in pre-production, we are currently fundraising. We've achieved our first tier of fundraising. So it's like, okay, we're going to make the film, but now we're trying to stretch those goals.

00;12;07;14 - 00;12;26;14

Clark

We're trying to achieve a higher budget. And so what we're doing is, is that we are reaching out. We're making offers contingent on budget to actors who have an audience who have somewhat of a name in the horror genre, which is, you know, where our film lies. And we're not auditioning these people. I've never worked with them before.

00;12;26;14 - 00;12;44;15

Clark

I don't know what they're like on set. I can only see their the work that they've done previously, right? But I don't even get a chance to meet them. I'm going to be working as co-director on this film and I'm not even going to you know, it's like if they say if they say, yes, I will accept and we get this point right, then we can end.

00;12;44;15 - 00;13;14;15

Clark

The whole point is that we can use their name to continue or further our fundraising. Hopefully raise more money, get a higher budget. What we do that they're on board. And so I've got to take whatever comes and that happens a lot. And I say at a lot of levels of film, you know, not just down here in these little bitty quarter of $1,000,000 or less films, but that's, you know, casting is such a huge part of of budget in marketing that those concessions are always being dealt with.

00;13;14;17 - 00;13;32;29

Clark

So and also just right the limitations of what you've got. I mean. Exactly right. You hold castings. It's like wherever where your geographic location is, whatever the, you know, the limitations of your your budget, etc., etc., your geography. I mean, you've got to pick from what you have available to you.

00;13;33;04 - 00;13;51;00

Cullen

So I think and I think a huge aspect of it is also people I hear this question so often, which is like, what's the line you draw on collaboration? And you know, so like if an actor has an I.

00;13;51;00 - 00;13;52;07

Clark

Great question. Yeah.

00;13;52;23 - 00;14;12;18

Cullen

You know, what's where do you where do you say, you know, like, no, I'm the director. I make the final call versus what? But I think that that the thing is you can't really draw that line in your mind. The way I deal with it is if it's a good suggestion, I go out and if it's not, I don't write or I I'm never really on set, especially when it comes to collaboration and the ideas that people bring.

00;14;13;07 - 00;14;27;14

Cullen

I'm never sitting there going like, No, no, no, the actor can't make a suggestion for a shot because they're the actor. I would rather my actors not be thinking about that. But if they were to suddenly come up with something on on the set and go like, Hey, what if we try this? I'm not going to go, No, that's not your department.

00;14;27;14 - 00;14;47;26

Cullen

I if it's a good suggestion, then I'm going to take it. I don't really draw those lines in my head of going like, No, no, no, I've got to make this decision and leave it up to this department. And separating this department, because I think that's a huge part of it, is that a really good team is and we've talked about this in the directing episode, but I think it should go beyond just the director.

00;14;47;26 - 00;15;04;00

Cullen

A really good team on a film set should know every department. Obviously not master it because that would be a lot of time and a lot of effort put into doing so. But but to understand the departments, because that allows so much communication certain between departments.

00;15;04;00 - 00;15;32;07

Clark

And of course, you know, an actor having an understanding of of how a set works and certainly understanding, you know, what's going on with the camera, with lenses, with other things, having like a general understanding of where your frame is going to be at certain focal lengths of, you know, in other things, that's very handy. But yeah, like, like you said, I would much rather have my actor being concerned with their performance and their character as opposed to worrying about the technical, logistical issues of the goings on to the set.

00;15;32;16 - 00;15;57;28

Clark

I will say this, though, it's because sometimes you can you can have this kind of happen. I've been in this place before. I agree with you that a director should be open to feedback. And and I certainly believe that actors can have very great feedback, especially when it comes to the script and their character. If they're doing their homework, they're spending a tremendous amount of time breaking down and analyzing that script.

00;15;58;22 - 00;16;28;03

Clark

But you do have to be careful that the desire to to give feedback doesn't doesn't get in the way of them doing what's asked of them, though. Right. And it should be a very easy compromise where, you know, if an actor comes to the director, say that's who comes to you and has a suggestion for the character or something, you know, it's it's I think you have kind of the obligation to take that and look at it.

00;16;29;02 - 00;16;38;21

Clark

But you can say, no, I appreciate that, but let's do it as written. Now, if the actor is unwilling to do that, that's clearly an issue. So this is fine.

00;16;38;21 - 00;16;44;02

Cullen

Even Herzog talks about about in the the Vietnam movie, about the.

00;16;44;10 - 00;16;44;23

Clark

Oh, the.

00;16;45;11 - 00;16;54;00

Cullen

Where the guy I can't think of the specific names. It's the Christian Bale. Yeah it's the other actor who's who's trying to deliver a line and can't do it without either laughing.

00;16;54;01 - 00;16;55;12

Clark

Oh, right, right, right.

00;16;55;20 - 00;17;00;21

Cullen

And so Herzog says, No, no, let's take it out, say it as you would say it. Right. And then the actor just said, okay, I would just say.

00;17;00;22 - 00;17;01;03

Clark

Great.

00;17;01;03 - 00;17;07;26

Cullen

Goodbye and good luck. Right. And like, it's things like that. Sure. Yeah. But so often directors are so stuck.

00;17;08;00 - 00;17;08;16

Clark

Can be.

00;17;08;24 - 00;17;09;05

Cullen

You know.

00;17;09;10 - 00;17;28;27

Clark

Can be. And I think sometimes the less the experience, the more often that's the case. And I think it's just because, you know, it's when you're when you're new out there, it's it feels a little more threatening to to kind of improvise, quote unquote, So much on set. But I think as you gain experiences, you get more and more familiar with what's going on.

00;17;28;27 - 00;17;46;14

Clark

I think you you're more and more open and accepting of of these kinds of gifts, let's call them, that can occur on set when you're shooting. But, you know, I just want to go back to I mean, like we've we've really hammered home that it's it's an intuitive process that's difficult to to create a bunch of guidelines on.

00;17;46;14 - 00;18;25;27

Clark

But, I mean, there are some things, right? It's like I think auditions are important. It auditions are a wacky thing and they really are a wacky thing. I yeah, I have been on both sides of this process so much, and I'm not sure how much experience you have, but in the years that I was pursuing, purely strictly acting, of course, as an actor, I was in auditions very, very regularly and they often felt pretty boy, pretty wacky, pretty useless, pretty sometimes even insulting, frankly, because certainly there are some good ways to run auditions and there are some not so great ways to run auditions.

00;18;25;27 - 00;18;45;15

Clark

Yeah, but but I do think audition process is important and I don't you know, I think regardless of what level your project is on, of course, if you already have a working relationship with people and you know, personally actors, it's that's a great way of course. And that's what you'll see. You know, a lot of directors will work with the same actors over and over and over again, Herzog included, with Kinski.

00;18;46;01 - 00;19;11;09

Clark

Because once you find somebody you work really well with, it's like generally you want to grab on to that, you know? Yeah, but the audition process can be grueling. And I would say, you know, one kind of except, except that it that it could take a long time and build that into your pre-production. Don't shortchange the amount of time that you've got for casting and even allowing yourself to have, you know, multiple sessions.

00;19;11;09 - 00;19;35;24

Clark

And at an end at every stage. Right. You're going to have your initial, your initial set of castings or of auditions. You're going to bring people to callbacks, you're going to have chemistry reads, you're going to want to move people around and see how they interact in different combinations. Give yourself time and budget for that. It really is important and you'll be doing two things here and both are vital.

00;19;36;06 - 00;19;55;03

Clark

You're going to be giving a sense of what these people are like personally, what their character is like, not their not their on screen character, but their actual human character. And you'll get a sense of like, do your personalities mesh? Do you seem to work well together? Do you enjoy being each other's company? Do they take feedback well?

00;19;55;07 - 00;20;02;15

Clark

Do they have useful feedback for you? You'll get a sense of that and you can't do that aside from spending time with people.

00;20;03;14 - 00;20;11;17

Cullen

And you don't always have to be friends either. And that's a really you thing that you don't always have to necessarily get along with these people, so long as your relationship professionalization.

00;20;11;17 - 00;20;12;02

Clark

I think the.

00;20;12;05 - 00;20;12;21

Cullen

Profession.

00;20;12;21 - 00;20;20;06

Clark

Have to be able to be cordial and right. I mean, you have to have the worked well, but yeah, you don't have to be best buddies. Absolutely.

00;20;20;06 - 00;20;39;06

Cullen

I know. I know very many people that I work with that I enjoy working with on a professional level that I would never hang out with for sure. A drink with or whatever. And and I think that that's kind of what's important is that, like, again, you don't have to get along with these people in the way that I have friendship, you know?

00;20;39;06 - 00;20;39;21

Cullen

Yeah, a.

00;20;39;21 - 00;20;56;26

Clark

Friendship, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And some of the most like productive and fruitful collaborations I've had with people, I was also not buddies with. Absolutely. But then but then some of you know but it has been the case conversely as well. So it's not that.

00;20;56;26 - 00;20;57;16

Cullen

You can't.

00;20;57;16 - 00;21;01;20

Clark

Be friends with somebody and work well, but it doesn't have to be there. Yeah.

00;21;01;27 - 00;21;14;15

Cullen

And there I mean there are some people I've worked with that I even, I would say, have strained stressful relationships with in stressful times on set where it actually turns out really well, though. I mean, and you look well.

00;21;14;18 - 00;21;16;10

Clark

Herzog and Kinski, my goodness.

00;21;16;10 - 00;21;25;29

Cullen

Non-Actors I can squeeze a great example and I was going to say Kubrick and a lot of, you know, even Shelley Duvall in The Shining where it was like it was basically bullying.

00;21;26;03 - 00;21;47;14

Clark

Well, and that's you know, and I want to talk about that. That's a great Segway. That's a great Segway, because, you know, Herzog speaks to something that, you know, I never want to put words in his mouth. And so I'm not you know, I'll never know exactly to to what extent he is suggesting this, but he talks about what's on screen is all that matters.

00;21;47;14 - 00;22;07;13

Clark

And I'm going to lean a little bit to the side that that there's an understood thing going on here, which is that it's understood, though, that that doesn't mean abusing people. That does it. You know, And yes, there are some pretty like mythically big stories of Herzog and Kinski in the past and, you know.

00;22;07;25 - 00;22;08;24

Cullen

Herzog trying to get him killed.

00;22;08;24 - 00;22;37;15

Clark

Right. Like Herzog and holding them at gunpoint, saying you can't, you know, finish this film. I vaguely seem to remember reading that that actually really didn't happen in that way. But certainly there's a lot of mythology around that. But I would hope that, you know, at his age now, with his level experience, I'm going to guess that he is you know, he's kind of there's an understood here, which is that, yes, what goes on screen matters, but it's also vital that the process does not mean abusing people.

00;22;37;26 - 00;22;58;24

Clark

And so I definitely don't think. Now, it's interesting. I don't know about you, Cohen. It was like when I was your age, I actually felt pretty differently. I cared a lot less about hurting people's feelings. I cared a lot less about how I treated people. And I really did kind of only care about the finished product. And I have really, really changed my tune on that.

00;22;58;24 - 00;22;59;16

Clark

As I've aged.

00;23;00;02 - 00;23;10;06

Cullen

Where I am. I know I think that it's I think honestly, it as cheesy as it sounds, positivity on set is like one of the most important ingredients.

00;23;10;06 - 00;23;10;28

Clark

And respect as.

00;23;11;04 - 00;23;37;10

Cullen

Well, not only in respects and everything, but not only because of the actual working environment on the set of that shoot. But people aren't going to want to come back and work with you again if you're if they have a shitty time on your set. Right. I mean, that's that's the bottom line is that if I treat people like crap and, you know, no matter how good the the final product is, unless I'm Stanley Kubrick, who got away with it because he was Stanley Kubrick, people aren't going to want to come back and work with you.

00;23;37;10 - 00;23;40;11

Cullen

And I think I think people often romanticize that kind of.

00;23;40;11 - 00;23;41;01

Clark

I think sometimes.

00;23;41;01 - 00;23;48;07

Cullen

I think I can be, you know, I can be Gordon Ramsay. I can be yelling at people and shouting at people because it's such a little alien.

00;23;48;16 - 00;23;58;11

Clark

It's like the crazy, you know, creative guy, the demanding leader, the, you know, ruthless kind of tyrant or dictator on set, you know, the director.

00;23;58;11 - 00;24;11;07

Cullen

And it does sort of go back to what we talked about a few episodes of go to where it was like Herzog was saying, you know, with my actor, Nicolas Cage, when he said, you know, can we meet up for lunch or something? And he just said, No, we go.

00;24;11;08 - 00;24;11;25

Clark

Yeah, we want.

00;24;11;26 - 00;24;13;01

Cullen

To just we'd stay separate.

00;24;13;01 - 00;24;15;19

Clark

Where's I hate this house, I think is what it was. Yeah.

00;24;16;01 - 00;24;36;01

Cullen

Whereas I'm very much the opposite. Like I very happily will go out with cast and crew after a shoot for a drink. And, you know, I think that it's so important to have very open lines of communication there and to and not only again, not only for what's on the screen, but just for the even just the safety of people.

00;24;36;01 - 00;24;37;28

Cullen

Like we've heard all these horror stories coming out.

00;24;37;28 - 00;24;38;19

Clark

Absolutely.

00;24;38;27 - 00;24;47;20

Cullen

Especially over the past few years where it's like, you know, had you just had open lines of communication so often, would those things have not been able to occur?

00;24;47;20 - 00;25;09;29

Clark

Yeah, I mean, you make a great point, Cohen, that there is a there's a logistical side, and I'll just reiterate it because it's vital how you treat people is going to have a profound impact on your ability to work in the future. And I don't care what whatever role you're in as you're an actor, if you're a director or if you're a DP, if you're, you know, anything, if you're a grip.

00;25;09;29 - 00;25;36;11

Clark

I mean, it doesn't matter how you treat people is important in the real world. It's a small industry. Even out here in L.A., I cannot tell you how many times I see the same people or how small the degrees of separation are between myself and other people. It's insane. It blows my mind. And this is one of the biggest markets in the industry anywhere in the world, and it's still really small.

00;25;36;25 - 00;26;05;13

Clark

So that's a good practical aspect. But of course, you know, not to get to preachy or anything, but my goodness, I mean, there's also a moral and ethical obligation here. I mean, if you know, I mean, it's just treating people with respect, being appropriately professional. That certainly doesn't mean you can't be friends with someone. But but treating people with respect, respect and having a courteous, professional working environment, I think is vital.

00;26;05;13 - 00;26;24;00

Clark

And even more I mean, just to get a tiny bit philosophical here, you know, I think a lot of people believe that the means justify the ends. Right. And that's kind of what you're saying when you say what matters is the only thing that matters is what's on screen. And that's basically just another way of saying the end, the ends justify the means.

00;26;24;00 - 00;26;45;25

Clark

And I actually don't believe that. I think it's the process of of making a film and the community that you create between the people that you're working with and the collaboration. And and even when you're done with the film and the community that that film creates with its audience is vital. And I think that that process how you, how you actually do that.

00;26;45;25 - 00;27;02;24

Clark

So the means has just such a huge impact on. Yeah. And to me that's kind of where it's all at anyway. When I'm done with a film is when I actually don't care about it anymore. That's actually what it's like, right? It's the process is all I care about.

00;27;03;20 - 00;27;05;14

Cullen

No, I mean I that's, I was actually you.

00;27;05;14 - 00;27;05;29

Clark

Know what I mean.

00;27;06;03 - 00;27;09;09

Cullen

To that. I don't really enjoy premieres.

00;27;09;09 - 00;27;12;12

Clark

Like that, right. It's like you enjoy life. You know.

00;27;12;14 - 00;27;35;02

Cullen

I do it because yeah, I like the process. I also to to just add on to that as well. I think it's the only situation where I think I think I would really agree with you know all that matters is on screen is really the technicalities. Like I don't care if the light, the shot is lit by an iPhone or the shot is lit by a, you know, an every, you know, 10,000 color light.

00;27;35;05 - 00;27;43;07

Cullen

But but when it comes to relationships and and I would say the like working environment. No, I think it's it's hugely, hugely important.

00;27;43;25 - 00;28;02;15

Clark

And I think you can have both I think. Right. You can you can do all that. And I would imagine I'm going to go out on a limb here. Not really haha, but I'm going to imagine working on Herzog set. Today's day and age is probably a profoundly respectful, courteous, professional, conducive environment. That's what I'm going to guess.

00;28;03;17 - 00;28;19;07

Clark

And so I think, yes, the what what's on screen matters. The film is important, but you can do that and I think you actually will even have better luck doing it if you treat everybody around you with respect and grace.

00;28;19;07 - 00;28;44;21

Cullen

Oh, absolutely. And I'm going to go back to this this kitchen analogy again, because I just I do sort of have very active, you know, proof of this, which is that when you are like I think a lot of people look at negative enforcement as the most powerful enforcement, that if someone's not doing their job and I show them that they're going to do their job.

00;28;44;21 - 00;28;45;17

Clark

Break out the way that.

00;28;45;17 - 00;28;48;20

Cullen

Well and again, and that's why I kind of brought up this like Gordon Ramsay type.

00;28;48;21 - 00;28;49;09

Clark

Of where it's like.

00;28;49;28 - 00;28;50;17

Cullen

You've got this.

00;28;50;17 - 00;28;51;05

Clark

Screaming.

00;28;51;05 - 00;29;02;24

Cullen

Idea of, yeah, where's and sure. Does he make great food? Absolutely. Do those people get their acid gear when when he screams at them? Sure. But I you know, I would never say this to Gordon Ramsay because he probably.

00;29;03;12 - 00;29;04;00

Clark

Wouldn't be you.

00;29;04;05 - 00;29;17;26

Cullen

But I would always be curious to know if he didn't do that, if someone made a mistake and, you know, not not accepted the mistake, but went up to them and said, hey, what do you need? Like, what do you need for me? How can I help? Or even just saying, like, Nope, don't panic, just do it again.

00;29;17;26 - 00;29;37;24

Cullen

Yeah. And that kind of thing. That would his kitchen run more efficiently? Would his, you know, workplace run more efficiently? Because I remember working when I was a bartender and the bar manager before me was quite the Gordon Ramsay type kind of thing where it's like very, you know, on the thing. And then when I started training people, I kind of took the opposite approach.

00;29;38;03 - 00;29;57;01

Cullen

And at least what I found and this is very anecdotal, but what I found was that there were less mistakes, that people weren't stressed out. You know, shaking a martini too long because they wanted to make sure that it was perfect. They they were calm. And that was the whole point of what I was trying to do was, you know, I'm I if there's one thing I can say, what I saw was I'm quite good at staying calm.

00;29;57;23 - 00;29;59;22

Clark

You seem to be friends. Them. Yeah.

00;30;00;17 - 00;30;14;03

Cullen

It's all of the they're just have a constant I.V. of THC or but no, really I think that I think that again, staying calm and I it's not to say that exactly all the time. That's why I carry around the big Ivy.

00;30;14;09 - 00;30;20;02

Clark

You know, I always wondered that like when you came over to visit, you had that, like, get picked up at the airport. I'm like, Well, no.

00;30;20;23 - 00;30;40;12

Cullen

Yeah, no. But I think that again, that that's kind of and that's not to say that I won't, you know, recommend someone or on a set that I won't say to someone, hey, you're not doing your job. But if someone makes an honest mistake and they're they're trying, there's no reason to get angry at them and to shout at them and to kind of, you know, make them feel like crap.

00;30;40;12 - 00;30;46;00

Cullen

Yeah. Because I think that often that just makes a worse final product because now they're freaking out. I You really do. They're stressed.

00;30;46;01 - 00;31;06;20

Clark

Yeah. You really do bring up a great point. I mean, I think that it is just as likely to say and we'll never know. But I agree with you on your hunch. But it's I think that it's very likely that somebody, a person like Gordon Ramsay is not successful because he treats people poorly. He's successful in spite of the fact that he treats people poorly.

00;31;06;20 - 00;31;16;22

Clark

And it would be interesting to see how he treats people when he's not on camera and has to live up to this. You know, caricature that he plays exactly when he's and.

00;31;16;22 - 00;31;23;24

Cullen

There's such a vast difference between the American and the British Kitchen Nightmares that way, too. But not to get into Ramsay's podcast. That's other talk.

00;31;23;25 - 00;31;47;12

Clark

About you you you you you said something that kind of reminded me a little bit of another aspect of this question or this this consideration. You talk about, you know, not treating people poorly as a means to get, you know, elicit different behavior, right. If they're slacking on set or not, you know, performing their job duties. You talk about negative versus positive, but something we haven't talked about, too.

00;31;47;12 - 00;32;17;02

Clark

And you mentioned Kubrick, and he did this manipulating actors to try to elicit different performances. I think that there's, you know, a really straw art for me personally. I think there is there. That's a very dangerous area to get into. And I know that there are his slippery slope. There's a very slippery slope. And I think that, you know, there are examples of directors in the past who I think manipulate actors in unethical and inappropriate ways to elicit performances.

00;32;17;02 - 00;32;43;20

Clark

And I would just on the record that I do not I would I don't want to be manipulated as an actor. I would not want to be manipulated in some kind of negative way. I think a director's job is to create a conducive environment for the actor to work. And going back to the importance of casting, hopefully you've cast someone who is able to give the kind of performance and emotional range that the story and character demands.

00;32;43;28 - 00;32;59;29

Clark

So hopefully that has been done. If you're having to really manipulate in significant ways, you're actor. I you might have not cast very well then I think very dangerous area there.

00;33;00;14 - 00;33;16;16

Cullen

And what I and when I say it's a slippery slope as well I mean that the what there's there's so many different levels to it Right. So for example in Alien when they were shooting Alien, Ridley Scott didn't tell the actors that the alien was going to foster the chest, which I think is.

00;33;16;25 - 00;33;17;21

Clark

Perfectly fine, because.

00;33;17;21 - 00;33;18;21

Cullen

Then you're getting a genuine.

00;33;18;21 - 00;33;22;26

Clark

That's an ethical reaction. Well, I don't even call that a manipulation, really?

00;33;22;26 - 00;33;43;27

Cullen

Yeah, it's more just a it's a it's a little you know, you're just you're just leaving out information so you get a reaction. Whereas a manipulation that I see as being both physically and emotionally dangerous would be something like on The Exorcist. When Friedkin told they believe it was Linda Blair that when she's ripped back, that they're not actually going to pull her back for the moment.

00;33;43;27 - 00;33;49;21

Cullen

They're just going to they're going to cut before her pull back and they're gonna swap right with their stunt double. Yeah. And then didn't tell her, and.

00;33;49;21 - 00;33;50;00

Clark

Then it.

00;33;50;10 - 00;33;54;28

Cullen

Pulled her back and she wound up, you know, having a huge neck injury because of it.

00;33;54;28 - 00;33;56;14

Clark

And that's what that was. It's like.

00;33;56;29 - 00;33;58;03

Cullen

That's unacceptable. Exactly.

00;33;58;04 - 00;34;20;12

Clark

If you're lying to your cast, you probably are stepping into some not so great areas that my personal if you can't be truthful. Right. And I think there's a difference like you could you know I don't know what Ridley Scott, of course, said but I can imagine many ways where you could leave something a secret and say, hey, guys, hey, cast, you know, you know the story.

00;34;20;12 - 00;34;42;06

Clark

You've read the script, something's going to happen here. But I don't want you guys to see it beforehand or know exactly when it's going to happen, because I really would like to have a spontaneous response that people can say, Yeah, okay, sounds great. But. But to put somebody in a position where they're going to be physically manipulated in a violent way, like the example you just gave from The Exorcist, it tend to lie to them.

00;34;42;17 - 00;34;57;12

Clark

And then and then that's I just think that's you know so maybe that's a good guideline if you're having to lie to people, you know, that's probably maybe you're getting into an area that at least I, I would personally not want to be in, not as an actor or as a director.

00;34;57;28 - 00;35;16;02

Cullen

Well, and again, it's it's to me it's just about communication. So, like I for example, I've had to film scenes were not full out fight scenes, but where characters get very physical with each other, whether it's like got push up against a wall or something like that. And I would never go to the actor that's doing the pushing and say, okay, go really far with it.

00;35;16;02 - 00;35;24;23

Cullen

I want to get this and not tell the other actor what I would do in that situation if I want it to be, isn't exactly as I go to the other actor who's getting pushed.

00;35;24;23 - 00;35;26;08

Clark

And how do you feel about this?

00;35;26;08 - 00;35;43;26

Cullen

Listen, how how real can we go? How comfortable are you with going? And if you're not, then absolutely, you know, say cut or just let me know or whatever. But what if we go if if you're actually, you know, shaking around a little bit? Is that okay? And then that actor is now going to go, yeah, that's right.

00;35;44;06 - 00;35;57;02

Cullen

Or they may not say no, but they're but, you know, most of the time they'll say, Yeah, that's fine. Thanks for talking to me. Now We have a open line of communication. I know that you know you, I can trust you. And that's a huge part of it, is just that you're not breaking the trust.

00;35;57;02 - 00;36;19;06

Clark

Of your actor. Right. And I think you're right. And allowing them to be a part of the conversation, to give them the information, to make a conscious choices, to not present lies to them. I think these are all very good general guidelines for remaining, you know, you know, maintaining an ethical, moral relationship with your actors. But, you know, clearly there are many examples.

00;36;19;06 - 00;36;39;11

Clark

I hope it's happening less and less. But clearly, there are many examples where that has not been the case in the past in some very famous and I think sometimes times it's been fatal. Sometimes absolutely. And it's been fatal before, too. And that's not even getting into the world of if there are, you know, simulated sex scenes or, you know, lovemaking.

00;36;39;11 - 00;36;40;02

Cullen

Oh, God, yeah.

00;36;40;02 - 00;36;52;25

Clark

Things like this. I mean, it's the the amount of precaution that should be taken in those situations. And the level of consent at every single minute detail is vital.

00;36;52;25 - 00;37;02;27

Cullen

And I mean, that's the thing about those things, too, is that like those scenes, if they're taken from a certain energy, can be a blast to shoot. It can be hilarious and you can have fun doing.

00;37;02;27 - 00;37;05;02

Clark

Because everybody's embarrassed anyway. It's like.

00;37;05;02 - 00;37;19;04

Cullen

Yeah, and you can just kind of you can, but, but it's this point where again, where you lose the trust of your actors and you start to manipulate. Yeah, that, that's kind of where and again, it's like I love scaring people. I love pranks of like hiding people's closets and jumping out and stuff like.

00;37;19;04 - 00;37;22;08

Clark

That are a little scary, though. I mean, you know, it's.

00;37;22;08 - 00;37;23;01

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, I you know.

00;37;23;09 - 00;37;26;04

Clark

It's true that your call, but I think, you know, it's behind.

00;37;26;04 - 00;37;27;06

Cullen

That a little bit. Norman Bates.

00;37;27;13 - 00;37;34;00

Clark

Right. Because let's try this. And, you know, Herzog talks about his role in Jack Reacher eight. Remember, he's like the main bad guy and he is that guy.

00;37;34;00 - 00;37;35;21

Cullen

Bite off the bite off the finger. Yeah.

00;37;35;21 - 00;37;53;28

Clark

But Herzog specifically talks about in this lesson how, you know, it's like his performance. He's like, I come from a place of this power. There's no reason for me to be emotional. There's no reason for me to, like, yell or anything. So I'm just calm and I feel like, is that is that you? COHEN Is that you call such a place of just like.

00;37;54;10 - 00;37;58;28

Cullen

You don't even you bite off his finger.

00;37;58;28 - 00;38;04;28

Clark

Oh, I love it, man. I love it. I'm sorry. I think I interrupted you. You were going to say. What were you? I don't even.

00;38;04;29 - 00;38;25;07

Cullen

Oh, no, I just just that that it's it's one of those things where it's like there were things like that that I again, I wouldn't mind, you know, doing too, or just to go back right to the beginning where it's like when I was, you know, I was never mean to my costar in that play. I was just doing things like, if she had a brownie, I'd open the brown and take a bite out of it or something like that.

00;38;25;07 - 00;38;43;24

Cullen

It would just kind of get the energy there and I would never, you know, intentionally hurt anybody or anything like that. And it's things like that where it's again, it and that's why I think it is it's it's both a slippery slope but also something you have to draw really clear lines on. Because if that ever went too far, then it's immediately something that has to be shut down.

00;38;43;25 - 00;39;05;11

Cullen

My yeah. Whereas, whereas if you know, even in let's go back to that alien anecdote where it's like if he you didn't tell them that there was going to be the whole blood effect and all that, which again, nobody was hurt and everything that but if one of the actors came up and said, listen, I have, you know, a really weak heart and I, you know, I, I feel unsafe or even just like.

00;39;05;18 - 00;39;06;22

Clark

And you've got to rethink.

00;39;06;22 - 00;39;15;03

Cullen

We have to rethink and you've got to go back. They're valid in thinking that and I've got to rethink what I did. But and that's why, again, it's so important to just know your actors.

00;39;15;08 - 00;39;16;29

Clark

I know, can sit.

00;39;17;00 - 00;39;17;12

Cullen

There.

00;39;17;21 - 00;39;39;11

Clark

And get concerned. Yeah. I you know, and this kind of segues into another we haven't touched on it yet, but Herzog benches in this lesson we're talking about working with actors here. You know, he talks about when he's, you know, most of his cast, when he cast professional actors, experienced actors, he's fairly hands off as far as how, you know, he's trusting.

00;39;39;11 - 00;40;01;29

Clark

Right. That these professionals And of course, Herzog has works with some extraordinary actors. I mean, he's been in a position for decades now where he can he can get high caliber actors. But when he works with a newer performer or less experienced performer, let's say, like Bruno Guest, for example, where he goes so far as to actually give the an actor line readings.

00;40;02;29 - 00;40;29;19

Clark

Bruno as of course, is, you know, a very unique of situation as a human being, much less performer. And so but I extrapolate that though, to just in general, you know, giving line readings or how to give feedback. I don't know what your experience or thoughts are. I guess in a scenario where you've got a complete just a completely actor and of course the can go it, That's such a unique experience.

00;40;29;19 - 00;41;00;07

Clark

I mean, Bruno was cast for, for the films he was in because of his unique personal experience being similar to the character's experience. But it's a very unique situation where the actual human being had experienced neglect and abuse and isolation, which mirrored the character. But I don't you know, there's not too many scenarios where I think I would have an inexperienced actor in a role, but I'm very much against line readings, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

00;41;00;07 - 00;41;00;19

Clark

All of.

00;41;00;19 - 00;41;22;05

Cullen

This. No, I've never I've never the closest I would say I've ever gotten to something like that would be, you know, not necessarily saying say it like this, but kind of going like, you know, if I'm talking the actor about it, you kind of go like, Yeah, and you kind of do the line out. But but I would never say like, do it exactly like say one word going.

00;41;22;16 - 00;41;25;07

Cullen

I suppose it is. But I mean, I would never, would never.

00;41;25;07 - 00;41;26;07

Clark

This is implied.

00;41;27;08 - 00;41;32;00

Cullen

Yeah, I would. But I mean what I mean is more than like if I'm doing that it's not on.

00;41;32;02 - 00;41;33;15

Clark

I, it's Oh okay.

00;41;33;15 - 00;41;44;01

Cullen

During a conversation prior kind of going like if they have a question to say like, you know, is this delivered sort of are you planning on this being delivered like this or like this? And I sort of go, Well, in my mind it kind of goes like this, but.

00;41;44;01 - 00;42;14;00

Clark

I usually, you know, I, I have gotten into the habit and, you know, I will admit that sometimes this can be challenging because it can take so very long. But what and and sometimes it can be frustrating, too. So you're always having to tailor how you do things with each individual personality, with each individual actor. But I will often ask questions instead of trying to, you know, try to guide people toward their own understanding and interpretation by asking questions.

00;42;14;00 - 00;42;36;20

Clark

And usually what I will focus on or the given circumstances in this story and I will try to point actors to focusing on these given circumstances, help them come to a refined or different interpretation of those given circumstances on their own. So one of the the the pros of this, of course, is that you're never having to give line readings.

00;42;36;20 - 00;43;06;29

Clark

You're not doing their job for them. You're eliciting and inviting their full interpretive artistic abilities. You're asking them to bring everything they possibly can to the table, but it can be extremely time consuming. And so generally it's, you know, in rehearsal, this is a great and I started doing this actually when I was directing theater. So I was working in a scenario where we had a lot of time in rehearsals and I would even work with actors one on one outside of rehearsals where appropriate.

00;43;06;29 - 00;43;32;23

Clark

But you know, film, you may not have this television. You definitely don't have this now. Yeah, it just does not exist. But there are variations on that theme. I mean, you can still include questions, you can still include pointing people to given circumstances and asking them to focus their interpretive abilities on that as opposed to, you know, I never try to focus on the performance right.

00;43;32;23 - 00;43;53;16

Clark

So I want you to do it like X-Y-Z, right? Like loud or like definitely not that. But I mean, I outcome is what I'm not trying to focus on. I don't want to try to tell the actor what type of output they should be existing from their performance, but rather I'm trying to inform their process so that they get to their own output, if that makes sense.

00;43;54;13 - 00;43;54;23

Cullen

Yeah.

00;43;55;15 - 00;43;57;05

Clark

So that's just my $0.02 on it.

00;43;57;21 - 00;44;20;02

Cullen

But no, exactly. I mean that's, that's and that's what I mean when I say that it's not to me something that it's like do it specifically like this. It's more of if they've got a question as to how when it was written, if if that is, if I wrote the script how it was written, you know what, what's the, the, the tenor of that line kind of how does it go?

00;44;20;02 - 00;44;36;04

Cullen

But but I also very, very opened it. If that doesn't work for that actor, that type of energy is like the antithesis to that person's delivery. Then I'd be like, okay, well, how do you feel? How do you feel it going? And what do you think your character would write or how do you think that line would be?

00;44;36;04 - 00;44;38;20

Cullen

We said in this context, or would they even say it?

00;44;38;28 - 00;44;55;11

Clark

And that's what I even try not to focus on. Like lines for. You know, I guess maybe this just comes from my experience as an actor and not to get too far down this rabbit hole of a path. And maybe in another episode we can talk about more down the road. But I'm not even I'm not worried about lines usually.

00;44;55;11 - 00;44;56;29

Clark

I never yeah, I think it's.

00;44;56;29 - 00;44;57;26

Cullen

More the idea never.

00;44;57;27 - 00;45;31;21

Clark

When I was like a brand new actor and I, I would worry about intonation and you know, it's all about lines and you know, how do what I say, the lines and all these kind of things. And I couldn't be more far from that now. I'm so focused on the given circumstances and the these memories that are created of these given circumstances and taken is kind of real memories and your homework process and then your emotional responses and reactions emanating from these memories that you've created for yourself right, given the circumstances in the script.

00;45;32;08 - 00;45;51;27

Clark

So I'm always trying to point actors to the creation of these quote unquote, memories from these given circumstance answers by helping them hone in on maybe things they hadn't seen in the script, or maybe they take an interpretation in a direction that wasn't conducive to the story at this time. So I really try to work with actors in that way.

00;45;52;11 - 00;46;01;06

Clark

But I, I mean, it's I honestly can't think of a time recently when I've been like, you're not saying the line right? You need to say it. Oh, no, no.

00;46;01;18 - 00;46;10;11

Cullen

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the only time that would ever really come up is if it's like so far off base. But even then, at that point, just reading the line to the person's not going, you.

00;46;10;11 - 00;46;11;08

Clark

Got to bring it down. Yeah.

00;46;11;08 - 00;46;12;15

Cullen

You have to have compensation.

00;46;12;15 - 00;46;31;27

Clark

Yeah. And you're going to have to that. It's tough though, I mean but because it's true, right? It's like if you're on a it depended on where you're at, you may not have time to do that. So just yeah, this is where working with actors, you know, finding a way to have rehearsal time, to develop a rapport, to get on the same page, their homework and your work as a director is so key.

00;46;32;10 - 00;46;32;26

Clark

So key.

00;46;32;27 - 00;46;53;05

Cullen

Yeah. And that's exactly what I mean, is that sometimes it's just quicker to change something. Yeah. Than to or to allow the actors to experiment for just like 5 minutes then to try and get that. Yeah. Right down concrete exactly as it is. So I do think yeah, there's, there's a really important element to just like, you know, the script isn't gospel.

00;46;53;14 - 00;47;22;01

Cullen

Um, be prepared to, as Herzog says, be prepared to throw out the script on set, which I, you know, I don't think I would do that to that far. But I do think that the the yeah, just in the trash. But you know I do think that there's there's a really important lesson there, which is just like it's not, you know, the the screenplays and movies are two different formats and sometimes something works in one format that doesn't necessarily work in the high.

00;47;22;18 - 00;47;59;06

Clark

Sarah Blueprint I think there are blueprint. Yeah, I know the exact improvise a bit to some extent for sure. Well, kind of like Segway a little bit here as we wrap up this lesson. I think this is the kind of the major content of Herzog's lesson. But he does talk about a few other things here. He talks about physicality and performance and example he uses is he talks about Nicolas Cage in Bad Lieutenant and how he worked with Cage on the physicality of his character, how Cage kind of and I think we've talked about this actually in another lesson, think he's brought this up actually a couple of times here so far.

00;48;00;05 - 00;48;22;16

Clark

But he talks about this kind of, you know, the crooked posture that Cage adopts and. Mm hmm. And how he worked through that. Let's see, he talks about wardrobe and props and he talks about a gray. And again, actually, we've talked about this, too, before the very similar like physicality between those two characters that they curse like very much like.

00;48;22;16 - 00;48;24;08

Clark

So he likes.

00;48;24;08 - 00;48;25;18

Cullen

That kind of be almost.

00;48;25;18 - 00;48;28;08

Clark

Yeah it's like crooked character Is it a crooked way.

00;48;28;28 - 00;48;35;00

Cullen

Yeah very make it very on the not not on the nose but very you know bringing that physicality forward.

00;48;35;00 - 00;48;44;04

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. It talks about the wardrobe and props that the wardrobes actually amazing and agree I love how the armor.

00;48;44;11 - 00;48;48;04

Cullen

And we know how Herzog feels about wardrobe.

00;48;48;04 - 00;48;53;25

Clark

Um let's see what else Let's see. He talks about you know finding a.

00;48;53;29 - 00;49;18;08

Cullen

Well I think if I can just point on physicality real quick, I do think that one of the things that I did, I didn't steal from Herzog, but I stole from Kurosawa, which is similar, and they sort of say similar things about this, is that Kurosawa used to have his actors in character choose some sort of physical quirk or tic to carry through the whole movie.

00;49;19;01 - 00;49;49;04

Cullen

So if it was somebody wringing their hands or, you know, that's a very again, that's very on the nose, but it could have been something as simple as, you know, someone has a twitch in their eye or someone when they walk one leg goes a little bit further than the other one and things like that where it's like just something that and for it was because when he grew up watching silent movies, it was an immediate way to recognize a character without necessarily seeing who they were sure upfront that you could see someone, you could tell who they were just by their silhouette, etc..

00;49;49;14 - 00;50;13;10

Cullen

And I think that that carries into a lot of what Herzog says, which is like, you know, nowadays we have such amazingly high resolution cameras that you don't really need to worry about not being able to recognize a person on screen, but that just having that physicality blend in with their their character choices can be such an incredible kind of way to identify characterization.

00;50;13;10 - 00;50;32;29

Clark

But it's a visual medium, right? I mean, yeah. So why not take advantage of the visual? You know, I'm a I'm all about density of storytelling. So, yeah, you know, any chance you have an opportunity and this is, you know, and I want to tie this end with the importance of casting, right? Be looking for these kinds of things.

00;50;33;08 - 00;50;55;23

Clark

You know, I think there's so much focus on lines, you know, lines, lines, lines. Do you have your lines memorized? We yeah. You know, at auditions, especially at, you know, kind of more amateur levels for both the director and the actor. It's so much about lines. Yes. And I just want to say, you know, really pay attention to an actress physicality.

00;50;55;23 - 00;51;14;17

Clark

See what they bring into the room when they audition. You can I think that you can often tell how much importance or, you know, have they done homework on the physicality of this character? You know, when the scene starts in the room, can you see them kind of change? Right? Do you get a sense that they've now changed into this character?

00;51;14;17 - 00;51;28;28

Clark

Did something happen? You know, make suggestions, give feedback in the room and see if they can adapt new physicality right in the moment? I think that'll give you a good sense of if that's something that they're working on in their homework, they're cognizant of. Yeah, so.

00;51;28;29 - 00;51;29;15

Cullen

Exactly.

00;51;30;04 - 00;52;01;16

Clark

You know, and then Herzog talks about finding a character's voice and this is something that, boy, you know, you could talk about for an extremely long time. We've already hinted at it when I was joking about you speaking so calmly because you are coming from such a place of power. But Herzog does bring up his example of his role in Jack Reacher and how he chose to to portray quietly that intensity of his character.

00;52;01;16 - 00;52;08;19

Clark

I don't really have a ton more to add to that except to say, of course, it's it's vital that it clear.

00;52;08;23 - 00;52;18;07

Cullen

I mean, there's some great examples of, you know, Kurt's in Apocalypse Now and things like that where it's not you don't always need to blow up the screen to too.

00;52;18;10 - 00;52;44;12

Clark

Definitely don't always blow up the screen. And I think, again, you know, just to kind of tie it back into the overall, you know, center of what this lesson is about is to definitely be looking at that as director when you're casting. Hathaway even if and this is, I think, key, you know, even if the actor has made right, because most of the time the are going to be coming in having worked off of sides, which are just a few pages, that's just a scene.

00;52;44;12 - 00;53;09;27

Clark

Yes. More often than not. Well well, well, more often than not. Your actors are not going to be have given the entire script. Now, I do want to make a comment about this, though. For me, I like to actually give the entire script to my actors before they audition. I know a lot of people don't do this. And in the in the industry, it's much more rare that you're going to get a script as opposed to just sides.

00;53;10;06 - 00;53;30;22

Clark

But I always give my auditioning actors the entire script because it's tells me a few things. One, did they take the time to read the whole script? And I think that's important. You know, it takes about, what, 45 minutes to an hour to read a 90 to 120 page script, give or take. And I'm not a fast reader.

00;53;32;00 - 00;54;05;29

Clark

So did they what was their investment? Did they take the time to do that and to it's going to I mean, there's no reason not to give your actors all the tools that they might need to do as much homework as possible so that they can really bring something into the room to you. And so, you know, as far as connecting this to finding a character's voice, really look to see what is the depth of the homework that an actor has done when they come in the room to audition, it'll give you an idea of their passion or, you know, do they like the are they involved invested in your project?

00;54;05;29 - 00;54;24;10

Clark

Did they connect with the strip script? Did they put enough work into it? You know, did they put the work in for the audition? I mean, it tells you a lot about an actor. So that's just, you know, and a lot of people work different ways that might not work for somebody else. But as an actor, I always appreciated the opportunities when I got the full script.

00;54;24;23 - 00;54;29;01

Clark

And as a director, I always give full script if if it's even remotely possible.

00;54;29;22 - 00;54;32;06

Cullen

Yeah, Yeah. So no, I agree completely.

00;54;32;12 - 00;54;39;11

Clark

Fantastic. Well, it we will end on an agreement then. Yes. All right. Well, shall.

00;54;39;11 - 00;54;40;06

Cullen

I throw something in.

00;54;41;09 - 00;55;18;21

Clark

Your. Okay, well, you've got a few seconds here as I wrap up. You can maybe disagree with me on something and we can end on that if if you so desire. But anyway, well, everybody out there listening. As always, we really appreciate it. We hope that you found this entertaining, enjoyable, informational, enjoyable background music as you change the brakes on your truck in the garage, whatever the case may be, we hope that you've enjoyed it and we will see you next time with episode 13, which is going to be a little bit of an extension of this one working with actors on set.

00;55;18;21 - 00;55;32;23

Clark

So I'm really looking forward to that one, to all these acting ones who have like a special place in my heart because of all my experience as an actor. So I'm really looking forward to this one as well. But Cohen, thank you so much as always for being. Thank you and everybody out there. We'll see you next time.

00;55;32;23 - 00;55;33;11

Clark

Take care.

00;55;34;05 - 00;55;48;13

Cullen

Bye bye.

Episode - 013

Cullen

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. Episode 13 Less than 14. That's where it gets tricky on Colonic Theater. And joining me is, as always, Clark Coffey. Hello, California. How are you doing?

00;00;24;24 - 00;00;48;25

Clark

I do an awesome it's a beautiful day. I can look out my window here and see all the way to the ocean. Not that we're close to the beach, but it's the it is a beautiful day. We actually got some rain last weekend. And whereas it was smoky, I think the last time recorded, the sky is crisp and I'm feeling psyched to talk about film and Mr. Herzog here.

00;00;50;02 - 00;00;57;08

Cullen

Yeah, no, I'm really excited. It's beautiful here, too. Beautiful weather, 20 degrees Celsius at an ember is very rare for here. So I'm.

00;00;57;12 - 00;00;58;06

Clark

Fantastic.

00;00;58;06 - 00;01;08;05

Cullen

Energized. But today we're talking about, as I mentioned, lesson 14, which is similar to our last episode. It's kind of the second part, I would say, of this kind of acting.

00;01;08;05 - 00;01;09;28

Clark

I think that's fair, you know.

00;01;10;07 - 00;01;16;13

Cullen

Which is working with actors on set. So a little bit different, a little bit different from what we talked about last time. Right. With the method.

00;01;16;22 - 00;01;25;06

Clark

And kind of more casting kind of pre-production. Now we're talking about we're in production, we're on set, we've cast our actors and we're we're working.

00;01;25;06 - 00;01;39;11

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it's a really interesting lesson because there's a lot of as per usual. Herzog There's some sort of controversy, controversial takes on how he deals with things. And we'll get into all those details.

00;01;39;11 - 00;01;42;09

Clark

I mean, that's what makes it so juicy, right? I mean, if it works, right?

00;01;42;27 - 00;01;59;04

Cullen

Well, I mean, that's what makes him I think that's what one of the things about kind of studying him as a filmmaker as well. So thought provoking, it's not just sitting there and going, okay, this is how X makes a movie. And, you know, there's there are behind the scenes process. It's like he's just will like throw some crazy thing out once and it's fantastic.

00;01;59;04 - 00;01;59;19

Cullen

Oh, okay.

00;01;59;26 - 00;02;16;04

Clark

And you know, he has tried so many different techniques and we're going to we're going to get into some of that here, like hypnotizing actors, for example, which I mean, come on, how many directors have done something like that? So it's it really is like a fantastic and this is what we love. I mean, we're both fans of Herzog.

00;02;16;04 - 00;02;39;12

Clark

Of course, that's a given. But it's why it's so fun to take a look at his films and his philosophies of filmmaking because it's really there's such a great canvas there to compare and contrast and kind of make decisions for your own styles and philosophies, not that you would ever accept all of his. That's never what we're recommending, of course, but it's a great sounding board or, you know, contrast.

00;02;40;13 - 00;03;04;12

Clark

So and acting is something that I know I've mentioned before is near and dear to my heart. It is one of my absolute favorite aspects of filmmaking. I both enjoy acting and I and directing actors. It is it is truly one of my greatest joys in filmmaking. So when I'm on set working with actors, it's when I feel like I'm most in it.

00;03;05;18 - 00;03;14;19

Clark

So what about you? Is that, you know, just to take a tiny little quick. But, you know, I know. I mean, is it one of your favorite parts or is that a I'm in between.

00;03;14;19 - 00;03;33;25

Cullen

I love I really like location. I love getting out. And, you know, one of my desires not necessarily as a career option, but one of things I love the most with film is even just going out and getting, you know, nature footage and things like that. So I am in between there. I do love working with actors and I love the energy on a set.

00;03;33;25 - 00;03;40;04

Cullen

But there's also times where I think that filmmaking can be very poetic and very solitary. Yeah, and that's kind of a lot of fun too.

00;03;40;04 - 00;03;54;07

Clark

And I know that it's kind of like goes back to have kind of not to put words in your mouth, but I get a sense from just knowing you for so many years now that there's kind of like a communion you have with the camera and the image that is a really important part of it to you. Yeah.

00;03;54;07 - 00;03;55;00

Cullen

So definitely.

00;03;55;00 - 00;04;16;20

Clark

Yeah, well, you know, so right off the bat and I love I mean, I just love this. This is this is a really beautiful phrase, and I completely agree with this philosophy here. Herzog starts this lesson right off the bat, and he says, Look, there's no stars on set. Now, of course, he definitely works with stars, but what he means is everybody's equal.

00;04;16;27 - 00;04;26;00

Clark

There's no stars on set, but whoever is in front of the camera is royalty, even extras. And I was like.

00;04;26;01 - 00;04;27;11

Cullen

I like I set out. Yeah.

00;04;27;19 - 00;04;45;16

Clark

Yeah. And you and I were briefly talking before this and I'm like, you know, I have actually done background work for a brief period of time, and I recommend it actually to everybody. When your first first, first starting out, especially if you live in a big market, you know, doing background work, the barrier to entry is very low.

00;04;46;03 - 00;04;54;16

Clark

Well, when I see very low, I mean very low relative to just about doing anything else on a professional film or television. So yeah, but I know.

00;04;54;16 - 00;04;57;24

Cullen

People who just work in business who do weekends going.

00;04;57;25 - 00;04;58;11

Clark

But do.

00;04;58;14 - 00;04;59;13

Cullen

Background work, right? Yeah.

00;04;59;26 - 00;05;26;10

Clark

But it can be challenge. And I don't mean to misrepresent, especially if you're union, it can actually be hard to even get background work in l.a. Yeah, but it's a great opportunity to get on a professional set and actually watch the, you know, mechanization, watch people working and see how a pro set operates. It's fantastic experience. And, you know, you can be just starting out in your career and work six feet away from, you know, people at the top of their game.

00;05;26;10 - 00;05;42;21

Clark

So it's a great way to get close to people. I digress. But it's so wonderful to hear that because for me to hear that, because most of my experience is that extras are definitely not treated like royalty now they're kind of more treated like cattle, frankly.

00;05;43;21 - 00;05;44;26

Cullen

As cannon fodder.

00;05;44;26 - 00;06;06;27

Clark

Who can fly, you know. But but, but I really do love this phrase, right, that, you know, look, there's there's no stars, meaning there isn't somebody that's above somebody else, you know, receiving special treatment or whatnot. But whoever, whoever's in front of the camera, they're royalty. Yeah. And I think it's it's a wonderful way to wait to kind of raise this.

00;06;07;10 - 00;06;28;02

Cullen

I think that the you know, my take on that, too, isn't necessarily that it's like, you know, bend over backwards to serve no talent, but rather that because the image is so sacred and I don't mean the visuals, I mean that the image, the the frame of of whether it's film or digital you're shooting on that that exact moment that you're capturing is sacred and precious.

00;06;28;02 - 00;06;38;11

Cullen

So anybody involved in that is exactly it's like it's like making a stained glass window. It's like, you know, you could have a sheep in there, but that sheep is now this holy thing and this right, this beautiful work of art.

00;06;38;11 - 00;07;05;09

Clark

Yeah, great way to put it. Right. And you know, and performances are, you know, they're very fragile things, right? A performance is this fluid, fleeting, vaporous kind of, you know, thing that's happening in real time. And I think that, you know, we've talked about other ways to protect that space and and allow for these fragile, nuanced moments to occur on camera.

00;07;05;19 - 00;07;34;23

Clark

You know, you really have to create that sphere of protection for whoever is in front of the camera at what you know, whoever it is, whenever they are. So I love that, you know, Herzog goes on to talk about having confidence with your actors. Well, yeah, boy, I would hope so. I mean, if you've done your due diligence or if you have taken the time and the investment in your casting, then and certainly hopefully by the time you get on set, you still feel good about them.

00;07;35;05 - 00;07;37;17

Clark

Yeah, hopefully you've you've although.

00;07;37;17 - 00;07;40;25

Cullen

There have been very famous examples of people being recast you know mid.

00;07;40;26 - 00;07;58;25

Clark

Well certainly it certainly and it does happen it does happen and we haven't talked about that and Herzog hasn't talked about that. But, you know, I think that's a really good point. You know, if you're ever in a situation where because, look, every, you know, things happen, right? Or, you know, I don't even want to say, well, you could that it's a mistake in casting.

00;07;58;25 - 00;08;17;12

Clark

But sometimes situations change. Sometimes, you know, you feel like something was a fit. But by the time you get to shooting, you realize it's not. So that definitely can happen. And I think that's a good point. I mean, look, if you're to the point where you have really lost confidence in your actor, I mean, it's like you have, you know, and we all kind of know, right?

00;08;17;12 - 00;08;32;12

Clark

You there's things that happen that kind of deal your confidence a little bit, but you're like, no, no, no, it's good. I still trust them. When you get to a certain breaking point where it's like, okay, now if you don't feel like you trust your actors at all, then probably that's where you have to start looking at will.

00;08;32;12 - 00;08;47;28

Clark

Should I recast this? Because it's painful and it can be expensive and time consuming and everything else, but it doesn't get better the longer you wait. I mean, it's better to recast somebody in the first week of shooting that it is in the last week of shooting my good. Soon as you.

00;08;47;28 - 00;08;48;20

Cullen

Have that inkling.

00;08;48;28 - 00;08;55;07

Clark

As soon as you know. But an inkling as far as like you've really molded over and you've had conversations with.

00;08;55;14 - 00;08;59;29

Cullen

You shouldn't just. Yeah. If they you know, if they make one little mistake, then you shouldn't be like, all right, they're done.

00;09;00;02 - 00;09;04;08

Clark

Oh. Oh, my gosh. I mean, I think that that's almost every day. So that's not. Yeah.

00;09;04;15 - 00;09;22;13

Cullen

The thing that comes up for me is more personality, right? You know, I can after spending a few weeks with somebody, you usually can pretty have a pretty good gauge on their personality, both positive and negative aspects. And I think that sometimes if those negatives really outweigh the positives, then, yeah, you can you can kind of make a guess there.

00;09;22;21 - 00;09;46;16

Clark

But it's, you know, it's one of these kind of intuitive, you know, ultimately, ultimately it boils down to just, you know, your intuition in a sense. I mean, you know, look at the the relationship that Kinski had with Herzog. Of course, it's notorious. We've talked about it numerous times, and it's been the subject of, you know, all kinds of myths and stories and everything else.

00;09;46;16 - 00;10;12;04

Clark

But, I mean, certainly their relationship was a complicated and sometimes violent one. But Herzog, his intuition was, okay, yes, this is challenging. And it's often, you know, Kinski is completely a catastrophe on set. And he's you know, other people are about to quit their positions. This is, you know, horrible. But he stuck with them. Yeah. And there's definitely some proof in the pudding as far as the results on film.

00;10;12;04 - 00;10;32;01

Clark

But, you know, everybody's going to have their own points where where it may be time to recast. But but Herzog So, you know, hopefully you're going into this with a high level of confidence. You have a rapport with your actors. Now you're on set, you've gone to pre-production, casting, perhaps you've rehearsed with your actors. Certainly, hopefully you've talked with them.

00;10;32;02 - 00;10;54;19

Clark

You've had an ongoing dialog since you've cast them and now you're on set. So hopefully you've got, you know, you're able to read them a little bit. You understand them as human beings and as actors. And so Herzog talks about, you know, having that understanding so that, you know, you know, when you need to kind of keep them safe and, you know, maybe when to have them feel a little bit uncomfortable.

00;10;54;27 - 00;10;55;06

Clark

Mm hmm.

00;10;55;22 - 00;11;08;17

Cullen

And that can be, you know, again, it's really does relate to the last episode where it's like, how do you ride that very fine line, that very slippery slope of not breaking that trust with your actors.

00;11;08;17 - 00;11;09;06

Clark

Right. But.

00;11;09;25 - 00;11;29;21

Cullen

You know, letting them be aware of the type of environment you're trying to create. Yeah, because many actors will legitimately say yes to being uncomfortable or, you know, being and not the the nicest situations environmentally, like if it's freezing cold out or. Right of course, to a safe degree, I mean, especially.

00;11;30;03 - 00;11;34;28

Clark

If it's pertinent to the story, if it's pertinent to the scene, you know, I think there are limits.

00;11;34;28 - 00;11;46;05

Cullen

But but I think the worst thing you can do is not involve them in that process and communicate that with them, because then you're again, as we said, that this whole communication and trust thing is so vital, right?

00;11;47;03 - 00;12;06;04

Clark

In order that we ended or at least we talked about, I think at length about honesty with your performers. Yeah. And having them be able to opt it to consciously knowingly opt into an experience or opt out of experience as opposed to have it just thrust upon them. And of course, there are you know, I mean, there are gradients to everything.

00;12;06;04 - 00;12;27;26

Clark

And, you know, Herzog talks about, you know, when it may be appropriate, you know, if an actor is feeling a little bit uneasy about a scene, they're maybe they're feeling a little vulnerable or insecure. But in this scene, the the character is vulnerable or insecure or confused. And instead of kind of coddling the actor and waiting until they're secure, he's like, no, no, no.

00;12;27;26 - 00;12;33;08

Clark

Let's let's just let's do a take. Let's go for it. You know, that kind of stuff makes sense.

00;12;34;06 - 00;12;44;23

Cullen

It's like I call it almost like accidentally method, right? Like, it's like they might not be method actors, but it's essentially the process. There you go. Herzog does get into method acting later.

00;12;44;23 - 00;12;47;13

Clark

He does. And we'll talk about that. But I do.

00;12;47;13 - 00;13;07;16

Cullen

Think that sometimes that is even better because I think that like I almost think that this accidental method is is more effective because it's becoming it's coming from a natural place. It's not coming from a thought process of I am going to go method. It's coming from a thought process of damn, I have a lot of stage fright right now.

00;13;07;17 - 00;13;10;28

Cullen

Oh, let's use that, you know. So it's kind of funny how.

00;13;10;28 - 00;13;32;00

Clark

It well, and it's interesting, you know what I say? I think, you know, actors who are experienced actors who are trained and experienced are going to understand these things. And I think, you know, because, look, they will have worked through this kind of situation a hundred times. And so they're going to have an understanding of what's going on here.

00;13;32;00 - 00;13;52;20

Clark

And, you know, there's also kind of a school of thought. I remember one of my old acting teachers, you know, she was like, look, everything is part of the story of how you feel at it. You know, I mean, it's it's all part of the story. You channel it through their side. And I think most actors have kind of learned to take whatever it is that they're feeling in that moment and realize that, hey, I can use this in the story.

00;13;53;05 - 00;14;11;22

Clark

I think with some, you know, with less experienced actors, if you're working or maybe you're they're not even professional actors, you have to be a little more careful. I think you can still do these kinds of things. You can still use that uncertainty, that vulnerability. But I think you need to let them know what you're doing, like, hey, you know, explain it a little bit to them.

00;14;11;22 - 00;14;33;26

Clark

Hey, like, you know, it's okay. You feel nervous, but this is going to be perfect for where we're at with the story and the character right now. Let's just do a couple takes and, you know, so it's just so situation specific. But I think overall in general, absolutely. I mean, use what's in the air, use what's going on well into the scene.

00;14;33;26 - 00;14;43;10

Cullen

I've got a little anecdote. When I was in high school, I was doing a short film about Andy Warhol's Factory Girls.

00;14;43;10 - 00;14;43;21

Clark

Okay.

00;14;43;27 - 00;14;49;01

Cullen

And one of the actresses that we had didn't know any of her lines, so she came to set.

00;14;49;01 - 00;14;49;22

Clark

Boy, none.

00;14;49;22 - 00;15;06;17

Cullen

Of them. And it actually wound up working out really well because it was a very clear, you know, thought process of her when she was sitting there delivering the lines that it really looked like she was straining to remember them. But it played out as seeming like she was like.

00;15;06;27 - 00;15;07;18

Clark

They nervous.

00;15;07;18 - 00;15;17;00

Cullen

And concerned to talk and concerned to say the wrong thing to this. You know, Andy Warhol lady. So it actually worked out really well.

00;15;17;00 - 00;15;19;19

Clark

Great that you guys were able to use it, right? Yeah.

00;15;20;19 - 00;15;25;24

Cullen

And I'd much rather do that than scold someone for, you know, well for sure lines or whatever. Right.

00;15;26;03 - 00;15;31;11

Clark

And I think if it's working I mean I have an example where unfortunately that, you know, the opposite happened.

00;15;31;11 - 00;15;32;05

Cullen

Right, Right.

00;15;32;05 - 00;15;57;20

Clark

Where where I was working on a short film is one of the first first short films that I had ever done here in Southern California. I had recently moved here. I had a lot less experience than I did now, but I was working on this film just as an actor. I was playing one of the leads and one of the actors who was going to be in a handful of scenes that we were shooting this day didn't show up and just didn't show up.

00;15;58;11 - 00;16;31;17

Clark

And that's definitely, you know, that's an issue with the director and producers to not have been on top of that. But we had a significant role not show up. And so that role was filled with somebody who had very little acting experience. And unfortunately, you know, his nervousness, his vulnerability was not appropriate in these scenes. Mm hmm. And the director had a really difficult time, you know, trying to mold where he was in his current state.

00;16;31;26 - 00;16;32;10

Cullen

Yeah.

00;16;32;14 - 00;16;46;24

Clark

His inappropriate performance there. And it actually turned out to be a pretty big deal and had a significant impact negatively on everything that we shot that day. And it actually was it was pretty nasty. Mm hmm.

00;16;47;04 - 00;16;49;21

Cullen

But I do wonder, though, if a more experienced director.

00;16;49;26 - 00;17;08;20

Clark

I think so. I think so. I think so. Yeah, I think so. But I think this is just a it was just a case in point of, you know, we've got an inexperienced actor and an inexperienced director and so the director was not able to, you know, work with him to kind of channel those insecurities or those fears into a work, because I think you always can.

00;17;08;20 - 00;17;31;12

Clark

Right. It doesn't have to be this this very literal connection where it's like, well, the the character is nervous. So since you're nervous, you know, it's going to be fine. I think you can use your you know, you can get imaginative, you can get complex, and you can kind of twist that. This would just be a simple example where you'd say, okay, you're nervous now, your character doesn't appear to be nervous.

00;17;31;12 - 00;17;50;28

Clark

Your character actually appears to be very confident. So, okay, well, what do we do when we're nervous? A lot of people project this veneer of confidence, almost overconfidence, because they're covering up an anxiety or, you know, some feeling that they're not good enough or there is, you know, some self-esteem issues. So they project this like very confident veneer.

00;17;51;11 - 00;17;59;17

Clark

So let's work on that, you know, So there's all different ways that, you know, that you can channel these kind of energies, but I just don't think the director had the experience, just hadn't had a new situation.

00;17;59;17 - 00;18;03;22

Cullen

It was it was a situation where it's like, Oh, crap, this guy doesn't know any lines and doesn't know.

00;18;04;05 - 00;18;07;03

Clark

Oh, boy. No, it was even worse. You want me to tell you the full story? Just.

00;18;07;19 - 00;18;08;20

Cullen

It was worse here.

00;18;08;20 - 00;18;25;23

Clark

Yeah, it was. And and again, I want to say, you know, if anybody I've worked with recognizes this story, you know, I think all of us were very inexperienced. And so where I could have been there for this actor or even for this director, I wasn't because I didn't have enough experience. It was just we're all starting out.

00;18;26;02 - 00;18;42;02

Clark

But the solution was that this guy was going to have a couple beers and that that was going to take away his anxiety for the scene. And let me just tell you how that did not work out very well at all.

00;18;42;28 - 00;18;43;24

Cullen

And that's hilarious.

00;18;43;25 - 00;19;00;18

Clark

I think instead of like a beer or two, he ended up drinking like a six pack. And so now on top of being nervous, he was actually intoxicated. And it was a very, very challenging shoot day, let me just say. Yeah, but hey, we lived we went on to fight another day.

00;19;00;18 - 00;19;01;14

Cullen

And you learn from it.

00;19;01;17 - 00;19;27;06

Clark

And we learned from it. But but anyway, so yeah, look, Herzog doesn't talk about this, but from my personal experience, I would say maybe don't go the liquid courage route. No, necessarily. If the issue is that you have an actor with a lack of confidence, getting drunk is probably not the best solution for that. Yeah. Yeah. And that's hey, you know, and Herzog says, you know, no one to push but know what your limits are.

00;19;27;06 - 00;19;33;26

Clark

And that would be like a really good case in point of know what your limits are. Maybe one beer, not six. Not Yeah.

00;19;34;12 - 00;19;35;13

Cullen

Yeah, exactly.

00;19;36;02 - 00;19;57;23

Clark

Oh, my gosh. But but yeah, look. Hey. And this is this is, you know, part of the wonderful world of filmmaking. You've got to start somewhere. You have to learn your lesson somehow. And I think the best lessons are learned on set. And you can, you know, you can take a masterclass from Herzog, you can listen to this podcast, you can do all these kinds of things, watch all this, you know, read a million books and watch a lot of YouTube videos.

00;19;57;23 - 00;20;01;10

Clark

But look, you know, everybody learns on set. That's where you learn.

00;20;01;18 - 00;20;13;13

Cullen

And perhaps that even is a pretty decent segue into his next point, which is about rehearsing. Yeah. Which is don't he? He doesn't like to rehearse or do like a table read.

00;20;13;22 - 00;20;14;02

Clark

Right.

00;20;14;04 - 00;20;18;03

Cullen

Beforehand, which I think is really interesting. Yeah. And I think again, like anything.

00;20;18;04 - 00;20;19;02

Clark

Takes interesting about.

00;20;19;02 - 00;20;44;23

Cullen

That, There's, there's pros and cons. Yeah. I mean it's not it's definitely not his most controversial thing because there's a lot of directors that don't like to rehearse. But I, I think it depends on the actors because I think that honestly I think that the more experienced actors can really benefit from rehearsal time. And this is going to sound almost like it's it's, you know, the opposite of what it should be.

00;20;44;23 - 00;21;17;26

Cullen

But yeah, I think that the more Ben, the more experienced a actor will benefit from rehearsal time because they know how to play around with those things and to try new things. Okay, there's less experienced actors. I would almost rather limit the rehearsal time as much as possible. And the reason for that is because I think that a lot of times with less experienced actor, they overthink things where if you if you don't give them a chance to overthink and you just basically say go with your very first instinct, it can often come out a lot more natural in a lot more real interesting, as opposed to if you let them rehearse it for, you

00;21;17;26 - 00;21;33;15

Cullen

know, three weeks and they have all these different scene studies and things like that. And then they get on the set and they've got this whole scene over thought in their brain. They are thinking about every single word that they're saying. At least that's been my experience and that's been my preference, both as an actor and as a director.

00;21;33;15 - 00;21;49;27

Clark

I think that and I think that's very valid. And I think, you know, you're speaking to I will generalize it a little bit more. I mean, there you know, every actor is going to have their own process and they're going to have their own baggage. They're going to have their own experience level. And I think that there are pros and benefits to both.

00;21;50;10 - 00;22;18;19

Clark

But I think there could there are ways to mitigate, you know, Herzog's greatest fear and it sounds like yours a bit, too, is that if you rehearse, you lose spontaneity. Now, of course, we've talked about, you know, at length that Herzog is very much focused on on urgency and spontaneity. And and so it makes sense that within his style, his framework, philosophy of filmmaking, that he wouldn't rehearse, that he was he's going to air on the side of urgency and spontaneity.

00;22;18;29 - 00;22;37;15

Clark

Yeah, but I think, you know, this is a challenging one. And so I think it depends on, you know, you as a director, what are your what are your what do you want your style to be? What is your subject matter? What's the overall tone feel, etc. of your film? And you may have to take this case by case.

00;22;38;13 - 00;23;05;18

Clark

You may be working on a project where spontaneity is, you know, more important than other considerations. I can say, you know, I am sometimes a bit hesitant about, you know, I'm kind of a fan of rehearsal, and maybe that's because I've come from a world of theater before I ever worked on camera. And I know as an actor myself, I am a huge fan of a lot of homework.

00;23;05;24 - 00;23;15;24

Clark

Now, here's the catch. What is homework, though? You've got an actor who who thinks homework is running lines. You're in trouble or you have an.

00;23;15;24 - 00;23;17;19

Cullen

Act with his or her favorite actors.

00;23;18;00 - 00;23;35;12

Clark

Well, are just that, you know, a lot of less experienced actors are they put almost all of their time into learning, quote unquote, learning their lines because they're afraid that when they get in front of camera or on stage, if it's theater, of course, that they're going to forget their lines. And so they're so focused on their lines.

00;23;35;19 - 00;23;47;18

Clark

Well, sure. Say a line a hundred times. What's going to happen when you get on camera, if you've memorized it by rote? So, of course, there's not going to be any life in it. You've literally taken all the life out of it.

00;23;47;27 - 00;23;50;06

Cullen

Not it's just become muscle memory. Yeah.

00;23;50;21 - 00;24;11;12

Clark

Not because you rehearsed, but how you rehearsed. Yeah, it's about how you rehearsed. So for me, I think rehearsal is vital. But for me, rehearsal is not about line memorization. Saying them over and over again. It's not any it doesn't have anything to do with lines. It has to do with circumstances.

00;24;11;19 - 00;24;20;28

Cullen

And I think it's you have to experiment, too. Like I would say that that's the value to me at least of of action, is that you don't have that time on set right at right.

00;24;20;28 - 00;24;38;29

Clark

And this is where you're this is where I'm trying to take this reasoning here, what you call experimenting. So the script is full of what we call given circumstances, right? This is these are all the variables that are taking place in this story that are affecting these characters. I mean, it's all the story elements. It's all of the background pieces of every character.

00;24;38;29 - 00;25;05;17

Clark

It's their wants, desires. It's every little thing that has happened to them before. Like, you know, these characters have lives that exist well before the time of the script and after. And an actor's homework is thinking of all of these things and creating these memories. So if that's your rehearsal, you call it, you know, experimenting. But it's really about seeing how these given circumstances can affect what's going on in the moment of the scene.

00;25;06;07 - 00;25;32;09

Clark

And I hope this is making sense. But yeah, you know, and I think if you've got an experienced actor and that's how they're putting their time into a rehearsal, it has nothing to do with rote memorization. So that spontaneity is there because all they've done is work on the creation of this rich tapestry of memories that they will then come up or won't come up, or how they're going to affect the performance behind the scenes.

00;25;32;09 - 00;25;38;27

Clark

But it has nothing to do with like, here's how I'm going to say this line and here's how I'm going to say that line, and I'm going to end here and sad there.

00;25;39;09 - 00;25;52;05

Cullen

If you experienced actors can sit in silence for an hour of rehearsal doing script work and come out with a better rehearsal than two inexperienced actors that are just doing scenes over and over again.

00;25;52;16 - 00;26;13;07

Clark

Well, at scene, doing scenes over and over again is horrible. And so in that case, I would say, look, if you have actors who that's the only way they know how to work and you can't cast other people, this is what you're limited to, then yeah, I either don't don't let that, like guide their rehearsals. Don't let the rehearsals be just reading lines over and over again, running scenes over and over again.

00;26;13;07 - 00;26;35;11

Clark

Don't let it be that guide their rehearsals toward a an analysis of the given circumstances of the script in their character. So you know, that's that's me. It's obviously pretty different here. You know, Herzog doesn't go into these kinds of details here because it's you know, there's not much time. So he doesn't provide as much nuance. And certainly I'm not going to speak for him.

00;26;35;11 - 00;26;55;17

Clark

I, of course, would never speak for him. But that's that's my kind of take on it. Maybe it's just because I have so much more expensive, you know, our experience on that actor side. But but certainly if rehearsal means running lines, then oh my goodness. Yes, you can take everything out of a scene by running a scene 50 times just over and over and over.

00;26;55;17 - 00;27;00;11

Clark

Oh, and it's horrifically boring. Who wants to do that?

00;27;00;12 - 00;27;04;10

Cullen

You're just going to wind up hating, hating the subject matter? Oh.

00;27;04;27 - 00;27;12;26

Clark

Yeah. I mean, anything loses its meaning if you say it over and over again. I mean, you just sat there, Cohen, and said the same sentence 50 times in a row.

00;27;12;27 - 00;27;14;17

Cullen

You sound like alien garble, by the way.

00;27;14;17 - 00;27;20;20

Clark

It would literally your brain would just start to turn these sounds into meaningless nothings. I mean, we're.

00;27;20;20 - 00;27;25;12

Cullen

Not Bart Simpson. We're not writing, you know, thing on the board, right? Few times.

00;27;25;24 - 00;27;28;10

Clark

Right? Oh, my goodness.

00;27;28;10 - 00;27;29;01

Cullen

You know, I do.

00;27;29;01 - 00;27;31;26

Clark

Think there was a Herc Herzog on The Simpsons.

00;27;31;27 - 00;27;38;23

Cullen

There was anyway, circumstance. I think he did The Simpsons did some like Rick and Morty and a few different things. He's a drama. I think he was on Futurama.

00;27;38;23 - 00;27;40;27

Clark

Great talent, great tie in and.

00;27;41;08 - 00;28;05;19

Cullen

Yeah, there you go. But I also I mean, the one thing I say, I will say that I do disagree with Herzog on is the table read. I actually enjoy a table read more as a kind of the perhaps last chance before you really dive deep in to say, okay, you know what, this really isn't working.

00;28;06;08 - 00;28;07;22

Clark

Like from a writing perspective.

00;28;07;28 - 00;28;38;01

Cullen

Yeah, well, for a writing and from a casting perspective, you know, okay, if an actor is is doing something that's completely out of left field, you can kind of gauge their. All right, can I work with this person and can I kind of show them in the direction that I'm thinking? Or is this going to be a really difficult process just off the that you know, I've had I've had, especially with inexperienced actors table reads have gone have just been really enlightening because they've done things that have led to recasting.

00;28;38;09 - 00;28;39;20

Cullen

Oh wow. It's like they.

00;28;39;20 - 00;28;54;06

Clark

Will can I still so can you dive into that? And the reason I ask is because, you know, as an actor and a table read, I never, ever, ever, ever, quote unquote, act at a table. It's literally just a reading. So I am never acting.

00;28;54;14 - 00;28;56;09

Cullen

Oh, no, Exactly. And that's that's it's.

00;28;56;10 - 00;28;58;25

Clark

Always that way. You looking at performance in a table?

00;28;58;28 - 00;29;18;18

Cullen

I don't know. I had enough performance. I've Yeah. I've seen people though come to table reads and you know act their heart out and I've seen that both go well where somebody is doing that and they're really just experimenting with these lines and it actually can be really interesting. But I've also seen it to the point where it's like, that's complete.

00;29;18;19 - 00;29;42;02

Cullen

You know, that this the characterization here is completely off base. And I think that the reason that's really important to me is that then I can you know, I'm not immediately, as we talked about before, I'm not immediately going to go, okay, this person's out. You know, I'm firing them. But you can talk to them and you can get a reading from someone like that, especially though with inexperienced actors, because of course, inexperienced actors are aren't going to take notes as well.

00;29;42;02 - 00;29;58;02

Cullen

And I don't mean that in a personal like they're insulted. I mean that they just don't have flying notes to their right Yeah implying note notes to their performance is going to be more difficult because they as you said, they don't have the experience. So sometimes with really inexperienced actors, if they do, those big table reads well.

00;29;58;02 - 00;30;28;08

Clark

Usually that's the only type of actor that would do a big table exactly like this. Obviously, like you get into the story as you tell it and it's not like you've got a flat affect and you're not in the story, of course, but it's certainly not acting. You know, it's not before, definitely not a performance. And so, yeah, if you've got somebody coming into a table read and they're, you know, given this, you know, an opening day performance kind of situation, and then it may just be that they don't understand what a table read is for and what the etiquette is there.

00;30;28;09 - 00;30;28;22

Clark

You know.

00;30;29;00 - 00;31;01;28

Cullen

But I think I do have a specific yeah, specific example, too, of that happening where it was. Again, it was like reading through this thing. And I remember afterwards the producers and I had a conversation. We were just kind of like, That's completely wrong and not anything against the actor, but we just realized that it was a complete miscast and that be the performance that, that like the, the entire read that they had given for this character, just the personality that they'd apply to the words was was like the, you know, completely way off of what you know, what the story needed.

00;31;01;28 - 00;31;15;26

Cullen

And it wasn't only, you know, again, I also want to reiterate that it's not just for personal taste. It's not just me sitting there going, Oh, I would have said that differently. It's it's the story. You know, how does the how does the character choices serve the story? And of course, you know, you can you're never going to get all of that out of a table read.

00;31;16;24 - 00;31;30;16

Cullen

But it can be a really good And what I've found is a really valuable kind of first line of defense that that makes sense where you're kind of you get, you know, some of those things. If some of those problems start coming up in the table read, you really better take a look at.

00;31;30;26 - 00;31;31;14

Clark

Interesting.

00;31;31;27 - 00;31;34;00

Cullen

You know what you those choices you've made are.

00;31;34;20 - 00;31;35;00

Clark

Actually.

00;31;35;24 - 00;31;36;01

Cullen

My.

00;31;36;01 - 00;32;03;26

Clark

Problem yeah I've only ever used table reads in theater. I've never used a table read for myself. I've been a part of reads for films, but it was only ever from a writing perspective, it was only ever. Let's hear the words out loud. Let's get a sense of story structure, but more dialog. Let's see, you know, do jokes land, you know, how do things sound when they're actually up off the page?

00;32;04;08 - 00;32;23;13

Clark

Yeah. So that's the only way that I've ever, ever used a table read in theater. It's different. It's a little more of a tradition. But, you know, they're also helpful in the sense that they can bring a team together. You can. It's an opportunity to start to develop rapport now, especially, you know, my theater experience. Most of it was an ensemble cast.

00;32;23;22 - 00;32;42;11

Clark

So you're building rapport amongst all the actors in that time that you're doing a table read, and it's just kind of an excuse to do that. But yeah, I've I've never seen a table read used for anything other than more of a writer's tool for, for film before. But of course, everybody has a different way of working for sure.

00;32;44;03 - 00;33;15;21

Clark

So over rehearsing, we've discussed that. It's interesting. This is now this is where could get a little maybe slightly controversial from Herzog. He talks about training and he uses an example. This is intriguing to me. I think I think there are a lot of variables here. I disagree with Herzog on this a little bit. So he uses the example of Marlon Brando and then Strasberg, and he thinks that Brando was a better actor before he received his training, right?

00;33;15;28 - 00;33;16;11

Cullen

Yes.

00;33;16;16 - 00;33;42;13

Clark

And I think that there are a lot of variables that led Marlon Brando to be disenchanted with acting. And I think that had more to do because I don't think he ever actually lost his craft, ever. I think that he remained an exceptional actor. That ability was there throughout his entire career. I think his willingness to put in any work and I think would diminished.

00;33;42;13 - 00;34;06;14

Clark

And I think that his he became very disheartened with the industry, and I think he found less and less joy from doing it as time went on. And I think those things had an impact on, you know, his temperament on set and to his performances. But I would argue that I just don't know that I agree that it was because he received training that he became a worse actor.

00;34;06;14 - 00;34;28;29

Clark

I do understand the sentiment that Herzog was getting that, but I even kind of disagree with that a little bit to an extent, But we could. Let's talk about it. So basically, Herzog saying that that if you if an actor focuses too much on background motivation, the internal life of a character, that it can actually make actors difficult.

00;34;29;04 - 00;34;39;13

Clark

Now, it's interesting that he uses that verbiage, right? He doesn't actually really say, well, it makes an actor worse. He says it makes them difficult and.

00;34;39;14 - 00;34;40;14

Cullen

Funny because it's very.

00;34;41;08 - 00;35;02;21

Clark

Funny, right. And Herzog is you know, he is is somebody, you know, goes a little further in his example. And he says it's you know, an actor becomes so focused kind of on these internal issues that they they lose track of some of the just base fundamental external logistics of acting like hitting your marks, staying in frame, finding your light, etc., etc..

00;35;02;21 - 00;35;06;12

Clark

And I could certainly, certainly certain which to me that is the case.

00;35;06;19 - 00;35;38;19

Cullen

Again, it's one of those things where Herzog is filled with contradictions. Yes. Because before this, if if anybody had told me that, you know, do you think that Herzog cares about the internal work of an actor more than the actor hitting the mark? I would say he cared more about the internal work of the actor right. I find that it's really interesting that here he sort of points out that it's he's more workman like here if anything like he's more like, you know, we've got a job to do on set and if you're messing up those, those those cues and things like that, that then we end, which is really interesting because then you'll find

00;35;38;19 - 00;35;54;21

Cullen

places where Herzog talks about filmmaking completely differently, like when he talks about camera, he's like, Yeah, you know what? I don't care if my camera operator goes off and finds the shot himself and moves his arm right into the shot and looks and it's like, it's very funny that he's got, again, these kind of internal contradictions.

00;35;54;27 - 00;36;17;12

Clark

Well, it's interesting. I mean, I think, you know, there are some seemingly contradictory things here, but I think it also falls in line with a lot of other things. He says, You know, I mean, this is kind of the very nature of Herzog as a filmmaker. Is this this seemingly kind of paradoxical duality that exist here. I mean, clearly, you know, Herzog will say over and over and over again, he doesn't want to analyze his films.

00;36;17;12 - 00;36;38;20

Clark

He doesn't want to you know, he doesn't actually want analyze his internal creative process. He doesn't he doesn't want to question it. He doesn't want to know about it. And every, you know, his process, as he describes it in, this masterclass and in other places is all about just going just go, go, go, do, do, do. I don't want to get in my own head.

00;36;38;20 - 00;37;00;27

Clark

I don't want to mess up my flow. I don't want to overthink it. Overthinking it will kill it. So this is his push towards urgency, spontaneity, whether it when he talks about writing, he's talking about his actors. So I think he really does come from a place of, look, this acting is not therapy, filmmaking is not therapy. This is you know, that's not what that's about.

00;37;00;27 - 00;37;07;22

Clark

And we're not trying to find yourself in the process. You're not trying to like uncover your, you know.

00;37;08;06 - 00;37;09;03

Cullen

Your inner demons.

00;37;09;03 - 00;37;43;23

Clark

Emotional demons or issues. Right? That's not what this is about. So that falls in line. This falls in line with that very much where it's like, okay, well, I don't want my actors to do that either. I don't want my actors to get overly analytical. I don't want that to get so far inside themselves that they turn themselves inside out and, you know, are kind of just this paralyzed puddle on the floor now, from my experience, I could speak to this a little bit and I'd be really curious to to know other people's thoughts, but not just my experience, but I've seen this mirrored in other actors experiences that I've known and studied with and

00;37;43;23 - 00;38;06;11

Clark

kind of grown up in the business with and and, you know, seen they're known them for you know, a decade or more time and kind of seen a similar trajectory with them. And that's this is that I think in the end there's actually a model of learning which goes along with this, which I'll probably up. But basically it's like there's a point where you don't know what you don't know, so you just like, run headlong into it.

00;38;06;20 - 00;38;23;28

Clark

And we call this sometimes beginner's luck or but it's like you're not self-conscious because you don't know what you don't know. So you're just like, well, who? You run on out there and do it. And sometimes there can be a wonderful quality to that right? You're not self-conscious, you're not inhibited, you don't know that. You don't know things.

00;38;24;03 - 00;38;44;22

Clark

So you just jump in and go for it. And there can be a real quality to that. Then when your next step of learning is where it's like, okay, I've just realized I don't know anything. Holy crap. And now you're you're filled with self-consciousness and you're, you know, you're trying to learn. You're like, I don't know anything. How can I, you know.

00;38;44;25 - 00;38;45;29

Cullen

The Dunning Kruger effect?

00;38;46;08 - 00;38;48;22

Clark

Yeah. Okay. Is that would you explain. That one to everybody.

00;38;48;22 - 00;39;12;08

Cullen

Well, that's the one where it's like the less you know there's, there is a kind of, what do you call it a mathematical formula for you know, when you love it and when you know very little about something. People who know very little about things, they think that they're experts. Okay, you learn more. Your perceived knowledge goes like, you know, plummets because they realize that you don't Yeah, you don't know anything great.

00;39;12;16 - 00;39;34;23

Clark

And so so so in this so in this first place that I describe this, we don't know what we don't know. It's an unconscious place, right? Because you're not conscious of anything because you don't you don't even know. So then when you so but it's an unconscious incompetence, then you move to a place of conscious incompetence and that and now you are you're you're okay.

00;39;34;23 - 00;39;40;17

Clark

I don't know anything about this. And so you're filled with fear. You're like, okay, I have to go learn. There's all this stuff. I don't know.

00;39;41;01 - 00;39;41;24

Cullen

Yeah, yeah.

00;39;42;06 - 00;40;06;08

Clark

And then you move to a place of competence where now you've spent time learning, but it's still conscious. It's like, okay, I've learned all this stuff. I know that. I know. Okay. And you're still So both of these two modes are a conscious mode you're in yourself. You're like, concerned about your own competency, your analyze your own level of understanding or lack thereof.

00;40;06;15 - 00;40;24;11

Clark

It's very conscious in your head experience, which is unfortunate because acting is not about that. Acting is not about a conscious planned thing, but there's a fourth area of learning. It's we don't know. We know.

00;40;24;21 - 00;40;25;06

Cullen

Yes.

00;40;25;17 - 00;40;47;13

Clark

And that's where your competence becomes unconscious and that is where you want to be. So I disagree with Herzog a little bit, or maybe in my own mind, at least for myself, I'm refining it, which is this I would rather have an actor who doesn't know. They don't know than to have one who's in their head to the point of paralysis.

00;40;47;13 - 00;40;48;29

Cullen

Where they thinks that they know everything.

00;40;49;01 - 00;41;20;19

Clark

In an incompetent or even competent place of. But but it's a consciousness. They're they're consumed with their own selves, with their own inner mechanization and workings. And so they're they're kind of hampered in their ability to pay any attention to these outside things. But if you get to a competent place of unconsciousness and so what I like try to tie this all into the studying, acting thing is this is that, you know, maybe a person who's never studied acting might be easier to work with than a person who's just started.

00;41;20;19 - 00;41;44;29

Clark

And they're steeped into it and they're extremely conscious about this whole process and everything that's going on. But I don't agree. If you take an actor who's been through this process and they've come out the other side and now they have internalized and made like a muscle memory, kind of, if you will, of their craft. Every every, every time I want that actor, I want a studied actor, but who's internalized it?

00;41;44;29 - 00;41;46;09

Clark

And now it's unconscious.

00;41;46;09 - 00;42;15;10

Cullen

You know, it's funny, too. So we've spoken briefly, but I went to a drama high school, like a specialized theater school once before. It was it was Glee. And I. But no, I think that it's interesting that you can actually and, you know, many people who went to the school as well and teach, they're taught there and stuff like that will say the same thing, which is you'll get really great performances out of the grade Nines.

00;42;16;00 - 00;42;31;10

Cullen

Well, the Great Tens and Elevens are trying so hard that you wind up losing those great performances. And then it's not until you get to grade 11 or grade 12, right, that those you almost to that conceit and it's like this weird.

00;42;31;11 - 00;42;33;06

Clark

But with with more nuance.

00;42;33;06 - 00;42;54;27

Cullen

Exactly but I mean that's what and that's what I mean where Kurosawa has a great quote and it's not specific specific to acting, but it's specific to artists and stuff. And he says that, you know, there's this old Japanese saying or something like that, which is that as you go through life, you begin as an infant and that is your most knowledgeable and your most, you know, immersive time of your life.

00;42;54;27 - 00;43;10;05

Cullen

And then you go through life and you try to make decisions and you're always thinking things, and then by the end of your life, you return to this phase where you go, I've learned all I can and you return to the infant phase that you are now just taking in knowledge again and you're learning and you're actively learning.

00;43;10;05 - 00;43;11;08

Cullen

And I think that that's so.

00;43;11;25 - 00;43;11;29

Clark

Not.

00;43;11;29 - 00;43;28;16

Cullen

Only is that poignant to filmmaking in art, art in general, where it's like you get to a certain point where there's definitely that kind of pro, pro, mature kind of thing where you're an amateur, but you're trying to be professional, where you think you know everything, and then you get to the point where you realize how little you know, and it's exactly what you're talking about.

00;43;28;16 - 00;43;49;07

Cullen

But yeah, it's funny that it breaks down almost exactly into the grades in this this high school, which is that, you know, the people who are coming in in grade nine who have sometimes no acting experience, sometimes they've just got kind of a little bit of a natural kick for it. They wind up giving incredible performances. And, you know, there's obviously such tons of learn to learn.

00;43;49;07 - 00;43;58;05

Cullen

But then as you get to grade ten and 11 these middle years, you get this not necessarily an arrogance in the sense that it's a it's a comedy. It's just that it's.

00;43;58;05 - 00;43;59;15

Clark

A it's a yeah, it's.

00;43;59;25 - 00;44;08;02

Cullen

It's this this this assumption that you are becoming an expert when you're not near it, which I think is really interesting. I think it's a really interesting way to look at it.

00;44;08;12 - 00;44;29;15

Clark

Yeah. And so and so that's, you know, so I so I would differ in Herzog, but, but I can totally understand, you know, his experience, which is, hey, I've worked with actors who have been training and I, you know, wow, this is they're really difficult and they're just they're just focused on this whole internal process. And but filmmaking is not just your internal process, man.

00;44;29;15 - 00;44;45;10

Clark

Like, we got to get stuff done. And I do want to add this, too. I mean, you mentioned that these ninth graders, this beginner, is we're able to occasionally give exceptional performances. But I want to say what what you what they likely couldn't do would be to deliver consistent brilliance.

00;44;45;10 - 00;44;49;08

Cullen

Yeah, consistent. That's an explanation of how they got to that point.

00;44;49;12 - 00;45;28;00

Clark

And that's where you get when you actually have gone through all of these these the process of learning and you've come out the other side where you have an unconscious competence. It's consistency, it's that you can bring a brilliance to that. Take after take after take after take and in different ways with different shadings, with different gradients. So in my personal experience is a little bit different than Herzog here, but I can totally understand that for a big book of of experiences where it could be the case that having had some training is going to make an actor much more difficult than otherwise.

00;45;28;14 - 00;45;36;28

Cullen

So again, to say that there are tradeoffs too, and that some people will go through years and years of acting, training and they'll still come out. You know, not not really all that great, Of course.

00;45;36;28 - 00;45;58;02

Clark

Of course. Let's be right. I mean, look, it's of course, we're generalizing. ADICHIE You know, generalizing in a significant way. And this, of course, it would apply to any person in any position, in any part or trade or anything else. Not everybody is brilliant. And even after, you know, extreme amount of study, not everybody is going to be brilliant.

00;45;59;00 - 00;46;18;27

Clark

So of course that that's kind of an understood, but so we'll move on to a couple of last things here that Herzog talks about when it comes to actors in this lesson, he talks a little bit about controlling your actors. And so I always love it when Herzog would get a chance to be reminded of one of, like, Herzog's wacky Kinski stories.

00;46;18;29 - 00;46;42;10

Clark

Yeah, yeah. This is and this is another instance of that. And I think, I hope I'm not going to misquote this, but I'll kind of try to summarize for our listeners here. And I think Herzog tells a story about how, you know, they're they're out in the Amazon. And and I think he's talking about a Gary and there is this kind of morning ritual of like the distribution of coffee, you know.

00;46;42;10 - 00;47;01;20

Clark

And so somebody goes around and brings coffee to all the huts here. Where were all the cast and crew were stayed. And it just so happened not not for any nefarious reasons whatsoever that Kinski was last on this coffee distribution chain. And of course, he, like, flies into a huge fit, you know, Oh, my God, I'm the star of the film and I get coffee last.

00;47;01;20 - 00;47;21;19

Clark

What's going on here? And so instead of trying to sit down and rationalize with Kinski and say, Hey, look, you know, it wasn't on purpose, it just so like, you know, we just went by order of hut, you know, nothing was implied or, you know, all this kind of stuff. HERZOG Just like, runs over grabs, like the last piece of chocolate.

00;47;21;19 - 00;47;39;01

Clark

I mean, they're out in the Amazon and we're this is the seventies. And it's like, you know, something like this was like the highest price to have on set, you know, the small piece of chocolates, all that remained. And Herzog just walks right up in front of Kinski and just takes a huge bite like stuffs all the chocolate in his face Kinski shuts up I mean it's like.

00;47;39;11 - 00;47;39;23

Cullen

Yeah, it's.

00;47;39;24 - 00;48;04;04

Clark

Kind of hysterical. I mean, it's just a funny you know, it's just another funny list. And I love that Herzog is filled with all these little parables, if you will. And of course, you can like read your own meaning into all of these things. But, you know, sometimes and I've experienced this, too. I have totally experienced this sometimes that what you think is a rational way to communicate with somebody might not be the best way to do so.

00;48;05;01 - 00;48;28;05

Clark

We are often not rational people. We often, you know, respond emotionally and, you know, just so happened in that instance, Herzog was very intimate with Kinski. He knew his psyche. He had worked with him for a long time, and he was right on the money with that. So, yeah, I think, you know, Herzog at numerous points, he has the same, you know, the hearts of men.

00;48;29;12 - 00;48;55;08

Clark

And of course, he means men and women. But I think this is a good instance of that. And I think all of us, you know, we're constantly working on your intuitive abilities to read people and understand. But that's just a funny story. It cracks me up. But then he also has another great story, that classic scene in a Gary near the end when he's talking about, you know, that he he's kind of just like got this God complex.

00;48;55;08 - 00;49;10;21

Clark

Right. And he's almost like turning, you know, he's like, you know, the earth will shudder under my feet and birds will fall from the sky. And he's got this. It's amazing performance. He actually looks I don't know if you've seen it recently. I just watched it a little bit to remind myself of the scene. He, like is delivering this into camera.

00;49;10;21 - 00;49;36;19

Clark

He totally like, Yeah, no, he yeah, I had forgotten about that. And he's looking directly into the camera, which of course is usually something you would never, ever, ever do. But it's an extremely intense and effective performance. And apparently Kinski wanted to rant and rave and, you know, this huge gift, this huge dynamic performance. And and Herzog said, No, I don't think that's the route we want to go.

00;49;36;28 - 00;50;01;00

Clark

And of course, fight ensued. And it Herzog says that he had to wear Kinski down over hours and hours and hours to finally get this this performance that was subdued, that he literally just had to, like, take the energy out of Kinski. So that that's like the only way he could get this performance was to just wear him down to the point where he had no more energy left, you know, to do what he wanted to do instead of what Herzog wanted to do.

00;50;01;13 - 00;50;10;03

Clark

But but just interesting stories there. And I think it just speaks so much to the wide ranging.

00;50;10;22 - 00;50;12;20

Cullen

Like skilled world of acting.

00;50;13;10 - 00;50;14;10

Clark

You know, or it's like.

00;50;14;10 - 00;50;15;18

Cullen

Oh, the world of filmmaking.

00;50;15;27 - 00;50;45;13

Clark

Great. It's like, you know, problem solver, psychologist, you know, like, you know, therapist, counselor, like it's sometimes it's pretty amazing, especially when you're dealing with somebody as wild as Kinski. Now, I have never worked closely with somebody that was that wild. So I don't have that experience. But certainly when it comes to having to work with great nuance and kind of almost be like a counselor to actors, I've definitely been there.

00;50;46;07 - 00;50;57;01

Cullen

Well, I mean, that's why it's so important. I mean, that kind of wraps up the whole thing, too, in a nice bow of of some of the previous lessons as well, which is why I think it's so important that you don't just sit in a video village all day.

00;50;57;01 - 00;50;58;03

Clark

And absolutely.

00;50;58;04 - 00;51;10;23

Cullen

Watch from a screen that like you should be there, you know, in the trenches with them and be working with the entire crew as a as a unit and not as some sort of, you know, glorified TV station.

00;51;12;15 - 00;51;18;24

Clark

Right. Right. Or like air traffic controller back there, you know, it's like your headphones on and you're monitors in front.

00;51;18;24 - 00;51;20;27

Cullen

Of me thinking, right.

00;51;21;29 - 00;51;38;08

Clark

And this is you know, it's interesting. So in this lesson as well, Herzog describes his experience where he hypnotized actors in the film Heart of Glass. And, you know, it's funny. I'm trying to think, well, how in the world can I even turn this into something that you might be able to glean some information from as a filmmaker?

00;51;38;08 - 00;51;44;08

Clark

But I certainly never hypnotized a cast. I can't imagine myself.

00;51;44;08 - 00;51;45;01

Cullen

Speak for yourself.

00;51;45;11 - 00;51;47;14

Clark

Well, I speak for. Have you done it?

00;51;47;23 - 00;51;48;21

Cullen

No, no, no, no.

00;51;49;18 - 00;52;01;20

Clark

I've never done it. I can't imagine that I would ever even see myself doing it. And frankly, I am almost like I don't even know if I believe the hypnotizing is a real thing. But it's super interesting. The story.

00;52;01;28 - 00;52;04;12

Cullen

And the performances are super interesting from it to.

00;52;04;12 - 00;52;26;15

Clark

Well. And so let's talk about it. You know we can talk about that a little bit, but just in case our listeners need a little bit more background on this. So for Herzog's 76 film Heart of Glass, he hypnotized his cast, as I understand it, his entire cast, and he would kind of put them under before a scene and then bring them back, you know, in between takes or whatnot.

00;52;27;10 - 00;52;56;17

Clark

But the story and it's been a while since I've seen this as well, but the story is I think there's this small town who survived on this very special technique of of glassblowing, and that master glassblower dies, I think. And so now this town is lost. And then they're in this like, limbo of, like, no purpose. Right. And to represent this kind of strange, dreamlike, lost state this town is in, he hypnotized everybody.

00;52;56;17 - 00;53;05;00

Clark

And it is it is certainly unique. I'm personally a little bit kind of on the fence about what I think of the performances, but what's your take?

00;53;05;00 - 00;53;30;12

Cullen

COHEN I think I mean, it certainly makes for an interesting viewing experience, short of doubt. And I think really that is the goal there at least in my mind, is that it's not necessarily to get a realistic know depth of performance, but rather it's about this. I mean, this trance like almost meta behavior that all these these villagers go into.

00;53;30;18 - 00;53;30;29

Clark

Yeah.

00;53;31;22 - 00;53;48;10

Cullen

And I mean, I think again, yeah, it just becomes this very interesting and there's a lot of movies that that do this to the audience that that are slow burning and almost sort of hypnotize the audience. And I feel like it has that same atmosphere. I haven't seen the full thing. I've only seen the select bits that that are.

00;53;48;14 - 00;53;51;00

Clark

We're going to have to rectify that. Would we do it.

00;53;51;00 - 00;53;51;14

Cullen

Exactly.

00;53;51;14 - 00;53;54;01

Clark

Episode where we cover this film there, I'll.

00;53;54;01 - 00;53;55;23

Cullen

Have to get hypnotized and watch it.

00;53;56;01 - 00;54;05;02

Clark

Right. Well, how about that? I'll hypnotize you. You hypnotized me, then we'll watch it together, and then we'll do the episode while still under hypnosis.

00;54;05;02 - 00;54;08;18

Cullen

Oh, that'd be Mario. First podcast ever. Under hypnosis. Ira.

00;54;08;26 - 00;54;26;05

Clark

I can't wait, but yeah, and I think it's just one of those wonderful things. Look, you know, you love it. You don't love it. I certainly think it's interesting. And what I do love about it is, is that his willingness to to try these things, to go to these places is just fantastic. I mean, that's inspirational to me.

00;54;26;05 - 00;54;37;12

Clark

I may not have the desire to hypnotize a crew or cast, but so what? I think it's awesome that he did. Yeah, I think it's awesome that he did and I totally applaud that.

00;54;37;23 - 00;54;43;27

Cullen

And and if it ever came up in a project for me where I was like, it would help. Yeah, and I need to look into it.

00;54;43;27 - 00;54;50;06

Clark

Yeah. As long as you're, like, treating your crew ethically, of course, you know, you've got their buy in. It's not something you're doing behind them. Oh, yeah. You know.

00;54;50;06 - 00;54;52;00

Cullen

Go into their trailer in the morning and.

00;54;52;26 - 00;54;58;17

Clark

I use snatchers. Just imagine like, you know, what is it like in those old movies? They swing the stopwatch, you know? Yeah.

00;54;59;05 - 00;55;03;28

Cullen

You are feeling sleepy. You're either feeling heavy. Yeah, I'm funny.

00;55;03;28 - 00;55;22;19

Clark

But it is. And I highly recommend, you know, a listeners out there. If you've not seen the film, check it out. I can't think of any other film that claims to have been, you know, shot with a hypnotized cast. It is very unique. And I will tell you it. I mean it definitely you almost start to feel hypnotized.

00;55;22;19 - 00;55;43;06

Clark

I mean, it is like it's almost it's like this trance like quality. So very, very intriguing on the flip side. So I'm a total opposite of hypnotizing actors. Herzog then jumps to talking about letting your actors loose, and I love it. He's like, Turn the hog loose. Yeah, do the accent. Do the exact calling.

00;55;43;16 - 00;55;47;25

Cullen

Turn the hog loose.

00;55;47;25 - 00;56;12;24

Clark

But but he talks about, you know, specific actors that he has a lot of confidence and trust in. And after he feels like he's gotten the takes that he needed that were on script, then he's like, you know I think there might be a little bit something more there. And he lets his actors like I said, the few he mentions specifically Kinski and Cage, but he lets them improvise some.

00;56;13;08 - 00;56;19;02

Clark

Yeah. Now what's your thoughts, just real briefly, is improvised, Is improvization something that you utilize? And if so.

00;56;19;09 - 00;56;27;16

Cullen

If the actor's good? I mean, if it seems like something that I actually did, I acted in a movie recently, just a short with one.

00;56;27;17 - 00;56;29;04

Clark

Of the new Marvel movies coming out. Right?

00;56;29;04 - 00;56;34;07

Cullen

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I am, you know, the new Spider-Man, actually.

00;56;34;23 - 00;56;46;26

Clark

But Coen just let's close for a while. It's funny you say that, because I feel like you could kill that role. Totally. And there's something about the guy that plays Spider-Man that reminds me of you, or vice versa.

00;56;47;19 - 00;56;53;21

Cullen

That's funny. I mean, no, I'm not in Marvel. Unfortunately, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not getting those millions and millions of dollars.

00;56;53;21 - 00;57;05;09

Clark

Well, I'll tell you what, if you if you ever do get cast as Spider-Man, I think our ratings will skyrocket for. Yes, I'm sure that would be awesome. I'm all for. Yeah, but sorry, you're up. So no.

00;57;05;09 - 00;57;25;09

Cullen

No, but so I was in this this short film and again, very close friends with the director and stuff like that. And she wrote the script out and I basically just went to her with the script and said, Can I just throw out all the dialog that you've written and not insulting me? But I sort of said, Can I just not provide the entire thing?

00;57;25;09 - 00;57;37;16

Cullen

And she said, Yeah, sure. And she gave me that trust and it turned out it was a lot of fun to film. And it was just very, very I mean, it was a it was a sort of a comic dramedy type thing. So it wound up working.

00;57;37;16 - 00;57;40;19

Clark

But and this is, you know, you were friends. You had a real life.

00;57;40;19 - 00;58;01;24

Cullen

Yeah, I don't think I'd ever go to a director I didn't know and go. And I also I mean, I also don't act professionally, so I don't think I'd ever be in that position to do so. Right. But no, it was it was funny. But I have you know, again, it depends on the actor. Had I you know, I have I ever used improvization I can't really say that I have much I yeah.

00;58;01;25 - 00;58;02;29

Cullen

I can't really think at a time when I.

00;58;02;29 - 00;58;28;23

Clark

Have I mean I think I've used it sparingly for sure, you know, especially, I mean there are definitely times and I in her as I've spoken to this in a previous episode where for whatever reason just, you know, a line is just like marbles in an actor's mouth. And, you know, for whatever reason, it's just not working. And it could be that the line is really clunky, or it could just be that the actor has not been able to orientate themselves to the line in a way that it makes sense for them.

00;58;29;00 - 00;58;52;12

Clark

Mm hmm. Yeah. And and sometimes the best way around that is to just allow the actor, you know, take the essence of what that line was and allow that the actor to improvise that. Yeah. And again, I will go back to I just want to reiterate, you know, I think the best improv actors are in my experience, in my experience are those actors who really understand what the acting homework is.

00;58;52;19 - 00;58;52;27

Cullen

Yeah.

00;58;52;28 - 00;59;18;19

Clark

Where they really build a, a depth and breadth of memories of using the given circumstance of the script. And because they've not planned and canned right, they've not planned a performance that's not about line readings. It's not about I need to be angry at this line and sadness line. Their work is actually always improv. That's the wonderful thing about a great actor is that it's always as it.

00;59;18;20 - 00;59;24;24

Cullen

Should be from the brain, the part of the brain that feels natural, not from the part of the brain that's memorized lines.

00;59;25;05 - 00;59;39;19

Clark

Right? And so, you know, and maybe we can, you know, we can have a podcast where we go into more depth here. Obviously, it's something that I'm really passionate about. I spend a lot of time on myself, but I think that great actors are actually always improvising they're just improvising with the lines.

00;59;39;25 - 01;00;01;28

Cullen

You know what's funny, too, is, is just before we wrap up, I, I remember I last week I mentioned the in the kind of, you know, techniques of acting episode, the idea that when I was in that play with a good friend of mine that I found that we gave better performances off of each other. If she was really angry at me before we started.

01;00;02;09 - 01;00;02;11

Clark

The.

01;00;02;25 - 01;00;12;27

Cullen

Relationship between that right. And I want to say that that a lot of theater work comes down to improv sometimes to save your ass. The first time that we did that play.

01;00;13;00 - 01;00;14;03

Clark

Oh boy, I've been there.

01;00;14;08 - 01;00;33;27

Cullen

The we what we found out was that we did not receive a huge chunk of the script that we never rehearsed. And so we had like two days to learn this huge chunk of the script I just never received before. Literally two days. It's not even an exaggeration. And of course we didn't. There's no way that you can, you know, wholeheartedly memorize that much or even.

01;00;34;02 - 01;00;39;13

Clark

I picked up my first script. I will I beg to differ, but we'll talk about that later. But with the.

01;00;39;13 - 01;00;46;26

Cullen

Limited rehearsal time that we had, we had probably, you know, an hour and a half a day. So we had 3 hours to basically get, you know, something like 25.

01;00;46;26 - 01;00;57;09

Clark

And I will just say it's surprising. It's surprising how much you can memorize if you don't memorize by rote. But yes. Yeah. For a different skill set in this big chunk and you have very little time.

01;00;57;09 - 01;01;17;14

Cullen

So we get on stage those the opening night and it was one of those things where it's like there's like six points in the play that are very similar dialog wise and they're very easy to get confused. And what happens? Well, with, you know, one of the lines was mismatched and it just didn't make sense in that context.

01;01;17;14 - 01;01;40;08

Cullen

It was at a point where the line that was said was said after I had realized that my dad had died and that was, you know, blah, blah, blah. So it made no sense that that that revelation was some way later and it hasn't happened yet. And me and her wound up in I think most of this is owed to the fact that we were really good friends and that we knew each other very well and acted so much together, improvised the hell out of the entire show.

01;01;40;09 - 01;02;02;19

Cullen

It was probably like 50 minutes of straight improv to get this thing done. And we wound up it was in a competition and we wound up moving on the festival and getting, you know, pretty far in it, which was hilarious considering that our first show, our first opening night was was primarily an improvised and I just remember we were just on the stage like crapping our pants, like I was with her and she was like, and luckily we didn't play it off.

01;02;02;19 - 01;02;17;07

Cullen

But you could just tell from each other that we were both like, We've got to get through this. And it was almost the adrenaline, I think, that really saved us there, that it was just suddenly we were like, All right, we got to improvise. That's, you know, there you go around here. We can't save this. So but we wound up yeah, we wound up doing pretty well, so.

01;02;17;13 - 01;02;18;09

Clark

Well, it's but I think.

01;02;18;09 - 01;02;18;27

Cullen

That that really.

01;02;18;27 - 01;02;21;07

Clark

Separates theater from film, of course. Yeah.

01;02;21;07 - 01;02;43;11

Cullen

And that's what I mean is that film actors with that theater experience can often be really, really valuable because you can, you know, there's there's such differences in theater and film acting. But but there's some things that can carry over super well that you don't really touch on in. You know, for some, for an actor who's strictly trained for film may not even really realize or get the experience of, which can be really neat for sure.

01;02;43;21 - 01;03;07;05

Clark

Well, sir, I think we have come to the end of another episode. Lucky number 13. Everybody out there. I want to thank you so much for listening along. We're happy to have you here. It's a we thoroughly enjoy doing this and we hope that you thoroughly enjoy listening. So, Cullen, thanks again for a wonderful hour and 3 minutes here.

01;03;07;10 - 01;03;07;28

Cullen

Yes.

01;03;08;04 - 01;03;14;26

Clark

And I look forward to our next episode, which is going to be, if I'm not mistaken, sound.

01;03;15;02 - 01;03;15;23

Cullen

Yep, sound.

01;03;16;03 - 01;03;25;20

Clark

Exciting. Cool. And this will be this will be neat. We've not you know, we spent so much time talking about the visuals, about acting, and we've really touched sound in any way.

01;03;25;28 - 01;03;26;07

Cullen

Know.

01;03;26;16 - 01;03;51;18

Clark

That I can think of in these episodes. So I'm really excited to look into this. I think this is an area that a lot of beginning filmmakers neglect. I know and I've I had to learn so much about this. Oh God. And still do. And it's so important. It's so important. So I'm excited for this one. But until then, everybody, I hope you have a wonderful week and we will see you next time.

01;03;52;09 - 01;03;58;27

Cullen

Bye bye, everyone.

Episode - 014

Clark

Hello there and welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. This is episode 14 where we are discussing Herzog's masterclass lesson 15 and with me as always as Mr. Cullen McFater. What's up, buddy?

00:00:27:07 - 00:00:27:10

Cullen

Hello.

00:00:27:20 - 00:00:36:12

Clark

How are you doing? I'm doing fantastic, man. It's another beautiful day out here in Orange County, California. What's it like up there near Toronto, sir?

00:00:37:03 - 00:00:42:02

Cullen

Well, it's dipped down temperature wise. It's gotten a lot colder. It was really warm last week. Like, you know.

00:00:42:20 - 00:00:47:04

Clark

I think I figured this at this. This will be this will be a new part of the podcast.

00:00:47:10 - 00:00:48:19

Cullen

Is I like it better.

00:00:48:19 - 00:00:59:15

Clark

Weather forecast not forecast, but it'll be like let's give let's paint a picture we'll let yeah you know we can so people can really feel like they're here with us. Get some warm apple cider.

00:00:59:21 - 00:01:03:14

Cullen

I got some construction going on outside, which is perfectly appropriate for the sound episode.

00:01:04:00 - 00:01:23:14

Clark

Absolutely. That's right. So this one is this is covering sound that's less than 15. And I think this one is going to look, they're all important, but I think this one is going to be really, really important topic, especially for people who may be just just just starting out, making their own films. Because I think I mean, Herzog talks about it.

00:01:24:05 - 00:01:45:19

Clark

He starts this lesson right off the bat with, you know, look at the hand. For the first few films he ever made, he couldn't even ever show to an audience because he had unfortunately neglected the sound quality. And I don't know if you've had this experience, but I have some of the first short things. I mean, the sound was just sadly, it was it just broke the film.

00:01:46:05 - 00:02:13:09

Clark

And I think, you know, for us visual thinkers, many of whom that's why we've kind of gone into filmmaking, the first most, you know, foremost thing on your mind is the visual. And until you kind of learn otherwise, there are a few, you know, trial and error mistake runs that actually, you know, people are much, much, much more tolerant of visual artifacting or issues than they are of sound issues.

00:02:13:09 - 00:02:30:17

Cullen

Oh yeah. I mean, I always find it funny too, if you think about the the documentary that we shot together in California, you know, we had the sound on. That is really nice, I think. Yeah. You know, we did a really great job of making sure that was great. And we had a a nice camera too, but we could have shot that on an iPhone, I think.

00:02:30:17 - 00:02:58:17

Cullen

I think as long as the sound is nice, I think people will buy into it. Whereas, you know, vice versa. Had we just sat an iPhone on the table and been recording audio that way and had really beautiful visuals, people are going to turn that off. I actually when I was I used to do a lot of sound design for theater and remember when I was being trained for that, the the guy who was training me basically said, and this is something that I think carries a lot into film.

00:02:59:14 - 00:03:07:19

Cullen

People will go into a theater and watch a play in the dark, but they will not go into a theater and watch a play where they can't hear what the actors are saying.

00:03:07:19 - 00:03:08:13

Clark

Absolutely.

00:03:08:13 - 00:03:09:18

Cullen

And so I had to think that.

00:03:09:20 - 00:03:34:18

Clark

That's a good place and, you know, that's a good way to put And of course, I will not be able to reference these studies specifically, sadly. But I, I do recall having read, you know, that there are kind of, you know, scientific studies that show that people are definitely have a higher capacity for visual static or artifacting or, you know, whatever you may want to term, basically poor video quality.

00:03:35:15 - 00:03:55:08

Clark

But we have a very low tolerance to poor sound quality. And you can even see this in, you know, the mediums that have been used to distribute films throughout history. Right. You know, people didn't have much of a problem watching VHS tapes or beta if you happen to, you know, be in those part of the world where people use beta.

00:03:55:15 - 00:04:07:06

Clark

But sound was like surprisingly decent, especially there were there were tape video formats that actually had digital audio. Yeah. Were very good quality. But so I think.

00:04:07:06 - 00:04:18:15

Cullen

A really pertinent perhaps comparison is you look at the Michael Mann what's it called Miami Vice.

00:04:19:01 - 00:04:22:00

Clark

OC Oh now that you know you're talking about TV show or film because.

00:04:22:00 - 00:04:24:00

Cullen

No film, the film with Jamie Foxx.

00:04:24:00 - 00:04:26:19

Clark

With Jamie and Colin Farrell. If I do. Yeah.

00:04:27:03 - 00:04:30:23

Cullen

And so you look at that and that movie was digital and.

00:04:30:23 - 00:04:33:20

Clark

They because Michael Mann was an early definitely an.

00:04:33:20 - 00:04:50:04

Cullen

Early adopter early adopter of video and he he pushed the ISO on those digital cameras really high to get noise which is usually people try to avoid. But if you watch that movie, it's noisy as hell. It's it's incredibly noisy. Yes, it's an example. And I think I actually think it really works for the movie, but there's a lot of people that don't like it.

00:04:50:06 - 00:05:03:18

Clark

He's got a handful of films that are terribly noisy. What was the other film that he made with Tom Cruise? I actually think it's one of his best films. We're talking about Hitman and Collateral. Collateral. Yeah, I think he used a Phantom in that, if I'm not mistaken.

00:05:03:21 - 00:05:05:03

Cullen

Yeah, For the whole thing. Yeah, for.

00:05:05:03 - 00:05:06:15

Clark

The whole thing. You look at any.

00:05:06:16 - 00:05:22:19

Cullen

Look at that. That's an example of, you know, intentionally pushing visual technology to a point that it's not necessarily usually used. You're experimenting with it. Whereas then you look at Tenet, which just came out, the Christopher Nolan newest Nolan one, where he tried to experiment with sound by.

00:05:22:19 - 00:05:23:11

Clark

Which Nolan.

00:05:23:11 - 00:05:32:18

Cullen

Using the dialog Yeah and everyone's complaining critics audience you know, everyone sort of said like I can't hear anything. And so it's like you can experiment with one. You can't really.

00:05:32:18 - 00:05:33:09

Clark

It's difficult.

00:05:33:09 - 00:05:38:03

Cullen

You know, it's difficult to experiment in a way of, of, you know, you can definitely experiment with sound. You know.

00:05:38:03 - 00:06:01:22

Clark

Legibility is an issue for sure. I, I remember now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to have a pretty vivid, vivid, vivid memory of Interstellar also had significant issues or complaints in theaters. No one had really specifically, you know, he he specifically mixed that film. And isn't this right? And he, you know, had very specific instruction for how it was supposed to be.

00:06:01:22 - 00:06:20:13

Clark

The sound was supposed to be replicated in theaters. Now, I remember seeing that film and I actually saw it at a screening in Los Angeles. I don't recall the theater now because this has been I don't know that the film is, what, like a 24 hour? It's crazy. But Nolan was there. He did a Q&A. It was one of the first screenings of the film.

00:06:21:00 - 00:06:34:09

Clark

And I remember thinking to myself, I can hardly understand a damn word. Mm hmm. Because there was so much of that ultra low frequency, there was so much base and there was so much dialog. There was underneath sound effects. And and I.

00:06:34:09 - 00:06:48:17

Cullen

Think that's the thing is that sound is weirdly enough, even though it's not something that you can like physically see, sound is a lot less subjective than visuals.

00:06:49:01 - 00:06:53:00

Clark

When it comes to being able to tolerate. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's legibility.

00:06:53:00 - 00:07:06:23

Cullen

You can and you know, there's, there's all these things as well where sound is an instant reaction. You know, a lot of people say if you're cutting to a beat of a song, the visual should be cut a frame before the beat the song because our minds will.

00:07:06:23 - 00:07:08:06

Clark

Process sound, process.

00:07:08:06 - 00:07:31:18

Cullen

The sound faster. Exactly. So it's almost this there's this different reaction in our brains to sound, which is, of course, we're getting very scientific here. But I think it's really important to understand these elements because I agree, you know, I love experimental. I always said that experimenting with sound is very, very similar to experimenting with visual effects, like practical visual effects you think that you can make and we'll get into that.

00:07:31:22 - 00:07:32:16

Clark

And we're going to get into.

00:07:32:16 - 00:07:34:22

Cullen

That, too. But but it's really interesting.

00:07:34:22 - 00:08:01:19

Clark

And I think it's an area where, you know, it's there's a little bit less I mean, at least for the amateur or kind of like up and coming filmmaker. I think there's so much opportunity there to really explore using sound as another, you know, as a not just, okay, I'm going to get it right, but to really, you know, take that and turn it into something stylistic and artistic and adding to the storytelling.

00:08:01:19 - 00:08:23:08

Cullen

But it's one of the few it's one of the few aspects of film. However, though, that has to be high quality, it does. You know, it's one of these things where it's like there's such a quality barrier on sound that you often, you know, people will forgive. Again, if you can't afford a great camera and you shoot on a can and rebel people will forgive that for the the merit of the film, whereas people are a lot less forgiving if they won't mix or scratchy.

00:08:23:08 - 00:08:25:11

Cullen

And there's wind and you know, all this, there's.

00:08:25:17 - 00:08:52:07

Clark

There's no question. So but but thankfully, thankfully, as Herzog talks about in this lesson, I mean, we do live in an era where not only has camera technology and editing technology increased in capability and decreased in cost, but of course, so has audio quality or audio equipment. Right. And so, I mean, right now I'm recording using a road boom mic that I actually use often when I'm shooting and recording with a task.

00:08:52:08 - 00:09:11:07

Clark

Hamdy 70. It's just a little bitty, tiny external digital four track recorder here. That's SLR input with phantom power. It's extremely easy to use. I don't recall it being it's I've owned it now for, I don't know, probably four years some odd. I don't remember how much it cost, but I remember it being quite cost effective and practical.

00:09:12:08 - 00:09:22:12

Clark

There are you know, thankfully there are tools available now where you can get good quality sound without having to break the bank. So it that's awesome.

00:09:22:15 - 00:09:46:23

Cullen

Yeah, the excuses are running out essentially. But I think it's really I mean, it is really pertinent, I think, to say because you you you know, unlike Herzog's first few movies or even the first few movies that you made or even, you know, even though it's much more recently, the first few movies that I made there was such a lack of availability for for not only being able to do things over, but just being able to edit sound.

00:09:47:11 - 00:10:04:13

Cullen

And nowadays it's so available and there's even new. I think Zoom just released their new recorder that that records in 32 bit audio it's kind of blow me it blew me away because it's you're able to rather than I know yours records at a dual frequency so you get the higher.

00:10:04:22 - 00:10:07:18

Clark

Correct you have got a three decibels cut on the whereas.

00:10:07:18 - 00:10:21:12

Cullen

The the the newest zoom. I can't hear what the the number is but it actually records in 32 bit. So it's much like raw where you actually it's not just two different audio files recording the entire scope of the sound as recorded.

00:10:21:12 - 00:10:22:01

Clark

So even if it.

00:10:22:01 - 00:10:24:20

Cullen

Takes, you can bring it down and you can record much greater.

00:10:24:20 - 00:10:25:14

Clark

Manipulation.

00:10:25:17 - 00:10:29:21

Cullen

Yeah, it's incredible. It's I saw, well, this video demonstration of it, it's really remarkable.

00:10:30:02 - 00:10:47:01

Clark

That's fantastic. I'm going to have to look into that as funny. I was actually just on Zoom's product page earlier today, just checking out kind of the latest and greatest in some of those smaller digital recorders. And I did not note that, but I will go back and check that out. I mean, you know, yes, I am much older than you.

00:10:47:01 - 00:11:05:18

Clark

It's true. And so, yeah, I mean, for, you know, so many of the short films that I made of which I can't even count, and most of them are gone. And I think, you know, many of this kind of learn this way, right? You I was lucky enough to have a camcorder in the family. And so I began making films for myself and my friends and my parents.

00:11:06:00 - 00:11:31:23

Clark

When I was young, there was never any way for me to extract audio from visual. And it was I. It was only on camera. Mike and I could never take the audio away from the video and I couldn't add to it and I couldn't subtract from it, not in any real practical sense. So, you know, being able to the technology we have now makes that so within the grasp of almost any filmmaker.

00:11:32:13 - 00:11:37:04

Clark

It really does just I mean, it it just blows go things open, I.

00:11:37:04 - 00:11:37:18

Cullen

Think because I.

00:11:37:18 - 00:11:38:00

Clark

Do.

00:11:38:08 - 00:12:00:21

Cullen

Because sound is so much more difficult to grasp than visuals. You know, like as a child, even you can kind of get the feeling of what makes a movie look like a movie. It's the lighting, it's the the really nice cameras, things like that. You can kind of replicate that even if you have, you know, a hI8 video recorder, but sound is so much more difficult because you don't really get to see the result or the process.

00:12:01:16 - 00:12:14:16

Cullen

And I think I mean I didn't learn in depth, you know, how sound worked probably till I went to a summer camp, a film summer camp that was, you know, taught by industry professionals. And that's actually where I teach a lot. Wait a minute now, but wait.

00:12:14:16 - 00:12:21:20

Clark

A minute, Cohen. Cohen, I'm getting an idea for film summer video cam.

00:12:21:20 - 00:12:42:23

Cullen

There you go. Exactly. Oh, believe me, we've made plenty, I'm sure. But I mean, that's what I mean. Is that it? It took it took me getting to a a you know, get getting in touch with an industry professional to learn about what sound was versus it took me watching Jurassic Park and Jaws to learn about, you know, visual storytelling.

00:12:42:23 - 00:12:44:16

Cullen

So let's talk such a difference. Yeah.

00:12:44:20 - 00:13:05:08

Clark

Okay. Let's talk about that some. So it's like, yeah, we've beat this dead horse sound is vital and I think more vital even than the visual, frankly. So let's talk about some ways that, that then if you're just starting out, you can get there, which talk about some ways that we've done this. I mean Herzog you know suggest, okay, hey, you got to learn the basics.

00:13:05:13 - 00:13:35:03

Clark

Now again, with other you know, we've talked about this in other episodes. As a director, you are not going to be the master of every single area of filmmaking, but you certainly need to learn the basics. And, you know, and I, for example, I would readily, readily, readily admit I you know, I would never do my own sound recording on anything other than an exercise that I might be shooting or or some rare exception if I'm doing some industrials or something.

00:13:35:03 - 00:13:58:06

Clark

And it's very simple, I'm there, you know, shooting an interview and, you know, yes, I'll record my own sound there. That's not a big deal. But if I'm shooting a film, I would always have somebody who's whose expertise lies in that area to do that. But you know, what are some ways that you that you found effective then for kind of learning the basics for sound in your experience?

00:13:58:10 - 00:14:13:17

Cullen

I mean, as I said, there's there's software that you can get now that's free. And DaVinci has Fairlight built in, which is an incredible sound mixing software. I would say you should try that. Yeah, just go out. You know, again, things are so available now, too. Even again, when I was a kid, they weren't.

00:14:14:00 - 00:14:16:23

Clark

Now is fairly is very in the free distribution.

00:14:16:23 - 00:14:22:01

Cullen

Yeah it's in the free resolve as far as I know it's in a free resolving. Okay. I've never actually used the free one but, but I'm pretty sure that it is.

00:14:22:03 - 00:14:28:04

Clark

Not to degree I use audition not to get too in the weeds. Here is Fairlight. You have experience with that. It's something you can.

00:14:28:06 - 00:14:46:22

Cullen

Barely scrape fairly because. Because the thing is that you know, again, as you said, not to get too into the weeds, but Fairlight was a separate audio software entirely that DaVinci or Blackmagic bought and put in and then incorporated. Yeah, yeah. So it wasn't like they just kind of built their own and right in there half assed. It was actually quite an established.

00:14:48:02 - 00:15:06:15

Clark

So you can start to learn the software, you know, some of the things to, to even kind of step back even further from, you know, learning kind of technical aspects, but learning from kind of a, you know, starting to understand more about sound and kind of starting to lead a little bit more with your ear as opposed to just your eyes when you're filmmaking.

00:15:06:15 - 00:15:27:21

Clark

I mean, some of the stuff that I've done and I find it quite enjoyable too, so maybe I'm weird. Is that way back when, when DVDs first came out, I was blown away by the fact that I could strip the audio off the DVDs and make an MP three. Yeah, I would often do that. I would strip the audio from my favorite films and then just listen to them.

00:15:28:04 - 00:15:32:06

Cullen

And I remember you mentioning that to me because you mentioned T is a great one to do.

00:15:32:06 - 00:15:56:03

Clark

Yeah, yeah, it, it is T. S is an excellent film to do that with. And so, you know, they're it's, I'm completely focused on the sound and it really is amazing especially with a good set of headphones on. You've got a good DVD audio rip it really allows you to focus on. Of course not just the soundtrack, but the Foley work, the dialog record.

00:15:56:03 - 00:16:03:23

Clark

I mean, it's just amazing how much you can focus on it as opposed to just, you know, watching the flick and you're in your living room. I highly recommend it.

00:16:04:04 - 00:16:13:08

Cullen

And the conversation's another great one to watch, you know? Oh, for sure. Lucas were very, very forward on the sound. They kind of were pioneers of of new sound technology.

00:16:13:12 - 00:16:32:06

Clark

I mean, I would highly recommend, you know, take whatever your favorite film. So everybody, you know, anybody out there, great Take your favorite film and you know, I just did it that way because I wanted to have the audio portable on my phone. I could listen to headphones. Of course you can, you know, just put the audio on some source and just not watch the video.

00:16:32:11 - 00:16:42:07

Clark

If you don't want to go through the trouble of actually extracting the audio track. But I highly recommend, you know, and go do it like an abbey. Just listen to the audio and then go back and just watch the video.

00:16:42:17 - 00:17:03:14

Cullen

Very, very similarly to, I think one thing that taught me so much about sound when I was kind of starting out was and this is something that I use with the students that I teach is make a movie, make a short film centered around sound, and then do one edit of it where everything is entirely t post. All the sound is either Foley that you've.

00:17:03:14 - 00:17:04:14

Clark

Recorded or ADR.

00:17:04:14 - 00:17:25:19

Cullen

Separately or ADR. Okay? And then do another one where you try to use everything that was on set, recorded and on location. And I think that, you know, you're very you're very rarely going to come into a situation where you're making your own thing and you have to choose one or the other. But I think it really, at least to me, gave me both with the one that was all post sound, gave me a chance to really experiment.

00:17:26:03 - 00:17:44:22

Cullen

And I still use that great strategy in in things that I do today. But the one that was in all location sound taught me, you know, what did I miss here? You know, if I only had this to work with, how can I go back and do it better next time? Because yeah, the mic bump something or was the input too low?

00:17:44:22 - 00:18:00:13

Cullen

Was it, you know, all the different stuff that you can really kind of gauge just from doing that? It becomes really fun. And even just, you know, Herzog mentions in his masterclass going outside with a microphone to a forest and spending a night there and recording. But right now you just do it around your house, do it in your backyard.

00:18:00:20 - 00:18:20:22

Cullen

And that's kind of what I mean when I said that I find Foley especially very similar to those old style VFX where it's like you're just experimenting, you're just looking for new ways to create different sounds and which I think is really fun. I use to actually want to be a Foley artist. That was my oh, that's all my desire as a kid to work.

00:18:20:22 - 00:18:21:02

Cullen

Yeah.

00:18:21:09 - 00:19:00:21

Clark

Well, it is it is a fantastic. There are, you know, I've seen documentaries, of course, once again, I can't remember the names, but I've seen some great pieces, whether it's Featurettes or, you know, docs on Foley Artist. And it really is truly an extraordinary art form, frankly. And it's, I think, really underappreciated. It's you know, it's one of those things that if you're if you're just kind of a casual or even, you know, even a little bit more than just a casual, you know, film watcher, if you've not really made a lot of films, you start to realize how interestingly that, you know, very real sounds won't play as real when you know, you've actually

00:19:00:23 - 00:19:15:17

Clark

it's just amazing how sometimes it's actually these these Foley sounds or what an audience expects things to sound like. And if you have a realistic sound, it's not going to play. It's just very interesting sometimes how that how that goes.

00:19:15:17 - 00:19:35:21

Cullen

But and he he does mention that sort of when when he talks about the encounters at the end of the world and he talks about how they you know this in that kind of gets into this whole idea of diegetic versus extra diegetic sound, the sound that you put in. Um, and I mean, that's that's somewhat real. Well, that's it's technically within.

00:19:35:21 - 00:19:37:01

Cullen

Yeah, sure. So let's.

00:19:37:01 - 00:19:41:03

Clark

Explain. Just people who don't. So go ahead. So diegetic is.

00:19:41:16 - 00:19:51:07

Cullen

So diegetic is basically any sound that is within the scene. So you put it pretty well, which was like a a radio playing or you know, sounds.

00:19:51:07 - 00:19:51:12

Clark

In the.

00:19:51:15 - 00:19:52:03

Cullen

Footsteps.

00:19:52:08 - 00:19:59:20

Clark

We see a radio, right. And it's in the room and we hear the music from the radio. Yeah, everything else is extra diegetic.

00:19:59:20 - 00:20:05:05

Cullen

So extra diegetic is sound that you can basically say the, you know, the characters can't hear or that nobody with. And that's.

00:20:05:05 - 00:20:05:16

Clark

A great way to.

00:20:05:16 - 00:20:23:06

Cullen

Hear. So, so soundtrack. But there are also sound effects that can be expedited yet you know like in Saving Private Ryan when that that opening scene on the beach when Tom Hanks kind of gets shell shocked and you've got all those like crazy sounds going on that it sort of sounds like a kettle reaching its kind of climax.

00:20:23:06 - 00:20:38:03

Cullen

And that would be considered extra diegetic, even though it's implying that Tom Hanks, that's kind of what his emotional sensory is. Right. There's no cattle on the beach there. Right. Okay. It's very much it's you. It's interesting.

00:20:38:03 - 00:21:00:17

Clark

I have never I have never kind of correlated that sound to a kettle. But I do remember that that, you know, and I don't know if Saving Private Ryan was the first film to do this, but I felt like I've seen so many films after use that effect of of shock and then, you know, kind of coming back to yeah well you know, so let's talk a little bit about some more of these things.

00:21:00:17 - 00:21:26:08

Clark

I mean, I think, you know, Herzog talks about the importance of paying attention to sound when you're scouting locations. He talks about, you know, this, he tells the story about which is like wild, of course, like every time Herzog tells a story, I'm like, of course they would try that. It's like it talks about they soak in the floorboards of this room in order to be able to shoot there without having the floors creaking so much that you, you know, that they couldn't get on location sound.

00:21:26:08 - 00:21:56:02

Clark

It's hysterical, I don't think. He says that didn't end up working, but but it proves it or it's speaks to a really important point. I can't tell you how many times that, you know, I've been on a shoot many times as an actor and, you know, this location has been scouted and not enough attention was paid to, you know, the fact that, let's say, like it's a it's an apartment or something and you can't control the vasey or, you know, it's right next to a highway or, you know, it's right under an airport.

00:21:56:08 - 00:22:17:03

Clark

Just, you know, it's the neighbors are the walls are paper thin. And you can hear the neighbors right through the wall and you have no way of controlling the neighbors. I mean, certainly these things are important. And Herzog rightly points out that it's vital when you're scouting locations to have these things in mind because it can really make or break a shoot.

00:22:17:15 - 00:22:18:07

Clark

There's no question.

00:22:18:07 - 00:22:28:13

Cullen

Especially with things like documentary, sometimes you may not even get to scout. You know, we for sure, again wish you shooting that documentary in L.A. We shot in that that school.

00:22:28:19 - 00:22:29:14

Clark

The studio, Right.

00:22:29:14 - 00:22:46:21

Cullen

The studios. Technically, the studio, Yeah. And it had a streetcar going down below that kind of honked every few minutes. And I remember I do remember we actually I remember that one of the the interview as well with the air conditioning. And then right before we started, we both sort of went, oh, air conditioning, you know, it's like this this really quick thing.

00:22:46:21 - 00:23:02:17

Cullen

But but again, it's things like that that you immediately kind of you can't hesitate on it like we couldn't have possibly gone on. Maybe we should do this or that. All we have to do is kind of embrace it and then we can go, Well, maybe, you know, if it's so low, maybe we actually put in city sound effects behind that.

00:23:02:17 - 00:23:06:07

Cullen

So it sounds intentional. Sure. Or said that's out with great example.

00:23:06:07 - 00:23:06:19

Clark

I think.

00:23:06:19 - 00:23:07:12

Cullen

Later you can.

00:23:08:04 - 00:23:08:16

Clark

Just get.

00:23:08:19 - 00:23:09:05

Cullen

Better with.

00:23:09:05 - 00:23:24:02

Clark

It and you know this sparks to mind an idea to you know, when when I'm scouting a location for sound, I'm trying to ascertain what the sound situation is. I used a mic that I'm going to be using and my headset.

00:23:24:14 - 00:23:26:01

Cullen

That's yeah, I walk around with it.

00:23:26:03 - 00:23:58:11

Clark

Yeah. Just because it's it's amazing how different that experience is going to be than if you're just walking around with your unaided ears. It will be a significantly different experience. So I just I highly recommend, you know, if when you really want to get a sense of what something sounds like, take one of your primary microphones, run it through your amp, your recorder, and use the headset that, you know, use a good quality headset and I think it'll give you a much more accurate representation of what's going to actually end up in your recording as opposed to just your naked ears.

00:23:59:06 - 00:23:59:19

Cullen

Exactly.

00:24:00:12 - 00:24:23:11

Clark

So you talked about so we're talking about, you know, all different kinds of stuff, diegetic versus extra diegetic, talking about using sound as an effect. Let's also talk a little bit about ADR and location sound. Now, this is not something that Herzog speaks to directly or much. I mean, he he talks about the importance of getting on location sound.

00:24:23:16 - 00:24:34:17

Clark

But of course, ADR is a thing. It exists, and it's a tool that can be profoundly helpful, but may have its own pros and cons. So let's talk about that now.

00:24:34:17 - 00:25:12:03

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, I think that there's kind of a stigma about there's this really bad line, you know, let's fix it in post or whatever that that would get you thrown off any set. But I do think that people often think that it's one or the other. And I think that the the best and the most efficient sets in the sense that usually get the best results that I've seen and actually worked on personally have been the ones that do very much marry those two and, you know, don't stress about if the location sounds not perfect because there are very many ways to you know, yeah, slap myself on the wrist, but there are many

00:25:12:03 - 00:25:15:14

Cullen

ways to fix it. Exactly. And the lack of a better term.

00:25:15:15 - 00:25:43:08

Clark

I will take a step back here. Now, this is always I'm not going to even lie. I had to look this up. I always forget this because the the name has kind of gotten a little bit stretched from its you know, it's used to just mean any after the fact audio recording for dialog. But ADR stands for automated dialog replacement and most of us as as small independent filmmakers.

00:25:43:08 - 00:26:11:12

Clark

This isn't going to be automated in any real way. You're going to have to actually do this kind of tediously unless you've got some budget to go into a studio that does this. But but that just means that you, for whatever reason, you are recording dialog to dub in over the video you've recorded and replace whatever audio or dialog was recorded there on location, just in case there was any question about that.

00:26:11:17 - 00:26:22:00

Clark

And so you're saying you think this is a tool, It's in the toolbox. A lot of people flip out, you know, don't, don't, don't use it, but that it actually can be really helpful.

00:26:22:13 - 00:26:33:02

Cullen

Oh, yeah, I've used it many times. I try not to if I can get great sound on location first. Yeah, very much prefer that. But I think that if it's done well, people can't notice. And that's, that's the goal.

00:26:33:02 - 00:27:02:12

Clark

Right. That's the goal. I think it's you know it's certainly so yeah. You said, you know, look I try to do everything I can to not have to ADR and that's absolutely you know, my preference is certainly to get the performance live right there in the moment. It's probably one of the most challenging things to have to do is to try to replicate the the exact same level and tone of the performance in a booth.

00:27:03:07 - 00:27:22:09

Clark

You're you know, the actor is removed from the scene. They're you know, they're they're usually just by themselves. The other they're not going to be acting against other people. They're going to have to be watching a replay of their performance to match their, you know, timing of their original delivery so that the lips sync up with the sound.

00:27:22:12 - 00:27:22:15

Clark

Yeah.

00:27:22:18 - 00:27:23:12

Cullen

It's so different.

00:27:23:12 - 00:27:46:22

Clark

Yeah, it's very, very, very difficult. So ideally, you're not having to do much of that. But I mean, it really can save your butt and sometimes it is just frankly necessary. So definitely a valuable tool. It's challenging to do, I think, on your own without the proper, proper technical tools to do it easily. But it can't be done.

00:27:47:01 - 00:27:49:12

Clark

Be done. It can definitely, definitely be done.

00:27:49:12 - 00:28:01:01

Cullen

Use a closet. That'll be my piece of advice. If you don't have a place to record, just just literally, you know, closets are so great because they're so insulated with sound. Yeah. And because you've got coats and whatever hanging up just so.

00:28:01:07 - 00:28:03:07

Clark

The Canadians have coats and everything.

00:28:03:08 - 00:28:09:20

Cullen

That's a good point. Yeah, well, stick some, you know, some parkas in there, you know. But no, we just have.

00:28:09:20 - 00:28:11:10

Clark

Shorts and t shirts down here, man.

00:28:11:21 - 00:28:36:12

Cullen

Yeah. And that's, that's what I will say though, that it is much more it's kind of ironic because again, sound has such a high barrier for quality that people will accept. But I will also say it is easier to if you know what you're doing, it is easier to replicate the sound quality of a blockbuster motion picture than it is to replicate the visual quality of a blockbuster.

00:28:37:01 - 00:28:56:02

Cullen

And that's kind of where it sounds counterintuitive because it's like, Well, if people think that the quality of sound matters way more, how could that be? But if you do a good job on sound, you can get perfect sound with with with low end equipment, not low low. And of course, it depends. There's a barrier in terms of like if the equipment actually just sucks.

00:28:56:07 - 00:29:20:00

Cullen

But with consumer grade equipment that that is high quality you can easily get. Not easily. I keep saying easily, but with with the skill, put it in the time put in you can get the quality to to match that of something that you would see as a big studio film. Yeah. Whereas with visuals that can be, you know, ten times more difficult to actually match that kind of element if you are trying to get it to look like it's a big budget or whatever.

00:29:20:05 - 00:29:43:02

Clark

Right? Well, you know, I certainly I like I said, I'm not an expert, you know, And the only mastering that I've really done was stereo. I've never I don't have experience with surround sound. 5.1, 7.1 ultra low end frequencies. I you know, there are so many I mean, it really I'll just frankly admit that I am not even remotely an expert, but I do understand the importance of it.

00:29:43:02 - 00:30:12:19

Clark

And certainly you've got to carve out budget for that and and find somebody who has an expertise in it. I am not. But it's it's it's fascinating to me. I have on a feature film, a horror film that I was a part of a while back. It was brought in to help assist the interactions between the the guy or the team that was mastering everything, doing the sound design and providing feedback.

00:30:12:19 - 00:30:35:00

Clark

And it was a really eye opening experience. It's not stuff that, you know, at that high of a level. It's not something that I would have ever done myself. I have great respect for people who are experts in that, but really just that the level of, you know, what you can do with sound design and you had spoken to this to where you're talking about sound is in effects.

00:30:35:06 - 00:30:45:18

Clark

And we've talked I mean, you've got location, sound, ADR. We talked a little bit about Foley. It's just it's it's really a cool, cool place to play. And as a filmmaker.

00:30:46:12 - 00:30:47:02

Cullen

Absolutely.

00:30:47:03 - 00:31:06:08

Clark

And, you know, and we haven't even talked to much about this, which is, you know, stylistically using sound. Herzog in this lesson, talks about blending and distorting sounds for stylization. And, you know, here for the past 30 minutes, we've been talking about, you know, just kind of recording sound properly.

00:31:06:22 - 00:31:08:13

Cullen

We've heard the technicalities in.

00:31:08:13 - 00:31:28:14

Clark

Right? We haven't even touched base on using sound artistically. Stylistically. You know, Herzog talks about he he mentions a couple examples from his film, Signs of Life, where he has the distorted applause with I don't even know how to describe this. What kind of what would how would you call it when a wire like twangs? Almost.

00:31:28:14 - 00:31:30:10

Cullen

Yeah, it's like a what would.

00:31:30:10 - 00:31:30:21

Clark

You call it?

00:31:31:10 - 00:31:32:05

Cullen

I don't even know.

00:31:32:08 - 00:32:09:18

Clark

I don't even know. But you get the. It's like a guitar string. Imagine, you know, you have these high power, like high tension lines. They kind of have this like we. But I. That was horrible. I can't believe I just did that. It just we. But I think people get the idea but you know how he he combined these sounds with the the that you know the scene of the kind of famous scene of the sea of windmills and then he mentions another film encounters at the end of the world where he has the scientist, this poor scientist who's, you know, half of her face froze off, lays down on the ice and he uses

00:32:09:18 - 00:32:14:07

Clark

this wild I think he actually uses the term like Pink Floyd esque or something to.

00:32:14:16 - 00:32:17:23

Cullen

Yeah, that's very much like the dark side of the moon. Yeah.

00:32:17:23 - 00:32:24:02

Clark

Yeah. And I don't remember it personally being too much like Pink Floyd, but I feel, you know, I get it, I get it.

00:32:24:09 - 00:32:26:10

Cullen

But maybe it's just a word for crazy.

00:32:26:20 - 00:32:51:05

Clark

Weird or. Yeah, but. Or psychedelic or something. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I love Floyd and Dark Side of the Moon is, I think, one of the greatest rock albums to ever have been recorded. But but yeah, so he mentions those examples and I'm I know there are many more in his filmography now. This is definitely an area that I have not explored any anywhere near to the level that I've explored some other aspects of filmmaking.

00:32:51:05 - 00:33:14:07

Clark

So I, you know, this was kind of an inspiration to me and just a reminder of, you know, hey, there's this whole other area here where it's not just about recording accurately at a high level of competence, of, you know, of cleanliness and resolution. But there's just this whole world of style of of design available to you. There's so many things.

00:33:14:08 - 00:33:35:08

Clark

I mean, you know, it just you can translate. I mean, we talk about often the just the nuance and subtlety of mise en scene manipulation that you can use this just all these layers of of storytelling density, visual aid. We talk about how you can manipulate these things to elicit, you know, profound emotional response. And like a sound is probably even more so.

00:33:35:08 - 00:33:56:13

Clark

I mean, you talked about how it's almost a more primal, right? You never stop listening when you sleep. You've stopped watching, but you never stop hearing. It's such a primal. I can't It's like the amount of time like you would said, the amount of time it takes for sound to go from your ear to your brain is, I think, considerably less than it takes to get from your eye to your brain.

00:33:56:18 - 00:34:02:03

Clark

Yeah, it's even though we're very visual creatures, this is such a primal emotionally. Yeah.

00:34:02:03 - 00:34:07:20

Cullen

Because the visuals are more complex or sound is usually very, very simple, even if it is, you know, a created.

00:34:07:20 - 00:34:14:08

Clark

Conscious and it's evolutionary, right? It's like you're asleep on the plains of Africa and you know, you hear some horror lion.

00:34:14:09 - 00:34:14:15

Cullen

Yeah.

00:34:14:18 - 00:34:33:06

Clark

I mean, it's like, boom. I said, I'm never going to pretend to be an evolutionary science or scientist or whatever you would call that. But, but yeah, I and so there's just it's just awesome to me, you know, again, to be reminded for myself that, hey, there's this whole other world here.

00:34:33:21 - 00:34:59:01

Cullen

And it's funny cause I actually, again, like I said, this was kind of where a lot of my interest used to lie and still does Just less career orange hat. But, you know, back when I was younger, I really, really wanted to do sound experimentation and Foley and all that design. Yeah. For a living. And I think that, you know, it can be as simple as just it's just like everything in film is about.

00:34:59:02 - 00:35:21:01

Cullen

A lot of it's about manipulation. And I think that, you know, an example being that the Hitchcock short that I just made the there's a moment where there's a character who's entering a house to kill another character and they're walking up the stairs in the character. Their main character's waiting at the top of the stairs and it's dark and you can't see the person, but you can hear them coming up the stairs.

00:35:21:13 - 00:35:39:20

Cullen

And there's, I think, like steps on the staircase. And those ten steps were done instantly on the day, you know, just take that long, climb, ten steps. But I basically extended it to like 20 steps. I'm just like creaking coming up the stairs. So and I think that again, that this is where it's like it doesn't have to be realistic.

00:35:40:17 - 00:36:04:22

Cullen

You can use it. And same with the know. There's the famous scene in The Godfather when Michael shoots the police captain and the Mafioso in the Little cafe and in that there's this this sound of the subway going up above the restaurant. And the subway sound cuts to silence. As soon as Michael pulls the trigger, you still hear the other sounds, you still hear footsteps and stuff like that.

00:36:04:22 - 00:36:29:00

Cullen

But it's utilizing again, that's kind of where this diegetic versus extra diegetic comes in, where it's you're utilizing diegetic sound in an extra diegetic fashion to emphasize. And it doesn't have to be. Again, you can very rarely are sound effects in film, even if they're supposed to replicate real life, very rarely are they exactly replicating real life. They're usually exaggerated in some way.

00:36:29:01 - 00:36:59:13

Clark

Exactly. And that's where I was kind of saying that, you know, if you just use the literal sound of what was happening, it it's just funny because we've kind of all inherited this grammar of film, which also includes Foley work and the sound effects. It just it doesn't it doesn't seem, quote unquote, you know, even real, even if you're going for a realistic effect, a much less a stylized effect, it'll come off so flat some of these things get exaggerated to kind of ridiculousness.

00:36:59:13 - 00:37:05:03

Clark

Like sometimes it's hysterical to think of like, you know, the sounds of like a fist hitting somebody's face.

00:37:05:20 - 00:37:14:13

Cullen

Is actually a baseball bat, hitting a leather jacket or something. I mean, I've done that. I had a horror movie where someone had to be being gouged by this demon. And we.

00:37:14:19 - 00:37:17:00

Clark

Covered this such a violent, such.

00:37:17:00 - 00:37:18:04

Cullen

Violence. Sorry about.

00:37:18:14 - 00:37:18:17

Clark

That.

00:37:18:19 - 00:37:46:11

Cullen

Just all in. But but we used a watermelon. We were like scraping out a watermelon had and even, you know, the sound of the monster was like my dog's breathing slowed down to like, you know, 50% or 20% or something like that. So we just again, it and that's one of the that's kind of where I describe it as being very similar to visual effects, old style, old style visual effects where it's like you can go out and record your dog, you know, drinking water and slow it down to 5% and see how that sounds.

00:37:46:11 - 00:37:52:19

Cullen

Then go, Oh no, that's not right. And then go back out and get something else. Play it back, play around with it. So, you know, this reminds me.

00:37:52:19 - 00:38:22:22

Clark

Yeah, this reminds me. I mean, you know, gosh, I really hope my memory serves here because it has been a very long time. But if I you know, of course, it's it's like pretty common that you'll find commentary tracks will have that director obviously often producers certainly often you know lead actors. So it's very rare that you get a commentary track where you've got somebody who is, you know, one of the heads of the sound department, whether they were, you know, overall kind of sound design or whatever it might have been, it's very rare.

00:38:23:03 - 00:38:32:21

Clark

But if I'm not mistaken, isn't that don't the original Star Wars films, at least like The New Hope? Isn't there a commentary track from the sound designer.

00:38:32:21 - 00:38:38:13

Cullen

From Ben Burtt? There probably is. I wouldn't be surprised because Ben Burtt was definitely one of the and again, pioneers.

00:38:38:13 - 00:38:56:17

Clark

And like I said, it's been a while. It's been a while. But I mean, I remember being blown away by the detail where he described, you know, the blending of different sounds, how he would go out and and record all of these sounds and blend them together to make everything from, you know, the creature. And I'm pretty sure Ben's lights to.

00:38:56:18 - 00:39:01:01

Cullen

Ajax as well so sure he do the sound pretty soon.

00:39:01:06 - 00:39:25:09

Clark

And so anyway I was just going to say would totally recommend seeking those out because they, they really are extraordinary. It's a little, you know, a couple of hour long film schools here that are specific to sound and should be readily available, I would imagine. But yeah, yeah. It's just it really is. It's I kind of get excited again because it's an area that I have not explored anywhere as much as I could.

00:39:25:09 - 00:39:52:01

Clark

And so, you know, trying to push myself to utilize that more in my upcoming projects to really be more conscientious from the very beginning, pre-production, you know, it's always so worried about the script and I'm always so worried about the cast and all these other things. And of course you should be. But you know, as much as I can sit here and say it sounded so vital, I mean, it still does fall lower than it probably should on my list of priorities.

00:39:52:01 - 00:39:53:16

Clark

So, I mean.

00:39:54:02 - 00:40:23:16

Cullen

That's the thing is it's especially on set, you know, as the first thing. And it's really unfortunate, but it's the first thing to kind of go out the window when things are running, you know, behind schedule. And which is ironic because it it's arguably the key thing that you need to kind of on top of. Yeah. But at the same time, I will say in this again, this takes a huge amount of understanding and it should never be a light decision.

00:40:24:07 - 00:40:47:18

Cullen

But there also is the arguments. That sound is in a way one of the easier elements to do over now, whereas if there is, you know, a boom in the shot or something goes wrong visually, visual effects are so expensive. Whereas, you know, retaking sound for Foley or whatever is is a fraction of that cost of visual effects or painting things.

00:40:47:18 - 00:40:54:18

Clark

Out can be can be I do on a project that I was a part of though a while. I mean we had to ADR so much of it that just.

00:40:54:18 - 00:40:55:12

Cullen

Became so exposed.

00:40:56:00 - 00:41:19:07

Clark

That it actually ended up being almost prohibited the film from, you know, any kind of release on the Thankfully, it was we overcame the challenge and I was a very small piece of that film. And I think it's a really killer little horror film. And it came quite nice. But it was I mean, it was it took a very long period of time and I think considerable money to repair this issue.

00:41:19:07 - 00:41:41:09

Clark

So but I think also to you know, that was we use that as an opportunity as well to modify performance, modify some dialog. So there was a little bit of, I would say, quote unquote, editing that was done, which is of course, something else you can do with ADR, right? I mean, you can literally change the script, you can modify performances if, you know, hopefully you're not having to do that.

00:41:42:01 - 00:42:02:07

Clark

Certainly you shouldn't be shooting thinking you're going to do that a little later. But like, you know, but hey, things happen and it is a tool that's available to you. I just you know, this is I think we've covered just about everything. Yeah. In that lesson. But I just want to point out one thing. I've got this in my notes and doesn't have anything to do with sound, but I just love it.

00:42:03:02 - 00:42:26:11

Clark

Do you remember back Few? I forget now. It's a few lessons ago. We're talking about cameras and we're talking about how Herzog hates to have a zoom, to actually use a zoom and, you know, as a shot where we literally see the zoom. He's like, Hey, I love zoom lenses because I can recompose on the fly. And they're especially fantastic for documentary filmmaking, but I don't ever want to show a zoom.

00:42:26:18 - 00:42:40:19

Clark

I'm 99% sure if my memory is serving me that in Encounters at the End of the World, the example he gives for blending and distorting sounds for stylization, there is in fact a zoom shot there.

00:42:40:20 - 00:42:47:00

Cullen

Yeah, there's that there. There's a few. There actually are a few things that I could point out that Herzog does use as I just love a camera.

00:42:47:03 - 00:43:09:18

Clark

In by me pointing this out is absolutely not in any way to like say, oh, you know, he contradicts himself. So everything he says is it's all wrong garbage. To me, it's actually super endearing. I love the fact that he kind of contradicts himself. And I think it just goes to show that that there are just so many avenues of application for.

00:43:09:18 - 00:43:18:11

Clark

Yeah, in filmmaking and in all of these areas, it's just there's just such a such a wonderful sandbox for exploration. So. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff.

00:43:18:19 - 00:43:19:16

Cullen

Yeah. Excellent.

00:43:19:16 - 00:43:34:04

Clark

Well, Cullen, I think we've come to the end of another episode. Everybody out there in Podcast Listening Land, I want to thank you so much for hanging out with us. I hope you've enjoyed this, this episode. I know that I have. Cullen Thank you so much.

00:43:34:16 - 00:43:35:04

Cullen

Thank you.

00:43:35:08 - 00:43:50:11

Clark

And until next time. Oh, wait. But before that. Before I say until next time, I have to say let's let's give a little sneak peek of what next time is going to be. So next episode, we're going to be talking about lesson 16, which is an extension of sound music.

00:43:50:20 - 00:43:55:07

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah. Which is super, super pertinent to at least what I do, so.

00:43:56:00 - 00:44:10:22

Clark

Well, fantastic. We can't. I can't wait to discuss it. This is going to be another exciting one. All right, well, until then, everybody, take care.

Episode - 015

Cullen

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Cullen McFater and with me as always, is Clark Coffey. How are you doing?

00:00:18:02 - 00:00:19:23

Clark

I'm doing fantastic, man. How are you?

00:00:20:08 - 00:00:23:08

Cullen

I'm good. I was. Should we do our weather update, our classics?

00:00:24:08 - 00:00:41:18

Clark

Well, you know, I was going to say we could do the weather update. It is a beautiful fall day here, but. Yeah, but I was just going to say, you know, we had Thanksgiving here in the United States last week, and I've been living off of pumpkin pie, basically. So I'm like, I'm I'm super amped for this episode.

00:00:41:18 - 00:00:50:05

Clark

I'm running on time. I mean, you know, it's like it's like perfect fuel. Perfect fuel for film. Yeah, But no. Yeah, everything is great, man. Yeah.

00:00:50:11 - 00:01:09:04

Cullen

Excellent. So today we're talking about lesson 16, which is music. Yeah. Which is a very interesting topic with Herzog because he, you know, he loves all that choral stuff, but he also he uses some pretty interesting music choices in a lot of ways, very kind of, you know, unusual in a way, but also work really well.

00:01:09:08 - 00:01:37:16

Clark

Certainly at least to, you know, my American ears and I would imagine like to you know, to quite a few like Western listeners, he is he uses an extraordinary range of music, which often really helps kind of lend his to his films, kind of a I don't know if it I don't know if surreal ness is the right word, but I think kind of like like or I kind of get a sense from a lot of his music choices, which is kind of what he's trying to do with the visuals of his films, right?

00:01:37:16 - 00:01:43:06

Clark

Is just like this presenting these unknown and unique landscapes. And it's like.

00:01:43:06 - 00:01:46:18

Cullen

Bringing you into a dream lights like state almost. That's. That's what I always get.

00:01:46:18 - 00:02:07:11

Clark

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, so it'll be exciting. Yeah. I think that, you know unlike some by and I Ed don't get me wrong I love Scorsese but you know it's definitely a different conversation to have about music than if you were talking about a director like him because we could just talk about the Rolling Stones, you know, if we were going to talk about what I mean, I kind of joke, obviously.

00:02:07:11 - 00:02:14:07

Clark

Scorsese He uses a lot. A lot means a lot of music. That's not the Rolling Stones, but it's kind of funny that I don't.

00:02:14:10 - 00:02:15:04

Cullen

It always comes up.

00:02:15:15 - 00:02:22:09

Clark

It always comes up. And, you know, Herzog is somebody that uses such that he uses such an interesting breadth and range of music.

00:02:22:09 - 00:02:39:09

Cullen

And it's almost, I find the not to dwell on the difference for too long, but I always find that the interesting part of it, the difference is that I find that that Scorsese he his, you know, attraction to that type of music comes from the fact that it's almost like his childhood or whatever, right? Like the nostalgia of it.

00:02:39:09 - 00:02:49:09

Cullen

Whereas yes. Herzog I find that he almost and I can't confirm this because he's never really said this, but I feel like he almost he uses music that he's hearing for the first time during production, you know.

00:02:49:10 - 00:03:05:09

Clark

So it's it's really interesting that you mentioned that. It's interesting that you mention it now. You know, again, I can't I don't know for sure. You know, it's one of those things where I have I've read so many interviews or watched so many interviews of Herzog, and I've listened to him kind of speak about his child so many times that I can't place this specifically.

00:03:05:09 - 00:03:21:15

Clark

But and people out there, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I am 99% sure that Herzog claims at least that he actually did not hear like recorded music until he was about 18 now. So yeah.

00:03:21:15 - 00:03:24:05

Cullen

And so never heard that. But that's interesting, right?

00:03:24:10 - 00:03:41:06

Clark

And so. Right. If it's true, it you know, it's it's part of the mythology. Like I said, I'm almost positive Herzog has said this, you know, about himself, you know, and I would assume it's true if he said it. I don't know why you would make that out. But there is a huge difference, right? Because you're exactly right.

00:03:41:06 - 00:04:03:00

Clark

You point out something really interesting in that, you know, if you hadn't heard music and rights, Herzog also had not seen film until he was kind of formed in a sense, you know, basically like at the end of adolescence, then you wouldn't have that right? You the whole like this nostalgia that, let's say somebody like Scorsese he has where he's bringing in music he grew up with.

00:04:03:06 - 00:04:25:15

Clark

Well, if you don't grow up with music, I would imagine that gives you an entirely unique perspective on how you see music just in general, right? So it's an interesting it's really interesting that you bring that up. But but yeah, I'll have to go back and look. But I'm almost positive that that's kind of part of the mythology of Herzog, you know, that somehow he grew up without even recorded music until he was 18.

00:04:25:15 - 00:04:28:20

Clark

But, you know, growing up in the Bavarian mountains or whatever.

00:04:28:20 - 00:04:52:14

Cullen

There were no there were no turntables or record. But. Right. And I know we've we've talked about this before individually and you've mentioned that you when you write, sometimes you'll write with music. And I think we both do, but I think we do in very different ways. Okay. I'm curious to know what you're like. How is music involved in your process and your creative process?

00:04:52:14 - 00:05:13:04

Clark

Sure, sure. It's so and this is not always right. This is this is sometimes, but often I will, you know, and this music comes in at a handful of ways. So sometimes let's say I'll sit down and I know the scene that I'm trying to write or let's say I'm editing it right. I need to I need to revisit a scene and rewrite a scene.

00:05:13:16 - 00:05:38:23

Clark

And and so I already have like this conceptual conceptualization of what the scene is going to be. I will sometimes listen to music that I feel really represents the energy or tone of this scene. Right. And and so often to for me, it's like there may be even like one specific song or a couple songs and it can get kind of, I have to do this with headphones on because it can drive anybody around me nuts.

00:05:39:04 - 00:05:58:09

Clark

But I might listen to a song on loop, you know, for the entire duration of my writing of the scene. If I feel like that song really encapsulates and represents the tone or energy that I'm going for or puts me in an emotional state that I, you know, that I feel like represents the scene, if that makes sense.

00:05:58:09 - 00:06:24:12

Clark

Other times, if I if I'm kind of, you know, writing a first draft and I don't know where things are going to go necessarily, I might listen to music that maybe an artist or an album or kind of pick a playlist that I feel like, you know, puts me in the space, the overall kind of space of whatever story that I am writing and, and something and I kind of might refine that as I go write the story, might take me in different places.

00:06:24:12 - 00:06:34:09

Clark

And I find that the music I'm currently listening to is not a good representation of that. And so I'll stop and find something else or, you know, But then sometimes I'm curious.

00:06:34:09 - 00:06:50:03

Cullen

To know though, is does that, does that song like let's say you find a song that really well encapsulates the mood of your scene, does that then carry on through your production? Like, do you use that when you are shot listing? And then do you use that when you're, you know, even getting you psyched up for the shoot?

00:06:50:03 - 00:06:59:18

Cullen

And then do you use that when you're editing? And then do you if you're using a composer, do you share that song with the composer, or is it something that just kind of starts and ends in editing or in writing?

00:06:59:18 - 00:07:28:12

Clark

Yeah, so that's a really good question. I think, you know, in my in my experience, it's run the gamut out of it. Sometimes those things kind of stop with writing because whatever I've written ends up changing so much, whether it's through rewrites or, you know, I've never actually shot with music. And I and it's something that I certainly could explore, but I tend to not kind of give that piece to the other.

00:07:28:19 - 00:07:45:23

Clark

So let's say, you know, I've written a scene where there's a couple actors there, you know, it's they're having some kind of like moment or dialog here. I've never and I've written the scene to a particular piece of music. I've never said, Hey, actors, here's some music that I wrote that this where to write, you know, take this as part of your homework.

00:07:45:23 - 00:08:11:14

Clark

I've actually never done anything like that. I've and I've definitely never had any songs carry all the way through the process to the point of that actual song is in the finished product because I've just never been in a position to be able to afford, you know, most of the music that I listen to to actually put it in my films, but I definitely have like four people have collaborated with who've written music, written and recorded music.

00:08:11:14 - 00:08:32:18

Clark

I've definitely said, Hey, here are some examples of but I don't think I've ever given just one piece of music, though, and said, Hey, this is what I listened to whenever I wrote this. I want you to create something that's similar to tone. I'm afraid if I give like one piece of music that there might be a temptation to just kind of try to recreate that one piece.

00:08:32:18 - 00:08:34:22

Cullen

So yeah, that's that's a very specific.

00:08:35:05 - 00:08:57:12

Clark

Insight that yeah, and so that's what I've always, you know, for my process if I give music and but sometimes it's not music necessarily that I might give it, you know, I have, I have given, you know, like pictures of paintings or clips from other films or, you know, it's not always just music as an inspiration that I have given to composers because I, you know, I'm not a musician myself.

00:08:57:12 - 00:09:17:10

Clark

So let's get that right off the, you know, get that right out there in the open. And I don't want to to hand over to someone who is a musician, who is a composer, my limitations, right? So, you know, I want them. I'm saying, hey, you know, please, like take a look at the scene or here's you know, here's the script.

00:09:17:10 - 00:09:40:09

Clark

Like, I want to bring them into the story and I want I really want to maximize their ability to collaborate and bring their expertise and talent to the film. So I'm really you know, I am very cautious. I understand my limitations. I'm pretty narrow, so I don't want to bring that to other people who are actually quite broad, you know, and their skills and knowledge and experience of music.

00:09:40:09 - 00:09:42:23

Clark

So I don't know if that answered your question, you know.

00:09:42:23 - 00:09:59:20

Cullen

Yeah, that did it. So that is I was correct in my assumption that we do both start out the same but then get very different. Yeah, because for me music is very, you know, I would say 90% to 95% of the time that I write something or that I create something. Yeah, music is the beginning of it.

00:10:00:01 - 00:10:00:20

Clark

Okay. Oh, wow.

00:10:00:20 - 00:10:22:05

Cullen

That's so, for example, the western that I did, I guess it's two years ago now. Or was it last year? I can't remember. But within the last few years that started because there's a piece that's unused in the thing that any American wrote. I think it's called Eternity. I think the track name is and it was unused, but it's in the soundtrack.

00:10:22:11 - 00:10:42:04

Cullen

Okay. I remember listening to it and just visualizing this idea of this. You know, it sounds sort of like a funeral march and it's this descending organ and it's great. It's very synthy as well. And I thought, this doesn't sound anything like a Western soundtrack, but I was just picturing this this like cowboy trying to return money that he stole to his family and all this stuff.

00:10:42:04 - 00:11:00:23

Cullen

And that became the movie. And so when I do that, though, and this is for I can probably say for pretty much every movie I've ever written, I will write and I will collect all the music that I wrote and I'll make almost like a proto soundtrack. Okay, that I will then visualize scenes to and do the shot listening to.

00:11:00:23 - 00:11:21:14

Cullen

And then I will share that with the cast and crew. Yeah, sort of say and then when I get to the point where I am like, I don't really play the music well while we're on set, of course, but everyone is aware of that. Then at the point where I get a composer involved, it's usually a conversation of there's sometimes when I will specifically say, I really like the sound of this, you know, like I.

00:11:21:14 - 00:11:35:14

Cullen

So for that instance, it was this descending organ that just kind of made it right from the outset of the movie seem like, you know, that this character is not going to make it out of a lot out of. And so the movie is more about how that happens rather than like what happens at the end kind of thing.

00:11:36:05 - 00:11:52:23

Cullen

So I sometimes will say, you know, I really like the sound of descending organ. So if we could do something with that, it's really cool. But I've also had experiences to where I've not really it's not been the style of music, it's been the feeling of the music that has really gotten me. So I've sort of said, take a look at the cut with it.

00:11:52:23 - 00:12:21:18

Cullen

Temp scored with this and then here's a cut completely with no music. And if you like the sound of the temp, feel free to kind of emulate that. Obviously, to a certain extent, imitation can you can get away with it, but sometimes you can't. But also I've always been very clear that it's like, you know, if you have a completely different idea, you know, that being the composer, if you have a completely different idea or something that you want to run by me, that has nothing to do with what the temp sounds like.

00:12:21:18 - 00:12:42:04

Cullen

I'm very happy to hear it. And I always just sort of consider it sort of like showing, you know, paintings or old photographs to a deep light that's kind of in my mind, the same thing where it's like this because of the fact that this track is so intertwined with with the way that the story is going and the way that the story was written.

00:12:42:08 - 00:12:59:06

Cullen

Yeah, I find that it's really to me, it really helps my process if I keep that track kind of going with it. And then, I mean, I'm lucky because I could the first few times I did this, I was concerned that if I got a temps or a score back from a composer that was completely different, that I'd be like, Oh no, it's ruined.

00:12:59:14 - 00:13:06:13

Cullen

One more often, that I am completely happy when it's changed up and it's different. I it provides a whole new life to it.

00:13:06:13 - 00:13:09:21

Clark

And so if you find that you aren't so attached like no, no, no.

00:13:09:21 - 00:13:35:09

Cullen

Yeah, it's by no means it's an attachment. Yeah. It's more of like a I take it more as like a guide that then, you know, you can kind of take the training wheels off at the end and kind of then play around with it. And I have, you know, I'm also I like you. I'm not a musician. I would say I don't I don't have much theoretical knowledge of music, but I have played piano and I know, you know, I know basic terminology and the ways to communicate certain things that I want.

00:13:36:07 - 00:14:10:01

Cullen

So I'm very involved in the music process in the way of like, you know, if I want more brass or if I want it to be faster or something like that, I can communicate those ideas. And sure, it's very collaborative, whereas I know a lot of directors just kind of hand it off and they're happy to let the and that might be one more where you lies that you kind of are happy to let a composer who's an expert on music run out that course more independently than say, you know, I'd love to be there with with the composer sitting there with the in the recording sessions and being able to listen to that.

00:14:10:10 - 00:14:29:20

Clark

Right. I mean, that I certainly would take the opportunity to do that. And it's not that I don't I think it's more just a tie, you know, in the same way that I don't give feedback to an actor saying, you know, loud, you know, I try not to speak to here's what I want, the output of your interpretation to be.

00:14:30:04 - 00:14:53:05

Clark

What I try to do is feed the input. Right? Right. And they're still working independently as an interpretive artist to take the inputs. And and I'm you know, their process brings the output, right? So I kind of it's, you know, if that makes any sense. Right. So I never say like louder, faster or softer, happier, you know, center like which are of course ridiculous, you know, defects to give to an actor.

00:14:53:05 - 00:15:14:08

Clark

But I mean, but it happens all the time. But it's more about I ask questions and try to lead through, you know, asking questions about given the circumstances and etc.. So it's kind of the same my, my, that how I would work with a composer is kind of in the same way where, you know, I'm I'm trying to I'm absolutely working hard in a collaborative way to share my vision.

00:15:14:16 - 00:15:52:21

Clark

Of what? Of the of the tone, you know, of the tone and sometimes plot although that's not as vital, but really about the feeling, what am I trying to what is what am I trying to kind of share from a deeper kind of place of feeling and and tone and color and texture in the scene? Not literally color, but, you know, but emotionally color and tone and texture and making sure that whoever is doing the music, writing the music is on on the same page as that, that as opposed to like more brass or I mean, sometimes.

00:15:52:21 - 00:16:02:23

Clark

Sure. It's like, you know, I really feel like something that's cello driven here will would work, but I'm always like open you know and.

00:16:03:10 - 00:16:30:20

Cullen

Yeah no totally that's that's I think the key and I also I mean this is also, I would say more rare, but I like more rare in the industry that I'm always happy to reedit to the composer. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like I would always say to a composer, if you have a moment that is on this Hitchcock thing that I'm doing right now, I did this exact thing where it was the composer said, I think I could use like another beat to hang on to that moment right there and do something with it.

00:16:30:20 - 00:16:54:08

Cullen

And so I'll reedit. I know that that's more difficult to do in the industry because usually it's picture locked at the point where it goes to the composer. So the VFX and all that can be absolute. But, but I, I know, I mean, I know Spielberg did that for E.T. and I think has done it several times with John Williams where it's yeah, he's been happy to, you know, reedit pieces for or moments for the music.

00:16:54:08 - 00:17:20:02

Clark

Yeah. I mean and that's a really good thing that you bring up. We've talked about writing, we've talked about other aspects of bringing music into the process, but we've not really talked about editing so much. And, you know, I really feel like for me, I've got a very a strong sense of rhythm in my writing and not just with dialog, but I have a very strong connection to a rhythm of words when I'm writing.

00:17:20:10 - 00:17:44:18

Clark

I also feel that connection very strongly in the edit. And it's interesting because more often than not, it is some kind of internal rhythm. I, I don't usually, very rarely edit to an external piece of music or rhythm or, you know, but the cut, I mean, rhythm is so vital. And again, you know, I'm not a master editor.

00:17:45:04 - 00:17:49:17

Clark

I have definitely edited a lot of things because just the nature of independent filmmaking, this is.

00:17:49:17 - 00:17:51:06

Cullen

What you kind of you will fall into.

00:17:51:06 - 00:17:53:17

Clark

It. And so but I would never say I am an editor.

00:17:54:07 - 00:17:56:00

Cullen

Me neither. Meaning by no means.

00:17:56:04 - 00:18:23:15

Clark

But just it kind of my intuitive process. I mean, is there's very much a rhythm there and you really brought up a great point. You know, it's and it just depends on like, you know, how you're able to work with people, right? I mean, especially at certain stages of your career where you don't have access to just any and every, you know, potential, you know, work, You know, the way you've got to work with people sometimes just kind of necessitates like, okay, well, you know, this is what it is.

00:18:23:15 - 00:18:46:22

Clark

So I have definitely recut things to other pieces of music. And of course, I've also had, you know, I've worked with with composers to say, hey, you know, actually like that I feel like this cut has its own really perfect internal rhythm. Let's let's actually create the music to this very specific thing. So I've done both things and hey, it's like, I think if you can do it, you know.

00:18:47:23 - 00:18:56:05

Cullen

And I think it's interesting because there's a I think it's The Hollywood Reporter roundtable with a few composers, and I think it's like Danny Elfman and oh.

00:18:56:05 - 00:18:57:00

Clark

Yeah, Alexandre.

00:18:57:00 - 00:18:59:11

Cullen

Desplat, Desplat and a few other people.

00:18:59:16 - 00:19:02:06

Clark

Okay. Is this more of a recent one I haven't seen? No, I think.

00:19:02:06 - 00:19:22:23

Cullen

I think it came out a few years ago. But it's interesting is there's a point where Danny Elfman talks about or might be Danny Elfman or someone else. He talks about the fact that when it's like cut to a temp score, that so often the rhythm of the scene is dictated by the music. And so I think that's kind of where the amendment comes in, where I say, you know, I've cut this, too.

00:19:22:23 - 00:19:39:08

Cullen

If I if I do, you know, I don't always. But in the event that I'm so, you know, into this scene, having the rhythm of of a certain piece and I cut to that, then I will always again say that like take it without the temp score once to take a look at it or even watch it before you for the temp score.

00:19:39:08 - 00:20:07:02

Cullen

The moment that and figure out where you need time where I can reedit because I'm happy to reedit. And there's another point to where they talk about what is Oh yes the the idea that and this kind of brings us up to the next point in in Herzog's comment which is that the there's a really wide kind of philosophy in music and film these days that the music shouldn't be noticed.

00:20:07:02 - 00:20:25:22

Cullen

And it's really weird to me. Oh, wow. And Elfman, really? Well, Elfman even mentions in the Hollywood Reporter entry roundtable, he says, you know, that it's an interesting kind of evolution of of movie music, that it shouldn't be noticed or that it should be under like underplay, just, you know, just to complement the scene but.

00:20:25:22 - 00:20:26:05

Clark

Shouldn't.

00:20:26:11 - 00:20:27:12

Cullen

Draw attention to itself.

00:20:27:16 - 00:20:28:17

Clark

Overwhelm you shouldn't.

00:20:28:17 - 00:20:39:00

Cullen

But he mentions, you know, growing up with with Hitchcock movies, it's like you feel and you hear every note from Herrmann, right? And you know that music is not in the background at all. That music.

00:20:39:02 - 00:20:45:15

Clark

Neither is. Williams Oh, yeah. WILLIAMS With Spielberg. Yeah. I mean, that's that's about as much face as you could get. Yeah, that's.

00:20:45:15 - 00:21:04:19

Cullen

What I really like. You know, I actually prefer that style of music and I think that Herzog, very interestingly, does that a lot too, like his, especially when he uses those big choral pieces. You're right. It's very, very upfront. You know, even that moment in Encounters at the End of the World with the penguin walking away and it's like Gregorian chant.

00:21:04:19 - 00:21:05:11

Clark

Yes.

00:21:05:11 - 00:21:14:07

Cullen

And it's this beautiful piece of music as this. And it would be, you know, it's it would be funny if anybody else were doing this, but because it's Herzog, it's like existential dread.

00:21:14:16 - 00:21:33:18

Clark

I absolutely and I completely agree with you. I mean, his and I don't it's interesting that you you know, the language that you're using that you know, or that you're talking about that they were using in this Hollywood Reporter roundtable is kind of interesting to me that music should be in the background or something. That's kind of such a weird way to think about it.

00:21:35:00 - 00:21:55:21

Clark

But, you know, but talking about Herzog and his usage of music, I mean, you know, Herzog talks about how important it is to find a mood. So much of what we've been talking about now is, you know, our processes for music and how it affects the mood of a film, etc., how it emphasizes that the the emotional qualities that we're trying to communicate in our in our stories.

00:21:56:07 - 00:22:18:13

Clark

And of course, I mean, that's you know, it's I feel like the music is such a vital we talked about sound right last week and how sound is at least 50% of a film. And we we kind of both agreed that it's maybe even more you know music is is so and so vital. I feel like, you know, we talked about how sound is kind of a more direct link to your brain, right?

00:22:18:13 - 00:22:24:15

Clark

It's like your your visual processing is kind of more of an analytical or conceptual kind.

00:22:24:15 - 00:22:24:18

Cullen

Of.

00:22:24:22 - 00:22:31:21

Clark

Literal, Like it has some sense, but you're but sound has such an immediate and yes, connection to emotion.

00:22:32:12 - 00:22:36:12

Cullen

It's almost it's more, I would say more, it's more instinctual.

00:22:36:12 - 00:22:52:17

Clark

It's instinctual. It's primal. Right? It's kind of this primordial kind of thing. And. Right. And so it's, you know, the way we process and are affected by sound and vision, I think are quite different, say, with smell. Right. Smells can bring back memories in ways that are, you know, so extraordinary compared to a vision or a, you know, Yeah.

00:22:52:17 - 00:22:53:21

Clark

Sounds or senses.

00:22:53:22 - 00:23:00:15

Cullen

You the amount of times that I've smelled something and be like that's my, you know, my late grandmother's house from when I was four years old. And it's like, weird.

00:23:00:15 - 00:23:07:19

Clark

Yeah, yeah. Right, right. And so, you know, Herzog has yet to use smell of vision for any of these films, unfortunately.

00:23:07:19 - 00:23:10:04

Cullen

I think that that's making a comeback, though. I've invested in it.

00:23:10:19 - 00:23:42:19

Clark

You're invested in it, right? It's like Dolby smell of vision it. But but yeah. So there's you know, there's kind of it's just that our brains process these things, the sensory input in different ways. And so I feel like music is such a powerful it's powerful in slightly different ways. And, you know, I feel like. Herzog If you were to remove the music of so much, you know, I think of like the opening scene of a gallery, the encounters, the scene that you just mentioned, and countless others, frankly, countless others that I you know, I feel like there's at least a moment or two in every one of his.

00:23:42:19 - 00:23:45:11

Cullen

Nosferatu as a ton of it. Like. Right, great, great.

00:23:45:18 - 00:23:50:22

Clark

Moments, White Diamond encounters. We just mentioned that so many of them.

00:23:50:22 - 00:23:53:10

Cullen

Are the into dark with the dark lessons and.

00:23:53:10 - 00:23:56:12

Clark

Dark lessons of darkness. Yeah. I mean, we could literally mention I.

00:23:56:12 - 00:23:57:00

Cullen

Mean, every.

00:23:57:00 - 00:24:04:22

Clark

One of his films where his music is so integral to creating that overall emotional landscape.

00:24:04:22 - 00:24:28:09

Cullen

And I think that's the that's the the key to it as well is that there's like there's there's again, there's no right or wrong answer, both because everyone has their own taste, but also because I think that all of these things can be used at different times. You know, there are certainly moments when I did a, you know, a long form short was about half an hour back and 2017, 2018.

00:24:28:22 - 00:24:50:01

Cullen

And it there was a moment where the character wakes up and there's like a big realized portion and it's about midway through. And I just kept thinking of these like this, like loud brass hit when it happened. Like, that's really what I want. It's like I played with it myself just on some software that I have. And then I, you know, I talked to the composer and I sort of described the feeling that I get from it.

00:24:50:01 - 00:25:26:06

Cullen

And then also, again, to leave the open interpretation, they're saying that, you know, obviously it doesn't have to be a brass hit. That was just kind of my interpretation of it, but it could be whatever brings that emotion. But but it's a very big moment that is in combination with the music. And I think that a lot of people and I know directors that are like this that think that the for some reason music is a separate element, that they will complain if they feel like the music is, you know, telling you what to feel on the nose or is too clearly in, you know, interpreting them or interpret it to literal.

00:25:26:07 - 00:25:45:14

Cullen

Yeah and I but I've never I've never had an issue with that, you know like I've, I've always thought if a scene is sad and there's sadness, of course there is a degree to which it can get kind of absurd. But I mean if if you know, if someone shocked in you you use music to accent that in a in a you know a subjectively good way.

00:25:45:20 - 00:26:01:08

Cullen

Yeah. Then I don't really have a problem with that whereas I know a lot of directors who are very much like no no, no, I don't want I don't want the music there at all, because then I'm relying on it and I don't I've never really seen an issue with relying on music because it's a part of the movie.

00:26:01:08 - 00:26:01:15

Cullen

It's it's.

00:26:01:15 - 00:26:02:05

Clark

Interesting.

00:26:02:05 - 00:26:04:21

Cullen

I've been intrigued as the sound designers. Anything else, Right? Sure.

00:26:05:01 - 00:26:26:17

Clark

I mean, well, I think, you know, this is interesting. You've you've mentioned something that is a really compelling thing to kind of think about. I think, you know, I am one of those people that I don't like on the nose. Emotional manipulation. Of course, I want to be moved by a film. And so it's not that I expect that a film shouldn't move me.

00:26:26:17 - 00:26:50:13

Clark

Of course not. I hope that a film will move me, but I won't. I don't want to be pulled by the nose, you know, to that to that movement. I second clue. I don't want to be told what to think or told what to feel and told the exact moments that I should be feeling these things. And, you know, I'd like to be able to find my own way emotionally through a story and kind of apply my own interpretation.

00:26:50:14 - 00:27:05:15

Clark

So I think, you know, it really depends on what the, you know, the rest of the film is doing. Right. I think if there if the film is very on the nose, it's very predictable. It's like, you know, it's not leaving you as an audience any time.

00:27:05:16 - 00:27:06:00

Cullen

To think.

00:27:06:03 - 00:27:26:14

Clark

An interpretation or. Right. And I mean, and then you also then add music on top of, you know, the script does this, the performances, you know, if the script is very narrow and on the nose, if the performances are very narrow and on the nose, if the, you know, everything visually is on the nose and then the music is also on the nose, I mean, it's overwhelming, right?

00:27:28:02 - 00:27:33:12

Clark

And that can be too much. But so I am definitely not a fan of that kind of filmmaking.

00:27:34:00 - 00:27:35:18

Cullen

Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, that's what I mean when.

00:27:35:18 - 00:27:36:22

Clark

I say right, It works.

00:27:36:22 - 00:27:37:14

Cullen

To a degree.

00:27:37:19 - 00:27:38:11

Clark

You're right. Right.

00:27:38:11 - 00:27:39:23

Cullen

That I like you know.

00:27:40:14 - 00:27:51:19

Clark

But sometimes, you know. But I just want to say to I mean, some of my favorite moments with music are, you know, where they provide a counterpoint as opposed to an emphasizing, you know, just a redundant.

00:27:51:20 - 00:27:52:12

Cullen

Kind of like a your.

00:27:52:13 - 00:28:14:18

Clark

Position. Right. Just a position, a contrast is very interesting. And so there's a lot of room to play with that. You know, I think one of the things that worked so well with Herzog's films is that with the music that he chooses is that he really is thinking outside of the box in terms of culturally, in terms of, you know, popular music versus things that are going to be new to to most of an audience's ears.

00:28:14:18 - 00:28:40:10

Clark

I mean, he talks about how, you know, his goal as a filmmaker is to is to bring new images to people. Right? That it's such a yes. Filmmakers, it's such an important role that we play to bring new images, to bring new landscapes to to bring new ideas, to an audience. And I think it's it's challenging or can be because you've really got to kind of use a subversion and and kind of, you know, really turn things upside down.

00:28:40:10 - 00:29:04:01

Clark

If you're using popular music, let's say like, for instance, The Rolling Stones and saucy. I mean, well, these are songs that have become so corporatized, so part of the fabric of like Western culture. Everybody knows these songs. Everybody knows every lyric. They've got this entire life of their own. Unless you're kind of subverting that and really going against people's expectations, which you certainly can't do if you're just playing into that music.

00:29:04:16 - 00:29:26:11

Clark

It's again, it's like, Wow, I can't. There's not much room for me as an audience there, but if I'm listening to this music where I can't even it, like the lyrics are in another language and it's like these kind of alien instruments and, you know, unique compositions. And it's not it's not just those like three chord progressions we hear at every single popular song in Western culture, but it's something that's like, whoa.

00:29:26:11 - 00:29:36:23

Clark

I mean, it's like a new it's right, it's sort of a new landscape, it's a new soundscape. And I'm like, I have this huge room to move to interpret that's exciting to me. Like, Yeah.

00:29:37:01 - 00:30:01:05

Cullen

And I think that that's again, it comes down to exactly what you're saying is. And when I you know, the point where I think that it comes across entirely kind of universally is that it it comes down to the director's use of it, right? It comes down to the choices of the, you know, for example, the, you know, Paul Thomas Anderson has collaborated with Jonny Greenwood on most of his movies.

00:30:01:05 - 00:30:02:16

Clark

And they're fantastic. Yeah, yeah.

00:30:02:18 - 00:30:29:15

Cullen

They're fantastic soundtracks and they're very upfront. They're very, you know, in your face when especially, you know, you think of There Will Be Blood, that opening scene where you have those Penderecki style strings and it works so well, you know, it immediately makes you feel like the horror of the wild and that's what it is. Or in phantom thread foreboding, those great, you know, those huge orchestral moments of like doom when when but this kind of ironic romantic doom at the end one.

00:30:29:16 - 00:30:50:18

Cullen

Yeah, of course, no spoilers, but if you've seen it you get what I mean. Right. But, but I think that that's kind of where I think and that's where I say that it should accentuate. So it shouldn't necessarily tell an audience exactly what to think. But I, but I have no issue with a piece of music really being loud and brash and accentuating a moment and sure.

00:30:51:03 - 00:30:58:01

Cullen

Coming out on on in, you know, the notice ability. And so I agree in the terms of yeah.

00:30:58:10 - 00:30:58:14

Clark

Well.

00:30:58:15 - 00:30:58:23

Cullen

I.

00:30:59:11 - 00:31:11:21

Clark

Think which I yeah. Language I would use I guess I don't know you know if this might be a way to explain it. I don't know if this resonates with you but at every aspect of your film should have an opinion. Yeah right. Yeah. But there's a difference between having an opinion and.

00:31:11:21 - 00:31:12:12

Cullen

Preaching.

00:31:12:12 - 00:31:31:11

Clark

And Right. And just, you know, and kind of saying, this is exactly what you should be thinking and feeling at this moment. And, you know, basically, I just imagine all of the worst Oscar winning movies that have ever been made. And it seems to be so many of these are like the most manipulative, you know, like there'll be some biopic, you know, that you like.

00:31:31:11 - 00:31:38:21

Clark

This is exactly what you need to feel right now. Don't you see how like, oh yeah, treated this person was and do you see how they overcame everything And yeah.

00:31:38:21 - 00:32:06:08

Cullen

There's that there's that classic like almost like an SNL trope of someone sad. You get that sad piano music. Yeah. That, that I have no no interest in. But there again there's moments where like I think that the visuals and the filmmaking can be so horrific. And I'm thinking right now specifically of the moment in, in, you know, for Schindler's List, for example, when when there the women's train car goes to the wrong place and it winds up at Auschwitz and they're like, oh yeah, into the chambers.

00:32:06:08 - 00:32:24:14

Cullen

And there's this, you know, the music there on its own is very, very forward. It's very brash. It's it's very horrifying and haunting. Right. But I think, again, it's one of those things where it's like, uh, in a moment like that, to me, it's not necessarily telling the audience what to feel. It's showing the audience how horrifying something can be.

00:32:24:14 - 00:32:43:12

Cullen

And it's and that's where I think the difference is. And it's such a fine line to ride. But I think that that's exactly I agree. It's allowing somebody like allowing me to using the music to allow me to in, you know, a fraction of the percentage of feeling the horror that those people would have felt in real life and bringing me to that.

00:32:43:21 - 00:33:05:20

Cullen

But, I mean, I also again, I know people who don't like music like that at all, just drawn on a very, very bottom line. It's like the music is if it's if you can hear it, it's bad that it should just be there to compliment slight moments and that's it. Which I, you know, I think is I mean, it's a huge waste of the the entire medium of of music.

00:33:05:20 - 00:33:28:04

Clark

Well, absolutely. I mean, I certainly don't hold that opinion. And I you know, I mean, I guess I see it as, you know, like, I guess language that I use to describe it is that music is it's just you know, you've got this tapestry, right, of film. Is this is this quilt work or this tapestry that where all of these different threads are coming together to create a whole music should be permeating that entire thing?

00:33:28:04 - 00:33:49:03

Clark

I mean, very different than Herzog, but one of my favorite examples of where soundtracks so absolutely, positively permeates the entire film is this just creates extraordinary storytelling, density and texture. Is Vangelis soundtrack for Blade Runner?

00:33:49:04 - 00:33:49:23

Cullen

Oh, yes. Yeah.

00:33:50:03 - 00:34:06:15

Clark

And it is so much more than just I mean, it is. It is. That is such an integral part. I think that's one of the best examples of a soundtrack that is so integral to the film that if you were to remove or change that soundtrack, you would have a profoundly, radically different film.

00:34:06:15 - 00:34:07:07

Cullen

Oh, exactly.

00:34:07:07 - 00:34:13:21

Clark

Exactly. You wouldn't even have the film. You would even have Blade Runner. It it would. It would just not. I mean, it's you know, it's.

00:34:13:21 - 00:34:16:06

Cullen

Such a great example of just that. Exactly.

00:34:16:08 - 00:34:48:00

Clark

And it's and so that's how I try to you know, that's one of the milestones, I guess, or the like yardsticks I use of thinking, okay, if I had the perfect soundtrack and I'm not saying sounds like that, I'm not saying same genre of music or style of music or something like that, but just in general sense of a music that is so woven into so integral that that it's you just couldn't remove it, that it's, it's as, it's as much a part of that film as any other of the performances of the cinematography of the script.

00:34:48:00 - 00:34:54:06

Clark

You know obviously that I mean that's a that's a high that's a high place to get to.

00:34:54:20 - 00:35:25:23

Cullen

But I mean, it's a perfect example of exactly what I think what like a you've you've put it into a really great kind of package with Blade Runner because that's exactly what I mean is that yeah, I think if for some reason a la I don't know if you know people like this as well but for some reason I just I just know a lot of directors, both amateur and people who are working professionally now, who always seem to separate music, who always seem to see it as like an add on to a movie as opposed to a real part of of what you're making and something that to be used.

00:35:26:17 - 00:35:51:04

Cullen

I'm curious to ask you to. Yeah. Have you ever while making a movie like in still in production, still shooting, you worked with a composer at that point where they've been sending you because I've done this a few times, where I've had composers send me music that they're doing as as the movies being made as opposed to just, you know, you finish the edit and send it to somebody.

00:35:51:04 - 00:36:15:11

Clark

I actually have. And there's been a couple of times where on some short films where I've been lucky enough, there was one instance where actually one of my leads was actually a musician and like quite a talented musician. And so part of his contribution was not just his acting performance to the film, but he was actually helping to create some pieces of music for that film while we were in production.

00:36:15:20 - 00:36:39:12

Clark

So he was actually, you know, it kind of, you know, was he was in this like emotional space because of the role that he was playing. And kind of from the perspective of that character, which I thought was really cool. Now, of course, obviously this is not something that can happen all the time. Did your actors have to be inclined musically and then want to be able to contribute in this way?

00:36:39:20 - 00:37:05:16

Clark

But this was a really cool situation. He is, you know, here he is portraying this character. He's in this emotional space. And then from the POV of that character, he was creating music for the like while we were in production. So that was a really unique sort of opportunity. There was another situation where my brother actually who is a pretty talented guy, created some pieces of music for it, and I would work back and forth with him.

00:37:05:16 - 00:37:25:20

Clark

I would show him rough cuts or, you know, show him even just footage like a few takes and like kind of give him a sense of, you know, here's where I'm kind of going. Let's talk about some music. And then he would actually present me some music and I would have some music to actually edit to. So I have actually had some opportunities to do that.

00:37:26:11 - 00:37:43:06

Clark

And I think that it's it was especially wonderful that first example I gave you that was a really cool, unique situation. But yeah, I do have experience with that. And then I also have experience of I've got the entire piece. It is like done, it's edited, it's put together, I've got to go get music.

00:37:43:09 - 00:37:43:19

Cullen

And send.

00:37:43:19 - 00:37:44:17

Clark

It. I've been there had.

00:37:44:22 - 00:38:02:12

Cullen

I've had both as well. I mean I'm not the actor, but I actually on the Herzog Herzog, Hitchcock, when I just did the set during the summer, it was interesting. The person I knew was going to compose the new movie was actually the boom operator for like things. So we could at points kind of sit down and and.

00:38:02:14 - 00:38:03:16

Clark

Actually, yeah, sort.

00:38:03:16 - 00:38:09:19

Cullen

Of say like and of course when you're doing something like Hitchcock, we both knew from the outset it was going to be a Hermann zagging.

00:38:09:19 - 00:38:11:21

Clark

Score coming from a specific place already.

00:38:11:21 - 00:38:40:17

Cullen

Right? Yeah. So we had a lot of fun with that kind of playing around with like, okay, what if you know, you know that bit in Psycho here where that could sound like that and you know, that was there was a lot of fun to do like that. But I've also like you, I've done it where, you know, I've been doing production and editing and sending rough cuts and especially when a movie takes, you know, that long form short that I mentioned earlier, that was about a half an hour took, I think over the course of like nine months to actually make and shoot just because of course availability and when you're doing something on

00:38:40:17 - 00:38:56:23

Cullen

no budget that's just kind of what happens. Yeah. And so I would send, you know, rough cuts that were incomplete know there there were tons of scene missed scenes missing and sort of say here's what I've got so far here's yeah and it was a really great way to watch that music kind of evolve right And it helps.

00:38:56:23 - 00:38:59:06

Clark

You evolve your edit and Yeah, absolutely.

00:38:59:06 - 00:39:08:16

Cullen

And then of course, at the same time, I've had points where the movie's been completely done and it's just sent off to somebody and, you know.

00:39:09:07 - 00:39:31:06

Clark

Right before even in that place, I mean, I feel like there's still a tremendous amount of collaboration. Oh, totally. I mean, I don't I don't think that that but but, you know, it's like we're we're I were in pre-production on a horror feature film right now. And, you know, part of what we're doing is producers is putting together with the it's kind of going to be, I think, co-directed by myself and the writer of the original script.

00:39:32:09 - 00:39:51:02

Clark

We've brought on another writer and a couple other producers. So there's a kind of core team of us that are in the process of putting together basically like the Bible for this film or, you know, And so music is absolutely a part of that. It's I think it's easier to go immediately to images for many filmmakers because again, it's kind of right.

00:39:51:05 - 00:40:20:11

Clark

The reason you're in filmmaking is that you are really drawn to telling stories visually. Yeah, but, but inspirations and absolutely music can be a part of a style book or a Bible. And I think that's a it's, it's a, an excellent opportunity to just bring one more level of or one more medium for a director to share their vision with all of the other department heads and all of the other collaborators.

00:40:20:11 - 00:40:40:04

Clark

There's no reason you shouldn't do it. It's I think oftentimes what I've seen this is kind of interesting. I've seen because it, you know, just depends. Everybody thinks differently, but I've seen people point to that. For example, I'm working with, you know, let's say working with a director. And they're trying you know, they're trying to explain to me kind of what, you know, here's like the feel that I want for this or that.

00:40:40:11 - 00:41:02:15

Clark

And it's funny, I've seen people actually pick scenes or pick films and say, this is really you know, this is kind of this really has the vibe that I'm kind of going for. And after I kind of, you know, chip away at what they're really talking about, it's actually the music in the scene that's actually really doing it for them as opposed to, you know, anything that's being communicated visually.

00:41:02:15 - 00:41:13:03

Clark

But it's kind of funny. I think just sometimes people don't even realize that what's inspiring them or what's what's kind of pushing them in this emotional place is actually the music of what's going on.

00:41:13:12 - 00:41:26:16

Cullen

So and I mean, I, I, I think it's really neat too, because I got my mind. My mind is like, like you don't even have you don't.

00:41:26:16 - 00:41:30:05

Clark

Even have the excuse of being filled up with know. I mean, I make I know.

00:41:30:10 - 00:41:35:21

Cullen

I've got filled up with chicken pot pie. Yeah. Let me try and get that thought back. Yeah.

00:41:35:21 - 00:41:36:11

Clark

It's okay.

00:41:36:19 - 00:41:37:16

Cullen

No I.

00:41:38:13 - 00:41:38:23

Clark

Well I.

00:41:38:23 - 00:42:02:11

Cullen

Oh the horror movie right. Yes. Yeah, I got it. So it's actually interesting that you mentioned that the idea of the horror film kind of and kind of, you know, creating a lookbook, but not necessarily just a Bible like you say. Yeah. I on writing the beat sheet for the newest draft because there were really significant changes made to the between the third and fourth drafts of this horror film that I'm directing.

00:42:02:14 - 00:42:22:14

Cullen

Mm hmm. So I did, rather than just doing the fourth draft as a screenplay, I did a beat sheet first to confirm with producers and the other, you know, creatives on it that this is where we want to go. This is the evolution of the story That's kind of what's happening in, in that beat sheet. I actually included musical cues, weirdly enough.

00:42:22:14 - 00:42:44:06

Cullen

And I said, you know, I made a little note at the top and basically said, don't have to listen to them. But these were the pieces that I was listening to as I wrote. And that kind of, yeah, helped inspire the scene and might provide a little bit of a nice experience if you're reading it and you know you want to click on the link, just do that and you can read it with that of like a audiobook with music almost.

00:42:45:12 - 00:43:03:07

Cullen

And, and so I did that and it was funny because I, some of the people did and some of the people didn't, but people that did were like, Yeah, you know, it really got me like in the mood of the scene and it really helped me feel like kind of because I think that also music is such a great communication device for really getting the point down on like what you want the scene to feel.

00:43:03:07 - 00:43:18:08

Cullen

Because I've had points where you, you can write a scene and you can be as specific as you want in terms of emotion and whatever, but people can still slightly misinterpret that, you know, they might interpret it just a little bit differently or might might think like, Oh, this scene is going to be played lighter than than you intended.

00:43:18:15 - 00:43:38:01

Cullen

And I find that music and so often be really, really vital and just sort of being like, this is the core of the emotion that I want from this scene. And again, it's this is a process that is mine. I would never, you know, any time I'm teaching or whatever, I'm never saying to my students like, this is how you've got to write something good.

00:43:38:11 - 00:43:40:19

Cullen

Yeah, it works for me. It's another to try it out.

00:43:41:03 - 00:44:04:04

Clark

Absolutely. I think. I mean, and there's no reason not to explore an experiment. Yeah, exactly. You know, look, I mean, every, you know, as a director, especially, your goal is to communicate your vision to everyone you're working with as as closely as possible to what you're seeing. And then, of course, then inspire. And why not use this valuable tool?

00:44:04:05 - 00:44:28:05

Clark

There's no reason not to. Yeah, and of course I've not done it myself. But certainly, you know, I know actors a lot of times use music. I've done so as an actor, I've done this use music to prepare sometimes for scenes, you know, as a character or you, you pick out music that has an emotional impact, you know, that kind of brings you in line to the emotion of the scene that you're at.

00:44:28:23 - 00:44:42:02

Clark

I mean, it can be a great tool. Definitely. Directors often can use music to kind of, you know, on set while they're shooting. There's, you know, so many different ways that you can utilize music.

00:44:42:02 - 00:44:42:13

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah.

00:44:43:00 - 00:45:04:10

Clark

And why not? Like, there's no reason not to use it. So not just theory, you know, you've got it. Preproduction, production and of course in post you've got the music that's actually going to be part of the film, what the audience is listening to. But you can certainly use music as a tool to communicate to and to to reach emotional places in the story, you know, while you're making the film and like.

00:45:04:11 - 00:45:18:04

Cullen

Exactly. Yeah. So it's I mean, it's again, it's another tool in the toolbox and there's no point in and and you know, I just again want to reiterate to that that like anybody who's beginning that it's never black or white like, of.

00:45:18:04 - 00:45:18:17

Clark

Course, yeah you.

00:45:18:17 - 00:45:36:08

Cullen

Might you might just find that that writing with music is a distraction and that. Right. It boxes you into a, you know, a corner or whatever. Right. And so you might choose not to do that. There's no I think that's the really key point that I think we've both tried to make throughout all this is just that it's no, this is a device of it.

00:45:36:08 - 00:45:56:21

Clark

This is not that's the gospel making. It's it's look, there's everybody's got their own process that's going to be slightly different than everybody else's. I mean, this is why we have unique filmmakers. I hopefully your process is different that hopefully your work is unique and and it's a representation of your authentic voice. And that's what makes film and all other art wonderful.

00:45:57:13 - 00:46:16:16

Clark

When it is wonderful that it is truly an authentic expression of somebodys unique perspective. So absolutely. And it's, you know, and as I sit here and talk about these things with you and this is one of the things that I really love about doing this podcast with you, Colin, is that I get ideas. I'm like, Oh, you know, hey, you know, Oh, exactly.

00:46:16:16 - 00:46:30:05

Clark

Like with sound. Last time we were talking about sound and I'm like, you know, this is an area that I really could explore and experiment with a lot more as we do this one here, I'm thinking, well, you know, music is an area that I could really, you know, think I'm even thinking with the horror film that we're in pre-production with.

00:46:30:05 - 00:46:51:07

Clark

Okay, well, you know, like, there are a lot of areas where I think that I have not utilized this tool as much as I could and totally. So I'm kind of excited about that. I kind of get inspired. I get ideas, you know, And but that's the wonderful thing is that, you know, every time you sit down to work on a project there you have just this there's this huge arena of of options.

00:46:51:12 - 00:47:05:03

Clark

Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. But that that's I feel like that's the fun of it is that it's like having all these paints in your paint box and you don't have to use the same ones over and over again. You can use all these new different colors. And so it's exciting, I think.

00:47:05:03 - 00:47:16:11

Cullen

And hopefully, you know, you're without a doubt on every project going to learn so much more about your process and kind of how you can use. So that's what I like about it.

00:47:16:12 - 00:47:29:01

Clark

Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, I think we've probably come to the end here of unless you can think of anything that we might have missed that was covered in Herzog's lesson here about music, I think we pretty much nailed it all.

00:47:29:08 - 00:47:29:15

Cullen

Yeah.

00:47:30:10 - 00:47:58:09

Clark

So, yeah, well, once again, we're at the end of another episode. Colin, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. I've got a few notes that I'm going to go run and take real quick things that I'm going to use on my on this word project I'm kind of excited about. Yeah, So definitely awesome. All right. Well, until next time when we will be covering lesson 17 editing, I hope everybody out there has a wonderful week and we will see you soon.

00:47:58:15 - 00:48:03:10

Cullen

Yeah. See you against my.

Episode - 016

Clark

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Soldiers, a cinema podcast. Once again, I'm Clark Coffey and with me as always, is Cullen McFater.

00:00:23:08 - 00:00:23:18

Cullen

There we go.

00:00:24:12 - 00:00:55:01

Clark

Nice jinx. Abracadabra. You are only a Coke man. Welcome, everybody. It's good to have you back. We're happy to be here. This is which is like mind blowing to me. I can't believe we're already at episode 16. Whoa. Yeah, I know. It's wild, huh? Time flies when you're having fun. This is. We'll be covering lesson 17 of Herzog's Masterclass at Masterclass Dotcom, which we've both taken, by the way, just a little like free.

00:00:55:11 - 00:00:58:14

Clark

You know, Props for Masterclass. We both obviously.

00:00:58:14 - 00:00:59:06

Cullen

How we met.

00:00:59:06 - 00:01:22:16

Clark

Enjoyed that, enjoyed that whole experience because, well, here we are years later doing a podcast. It's kind of based around it, at least here in the beginning. But this lesson 17 covers editing, which I think is, I mean, if there were ever something that were was fundamental right to an art, to a medium, editing is as fundamental as you could possibly get to filmmaking, right?

00:01:22:16 - 00:01:45:13

Clark

And then without editing, just kind of what makes it filmmaking almost, I think, you know. Yes. And so this I'm I'm excited to go over this lesson. I think Herzog brings up some really interesting points. And right off the bat, let's just jump into it right off the bat, Herzog talks about and this is interesting, right, because there are some distinctions that we can make here.

00:01:45:13 - 00:02:04:12

Clark

He talks about being careful that you don't force your intention. Mm hmm. In the edit of the film. Right. So he talks very much about kind of like that, a film that this footage, rather, is going to kind of seem to want to go in certain directions, perhaps. Right. It's almost like it's going to have a will of its own.

00:02:04:17 - 00:02:07:15

Cullen

Yeah. It's like divorcing yourself from that.

00:02:07:22 - 00:02:09:12

Clark

Or being open to it. Right.

00:02:09:12 - 00:02:14:09

Cullen

And divorcing yourself from the footage in terms of like your own will and and all that.

00:02:14:19 - 00:02:39:05

Clark

Right, Right. That's what he talks about. So instead of imposing your will with that rigidity, he talks about really being open, allowing yourself to kind of intuitive, like get a sense for where does the footage want to go, what is the how does the film want to kind of congeal? And it's interesting because of course, you know, he he he also talks very much about shooting with with extreme focus and intent.

00:02:39:05 - 00:02:56:18

Clark

Right. I mean, if anybody was ever against being a fly on the wall, kind of setting up a camera and just letting things happen, I would I would say Herzog, you know, is has spoken out most strongly against this approach. Yes. Practically any other No. One interest in it right out of any documentary filmmaker I can think of.

00:02:57:15 - 00:03:21:23

Clark

So it's not that you are just, you know, sitting a camera down on some stakes and walking away and just letting it run for 30 hours, and then you say, Hey, let's see what we got. I mean, he's very much about making things happen and and manipulation and shooting with, you know, opinion and perspective. But I think he was talking about here is, okay, well, once you get all that footage and you're in the editing room, don't force a round peg into a square hole.

00:03:22:06 - 00:03:22:13

Clark

You know.

00:03:22:13 - 00:03:41:06

Cullen

What's this idea for him that it's like pretend that you are a different person than who shot the footage? Well, you know, like this idea of stumbling across footage and just, you know, finding it and it's like, you know, get into the mindset that you weren't the person that shot it, that if you were to just edit this footage that you just came across, you know, how would you do it?

00:03:41:06 - 00:04:00:19

Cullen

And kind of, you know, think like, you know, obviously think like an editor in this instance. But kind of again, try to, you know, pretend that you are not the person who actually captured this footage and that you're you're now stumbling across it and you're finding the best moments and finding the bits to stick out and to emphasize.

00:04:00:19 - 00:04:25:16

Cullen

And you know, how that rhythm comes out to is like. And I think everyone who has edited their own stuff and shot their own stuff has experienced this where it's, you know, whether it is the case of, you know, when you're on set and things seem to be going horribly and then you sit down in the editing room and you go, Wow, this is actually pretty good, or even just on the basis of you might think on set that you're going to edit it a certain way or that something is going to happen in a particular way and it's going to cut together like this.

00:04:25:16 - 00:04:29:04

Cullen

And then you get to the edit and you go, Actually, it's going to be completely different. That doesn't even work.

00:04:29:09 - 00:04:49:05

Clark

Yeah, I think you, you know, Herzog mentioned it and you're calling attached to it this idea or kind of this way of thinking of, you know, when you step into the editing room, try to put yourself in a mind frame of, yeah, like I, you know, I don't even know where this footage came from. I mean, it's sort of, you know, kind of, you know, playing a little trick on yourself, so to speak.

00:04:49:05 - 00:05:07:12

Clark

But it's just kind of a way of saying, you know, really being open to the the possibilities that exist with the footage you actually have. And you're right. I mean, I think, you know, in my experience, right, I've generally speaking, when I go in and I'm shooting a film, I kind of can see the edited film in my mind.

00:05:07:17 - 00:05:26:08

Clark

Right now I have this. You're probably the same way, right? I think many people are probably where I kind of have this pre this very strongly preconceived notion. I mean, actually, as I'm writing it, you know, this starts to develop for me. It's I kind of think visually. I think obviously many filmmakers do. It's why you're drawn to the medium.

00:05:27:07 - 00:06:01:13

Clark

And so sometimes it's, you know, you can kind of really restrict yourself, right? If you're so rigidly right, if you're so rigidly holding on to this vision that you've had, you know, since you wrote it and the footage may not lend itself to exactly that. And actually, you know, it may lend itself to something much better than you ever than you ever pre-conceived, you know, these wonderful, beautiful accidents happen, whether they're in performances, you know, of your actors or whatever, you know, whatever may kind of whatever happened on set are on location.

00:06:01:18 - 00:06:04:12

Clark

There could be some really beautiful accidents.

00:06:04:23 - 00:06:15:02

Cullen

So it's very much with with narrative. But I almost want to say, too, especially with documentary, you know, I wrote the documentary I just did about home video and all that.

00:06:15:07 - 00:06:15:19

Clark

Mm hmm.

00:06:16:05 - 00:06:38:16

Cullen

Was written in a very particular way. I had a it wasn't really a screenplay, but I had, you know, the chunks laid out as to where the story went. And probably, you know, halfway through the editing process, I showed it around to a few people and got feedback. And that feedback wound up completely changing the structure that, you know, parts that were supposed to be at the end of the movie wound up at the beginning.

00:06:39:02 - 00:06:51:17

Cullen

And it just it made it way better. It kind of wrapped the whole thing up in a nice bow as opposed to just what it was before, which was kind of more of a traditionally told story, which I thought was really interesting.

00:06:52:01 - 00:07:00:04

Clark

Now, so in this instance, let me just double check, make sure I understand. So you're saying that you got feedback, you had you presented this to some other people as that what what happened?

00:07:00:05 - 00:07:06:18

Cullen

Yeah, I think I think I had I had it in my mind as to what I want it to be. And then the feedback wound up making it. So you.

00:07:06:18 - 00:07:22:23

Clark

Did that. You so you've gone ahead and you made a cut, is that what? And that. Okay. Yeah, well, you know, so that we can bring this up to. Herzog talks about this aspect of editing a little bit later in the lesson but it's sure we it's a good place to bring this up about. Okay. Well you've gone through the process.

00:07:22:23 - 00:07:29:07

Clark

You've got an edit or you've got a cut, rather. How do you address getting feedback from people and.

00:07:29:09 - 00:07:32:10

Cullen

First and not working with yes men and stuff like that too.

00:07:32:16 - 00:07:47:21

Clark

Write I mean, Well, you know, couple of things. I mean, Herzog talks about first of all, he doesn't edit films by himself. I think a lot of people just starting out often times do find themselves editing their own films in entirety, especially if they're short films.

00:07:48:00 - 00:07:53:18

Cullen

And budget wise, too, is of course, it makes sense often to spend the money to get another editor, right?

00:07:53:23 - 00:08:25:19

Clark

Right. Which I think speaks even more to, you know, really trying to work to keep yourself open minded. Yeah, Yeah. Because you're not going to have this, you know, this other layer of interpretation or objectivity, if you will, if you don't have another editor in there. But I think it's it's a great idea to to start, you know, hopefully you can find some people who are maybe at the same level as you if you're just starting out who are willing to work for credit or payment or something and start to work with an editor, I think it's a you know, it's a vital skill to have.

00:08:25:19 - 00:08:55:03

Clark

Obviously, as you progress through your career, it's unlikely that you're going to be the one actually sitting at the computer making the edits. You'll be working with an editor. And that that objectivity is really important to bring to the table, but it's also important to get back to what you were just talking about with your project. Okay. Well, you know, it's and this is boy, I mean, this is like how to deal with feedback and get the most out of it without being overwhelmed by it.

00:08:55:03 - 00:09:10:01

Clark

I mean, I think everybody who's ever created anything has found this to be really challenging. Yes, I know I have like but but some of the things Herzog suggest, I mean, he talks about, you know, showing it to people who he knows aren't going to kiss his butt. Right.

00:09:10:13 - 00:09:15:01

Cullen

That's obviously his older brother, which is a funny little story. That is.

00:09:15:02 - 00:09:15:13

Clark

Which is.

00:09:15:18 - 00:09:19:19

Cullen

The brother, the boss of the family, which I can't imagine somebody bossing Herzog around.

00:09:19:19 - 00:09:37:01

Clark

But I know I would love to see that. I would love to see that. But but that's important because, I mean, I know that, you know, it's it's sometimes is a big pull for me where I'm like, I want to show my work to people who I kind of know are going to tell me nice things about it because.

00:09:37:01 - 00:09:40:00

Cullen

There's a pull to do that. Right. Sure. Confirmation bias, right?

00:09:40:00 - 00:10:03:05

Clark

Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know, please tell me something nice. You know, I'm probably feeling fragile. I work sensitive. It's like, Mom, come on, this is great. Right? But. But no, you know, I think we all kind of have a little bit of a pull to do that, so it's important to remember. Okay, wait, hold on. Okay. You know, Yes, it's like strokes, the ego to get some nice feedback, but it's not going to make your film any better.

00:10:04:05 - 00:10:27:00

Clark

So to actually show it to some people who you can trust to really be honest, I think is key. And Herzog also talks about and I have not done this for a film that I've directed yet, but I was a producer for a horror film where we did this and have it have large audiences. Herzog talks about the importance of doing this for comedy.

00:10:27:20 - 00:10:31:22

Clark

Yes. Yeah. And and I think, you know, because it's and I agree.

00:10:31:22 - 00:10:32:23

Cullen

Being a part of one of those, too.

00:10:33:09 - 00:10:57:04

Clark

You know, you've been a focus group audience as an audience. So, yeah, it's that one, you know, that's a really interesting science, you know, putting a focus group together, asking questions that are going to elicit feedback that's usable, that's actionable, is really, really tough. And that's outside.

00:10:57:04 - 00:11:18:08

Cullen

Sometimes. And sometimes it can be really corporatized and it can be very, you know, you you turn it into especially with these bigger studios, you hear these kind of horror stories about like focus audiences and test audiences becoming just literally marketing pitches, right? And then it's like, yeah, how can we how, how, how willing would you be to buy an action figure based off.

00:11:18:08 - 00:11:19:08

Clark

Of it's well, you know.

00:11:19:14 - 00:11:20:19

Cullen

It's ridiculous stuff.

00:11:20:19 - 00:11:39:04

Clark

Like certainly yeah certainly you know if you're talking about a marvel movie I mean those things are likely focus group to death and I think most most major studio feature films, large budget films are focus grouped death. And then, you know, you kind of have a film that's made by comedy. And Herzog actually talks about that, too. Yeah.

00:11:39:04 - 00:11:59:09

Clark

About the pitfalls of of trying to make a movie that's for every possible audience out there. And of course, Marvel films or action films are that that's exactly what they're trying to do right there. The domestic box office is no longer sufficient. The global box office is vital and stuff like that.

00:12:00:00 - 00:12:00:07

Cullen

Sorry.

00:12:00:07 - 00:12:13:04

Clark

Go ahead. No, I was just going to say. And so they've got a they've got to make a movie that plays to every single audience in the world, young, male, female, you know, whether you're in Japan or China or Turkey or the United States or Canada or Algeria.

00:12:13:04 - 00:12:13:09

Cullen

Yeah.

00:12:13:17 - 00:12:14:00

Clark

Right.

00:12:14:00 - 00:12:39:03

Cullen

I also I want to say, though, that it's the irony. I've always thought about that. And that's a very you know, it's not honestly the most recent phenomenon. It's been going on for two, maybe even three decades now on a mass scale. But what I do want to say that's interesting about that is that I find the movies that we look at as classics, those movies that came out in the fifties and sixties, seventies and eighties that we really are like, you know, these are the classics, Hollywood movies.

00:12:39:03 - 00:12:40:08

Clark

Like Weekend at Bernie's.

00:12:40:12 - 00:12:40:23

Cullen

Yeah, we can.

00:12:40:23 - 00:12:41:13

Clark

Never say.

00:12:41:17 - 00:12:48:21

Cullen

Well, but like, even just like you think of, like the original Star Wars films, I do Love Weekend at Bernie's. It's no joking, man.

00:12:48:21 - 00:12:49:08

Clark

I do, too.

00:12:49:13 - 00:13:14:01

Cullen

But but, but I mean, any of these movies that that aliens whatever you know, big blockbuster movie you can think of that came out in that era. Yeah. That they were successful not because they were aiming to reach the widest possible audience. They were successful because they were goal oriented in terms of what they wanted to do with the movie and what the story they wanted to tell was, and that the audience followed.

00:13:14:10 - 00:13:42:07

Cullen

And it's almost this kind of paradox, which is like if you chase the audience, you're not going to get the audience, or at least, you know, there's no denying that Marvel movies are successful. But in 20, 30 years, will anybody remember specific plot points or lines? I, I don't really think so. I don't I, you know, I think that there's going to be people that are always super fans of them, but I don't think that they will have the cultural impact of, you know, the these groundbreaking movies that came out in the decades before.

00:13:43:01 - 00:13:47:13

Cullen

Because of that. I think that that's kind of the irony and that's kind of the paradox of it, is because you know what that's called.

00:13:47:18 - 00:13:48:18

Clark

So there's a name for that.

00:13:48:18 - 00:13:49:22

Cullen

Oh, really? Okay, there is.

00:13:50:08 - 00:14:13:11

Clark

Yeah. Are couple names. This is so it's actually funny that you mentioned this. We can like, we'll take a little digression into the world of philosophy for just a moment, but I don't know if you're so this, this obviously I think most of us have experienced this kind of the seemingly like existence of these paradoxical effects in life with effort and result.

00:14:14:06 - 00:14:51:15

Clark

It's been I think people have talked about this in Buddhism and Zen for a long time. Alan Watts, a countercultural philosopher, he was British, called this the law of reverse effort, or the backwards law, which is basically says that if you push for something very strongly, you will actually decrease your likelihood of obtaining it. And then and I agree to a great extent, actually, that if you put all of your energy into trying to, you know, to creating a film that's going to work for every possible audience, it won't work very well for any.

00:14:52:02 - 00:15:14:19

Clark

Yeah. And I would even go further and say, actually, if you you know, if you're trying to do work that you feel will be accepted by an audience and that's your primary focus, it's likely not going to be a very good film. It's not going to come from within you. It's not going to be an authentic voice. It's going to be premeditated and cynical and and striving.

00:15:14:19 - 00:15:20:07

Clark

And that doesn't make for very interesting film in my humble opinion. But I really appreciate you bringing that up.

00:15:20:07 - 00:15:27:23

Cullen

And I think that there's actually a really great example of it. And at the avoidance of becoming a pop culture podcast, because that's not what we are.

00:15:27:23 - 00:15:28:06

Clark

Right.

00:15:28:08 - 00:15:49:09

Cullen

Putting my fist down. But okay, but I sound like Nixon now. But, but I do want to say that you're impersonations. But there's a there's an interesting example of that that's kind of been talked about to death. But but just a really quick digression is the the episode, I guess it was eight the eight Star Wars movie of this new.

00:15:49:09 - 00:15:49:23

Clark

Oh my gosh.

00:15:50:08 - 00:16:03:06

Cullen

Which is the eighth one was The Last Jedi, which was the controversial fan, you know, the one that fans didn't like. The critics liked it. Sure. I liked I thought it was I thought it was decent because I thought it was different as okay, what I feel.

00:16:03:07 - 00:16:07:18

Clark

Like I had no idea with this film is that you're talking about I don't know which.

00:16:07:18 - 00:16:27:20

Cullen

That's okay. I don't blame you, but that's okay. But I do. I there is an interesting relation to too, what we're talking about here, which is that the so the the eighth movie came out, which was directed by Ryan Johnson, who did, you know, Looper and Brick and just most recently Knives out were good which I think he's I think that he's he's really an interesting director He's got a very interesting voice.

00:16:27:20 - 00:16:46:08

Cullen

Very unique voice. And so he did the eight Star Wars movie and it took the series in a direction that a lot of fans were, you know, unhappy with because they were like, where's this? Where's that? You know, that's not supposed to happen in Star Wars. I thought it was kind of a silly backlash in a way, because I was like, who cares?

00:16:46:08 - 00:17:10:00

Cullen

It was, you know, I thought that the things that he did in it were more interesting than anything that had been done in most other recent Star Wars movies. So I was fine with it. Right. But then what you found was that you got, you know, Disney and Lucasfilm see that backlash and go into the ninth movie, which is the final one of the big series, and completely bought into all that backlash and did exactly what we're talking about.

00:17:10:02 - 00:17:12:12

Cullen

Nothing but chasing after fan service.

00:17:12:12 - 00:17:13:05

Clark

And service, you know.

00:17:13:06 - 00:17:30:10

Cullen

Test group focused like what did people like about the last ones they did not like? And I can guarantee in 20 years people will look back on the Last Jedi and think, Oh, that was actually interesting how they made some interesting decisions there. And they kind of went against the grain of the rest of the franchise with that one.

00:17:30:17 - 00:17:49:04

Cullen

Nobody will remember the most recent one because the most recent one was both. Well, it was panned by critics and audiences. It wasn't very good, period. But I do think that that's interesting and I never want to talk about Star Wars ever again. But, you know, but I still revise a I thought that it was an interesting kind of real world example of exactly what we're talking about.

00:17:49:04 - 00:18:09:21

Clark

Unless perhaps sometime in the future. We mentioned Herzog's performances in The Mandalorian. That might be the only other situation where we're talking about Star Wars on this podcast. But yeah, I mean, I agree, right? And I think, look, if you're listening to this podcast, clearly, you know, Collin, you and I are actually recording this podcast and we're focusing on Herzog.

00:18:09:21 - 00:18:10:03

Clark

I think.

00:18:10:04 - 00:18:13:19

Cullen

Hang on, this is being recorded at inside India.

00:18:13:20 - 00:18:36:04

Clark

I you know what? And hey, in California, only one party has to give consent to recording. So that could be me. And I'm recording and, you know, but we're just going to get all over the place. We'll talk about some law, we'll talk about philosophy. We're talking about pop culture, which is going everywhere with this one today. But now I've completely forgotten what I was going to say.

00:18:36:04 - 00:18:55:17

Clark

Oh, but, you know, lucky I mean, if we're talking about Herzog, clearly we're fans clearly were inspired by his work. I mean, it's you know, he the authenticity of his work, the fact that he's making films for himself and not to say that he and he talks about this, you know, he's he says, look, this isn't all about you.

00:18:55:21 - 00:19:16:00

Clark

The director doesn't have final cut. The producer doesn't have final cut. The financier doesn't have final cut. The audience does. Right. But he's you know, what he's talking about there, though, is not I mean, I don't think you know, I think it would be misconstrued. It's to say, well, what he means is shape the film to make the audience happy.

00:19:16:09 - 00:19:28:01

Clark

Yeah. No, he's saying, look, ultimately, you know, ultimately the audience is going to determine, you know, how to say that it's.

00:19:28:01 - 00:19:29:06

Cullen

Success and its legacy, its.

00:19:29:06 - 00:19:37:03

Clark

Success and its legacy. And it's good. There's there is you know, it's it's yeah, exactly.

00:19:37:03 - 00:19:59:06

Cullen

So I think that distinction that you just made is really, really important because I think people so often confuse the two where they go, Yeah, you know, like, I think that that's a huge thing and it's a huge part about taking things with a grain of salt, you know, taking I've shown friends cuts of movies and this goes back even to the film school thing or the difference between going to film school and not going to film school.

00:19:59:06 - 00:20:21:07

Cullen

But I've shown friends who have gone to film school a cut of a movie, and they've gone, you know, chop chop, 8 minutes out of it or chopped some arbitrary number out of it. Right. And it's like because it's just been instilled that, you know, the shorter is better because it will get to an audience faster. But then Herzog even talks about, you know, the opposite, which is what if we sit on a shot on mute for an unusually long amount of time?

00:20:21:07 - 00:20:45:01

Cullen

Right? And that imposes this idea that the shot is now important. And I that's one thing that I think is lost in major news today, which is just this idea of being able to sit and make it atmospheric and allow things to sink in and reflective ness to. I think that you almost have to put, if you want an audience to reflect, seen the scene on your movie, you almost had to put a disclaimer at the beginning saying you're allowed to think about what you're watching right now.

00:20:45:07 - 00:20:51:00

Cullen

You know, when the movie is slow, don't just think it's boring. You know, think about what's going on and it's just kind of funny.

00:20:51:04 - 00:21:16:19

Clark

But this okay, look, and this is the point, right, is that you cannot please everyone and you just have to be willing to accept that if you're lucky, your film is going to find an audience out there. If you're lucky. Right. It because it's tough. I mean, it's a very difficult thing in this world to get to have your work seen by enough people where you have any kind, any size of audience.

00:21:16:19 - 00:21:34:01

Clark

But, you know, yeah, it's okay if the if there's a lot of people out there, right. If you've got, you know, however many billion of people out there and they're like and a big chunk of those people say this is too slow for me. You know, the editing is not, you know, why are you sitting on this scene for 5 seconds?

00:21:34:01 - 00:21:45:23

Clark

This you know, if it's okay, it's I mean, you blessed to have a small core of people who are moved and touched and inspired by your film. Yeah. I mean, my goodness. You know, here's the goal.

00:21:46:01 - 00:21:49:02

Cullen

Never go around trying to impress everybody.

00:21:49:02 - 00:21:55:09

Clark

That's I mean, when has Herzog ever been, like, a blockbuster film maker? When have his films ever like, you know.

00:21:55:09 - 00:22:03:12

Cullen

But at the same time, it's so plenty of his movies have reached, you know, universal praise. And like I would say, you know, Grizzly Man is one of.

00:22:03:13 - 00:22:29:12

Clark

Some of his films have definitely yeah, some of his films have definitely kind of broke through. I mean, and obviously, look, he's got decades and decades of work now. But yeah, I guarantee you, though, I mean, look, don't take this for granted. I mean, if I went out on in my neighborhood and I asked 50 people, I just walked down the street now 50 people who Verner Herzog was name, name of film or two of his, For me, I would be surprised if 10% could do that.

00:22:30:04 - 00:22:51:08

Clark

So we live in a little bit of a bubble where, you know, we are filmmakers, we love film, we're cinephiles. We clearly are like steeped in Herzog. You know, if I if I walk down my street, my neighborhood, and I ask people who Steven Spielberg was, I'm pretty sure 99% of the people I asked would be able to tell me right above the age of 18 or something.

00:22:51:08 - 00:23:26:20

Cullen

So, yeah, I mean, I go I mean, if you go upload something to YouTube and no matter how amazing it is, no matter how 99% of people are thumbs up being the the video, you'll always have two or three dislikes. That's the thing. There's always going to be the and I think that that's the idea of where it's like again and this is going to sound like a broken record but take everything with a grain of salt because also times when even if even if I'm sitting in a room with three other people and they all say, you know, this should change in your movie, there are times when I would say, Yeah, okay, I'm

00:23:26:20 - 00:23:42:18

Cullen

wrong, but there are also times, if I believe really strongly about yes, that I will say no, no, no, I, I don't care. I'm keeping it because that part is something that will be in there. And that's that's kind of where you got to find the balance. You don't always have to listen to the criticism or the you certainly not whatever.

00:23:42:18 - 00:24:07:04

Clark

I mean, this is really gets to the crux of a major creative, major part of the creative challenge, if you will, in creation and bringing something to people. Right. Is when do you listen? When do you take an audience, you know, an audience's feedback, and when do you stand firm in your in your intuitive, you know, in your beliefs of what this should be?

00:24:07:14 - 00:24:27:15

Clark

And that's a question, my goodness. That, you know, philosophically we could talk about for a long time. But that's, you know, this is one of the main fundamental aspects of creation and ultimately that you have to find that within yourself. Right. But certainly and Herzog talks about this and in this lesson that there is certainly that there are times to listen and there are times to stand firm.

00:24:28:06 - 00:24:39:08

Clark

And you can only really look inside yourself. Yeah, to answer that question. And each one of us is going to have a different, you know, line that we've drawn for that. So, I.

00:24:39:08 - 00:24:53:21

Cullen

Mean, even down to the fundamental technical limits of editing, I know people who will and I've worked with them and some of them are very good friends of mine who will say that, you know, I'm never editing my own stuff. I'm always sending it to another editor because it needs it. And it's like it's like.

00:24:53:21 - 00:24:54:01

Clark

This.

00:24:54:01 - 00:25:14:22

Cullen

Steadfast concrete. And they write, you know, when I say, you know, I cut this myself, they're like, Oh, no, I wouldn't do that. It's and and it's like, I've never bought into that. I've never. And you'll find that especially if you're beginning well, you know, you might be more attuned to it if your beginning is it's sort of a thing that kind of sticks out and you might get used to it later on.

00:25:14:22 - 00:25:41:15

Cullen

But film is full of that. Film is like the film industry, but be it in pre-production, production or post-production is filled with people who think that rules are concrete, that there's no way that you can get away with doing a movie without doing X, Y, Z, right, that are set oriented rules but dogmatic. So I've had these projects with people on, you know, online and in person.

00:25:41:15 - 00:25:56:12

Cullen

And it's really I always think it's funny, it always makes me laugh because I'm like that the end of the day where you're going out to put a camera somewhere and filming something, that's that's what you're doing. You know, there are rules in place to to make that easier and to make sure that you don't lose the footage, blah, blah, blah.

00:25:56:12 - 00:26:00:05

Cullen

But yeah, but then the day just think. Just think about what you're trying to do. Put it into.

00:26:00:05 - 00:26:04:19

Clark

Perspective here, guys. Yeah, it's like. It's like, you know, you're not a surgeon, like.

00:26:04:19 - 00:26:05:08

Cullen

Exactly.

00:26:05:08 - 00:26:28:04

Clark

You generally, you know, you're generally there's, you know, I don't I wouldn't call it dogma, but there are very strict procedures, right? There is, you know, there's everything from how an O.R. is like kept how people sterilized, how a procedure is like, you know, this is like very rigidly procedural ized, you know, activities and for good reason. But this is not filmmaking.

00:26:28:04 - 00:26:31:23

Clark

This is not are exactly you know, it's I keep things in perspective a little bit.

00:26:32:02 - 00:26:55:18

Cullen

And I think on on that point, too that there's there's this bit where in the lesson where Herzog talks about throwing out old footage which I am just in love with because that's what I do, I will finish a cut of a movie. I will have it maybe the final cut for maybe six months or so. And at that point, if I if I still like it and it's out there and I'm happy with it, there's nothing that's horribly wrong with it.

00:26:55:22 - 00:27:11:07

Cullen

I delete all that old footage I do not keep unless it there's something that I think would be good in a real or something that I could use for something else, like a great landscape shot or whatever. Sure, I might keep stuff like that, but in terms of the like every single audio file, every single video file. No, no, no.

00:27:11:07 - 00:27:19:21

Cullen

I and there's some people that are I mean, Terrence Malick is famously not like that. He just released a new cut of Tree of Life like two years ago. And he's.

00:27:19:22 - 00:27:20:11

Clark

Still is.

00:27:20:12 - 00:27:21:13

Cullen

That RealPlayer.

00:27:21:13 - 00:27:24:01

Clark

Just released a new cut of Godfather.

00:27:24:01 - 00:27:30:15

Cullen

Three. But I have no interest in that. I yeah, I am like Herzog says in this where it's like the carpenter doesn't keep it his shit.

00:27:30:15 - 00:27:31:09

Clark

On his mean.

00:27:31:11 - 00:27:33:20

Cullen

I'm the same I am once I'm done a movie.

00:27:33:20 - 00:27:34:08

Clark

I love that.

00:27:34:08 - 00:27:54:17

Cullen

I like to basically get the final cut, put it on a hard drive for an archive and like a backup. And that's it. Then You're the final cut. I don't need any of the old stuff. I don't need it. I don't even care really about it. I'm not somebody who's obsessed with four remastered was even. I mean, I, I appreciate them when they're done well and there's like this whole new, you know, whatever it's a restoration.

00:27:55:02 - 00:28:12:20

Cullen

But in terms of like something in the digital age, you know, everything is clean enough that you're not going to get a point in in 2050 where somebody is like, oh, this was shot on the zoom or this was recorded on the zoom matrix. This audio is so unusable. And it's that's exactly what I mean, though. It's like people future proof to future proof or something.

00:28:12:20 - 00:28:51:13

Clark

Well I mean I funny I you know it's funny I, I agree with Herzog and I agree with you, but I cannot say that I follow through with my own beliefs completely. There's definitely some cognitive dissonance here for me right now, because although I agree, I have to admit that in my closet, in my office, I have a box of hard drives and there are probably about 40 hard drives in there of all shapes and sizes that contain not just final cuts, but actually contain raw footage and audio.

00:28:51:13 - 00:29:06:19

Clark

And and you know what? It and I will I can tell you so I can tell you from personal experience, a lot of people might ask to say, well, what's the harm? What is the harm of keeping all this stuff? And I and I because I think sometimes it's maybe hard to put your finger on. So what's the big deal right.

00:29:06:19 - 00:29:23:08

Clark

Well, I think there actually is a cost to this. And maybe talking about this right now is going to motivate me to go ahead and finally toss this stuff out or at least reuse the hard drives. Of course, we throw out good hard drives. But, you know, I think there is there is definitely there's a couple of things.

00:29:23:08 - 00:29:41:11

Clark

I think one, I think it it's all of this kind of digital clutter, this kind of, you know, this kind of just hangs around like like if you if your house is cluttered, right. It's kind of a distraction to you all the time. It's like, well, this you know, I've got all this footage. It's kind of like hanging in the back of your mind.

00:29:41:11 - 00:29:50:01

Clark

It's like they're in the closet. It's like, Well, maybe I'll do something with it. I know you're not. I'm not going to do anything with it. It's just a distraction, you know? Yeah.

00:29:50:01 - 00:29:55:05

Cullen

And I think that so often it's almost a tempting temptation to go back and fiddle with it when.

00:29:55:05 - 00:29:55:15

Clark

You need to be.

00:29:55:15 - 00:29:56:10

Cullen

Going forward.

00:29:56:11 - 00:30:17:08

Clark

Right? When you need to be going forward. Right. It's a diversion of energy. It's a diversion of focus. And and really, I mean, I think it's it's it just kind of I think it's a distraction of focus that keeps you right, that has you looking backward at stuff you've already done and the likelihood that you're going to do anything else with it is a come on.

00:30:17:11 - 00:30:34:15

Clark

It's it's basically zero or else you would have done it. And and and if you did go back and do it. So let's say that that one in a million chance came along and you did do something with it. I mean, come on, if it's sitting under your bed in your closet, how inspired are you really how motivated are you really so what kind of work you're going to do it with it?

00:30:34:15 - 00:30:47:00

Clark

It's not going to come from a place of inspiration or motivation, right? It's like it's coming from some other place, like obligation or Well, I've had these things in my closet for years. I guess I should do something with it. Screw that stuff.

00:30:47:00 - 00:31:00:12

Cullen

It's just like this weird forward, like, security of just like, Well, what? Or what if the project gets here and I got to, you know, I've got to react, But it's like that that not so rare. And there's no you're hoarding for the sake of hoarding. But I also think I.

00:31:00:12 - 00:31:00:21

Clark

Agree.

00:31:00:22 - 00:31:25:06

Cullen

With what you just said is, you know, and Herzog doesn't specifically touch on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was similar in this way. That is the most I'll keep in the long term is and usually just for educational purposes is like maybe the three rough cuts or something like that. Right. And that we can kind of go back and it's sometimes it's a little bit fun to to go and watch the first cut of a movie and sort of go, okay, that's what I did.

00:31:25:06 - 00:31:30:13

Cullen

And that's those are decisions I made. And again, for education to, you know, since I teach a class, wasn't very useful.

00:31:30:13 - 00:31:31:11

Clark

Right? Absolutely.

00:31:31:11 - 00:31:50:06

Cullen

To go back and sort of say like here was the first cut of this and then but just exactly what you said in terms of the full raw files, you know, footage that are massive, massive files, they're huge. Always, even if you're shooting on a like a really, really file of file size friendly format.

00:31:50:06 - 00:31:50:18

Clark

Terabyte, they're.

00:31:50:19 - 00:32:14:21

Cullen

Still going to be a huge amount of footage. Yeah I have no yeah I, I just like you mentioned, just like Herzog mentioned, I have no interest in keeping those around. It also to me almost and maybe this is just kind of, you know, philosophical, but I find that it prevents me from feeling like the work is done even if I'm happy with a final cut.

00:32:14:21 - 00:32:34:02

Cullen

If I've got the footage still sitting around, I still feel like there's potential that again, in ten years I might go back and I have that little double voice in my head. And so I don't really find that I'm completely satisfied with a work until I almost forced myself to be by just deleting all the all the archived raw footage.

00:32:34:02 - 00:32:36:04

Cullen

And then I'm like, Now there's nothing I can do.

00:32:36:07 - 00:32:56:08

Clark

Well, this is important and this is important. And we've touched on this, you know, in a few different ways. But it's definitely something that Herzog talks about in this lesson. It's about being decisive, learning to be decisive. And you've great Segway. You've tied it into this to if you're saving all of your footage. You know, we've talked about this for shooting, too.

00:32:56:08 - 00:33:17:21

Clark

We've talked about, look, don't just don't, don't just take take after take after take and coverage. Just get all the coverage you can possibly get. You are putting off the decision making, which is the heart of your art. And you know, it's the same with this if you're in editing and you yet, you know, being decisive is just an absolutely vital part of this art.

00:33:19:07 - 00:33:35:21

Clark

And I think this is this is tied into that, right. Herzog talks about. And I of course, you know, I love the way he always puts things, but he talks about, look, you know, this is a profession. This isn't your pet. You've got to be a professional. You've got to you know, and of course, we've talked about this many times.

00:33:35:21 - 00:33:57:02

Clark

You know, Herzog is clearly a very intuitive filmmaker. And so he talks about just, you know, the foot, you know, what speaks to him. And, of course, I mean, ultimately, I think we all have to be right. I mean, you know, ultimately we're all kind of relying on our intuition. This is kind of what art is. We balance that with some feedback, which we've talked about.

00:33:57:02 - 00:34:01:22

Clark

But yeah, ultimately, you know, editing is about making decisions.

00:34:02:09 - 00:34:23:05

Cullen

Mm hmm. And I also want to put in a caveat there, too, for things like, like director's cuts, which are a different beast because I think that most often a director's cut is created because of marketing, you know, marketing and, well, marketing. But also sometimes, like I think of Once Upon a Time in America where it was, you know, the movie was significantly cut down.

00:34:23:05 - 00:34:23:19

Cullen

And I think.

00:34:23:22 - 00:34:25:17

Clark

Studios forced changes that.

00:34:25:21 - 00:34:44:06

Cullen

I think Leone said, you know, it was the movie was neutered by the studio and then went and created the director's cut And it's I prefer the director's cut. I think it's a masterpiece. I think the original is very good, too. But I think that I can see why. And same with, you know, Blade Running Blade Runner. The final cut is the best cut of that movie.

00:34:45:05 - 00:35:06:02

Cullen

So there's a difference there where it's like if I obviously if I was working for a big studio, I didn't really get the motion picture I wanted at the end due to that kind of thing. Sure, I might keep that footage around so that I can then go back and make the movie that I wanted. But oftentimes, too, that director director's cut is going to be an earlier cut anyway.

00:35:06:02 - 00:35:09:23

Cullen

It's got you're already going to have that cut. That was like we changed. Yeah, correct.

00:35:09:23 - 00:35:16:17

Clark

So yeah, that's likely the case. It's not that you've gone back and you've re-edited the film, it's more that, well, this is the edit you wanted.

00:35:17:01 - 00:35:17:18

Cullen

But you.

00:35:17:22 - 00:35:18:11

Clark

Remind me.

00:35:18:20 - 00:35:32:10

Cullen

Usually when I see, you know, when I see a movie or a director that does go back and do exactly that, which is like this, this going back after the fact and saying, you know what, maybe I could tweak this like you mean like the final cut of Lucas, but also Coppola? I mean, the final could have a.

00:35:32:10 - 00:35:33:05

Clark

Couple is doing that.

00:35:33:05 - 00:35:41:03

Cullen

So I saw and the final cut was was not nearly as good as the original. I was sitting with a friend other three for Apocalypse Now.

00:35:41:08 - 00:35:50:04

Clark

Apocalypse Now, because I haven't seen Godfather three. I'm curious to see the deaths. Yeah, Yeah. Apparently he changed the ending and I haven't seen it, but yeah.

00:35:50:11 - 00:36:02:15

Cullen

I have to watch that one. But. But I saw the final cut of Apocalypse Now in theaters, and me and a friend both saw it and sort of said, like, what was the point? You know, pretty substantial. Nothing was added to it. I mean, there was added footage, but nothing.

00:36:02:15 - 00:36:21:00

Clark

You don't feel like it added to the story, Right? Exactly. Yeah. And it's it's interesting. And I would, you know, look, I would love to have Coppola in front of me now and I would love to ask him what his thoughts were there. You know, was it because he felt like he had to make these compromises of time that the film was too low?

00:36:21:02 - 00:36:31:06

Clark

Studio wouldn't allow it, You know, whatever. I you know, who knows if it was like, no, this is really, really the film I wanted to release or was it something that came to him later and he thought, you know, yeah.

00:36:31:07 - 00:36:33:09

Cullen

You know, if we're doing a 4K restoration, might as well.

00:36:33:09 - 00:36:34:16

Clark

Yeah, right. I don't know.

00:36:35:07 - 00:36:57:12

Cullen

But I do think it's a really interesting topic. I mean, I think that, that because it's so in line with, with like I again I know people who would never ever do that like I my friend Blair, who I work with at the company I started he is a white person and works primarily in post and is an archive or so his philosophy on this is completely different.

00:36:57:12 - 00:37:09:14

Cullen

Like he is like, we've got to get a harddrive, we got to go save, you know, all of our raw footage goes on to, you know, three different hard drives for multitudes of backups, blah, blah, blah, stuff like that, which I can appreciate. I mean, I appreciate that. Well, it's a thought.

00:37:09:19 - 00:37:13:07

Clark

As you're going through production til the film is released.

00:37:13:07 - 00:37:15:16

Cullen

And then at that point, I don't care. Yeah, absolutely.

00:37:16:03 - 00:37:34:07

Clark

Yeah, that's a whole different right. And that's a whole different technical conversation about, you know, backups and backups and backups. I mean, that's a whole different. Yeah, absolutely. There's about file management and archiving during the production process, but once the film is it's finished, it's released, it's done. You know, keeping all of this raw footage is is a different thing.

00:37:34:17 - 00:37:59:18

Clark

But I mean, can you imagine that We've talked about Coppola, Ridley Scott, many other directors have released director's cuts for various reasons. But one of the things that's so endearing to me about Herzog is that all of his films are director's cuts. There are no I mean, what can you say? None of his films has he'd gone back and tweaked them and said, No, no, this is like really the film that I wanted to release.

00:37:59:18 - 00:38:07:01

Cullen

I don't think any of his films either. He's come out and said that he wasn't proud of. No, I don't think he's ever come out and said, Oh, you know, that one didn't go so well.

00:38:07:06 - 00:38:24:02

Clark

Well, except for, I think, one of the first films he ever did. And this story is a little bit sketchy in my mind right now, but I think there was an issue where something happened on set. Could this have possibly been with an animal or something? That was one of the first films he ever did, and he said he'll never release it.

00:38:24:20 - 00:38:44:13

Clark

I, I feel I feel I feel bad that I don't have this exact memory, like, perfectly formed in my head, but I'm pretty sure I remember there was something about some kind of I don't know if an animal was injured or if there was some kind of like animal cruelty or something on set or actually not just on set, I mean, on camera.

00:38:44:13 - 00:38:53:06

Clark

And Herzog says he'll never release this film. So I pretty sure there is a film that he doesn't want to ever see the light of day.

00:38:53:11 - 00:38:59:07

Cullen

But to to to be fair to that, too, that's not necessarily the quality of the film. It's more correct. The subject.

00:38:59:07 - 00:39:00:13

Clark

Matter? I don't think so. Yeah, right.

00:39:00:17 - 00:39:13:06

Cullen

But I don't think as far as quality, like I don't think he's ever gone back and said I could have done better that way. I don't think it's like and maybe that is, you know, a direct result of his throwing out the old material, like perhaps.

00:39:13:09 - 00:39:14:00

Clark

Who needed to see.

00:39:14:03 - 00:39:23:21

Cullen

If that one aspect of his personality was different and he kept that footage, perhaps we would have, you know, a whole bunch of director's cut from Herzog, and it could be.

00:39:23:21 - 00:39:56:11

Clark

Yeah, yeah. I do want to speak to this really quickly since I had a quick second here to look it up. So, yeah, so you're right, I don't think this is necessarily a question about quality, but just since we're here, we're talking about Herzog, a little bit of trivia. So actually his film titled Game in the Sand, which was a short film that he wrote and directed in 1964, the plot apparently concerns four children and a rooster in a cardboard box and actually very little is known about this film.

00:39:57:00 - 00:40:22:13

Clark

It's never been published. It's never been published, publicly shown. And Herzog states that he'll never give it a release in his lifetime. He says that the shooting got out of hand, and that's kind of all he's really ever said about it. And so you're right. I don't think that he's saying I don't think that this film has artistic merit or quality, but he's saying maybe more for moral or ethical reasons, he doesn't want it released.

00:40:22:13 - 00:40:56:02

Clark

So I was like, I'm pretty sure there's a film out there that. But you're right, you know, totally different thing there. But this is one of the things that inspires me about Herzog. You know, the fact that he's been able to maintain his autonomy and that he's been, you know, that he is so decisive in the edit and of course, behind the camera and with writing and that the films that he releases that are the films that he wanted to make, I mean, there are always films are always compromises, but I mean, that that these are films that he can completely stand behind.

00:40:56:11 - 00:40:57:20

Clark

I love that. I love that.

00:40:58:07 - 00:41:22:09

Cullen

And I've got to say, too, that there's, you know, just to retrace our steps just for a second about the idea of editing, whether it's on your own or using somebody else to edit and like, you know, sending that footage off to another editor. I had a great conversation with a friend of mine recently where she was. We were talking about this this idea of like, you know, for and it was for the feature.

00:41:22:09 - 00:41:53:13

Cullen

She's one of the people that's producing this feature that we're doing right now. Yeah. And we were talking about editing and, you know, what do we do when we get to post? Do we hire an editor, etc.? And it was actually what was nice about it was also it was very casual. It wasn't really a formal meeting. It was just us having a casual hang out and just this stuff came up and we were all on the same page where we were just kind of talking about the fact that it's like whether we send it off to somebody else to cut that movie together and to get, you know, I'm doing air quotes with my

00:41:53:13 - 00:42:12:23

Cullen

hands, did like get a second pair of eyes on it versus us as a team or even just me cutting something together and then showing it to other eyes. I don't. Again, there's some people that are very, very pedantic about that and kind of go like, No, no, no, you have to get it on another person's hands. Whereas again, it's one of those things where I'm I'm thinking like, I'm going to get that feedback.

00:42:12:23 - 00:42:30:21

Cullen

Either way, I'm just more likely going to like the cut more if I do it myself, or at least I'm involved in that first cutting process versus and especially at this budget level, especially at this budget level, send off editing footage to an editor and of course you're not paying them a lot. And it's not their fault that they don't get to it because they're not being paid a lot.

00:42:31:22 - 00:42:52:07

Cullen

Yeah, and you don't get it back for like two months and then two months later you're like and you're like, Yeah, exactly. I've got a we did a movie. I didn't direct again, it was, but it was under my production company that we shot back in February. And it's a I think it's like a five minute short film and it's still being cut because the director, you know, it's his way of working.

00:42:52:07 - 00:43:09:05

Cullen

But he was very adamant that he sends it off to another editor, and that was that was his way of working. And so I'm not going to fight him on that because that's his process. But I just it kind of again, reinforced to me this idea of like, you know, I could I could put that together in 2 hours into a work print cut rather than having to wait.

00:43:09:05 - 00:43:10:12

Cullen

Now it's coming on. You know.

00:43:10:19 - 00:43:38:05

Clark

This is great point. Yeah, this is a great point. You know, obviously for people who are at this at that stage of your career or the projects of that size, I totally agree. I mean, I've got a situation where a documentary film that I started shooting over a year ago and the our my producer partner on that film, we decided that we would take our four is a documentary, a lot of interview, a lot of following people around.

00:43:38:11 - 00:44:00:17

Clark

It's got a thousand miles to Hollywood and we we spend all this time and money traveling around the country filming and we kind of, you know, I was like, well, you know, I kind of he felt very strongly about having somebody else edit it. I thought, okay, I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to explore that. And here we sit and we don't have a cut.

00:44:01:17 - 00:44:29:11

Clark

We went through a process where we hired hired an editor. It didn't work out very well. We didn't get make progress anywhere near as fast as we had hoped. And what we saw was not really terribly usable at the end of the day, even after all this waiting. And so I've been thinking quite a bit about going back and okay, I'm just going to sit down, I'm going to break out that footage and I'm going to start cutting this thing myself, you know, because it's when you don't have that, we don't have a ton of money behind this project.

00:44:29:19 - 00:44:45:20

Clark

So. Right. It's not going to find a talented, motivated editor and be able to motivate them to put this in their list of priorities and get it done with assumed debt with, you know, DEADLINE That's that's not way off in the distance. It's tough. So you mean even going back to.

00:44:46:02 - 00:45:06:10

Cullen

It even goes back to as well the idea that we talked about, I think in the first few episodes, which is just this idea of thinking like an editor while you're directing and in some people don't do that, some people are just focused on the shots and things like that, or working only with actors. Some directors are very, very kind of focused in that way, whereas I am able to kind of juggle those things and kind of go, I know what this is going to edit together.

00:45:06:10 - 00:45:25:16

Cullen

Like even if I don't write the movie, I'm sure I think that, that and at the end of the day, what I always kind of say is whether, you know, if I take this, if I have a cut in my mind for this and I take it and I edit it, whether or not that edit works or not doesn't matter, because if it doesn't work, people are going to tell me it doesn't work.

00:45:26:05 - 00:45:40:07

Cullen

I don't need to send it off to somebody else to learn that that doesn't work because I'm going to find out that it doesn't work because people will tell me, you know, even if I cut it myself, right? Yeah. They think that's that's the biggest kind of for me is, you know, Sure.

00:45:40:07 - 00:45:47:13

Clark

I think that for me, the thing that I hold out hope for, the thing that I'm looking for, though, is for somebody to add to my vision.

00:45:47:17 - 00:45:48:09

Cullen

Yes. Yeah.

00:45:48:09 - 00:46:07:14

Clark

And that's, you know, and it's the same with actors, right? We've talked about working with actors is the reason I don't want to give line readings is the reason that I'm not, you know, stuck to a script like it's you know, written in stone. You know, ideally you have collaborators who are bringing more and more and more to your vision, right?

00:46:07:14 - 00:46:37:14

Clark

As a director, you own the vision. Yes. But ideally, you've got people who are able to bring their expertise in and add to that it's not it's not that they're changing your vision, but they're adding to it. And art and filmmaking is a collaborative art form. I mean, it with the exception of I mean, the smallest of small films where you're literally doing every single, every single job that But that's pretty darn foreign few between, right?

00:46:38:03 - 00:46:57:12

Clark

It's a it's a collaborative art form. So it's like I you know, another example that I have where I kind of, you know, I collaborated on the editing. I worked as I'm kind of credited as an assistant editor for another feature film that's soon to be released. And I didn't sit down in front of the computer and edit this thing.

00:46:57:20 - 00:47:14:19

Clark

I assisted them by watching the film that they had kind of they brought me in late in the process right? And they'd already had a cut and they know they're having some challenges. It's not the film that they thought it was going to be. They've gotten some challenging feedback a little better. They're, you know, they're working to make it better.

00:47:14:19 - 00:47:36:07

Clark

And they asked me to sit down with this cut and help them work on it. And so I pulled together about 30 pages of notes, and then I sat down with the editor and they talked through these things. And hopefully I hope I was able to bring, you know, I'm try try it. So, you know, in that position there, it's not like I'm trying to change the director's vision.

00:47:36:07 - 00:47:53:08

Clark

I'm trying. Okay, What was your vision? You know, So I'm talking to the director. I'm like, what? Talking to the writer. What were you trying to do here? Help me get inside head as much as possible, and then I can help them try to shape this in a way that's going to match their vision. So hopefully I was able to do that and bring some value to that, you know.

00:47:53:08 - 00:48:00:10

Cullen

And also let me just I just want to clarify, too, that I'm not in any way adverse to somebody else cutting. Sure. A movie of mine.

00:48:00:15 - 00:48:04:02

Clark

And I just since I'm getting a sense, I know what it is you're not I.

00:48:04:12 - 00:48:10:01

Cullen

I am a control. As you've said before, I'm a you've worked with me on set. I slap people.

00:48:10:15 - 00:48:14:06

Clark

It's fine. I still got bruises and scars from that incident.

00:48:14:16 - 00:48:34:09

Cullen

But I it's more of that if I'm if somebody else is cutting the movie. Yeah, I'm there in the cutting room with them. Sure. And then I'm involved in that process. What I don't like and what is probably the most common style of of editing in the indie market if you don't have you know, if you're not editing yourself.

00:48:34:09 - 00:48:40:17

Cullen

Is that exactly that idea of just sending it off to somebody and not being able to be there with them? Sure. And that's a that's what I.

00:48:40:17 - 00:48:43:07

Clark

Would never recommend that. Yeah, that should always. But it's.

00:48:43:07 - 00:49:03:15

Cullen

So common. That's the thing is it's very it's almost it's almost become a norm. Yeah. Which is just this idea that and I think that I think a lot of that does again come back to this idea of film school where the way that film school trains people to make movies is that like if you're the cinematographer, you're the cinematographer and you're going get marks off if you do anything else.

00:49:04:16 - 00:49:19:23

Cullen

So it's this very, again, dogmatic approach to, you know, the director. If you're if you're the director, you have to get someone from the editing program into your to edit your movie. And I, you know, again, I didn't go to film school, but I've experienced this firsthand when I.

00:49:19:23 - 00:49:24:02

Clark

Was likely because they're trying to teach students how to work within the boundaries.

00:49:24:03 - 00:49:43:19

Cullen

And I think but I think it's kind of ironic because it's like, you know, you just wind up teaching people that you have to do this, this you know, X, Y, Z. But I think that I experienced it firsthand once when I was, you know, I I'd offered to do cinematography on a friend of mine's movie who was in film school and they said, yeah.

00:49:43:19 - 00:50:11:08

Cullen

And so I started doing it. And then they got in trouble from their, their school because they were like they weren't using somebody from the cinematography class to do their cinematography. So it's this again, it's this funny kind of very rules oriented thing, which I think can be sort of harmful to learning. I think that I think is I think filmmaking is so much about finding your own way to do it and that there isn't really a steadfast.

00:50:11:18 - 00:50:22:19

Clark

I will I will add this caveat, though I will add this caveat, though, is that that can be very challenging to do as you move into professional realms depending on your country, etc..

00:50:22:22 - 00:50:23:13

Cullen

Oh, of course.

00:50:23:16 - 00:50:46:12

Clark

Depending on your region where not if you're working on union films there that can actually be quite challenging. So I can see where there I agree with you to great extent that it's, you know, having the flexibility to move from position to best position, to have the flexibility to kind of share tasks and have a more organic structure to the production.

00:50:46:12 - 00:51:14:20

Clark

But also in reality, though, and again, especially at higher levels, you're you're definitely going to have to deal with different departments and very specific skill sets and very specific like basic like union requirements for what people can do and can't do. So being able to work within that as well, I think is still is still a worthwhile skill, but if that's the only way you work, I think, you know, there's a blending of the two of those things where appropriate.

00:51:15:01 - 00:51:28:17

Cullen

And I will say to that like, yeah, I'm completely pro-union. Of course, I think that it's great, but I think a lot of times those restrictions and those union based restrictions are more, you know, they're they can be needed because of of labor. They're not.

00:51:28:20 - 00:51:29:08

Clark

Protecting.

00:51:30:10 - 00:52:05:16

Cullen

You know, creativity. Right. They're they're protecting labor rights of workers. So they're not. LULI Whereas I, I think that Herzog embodies this idea that like the style of filmmaking that I really love and I don't mean I don't mean style in terms of, like what his movies are about and what they're like esthetically, I mean, the style of his approach to the craft is something that I really admire because, yeah, he breaks down those ideas where it's like, you can trust him to say to you, you know, if you're on a union set that like, respect those rules and respect those those, you know, very, very important rules.

00:52:07:02 - 00:52:23:06

Cullen

But at the same time to be able to say, you know, you know, no, I'm going to I can take this and I can cut it together. I'm not shafting anybody out of a job. I'm just using the creative process to prove a point. And to to get an idea across, which I think is very admirable, because a lot of people won't do that.

00:52:23:06 - 00:52:26:09

Cullen

A lot of people will just kind of sit down and go, okay, well, the rules are rules.

00:52:26:14 - 00:52:43:18

Clark

You find where you find ways to work within the system. You can find actors if you know, filmmaking is a it's a it's a big it's a big chunk of this is creative problem solving, right? I mean, every day there's ways to do it for sure where you can you can manage the requirements of of all these aspects, you know for sure.

00:52:43:18 - 00:53:03:05

Clark

And something that I want to touch on briefly, because I think I don't think we've talked about it too much yet, but it's I think it's something that I know it's something I don't think it's something that Herzog talks about in his lesson. But I think it's important he talks about just kind of like some logistics about how what his process is when he sits down with his editor.

00:53:04:01 - 00:53:26:16

Clark

And I take this as great advice and I highly recommend people to do this. I do this myself as well. But he talks about working with a log book, basically. MM Yeah. And so, you know, he's got you shot all this footage now you're sitting down to watch it. And I actually kind of intuitively, I mean, I guess I taught myself how to edit like, like you.

00:53:26:16 - 00:53:42:06

Clark

I didn't go to film school. It was by necessity. I had shot some things I wanted to make for myself, my own work as an actor. And so that's how I kind of fell into writing and directing and okay, well, now I've got this footage, I have to edit it. So I kind of taught myself how to do that.

00:53:42:13 - 00:54:00:16

Clark

And this is kind of how I ended up just falling into doing it. But I would sit through and I would watch all the footage and I would make notes and basically I would just, you know, what stood out to me? What takes stood out to me as being the best one. And I just started to make notes about all the footage.

00:54:00:16 - 00:54:26:00

Clark

You know, this take this, take this, and just had kind of created a log book. I did mine in a spreadsheet, actually, on my computer, and Herzog uses an actual notebook and writes longhand, I think, Well, whatever floats your boat. But but Herzog talks about the importance of doing this. And I agree that you you watch the footage, you what you don't and what you watch all of it before you start editing.

00:54:26:00 - 00:54:26:22

Clark

I don't know if that's how.

00:54:26:22 - 00:54:33:12

Cullen

It's I mean, it's like I told you this exactly. This daily. Right. I'll sit down and watch all the dailies and you know everything and make notes and.

00:54:33:18 - 00:54:58:11

Clark

Yeah, yeah. And it just it's instead of because I think I kind of draw an analogy here, you know, he talks about, look, you know, watch it less and remember more so one of the great things about writing is that, of course, it's going to help get the memory of this footage into your mind faster. Yeah. When you write things down, that helps with your memory, but it also keeps you from having to go back and watch again and again and again and again.

00:54:58:19 - 00:55:23:07

Clark

And I think it was the same thing we talked about when we're working with actors, and I think I had talked about how I do not like to, you know, quote unquote memorize lines because what most people are doing when they're memorizing lines is that they're memorized by rote. If you say something over and over and over and over and over, what happens is, is that it just starts to become abstract sounds and you take.

00:55:23:08 - 00:55:24:01

Cullen

You mean again.

00:55:24:12 - 00:55:48:00

Clark

There's no meaning, there's no connection to any kind of emotional content there. Well, I think the same thing happens when you're watching your footage. If you watch your footage over and over and over and over and over again, you're going to end up becoming numb to it. Mm hmm. And and this and I think this is what happens to, you know, we're talking about having editors come in, finding that, you know, having this objective voice to help you.

00:55:48:00 - 00:56:07:05

Clark

Edit if if you're unable to do that. Well, look, in every instance, I think this is a tool that's really useful. You know, one of the ways if you're acting as your own editor, this is a way that you can try to help maintain some objectivity and, not turn numb to your own footage, which is you use a log book and don't watch your footage over and over and over again.

00:56:07:05 - 00:56:33:15

Cullen

It's funny cause it's another one of those things that I think I inadvertently stole from Herzog just without knowing it. But I do the exact same thing, which is longhand in a notebook with exclamation marks. Okay. Wasn't until I rewatched these lessons and I went, Maybe I just subconsciously took that from them. But it's also I mean, I did the exact like when I was doing, again, this home movie documentary, I had hours and hours and footage of footage both from my childhood and my dad's childhood that I just sat and watched through all of it and did that exact thing, which is just making notes.

00:56:33:15 - 00:57:00:02

Cullen

That was, of course, documentary. It's applicable to narrative. Yeah, But I think also it's it's a it's one of those things, again, that kind of a great tip that otherwise for that I've heard and that I use for because obviously you're going to have to watch your footage a bunch just if you are seeing it. And I it's really important, as you said, to not get numb to it, not exactly like when you watch it over and over tonight.

00:57:00:11 - 00:57:25:21

Cullen

But a really, really simple way to actually prevent that sometimes is just mirroring the footage and literally just applying a mirror filter to it so that it flips and I find that sometimes that immediately it's probably something just with your brain that immediately goes like, Oh, that's new. And that could be both. Really? Really. I learned that from visual that, you know, if you're because obviously if you're working on a visual effect, you're going to be working on it for, you know, weeks.

00:57:26:00 - 00:57:26:08

Clark

Right.

00:57:26:13 - 00:57:43:16

Cullen

And narrowing those things down. And eventually you can just start losing context as to what looks real, what looks not real, what you need to work on. Yeah. So a lot of visual effects artists use that, which is just reverse the footage and immediately it looks like something new. It looks like something you didn't create because your brain has been looking at it a certain way the whole time.

00:57:43:23 - 00:58:17:07

Cullen

And but you can take that principle from visual effects and apply it. So I'll often do that, which is if I make a cut of something the first time I watch it, I'll actually watch it mirrored. So it's interesting. Doesn't look like the thing. I just cut it actually just comes out as something that's completely new. And I found, you know, that it has honestly helped a lot with just feeling like I'm watching something that I didn't make and feeling like you're more of an audience member because it's an interesting it's like a super, super simple thing that's probably, again, just like fooling your brain.

00:58:17:13 - 00:58:41:06

Cullen

Yeah, it's one of those things that just kind of subconsciously you don't really notice. But yeah, it's, it's a great tip. But again, yeah, this whole idea of writing down footage, there is a great tragedy to people that, you know, will shoot a whole bunch of stuff and then wound up wind up missing because they don't want to watch all the takes of a scene, or they'll just go to the last take because they'll go, okay, this one's the best.

00:58:41:06 - 00:59:07:00

Cullen

That's what we're using, right? But they won't watch the moments. And that's something you'll notice so often in, you know, major movies is that I and I saw this saw my mind because I it was recent. But parasite, there's a lot of moments in Parasite where Bong Joon Ho and the editor I can't remember the editor's name, but they actually combine two different takes of scenes in one take.

00:59:07:00 - 00:59:20:07

Cullen

Like they'll just do the classic cut on a pan or something like that, and it'll be, you know, because they liked one actor's performance better and the other take. And they were sure this actor's performance in this take and it's not enough, right? It's yeah it's not even cutting back and forth is in like a shot over shot.

00:59:20:11 - 00:59:22:23

Clark

Mode Jindo Yang edited that, by the way. Okay. Yeah.

00:59:22:23 - 00:59:50:12

Cullen

So so they did that a lot in parasite and I'm sure they did that in Bong's other movies as well but it's it's again you learn these tricks that you don't without forensic analysis you can kind of miss. And I think that forensic analysis can be very bad in some ways because I don't think that you should be analyzing frame by frame movies in terms of like content and trying to pull every ounce of meaning because you'll just start inventing meaning.

00:59:51:13 - 01:00:05:06

Cullen

But I do think that it's really important in terms of technical skills to kind of go like how do they you know, that's a really neat thing. I can sort of see the cut if you slow it down. Yeah. So why did they do that and kind of learning about it that way and going like, okay, so that's there you go.

01:00:05:06 - 01:00:09:06

Cullen

There's a lesson as to why you should watch all of your takes and watch every take.

01:00:09:06 - 01:00:10:10

Clark

Yeah, absolutely.

01:00:10:10 - 01:00:15:07

Cullen

Because you might find that there's just something subtle and one that works and something in another.

01:00:15:07 - 01:00:36:14

Clark

Absolutely. That's a good point. That's a good point. And and just one more reason why, you know, logging all of that is so helpful if you've got, you know, however many takes of how many you have 30, 40 hours of footage, you know, it making notes of those moments, it can really make it a lot. It's because it just gets overwhelming fast.

01:00:36:14 - 01:00:55:06

Clark

Even on a short film, the amount of footage you've got and takes it can get it can get crazy, but that. Yeah, yeah, but that is a great point because. Right. Usually I mean I even in very casual projects of my own, that's often the case is that I often am adding, you know, taking moments from multiple takes.

01:00:56:05 - 01:01:08:13

Clark

It's very rare that I just have that this one take for this entire scene. Everything was, you know, better than everything else. I'm usually mixing up moments. Yeah. And yeah. And so that's a great point. Yeah, that's kind of a.

01:01:08:14 - 01:01:15:18

Cullen

Fun about editing too, is that you're kind of like it's literally cutting and pasting. Like you're, you're basically going like, I like that bit and you can you pull it?

01:01:15:18 - 01:01:48:10

Clark

Yeah, absolutely. And even with your audio as well, I mean we get the, the goal of this is not to get into the technical aspects of editing, but you know, yes, you've got your visual, you're editing the visual information to moving pictures, but you also have this extraordinary this extraordinary opportunity with your audio. There are so many moments where if you're not seeing the actor's mouth moving, you can do anything you want with the audio, you know, and and oftentimes, even when the actors mouth is moving and it's very plain, there are a lot of things you can do with audio.

01:01:48:10 - 01:02:09:11

Clark

So there's yeah, that's that's kind of a whole other episode there. But but there is an extraordinary world of opportunity in editing. So. Wow. Well, I think Colin, we've covered pretty much everything. Yeah. Herzog's lesson Can you think of anything that we didn't cover? I think we got it pretty good that that's.

01:02:09:11 - 01:02:11:22

Cullen

Yeah, I think we did. We did a decent job on this.

01:02:12:10 - 01:02:44:02

Clark

I hope. Well, hey, look like Herzog says, it's up to the audience. It's up to the audience. So we hope that it has been a fun experience for you. It's always fun for me. I love doing these because it you know, and you probably experienced this when you teach, too, but it helps me so much to kind of talk about these things, you know, try to put myself I often try to put myself in the perspective of, you know, in the mind of someone who doesn't have I mean, I'm very I would still consider myself much a beginner.

01:02:44:02 - 01:03:14:21

Clark

I consider myself very much in the learning stages of doing this, for sure. But I try to put myself in my mindset of even, you know, 15 years ago or 20 years ago when I really had no experience. And but this always helps, you know, to just kind of remember some of these things. I feel like every one of these we do, I kind of come away with like, oh, like you're like your thought on, hey, you know, near that you just flip things around and that can kind of be just another enough of a switch to kind of refresh your brain on it.

01:03:15:04 - 01:03:21:22

Clark

And then I'm thinking to myself, Yeah, well, what about color? Like, I don't think I've ever taken my footage and made it black and white and then watched it. I'd be that could.

01:03:21:22 - 01:03:25:23

Cullen

Be a lot of fun. I actually I will do that for fun sometimes and yeah, to see what it looks like, but.

01:03:25:23 - 01:03:34:12

Clark

As a way to see it differently. And I and I will even add further and I have done this is to watch it without sound, but then also to just listen to it.

01:03:34:19 - 01:03:35:11

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah.

01:03:35:11 - 01:03:39:12

Clark

So there's a lot of different thing, you know, and sometimes you just forget the stuff, you know, It's like, Oh crap.

01:03:39:12 - 01:03:44:10

Cullen

I yeah, I mean, I'm honestly, I'm really lucky that I do see a lot of that with teaching because so often it is just.

01:03:44:10 - 01:04:06:18

Clark

Like it reminds you over and over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's a great way to learn yourself. So I'm very appreciative for that. All right. Well, we'll wrap up then. Colin, as always, man, thanks so much. You bring some wonderful ideas to the table here, and I always really enjoy having these conversations with you. Next week we're going to be moving on to lesson 18.

01:04:06:23 - 01:04:32:20

Clark

And if I am not mistaken, lesson 18 is titled Invaded by Images. And then there's a two parter, right? I think Lesson 18 Endless. In 19, they're invaded by images one and two. So I'm excited to revisit and to revisit those. It's yeah, I'll have to watch it again. Now, it's been so long since I've watched these things, but I will will rewatch it and we'd be prepped to to come back next week and talk about the next lesson.

01:04:33:04 - 01:04:33:15

Cullen

Totally.

01:04:33:20 - 01:04:37:20

Clark

All right, man. Well, great. Well, until then, everybody, have a wonderful week. We'll see you soon.

01:04:38:02 - 01:04:45:18

Cullen

All right. Bye, everyone.

Episode - 017

Cullen

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I am Cullen McFater and of course, as always, I'm joined by Clark Coffey. How's it going?

00:00:20:16 - 00:00:34:19

Clark

It's going well, man, for the most part. I just got an emergency alert on my phone. I'm out here in California now. Rose, stay inside. Stay away from people where you're married. Oh, I.

00:00:34:19 - 00:00:35:07

Cullen

See. Yeah.

00:00:35:07 - 00:00:48:14

Clark

So. Yeah, outside of, you know, all of the the the the sadness and of COVID. Other than that, yes, I'm doing fine, man. Good to hear you're up in Canada.

00:00:49:01 - 00:00:54:03

Cullen

Good, good. Getting chillier now. So, you know, we're getting into December, so the weather is getting cold.

00:00:54:03 - 00:00:58:11

Clark

But I know, I know it's like 73 here right now. It's so chilly. Yeah.

00:00:58:16 - 00:01:12:15

Cullen

Yeah, I wish. I know. But today we're doing lesson 18 and 19. We're kind of doing a double whammy because they are invaded by images, parts one and two. So they're very similar. Yep. And we figured, you know, why not just kind.

00:01:12:15 - 00:01:15:15

Clark

Of It made sense. It made sense. Yeah, absolutely.

00:01:15:15 - 00:01:31:01

Cullen

But a very, very I think content rich lesson. I think very Oh, there's no I would say, you know, interesting to go from something as you know, not necessarily objective, but something very technical like music and something very right.

00:01:31:04 - 00:01:32:05

Clark

Seemingly so, at.

00:01:32:05 - 00:01:50:15

Cullen

Least seemingly so. Yeah. And suddenly now we are into a state of of inspiration. And although there are definitely similarities between those two, because of course, the episode was much about finding inspiration for music. And this is about finding inspiration from just raw images and not necessarily images taken with cameras. But.

00:01:51:00 - 00:02:09:20

Clark

But how do you write? It's it's it's how do we basically the crux of it is how do we find the stories that we want to tell as filmmakers, Right? Yeah. I mean, that's basically what it boils down to. And, you know, if boy, if there were ever an important question as an artist, as a filmmaker, I mean, this has got to be it, right?

00:02:10:05 - 00:02:29:03

Clark

And I think it's one that, you know, I see so many pe I think, you know, everyone to some degree or another probably has challenges and struggles with this, right? It's whether you call it writer's block or, you know, whatever it might be. I mean, I think people in just about any medium have, you know, sometimes struggle with finding inspiration.

00:02:29:10 - 00:02:32:13

Clark

What story do we want to tell? I mean, I certainly know I do. I don't know about you.

00:02:32:13 - 00:02:41:14

Cullen

COEN But no, absolutely. I mean, writing is definitely the I think we've mentioned this earlier, but writing for me is the the most difficult, most it's challenging.

00:02:41:14 - 00:03:11:13

Clark

And and it's you know, especially it's like I think and you and I have talked about this, you know, or people who go to film school and absolutely, positively not, you know, knocking film school at all. We both agree that it has some pros and some cons and might have some challenges with it. But I mean, especially as we get into a world where today more than I think, you know, at any other point in time as a filmmaker or aspiring filmmaker, you're exposed to, you know, just so many.

00:03:11:13 - 00:03:42:05

Clark

Right. How many books have been written about you know, how to tell a story and get some things, get very analytical and technical and conceptual, and it can almost get overwhelming. And one of the things that I find really refreshing about Herzog's two lessons here is his really intuitive approach. And this is something we see, you know, I mean, throughout all of these lessons, we see this recurring theme that he's really I feel my interpretation is that he's very much an intuitive filmmaker, an intuitive artist.

00:03:42:16 - 00:04:01:14

Clark

And it's refreshing because I think sometimes we can lose that. You know, it's at least I know I've got to kind of remind myself like, Hey, get out of your head. You know, it's you're you're studying stories, structure and things are getting really analytical and you're breaking things down and your index card and everything and you're like, you know, where's my inciting incident?

00:04:01:14 - 00:04:01:18

Clark

Oh.

00:04:02:12 - 00:04:23:11

Cullen

Yeah. And, well, that's which and that's, you know, it's, it's you have to be impulsive, weirdly in a very good you had to be able to and I think that that's again you know I mention this all the time, but one of the things that I do, one of the first exercises we do in the class that I teach is we I give all the kids cameras and then we just go for a walk.

00:04:24:12 - 00:04:39:20

Cullen

And I just, you know, we just walk around the city for, you know, maybe an hour. And I sort of just say, okay, don't tell me what you're doing. Don't you know, worry about getting anything. Just just go out and find images that tell stories. And it can be you can take a photograph of it if you want.

00:04:39:20 - 00:05:03:05

Cullen

You can take a video. It doesn't matter to me. And we'll come back in and we'll we'll examine them after now. But again, I think that just an exercise like that is so pertinent, but also very, very it's good to kind of train your instincts and that you don't have to. I think one of the worst parts and probably the part that bothers me the most about the filmmaking process is how slow it can be.

00:05:03:21 - 00:05:16:20

Cullen

And I really, you know, have zero desire to to run a set in the way that a lot of, you know, larger sets are run, which is just that like every shot takes an hour of setup or at least that you've got to spend you.

00:05:16:20 - 00:05:18:06

Clark

Know that might be fast.

00:05:18:06 - 00:05:23:06

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. That that could be a quick setup. But I think that Herzog really has not even production.

00:05:23:06 - 00:05:27:23

Clark

Look at the like the lead time 4.0 yeah look at I mean reproduction time on this.

00:05:27:23 - 00:05:33:08

Cullen

Even goes back to to Herzog's quote about you know, that 90 minutes after we get to set we should be.

00:05:33:13 - 00:05:34:14

Clark

Better be shooting, which.

00:05:34:14 - 00:05:57:14

Cullen

I think is great. But I mean that's that can even be beat. I mean, that's why one of my favorite ways to make a movie is just to, again, go out, you know, not without a script necessarily, but just to go out and small crew, you know, one camera and an actor and just shoot and just get get footage and, you know, with intention, of course, not just, you know, we're not, as Herzog says, we're not garbage collectors.

00:05:57:20 - 00:06:07:04

Cullen

But but to go out and, you know, with intention shoot, but also just to strip away the, you know, abundance of technicalities that sometimes come with that.

00:06:07:14 - 00:06:29:11

Clark

Well, and I think that's, you know, and that's something that we're going to kind of I think that that theme is going to reoccur here as we go over these next couple of lessons. Yeah, but you know it I love the way that that Herzog describes, the way, you know, he feels inspiration or ideas come to him. He has got this idea that, you know, they're burglars, right?

00:06:29:11 - 00:06:45:23

Clark

Home invaders coming into his home at night. And it's you know, it's instead of him, you know, going out and searching for these ideas, he actually describes it as like these ideas are breaking into his home, you know, grabbing him awake and like, threatening him. And it's like, you better do something about this. You know, he can't avoid it.

00:06:47:06 - 00:07:07:22

Clark

And I love this idea. And I you know, and I think about this often and you know, how I kind of apply this to my life. It's something I'm really working on as an artist myself is that I think and this maybe happens to you sometimes. Cullen You can chime in. Maybe this happens to other people out there who are listening, you know, just see if this resonates with you.

00:07:07:22 - 00:07:33:20

Clark

But one of the things that I'm working on is becoming more aware of when these things happen. I think sometimes in our day to day life where we're so overwhelmed with so much content that we're consuming. And I'll even say we're making a podcast here. But yes, podcasts are part of the static. There's million TV shows, there's a million films, video games, your life, your work, your kids, your family, your husband.

00:07:33:20 - 00:07:42:16

Clark

You're right. I mean, life can be overwhelming. And I think sometimes these burglars come to us, but we sleep through the invasion.

00:07:43:12 - 00:07:44:10

Cullen

We totally.

00:07:44:10 - 00:08:09:19

Clark

Totally. You know, I think that sometimes we don't realize and we're going to get into some of these examples that Herzog gives. But I think a lot of times ideas are trying to grab you by your your lapels and shake you awake, but you don't recognize that this could be an idea. That could be, you know, maybe it's the seed of of a story or maybe it's, you know, or maybe it's a tangent that that could be a part of another story.

00:08:09:19 - 00:08:38:03

Clark

But and so I see myself I see this happening to myself. A lot of times I'll compartmentalize. It's like, well, you know, I'm really interested in conspiracy theory and human psychology, but that's not really a film or a story. And I'm like, What's wrong with you? Of course, that could be a million stories, you know? So I don't know if you have some experience like this, but I'm definitely working on trying to make myself more present and and available and awake to these invaders when they come into my in my bedroom in the middle of the night.

00:08:38:13 - 00:09:07:02

Cullen

Well, I think I think I think you hit the nail on the head, which is that a huge aspect of people's hesitance to kind of jump into things is the oversaturation of the market now. And because of that, people are concerned that they're you know, if they have an idea or an idea comes to them or whatever, that it's not good enough, that it's not you know, they need that they're they're searching for this perfect thing because there's so much material out there that they're like, well, that's either that's been done or that's over.

00:09:07:02 - 00:09:30:03

Cullen

Well, that's good as that thing or, you know, but in the like, one of my favorite and I think one of the creative, most creative times, at least recently I've had, was when I just had graduated high school. And I would go out and I would just shoot, you know, I would go to there's a big forest, a lot of woods and marshes near my house.

00:09:30:03 - 00:09:54:07

Cullen

And I would just go down there at sunrise and I would just capture as much as I could, just like the light coming through the trees and just deer and stuff like that running through. And and then I would come home and I would edit them into, you know, I wouldn't just out of them into nature montages. I would always try and do something to tell a story with them, even if it was just about, you know, focusing on the sound and thinking, you know, how can I play with the sound and sort of make it almost arthouse?

00:09:54:07 - 00:09:59:01

Cullen

There or something like that. But I think, again, people are super, super hesitant to.

00:09:59:11 - 00:09:59:22

Clark

That's a good.

00:09:59:22 - 00:10:23:12

Cullen

Point. Jump into ideas because I think, again, it's like you're seeing so much. You go on YouTube and there's a thousand not only short films, but there's vlogs, there's, you know, just like you said, all these things where it's it's over. It can be difficult to take an idea and go, Well, that's that's good enough to do when in reality, I mean, most of the time the, the ideas that you see out there are ten times as simple as the one you probably have.

00:10:23:17 - 00:10:42:20

Clark

No, that's a that's a really great point. COEN And I think, you know, it's interesting that, you know, I think it speaks volumes that Herzog doesn't even mention this. It never even crosses his, you know, I mean, he literally gives zero attention or thought in these lessons to well, I you know, how do you know if your idea is good enough or.

00:10:42:20 - 00:10:46:03

Cullen

Yeah, exactly. It is you know, it doesn't matter even what what.

00:10:46:03 - 00:11:10:15

Clark

If this idea has maybe been done in some way before? Should you not do it? I mean, not there's none of that, you know, And I think, you know, look, it's like art is a process. I mean, it's cheesy kind of cliche, but we're going to, you know, the idea of traveling by foot and allowing, you know, taking time with the journey and being present in your journey so that you can, you know, really to find these inspirations, these story ideas.

00:11:10:15 - 00:11:40:04

Clark

I think both literally traveling by foot is important and I think figuratively focusing on journey and not destination is so key to really maximizing your potential as a story maker and a film teller, a storyteller and a filmmaker. But, you know, it's I think we get so overwhelmed with we project ourselves into the future. You know, it's like you'll have an idea and before you've even done anything with it, you've you've shot out two years into the future and you're like, imagining this finished product, this finished film.

00:11:40:04 - 00:11:45:02

Clark

And it's like, Oh, people aren't going to be interested or nobody's going to watch it, or, you know, is it going to be good enough?

00:11:45:10 - 00:11:46:09

Cullen

Oh, exactly, exactly.

00:11:46:09 - 00:12:08:03

Clark

Just so funny as human animals, how we do that, you know, And you, you know, ended up like you're knocking your idea out of, you know, you're just not you're beating it away before it's even had a chance to grow. And, you know, maybe we could talk about this a little bit. But Herzog doesn't really go into some of these like logistics of what do you do with his ideas in the moment?

00:12:08:09 - 00:12:36:07

Clark

He does give examples about how he finds pieces of ideas over time, and then he puts these ideas together, for example, Fitzcarraldo, how he, you know, was traveling in Britain and he had this saw these huge stone pillars and he kind of had this obsession with figuring out how a pre technological humankind could have moved these. And then that came together with another piece of story with the, you know, Fitzcarraldo moving a ship over a mountain.

00:12:36:14 - 00:12:49:17

Clark

And he put these things together. And that kind of became the heart of that film. But, I mean, what are some of the things come on. Do you have any say any things that work for you as far as capturing ideas?

00:12:49:21 - 00:13:02:21

Cullen

It's always different. I don't think there's ever really been a space. I mean, we start with this last episode, but music is definitely one of the biggest ones that I'll I'll sit down and I'll listen to things like on long drives or whatever.

00:13:02:21 - 00:13:08:03

Clark

Just listen. Is it like a meditation for is that you use music as an opportunity to kind of meditate on story?

00:13:08:03 - 00:13:38:08

Cullen

I do know it's usually a generation. Okay, So, you know, an example, recently I was driving to Ottawa, which is about a four hour drive, and on the way there I just listened to Stravinsky's The Firebird and just the cues of music there made me come up with this whole plot about, you know, this very sort of almost north by northwest, you know, espionage, but someone falling into the and it was, you know, whether or not I ever actually turned that into something, I have no idea.

00:13:38:08 - 00:13:43:11

Cullen

But it's just one of those things that, you know, I was sitting there listening to music that was what was going on in my mind. I mean, but I can also.

00:13:43:18 - 00:13:45:16

Clark

How did did you capture those ideas?

00:13:45:23 - 00:14:13:09

Cullen

I wrote them down after I thought they were neat enough to it, to, you know, jot down. But but again, it's one of those things where it's like it's another thing just kind of in the bank. And yeah, if I ever if I ever decide, hey, that seems like a neat idea to follow up on. Yeah, but I mean another I, when I was applying to NYU a few years ago, the one of the things that I did was you had to write a personal essay on something when it was very general.

00:14:13:19 - 00:14:18:10

Cullen

And so I wrote this essay on because I went into my, you know, completely accidentally I was.

00:14:18:10 - 00:14:22:22

Clark

These read it for us. Would you read it? Yes. A very interesting next episode. Right? Next episode, Yeah.

00:14:22:23 - 00:14:41:11

Cullen

That would be a dedication. But but I found this box of old, like birthday cards and stuff like that from when I was really young. And I just thought it was really interesting that, you know, it almost seems like people put more care into cards when you're not even conscious enough to read them versus now it's just kind of, you know, they'll send you a text.

00:14:41:11 - 00:14:54:17

Cullen

And I thought that was kind of a funny, funny thing, especially seeing cards from people who had passed away or people who, you know now or, you know, had dementia or things like that. And it's kind of it's a weird almost time capsule. So I turned that into that essay or something.

00:14:54:17 - 00:14:55:16

Clark

Yeah, Yeah, exactly.

00:14:55:16 - 00:15:13:19

Cullen

I wrote that into an essay and kind of forgot about it. And then when I found all of those old eight millimeter movies, I realized that the essay kind of took a really good template for the like, for telling a story about the eight millimeter movies. And that wound up becoming the movie that I the documentary that I just finished.

00:15:14:18 - 00:15:28:17

Cullen

And again, but it was another thing where I was kind of there were points that I was looking at that essay kind of going as it too cliche is it to, you know, is it too boring? Is it just do what anyone really care? And then, you know, it's but it's just that you just kind of got a mole with them.

00:15:28:17 - 00:15:44:17

Cullen

You got out, you got to work with them and you wind up It's actually funny, it's specifically within shooting that movie, too. It became very much what exactly it Herzog is talking about, which is just finding images. And one of those things was that I went to this old abandoned paper mill, which is out in the country. It's like on a river.

00:15:44:17 - 00:16:02:14

Cullen

It's this old place, very interesting place. It's a massive, massive compound. Kind of reminds me of Chernobyl. But, you know, I was filming all these things and I realized that two of the images, one of the images that I'd taken at home had perfectly matched up with the image that I had taken at this mill, this completely accidentally.

00:16:02:14 - 00:16:23:03

Cullen

And it's one of my favorite moments in the movie where you get this, you know, this this panning of this like new, you know, finished roof, the ceiling and a house. And then it cuts to the broken in old ceiling of this abandoned plant. But it wasn't intentional. It was just one of those things where I was sitting there going, oh, this is you know, I'm just going to capture this footage.

00:16:23:03 - 00:16:32:10

Cullen

And then I found it afterwards. It was kind of exactly, Herzog says again in the last episode about editing, where it's like, you know, pretend that you are just finding footage for the first time and it can be.

00:16:32:15 - 00:16:33:22

Clark

Let the footage speak to you.

00:16:34:06 - 00:16:43:16

Cullen

Unsurprisingly, many of these lessons do have a through line. So I think that's, you know, it's no surprise that that you can kind of say, you know, much like the last step for sure.

00:16:43:16 - 00:17:03:17

Clark

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, obviously they're interconnected. They kind of build off each other. And many of them I mean, they're all related. There's no question. I mean, to make them separate lessons is even, you know, a little bit of a Right. It's kind of well, you have to break them into chunks, chunks for, you know, somehow. So, okay, this is kind of our best attempt to do that.

00:17:03:17 - 00:17:30:08

Clark

But, yeah, I mean, clearly, these things all follow a very, you know, a very similar narrative thread and all part of that kind of fabric. But, you know, this is something that I'm working on. I mean, is, you know, like we've talked about, you know, kind of pushing your critic, your inner critic away and not dismissing ideas because you're afraid that they may have been done before or something where maybe they're not good enough or interesting enough.

00:17:30:08 - 00:18:01:09

Clark

I think that's a big piece of this recognizing ideas, even where, you know, are kind of the things that you're drawn to, things that you find yourself energized about, really being aware of that be aware of what what topics, what things in the world. You know, I kind of start a really start to think about where am I curious for the things that I'm curious about, the things that I could read about or watch films about, or whatever, the things that I'm curious about endlessly.

00:18:02:00 - 00:18:07:22

Clark

That's got to be where I want to go. That's got to be where I'm supposed to go, for what kind of stories to tell.

00:18:08:03 - 00:18:09:12

Cullen

And again, sorry, go.

00:18:09:12 - 00:18:32:14

Clark

Ahead. No, no, I was just going to say it's, you know, so it's a combination. I think, of, you know, by by inner critic being present enough to kind of recognize where you're really curious about things and to not ignore that or to not say, you know, well, you know, yes, I'm really curious and interested in this one thing, but surely that's like a film couldn't be about that.

00:18:32:14 - 00:18:52:22

Clark

Or it couldn't be, you know, a thing like, you know, pushing all that aside. And then I think for me, really, you know, you know, saying, okay, my ideas have enough value that they're worth taking the time to stop and write them down and capture them. And I'm building you know, I'm working on building a habit for that.

00:18:52:22 - 00:19:24:01

Clark

But I just, you know, in talking to other filmmakers and creatives, people that, you know, I've worked with or friends or, you know, kind of we're on this journey of being a filmmaker together. It's something that I think I see a lot of people kind of struggling with some of that, pieces of that or the entirety of it, but it's definitely something I'm working toward, especially that capturing cat like, you know, and I think getting off my ass and, you know, it'd be like, okay, I had this idea, let's take 10 minutes and let's write it down and let's actually follow through, you know?

00:19:24:02 - 00:19:46:21

Cullen

And I think I think a huge part of it, too, again, goes back to making sure that you don't confuse it with the the you know, we are not garbage collectors. We're not because I think that it can be easily, easily confused into people thinking, you know, when I say again when I say I went out and I recorded all these images and brought stories with them, that wasn't me going out and getting 10 hours of footage and then cutting through it.

00:19:46:21 - 00:20:05:14

Cullen

Every image that I took, every thing that I recorded was very intentional and very much on the spot going, That is interesting. And I think that goes with his whole talk about, you know, going and walking. And one of the task for this lesson was to go out and walk on Miles. And I think, well, they said that I didn't do that.

00:20:05:17 - 00:20:12:05

Cullen

I have I have done long walks, but I have not done the official 100 we have. They did change it and they said, well, Miles or something.

00:20:12:12 - 00:20:35:15

Clark

Yeah. Well, since, you know, I have a little bit of pride here because, you know, you and I and a handful of others, we were, I think, some of the very first people to take this class. So they I mean, I jumped on it the instant it was like day one I was taking it. And I think a lot of us were really close in that first workbook that they had with the class.

00:20:35:15 - 00:20:41:06

Clark

The, the, the exercise for this lesson was, yeah, it was Walk a hundred miles.

00:20:42:07 - 00:20:42:21

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah.

00:20:42:21 - 00:21:00:12

Clark

And they've changed it now. It's it's been a little while since I have seen the workbook, so maybe they have updated it even since. So I can't, you know, 100% speak to this, but I know it wasn't too long after that that they changed it to something. I'll paraphrase, take a take a long walk.

00:21:00:12 - 00:21:02:03

Cullen

Right. I guess maybe it's a liability thing.

00:21:02:11 - 00:21:10:16

Clark

I think they were afraid people were going to step out their front porch and, you know, just walk in. Forrest Gump. Yeah. Just walk a hundred miles and then you lost it.

00:21:11:00 - 00:21:13:15

Cullen

You did? Years up here, I think. Exactly.

00:21:13:16 - 00:21:14:06

Clark

Yeah, I did.

00:21:14:06 - 00:21:15:12

Cullen

That year when you were in Toronto.

00:21:15:14 - 00:21:37:11

Clark

I did, actually. It was totally coincidental, but it was I was traveling with my wife for business. We went to Chicago and then we went to Toronto. And yeah, we spent a good couple, two, maybe three weeks up there. So yeah, I actually did mine around the Niagara Falls area, actually, believe it or not.

00:21:37:18 - 00:21:40:17

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah, which would be I mean, those there's lots of farmland out there.

00:21:40:17 - 00:21:53:22

Clark

Oh, it was. It was very interesting. I had no idea the rural ness and the kind of economic depression. Yes. Of that era and our area. And it was it was a really, really, really cool experience.

00:21:53:23 - 00:22:09:14

Cullen

You know, I think it's. Yeah, but I mean, again, that's the thing is I've again, as I said, I've never done this specifically 100 miles, you know, in relation to this. But any time I'm in a different country, any time even here, you know, just going for hikes and walks and finding.

00:22:09:14 - 00:22:10:09

Clark

The only way to do it.

00:22:10:12 - 00:22:29:03

Cullen

Images. That was one of my favorite things about being in Italy was just being able to walk around again, you know, and it's in it comes from like I think that the biggest thing is it's not walking around with a pen and paper and taking notes. So not even even necessarily walking around with a camera and taking pictures of everything which you can do.

00:22:29:03 - 00:22:30:23

Cullen

But I mean, it's not that's not what it is. It's not like.

00:22:30:23 - 00:22:31:16

Clark

Even yeah.

00:22:31:17 - 00:22:48:12

Cullen

It can be literally you can be doing it with nothing. You can be doing it. I remember when I was in Italy, I at one point was walking and I heard it was a most interesting noise. It was these kids playing on one side of me and then this this big party with this like band playing. And it was on the coast.

00:22:48:12 - 00:23:07:07

Cullen

It was this tiny little town in Chincoteague. And I just I pulled up my phone. I didn't record video of it. I just recorded the audio of it just as a little kind of staple to it for me to remember. You know what, this this just the setting is so rich in in stories to me. And I just wanted to capture the sound which really stuck out to me.

00:23:07:16 - 00:23:19:03

Clark

And I agree. And I actually, you know, it's and by the way, Italy is one of my most favorite countries. And the other benefit of walking in Italy is to try to burn off some of that fantastic pasta.

00:23:19:03 - 00:23:21:00

Cullen

But yes, yes, but.

00:23:21:05 - 00:23:44:03

Clark

You know, I agree. And I've even gotten to the point, you know, you talk about it's not about, you know, taking notes and taking photos or video everywhere. I've actually gotten to the point where I don't I mean, I don't a, no cameras. It's not about it's a totally different thing. It's like when I'm when I'm shooting, I'm shooting when I'm when I'm living and I'm filling that reservoir of inspiration.

00:23:44:10 - 00:24:08:02

Clark

I'm not shooting and everybody's different. I'm not saying that this just somebody else should do this at all. I'm just saying my experience is that it's about me being present. And when I'm behind a camera, it's not that I'm not present, but I'm present in a completely different endeavor. It's a completely different type of presence. When I'm living, I don't want a camera in front of my face.

00:24:08:02 - 00:24:12:02

Clark

I don't want to be looking through a viewfinder as opposed to being right there.

00:24:13:00 - 00:24:25:14

Cullen

And that's again, I mean, I'm, I would say, kind of in the middle. I don't yeah, I, I that's one of the reasons I, I think we talked about this before, but I usually if I'm traveling, I'll bring a 35 millimeter stills camera right.

00:24:25:14 - 00:24:25:19

Clark

Yeah.

00:24:25:19 - 00:24:40:07

Cullen

And that what is what I find that does the actual film which when I find that does is that it'll make me you know if I've got 36 exposures in a day or even for a whole trip sometimes then I'm not going to just have the camera phone in my face at all times. I'm great being. I'm looking very.

00:24:40:07 - 00:24:40:20

Clark

Specific.

00:24:40:20 - 00:25:01:19

Cullen

And again, it's yeah, it's every single time I'm taking an image that is a portion of the images that I am able to take for the whole trip and a quite a large portion when it is again 36 exposures for a role. Yeah. And I find that, that that kind of helps me strike a balance just because there are a lot of times where I'm, you know, I do want to be somewhere that I can photograph it.

00:25:02:17 - 00:25:18:18

Cullen

And because that to me sometimes will bring out a really lovely inspiration later on when I can look back on it. But at the same time, I don't want to be standing there with a DSLR snapping pictures constantly or even like a phone and just recording everything. I find that really and it's I mean, you might feel the same way.

00:25:19:20 - 00:25:39:00

Cullen

I find if I am there with the like with a phone or even with a camera that can record video, What I found traveling a lot with, with things like that, when I kind of stopped and went to this idea of doing it on film was because you almost remember the videos. You don't remember the experience of being there.

00:25:39:01 - 00:25:46:13

Cullen

Like, I mean, I think it's quite a focus exactly. When I think back on these trips, it's like I think of the shot that I got not yeah, the, the.

00:25:46:14 - 00:25:47:06

Clark

Experience.

00:25:47:06 - 00:25:49:18

Cullen

Of standing on a coast or something like that. Yeah.

00:25:49:21 - 00:26:07:22

Clark

And this is what, you know and this is not to get, you know, too far off the beaten path here with, you know, with this lesson. But I think this is so key. I mean, at least for me, it's having those experiences and allowing them to really fully set in my memory, in my mind, in my heart.

00:26:08:13 - 00:26:08:21

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00:26:09:08 - 00:26:35:08

Clark

Because it's not there's no way I'm going to, especially with a phone. I'm not going to grab that sunset. I'm not going to grab that coastline. I'm not going to grab most importantly, this moment, this emotion or moment. But but if I allow that memory to really set in, me and I and that resonates inside of me, it's the feeling of that that I want to have that to recreate in a moment in film later.

00:26:35:08 - 00:26:57:00

Clark

It's not I don't there's nothing literal that I need to take from that. I don't need a video or a photo. I need the feeling. And then I have this reservoir of emotion, of tone, of texture, of color, of experience, of life, and you bring that to your next project. So for me, for me.

00:26:57:10 - 00:27:05:19

Cullen

No, I mean, that's that's that's exactly like I think it's yeah, it's exactly I mean, I can't put into better words.

00:27:05:19 - 00:27:06:22

Clark

Can't put it in a better way.

00:27:06:22 - 00:27:22:18

Cullen

Blows me away, you know. But I mean, again, I think I do want to specify one part. You did say which about, you know, about the sunset, that you're not going to capture the sunset and it's not, you know, you're not going to bring that phone back and be like, look at, you know, here family. Look at this beautiful picture of the sunset or even online.

00:27:23:03 - 00:27:40:22

Cullen

And and I think and I think that that is a really important thing is compartmentalizing it in a good way. I think in what what you said is essentially that is is when I'm shooting, I'm shooting. And, you know, I can combine trips like that. There are times, you know, for example, when I was in Italy, I had my camera with me.

00:27:40:22 - 00:27:43:01

Cullen

I had did the smaller black magic things.

00:27:43:01 - 00:27:44:23

Clark

To keep their distance. It's like but I.

00:27:44:23 - 00:27:57:12

Cullen

Also I mean, I there were times I wouldn't bring it. Yeah. I would just, you know, I would go for a walk in a city and then maybe I would see some cool things and then I'd go, okay, this evening I'm going to come back here with my camera and I'm going to get some shots of this because I really like it.

00:27:57:18 - 00:28:04:06

Cullen

And I would always experi. It's at first. Same with when I was in Iceland, I had my camera with me because that whole trip to Iceland.

00:28:04:09 - 00:28:05:05

Clark

To go to Iceland.

00:28:05:05 - 00:28:06:22

Cullen

Oh, beautiful place, by the way, if you ever.

00:28:07:02 - 00:28:09:14

Clark

Well, we're going to have this on the list. It's on the list.

00:28:09:14 - 00:28:25:19

Cullen

But, you know, I had my camera with me in that whole the point of that trip was actually to get footage for a movie that you're still in the works. But, you know, again, I would I would go around and walk around and experience these places before even getting any footage because I wanted to be there.

00:28:25:20 - 00:28:54:14

Clark

Yeah. And I mean, let me even add this. I mean, look, we've talked about kind of the literal, right, traveling on foot, literally, where it's, you know, okay, I'm walking, but there's, you know, figuratively we can look at this, too, you know, even in our day to day lives, even in the most, you know, mundane, trivial, seemingly boring aspects of our life, going to the grocery store, standing in line, you know, going to the bank, mowing your mind, talking to your neighbors there.

00:28:54:15 - 00:29:20:08

Clark

I mean, it's there is a richness there that is it is willing and ready for you to bring yourself to it, if you will. If you will take that invitation to do so and be present. And I think, you know, walking forces you to be present. You're physically involved in your environment. You're not moving at a speed that makes it impossible to interact with people.

00:29:20:08 - 00:29:35:08

Clark

You're there, right? You're the ground is beneath the feet. The you're the wind is running through your hair and your you're forced to interact with where you're at and you're kind of stuck in a way, too, Right? Because if you walk, you know, 15 miles out like you've got.

00:29:35:08 - 00:29:35:18

Cullen

Yeah.

00:29:35:18 - 00:29:36:08

Clark

You're not come.

00:29:36:08 - 00:30:04:04

Cullen

Back. Well, I actually I kind of want to shout out a great YouTube channel that I just found a few days ago called Bold and Bankrupt. And it is super related to this. It's basically this guy, he's from Britain, but he speaks Russian. I guess he just learned Russian and he literally just travels around like the Baltic states, these old Cold War kind of towns and things like that, and just walks around them and just talks to people.

00:30:04:04 - 00:30:08:12

Cullen

And it's one of the most interesting channels. I've just, you know, again, I found it like two days ago.

00:30:08:12 - 00:30:09:03

Clark

I'll check that out.

00:30:09:03 - 00:30:16:10

Cullen

And and just have been watching it nonstop and yeah, like, you know, he goes to Chechnya and just hires this cabdriver to.

00:30:16:14 - 00:30:18:02

Clark

And these stories are everywhere.

00:30:18:14 - 00:30:42:15

Cullen

Exactly. And you know, even going into this old he goes into at one point in Kyrgyzstan, he goes into this old hotel and it's you know, he gets a room and then he realizes after kind of exploring the hotel that his room is pretty much the only room that actually is a room that every other room is this abandoned old again, kind of Chernobyl looking like, yeah, derelict, you know, And it's really, really neat.

00:30:42:16 - 00:31:01:09

Cullen

It's so that's, you know, again, I don't know the guy at all so I'm not like shelling out for a friend, but I just thought it was it's really, you know, if you want to see probably a really good and you know, captured example of how a great way to travel is. I think, you know, just talking to people on the street and things like that is really.

00:31:01:19 - 00:31:20:03

Clark

And I think yeah. And it sounds like I mean, if I'm if I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds like that he he's taking the time to, you know, to talk to people and to hear their stories. And he just so happens to be, you know, recording them and highlighting them in this in this podcast or this these videos that you're talking about.

00:31:20:03 - 00:31:50:06

Clark

Sorry, not podcasts, but I mean, it's if you take the time and I'm like constantly reminding myself of this because I, you know, like all of us, I get caught up in my day to day and I get just kind of goal driven. I've got to do ABC, TFG, and I just I find that when you really slow down and you really kind of make yourself present and curious and this is this is so key, follow, you know, be curious about and that'll kind of it'll open up into more things.

00:31:50:06 - 00:32:06:13

Clark

You know, sometimes you might have to kind of force yourself a little bit, you know, to kind of be curious. But I think once you kind of crack that door open, you'll find that you like that curiosity becomes more and more genuine and greater and greater. But everybody has such extraordinary stories of, yeah.

00:32:07:04 - 00:32:24:13

Cullen

I met a guy few probably three or four weeks maybe it was actually more than that. I was probably more like two months ago, but it was this I was getting in a convenience store. I was just getting a bag of chips or something. When I came out and there was this one legged homeless man standing just outside the convenience store.

00:32:24:13 - 00:32:27:05

Cullen

And I don't know why. I just struck up a conversation with him.

00:32:27:05 - 00:32:36:16

Clark

Was he like, I don't mean to be rude, I'm so sorry, but just the visual part of my brain. So he was. He had one leg. Yeah. Was. And he was standing outside the store.

00:32:36:18 - 00:32:38:11

Cullen

He was old. He was, was on crutches. Yeah.

00:32:38:11 - 00:32:43:15

Clark

Okay. I was just like this for a second. I kind of saw like this balancing character and I thought, Wow, that. Well, I.

00:32:43:15 - 00:32:44:03

Cullen

Think what.

00:32:44:03 - 00:32:44:10

Clark

Really.

00:32:44:10 - 00:32:56:02

Cullen

Really struck it to me was that he looked like he had this basic interpretation of like, you know, like a Civil War veteran. Like, that's what almost like he was this old kind of disheveled old man. And had what struck you about leg like?

00:32:56:06 - 00:32:56:14

Clark

I don't know.

00:32:56:14 - 00:32:57:06

Cullen

It was just something.

00:32:57:06 - 00:32:58:12

Clark

He's wearing or I.

00:32:58:13 - 00:33:12:05

Cullen

Don't know. It's like why? I think he just he was just sort of sitting there and I asked him if he wanted a sandwich. Okay. So I went back in and I bought him a sandwich after. But and then I remember talking to him. I just at one point just sort of said to him, like, I feel like you're, like, full of stories.

00:33:12:06 - 00:33:13:02

Clark

Yeah.

00:33:13:02 - 00:33:19:14

Cullen

Like, you just seem like you've had quite, quite, quite a life. Not, you know, not only just because of his physical state. No, no, no.

00:33:19:15 - 00:33:20:05

Clark

Just something.

00:33:20:05 - 00:33:45:20

Cullen

Just an energy about people. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That really kind of exudes that. I completely agree that idea. And I mean, but again, it can be people, but it can also be physical locations Herzog talks about or other objects. Yeah and Brittany and France and yeah those Neolithic stone slabs erected in kind of that that hill Yeah. And he talks about how that was just the most fascinating thing in the world to him, that there was somebody that said it was aliens.

00:33:45:20 - 00:33:58:14

Cullen

And now here are these how did these people do this? And it's the same thing with, you know, of course, the more popular example of that is Stonehenge. But there's there's things like that all over the world and even small objects.

00:33:58:14 - 00:34:38:17

Clark

I mean, just, you know, you pick up anything in your house, pick up anything outside in your front yard, and there is this really rich story behind it. And you may never be able to sort it, retrace it, but you can imagine what it might be. Everything in in life all around you has an extraordinary story. If you're open to it and if you're willing to be present to it, it's getting I know, kind of like a little maybe new agey or like philosophical, but I mean, I really truly, you know, believe that as I mean, look, if you know, our our kind of job, if you will, on this planet, is to is to

00:34:38:17 - 00:34:53:16

Clark

be a storyteller. And we've chosen film to do that as a medium to do that. I mean, I feel like as artists, as human beings, like that's your job is to keep yourself open to all these stories around you and be a conduit.

00:34:54:08 - 00:35:14:21

Cullen

And I think that even, you know, a part of that is about the challenge, too. Yeah, we are. We are really lucky to live in an age. Filming something doesn't cost anything. No. So like, you know, go around doing the play if you want perhaps a lesson or a challenge, you know, go as you said, go pick up something in your house and make a one minute movie about it.

00:35:15:04 - 00:35:26:07

Cullen

You know, even if it's boring as hell, it doesn't really matter. It's the point is that you're it's just it's again, it's it's expanding your ability to find stories and everything and it's.

00:35:26:07 - 00:35:26:22

Clark

Exercise.

00:35:26:22 - 00:35:28:09

Cullen

Exercising for your brain. Yeah.

00:35:28:10 - 00:36:04:05

Clark

And I think there's something that's really, really closely related here. There's something that I think it's really vital that it's a word or concept I have not used yet in this conversation. But I think it's so key and that's empathy. And I think like that what we're basically talking about here as we're talking about being open to the stories of everything around you and that that's really the part of you that you're that you're using to do that with, is you're able to empathize with something that's the that's the part of your of your mind, body, soul, spirit, whatever you want to call it that, that gives us the power to do that.

00:36:04:05 - 00:36:32:01

Clark

And that can definitely be exercised. The more you work on doing that, the easier and easier it becomes and the greater depth to which you can do it. It absolutely can be exercised and know if you go to if you go to a good acting class or school, that's exactly what you're practicing. That's exactly what you're exercising. And I think that it's obviously it's vital for an actor, but it is just as vital for a director or a writer or anyone else.

00:36:32:03 - 00:36:34:12

Clark

Mm hmm. But and yeah, and even.

00:36:34:12 - 00:37:03:05

Cullen

The roles that people, you know, would consider a lot of people consider to be less story involves, which is, you know, often a misconception. But something like cinematographer you know being able to I think Herzog specifically looks for cinematographers who can to can improvise and find right stories just within absolute shots. And that's exactly what he did with the same movie that he where he's and he talks about it in this lesson about where he finds his protagonist, this other character.

00:37:03:05 - 00:37:03:22

Cullen

And it's it's like.

00:37:04:03 - 00:37:06:17

Clark

Oh, yeah, yeah. It was a white diamond.

00:37:06:22 - 00:37:07:12

Cullen

Oh, yeah.

00:37:07:18 - 00:37:13:05

Clark

White diamond. Talking about white diamond. What's funny in that instance, I don't think it was actually his cinematographer.

00:37:13:05 - 00:37:14:15

Cullen

Yeah, I think he was doing it himself.

00:37:14:17 - 00:37:38:17

Clark

He was actually he kind of found this character, but right. And, you know, and it's we talked about this just a tiny bit before. But yeah, it's a great example of, you know, being in the moment, allowing things to happen, you know, accepting these gifts, so to speak, that come to you accidentally while you're shooting and having kind of the intuitive understanding that, hey, there is another really amazing story here, let's go get this.

00:37:39:18 - 00:38:02:14

Clark

But I also we talked about this a little bit. I think it's fantastic. So White Diamond is a quote unquote documentary. But of course, as anybody who is a fan or a scholar of Herzog's work knows that, you know, documentaries and his narratives, he really doesn't see a difference between the two. And he often will manufacture things in his documentaries because, of course, facts don't equal truth.

00:38:03:03 - 00:38:23:04

Clark

And so but but White Diamond, he he comes across guy who's just kind of hanging out. Nobody knows who he is or at least you know it's Herzog was had no idea who he was or what he was doing and he just looked interesting to Herzog. So he walks, you know, he's like grabs his cinematographer, you know, tugs on him, hey, come over here and starts talking to him.

00:38:23:18 - 00:38:31:03

Clark

And actually, he doesn't even really hardly talk to him. If you watch the footage that's in the film, he mostly just puts the camera on him and this guy just does his thing.

00:38:31:07 - 00:38:39:20

Cullen

That's what I mean, is that it's it's, it's exactly the literal interpretation probably of what this movie is, as it were. What this lesson is, is invaded by images.

00:38:40:03 - 00:38:49:01

Clark

And that's it's like this guy that you found at the outside the store, right? Yeah. I mean, if you would have had a camera on you, you could have you know, I think if you approach it in the right way, you could have walked over to him.

00:38:49:01 - 00:39:02:22

Cullen

Oh, I actually spoke to him and said, you know, I don't know when, but one day I'm going to interview you. I think I actually said that to him and he said, oh, I'll be able to top the 3 hours. So that was what was funny, is that I you know, I never arranged anything, but I'm sure I'll see that dude again.

00:39:03:09 - 00:39:05:11

Cullen

It's quite nearby to me, so.

00:39:05:11 - 00:39:09:09

Clark

Well, yeah, follow up on it, you know, to follow up on it.

00:39:09:09 - 00:39:12:23

Cullen

And that's the difficulty with, with things like COVID is that, you know, Oh.

00:39:13:00 - 00:39:13:12

Clark

That's for.

00:39:13:12 - 00:39:14:13

Cullen

Sure. I've got to be careful.

00:39:14:13 - 00:39:23:01

Clark

But hopefully I read that the first, uh, vaccinated, first person was vaccinated today. Yeah.

00:39:24:02 - 00:39:25:17

Cullen

I saw it in the U.K.. Yeah.

00:39:26:00 - 00:39:29:13

Clark

So hopefully that'll get that'll, that'll get rolled out.

00:39:29:13 - 00:39:30:00

Cullen

Exactly.

00:39:30:00 - 00:39:50:20

Clark

And hopefully we'll be past COVID in the not too distant future. But, you know, I think and you never know. I mean, this is just, you know, one of the things that I just love so much about filmmaking is, you know, and Herzog talks about this, about gather your ideas and give them time. You know, and we've talked about we've touched about this and like a handful of other little ways as we've talked about these lessons.

00:39:50:20 - 00:40:21:21

Clark

But, you know, it's like, okay, so you've got this in the back of your pocket now, this character that you've seen, obviously, he like clearly he had an impact on you. You felt something. You were inspired by him in a certain way. You were kind of moved by this character and, you know, maybe it that you're going to have that kind of piece and maybe that's going to connect with something else that you see in a week or two weeks or maybe even a year, and you're like, Oh, this is, you know, this is and maybe it's not even that you're going to go back and interview him, but maybe if you're working on a

00:40:21:21 - 00:40:38:20

Clark

narrative film, for example, you'll have a character that, you know, sits outside of a grocery store and, you know, you know what I mean? It's there's just a lot of different ways and tastes can inspire. And this could be a part of the big stew that that cauldron of just ideas that are simmering. You know.

00:40:39:02 - 00:40:59:00

Cullen

And again, it can sometimes be such an it can be the fact that there's just a really evocative image that, you know, you love. You know, again, I've made entire movies because I've seen a power plant with a moon setting beyond below it. And yeah, that's such an interesting visual. How can I fit that within a framework and utilize that?

00:40:59:04 - 00:41:06:06

Clark

Or it's like the windows, the 10,000 windmills for Herzog or and I can't believe I have not talked about this yet. Chickens.

00:41:06:12 - 00:41:09:02

Cullen

Chickens. His favorite. His favorite.

00:41:09:11 - 00:41:31:10

Clark

If I'm not mistaken. I think the less said 19 ends with the chickens but yeah it yeah but it's sometimes these that and that's invaded by images is such a beautiful kind of poetic way to label this that there's just something so and I don't limited to just images because I think often for me at least it's ideas.

00:41:31:16 - 00:41:32:21

Cullen

Yes yes of course.

00:41:32:21 - 00:42:01:19

Clark

And maybe frankly more so than images. It's ideas, curiosities that I have about the human condition and usually, honestly, we haven't talked about this yet. Really? I'm curious what you're saying. You know, for me a lot of times, and not just with documentaries, but with narrative films as well, but especially but of course, documentaries, questions that I have are I find more and more if I pay attention, what where do I have questions?

00:42:01:19 - 00:42:27:22

Clark

And and it's it's not even that. I'm like, Well, let me go find the answer and then I'll make a film about that. It's like, I want to make a film that just asked this questions that I'm interested in. And it's not that there is some actual answer out there necessarily, although there might be, but it's really and maybe this is just a reframing of, you know, going towards my curiosities, but I mean, it's almost boring for me.

00:42:27:22 - 00:42:47:10

Clark

It's like, well, you know, if I feel like I really understand a subject, I don't care to make a film in that maybe, yeah, but but areas where I'm like, my gosh, I don't, you know, I'm just, like, blown away and mesmerized and, and just totally confused by this like, aspect of the human condition or life. That's where I want to go, that's for sure.

00:42:47:10 - 00:43:18:16

Cullen

Yeah. I mean, I've always looked at filmmaking as an opportunity to like to learn, if anything. Absolutely. You know, if I, for my entire life have a desire to, you know, get my pilot's license and learn to fly and all that. And it's still it's still something that I'm planning on doing hopefully soon. Yeah. But a lot of that is also, you know, comes from a desire of just like the things that I would see up there in the story that I could probably tell, just the inspiration of just seeing the world from that perspective.

00:43:18:16 - 00:43:38:00

Cullen

I think it's so yeah, so neat. And, and I can, you know, again, it's like one of those things where it's, you know, perhaps if I, if that never happens and I'm never able to, to do that for some reason, then maybe if I ever had the money to do it, I'd make a movie about flying just so I could get, you know, get up in a plane and and fly.

00:43:38:00 - 00:43:57:07

Cullen

And it's it's you know, I find that often it is. It's exactly that. It's I it's not excuses, but it is offer it's grants you opportunities to to learn new things to explore new areas. That was the entirety of what we did when I was in L.A. was yes, exploring entire, you know, philosophies of life that neither of us knew anything about.

00:43:57:12 - 00:44:11:11

Cullen

Right. And I think that was I mean, the funny thing, too, but not to, you know, dwell on that too much. But I think the funny thing about what we did there was the people we were interviewing were almost concerned that we were going at it at a cynical place, because I think so many people do.

00:44:11:13 - 00:44:12:23

Clark

They in what.

00:44:12:23 - 00:44:13:06

Cullen

I think.

00:44:13:15 - 00:44:22:06

Clark

Like almost everybody we interviewed was actually like very much concerned. Like, yeah, are you what is this, an exposé? Are you trying to debunk my thoughts? Are you.

00:44:22:06 - 00:44:44:03

Cullen

Yeah. Or were we kind of how we I think one of them over which is kind of saying we literally know nothing about it and we are here because we're we're interested in learning about other ways of thinking. Yeah. And I think that was a huge part of, again, where those conversations stemmed from too, which was not just and this, you know, this is covered certainly in the next episode, which is all about making conversation with documentary.

00:44:44:03 - 00:45:01:23

Cullen

But yeah, you know, it's related here, whereas is just the whole point of it was just a curiosity on our part. And I think that that is a huge part of of invaded by images. Yeah. Is just is just let that you know again the burglars come in the night be curious about that. Be curious about why that idea.

00:45:02:10 - 00:45:02:16

Clark

Stuck.

00:45:02:16 - 00:45:03:15

Cullen

Out to you or why an image.

00:45:03:15 - 00:45:04:15

Clark

Don't sleep through it.

00:45:04:19 - 00:45:25:13

Cullen

If you're sitting on the bus or why did that? Why did that old lady stumbling off the bus? Yeah. Stick with you. Yeah. You know, use those elements. And as Herzog, you know what is the story Herzog tells about Fitzcarraldo? How he says that he was had no interest in making the movie based off of the script. That had zero interest in the script, except for the moment.

00:45:25:13 - 00:45:26:21

Clark

Except for that moment. Right.

00:45:26:21 - 00:45:47:11

Cullen

You know, disassembling a ship to carry it over a mountain. Of course, that's changed to not disassembling a ship. But. Yeah, but but that again, it's like the amount of time that I think that that goes for a lot of things too, where people often reading a script, throw it out if it's not good. Hmm. Whereas you should really mine those things for ideas.

00:45:47:11 - 00:46:02:00

Cullen

And I don't mean, of course, steal ideas from, you know, people who have written scripts and run off with them. But but I mean, you know, if someone presents you a script to work with that worked with the things that you do like, I think, you know, even if it's just one one little diamond in the rough.

00:46:02:00 - 00:46:23:07

Clark

If if you're a director, if you're going to direct a project where you've not written it, you've been given a script to direct, well, you have to. I mean, there's no question that if you I mean, at least for me at look, obviously there's kind of the logistics of life. And, you know, we speak in kind of an idealized way a lot of time.

00:46:23:07 - 00:46:46:10

Clark

I get that. So if you're listing out there, it's not that we don't understand that I sometimes do just the practicalities of putting food on your plate or working your way to another place in your career that you want to be. Of course we understand that. But I mean, at least, you know, for me, wherever and whenever possible, I mean, it's it's it I mean, it's hard for me to say that it's not absolutely vital, frankly.

00:46:46:10 - 00:47:06:10

Clark

I think it just is for me. I've got to be passionate about that script. And sometimes you've got to really work at it. But I found every in every instance I could, I found the things about it that were interesting to me or where there could be. Right. And maybe they were just these tiny little beginnings of that in the script.

00:47:07:05 - 00:47:24:17

Clark

But I take those run with it and make that, yeah, you know, the majority of the script and kind of, you know, turn it inside out from that point and rework it. And so, I mean, I think, again, if you're curious, if you if you've got a curiosity about you, then you can do that with any you can.

00:47:24:20 - 00:47:25:15

Cullen

Tell any story.

00:47:26:00 - 00:47:26:09

Clark

You can tell.

00:47:26:09 - 00:47:32:05

Cullen

And really that's it is that's all stories are is it's a is a curiosity. And you know this would actually be a finally.

00:47:32:05 - 00:47:53:16

Clark

Know this and actually be kind of a fun like a fun project I don't know to take to create a series of short films to have this kind of be like an exercise, you know, almost like the Dogma 95 kind of set of rules that, you know, but to to make short films about single inanimate objects. Yeah, yeah.

00:47:53:22 - 00:48:21:03

Clark

That were that were like the definition of simplicity. But see how you can take what is seemingly the most simple of items that could happen possibly be interesting and find a story in that reveal the story that could exist behind this object. That would be a fun experiment. Maybe we could do that some time. You know, we'll have like a little a contest and we'll take submissions, but we'll try it ourselves, you know?

00:48:21:06 - 00:48:25:04

Cullen

Hmm. Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. That's a little challenge for our listeners.

00:48:25:06 - 00:48:45:02

Clark

Absolutely. And for ourselves. I'd like. Yeah. You know, it's I think, you know, the past three or four episodes that we've done, I think I've said the exact same thing. I'll say it again now, but, you know, these conversations inspire me and and remind me. I'm like, I'm kind of, you know, I'm really kind of psyched right now.

00:48:45:05 - 00:48:58:10

Cullen

I think I want to also we've never really specified this, but there's, you know, just for anybody who's curious, who listens, like there there was no money going into this. This was oh, no, me and Clark sitting down and deciding to record our conversation.

00:48:58:10 - 00:48:59:00

Clark

They know that.

00:48:59:00 - 00:49:00:09

Cullen

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I hope so.

00:49:00:14 - 00:49:03:16

Clark

Because, like, obviously there's no sponsors. There's no I mean, this.

00:49:03:16 - 00:49:37:00

Cullen

Is but I mean that's, that's what I mean is so like that there's so many podcasts out there that are, that are commercial, that are, that are, you know, and they can be very good. But they are, of course, at end of the day, they are someone's job. Whereas I think what what I found really, you know, fulfilling about this is just the fact that we are able to have these conversations without any, you know, pretense background, any any sort of ulterior motive to to, you know, drive these conversations in any specific direction where it's just more about it's literally us doing these exercises as as well, which are.

00:49:37:01 - 00:50:04:18

Clark

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right. Well, they don't hey I you can't beat that for a great note wrap up. Yeah. So yeah so like you mentioned, well, lesson 20 will be our next episode, and that's about documentary filmmaker making the conversation, so that'll be exciting. I look forward to that. And as far as this conversation's gone, I've really enjoyed it as always, man, I leave these, these conversations energized.

00:50:04:23 - 00:50:20:00

Clark

Yeah, I like it. Reminds me of some things I might have forgotten. It kind of inspires me and I'm excited to get on with the rest of my week here and and be more attuned to all of the potential story ideas that exist around me.

00:50:20:04 - 00:50:21:00

Cullen

So, yeah.

00:50:21:17 - 00:50:27:07

Clark

All right. Well, thanks, everybody. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we have. Until next time.

00:50:28:22 - 00:50:37:08

Cullen

See you guys.

Episode - 018

Cullen

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. This is episode 18 and Bear with me here for a second Lesson 20 and 21 You've got to be off kilter there. But yeah, today we're going be talking with documentary, making the conversation and eliciting difficult stories. And of course, as always, I am joined by good friend Clark Coffey.

00:00:30:02 - 00:00:30:20

Clark

Hello. Hello.

00:00:31:12 - 00:00:33:16

Cullen

And yeah, I mean, let's jump into it.

00:00:33:20 - 00:00:56:16

Clark

Let's jump into it. I you know, I love documentary films. It's an obviously we're like films. We love films or filmmakers. But I'm curious before we, like, jump into what what Herzog covers here in these two lessons, I'm just curious because for me, I didn't come to appreciate or even, you know, I love documentary films until I was quite a bit older.

00:00:57:10 - 00:01:14:11

Clark

And maybe this is normal. I mean, probably not like not a lot of 12 year olds who are, you know, watching documentary films all day long. But what about you? I was much older, probably. I would say it wasn't until college that I started to really get into documentary films, you know, as an audience member, right?

00:01:14:11 - 00:01:29:06

Cullen

Yeah. I mean, I was I was kind of not really by choice. I was sort of not really forced forced into them, but like Clockwork Orange. Exactly. Yeah. But, you know, I have there's Tiff here in Toronto which.

00:01:29:06 - 00:01:30:06

Clark

Is I've been there.

00:01:30:07 - 00:01:45:01

Cullen

Film festival and then there's they've got the building and they so they played Yeah they always play a lot of really interesting you know world cinema which is a great resource to have as a kid rather than just your regular multiplexes. Right. And so I used to go there a lot, see a lot of documentaries there.

00:01:45:05 - 00:01:45:23

Clark

Oh, fantastic.

00:01:45:23 - 00:01:46:22

Cullen

India. China.

00:01:47:18 - 00:01:48:01

Clark

Yeah.

00:01:48:03 - 00:01:54:10

Cullen

I'm so jealous, Grizzly man. Honestly, I think it was like the year after it came out. So it came out 2005, right?

00:01:54:10 - 00:01:55:12

Clark

Okay. 2005.

00:01:55:14 - 00:02:00:20

Cullen

And I think probably 2006. My grandma for some reason got me the DVD.

00:02:01:11 - 00:02:02:00

Clark

Oh, nice.

00:02:02:00 - 00:02:03:14

Cullen

So that was probably.

00:02:04:01 - 00:02:05:12

Clark

Pretty hip grandma, man.

00:02:05:21 - 00:02:09:14

Cullen

That was probably the first Herzog I ever saw.

00:02:11:03 - 00:02:35:12

Clark

You know, That's interesting that you say that, eh? It is definitely not the first Herzog film I saw, but it certainly was, you know, at the at the, you know, where I had really gotten into documentary filmmaking as much as I am today. So it was kind of at the in the beginning couple of chapters of that exploration definitely had a huge impact and definitely was a big part of that for sure.

00:02:36:05 - 00:02:57:05

Clark

Yeah, yeah. And I definitely didn't have the kind of, for lack of a better term, you know, relationship with Herzog's work then as I do now. So it definitely was kind of part of that formative, you know, experience of me getting to know him and his work and yeah, getting like more familiar with just the medium in and of itself documentary films.

00:02:57:05 - 00:03:18:18

Cullen

So and I think this is this is very related to Herzog, but in a kind of a weird way, another thing that is in Toronto that I think really influenced me growing up was the synesthesia, which is the first permanent IMAX theater in the world. Oh, really? And it's having a lot of really neat theater, but they used to play a lot of like old IMAX documentaries.

00:03:19:07 - 00:03:47:22

Cullen

And I think and the way that this is related to Herzog is that I think there's a relationship between the fact that IMAX documentaries are usually like movies, like they feel very, very narrative driven. They're very, you know, big, of course, because, you know, you have the big IMAX camera. You want really a show of spectacle, right? Herzog is similar, perhaps not necessarily for spectacle, but he always talks about the fact that his documentaries are narrative to him, Like he doesn't really think of them as a journalistic endeavor.

00:03:47:22 - 00:03:49:17

Cullen

He thinks of them as a narrative endeavor.

00:03:49:21 - 00:03:50:11

Clark

Absolutely.

00:03:50:11 - 00:03:53:08

Cullen

Refers to his, you know, subjects as documentaries.

00:03:53:18 - 00:03:59:03

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. And even if we're going to talk about what he manipulates, absolutely. Yeah.

00:03:59:05 - 00:04:16:19

Cullen

So I think that that was a big part. So when it comes to me personally, you know, I love I really like watching documentaries. I, I have no it's kind of a, you know, a little bit of a paradox. I have no desire to be a documentary filmmaker professionally, but I also really like making documentaries interesting. You know?

00:04:16:19 - 00:04:26:14

Cullen

Me And you made that or are making one too. Great. We've we've shot some of it, but we're going out in that process. Yeah. You know, I made one of those over the past year in quarantine, right?

00:04:26:14 - 00:04:29:21

Clark

I've got another one that I'm in production with. Yeah, Yeah, exactly.

00:04:29:21 - 00:04:30:00

Cullen

Yeah.

00:04:30:00 - 00:04:34:15

Clark

In the middle of COVID has put a little bit of a damper on that. But yeah.

00:04:34:23 - 00:05:00:23

Cullen

But I think it's similar. Is that it's, it's like my desire for documentary isn't necessarily to go out and just interview people and have this hand-held, you know, shaky cam. Very, very low budget style. I am kind of on the same page as Herzog. And you know, again, for a larger scale, these IMAX documentaries where I really like even documentary to feel, you know, for lack of a better term, cinematic and to feel absolutely like you're you're kind of drawing.

00:05:00:23 - 00:05:24:17

Clark

People that they're that they were made with purpose, with perspective and with and from an opinion. Well we're going to talk about, you know, quite a few things that Herzog talks about in these and these lessons that hopefully will, you know, shed a little bit of light on what we can do as filmmakers to take our documentary films to that level where they are cinema as opposed to fly on the wall.

00:05:24:17 - 00:05:44:04

Clark

We're just going to set up a you know, might as well be a security camera just recording 24 seven and, you know, let's just see if we get something. But rather actually, you know, they're coming at it from a perspective. Having an opinion and a manipulating is a word that I'm like a little bit afraid of to use sometimes for this.

00:05:44:04 - 00:05:46:12

Clark

But it is you're you are you're creating.

00:05:47:01 - 00:05:50:00

Cullen

You're manipulating you even without intention. You're still.

00:05:50:00 - 00:06:06:05

Clark

Images. You are. So you might as well just do it right. And it's like and it's right off the bat. This is a great, great place to jump right in. You know, the first thing Herzog says here is, look, it's not an interview. It's a conversation. I'm not a journalist. I'm a filmmaker. And there is a huge difference.

00:06:06:05 - 00:06:24:09

Clark

There's a huge difference. And I think, you know, I definitely have experienced personally working with other filmmakers where there is a little bit of a confusion where it's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tono, we really have to present this. You know, we can't touch this stuff. You know, we just we set up the camera and what it is or what it is, what it is.

00:06:24:09 - 00:06:28:12

Clark

And I'm like, Well, yeah, I don't work for The New York Times, you know, or that I am not your.

00:06:28:23 - 00:06:31:11

Cullen

Fly on the wall. I have the porn at that stage.

00:06:31:12 - 00:06:53:03

Clark

I'm a filmmaker, you know, that's the whole point. But, but yeah, I mean, so right off the bat, Herzog is approaching it from this way. You know, he's like this. And also, I think it's a great way to start off right off the bat by hopefully developing a rapport with your with the people that you're interviewing. Kind of you know, most people.

00:06:53:03 - 00:07:05:14

Clark

Right? Most of us don't spend a lot of time on camera. So it's not second nature. You know, it's it's it's uncomfortable. People clam up, people get nervous. They don't want to look back.

00:07:05:16 - 00:07:06:15

Cullen

With bigger cameras.

00:07:06:15 - 00:07:09:14

Clark

They don't want to win or enlarge crews or we'll talk about Mark Crews.

00:07:09:14 - 00:07:10:12

Cullen

Yeah, yeah.

00:07:10:22 - 00:07:18:13

Clark

But most people, you know, it's like if you put a if you put a camera phone in front of most people and take their picture, right. What do people do They get they.

00:07:18:13 - 00:07:18:23

Cullen

Get they.

00:07:18:23 - 00:07:50:07

Clark

Get how they exactly try to present like they have a way they want to present themselves to the world. And and that especially with social media and Instagram and everything, that's a whole other road. But people are really kind of used to putting on this mask whenever they're on camera. Yeah. So a lot of what you're going to be doing and what we're going to be talking about here is to try to create an environment where you're not going down that road, where you're actually cracking the person open, so to speak.

00:07:50:07 - 00:07:58:19

Clark

And and really like taking them to a place where they can be honest and vulnerable and where we can actually see something interesting there. Right.

00:07:59:09 - 00:08:02:02

Cullen

And to not be exploitative, too, I Oh, that's.

00:08:02:02 - 00:08:31:06

Clark

A good point. It's not about being exploit. You're right. And that's a that is a really good point. And I think we can kind of sprinkle that in throughout all these different techniques or strategies or philosophies that we're going to talk about that Herzog covers in these lessons. But you're right, I don't think Herzog explicitly speaks to that in these lessons, but I know he has in other places where you really have to be careful about not stepping over that boundary of exploiting people.

00:08:31:06 - 00:08:50:14

Clark

You're right. And there's a big difference. Hopefully it well, it's interesting. Sometimes it maybe is a challenging line. You know, actually. And maybe we can talk about that as we kind of go through this. But sometimes it is actually I was going to say right after, you know, it's like there are some obvious examples of where you're stepping into exploits.

00:08:50:14 - 00:09:16:07

Clark

But sometimes that line is a bit gray. Sometimes it's that's a it's challenging. Yeah, I've actually had that experience myself. But so anyway, I was saying that that if you present it as a conversation and that's the way you approach it, I think right off the bat you're, you're setting the stage for a better, a better, a better approach to get to the heart of what's inside your subjects, right?

00:09:17:08 - 00:09:27:17

Clark

I mean, I don't know about you, but if somebody sits across the table from me and starts reading from a list and they have all these questions and, you know, it's like they feel kind of disconnected and I'm like almost on a witness stand. That's kind of scary. Yeah.

00:09:27:23 - 00:09:49:15

Cullen

Yeah. I mean, I think the other thing, too, is there's a you have to really draw that distinction between journalism and and documentary filmmaking because I think that there's it can be tricky to decipher. And in that what I mean is that like a journalist is coming in more often than not with, you know again, a story that thereafter.

00:09:49:15 - 00:09:54:14

Cullen

Whereas I find that documentary filmmaking is a lot more about discovering that story. Yes, through.

00:09:54:20 - 00:09:55:20

Clark

Its a filmmaking.

00:09:55:22 - 00:10:01:18

Cullen

So rather than and you know, as a documentary filmmaker, I'm never going to lead a conversation to a point that I think.

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:03:05

Clark

I'm going to use to end up.

00:10:03:05 - 00:10:20:11

Cullen

A gossip out. Right? And I lead the conversation to a point that I think is the most interesting, regardless of the circumstance, right? I think that drawing that distinction is really important. So letting the person kind of take the lead that you're interviewing them and letting them lead you to your conclusion.

00:10:20:11 - 00:10:21:19

Clark

Rather That's a great point, bringing.

00:10:21:19 - 00:10:22:16

Cullen

A conclusion into it.

00:10:22:23 - 00:10:53:18

Clark

And that's I think that's a good point. You know, it's a that's a good reason why you might not bring, you know, a plan or a you know, a very specific plan to that conversation. No list of questions, no pre interviews, no. You know, like agenda where you're going to, you know, expose something out and, you know, but really rather to approach it from a much more foundational kind of just curiosity and the human condition, curiosity in this person and their experience.

00:10:54:05 - 00:11:15:02

Clark

And you're right, let them kind of show you where this as this conversation is going to go, as opposed to really pre-planning everything. So but but sometimes, too, you know, but then the flip side of that is, though, again, this kind of goes back to what we were talking about. You don't just set up the camera and kind of just let them talk for an hour.

00:11:15:10 - 00:11:16:06

Clark

Yeah. You know, it's.

00:11:16:06 - 00:11:18:05

Cullen

And it's that's that's right. Yeah. It's is there.

00:11:18:05 - 00:11:26:12

Clark

Is some you know, you do have to kind of there's this art of and it's it's a challenging one to kind of articulate to or speak to because it's so.

00:11:26:13 - 00:11:53:02

Cullen

The art of conversation. Right. It's like that's, that's what I mean when you say that. When I say that I'm not if I'm interviewing someone, I'm not trying to lead them to my conclusion. I'm trying to, you know, perhaps the person isn't that interesting of a storyteller. So my job then as the interview is to help them as well to to help them, but also to to kind of set up guidelines and to kind of, you know, maybe put down the safety net and sort of say like, here, talk about this.

00:11:53:02 - 00:11:55:09

Cullen

I want well, I want to point out something that you said before.

00:11:55:09 - 00:11:56:08

Clark

Yeah, why don't we.

00:11:56:08 - 00:11:58:01

Cullen

And that's what you know, that's kind of what. Herzog I.

00:11:58:01 - 00:11:58:22

Clark

Love this idea of his.

00:11:59:13 - 00:12:07:02

Cullen

Or this episode. Yeah, yeah. But mean he and that directly goes with what he said when he's talking about little Dieter needs to fly.

00:12:07:06 - 00:12:07:15

Clark

Yeah.

00:12:07:15 - 00:12:12:03

Cullen

And he says, you know that he went on and on and on for like a half hour.

00:12:12:06 - 00:12:17:00

Clark

All right, so he's. He's describing his story. Yeah, It was his escape, right? Yeah.

00:12:17:00 - 00:12:31:22

Cullen

Then he says. And then Herzog says, Well, you know, and this is again, this goes back to the idea of like, you're still shaping and you're still sort of scripting things as a filmmaker. There. He says, okay, do that again, just like working with an actor, do that again. But just just focus on this part. This time.

00:12:31:23 - 00:12:32:23

Clark

We're feeling 30.

00:12:32:23 - 00:12:49:10

Cullen

Seconds. Yeah. And then he goes, Okay, I don't care about what the tree that you had under looked like, blah, blah, blah. I want to hear like this elicit me the raw emotion of what it was like to escape and what you felt and what you remember. And so, again, it is it is very much like working with an actor.

00:12:49:10 - 00:12:55:09

Cullen

And that's something that you just wouldn't really get in journalism or live TV like, Right. You would It would be very, very different.

00:12:55:09 - 00:13:20:11

Clark

Well, it's you're right. And it's so interesting. And if you listen to these or watch these lessons, you'll kind of catch him referring to a subject as actors. And I actually really love that idea. But there's so many things to kind of unpack here. I mean, you talked about safety net, and I think first and foremost, right, it's you're you are creating a conducive environment for the person that you're you're having this conversation with to open themselves up to be vulnerable.

00:13:20:21 - 00:13:53:11

Clark

Right. So so that's that's kind of that first part. Then you're working with them to kind of you're you're kind of looking for these little kernels, right? Looking for these interesting stories, looking for these kind of avenues or alleyways into their heart. And when you find one, then it's it's about helping them walk down that path to the you know, to the the real, like, good stuff there, you know, the treasure in the cave, because people often don't express themselves well, for sure.

00:13:53:11 - 00:13:53:20

Cullen

Yeah.

00:13:53:20 - 00:13:59:12

Clark

Like troubles all the time doing that. Just listen to me on this podcast now.

00:13:59:12 - 00:14:11:07

Cullen

But I mean that's, that's what I mean is that like and sometimes it's I also have trouble with that, but I find that I'm much better getting it out of somebody else than I am. GO Well, sure it is self. So I think that's kind of the thing. You kind of you have a.

00:14:11:07 - 00:14:12:21

Clark

Bird's eye view, right? And sometimes you.

00:14:12:21 - 00:14:13:14

Cullen

Do have to pry.

00:14:13:22 - 00:14:35:13

Clark

It, sometimes you have to pry. And it's and again, this is like, right, this is some a lot of this is such a delicate art. It's, you know, prying versus guiding, you know, knowing where that line is. Right. We talked about being exploitive versus versus not. It's, you know, a lot of times there's going to be some gray areas.

00:14:35:13 - 00:14:54:10

Clark

And, you know, sometimes I think there is going to be there are times where you may you may see a little like glimmer off in the corner and you try to help get this person that's in front of the camera to tell their story in more detail or from a different way. And sometimes, you know, depending on what you're talking about, it could be too traumatic.

00:14:54:10 - 00:15:31:12

Clark

It could be. So you have to use good judgment and be empathetic with your subjects always. You know, at least for me. Let's talk about this. I mean, maybe maybe you've got a slightly different opinion or maybe you're here with me on this. But I think, you know, yes, your film is important, but never to the detriment of the person in front of the camera to their well-being or even to their privacy if they don't want to talk about it, if it's not something that they're comfortable talking about and you can't get them to a place of comfort with, like reasonable, appropriate, respectful means, then it just doesn't fly for me.

00:15:31:16 - 00:15:53:02

Cullen

For me, because you're going to also you're going to make that the worst thing to do is make your subject uncomfortable because you're going to have them clam up on you. Well, sure. And then I mean, I'm not saying that of course, the be all end all is at the end of the day, their mental health. So I think that coming from a point of saying that the worst thing we can lose is is you know, we don't get what we need out of them.

00:15:53:18 - 00:15:56:00

Cullen

I think there are more important matters there, but.

00:15:56:07 - 00:15:58:22

Clark

There are other aspects. There is always that's what I mean.

00:15:58:23 - 00:16:04:21

Cullen

This is like pushing. I've never found that pushing somebody to answer a question is.

00:16:04:21 - 00:16:05:06

Clark

It never.

00:16:05:10 - 00:16:12:13

Cullen

Get you anywhere. It's just again, it's it's going to get them to seize up and not want to continue talking to you, frankly.

00:16:12:18 - 00:16:49:14

Clark

And I mean, the things that I've found and because I've done more of this, probably honestly, at this point in my career, I've done more of this than I have any other aspect of filmmaking, whether it was as a you know, as a gun for hire, as a videographer, working, doing interviews with people on corporate side of things, to even my own documentary films, of which I've been involved in a couple now that had a large amount of interviews and sometimes on, you know, really like sensitive, emotionally charged topics for the people that were in the film.

00:16:50:11 - 00:17:11:03

Clark

And it's, you know, some of the things that I found is, you know, like just from the beginning, like, right, just when you're when you walk into making a film and you know that you're going to be talking to people and asking them sensitive questions is to approach it from a place of total empathy and curiosity.

00:17:11:13 - 00:17:11:21

Cullen

Mm hmm.

00:17:12:05 - 00:17:32:20

Clark

And those things should take you in, obviously, to a place where you are very interested. And you are you are compassionate. Right? And so you're sitting next to your you know, because obviously. Right. You're next to the camera. They're in a conversation with you. The camera's right next to your head. And I have found I don't know, come and tell me about you.

00:17:32:20 - 00:17:55:05

Clark

But when you yourself are kind of consumed with a curiosity and an interest and you've gotten yourself to a place where you are genuinely, you know, just consumed or thrilled with with what you're talking about and with this person in front of you, you almost kind of can create this like tunnel that you sit in with them. Mm hmm.

00:17:55:12 - 00:17:59:06

Clark

And you can almost kind of even pull them into that with you by and.

00:17:59:06 - 00:18:01:20

Cullen

Make them also think like a filmmaker.

00:18:01:20 - 00:18:23:08

Clark

You're like, You know what? I'm like, You're in your face like that. You're looking right into their eyes. They're looking into your eyes. And there's all of this nuance of communication that's happening with your body language, with, you know, your active listening skills, your like you're helping you're holding their hand almost right from the other side of the camera, helping them take this journey.

00:18:23:08 - 00:18:44:02

Clark

But you're with them even though you're not on camera. I mean, at least it that's how it feels for me. Like I and as a matter of fact, I remember the first few times I did some some pretty intense interviews. I was shocked at how exotic they were. I was actually really surprised by how like, spent I was at the end of shooting.

00:18:44:03 - 00:18:46:08

Clark

I like for real. I just like.

00:18:46:09 - 00:18:56:04

Cullen

I mean, it's it's it's like it's in a way, it's a less aggressive interrogation. I mean, that's the thing is that takes a lot of brainpower.

00:18:56:04 - 00:19:19:01

Clark

I mean, in the same way, you know, the Guinness I love that Herzog uses the word actor to talk about the people in his his subjects. In the documentary film. I mean, it's like it to me, it feels so much the same as well in this way. It's like when I'm directing an actor in a narrative film, a fiction film, I get to a place where I feel like I'm right, like I'm right there with them.

00:19:19:01 - 00:19:37:15

Clark

I'm in the scene, I'm in the story. I'm sometimes even almost like one with this actor or actors. And I feel the same way with documentary films that it's it's not that there's a table and I'm on one side and they're on another, and I've got this agenda and I'm trying to get some kind of performance or something from them.

00:19:37:15 - 00:19:56:17

Clark

It's like, I am doing this with you. We're here together, and this is a journey that we're taking. And, you know, it's like sometimes it's really rocky or steep or scary or there's a ledge there, but we're here together. At least that's when I when I feel like I'm really on you know, that's the way I feel. Yeah.

00:19:56:18 - 00:20:19:00

Cullen

And I mean, exactly like I think that that's one thing I would also say, too, is like, you can be casual and I think that really helps people relax. Relax, especially when you know, when you're if you're out, you know, you mentioned something like being a videographer and that's that's another example of this perhaps is straying a bit away from interview.

00:20:19:00 - 00:20:36:12

Cullen

But if you're out on the street or if you're just getting footage of things and it's like when I was situations where you're you're at an event or you're working that way, I find that it is always so much easier to you've I've seen I think everyone's seen these cameramen that are just kind of drones that just walk around and just get shots and don't ask.

00:20:36:12 - 00:20:43:20

Cullen

People don't talk to anybody. They just literally just kind of stop around. It's so much easier to have people be comfortable around a camera when you just talk to them.

00:20:44:03 - 00:20:44:16

Clark

Yeah.

00:20:44:17 - 00:21:05:20

Cullen

And you just not if you don't have to talk to him about the camera, you don't to be like, Yeah, I'm here filming for this. Just have a conversation and get them comfortable. And it, I mean, again, I said it didn't really have much to do with injuries, but it does because you can also can you can, you know, kind of grease up these interviews by saying, you know, just having a casual conversation with the person before fresh start.

00:21:06:12 - 00:21:07:06

Clark

Absolutely.

00:21:07:06 - 00:21:08:23

Cullen

And I think that's a huge.

00:21:08:23 - 00:21:09:07

Clark

And it's.

00:21:09:07 - 00:21:11:21

Cullen

Definitely getting the people calm right and right.

00:21:11:21 - 00:21:33:22

Clark

And it's not a pre interview. Right. You want to be careful, Ali, I think and I think Herzog speaks to this. I think you agree. We've talked about this before when we worked on ours. You don't want to go into what you're going. You know what we're going to be talking about. You don't want to try to to pre-interview or start to kind of, you know, ask the same questions you're going to or, you know, try to kind of get into the conversation, get into the topic of what you actually want on camera.

00:21:34:04 - 00:21:42:05

Clark

You just like it just getting to know each other. It's just building rapport. Right. And I think that's absolutely a good thing to do.

00:21:42:05 - 00:21:59:20

Cullen

Well, I mean, I think that's a really good point of not like don't. And we're very careful with this as well. When we do a podcast, we don't we don't we don't do that for the conversation before. And there have been times when, you know, before we record, we've been getting into things and we're like, you know, okay, let's actually let's start now.

00:21:59:20 - 00:22:00:20

Clark

Because say that, yes, we're.

00:22:00:20 - 00:22:24:20

Cullen

Just talking about we're making really good points that aren't being recorded. So I think that that's a really good point, is that you can, you know, you don't want to it's for personal reasons, I think. I don't want he's like I don't want I don't want it to sound like you've said it before. And again, there's a difference between that and interviewing somebody and saying, let's take it again, because that let's take it again is about it's about the of storyteller.

00:22:25:04 - 00:22:36:02

Clark

It's about digging. It's a mining. You're right. It's not hopefully right if you're saying let's do it again, you know you're not saying just tell me the exact same story in the same way. Yeah. You're helping them refine their.

00:22:36:15 - 00:22:37:01

Cullen

Notes.

00:22:37:01 - 00:23:04:01

Clark

And, and it's like and, and like you said, I think just a little bit earlier, you talked about the example with deer and how he, you know, the first time he told this story that Herzog felt really, you know, needed to be in the film. It took him like 30 minutes and he was describing every little detail. It was, you know, 72 degrees and partially cloudy and, you know, and it's like, no, no, no, these things are relative.

00:23:04:22 - 00:23:23:09

Clark

They aren't necessary. And then so he did it again and he just like, went through it so fast that, you know, he left out all of the details that made it an intriguing story. And it was just this like skeleton of a story. And so he kind of worked with him. And so that's different. Like absolutely. That's a different thing than, well, let's just tell the same story over and over and over.

00:23:23:09 - 00:23:27:09

Clark

So we really get it polished. It sounds slick. Yeah. You know.

00:23:27:12 - 00:23:39:09

Cullen

And it's not a sales pitch and not so I mean, I guess she also mentions that about about into the Abyss where it's like that the pastor sort of said it's like he starts out sounding like this TV preacher.

00:23:39:09 - 00:23:39:20

Clark

Right.

00:23:40:04 - 00:24:01:08

Cullen

Because what is Herzog do but just get him? And I don't think I genuinely and I don't think Herzog is even alluding to saying this, that when he asked about the squirrel that he was expecting him to break down crying and open up. But but I think it was just Herzog wasn't for the one thing that was that was probably taking the pastor off guard was probably thinking he's going to ask me about death or I was going to end it.

00:24:01:08 - 00:24:20:03

Cullen

So Herzog went, okay, how do I get his guard down and kind of sank in by the flank. I'll ask about the squirrel. And because the pastor, again, like most of the time, the interviewer wants to do a good job. And I guarantee you in that instance, the pastor knew that Herzog wanted a conversation with him about you know, the emotions of doing it.

00:24:20:03 - 00:24:37:09

Cullen

And so, of course, the pastor's brain, whether subconsciously or, you know, intentionally or not, is going to go to the point of, okay, he asked me of the squirrel how do I get the squirrel back to death row? And so he goes, okay, I talk about how I almost at these squirrels. And then I pause and I sit there and I look at them for a moment.

00:24:37:09 - 00:24:39:14

Cullen

And then that's kind of what he chokes up and he says, you know.

00:24:40:09 - 00:24:44:08

Clark

Because he was having these thoughts in the moment for the first time, and.

00:24:44:08 - 00:24:45:15

Cullen

That's him making those connections.

00:24:45:15 - 00:25:04:06

Clark

Yeah, Yeah, That's a great point. It's like, you know, he's he's having this thought for the first time because I know I mean, I've done this before. You've probably done it right. It's like, say you're going for a job interview, right? And you try to think of, okay, what are all the questions they're going to ask me? And, you know, and you kind of get your answers, at least kind of partially canned, right?

00:25:04:06 - 00:25:20:12

Clark

So you're not on the spot and you're having to kind of think these up in the moment. I think that most of us are that way when we know we're going to be walking into, you know, kind of a and a stressful it's a little bit stressful, It's a little bit of anxiety. You're going to be on the spot, You're going to be in the spotlight.

00:25:21:07 - 00:25:48:15

Clark

And I think everybody kind of runs through what they're going to say in their mind. I mean, I just had to be interviewed for our local NBC affiliate out here last year. I know I did that. I was like, okay, what are they going to you know, I almost kind of practice my story. Yeah. Yeah. And I think a good interviewer will, like you said, think of these kind of, you know, if the goal is not to just throw you off guard so that you're, you know, let's say I'm going to expose this person and sometimes they do that in a job interview.

00:25:48:15 - 00:26:03:00

Clark

But you know, that's not the goal, right? That's not a goal in an interview, but it's to have the person have to be switch gears, be totally present in that moment, and really have to have to be there. And we see those wheels turning and we break.

00:26:03:00 - 00:26:03:18

Cullen

Down the walls.

00:26:03:18 - 00:26:11:11

Clark

We break down the mask that we all kind of put on. That's like, you know, our Instagram, you know, my best life kind of thing. Right?

00:26:12:05 - 00:26:28:09

Cullen

And I think I mean, that that goes back even to related to our own work experience when when we were doing the doc in California. I think that one of the things that worked out really well for us was the fact that we began the interviews and had the pretense of exploring these people's, you know, essentially what was their hobbies.

00:26:28:09 - 00:26:45:15

Cullen

Some of them did it for money, but essentially, you know, started out as a hobby and was very much a hobby of life. Yeah. And but I always found when we were talking to those people that the most interesting answers they gave were when we sort of talk to them about like, okay, what, what's your personal life like?

00:26:45:15 - 00:27:02:03

Cullen

What, what got you here? And that was something I think that they weren't really expecting. I think they were expecting conversations about the actual activity and the the idea of whether it was tarot card reading or whether it was, you know, conspiracy theories or whatever. I think that's where they were expecting us to go with the conversation.

00:27:02:07 - 00:27:20:17

Clark

Sure. And you could tell the difference, right? You can tell a real difference when somebody had you know, and this is the thing, too. It's like if you ask the same questions that everybody asks somebody, right. It's like we you know, we go through our daily life and there's kind of this like very low lying fruit of like questions that we ask everybody in our daily life.

00:27:20:17 - 00:27:43:05

Clark

And we answer them almost on autopilot, right? It's like our, you know, the little like PR representative that sits in the corner of our brain just has these answers on can. It's like that, you know, if you ask those questions and that's you're just just this low lying fruit, these questions that are aren't very engaging. They aren't very creative, they aren't very interesting.

00:27:43:19 - 00:27:51:20

Clark

They're questions that have probably been asked of this person a thousand times before. Well, you're probably going to get a canned response, you know? Yeah.

00:27:52:04 - 00:27:52:21

Cullen

No, exactly.

00:27:52:21 - 00:28:15:01

Clark

Well, and one of the things that helped to and this was really important, we were able to do this for some of our subjects and but not for others. And I think there was a good difference. Location is so important. Herzog talks about this in his lesson, and there are some great examples, and I totally agree with this location is so important.

00:28:15:01 - 00:28:33:19

Clark

It everything from it it it helps your your documentary be more cinematic. It's more interesting. Look, we don't you you don't want an hour and a half, 2 hours of talking heads in a room. That is not a film. That's not a film location. It can help with that. It's visual storytelling. PUT Well, I.

00:28:33:19 - 00:28:38:01

Cullen

Remember one of them mentioned Black Star Canyon, and we drove to Flagstaff.

00:28:38:01 - 00:28:38:18

Clark

Absolutely.

00:28:38:18 - 00:28:39:15

Cullen

Got absolutely.

00:28:39:18 - 00:29:11:12

Clark

Or the people that we interviewed in their space, in their studio. Yeah. They're surrounded by the things that make them who they are. It's it's visual storytelling. You're adding to what they're saying by being in their space and seeing how how they live like one of the in a different documentary film that I was working on, we one of the subjects was actually she was making a documentary, filming a documentary about her father, who was unfortunately in the process of dying.

00:29:11:21 - 00:29:29:11

Clark

And it was pretty intense. And she one of the things that she did to try to to cope with this was that she had a horse, that she would go into stables and she would, you know, brush this horse and clean this horse and kind of and we went with her to do this. And it was amazing how it opened her up right when she was in this.

00:29:29:22 - 00:29:41:07

Clark

I mean, it's like we were gone, you know, she this was her place. This was where she felt comfortable. And it was such an extension of her. And we got to see that there's no way we could have gotten that had we just had her in a chair, in a.

00:29:41:07 - 00:29:41:21

Cullen

Room and a.

00:29:41:21 - 00:29:58:05

Clark

Room. There's just no way. Yeah. So location is so, so key and I think so many different ways. And it's a great way to again, to, you know, a film as moving pictures, talking heads do not a film make, right? At least in my opinion.

00:29:58:06 - 00:30:02:14

Cullen

I mean, I've done I just did a documentary that has no talking heads. It's it's literally.

00:30:02:14 - 00:30:03:03

Clark

Even better.

00:30:03:03 - 00:30:09:02

Cullen

Images and people and yeah or and in my voice it's the narrator but I mean that's the thing.

00:30:09:02 - 00:30:11:23

Clark

Is now where did you do your did you do the Herzog.

00:30:12:04 - 00:30:12:23

Cullen

I actually.

00:30:13:00 - 00:30:13:06

Clark

Or were you.

00:30:13:06 - 00:30:33:11

Cullen

Just funny enough? I didn't have trouble doing the narration until I and I kept feeling like I was doing it too fast or I just didn't have the right kind of, you know, timber. Yeah. And then I did one read through of the whole thing with my Herzog impression and then just took away the accent. I did literally the exact same thing.

00:30:33:11 - 00:30:52:13

Cullen

And it is what it is in the movie today is just like I oh, that's ago when I would sort of go like, you know, many scientists predict that the final star of our universe will exist, you know? And then I just took away the accent when like anything. And yeah, it was it's funny, though. It's, it, it works so well which is exact I mean, he says that he did that for you.

00:30:52:14 - 00:30:53:20

Cullen

Yeah. What do you call it?

00:30:53:20 - 00:30:56:05

Clark

But there was one where he. I forget exactly but.

00:30:56:21 - 00:31:00:09

Cullen

The end of the world and he says that he did it from the onset of mysteries.

00:31:00:09 - 00:31:20:04

Clark

Unsolved mysteries. That's what it was. Unsolved mysteries. Yes, yes, yes. It's great. It's it sometimes helps to, you know, get you out of your head, kind of you know, remove this self-consciousness kind of thing and and kind of do that. Tried in a different voice. It's it's a it's often something that actors use.

00:31:20:04 - 00:31:20:10

Cullen

Yeah.

00:31:20:16 - 00:31:21:20

Clark

Yeah. And Jane, it.

00:31:21:20 - 00:31:51:03

Cullen

Can be difficult. I mean, I've only ever done that in my own space alone where I'm doing all the sound mixing myself. I've never I have no idea what I've done. Narration For things where other people have been there but nothing that I've been in charge of. But I mean, I think it's funny that I can't imagine. I always laugh about, you know, this is a bit of a tangent, but I always laugh about thinking about like people doing video or ADR or, you know, especially like video game voice Actors have to be in a studio doing make the sound.

00:31:51:03 - 00:32:02:14

Cullen

Now when you when you do a swing of the sword and they're like, oh, I feel like I just can't imagine the, the awkward feeling in the air of just having somebody in a booth behind you going, All right, try it again.

00:32:02:22 - 00:32:28:06

Clark

I mean, well, hey, I, you know, just to give give those guys some props, those men and women who are talent or voice actors, it is just for quick little second, just props to my. Yeah. Like some of my tribe. I have not done that myself, but I have friends. I know many people who do that and it is really, really physically and mentally demanding.

00:32:28:06 - 00:32:59:08

Clark

You know, it's it's a especially those video games. I mean the you know, nowadays with games being so story driven and so cinematic, they have, you know, thousands of pages of script and it's often you're just going kind of page by page by page, okay, you know, scream, yell, grunt, you know, just we have to do it. We have to get each line 15 different ways because depending on what the character, you know, the player chooses to do in the game, it has to have a different, you know, we have to have all these different responses.

00:32:59:08 - 00:33:00:23

Clark

It's intense, man. Yeah.

00:33:00:23 - 00:33:01:19

Cullen

And no, totally.

00:33:01:19 - 00:33:03:20

Clark

And that mocap stuff. It is.

00:33:03:20 - 00:33:04:10

Cullen

Oh, jeez.

00:33:04:16 - 00:33:17:01

Clark

Yeah, that is no joke. So not to get too far down another pass but huge props to. Yeah, my actor peeps out there who are doing motion capture and voice work and whatever medium you're doing.

00:33:17:01 - 00:33:35:08

Cullen

I mean, it is relatively related though, because I think that getting people, you know exactly what retirement, which is getting comfortable with doing that in a voice video booth or something and the awkwardness of that, it's very similar for I mean, that would be a similar experience for somebody sitting down in front of a camera for the first time and having to, you know, tell out their life story.

00:33:35:18 - 00:34:00:12

Cullen

This isn't me. But a friend of mine who was in film school had to do a documentary project in his third or fourth year. He did an interview about a girl who used to go to a middle school might the middle school that I went to. But she went there before and she was murdered while she was not on the property, but, you know, while she attended there and he did a documentary about her because it was one of those things, you know, there's a plaque out front of the school.

00:34:00:12 - 00:34:03:02

Cullen

And so he thought I passed that plaque every single day.

00:34:03:02 - 00:34:04:06

Clark

I want to know more about it.

00:34:04:06 - 00:34:17:22

Cullen

Into it. Yeah. So he went and interviewed her best friend. And she has had a really difficult life. She's, you know, had issues with addiction. She's a single mother. All these all these like, you know, just imagine kind of like the worst deck of cards.

00:34:17:22 - 00:34:18:20

Clark

Major challenges.

00:34:18:20 - 00:34:36:16

Cullen

Yeah. And so he but I remember watching it and it was it was very interesting because, you know, again, the whole idea was that, you know, he took this is perhaps a different approach, but he, you know, put the camera on record and just tried to kind of keep it out of the way and have a conversation with her as though she wasn't that wasn't even there.

00:34:36:20 - 00:34:37:06

Clark

You're right.

00:34:37:06 - 00:35:00:05

Cullen

And, you know, sometimes that can work and it just something that makes them a more comfortable to think, to not have to think about the fact that their thoughts are being recorded and that they're being, you know, videoed. Right. That they're just kind of having a conversation and telling a story to a person. I think the other thing, too, though, is and this is also something that Herzog says about when he was interviewing the as the mortician.

00:35:01:05 - 00:35:14:12

Cullen

Right. And he saying, man, you know, I don't have that here. Yeah. Cause I don't want to turn the corner. Sorry. He goes, I don't want to hear it like you're on the stand like that. You're giving me a testimony I want to hear. You know, I do want to hear how it felt.

00:35:14:12 - 00:35:15:01

Clark

And, like.

00:35:15:02 - 00:35:36:09

Cullen

I don't need to be official. Yeah, which is funny, because that movie, I would say that that coroner in that movie is a funny character because he almost he almost says everything kind of like a sales pitch. It's kind of strange. So it was more difficult to kind of break that shell for him because he is so used to that line of work and not only that line of work, but having to talk about it.

00:35:36:09 - 00:35:41:08

Cullen

I mean, of course, the job as a coroner isn't only to examine dead bodies, but to give reports on those.

00:35:41:08 - 00:35:49:12

Clark

Dead bodies and to say, I mean, it could be, you know, chicken or the egg. It could be that that's that's his personality. And that's part of why he chose that career. Beat him.

00:35:50:00 - 00:36:03:01

Cullen

That's what I mean in that in that it can be you know you can be very difficult to break people out of that. And I think. Herzog did you know, I've never seen the footage. Of course, I don't think anybody has before, he said. But I'd love he said that.

00:36:03:01 - 00:36:03:12

Clark

Would be so.

00:36:03:12 - 00:36:24:04

Cullen

Breaking out of that shell. So I don't know what the change was, but you can tell, you know, sometimes you'll be dealing with somebody and interviewing somebody who just has a certain, you know, way of speaking that may not fit exactly what you want. But again, just like working with actors in a movie, you just kind of have to roll with it and make the best out of what you're given, because you can't obviously recast an interview subject.

00:36:24:04 - 00:36:24:10

Cullen

So.

00:36:24:16 - 00:36:48:05

Clark

Right. Well, I you know, it's interesting. So, you know, kind of we're going down a lot of different kind of tangents here. I think they're all really related, you know, at the same the other side of this coin. So I just was complimentary for actors. One of the challenges I've had was actually with actors, and I think it's speaks to a problem that can occur, though, with anybody that you're interviewing.

00:36:48:05 - 00:37:19:23

Clark

I happened to notice that interestingly enough, this happened more frequently with actors than with other walks of life, people in other walks of life. But, you know, this this veneer we've mentioned this a few times. I've called a mask or a wall, but just this desire to kind of control the way that you're appearing, the way that you're controlling, you know, you're trying to control the experience basically in a nutshell, as the subject, instead of allowing the experience to just occur to you.

00:37:20:16 - 00:37:50:16

Clark

And it's funny, it's this is just an interesting irony. But of course, you know, an actor's job is not to control their performance, but but to allow the event, the circumstances, the script to occur to you. Right. But it's so strange as that in my experience And I've interviewed a lot of people and I've interviewed a lot of actors, actors seem to have, more often than average, a more difficult time letting go and not trying to control an interview.

00:37:51:02 - 00:37:51:20

Cullen

Well, that makes sense.

00:37:51:20 - 00:38:16:20

Clark

It's an interesting little piece of trivia. But, you know, one of the things that I you know, we've talked about a handful of things, being curious, being empathetic, using your location, small crews trying to make the gear and the camera non obtrusive. You know, another thing I think is so huge, just from a philosophical perspective, is to to not sit in judgment of your subject.

00:38:17:01 - 00:38:17:08

Cullen

Yeah.

00:38:18:00 - 00:38:40:22

Clark

It's so vital. It is so much of what we've spoken to is, is a challenge that we're trying to break down. When you've got a person sitting across the table next to you and they're on camera, is the fear of judgment. Yeah. And we all and mean look, we all experience this all the time. I think it's one of the most like, profound challenges that we all face as humans.

00:38:40:22 - 00:39:01:18

Clark

It's such an integral part of our experience that the fear of being rejected, the fear of being critiqued, the fear of being wrong, the fear of being embarrassed. These all come from the same place and the everything you can do to bring yourself genuinely, because you can not fake this, you can't fake it. People are too attuned to this.

00:39:02:08 - 00:39:03:08

Clark

If you can really bring.

00:39:03:08 - 00:39:04:04

Cullen

It will really stand.

00:39:04:04 - 00:39:19:04

Clark

Out. If you really bring yourself to a place of acceptance. Now, it doesn't mean that you know, and Herzog talks about this. It's, you know, when he was into the abyss and he's interviewing this murderer, he's not saying, look, I you know, I think you're innocent. Or I you know, I think that it's good that you did this.

00:39:19:04 - 00:39:49:17

Clark

He's not condoning this obviously horrific behavior, but he's like, but you're still a human being and I still see you as a human being. And I know that you're not just some demon. You're not all bad. I know you're a human being and I'm a human being. And so I think when we can bring ourselves to a place where we're not sitting in judgment of our subjects, even if I mean, if we think their ideas are kooky or ridiculous or whatever.

00:39:50:13 - 00:40:07:16

Clark

And look, we've interviewed some people, Colin, where I did, you know, my initial kneejerk reaction was to think that now. But but when you sit down in that chair, you have whatever it is you've got to do, do it. You can't come from a place of judgment or you're going to shut down again because we're not. JOURNALIST Right.

00:40:07:22 - 00:40:15:08

Clark

You're not sitting there like, you know, trying to pick somebody apart to get to some kind of, you know, it's not what we're doing as filmmakers.

00:40:16:08 - 00:40:16:14

Cullen

Yeah.

00:40:16:19 - 00:40:23:06

Clark

Now, other people may disagree, and I have definitely seen I mean, interviewers pick the hell out of their subject, but I.

00:40:23:06 - 00:40:43:21

Cullen

Have friends who consider documentary to be an extension. More of news than film. And I agree with that. But I know there are people who do their art that way. I also I want to go back to to what I described earlier, and it's related to what you were just saying where I kind of jokingly mentioned the idea that it's like a less aggressive interrogation.

00:40:44:06 - 00:40:44:11

Clark

Yeah.

00:40:44:11 - 00:41:04:20

Cullen

And I want to specify, too, that what I mean, if you want a really great masterclass on interviewing somebody, I can't know what the YouTube channel is called, but there's this YouTube channel that literally just puts up interrogations from, you know, very famous, you know, the recordings of interrogations from very famous murders, you know, Oh, my God.

00:41:04:22 - 00:41:06:02

Clark

Like actual real like.

00:41:06:07 - 00:41:29:17

Cullen

Real or real interrogation footage. And there's one that I want to specify that is it was a case up here where a military general had murdered a woman. He was he was he had raped like dozens of women and was never caught and then went on to murder one. And that's how he was caught. But the most thing is that you can watch the entire interrogation.

00:41:30:02 - 00:41:50:22

Cullen

He was not under arrest. He was brought in for questioning under the guise of removing him as a suspect. And if you watch the interview of his is he's interrogation and it's just one cop in there with them just talking to him. And he goes from at the beginning, just having a casual conversation about, you know, yeah, we're just trying to, like, remove names from our list by the law.

00:41:50:22 - 00:42:01:12

Cullen

Right. To literally by the end of this hour and a half interview, getting the guy to pinpoint the location of the body on a map. He's never aggressive, he's never judgmental. He's never sitting there going like.

00:42:01:12 - 00:42:02:02

Clark

Oh, my God.

00:42:02:03 - 00:42:12:22

Cullen

This son of a bitch, you are for doing this. He is literally yeah, it is a master class. Wow. Because the cop just has a conversation with them and just like, slowly by bit by bit gets him to to both.

00:42:12:22 - 00:42:14:23

Clark

That is certainly interesting. And it's.

00:42:14:23 - 00:42:18:23

Cullen

I would say, yeah, just go watch it because it is an incredible again it's it's like what do.

00:42:18:23 - 00:42:21:23

Clark

You think we can search on? Can we find this? I mean, you.

00:42:21:23 - 00:42:23:00

Cullen

Find the name.

00:42:23:00 - 00:42:27:10

Clark

I'm so intrigued by this that I'm almost willing to just talk about something else here while you.

00:42:27:22 - 00:42:57:23

Cullen

Try to look. So it's Russell Williams. Russell Williams was the the murderer. He was the he was a general in the gay army. But if you search up on on YouTube to search of Russell Williams like interrogate, interview or interrogation know it'll come up. But again it's and I think like that's kind of the reason why I said you know it's like a less of an aggressive interrogation because I think that just as in filmmaking, it is more often than not the lesson in aggressive interrogation is that get the suspect confess in the policing.

00:42:58:02 - 00:43:08:20

Cullen

And it's the same thing with, you know, you can call it torture, you can call it enhanced interrogation whenever you like, when those things occur, when you are so aggressive with the person trying to get things out, you will more often not just get lies. You.

00:43:08:21 - 00:43:12:20

Clark

Well, let let's just say for the record, please do not torture.

00:43:13:03 - 00:43:13:07

Cullen

Or.

00:43:13:16 - 00:43:15:18

Clark

Waterboard like please no.

00:43:15:18 - 00:43:20:16

Cullen

Without their consent. Without their consent. Without their consent, unless you get them to sign an NDA and all that, you know.

00:43:21:06 - 00:43:23:11

Clark

Oh my gosh. Yeah. But I just want.

00:43:23:11 - 00:43:43:08

Cullen

To say that it is, you know, it's people like to compartmentalize things and sort of go, you know, that may work for for policing, but that doesn't work for filmmaking. But really, it's not about versus policing. It's about human psychology. And it's about it's about, you know, being able to and again, break down people's guards.

00:43:43:08 - 00:44:08:13

Clark

Yeah. And interested. You know, obviously it's like as we always approach these podcast as, you know, every time we we step to the mic and we talk about filmmaking for a while, this is always just our opinions and we're always in the process of learning ourselves. And that's exactly what this podcast is about. It's this is an extension of our learning process doing this.

00:44:08:13 - 00:44:28:08

Clark

So I never speak from a place of like, well, I know, you know, categorically that A works and B doesn't or this or that. I would be so interested to to kind of learn a little bit of more about, you know, what the differences might be. It's like you use this interrogation as example. I would be curious to know we can just use this as a thought experiment.

00:44:29:00 - 00:44:53:15

Clark

I'm I'm assuming that that interrogator thought that this person was the murderer, although they didn't let the the suspect know that that that was they had an intention. They walked in with a very, very, very specific intention, which was I'm going to take this person and walk them through this hour and a half long, you know, interaction. And at the end of it, I'm getting the confession.

00:44:53:16 - 00:45:25:00

Clark

That's my goal. They they went into it with the goal. I'm getting this confession and so very specific and I you know, as approach is opposed to approaching somebody even with the same external tactics but approaching a subject not with this like very specific, very defined end goal, but a much more open ended goal. Yeah, it'd just be interesting to kind of see, you know, it's definitely some fun things to play around with as you're experimenting as a filmmaker to try these different techniques and then look at the.

00:45:25:00 - 00:45:57:21

Cullen

End of the day to everyone's had conversations with people, you know, you've all had those Thanksgiving dinner table conversations with perhaps a family member that you're not quite close with, but that you that you get into learning more about them. And it's identical. I mean, you just have to approach these conversations in a very similar to those because that's the thing it should be again, to go back to kind of I guess the whole really theme of this episode is that it is it's not a journalist, it's you're not a journalist trying to interview or pry, you know, a story out of someone.

00:45:57:21 - 00:46:24:02

Cullen

You're trying to have a two way conversation. Yeah. And of course, you want you know, you don't want to be as the person who is, you know, asking the questions to be talking more than the person who is answering them. Well, and, you know, there is a balance you can strike where I've found that more often than not, the most successful interviews that I have or the most successful conversations I have with with people in documentaries that either I'm doing or that I'm just being the there for for support or something.

00:46:24:22 - 00:46:32:11

Cullen

Our conversations were, you know, I do spend a good chunk of time talking, Yeah, I am quite, you know.

00:46:32:18 - 00:46:33:02

Clark

Yeah.

00:46:33:04 - 00:46:34:11

Cullen

You're in are part of that.

00:46:34:11 - 00:47:02:16

Clark

Yeah. Yeah. You're an active part of that. Well I have to I you know, this probably should go you know it's an understood but I have had to remind myself of this in the past, you know as an active participant in this conversation, sometimes, you know, providing 50, 60% of the conversation, just one little like small reminder, small piece of logistical, be really, really careful that you're not speaking over your person, that you're that you're talking to.

00:47:03:11 - 00:47:24:16

Clark

And I have an especial challenge with that. I get excited you guys out there and Cullen you know, I can get excited. I get kind of passionate what I'm about, what I'm speaking to some points and I want to like jump in and say something. You know, it's so I have to remind don't just don't cut in. Don't cut off.

00:47:24:16 - 00:47:52:17

Clark

And and another thing I've learned that's worked well for me. Coen I don't know if you've done much of this or not, but often too, what I will do is just allow dead air. Yeah, there's like kind of I think all of us kind of have this instinct, sort of to kind of fill awkward space with words. So, you know, let's say you've asked a question or, you know, you're kind of having a back and forth and your subject, it seems that they're done speaking right.

00:47:52:17 - 00:48:01:10

Clark

They've told their story or they're kind of they seem to be at the end of a thought, Well, your inclination is immediately, okay, I don't want that awkward space. I mean, this is conscious, but still it.

00:48:01:10 - 00:48:02:04

Cullen

And I've got a feeling.

00:48:02:04 - 00:48:17:16

Clark

It happens so subconsciously that it's just an instantaneous desire to speak. Right. You just go right into asking the next question. I mean, some of the most interesting things that I've captured on camera occurred when I refrained from doing that and just sat there and stared at them.

00:48:18:02 - 00:48:34:04

Cullen

Yeah, it's that and what's really interesting, what you're saying too, is again, that that also is a technique in interrogation, which is to to let the person sit and because then if you're not going to if you don't have to talk, they are going to want to fill in.

00:48:34:04 - 00:48:34:19

Clark

They feel that.

00:48:35:00 - 00:48:49:04

Cullen

And they're they're going to start going off of adrenaline, of going, I don't want it to be awkward. So I'm just going start saying things. I'm just going to start filling in that space and it can be super, super helpful. And perhaps maybe this is just because I went to you know, I did criminology in university. That's what I went for.

00:48:49:04 - 00:48:49:16

Clark

But no.

00:48:49:20 - 00:49:12:06

Cullen

Yeah, there's again, there's this super, you know, legitimate point of, of let that person spill the beans themselves. Yeah. The point that you want to get to is that where they are self-sustaining, where you no longer have to ask questions or they can discuss and you know, and that's such, that's lightning in a bottle. That's not going to happen with every subject.

00:49:12:06 - 00:49:29:13

Cullen

It's not going to happen with every, you know, every interview you ever do. But I think that that when it does happen, it can be great when you can just get you can also have times where people will intentionally, as you said, steer the conversation into a point that is beneficial for them and very much actively try to use this idea.

00:49:29:13 - 00:49:48:00

Cullen

I mean, you think about the the Frost Nixon interview, which is a journalist, of course, going after and I mean the interview, not the Ron Howard movie, right? If watch that. It's very clear that that Nixon then was trying to steer the conversation and was very much a master of steering conversations. Yeah. And so you have to be careful of that too.

00:49:48:00 - 00:50:07:23

Cullen

You can't of course, you have to maintain a power balance, but there's a point where you can almost catch the person off guard and get them to just basically spill all, which can be very good, of course, in a healthy way. But. Right. But, you know, it can be really, really great when that happens and again and be really rewarding and you can get some great stuff for sure.

00:50:07:23 - 00:50:29:03

Clark

And I would you know, and I would say sometimes, too, and I've been surprised by this, and I don't know that I was fully aware of it when I was in the interview. But after I got home and I looked at the footage, I was kind of surprised that people will tell you a lot by how they hide as well.

00:50:29:04 - 00:50:50:12

Clark

Yes. Yeah. And sometimes you can get some pretty interesting stuff by, you know, because the camera is just there is something about the you know, the lens. It just it's like, I don't know, but I feel like it's sometimes it sees things that I and I'm right there. You know, I'm right there next to the camera. I'm staring at these people.

00:50:50:12 - 00:51:18:06

Clark

I'm in this conversation. But somehow sometimes I go back and I see things. The camera saw things that I just didn't quite get right there at the time. But I see I've had some really interesting stuff come out with how a person where you can and of course, this is sometimes, you know, the way editing can help with this and everything, but the person reveals so much by about by like what they hide and what they cover up or where they're afraid to go, where they won't go.

00:51:18:10 - 00:51:38:03

Clark

So sometimes there's that too, you know, sometimes that can be just as helpful as some kind of open confession, so to speak. You know, sometimes where a person is completely guarded and boarded up showing that could potentially be an integral part of your story, depending on the story that you're trying to tell. Right.

00:51:38:23 - 00:51:53:11

Cullen

And perhaps just before we wrap up, too, I just and maybe I should've said this beginning because it is kind of a pre interview thing, but I've always found a really great way to get people relaxed in a setting where perhaps they're camera shy and.

00:51:53:12 - 00:51:54:05

Clark

Nice with and.

00:51:54:10 - 00:51:55:09

Cullen

Again, a smile that.

00:51:55:09 - 00:51:55:23

Clark

I just could.

00:51:57:03 - 00:52:12:04

Cullen

Get. But make sure you make sure you, you, you don't let them know it's whiskey. You hand them, you know a water bottle and say it's water, but especially with bigger cameras and bigger crews and stuff like that. What I've always found helps is setting everything up.

00:52:12:12 - 00:52:12:19

Clark

Yeah.

00:52:12:22 - 00:52:31:08

Cullen

And just taking like 15 minutes, just chatting with the person while everything is set up with them in the chair. Not but not being in the chair myself, kind of, you know, going and sitting beside them. If there's a couch and kind of conversation and pretending. And Herzog says that he does this in his narrative, he doesn't really mention in his documentary thing.

00:52:31:08 - 00:52:57:03

Cullen

But, you know, again, almost buying time for them to calm down and pretending that there's more to do. So telling, you know, a crew member, okay, actually, we've just got to fix that light over there or something. And then you sit there and you will be already in about 15 minutes. But, you know, let's just have a conversation and it can really relax because that way they're already talking to you in a setting where everything is set up, where the lights are on, where the camera's sitting there, but they don't feel like they're being interviewed yet.

00:52:57:03 - 00:53:13:14

Cullen

So they are used to, you know, they're talking and they're getting used to all that set up. And then when it begins, then you go and you take the seat beside the camera and you say, okay, now you know what it's like to talking for the camera. Of course, you don't actually say that to them. But I thought the back of my head is they've they've now gotten used to talking with this setup.

00:53:14:03 - 00:53:24:11

Cullen

Yeah. Now they can and it always, you know, every time I've done it it has worked really well to make them just really, really fall into that place of being comfortable with, you know, camera and lights on them and stuff.

00:53:24:11 - 00:53:25:21

Clark

Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:53:25:21 - 00:53:26:19

Cullen

Can be really valuable.

00:53:26:22 - 00:53:46:17

Clark

And, you know, we have it talked a ton about this, too. And we're right. We're just about at the end here. But I think this is worth mentioning and Herzog mentions this actually in the second lesson that we're covering in 21 today about, you know, we've talked a lot about the emotions of the subject, but we've not really talked about as a filmmaker what to do with your emotions.

00:53:47:03 - 00:54:14:14

Clark

And I think this is really important. And Herzog does speak to it. He talks about managing his emotions. He's talked about where, you know, he's been filming something. And it's he has it's been you know, sometimes it really becomes a challenge to maintain a level of professionalism or a certain level of objectivity, even though what you're doing, you know, this moment that you're sitting in is so profoundly emotional and.

00:54:14:14 - 00:54:38:23

Clark

I think it's important to mention that, you know, the goal is not to be cold to your subjects. I mean, not at all. Not at all. I think it is your goal as a filmmaker to empathize deeply with your subject. But you've got you're not you know, you're still a filmmaker, right? You haven't like, you know, taken off your filmmaker hat and put on a friend or, you know, confidant hat.

00:54:39:00 - 00:54:59:05

Clark

And now, you know, you're or if or especially in this, you've got to be careful about you haven't put on a therapy hat. You know, you're not a friend, you're not a confidant, you're not a therapist. You're definitely not a therapist. You're a film maker. And it's you know, as with all things with art, there is no concrete in writing specific line.

00:54:59:05 - 00:55:17:02

Clark

We all have to find this for ourselves and it's always situation specific, but you do need to be cognizant of that. Sometimes you're going to, you know, hopefully you're there and you're being pulled in emotionally, but you've always got to have that part of you that I'm a filmmaker, I'm a professional, and I'm here to make a film.

00:55:17:11 - 00:55:20:13

Clark

And so that that was like important to speak to. I don't know if you've ever had well, I mean.

00:55:20:18 - 00:55:28:19

Cullen

He does say in the thing, too, is he mentions that, you know, a surgeon shouldn't do surgery on their their child kind of thing.

00:55:28:19 - 00:55:37:17

Clark

Right. Well, and not not only should they not, but they they can't. I at least here in this country, there are definite laws around those kinds of things and for good reason.

00:55:37:17 - 00:55:52:14

Cullen

So, I mean, that's yeah, that's a good point is kind of not necessarily building a wall, but making sure that you have infrastructure in your brain so that you don't fall into a trap of just losing that professionalism and losing that that right angle to what you're you're here to do.

00:55:52:21 - 00:56:33:02

Clark

The objective. It is important. Yeah. And it's and sometimes it's but it doesn't they're not mutually exclusive. Being empathetic, being present with somebody, but also maintaining a healthy objectivity. Those aren't mutually exclusive things. They can be done. And it's something that, you know, you can practice and each one of us has to kind of find our way through it just as with, you know, almost everything, which is what the this is the cool thing about filmmaking and art in general, right, is that it's we all have to kind of find our own ways, even though there are some some guidelines and some signposts and some advice and subjective suggestions and examples from other people like

00:56:33:02 - 00:56:56:02

Clark

Herzog himself, ultimately it's a path we all must find and travel on our own. So. So speaking of that, the next stop on our path, who did you like that Segway? Wasn't that amazing? Kona so good at this. So let's see. So our next lesson, what are we going to cover next week? It looks like next week we're going to be on to lesson 22.

00:56:56:08 - 00:57:01:14

Clark

So I can't believe it. We're like three or four lessons away from from covering.

00:57:01:14 - 00:57:02:11

Cullen

Wrapping the whole.

00:57:02:11 - 00:57:12:19

Clark

Thing and wrapping the entire Master Herzog masterclass in its entirety, which I'm so excited about, because that means we get to jump to something new.

00:57:12:21 - 00:57:19:01

Cullen

Yeah, And that's something new is going to be children's entertainment. We're going to be talking all about Barney the Dinosaur, and that's what our podcast is basically.

00:57:20:06 - 00:57:23:18

Clark

All right. And we just saw all of the subscribers.

00:57:23:18 - 00:57:24:15

Cullen

Drop that for us.

00:57:25:18 - 00:57:45:07

Clark

No, but we but we are going to continue. We aren't going to end the podcast when we're done with. I think there are 26 lessons, if you count the postscript, we're not going to end there. We are going to continue we and we've got some cool things in the waiting in the wings and we can talk about that as we get closer.

00:57:45:14 - 00:58:02:22

Clark

But yeah, we're definitely going to continue and there's some exciting stuff coming up. But yeah, so lesson 22 is an extension of I think all of you know, the things that we've talked about here. It's still documentary filmmaking. It's called dealing with human beings and I think in this one we're going to talk a little bit more about ethics as well.

00:58:02:23 - 00:58:17:15

Clark

It's respecting ethical boundaries and how to get to the heart of person. So it's very much an extension of one, but that's going to be next week. So until then, everybody, as always, thanks for listening, Colin. Thanks so much for hanging out and have a.

00:58:17:15 - 00:58:18:03

Cullen

Lot of fun.

00:58:18:11 - 00:58:22:06

Clark

Conversation with me. We'll see you guys all next time.

00:58:22:09 - 00:58:31:01

Cullen

Yeah, see you guys.

Episode - 019

Clark

Hello and welcome once again to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I'm Clark Coffey. And with me as always, Cullen McFater. What's up, Cullen?

00:00:21:16 - 00:00:22:16

Cullen

Hello. Hello. Hi.

00:00:23:00 - 00:00:48:07

Clark

How much are you doing? All right, man, I'm. I'm excited to continue on with documentary filmmaking. We've got less than 22 in less than 23 that we are covering today, which is a continuation basically, of last week's two lessons, which is documentary filmmaking, dealing with human beings and truth in nonfiction. So yeah, I'm pretty excited, man.

00:00:48:08 - 00:00:57:22

Cullen

But yeah, I mean, a good way to describe this one, I suppose, is just that it's kind of honing in on that, you know, the interactions and the, the rapport that you can have with somebody, especially.

00:00:57:22 - 00:00:58:12

Clark

Absolutely.

00:00:58:19 - 00:01:05:21

Cullen

Importantly for us when when things aren't necessarily maybe the most amicable of of search situations. Right. Interviewing.

00:01:05:21 - 00:01:07:01

Clark

So what was that word again, though?

00:01:08:01 - 00:01:08:16

Cullen

Amicable.

00:01:08:23 - 00:01:09:20

Clark

I do that all the time.

00:01:10:01 - 00:01:11:16

Cullen

I think I kind of.

00:01:11:21 - 00:01:12:19

Clark

It's okay.

00:01:12:20 - 00:01:13:04

Cullen

Out there.

00:01:13:04 - 00:01:14:05

Clark

First. It's okay.

00:01:14:05 - 00:01:17:03

Cullen

I just wait till we get out again. Wait till we get our whiskey up.

00:01:17:03 - 00:01:27:11

Clark

I know. Wait till we get the whiskey episode. Right. Like my wife is always, like, making fun of me because I will mix words up or I will, you know, I'll make up my own pronunciations at some point. I mean.

00:01:27:19 - 00:01:30:14

Cullen

It's. It's fun. It's good. It's choppy English.

00:01:30:16 - 00:01:51:07

Clark

We're taking some poetic license here, so. AUDIENCE You know, just remember that if you ever hear an interesting pronunciation of any word, it's. We know, we know, but we're just taking our poetic license with it. And, you know, we're going to talk about the truth not being in the facts. So we're just extending this to words and syntax.

00:01:51:07 - 00:02:00:12

Clark

And, you know, it's right. It's it's we're taking our poetic license here. But but anyway, well, I'm glad you're doing well. You said it was hailing up there. That's.

00:02:00:21 - 00:02:02:03

Cullen

Yeah, for a little bit. It was.

00:02:02:03 - 00:02:20:16

Clark

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's about you know, we do our little lake, right? We've got our weather thing going on. I think it's probably in like the low sixties here. Quite a bit of haze I can't quite see out to Catalina Island. It's a little hazy but otherwise quite nice. We've got COVID is, is running rampant out here, which is sad.

00:02:20:16 - 00:03:01:19

Clark

So this is nice to have something to do here as I'm stuck in my home so thoroughly excited to jump right into this. So I guess let's do so. So Herzog starts right off the bat in less than 20 to talking about respecting ethical boundaries. And I think that's a great place to start because it kind of, you know, that's going to impact everything else you do right when you're making a documentary film where you're interacting with like other life human beings, with emotions and desires and a life and but he immediately points out that there aren't any clear rules that you have to find these these ethical boundaries or borders for yourself.

00:03:02:06 - 00:03:23:08

Clark

And it's a tough one. And I and I think that that's you know, obviously there are there are some there are some some major guidelines that are pretty simple. But oftentimes, I think, you know, you'll find yourself, if you interview enough people, if you're stepping into the life of enough people, you're going to find that there are a lot of little gray areas that might be challenging.

00:03:23:16 - 00:03:24:13

Clark

And I don't know if that you can't.

00:03:24:13 - 00:03:25:22

Cullen

Just rely on common sense.

00:03:25:22 - 00:03:44:23

Clark

And, you know, it's really interesting, but you can't I mean, sometimes you really do have to give it a lot of thought. And, you know, it just is an example, kind of, you know, a little one. One of the documentary films that I'm in the middle of working on, it seems like I'm always in the middle of working on one, but I promise I will wrap some of these.

00:03:45:07 - 00:03:46:20

Clark

But, you know, one of the documents.

00:03:46:20 - 00:03:47:16

Cullen

Okay, We all we.

00:03:47:16 - 00:04:11:21

Clark

All have those. Yeah. I mean, hey, even you and I have one that we've been working on now for, like, what, a year? A year and a half. So. But, you know, it just it's, it's sometimes a question of, you know, how far do you step into somebody's life? How do you do so without being exploitive? And, you know, I've seen examples where I really felt uncomfortable and I couldn't even quite put my finger on why.

00:04:12:09 - 00:04:35:13

Clark

But there was something about an interview. There was something about the way a filmmaker was handling a subject where it wasn't clear, right? It wasn't like they were clearly insulting or belittling or trying to show in some kind of negative light. But there was some kind of like this this difficult and sometimes challenging to defined exploitive thing I felt like was was going on and you and I were like.

00:04:35:15 - 00:04:40:16

Cullen

What's what's also really key to point out, too, is that exploitation doesn't have to be intentional. You know, it.

00:04:40:16 - 00:04:41:13

Clark

Can it can be.

00:04:41:20 - 00:04:54:06

Cullen

You could be interviewing somebody and just not even realizing that through, you know, whether it's a, you know, a point of privilege or something. Absolutely. You can just you can truly accidentally exploit.

00:04:54:23 - 00:04:56:06

Clark

You can, you know, subject.

00:04:56:06 - 00:04:57:03

Cullen

And so that people.

00:04:57:09 - 00:05:13:01

Clark

And that's what makes this such a, you know, a compelling issue, I think, and sometimes a challenging one is that it's not always obvious. I think a lot of times we think that it is, but it's not it is not always obvious. And like you said, and that's a really great point, sometimes it's on accident and you don't realize it.

00:05:13:01 - 00:05:30:13

Clark

So, you know, I think it's we all have to. And Herzog's right. I mean, I don't even know how to get much more specific into it. We do have to find our own way through that. We do have to find and to find our own boundaries. Experience is probably a good teacher and I think you've got to be like you just said.

00:05:30:13 - 00:05:50:13

Clark

I think if you find yourself where you've you've shot some footage and you're sitting and sitting in your editing bay and either you or or one of your fellow filmmakers or even somebody else that you're showing the footage to, if it starts to get the sense that it doesn't feel right, you probably have to be willing, I think, to abandon that and try a new tact.

00:05:50:13 - 00:06:07:19

Clark

But it's a it's a continual learning process. It's something that I've definitely found I refine I mean, obviously, like just as human beings, not as just filmmakers, but you know, hopefully you're constantly refining and improving upon your own ethical, like internal guidebook, if you will, right?

00:06:07:22 - 00:06:29:04

Cullen

Mm hmm. And this is something I always say in regards to narrative film, and it's usually regarding, you know, effects choices or specific, you know, whether it's a cinematography choice. But I usually say, you know, if your effect is going to be distracting for the audience, no matter what the intention is and what the desired outcome is, it's probably just better to scrap it.

00:06:29:04 - 00:06:37:09

Cullen

And I think the same kind of applies here where it's if you are interviewing somebody and they give you juicy, juicy details and it's like, fantastic interview. Oh, it.

00:06:37:09 - 00:06:37:17

Clark

It's so.

00:06:37:17 - 00:06:39:05

Cullen

Tempting. Feels exploitative.

00:06:39:06 - 00:06:39:16

Clark

Yeah.

00:06:40:05 - 00:06:54:07

Cullen

The audience is just going to be distracted by that and you're not going to get, you know, the desired reaction of sympathy or empathy or whatever from the audience that you that you want, because they're just going to be thinking about like, Jesus, this director really.

00:06:54:19 - 00:06:56:07

Clark

Right. You know, was not aware.

00:06:56:08 - 00:07:00:00

Cullen

He just exploited, you know, for lack of a better term, exploited this.

00:07:00:05 - 00:07:39:23

Clark

And maybe, you know, it's difficult to land on. You know, I because I would never pretend to be, you know, an ethics expert, you know, only in my own life have I spent time, you know, trying to work towards a framework that I feel like is a good one. So I'm not somebody who studied this forever. But I mean, one of the tools that I found are very helpful is, is to elicit the opinion of others, especially if your subject happens to be someone that comes from a completely different place than you, whether that's gender or race or religion or anything like that, to actually, you know, elicit the feedback of someone from that group

00:07:40:19 - 00:07:51:17

Clark

that you're interviewing and and get their thoughts on it. Somebody who has a closer perspective or life experience than you do to the subject. And that can often be helpful, I think.

00:07:52:17 - 00:08:35:20

Cullen

Mm hmm. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you use, you know, pull out all the stops and use whatever you can to and I, you know, especially when you're dealing with documentary, which is real people, real situations. And yeah, just, just make sure you go like triple check and, you know, dot the I's and cross the T's and stuff like that to make sure that you are, you know, justifying the use of anything because I because that's again, that's kind of the same goes for narrative that deal with true stories and things like that or if it's like a biopic or you know, based on a factual event, the worst thing you can do is misrepresent or

00:08:36:04 - 00:08:48:13

Cullen

again, you know, we keep come back to that word exploited, exploitive, or you don't want to wind up with that because, again, you know, no matter how good the movie is, in the end, people are just going to remember it for that.

00:08:48:13 - 00:09:08:11

Clark

And if that's and there's a great example actually in this lesson that Herzog shares of his film Grizzly Man and this and there's there's a couple of points here that I think are really interesting to make with this example. So for all of those for those of you who might not have seen it, there is a scene there in the or whether you have I'll just point to the scene no matter what.

00:09:08:16 - 00:09:27:02

Clark

So you know what I'm talking about. But there's a scene in the film where Herzog is sitting across the table from this woman he's interviewing, and she has a recording of an audio recording of and I'm going to forget who was the grizzly, what grizzly man's name was. What do you remember that.

00:09:27:02 - 00:09:27:17

Cullen

Timothy Treadwell.

00:09:28:06 - 00:09:39:00

Clark

Treadwell's unfortunate death killing by this bear. That's hopefully I'm not spoilers there for the documentary Grizzly Man.

00:09:40:12 - 00:09:42:07

Cullen

But for the most sadly.

00:09:42:10 - 00:09:50:13

Clark

Sadly, this man was was killed by a bear. And this is an audio recording of his unfortunate killing. And, you know.

00:09:50:20 - 00:09:52:12

Cullen

Herzog and his girlfriend's right?

00:09:52:12 - 00:10:01:01

Clark

And that's correct. Right. Not just him. And so here we have an audio recording of two people being killed. Now, Herzog talks a.

00:10:01:01 - 00:10:02:12

Cullen

Very vicious, brutal way.

00:10:03:02 - 00:10:25:00

Clark

Right. Which yes, very I can hardly think of a more vicious way. It's pretty gruesome even to imagine it. But that's kind of part of this point I'm making. So so he's you know, and he refuses to play the audio, even the audio. So we're not even talking about video, which would obviously be, you know, extremely exploitive. But he's not even willing to play into the audio.

00:10:25:09 - 00:10:41:16

Clark

And, you know, he says that he was pushed by his producers. He was pushed by the network that was going to air it because, I mean. Right. This is sensationalism. This is like juicy, right? They want ratings. They want controversy to an extent. They want public, you know, publicity, Herzog says. I'm not going there. I'm not doing that.

00:10:41:21 - 00:11:02:08

Clark

And what we have in the scene instead is this extraordinarily effective filmmaking going on, where we see Herzog listening as one of the rare occasions where Herzog is actually in frame during one of his, you know, films. I mean, we always hear his narration, right? We always hear his voice. But he is almost never in frame himself. He's actually in frame.

00:11:02:08 - 00:11:22:19

Clark

You can see he's listening to this, but you can't see his face. What we see instead is the face of this woman. And she's watching his face react to the to the sound, which she's never listened to, by the way. She's never listened to that. Yeah. And so we see through her face her reaction to Herzog's face. And it's.

00:11:22:19 - 00:11:24:03

Cullen

So powerless. He listens.

00:11:24:03 - 00:11:24:19

Clark

In and.

00:11:25:14 - 00:11:29:14

Cullen

I'm wrong. She is, I believe, Treadwell's ex-girlfriend.

00:11:29:22 - 00:11:32:00

Clark

You know, that could be. She is someone who's.

00:11:32:00 - 00:11:32:10

Cullen

Something.

00:11:32:10 - 00:11:33:09

Clark

Close to yet.

00:11:33:12 - 00:11:38:04

Cullen

Yeah, Maybe you believe that she was his, but I believe she was his ex-girlfriend who remained close to him.

00:11:38:07 - 00:11:39:07

Clark

Right. So definitely.

00:11:39:15 - 00:11:45:02

Cullen

Of course not the girlfriend who died in the right tape, but so close. You know, it it's it's a powerful moment.

00:11:45:10 - 00:11:46:07

Clark

And that's that's.

00:11:46:10 - 00:12:01:15

Cullen

What we we describe it, too, which is like it's the same principle as like don't show the shark. Right. I don't mean to kind of trivialize a real event like that to a point like filmmaking techniques. But what it is, it is it winds up being more powerful.

00:12:02:00 - 00:12:21:20

Clark

It's more powerful just like it. Forget the ethics. Right. Which I'm certainly not suggesting you do. But what I'm saying is that I think more often not if you push yourself to have a higher ethical standard in your filmmaking, you will actually be pushing yourself to just be flat out period, making a better film. So it's not like you're losing something, right?

00:12:22:12 - 00:12:40:22

Clark

You and I were talking about, you know, some some of the I had an example. I you and I were sharing some YouTube videos of this filmmaker who were doing interviews. And some of these subjects. The interviews were people in some pretty dire situations with poverty, drug addiction, or.

00:12:40:22 - 00:12:42:00

Cullen

Homeless prostitute.

00:12:42:00 - 00:13:08:06

Clark

Homelessness and prostitution. And and I was you know, because I'm always trying to kind of refine this. And I had seen some of this footage and it's very well done. It's very well shot. But there was something about it that really did not feel right to me. And and it made it such that I could not watch, much less appreciate, much less, like empathize with the story that was going on there because something felt so off and so uncomfortable.

00:13:08:06 - 00:13:18:12

Clark

And it's it's that, you know, again, it was I felt like these people were being exploited. That was just not. Yeah. And so you don't want to go there because it's just flat out doesn't make good film.

00:13:19:09 - 00:13:28:01

Cullen

And I mean, I don't I'm not going to I don't want to mention the channels things. I don't really I don't think again, kind of like we were describing earlier, I don't think it's intentional on their behalf.

00:13:28:01 - 00:13:29:03

Clark

But I didn't get that sense.

00:13:29:04 - 00:13:51:10

Cullen

There's something to describe it. There's something about sitting you know, one of the ones that I watched was it was a lady who had been in prostitution for a very long time. And she's sitting in this studio on this stool, and it just feels like it feels like a more refined kind of modern art version of like a freak show.

00:13:51:23 - 00:14:13:18

Cullen

Yeah, it's it's like this this like we're going to put somebody in this nice little studio, put them on a stool. We're going to ask them some questions. Maybe we'll buy them lunch and then, yeah, like, you know, and in that, you know, and I don't know, you know, I could be wrong. I don't know if they continue to support and talk to these people after I would doubt it because there are a lot but just.

00:14:13:18 - 00:14:20:12

Clark

But just taking the film as its own race, they are just taking the piece of film as its as its own. And you had the same feeling, right?

00:14:20:14 - 00:14:22:06

Cullen

You know, it was.

00:14:22:06 - 00:14:22:16

Clark

In and.

00:14:22:16 - 00:14:27:20

Cullen

So it was I mean, it really dismayed like I had I don't think I even made it three for one because.

00:14:27:20 - 00:14:28:12

Clark

It's taking.

00:14:28:20 - 00:14:29:13

Cullen

Made me uncomfortable.

00:14:29:13 - 00:14:30:12

Clark

It's too uncomfortable.

00:14:30:12 - 00:14:40:00

Cullen

Yeah. And that's and that's again, that's like so I can totally see the person who produced this and directed this, like, their vision is like, Oh, it's going to be so raw and right.

00:14:40:01 - 00:15:02:02

Clark

And having the best intention and having the best intentions. Like I want people to empathize with these subjects. I want people to see to see these people as for human beings and to not sit in judgment of them. And and I mean, I fully believe that is the case. I don't there's nothing there that I saw that would give me any indication that this was a purposeful exploitation.

00:15:02:21 - 00:15:12:10

Clark

Yeah. You know, and and I think it's so important to kind of, you know, just reiterate that, that it's it's often not intentional, but it doesn't matter.

00:15:12:10 - 00:15:13:15

Cullen

It also she had to be really care.

00:15:13:15 - 00:15:37:05

Clark

You just have to be so careful and I think it's really important to to elicit feedback during your filmmaking process. Again, I think especially from you know, if you're interviewing people who come from a very different place than you, it's helpful to probably get feedback from people whose lives are similar, you know, or in the you know, I would never, you know, for example, I don't know what it's like to be a woman.

00:15:37:05 - 00:15:53:23

Clark

I would never pretend to understand what it would be like to live from a woman's perspective. I would elicit a woman's, you know, feedback if I had some kind of concerns or questions or doubts about, you know, interviewing a woman about things that I just couldn't possibly know.

00:15:53:23 - 00:15:59:08

Cullen

So, I mean, Herzog is really interesting in this, too, because I think one of the keys is the questions that you ask.

00:15:59:08 - 00:15:59:14

Clark

Yeah.

00:16:00:03 - 00:16:19:19

Cullen

And so the thing about these that, that YouTube channel is that it's very often just asking questions about everything to do with their struggles and everything to do with like, how did you get here outnumbered, blah, blah, blah. Whereas what? Herzog What I find really interesting about Herzog's questions is no matter what the person is, is that he usually just asks questions about the person themselves.

00:16:20:08 - 00:16:33:08

Cullen

He doesn't ask them, you know, right into the abyss. He's not sitting there going like, So what do you think? Got you into prison? You know, what was it like to murder those people? Why did you murder them? It's it's a question about the person's state of being, you know.

00:16:33:08 - 00:16:33:18

Clark

Right.

00:16:33:19 - 00:16:52:22

Cullen

What what do you think about how do you feel? And I remember I think I've mentioned this on the podcast before. If not, I might have just mentioned to you, but there was this time when I was down at this like row of bars just near their house where I live, and there was this one legged homeless man outside, this convict.

00:16:52:22 - 00:16:53:13

Clark

Oh, yeah, I remember.

00:16:53:13 - 00:17:09:15

Cullen

His kind of religious. Yeah. And I remember seeing him and I just kind of, like, thought I bought him a chicken sandwich. Right? And then as I was talking to him, as he was eating it, I we, I just realized that he had so many stories and he was like a really interesting storyteller. And so I sort of sat down and talked to him for a bit.

00:17:10:01 - 00:17:22:05

Cullen

And again, it was one of these things which just immediately sprung in my mind, or it was like, I would love to get this guy on camera, but I don't want to be the person that's just like going up to a homeless person and being like, Here's a camera talking.

00:17:22:07 - 00:17:22:16

Clark

Yeah.

00:17:22:21 - 00:17:45:05

Cullen

And so I sort of passed it by him and he actually got like kind of prepped up and got really excited about the idea of, yeah, of being interviewed. And I haven't, I still haven't done it. You know, if I see him again, I'll, I think that I would, I would certainly think about it. But again it like it was the entire time in my mind I was like, you know, I never once asked him like, how did you lose your leg?

00:17:45:05 - 00:17:53:05

Cullen

Why are you right? The stories that he was telling me were about like when he would go to discos as a kid and he would go and it was like these like happened.

00:17:53:05 - 00:17:54:15

Clark

I think. I think you may me That's.

00:17:54:15 - 00:17:55:04

Cullen

More interesting.

00:17:55:07 - 00:18:12:00

Clark

And like, yeah. And you know, look again, like I'm never going to pretend like I'm some expert any of this. And honestly, a lot of this right here in this episode and the head you know, this has been the case for all of our episodes up until this point. I mean, I'd never putting myself in a place where I know more than somebody else.

00:18:12:00 - 00:18:52:08

Clark

This is often a way this podcast is a way for us to explore in real time. We're brainstorming, rate our thoughts on things, but I think, you know, hearing you speak in describing some of these differences you see talking about the different types of questions you ask, I mean, I think maybe maybe hypothesis is, you know, in some of those YouTube videos that we were talking about where we felt like they were exploitive, it kind of felt like the person was maybe and likely on accident coming from a place of like separateness, like I'm here and you're there and your experience is not my experience and not necessarily that that person was judging like you're

00:18:52:08 - 00:18:59:00

Clark

less than your butt. But there was like this wall of you're different. You and I are not the same.

00:18:59:08 - 00:19:05:02

Cullen

And the notion of why I describe it, it's like it was like this again, this this modern friction where it was like.

00:19:05:02 - 00:19:28:07

Clark

And let's highlight how you're different and let's because yeah, and there was like a certain amount of kind of like this, this little sensationalism of like, you know, it's like if you ask someone we're like, how did you and, you know, there's a way that you can ask somebody something and it's just like, what you want is like this juicy story of like, you know, how did you end up in prostitution or how did you end up homeless?

00:19:28:07 - 00:19:52:01

Clark

I don't know. And it's hard to pinpoint, but I feel like maybe some of it is in hers. I definitely talks about this and this lesson and numerous lessons, and I really feel like it's a it's a, you know, a narrative through with all of these lessons about documentary filmmaking is that, you know, you've got to see this person as a full human being and that you and them are in some way the same.

00:19:52:09 - 00:20:16:22

Clark

I mean, I think it still just comes down to empathy again and and to see whoever is in front of your camera as a full human being that you are, in effect, the same as right this we are one kind of connectivity. And it's like if you start to see these subjects as different in a in a fundamental way, I think you're going to treat them as fundamentally different.

00:20:16:22 - 00:20:26:18

Clark

And it's and you're right, then that becomes like you're you're putting somebody on a stage and saying like, look, look at this. Look at this person. You know.

00:20:26:19 - 00:20:41:20

Cullen

That's that's exactly what I think we both mean by exploitative, is that you are you are putting this person on display. And it could be you could have the greatest intentions. But at the end of the day, if your intentions are to be like, look what your life could become.

00:20:41:20 - 00:20:42:07

Clark

Yeah.

00:20:42:08 - 00:20:43:20

Cullen

Or like, look what some people live.

00:20:43:20 - 00:20:44:23

Clark

Oh well, yeah.

00:20:45:00 - 00:21:01:08

Cullen

Becomes again, it's this, it's exactly that. And it may be that your intentions are Well, I want to show people what people live like because I want them to empathize. But it's like that, you know, you're kind of having the opposite effect. You're just you're basically just allowing room for condescension.

00:21:02:00 - 00:21:02:12

Clark

Whereas. Yeah.

00:21:02:13 - 00:21:12:10

Cullen

And doing is exactly, exactly what Herzog does, which is to approach these things with a human eye, to sort of go like, where do we relate? How do we, you know.

00:21:12:10 - 00:21:12:18

Clark

Yeah.

00:21:12:23 - 00:21:13:17

Cullen

How are we the.

00:21:13:21 - 00:21:49:18

Clark

Commonalities of the human condition. And I think, you know, one of the other things, too, and again, it's like it's so difficult to kind of, you know, we all have to work to refine these things for ourselves. But certainly I think, you know, watching interviews, you know, taking a look at different approaches, as, you know, whether at television and film and and start to kind of see for yourself, but really focusing on how you feel like the filmmaker is treating and interacting and utilizing these subjects as as part of their film, what do you feel like their intentions are?

00:21:50:03 - 00:22:29:07

Clark

Why do you feel like they included those questions that interview? You know, it was their it was their intention to to sensationalize, to titillate, to educate, to empathize. I mean, you know, really conscientiously start to analyze these things and other filmmakers works. And and I think then you can start to refine for yourself what your boundaries are, and then you can consciously apply those when you're in your filmmaking work as opposed to kind of like letting it happen on accident and finding yourself in a situation where you're unsure but you've not spent the time to prepare.

00:22:29:18 - 00:22:51:15

Clark

And think about this issue before. I think, you know, a lot of people will sit down and they'll spend a lot of time thinking about what questions do I want to ask this interviewer Or, you know, you spend a lot of time planning a lot of aspects, but how much time was spent beforehand prepping yourself for the more challenging and subtle and nuanced ethical questions that might come up?

00:22:51:15 - 00:22:52:17

Clark

And I think it's it's.

00:22:52:17 - 00:23:04:15

Cullen

Another thing that Herzog talks about too, which is that he says that he, you know, he spends an hour with everyone, every person before in just talking to. And it's like that. That to me is very important.

00:23:04:15 - 00:23:06:12

Clark

Is not pre-interview and oh, by the way.

00:23:06:12 - 00:23:24:02

Cullen

But just No, no not, not yeah not not sitting there asking the questions and going, okay, I'm going to write that down. I like that. Yeah, but exactly. Just again, building a rapport, especially because people, you know, some people are just camera shy. Some people are you're going to be talking to people about things that they don't necessarily want to talk about or that they.

00:23:24:02 - 00:23:24:13

Clark

Have very.

00:23:24:13 - 00:23:26:01

Cullen

Sensitive openly.

00:23:26:01 - 00:23:26:13

Clark

Yeah.

00:23:27:05 - 00:23:32:03

Cullen

And that's Herzog tells the story. But the the father and the son and into the very.

00:23:32:03 - 00:23:32:09

Clark

Happy.

00:23:32:09 - 00:23:53:21

Cullen

Hour where it's the the father that's kind of he kind of recoils and pulls back at the idea of talking about, you know, the fact that he is sitting in prison with his son who is on death row. And there's this, you know, feeling that it's like you could you could very easily jump into this idea, Well, okay, we're on camera, so I'm going to push you.

00:23:53:22 - 00:23:54:03

Clark

Yeah.

00:23:54:15 - 00:24:03:12

Cullen

But but Herzog doesn't do that. Herzog kind of opens him up very gently, almost and almost. I don't want to say tricks.

00:24:03:12 - 00:24:04:03

Clark

No, it isn't true.

00:24:04:06 - 00:24:14:22

Cullen

But almost almost like just just he lets the guy know that he's not here to again, to exploit it. He's here to discuss the humanness.

00:24:14:22 - 00:24:41:04

Clark

Well, that's another good point. You know, I think people often can understand and when they're being exploited, you know, I think people can smell it. And so that's important. You know, this is another angle to really be cognizant and careful of these things because the openness with which you approach your subject and the, you know, the the the intentions with which you approach them, I think are going to often be sensed by the subject.

00:24:41:04 - 00:25:04:17

Clark

And so Herzog does push a little. He does, you know, when when when the father in prison says, I can't talk about that when he's talking, you know, Herzog comes to talk about how he feels as a father, that his son is on death row. They're both in prison. Well, this is asking somebody potentially to admit, you know, to kind of face some pretty intense shame.

00:25:04:17 - 00:25:27:05

Clark

I'm going to imagine. And none of us like to do that. I don't take very much, especially on camera. Yeah. So but I think he always you know, he he's always gentle. It's never a conniving or a manipulation or even like a, you know, an aggressive push. I think it's I would kind of think it's like he invites it's more of an invitation.

00:25:27:10 - 00:25:56:00

Clark

I think there's a big difference, you know, so it's there is a little bit of resistance from from the father. But I think Herzog has earned his his trust. And I think with just another invitation, then he eventually does open up. So I think there's a big difference. You know, if you're holding in your mind and heart that you're inviting somebody to do something that's going to have come out as different behavior than if you're pushing.

00:25:56:11 - 00:26:20:11

Clark

I think they're I think they're very different. Yeah. Yeah. And I think Herzog is a good example. If you watch it in interviews, I think he's really quite good at inviting people as opposed to pushing people even when he doesn't accept. No. And he is kind of you know, he is at eliciting he's trying to kind of pull some extra depth out of an interview subject.

00:26:20:11 - 00:26:25:16

Clark

I always kind of feel like it's more of an invitation. And so maybe that's a good that's a good way to kind of look at it, you know?

00:26:26:12 - 00:26:38:21

Cullen

But I mean, I don't think I especially don't think to if the father were to say, like, I'm not talking about this, I have no interest in talking about this, it makes me really uncomfortable. I don't think Herzog would continue to prod.

00:26:38:21 - 00:26:39:06

Clark

A great.

00:26:39:07 - 00:26:52:04

Cullen

Broad. I think, you know, I think Herzog would just like with the the the the priest and a priest is the right word because that might just be a specifically Catholic thing. But the guy that the player, the.

00:26:52:04 - 00:26:52:19

Clark

Yeah.

00:26:52:20 - 00:26:55:01

Cullen

A chaplain in charge of the house.

00:26:55:04 - 00:26:55:22

Clark

Yes. Yes.

00:26:56:10 - 00:27:18:19

Cullen

And how he again but that's a great example of how Herzog gets around this thing is the guy clearly isn't really interested at the beginning and opening up and then Herzog just asks him, okay, what about these squirrels? And they tell me about tell me about that. And then the guy opens up little. He opens up. It's just it's just because I think he knows that, you know, again, someone like Werner Herzog.

00:27:18:19 - 00:27:26:16

Cullen

And it's not just because Werner Herzog is Werner Herzog. It very much is because of the you know, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these people did had no idea who Herzog was.

00:27:26:16 - 00:27:27:10

Clark

I think you're right.

00:27:27:11 - 00:27:48:00

Cullen

And and so it's not just a matter of like a matter of celebrity or respect because he's got a name for himself. It very much becomes this. And it's actually very interesting cause it's very similar to and again, I think there's another thing that I've mentioned before, but there's this great and I think I've sent you this, but there's this great YouTube channel that does like interrogation breakdowns.

00:27:48:12 - 00:27:50:11

Cullen

And I might have mentioned this actually in the last episode.

00:27:50:13 - 00:27:50:20

Clark

Yeah.

00:27:51:19 - 00:28:10:12

Cullen

But but I'll just reiterate it because it's very pertinent. But it's it's like essentially there's these these tactics that you can use in interrogation and they do some that are very successful interrogations, you know, of people who have just either murdered their families or murdered somebody. And it's like very heavy stuff. But it's really interesting because it kind of teaches how to talk to people.

00:28:10:12 - 00:28:29:00

Cullen

But there's some really good examples and some of the best examples are exactly that, where it's this you talk about something arbitrary and you let the person just basically spin on and on about something arbitrary, arbitrary or arbitrary until they get this right, they come around. So now I've been talking a lot, so now I'm just more used to talking.

00:28:29:00 - 00:28:39:15

Cullen

So now I can. Whereas you go to another one, like there's some that are just abysmal interrogations. I don't know how these people live the job of interrogating where they just go in and they're just drilling the person. It's the person is like.

00:28:39:15 - 00:28:44:16

Clark

That's stereotypical, like they're, you know, holding the light in their eyes and they're like, you know, literally.

00:28:44:16 - 00:29:10:10

Cullen

No. And in some cases, yeah, yeah. And so you wind up getting this this really good look at like and of course that's a very specific circumstance, but psychology is quite, you know, applicable to different circumstances. And you just see, you know, okay, what, what generally makes somebody open up and what generally makes somebody, you know, shut down and kind of close off and more often that it's just a comfort level.

00:29:11:08 - 00:29:30:08

Cullen

You know, there are people that within an hour of being in and being asked to come in for questioning, you know, and have very little evidence that evidence against them will end up confessing. Yeah. Just simply because of how well the interrogator just spoke to them and just got in not an aggressive way, like not like them saying, oh, we know.

00:29:30:08 - 00:29:33:07

Clark

You get like a pretty emphatic way. I'm going to guess.

00:29:33:07 - 00:29:33:18

Cullen

Yeah, very.

00:29:33:18 - 00:29:34:09

Clark

Much repeat it.

00:29:34:09 - 00:29:45:02

Cullen

Yeah. And it very much often it's a it's an approach of, you know, like, listen, like we like I am here to help you get out of this. I want.

00:29:45:09 - 00:30:00:20

Clark

I want to make a caveat here. And in that I think there's a big difference though, like there is a limit to this comparison with the with the interrogators, though, because I think the interrogators are pretty much kind of hiding their intent, their.

00:30:00:20 - 00:30:03:02

Cullen

Intent, and they're very much there to exploit.

00:30:03:04 - 00:30:21:19

Clark

It's like there is a big difference. And so although although some of their tools may be similar, I think their overall intent and strategy is what it is, is different than what yours as a filmmaker should be. I, I think, you know.

00:30:22:04 - 00:30:22:17

Cullen

Yeah, yeah.

00:30:22:18 - 00:30:25:12

Clark

No, I can totally discuss it, you know, and there, there could be but.

00:30:25:12 - 00:30:25:23

Cullen

I think.

00:30:25:23 - 00:30:27:12

Clark

That discussion around that but.

00:30:27:22 - 00:30:53:11

Cullen

And that's exactly right what I mean when I say that a lot of like psychology like that is kind of it's kind of applicable to different situations because although your intentions may not be in a interviewing situation of of an interview on a movie, a doc to of course like get information, you know, you should I don't think that that's ever an intention that somebody should come in with is like, I want to get this specific piece of information out of this person.

00:30:53:11 - 00:30:56:23

Cullen

Right. Much like a confession like you shouldn't be looking for. Right.

00:30:57:00 - 00:30:57:06

Clark

You're not.

00:30:57:12 - 00:30:58:11

Cullen

In confession. We're going to.

00:30:58:11 - 00:31:02:03

Clark

Touch base on some of these things because you're a filmmaker. Not a not a journalist. Yeah.

00:31:02:03 - 00:31:21:08

Cullen

So there's but some of the ways that you could, again, use those tactics are just again, in the in the way of comforting someone. And unlike an interrogator, you can have your, you know, comforting, be completely genuine, but you can still use the same techniques to get there.

00:31:21:12 - 00:31:21:20

Clark

Yeah.

00:31:22:18 - 00:31:40:01

Cullen

And so, yeah, I think it's I think it's really interesting that I think that, you know, it's an interesting thing to watch and kind of study just because it's it's so applicable of just like talking to people who may be uncomfortable or nervous about talking about certain things, be it because of the subject matter, or just be it because of the circumstance, right?

00:31:40:19 - 00:31:42:03

Cullen

Of like sitting down for a vacation.

00:31:42:04 - 00:31:43:01

Clark

And often it's both.

00:31:43:01 - 00:31:43:14

Cullen

Never because.

00:31:43:14 - 00:31:54:07

Clark

Most people are not comfortable in front of a camera and most people aren't comfortable talking about sensitive personal things in their life. So yeah, so you're likely to find that quite often.

00:31:54:07 - 00:32:15:00

Cullen

And I know, I know we did discuss similar stuff in the previous episode, so I want to kind of actually touch on just some stuff that we didn't just just kind of change up the, the, I guess the pace a little bit, um, which is actually kind of coming into lesson 23 a bit.

00:32:15:00 - 00:32:15:18

Clark

Okay. Yeah.

00:32:16:00 - 00:32:27:00

Cullen

Um, so about the truth. Yeah, exactly. About truth in nonfiction, which is all about and pretty good segue is you just mentioned the thing about the journalism not wanting to. You're not we're not, we're not this is.

00:32:27:05 - 00:32:28:13

Clark

Definitely an interesting topic.

00:32:28:14 - 00:32:29:03

Cullen

Storytelling.

00:32:29:03 - 00:32:31:23

Clark

Because I think this has gotten confused big time.

00:32:32:21 - 00:32:41:02

Cullen

Yeah. And it's and it's you know, you've got a pretty pertinent point here, which is just like it's documentaries don't just have to be facts because facts don't make.

00:32:41:02 - 00:33:04:08

Clark

Facts don't make too. It's just maybe we can say this like five or six more times. I feel like this is so important and it's a topic that's that's near and dear to my heart. And I think with the proliferation of, you know, the short form, I don't even know what to call them. They're not videos with the prolific proliferation of YouTube.

00:33:04:08 - 00:33:23:12

Clark

And and I and I don't want to get into a political discussion or anything like this, but I do think it's important to discuss the difference between documentary film journalism, didactic videos and propaganda videos.

00:33:23:12 - 00:33:23:21

Cullen

Yes.

00:33:24:09 - 00:33:37:04

Clark

Those things are different. All different things. And I think that we both filmmakers and audiences get confused as to what documentaries can be.

00:33:37:09 - 00:33:39:18

Cullen

They can be hazy because references can be.

00:33:39:18 - 00:34:00:05

Clark

Sometimes they can. But I think that there are some distinct I think there are some ways that we can effectively distinguish. And I think that you can use these distinctions as a filmmaker to help guide you at the very least to to be aware of what you're doing. If you if you think you're a documentary filmmaker, but you're making propaganda, these are two different things.

00:34:00:11 - 00:34:29:00

Clark

You should be aware of it. And I think, you know, I've seen so much work where it's, you know, it's just there's clearly the filmmaker themselves just are confused. And I think, you know, let's start with some of the easiest is Herzog specifically talks about the difference between journalism and documentary. And you know it's you know, and maybe it is a little, you know, blurrier than maybe it's not perfectly clean cut.

00:34:29:00 - 00:34:58:06

Clark

But in my mind, it kind of feels like I think journalism should be about facts and it should be obvious when you're giving an opinion versus expressing just these are the facts of what happened. As a documentary filmmaker, you aren't bound by any of that. You you are you know, you are completely free to to to make your film as if it were a fictional narrative film, in my opinion.

00:34:58:13 - 00:35:15:11

Clark

And I think I mean, and, you know, one of the things that I love about Herzog and his documentary films is that he allows himself the freedom to manipulate, to make up. He gives examples in this lesson about quotes that he just pulls out of thin air. He he makes them up himself, and then he attribute tributes to historical people.

00:35:16:17 - 00:35:26:08

Clark

He manufacturers all kinds of situations. He scripts things he coaches, his subjects. He, you know, completely manufactures things in his doctrine.

00:35:26:08 - 00:35:53:19

Cullen

Because, I mean, that's that's kind of what the basics like that that is pure filmmaking is the manipulation of spaces. So the idea that you know and I that's that's what I think people have to draw a super, super clear distinction between those two things because you cannot go into making a documentary by saying, Well, I'm going to get some facts, I'm going to read some like peer review essays, and that's going to be my move.

00:35:53:19 - 00:36:12:00

Cullen

And I think that, you know, to relate it to the project that we're working on right now, we very, very quickly, when we were jumping on this, this idea of making a documentary about like different lines of thinking, conspiracy theories, things like that, we very clearly were like, we don't really care about the content of the conspiracy theory, right?

00:36:12:00 - 00:36:23:13

Cullen

Like, we're not going to be going in for an analysis. What he went on believes we are interested in what the people that believe them are like. What what brought them to those beliefs?

00:36:23:13 - 00:36:26:13

Clark

Why did they what does this say about the human condition?

00:36:26:13 - 00:36:54:10

Cullen

And again, very much what we were talking about earlier, which is like, how do we relate to them? Right. You know what? In what ways are we very similar and stuff like that. So it's that kind of is a very, very distinct difference to me is just this idea, like, what are the motives? Are you going in to, you know, educate people on a topic or are you going in to enlighten people on on an experience that they may not have ever had or even thought about it?

00:36:54:10 - 00:37:14:11

Clark

So it's it's a it's a I mean, language that I would use to kind of describe the difference. You know, I mean, I love I love this idea, this simple sentence. Facts don't make truth. And I think most people get that pretty quickly. It's you can have a laundry list of facts. But that what does that speak to?

00:37:14:11 - 00:37:26:10

Clark

What does that point to? And I think, you know, when Herzog uses the word truth, he's talking about a fundamental kind of absolute human.

00:37:26:23 - 00:37:27:22

Cullen

Yeah, I was going to say.

00:37:27:22 - 00:37:28:22

Clark

Human esthetic kind.

00:37:28:22 - 00:37:29:15

Cullen

Of. Yeah.

00:37:29:16 - 00:37:34:21

Clark

Moment of awe. Is is I trying to find like, words to, you know.

00:37:35:03 - 00:37:37:23

Cullen

Almost like a truth of nature, if that makes any sense, to a.

00:37:37:23 - 00:37:59:20

Clark

Truth of human nature, the truth of the shared human condition experience, something that is inside us, that speaks to a commonality of experience in all people. Right. This is, you know, I think every painter, every poet, every sculptor, you know, this is what you're shooting for, at least ideally, I think when you're it's and this is a, you know, some differences, right?

00:37:59:20 - 00:38:09:03

Clark

If you're if you're working with something didactic, Lee, what you're trying to do is educate, you're trying to inform. And that's different. That's different.

00:38:09:03 - 00:38:13:15

Cullen

Especially because it involves point of view. It should always involve your point of view for.

00:38:13:15 - 00:38:16:07

Clark

Documentary, for documentary, for journalism.

00:38:16:07 - 00:38:24:00

Cullen

I mean, you said it. Yeah. No, Yeah, but it, but it that's what I mean is that it's like you're always to pretend that there's no bias in a documentary.

00:38:24:00 - 00:38:26:16

Clark

It's ludicrous. It should have bias and it shouldn't have bias. Yes.

00:38:27:02 - 00:38:46:14

Cullen

Exactly. It should be very much a you should feel sorry. You should feel the person behind the documentary or the the message or the the intention. Whereas whereas if I'm reading a article on, you know, election results, I don't want that. I don't want I don't care about.

00:38:46:17 - 00:38:55:06

Clark

Unless it's specifically labeled this is an editorial. This is an opinion opinion column. And that's different. That's different. There are places for obviously there are places there.

00:38:55:06 - 00:38:56:21

Cullen

Are also reasons why those are clearly.

00:38:57:01 - 00:38:57:23

Clark

Exactly.

00:38:57:23 - 00:39:00:05

Cullen

And that's where I like that's that's what people do.

00:39:00:05 - 00:39:17:21

Clark

Get confused. I mean, I really do. I you know, I have a lot of friends. I know a lot of people in my in my life where they're like they send me a video and they're like, look at this documentary. It's not a documentary. It's a piece of propaganda. Yeah, it's you know, I got it.

00:39:17:21 - 00:39:19:04

Cullen

Especially with COVID.

00:39:19:04 - 00:39:20:12

Clark

And all kinds of stuff. And again, I.

00:39:21:00 - 00:39:21:02

Cullen

We.

00:39:21:03 - 00:39:43:08

Clark

Don't want to get into a political space here because there's propaganda on all sides of the political spectrum. And so the point is not to to speak to any of it and specifically, but it's just, you know, there's propaganda which is trying to manipulate somebody into thinking a certain way, like in the, you know, most generic kind of lay person definition didactic is I'm trying to instruct you in how to do something.

00:39:43:08 - 00:40:14:06

Clark

And clearly those two things can kind of be together in one piece, potentially a piece of journalism is here are some facts again, ideally, and that a documentary is this is a personal expression of opinion within attempting to speak to a underlying fundamental shared experience of the human condition by ideally utilizing esthetic or to do that to open up a heart and mind.

00:40:14:18 - 00:40:17:18

Clark

That's there's my best, that's my best. But I mean, if you.

00:40:18:15 - 00:40:51:22

Cullen

Look at something like Triumph of the Will, you know, Lenny Riefenstahl, which is by all means an incredibly effective piece of propaganda. But, you know, technically speaking, Riefenstahl, in the circumstance that she was working in, it's not like it makes it less of a movie because just because of its subject matter, if that makes any sense. Whereas if it were to be, you know, if that were to be something like a newsreel trying to be, you know, a piece of journalism, then that would completely change the context.

00:40:52:09 - 00:40:54:12

Cullen

But the fact that its intention is to manipulate.

00:40:54:12 - 00:40:55:03

Clark

That's propaganda.

00:40:55:03 - 00:41:16:16

Cullen

Intention is to propagandize. Exactly makes it, you know, that still makes it successful in its goal in a weird way, and it makes it really, you know, an interesting thing to study because you kind of sit there going, you know, this isn't you can't fault the movie for being a piece of propaganda when it was trying to be a piece of propaganda in the first place.

00:41:16:16 - 00:41:39:12

Cullen

And I think that's exactly where you've got to, again, draw these distinctions where it's like if you were to take the exact same context and the exact same message behind that movie and again, put it into an article or put it into something that's meant to be, you know, this this journalistic truth of facts and stuff like that, then it wouldn't work at all just on a purely, you know, artistic scale.

00:41:39:12 - 00:41:53:14

Cullen

It wouldn't work because it's now you're losing all these elements that would make something journalism. Whereas when you put it back into the context of it being a a movie, a propaganda movie, it suddenly works perfectly for its intention.

00:41:53:19 - 00:42:08:07

Clark

Well, but I just want to be I want to be clear here, or at least I will speak for myself and not you. But I want to be clear. I mean, I saying that a piece of propaganda is an effective piece of propaganda is not saying that it's like ethical, acceptable.

00:42:08:13 - 00:42:10:06

Cullen

No, it's not an endorsement in.

00:42:10:06 - 00:42:18:05

Clark

Any way, shape, fashion or form being endorsed. I just I want to say that for myself, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

00:42:18:07 - 00:42:18:17

Cullen

No, of.

00:42:18:17 - 00:42:40:11

Clark

Course. Loss of what? You know, I'm not a fan of propaganda. Regardless of what the message is, whether I agree with it or not, because I just I, you know, I don't think manipulating people in that way it can, because it's almost always a a manipulation that is not accurate or, you know, or.

00:42:40:15 - 00:42:50:03

Cullen

But that's exactly what I mean is that that like, you know, I of course detest the the situation around everything in that in that movie.

00:42:50:07 - 00:43:00:05

Clark

I was just I was like waiting for you to get there. I just put. Yeah. And I think I knew what you were saying, but I just wanted to give you a chance to to, to really kind of clarify that.

00:43:01:14 - 00:43:21:15

Cullen

Yeah, I'm, but I think the, the point perhaps that the I was trying to make is more that you strip away the context of that and you look at the intentions of what it's trying to be as a propaganda film. And again that that essentially it is successful at doing what it is is trying to do in that it is trying to propaganda.

00:43:22:00 - 00:43:26:02

Clark

Hoping that if your argument so are into it not argument into our.

00:43:26:02 - 00:43:34:13

Cullen

Little discourse that when you're if so if if you're making something if you're making you have to know what your intentions are in making it and you have to know what you are trying to make.

00:43:34:13 - 00:43:52:04

Clark

Well, I think you should be aware of it. I guess you know, my perspective, exactly what I'm trying to say is this I'm trying to say that if because I hopefully we're speaking to people who want to be documentary filmmakers or like a film like Herzog, hopefully their intention is not to go make propaganda or to make didactic, you know?

00:43:52:04 - 00:44:19:16

Clark

Right. That's my hope. Now, if you want to be a journalist, then go listen to another podcast, because I'm sure there are a lot of them that are about how to be a great journalist. So hopefully we're speaking to people who are interested in or documentary film or want to be a documentary filmmaker. What I'm trying to say is you need to be aware of the distinctions between propaganda and didactic work and journalism so that when you set out to make a documentary film, you're coming at it from the angle of making a documentary film.

00:44:19:16 - 00:44:25:04

Clark

You want to steer yourself away from tactics that would be used in propaganda.

00:44:25:21 - 00:44:32:14

Cullen

And the reason I brought up that was because I have heard a lot of people refer to Triumph of the Will as a documentary AS.

00:44:32:14 - 00:44:33:03

Clark

Okay.

00:44:33:03 - 00:44:33:18

Cullen

As a piece.

00:44:33:18 - 00:44:36:17

Clark

Okay. I got you. I got you. I see what you're saying. Okay.

00:44:36:18 - 00:44:40:05

Cullen

So I think it's again, it's it's, it's like if you haven't, you're.

00:44:40:05 - 00:44:43:20

Clark

See, you're saying it's a it's a, it's clearly a piece of propaganda.

00:44:44:02 - 00:44:45:12

Cullen

Well a very clear cut clip.

00:44:45:12 - 00:44:48:07

Clark

And it is. And that the intentions behind.

00:44:48:10 - 00:44:48:17

Cullen

Being.

00:44:48:23 - 00:45:05:16

Clark

Its intentions and its effect and everything about it is propaganda. It is not a documentary film. It wasn't. And but but I see what you're saying. But you've you've heard people refer to it as a documentary film, so they mislabeling it and misunderstanding it. I okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. And that's what, which.

00:45:05:16 - 00:45:17:17

Cullen

Is a but I mean, it's but that's what I mean, it's interesting about, you know, all of this is that it's it's again, just like you said, it's very there are very clear distinctions and that's where sometimes people can try to blur it. There are a lot of or.

00:45:17:17 - 00:45:18:05

Clark

They're just don't know.

00:45:18:05 - 00:45:24:12

Cullen

Whether you mention this. Again, if you talk about YouTube where it's like how many documentaries come out on YouTube.

00:45:24:12 - 00:45:25:14

Clark

That are not documentaries.

00:45:25:14 - 00:45:45:02

Cullen

At all that are, you know, and I'm doing air quotes, of course you see me doing air quotes. But, but you look at these these like very, very conspiratorial and they and they can be really, really good at just almost trying to do the journalism thing to where they just present facts or they cherry pick sort of a study or something like that.

00:45:45:02 - 00:45:52:22

Cullen

And then it's just it's, it's like, well, what do you think this means? Draw your own conclusions. But they're not telling you to draw your own conclusions because they've drawn all the conclusions.

00:45:52:22 - 00:45:55:09

Clark

For they're not documentary films. So now.

00:45:55:12 - 00:45:55:23

Cullen

And they're not.

00:45:56:06 - 00:46:17:16

Clark

They're always going to exist. People are always going to make them. But, you know, again, ideally we're speaking to people who are who want to be documentary filmmakers or filmmakers, period. And it's, you know, looking at these other I'm just going to call them media. They're like just completely other mediums, in my opinion, even though they use moving pictures, I don't even see them as the same thing.

00:46:19:02 - 00:46:21:02

Cullen

It's like calling a newspaper a novel.

00:46:21:02 - 00:46:43:22

Clark

Yeah, which is completely different and right. Just because there's paper and ink, it's not the same thing. And, and I see it, so it's as so fundamentally different and the goals are so fundamentally different, you know? And again, I just, you know, it's I feel like as a documentary filmmaker, your goal is to illuminate fundamental truths of the human condition.

00:46:44:08 - 00:47:02:07

Clark

Esthetically and it's not about telling somebody what to think or how to think. It's not about showing someone how to do something. And it's not manipulating people into a belief system or out of a belief system that's not what documentary filmmaking is. So I mean.

00:47:02:07 - 00:47:08:13

Cullen

That. But and with that being said too, it's important again to to have a grasp on what your point of view is.

00:47:08:13 - 00:47:09:04

Clark

Well, you must.

00:47:09:04 - 00:47:19:06

Cullen

Get a lot of it's about person who must in a box you know and I think that that a lot of people get that confused as well which is like well if I'm sharing my perspective in this movie, how is it not?

00:47:19:06 - 00:47:39:11

Clark

And that's where they're getting the thing. But that's confusing journalism and documentary filmmaking. And that's why I think it's important to really fully understand that distinction. Right? Because. Because if you you're likely not going to be a very good journalist if you think you're a filmmaker, but you don't think that your opinion should be in it and you're also not going to make a good film if that's the way you're seeing it.

00:47:39:11 - 00:48:01:16

Clark

So, you know, you're confused and you're not going to do either of those two things a service. So and again, I please, you know, if anybody out there wants to make propaganda, I hope that you don't please reconsider that. If you are if you're consciously making propaganda, I implore you, please stop and think about what you're doing and don't do it.

00:48:02:13 - 00:48:24:12

Cullen

And and I think another another I think perhaps a key distinction between propaganda journalism and documentary is that documentary when we say that the truth like facts, aren't truth, what we don't mean is like this alternative fact kind of thing where it's like you're making up lies, correct? Propaganda relies on on lie, absolutely relies on falsity.

00:48:24:12 - 00:48:25:03

Clark

Absolutely.

00:48:26:00 - 00:48:32:18

Cullen

Journalism relies on facts, documentaries. I don't even want to say the documentary somewhere in the middle.

00:48:32:18 - 00:48:33:21

Clark

It's not. It's a different thing.

00:48:33:21 - 00:48:39:15

Cullen

Nothing to do with propaganda documentaries is about taking those facts in applying them to them.

00:48:39:23 - 00:48:50:23

Clark

A document like it. Exactly. It's like one thing as a as a poem, you know, journalism as a newspaper. And again, and those other things I think are manipulations and they're not even invisible, may.

00:48:50:23 - 00:49:09:05

Cullen

Not even know that. They're like, you know, So I will say one really easy way to find out is if you're making a documentary and there's something and you are intentionally leaving out facts or you are you are intentionally, you know, mis mischaracterizing something or you are just flat out putting something in there that, you know, to be untrue.

00:49:09:10 - 00:49:13:07

Cullen

You're not making a documentary anymore. You're now making, you know, oh, well, let's again.

00:49:13:08 - 00:49:43:17

Clark

Well, this is interesting, though. Let's so let's see this, though. But so there's a way I could interpret what you just said, though. It's kind of contradicting what we've said. Right. That it's not about facts. Documentary is not about facts. Documentary is about like a deeper personal experience or, you know, so it's like I would actually say, and maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I would say you're absolutely free to to leave out any fact, quote unquote, fact that you may stumble upon as you're interviewing someone or as you're doing your documentary.

00:49:43:17 - 00:49:49:17

Clark

I could film a landscape and Missouri and tell you it's Antarctica if I want to. Of course.

00:49:49:17 - 00:50:11:03

Cullen

I mean, but I think that it's it's about what do you to me when I when I say that it's more about the like so if I'm interviewing somebody and they say, you know, let's say let's say that I'm doing an interview, let's say into the abyss and I'm interviewing somebody and they unequivocally deny their charge and they say, you know, I didn't do this.

00:50:11:03 - 00:50:28:22

Cullen

I didn't expect sex. I didn't I didn't kill my wife for whatever. And then at one point they say, you know, let's say I did kill my wife, and you cut around it and you just get the part that says, I kill my wife. I say, Oh, and you put that in there again. And that's a very that's a very clear example.

00:50:29:08 - 00:50:30:20

Cullen

That's a very good it's interesting.

00:50:30:20 - 00:50:37:01

Clark

Let's let's examine this for just a second. So like I said, audience, this is like a real time, you know, brainstorm.

00:50:37:01 - 00:50:37:13

Cullen

Examine.

00:50:37:14 - 00:50:46:23

Clark

Real time again, real time examination. So, you know, who knows? We may contradict ourselves within, you know, one episode, much less previous.

00:50:46:23 - 00:50:48:10

Cullen

Or just like Herzog, just like.

00:50:48:10 - 00:51:16:14

Clark

Herzog. So let's think about this. I mean, because you've got kind of like a confabulation of several different things here, I think in this one example. So what you're talking about is your you are cherry picking from an interview what you're going to put into a documentary. And the example you use is that you have a a person who's in prison and they say a whole bunch of times, I didn't do this, I didn't do this, I didn't do this.

00:51:16:14 - 00:51:41:06

Clark

But then one time you have them like kind of imagining hypothetically if they did. And so you take the language of that hypothetical example and you make it seem like they're admitting that they did this when throughout 90% of the interview they said they didn't. Well, I think so. Going back to the first part of this podcast, you know, everything is situationally specific.

00:51:42:03 - 00:52:29:07

Clark

I think it's you know, you have an ethical question here, first and foremost, which is, ah, is it appropriate to misrepresent your subject and radically change what they said? And I think the answer to that for me is that that is not ethical and and so it wouldn't pass that test for me. Now, if we move on to the second part of our conversation, which is like, okay, the difference between documentary filmmaking, journalism, propaganda, etc., it's really difficult for me to say because, you know, documentary again, is not about the factual representation of things just into in their pure factual form, but you likely would be going against that.

00:52:29:14 - 00:52:39:14

Clark

As a documentary filmmaker, you probably are still even transgressing there because the idea is not to misrepresent. Like that's I don't you know, that's just a very interesting question.

00:52:39:14 - 00:52:48:23

Cullen

I think I think to me it's it's and I think that what an interesting aspect to look at is that like a lot of Netflix documentaries that have know a lot of their crime ones.

00:52:48:23 - 00:52:51:03

Clark

Especially with all this true crime stuff, they're just there.

00:52:51:07 - 00:53:14:19

Cullen

There's a to me it's not necessarily like I of course point of view and again, there's an inherent bias and as we said, you should have a bias. So if you're choosing elements to include into your interview, you always a part of your interview you always that that yeah that support your point then of course my point more is that if you.

00:53:14:19 - 00:53:15:23

Clark

Are but I don't consider those docs.

00:53:15:23 - 00:53:39:05

Cullen

Intentionally misreport. Oh no no but I mean if you are intentionally misrepresenting something that someone said to the point that that it is the antithesis of what their they were saying, then you are no longer you're no longer bending the truth to your perspective. You are now faking it. Okay. I need to me fakery of that. And I don't mean just fakery as in like getting a stock footage because we have to be really very.

00:53:39:05 - 00:53:39:22

Clark

Specific with.

00:53:39:22 - 00:53:55:10

Cullen

Our, like I say what I say. Yeah, yeah. When I say faking it, I don't mean Herzog, you know, getting someone to do something again and pretend that it is their first time saying it right, that's fine. Well, what about them? When I say faking it, I mean. I mean. I mean faking it. As in you are. You are lying, essentially.

00:53:55:10 - 00:53:58:17

Cullen

You know you are. You may not be lying with words, but to the audience you are now.

00:53:58:17 - 00:53:58:20

Clark

Now.

00:53:59:18 - 00:54:00:23

Cullen

Illicitly lying to them.

00:54:00:23 - 00:54:16:14

Clark

Let's explore it, though. How is that lie different than Herzog's lie, where he writes a quote and says, this is from Pascal and he puts it in the film and it says Pascal, but he wrote it. Yeah. And it's not that those are two lies, but.

00:54:16:14 - 00:54:18:02

Cullen

I think it's again, I think it's the con.

00:54:18:03 - 00:54:18:11

Clark

How they.

00:54:18:16 - 00:55:03:09

Cullen

Think it's Herzog. The use of that is not to to mischaracterize Pascal in a way that that supports his point of view to to a degree that would be you know, propagandistic. Okay whereas me going out and or you know as another example, me getting a quote from a politician and taking that out of a huge sentence, which is something that people do, I mean, it's again, it's it's to me to go back to the newspaper analogy, it's like looking at tabloids versus, you know, headlines, headlines over recent times have started to skew very much in the direction of tabloids and I consider my I to me, I consider tabloids to be a form of

00:55:03:09 - 00:55:23:13

Cullen

propaganda because they are very much about sensationalism. They're very rarely true at all. They're very rarely even based on any truth at all. They're about making things up and selling them for sensationalism and for, if anything, you know, the extreme ification of people's beliefs and sowing divisions so that they can make more profit off of that division.

00:55:23:14 - 00:55:23:23

Clark

Right.

00:55:24:22 - 00:55:49:14

Cullen

So so to me, it's again, it becomes that difference between, you know, a personal point of view of me and a documentary getting a quote from somebody and, you know, perhaps shifting that quote into a degree that that would make that appear that they were agreeing with me more than they were. Well, I mean, this is somebody disagreeing with me and then me twisting that into them, agreeing with me, if that makes sense.

00:55:49:14 - 00:56:11:05

Clark

I think motive is important. Right. So let's look at it from that perspective. Let's take some of these examples we've just been talking about. So Herzog's motive for making up a quote and that attributed to Pascal and I can speak a little bit to this because he Herzog literally speaks to this like he actually yes, I'm not putting words, although I'm paraphrasing him, I'm not putting words in his mouth.

00:56:11:11 - 00:56:36:19

Clark

He did that because he was trying to his motive. His goal was to illuminate this, what he saw as a deeper truth about in his film. And and so his goal was that he you know, that was his motive. It wasn't to to to bring harm to Pascal's image. It wasn't to, you know, any you know, to hurt anybody.

00:56:36:19 - 00:57:02:03

Clark

It wasn't because he had some particular specific political agenda or anything else. It was he was he was utilizing it as a type of poetry to elicit a deeper gravity and emotional response in his film. Now, if you so so I think motive is really important here, and that's why these lessons are so connected, right? Because you can see how your ethics is involved in all of these decisions.

00:57:03:00 - 00:57:30:10

Clark

Yeah. And they can get very complicated and nuanced and difficult, fast, which we're illustrating here over the past ten, 15 minutes in this podcast. But if you're but but let's say so there's like a and your motive is to illuminate and to elicit an emotional response. Um, and then your example where you are mischaracterizing the total overall intent of an interview's words.

00:57:31:04 - 00:57:57:04

Clark

And in your case, it would be to do so in a very negative way because you're you're, you're making it look like somebody has admitted guilt versus versus professing innocence. So you've so materially changed it. And it's clearly in a way that could be detrimental to that person. And, you know, I don't know what motive could exist that would over way that result.

00:57:57:12 - 00:58:18:23

Cullen

So and I think to it, there's there's no you know, these are very clear cut examples and that's why they're examples, because they're made up. There's no I and I think you would agree with me that there's no and that's kind of why at the beginning I said that there's no hard stops. There are ways to distinguish these three things journalism, propaganda and documentary.

00:58:19:10 - 00:58:52:04

Cullen

But oftentimes people can use the fact that there is blurry lines to their advantage, and that's how they can get away with presenting a documentary film or story, presenting propaganda as a documentary film, or presenting propaganda as journalism. Um, because you can you can really take advantage of, you know, you don't know, let's say that the, the person in that example that professed their innocence is black, and I am somebody who has deep racial undertones to all of my work.

00:58:52:04 - 00:58:53:11

Cullen

That's not, you know, of course, I'm not.

00:58:53:16 - 00:58:54:22

Clark

Just for I understand just.

00:58:54:22 - 00:58:59:09

Cullen

For clarification, in case someone takes any of this out of context, but which is your mode.

00:58:59:10 - 00:59:01:06

Clark

Your motive is is a race.

00:59:01:06 - 00:59:22:12

Cullen

Let's say that, you know, the director there is, you know, racially charged. It's it's a it's a motive to stir up hatred towards a certain race. Um, that then again, that's where leans into propaganda and that's where you then go back and you look at things like triumph of the will, things like Soviet propaganda, things like for fascist propaganda from Italy.

00:59:22:21 - 00:59:30:23

Cullen

And it becomes so like you kind of look at it and you go, okay, these things are very clear because of the style that they're made in the well. And the history of.

00:59:30:23 - 00:59:41:18

Clark

This has made them clear. There's we consume a lot of propaganda today that is just as clearly made, but is less considered propaganda because we don't because of the distance of history.

00:59:41:18 - 01:00:06:08

Cullen

A lot of media, right? Mm hmm. So so I think that that's where it becomes like, so what to me, despite the fact that that might be in a completely documentary, can doing air quotes setting and a documentary context. Um that to me instantly turns it to propaganda because now you are no longer looking at this idea of, you know, let's again go back to this.

01:00:06:08 - 01:00:25:18

Cullen

This facts don't make truth. You're still looking for truth. You know, I'm not looking for personal truth. I'm looking for truth about human nature. I'm looking for things that are fundamentally true, that or that I may believe to be true to the purest extent of of my being. Things that I believe are true.

01:00:25:22 - 01:00:26:06

Clark

Mm hmm.

01:00:26:15 - 01:00:34:05

Cullen

As soon as you get into this line of things that you know aren't true, but you're presenting them as truth, that's when it becomes propaganda to me. Well.

01:00:34:17 - 01:00:48:23

Clark

Don't forget me. I mean, again, it's not. It's not very just to play. Hey, just to play devil's advocate, but, you know, of course, people could believe with all their heart and soul and something that that something is true when it, in fact, is not. And so this is where again, I and it's.

01:00:48:23 - 01:00:49:17

Cullen

So it's better.

01:00:50:04 - 01:01:17:05

Clark

It gets better. But even, you know people can feel like they have a right a positive motive. And of course it it not be but this is but look, the point is not that we're never going to be able to present this in this perfectly defined way for an audience. I think the point is more, you know, as we discuss these things, that A, it's great to discuss because it it helps refine your own boundaries and your own guidelines for for yourself.

01:01:17:05 - 01:01:23:22

Clark

It also helps you as a as an audience to understand what type of content you're seen as a filmmaker.

01:01:23:22 - 01:01:24:23

Cullen

Keep an eye out for those things.

01:01:24:23 - 01:01:54:17

Clark

As a filmmaker to hopefully move toward or move away from propaganda to and move toward a mode of of in illumination utilizing esthetic or and you know, for me, truth is a very challenging word. And I think we've illustrated that it is for everybody, actually. And it's and we can say absolute truth. You can say big truth, you can use capital T truth, you can, but none of these things actually define it really any further.

01:01:54:17 - 01:02:19:17

Clark

You know, we're never going to be able to fully define it. For me, it's about an esthetic truth, some kind of and I can't say it any differently. It's not about some kind of literal l truth. Like there's a grass in my front yard and that does. Yes, there is. But that is not a truth. That's what that.

01:02:20:00 - 01:02:23:17

Cullen

And then it's, you know, you could make a documentary, but the truth would ask you why is the.

01:02:23:17 - 01:02:50:11

Clark

Great what if I go outside? But my point is that if I go outside and I stand in it and I feel it on my bare feet and and I close my eyes or I lay down in it and I am moved deeply by the experience of being with it. That's the truth that I'm that I'm looking for is a documentary filmmaker.

01:02:50:16 - 01:03:10:16

Clark

Yeah. So I don't know another way to describe it. And everybody will have their own. But the point is not that you accept ours or, or even that you have have one and only definition for yourself, and it stays that way forever. It's a constantly evolving, a constantly I'm constantly redefining mine and trying to better understand my relationship to it.

01:03:10:16 - 01:03:30:10

Clark

And I mean, hell, it's something that I, you know, in kind of a medicines, it's what I'm exploring with my film. What is truth? What is your truth? What is the truth? What is you know, none of us, we get Monopoly on it and yeah, Helen and I don't know any more about it than you do. Likely, but we're just here talking about it.

01:03:31:07 - 01:03:43:03

Cullen

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's all conjecture, and that's why. But I think that that's exactly why it's important to kind of understand that and to have that kind of those glasses on.

01:03:43:03 - 01:03:43:23

Clark

When you should be thinking.

01:03:43:23 - 01:03:44:11

Cullen

Consume.

01:03:44:11 - 01:03:46:09

Clark

And it's important to be it's to be thinking.

01:03:46:17 - 01:03:48:00

Cullen

It's analyzing, and you're.

01:03:48:00 - 01:04:04:04

Clark

Never going to come to it. You know, it it's like you could interpret, you know, the way Herzog presents it here. I would be so interested if you asked ten different people, 100 different people what their understanding was of what he was talking about at the end of these two lessons that we've covered today, I think you're going to get 100 different answers.

01:04:04:17 - 01:04:06:10

Clark

Yeah, Yeah, everybody is.

01:04:06:10 - 01:04:10:17

Cullen

You also probably will find people who find into the abyss exploitative.

01:04:11:06 - 01:04:11:13

Clark

You know.

01:04:11:16 - 01:04:12:20

Cullen

Or Grizzly Man.

01:04:12:21 - 01:04:32:18

Clark

Absolutely. That's exactly And and you could even make, you know, Grizzly bear. I think you could. Or grizzly man. Sorry. You could. You could. I think there's quite a few people probably you could find that would consider some of that exploitive. So look, you know, orient every every person in an audience is going to see things through their own.

01:04:32:18 - 01:05:08:06

Clark

You know, we all see things through our own kind of prism and lens of our own experience. And all of our experiences are a little bit different. So. Mm hmm. And that's one of the this again, this is like one of the extraordinary challenges and the extraordinary gifts of art and filmmaking is that none of these things are cut and dry and you could live a hundred lives and never get tired or bored of, you know, of, of, of, of figuring out how you personally are going to handle all of these different questions.

01:05:08:06 - 01:05:11:09

Cullen

Yeah. No, I think that's there we go. Gratefully.

01:05:11:09 - 01:05:19:08

Clark

So. Hey. Yeah, well, hey, you know what, guys? That was fun. I mean, sometimes the stuff is not cut and dry. Sometimes this stuff is kind of messy. I really think that's why.

01:05:19:08 - 01:05:23:04

Cullen

It's so important to interrogate these ideas. It is kind of go through them.

01:05:23:04 - 01:05:41:19

Clark

And I really enjoyed our conversation. Colin. I think it's like, you know, and sometimes it gets a little messy and like, you and I are trying to kind of sort out even our own thoughts as, as we kind of walk through this, you know, our independently ourselves and, you know, kind of come together and it's it's all kind of this mismatch of.

01:05:42:10 - 01:05:58:17

Cullen

We end just as we as we wrap up, too. I just like this is what I love about these these episodes is that this is more in depth than I've thought about these lessons and these ideas than I did when I was just watching them or even just kind of discussing. Yeah.

01:05:59:06 - 01:06:25:09

Clark

Well, that's the idea exactly, is that hopefully we're adding a little bit of something to those discussions, hopefully. And again, the idea is to I mean, like I've said this probably at the end of, you know, all of our episodes, or at least the past few, is that I love doing this podcast because it gets me inspired, it gets me thinking and um, and hopefully that's what they do for you out there listening.

01:06:25:09 - 01:06:44:09

Clark

It it's never to say this is the answer. It's, it's hopefully to say like here are some ways to maybe think about it and maybe, you know, that'll inspire you to think about it on your own a little bit more at a totally disagree with us or or whatever the case may be. So all right. Well let's see.

01:06:44:09 - 01:06:52:14

Clark

As we wrap up here. I can't believe it, dude, we are almost done. We have almost covered every single lesson. And Herzog's best in class.

01:06:52:18 - 01:07:00:18

Cullen

Who the next few are quite different. Quite different. So we're going to jump all about careers from career strategies.

01:07:00:18 - 01:07:10:05

Clark

So this is something that was really, I don't think, touched on or at least at least very little so far. So right next week, Lesson 24 Career strategy, I think.

01:07:10:05 - 01:07:11:16

Cullen

Which is great because we're both right in the middle.

01:07:12:03 - 01:07:36:05

Clark

Right in the middle. So and then less than 25 will be life as a filmmaker, and then we are basically done. Totally amazing. So I look forward to that. But Cullen, thank you so much, dude, for your willingness to kind of just kind of jump in here and kind of wrestle with some of these larger challenging ideas. I really enjoyed it and hopefully everybody out there did as well.

01:07:36:16 - 01:07:37:20

Clark

So until next time.

01:07:37:22 - 01:07:46:15

Cullen

Yep. See you guys.

Episode - 020

Speaker 1

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast Episode 20, where we will be covering today less than 24 and 25, which are the two final lessons of the Herzog Masterclass. Of course, I'm joined by Clark Coffey, as always.

00:00:25:08 - 00:00:26:19

Clark

Or as always. Hey, Cullen.

00:00:27:12 - 00:00:48:23

Speaker 1

It's it's gonna be a fun one. This one actually is you know we've been talking about specifically documentary for the past few lessons and now we get to talk what I think is really a great way to kind of end this section of our podcast, which is all about career strategy. It's all about life as a filmmaker. So not necessarily the techniques or anything like that, but rather a.

00:00:48:23 - 00:01:11:10

Clark

Lot of a lot of like a mix of practical, pragmatic strategies and philosophy, which is kind of I feel like what, you know, this whole podcast thus far has been. And, you know, one of the things that I really love about Herzog's masterclass in general is that, you know, I find his philosophy on art, his philosophy on filmmaking is quite helpful for me.

00:01:11:10 - 00:01:31:20

Clark

Yeah. You know, he Herzog talks about, you know, and we're going to get into this, but he talks about one of the ways that you deal with rejection and life as a filmmaker is to fill yourself with philosophy. I love that he uses that word with poetry and philosophy. But Herzog's kind of philosophy is a big part of what I use to fill myself up when I'm feeling down.

00:01:31:20 - 00:01:42:18

Clark

But yeah, even though we're in the last couple lessons of Herzog's masterclass, it is important to note that it is not going to be the last episode of the podcast.

00:01:42:19 - 00:01:43:12

Speaker 1

Yes, you.

00:01:43:12 - 00:02:06:21

Clark

Know, I'm really excited about, you know, not that not that following these lessons hasn't been fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's pretty exciting that we're get to move forward and a new path now. Yes, we're still focusing on cinema and utilizing Herzog's output, so to speak, as a jumping off point to to study film and the philosophy of cinema and filmmaking.

00:02:07:04 - 00:02:16:14

Clark

But yeah, it's going to be exciting. We're going to, we're going to we've got some interviews that we're going to line up people who've worked with Herzog. We've got his films.

00:02:16:20 - 00:02:33:10

Speaker 1

Yeah, we're going to go through his films. I think it's also important to note, if you are interested in us talking about a specific topic, then reach out to us via Facebook or email or whatever, right? And please, yeah, let us know. We're talking about Twitter. We've got Instagram as well. So all the you know, all the searching is open.

00:02:33:20 - 00:02:44:05

Speaker 1

So, you know, message us on there and let us know if you like. There's a topic that you really want to talk. Of course, you know, especially considering that it's only us doing this. It's only has two. We don't have a team of anyone right now that.

00:02:44:05 - 00:02:45:12

Clark

We well, you know, there's.

00:02:45:12 - 00:02:45:19

Speaker 1

There's.

00:02:45:19 - 00:02:46:10

Clark

I've got I.

00:02:46:10 - 00:02:47:23

Speaker 1

Guess you've got your you've got your whole production.

00:02:47:23 - 00:02:50:01

Clark

Team. I've got a whole production team here so Yeah.

00:02:50:18 - 00:02:56:03

Speaker 1

But I think it's, it's important to note that we can kind of again make these decisions that we don't have. We don't have like.

00:02:56:03 - 00:02:56:20

Clark

Six.

00:02:56:20 - 00:03:06:12

Speaker 1

Lines that we go like, it must be 50 minutes. So, you know, we might if there's an if there's an interesting topic that only takes us 25 minutes to cover know we might do. Yeah, exactly. We might do that.

00:03:06:12 - 00:03:11:20

Clark

So and then we'll sing show tunes for the Yes. 25. Exactly about around other but yeah we're.

00:03:11:20 - 00:03:14:14

Speaker 1

Telling my baby I'll. Oh my God Yeah.

00:03:15:01 - 00:03:33:12

Clark

It's like but we're totally open and hey you know what? If you just want to say nice things to us, you know, we're totally open to that too. And I guess God knows we need it. If you even want to say mean things, I mean, you know, maybe you should reevaluate your life, but no, but, but, but have criticisms were certainly open too.

00:03:33:12 - 00:03:44:07

Clark

But yes, we'd love to hear from you. And I think these two lessons are going to be fun. And it's really exciting that we get to tackle some some different content moving forward. So, yeah.

00:03:44:11 - 00:03:45:12

Speaker 1

Well, with that or the way let's.

00:03:45:15 - 00:03:46:17

Clark

Talk about it.

00:03:46:17 - 00:03:56:07

Speaker 1

Yeah. The first point he makes, which again is something that he kind of reiterates several times to the whole masterclass, would be your own film school and.

00:03:56:18 - 00:04:00:09

Clark

Film school, you know, around the world just love Werner Herzog.

00:04:00:09 - 00:04:20:03

Speaker 1

I guess he's the easy he's their spokesperson. But but I mean, I think that the you know, what we've said again, is is quite in line with that. For those of you who don't know who you know, I've mentioned a few times that maybe I might be Mr. Forgotten, but so I do teach a film class to high school students.

00:04:20:08 - 00:04:42:06

Speaker 1

YouTube or YouTube. Exactly. I know. How dare I? But I, of course, always naturally, because they're like most of my students are either, you know, finishing high school or in or early high school. Yeah, I inevitably get a lot of questions about film school because these kids are naturally moving on to that stage of their life. Right. So I get this question all the time about, like, do I go to film school?

00:04:42:06 - 00:05:07:23

Speaker 1

Did you go to film school, did blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I neither me or you went to film school and but what I always say is like I'm not quite on the anti the total anti film school stance that that Herzog's on I am or am I think that like for me had I gone to film school I don't think I would have gotten value out of it because so much of it was so much of what I spent my life doing before.

00:05:07:23 - 00:05:24:05

Speaker 1

You know, I had the opportunity to go to any film schools was was doing exactly what they teach you in self teaching. But there were a lot of people who either don't have the opportunity to do that or don't have the you know, I was lucky enough to have friends that were really into film so I could make movies with them.

00:05:24:05 - 00:05:25:17

Speaker 1

There are some people that don't have that.

00:05:25:21 - 00:05:43:14

Clark

Or access to equipment or. Absolutely. You know, I think some of the you know, some of the things that Herzog points out I think are important to reiterate here. I mean, just that, you know, generally speaking, any film school that you're going to go to of any decent repute is going to be very expensive. Yeah, at least to me, I guess.

00:05:43:14 - 00:05:49:09

Clark

You know, you know, obviously, this is going to be relative depending on a person's specific financial situation.

00:05:49:09 - 00:05:52:19

Speaker 1

But and I mean, especially to geographically to.

00:05:53:11 - 00:06:17:06

Clark

Yeah, it's a lot of money and and I do believe that in today's day and age there is a you know, there's there's a tremendous amount of information available to most of us. If you have access to a computer and the Internet, you have access to an extraordinary wealth of information in regards to, you know, the technical, logistical and, you know, aspects of filmmaking.

00:06:17:06 - 00:06:31:16

Clark

And Herzog mentions in this lesson, it's like, hey, you know, you can learn the the the fundamentals of the art of filmmaking in a couple of weeks. And I think, you know, if you consider essentials, you know, kind of like the bare bones of, you know, how do you turn on a camera and how do you operate it.

00:06:31:16 - 00:06:34:07

Speaker 1

And what are the different shot types of things like that.

00:06:34:09 - 00:06:50:20

Clark

Is a little short. I think it's going to take you a little bit longer if you're actually, you know, going to operate camera, you're you know, you're going to be editing, you're going to work in some kind of post-production. I mean, it's going to take you a little more than two weeks. But I think for the most part, this kind of stands, you know, you can certainly learn how to operate a camera.

00:06:50:20 - 00:06:58:01

Clark

You can learn the fundamentals of how to set up shots. You can learn the fundamentals of kind of story structure and writing quite.

00:06:58:03 - 00:06:59:11

Speaker 1

Quickly and quite for free.

00:06:59:20 - 00:07:16:16

Clark

And and there are software options available for free or very low cost that you can use to edit your own work at home of it, there's tons of tutorial videos for how to use this software. And then heck, at the end of it all, you have a kind of a way to distribute it, you.

00:07:16:16 - 00:07:17:18

Speaker 1

Know, a little repertoire for.

00:07:17:18 - 00:07:18:04

Clark

Nothing.

00:07:18:05 - 00:07:30:04

Speaker 1

Or I mean, that to me is also that's the thing. So because I, you know, I have applied to film schools and mostly in the States. So I do know the courses there. It's cheap, much cheaper here.

00:07:30:06 - 00:07:30:15

Clark

Yeah.

00:07:32:04 - 00:07:42:00

Speaker 1

But even so it's still it's still quite expensive, you know, for an investment. And I think that you could spend, you know, it's usually about seven grand a year here.

00:07:42:06 - 00:07:46:02

Clark

Do you remember kind of what some of those programs cost here in the U.S.? Because I've never.

00:07:46:02 - 00:08:11:19

Speaker 1

Oh, yeah. Well, so okay. So, so USC is something like 70 grand. It's out of state now. It's also for me coming from Canada. Yeah that's no yeah I year NYU is something like 40 grand U.t. So UT-Austin something like 30 to high forties May or high thirties forties. So yeah, very expensive was.

00:08:12:02 - 00:08:16:00

Clark

Right These are for your programs and exactly this is not room and board.

00:08:16:00 - 00:08:18:09

Speaker 1

So take that money and put it into a movie is saying.

00:08:18:11 - 00:08:20:15

Clark

Well that's what and that's certainly what Herzog's Yeah.

00:08:20:23 - 00:08:30:08

Speaker 1

But in here even though it's like so here it would be more, you know, to go to a film school here it's about seven grand, I would say 7 to 10 grand a semester nursery a year. What was.

00:08:30:08 - 00:08:32:07

Clark

That? Nothing to sneeze at, though. Still.

00:08:32:07 - 00:08:57:16

Speaker 1

Yeah. No, totally. And that's what I mean is that you can still take the ten grand that you're putting in to go to film school here if you're Canadian or maybe if you're in Europe somewhere. Yeah, put that into a movie. And that's kind of or I mean at the end of the day to what I always tell my students is like, look up, you know, these curriculums are all freely available online, look them up, you know, research the school that you're looking at because a lot of times it is also just like whether someone's parents pushing them to just get a degree or something like that.

00:08:58:01 - 00:09:15:01

Speaker 1

But just look up these these curriculums and go, am I going to learn something right? AM Or rather, is it worth what is what I'm learning? They're worth the amount of money that I would spend on it, or can I better spend my time and save money and learn more, which is what I did? I mean, I know.

00:09:15:01 - 00:09:41:08

Clark

There is sort of this that we haven't touched on yet, but I think maybe maybe the only thing I'm not sure there's a couple of things I think you can't replicate with the DIY approach. The first is, and these are both really closely related, basically, and the first is kind of an I really don't want a relationship building, I don't want to use this word networking, and we're going to get to this later on in more detail because it's part of these lessons.

00:09:41:08 - 00:10:01:05

Clark

But, you know, relationship building there, you know, you're going to be in a in a within a group of a lot of people who are wanting to be filmmakers. Ideally, the program if it let's say you do take this route the the your teachers, the professors, the faculty there hopefully have had real world experience. They've actually had some success in the industry.

00:10:01:05 - 00:10:27:21

Clark

And so they actually have contacts where there's intern placement or job placement programs there at the school to help you start your career whenever you've graduated. You know, some of those things are really important and and developing real long term relationships with those faculty and your peers can really give you a powerful leg up. Yeah. And like I said, we're going to go into that in more detail.

00:10:27:21 - 00:10:32:00

Clark

But I think that's the part that you can't replicate. In the same way.

00:10:33:10 - 00:10:35:00

Speaker 1

You don't have the infrastructure.

00:10:35:05 - 00:10:41:06

Clark

Obviously you're going to develop your own relationships. Of course, you know, as you work, you're going to develop your own relationships, but.

00:10:41:21 - 00:10:42:05

Speaker 1

You.

00:10:42:13 - 00:10:43:20

Clark

It's a massive but.

00:10:43:20 - 00:10:57:07

Speaker 1

Perhaps that leads us into our next point, which is really important, which is again, kind of like I said, we're it's it's what's great about film school is that you have infrastructure for meeting people and for working with people and for renting equipment like it's all there.

00:10:57:07 - 00:10:58:12

Clark

For you. Hold your hand for you.

00:10:58:22 - 00:10:59:06

Speaker 1

Yeah.

00:10:59:16 - 00:11:01:04

Clark

But if you don't have that.

00:11:01:08 - 00:11:17:00

Speaker 1

What's difficult outside of it is that you don't have that. But it doesn't mean that you can't make it. And Herzog makes a really interesting point, which is about that nowadays. So few young people to make their own. They don't make their own production companies. They don't, you know, form labor movements. And they or labor.

00:11:17:00 - 00:11:17:07

Clark

You have.

00:11:17:10 - 00:11:48:15

Speaker 1

Do things like that. So I it's a point that really speaks to me because I've spent the last three or so years building up my own production company. Yeah, with other people, like not just solely. Absolutely. And I think that that to me has been like a godsend. Like it. I don't think I'd be doing nearly the stuff that I'm doing right now if I didn't kind of invest into the infrastructure of being able to make movies with other people under a banner and under something that's organized and not just me going to friends being like, I got this script, you know, what's let's.

00:11:48:15 - 00:12:10:15

Clark

Do or waiting or waiting for somebody to invite you to be a part of production. Yeah, that's what I think a lot of people do, is that they wait, you know, whatever, whatever, you know, part you want to play in the filmmaking process. If you want to be a director or if you want to be an actor, if you want to be a writer, if you want to be a, you know, any of these positions, I think a lot of people have a tendency to wait to be invited, right?

00:12:10:20 - 00:12:14:20

Speaker 1

Yes. Yeah. They think they sit on Facebook looking at like casting calls and.

00:12:15:02 - 00:12:32:17

Clark

An immediate you're constantly submitted. You're working on your real and your resumé and you're you know, and I guess there's nothing wrong with that to an extent, of course. But at least for me, I was made keenly aware of the fact that I had to take my own initiative if I was ever going to have any kind of career and get to do anything in this industry.

00:12:32:17 - 00:12:50:16

Clark

When I set out to pursue acting and first write and, you know, the way I first did that, of course, was, you know, I did everything that I was quote unquote supposed to do. I took my classes, I got my professional headshots. I did you know, I went to these you know, did all my mailings and went to, you know, workshops and all this kind of jazz.

00:12:50:16 - 00:12:56:08

Clark

And it was all my energy was put in to please God, somebody invite me.

00:12:56:08 - 00:12:58:02

Speaker 1

Somebody know this part of the process.

00:12:58:02 - 00:13:32:02

Clark

Please, somebody let me be a part of filmmaking. Please let me be a part of filmmaking. Yeah. And and I had already had strong interest in doing other aspects of filmmaking, including directing. But it was really that process of several years of having to beg to be invited to be a part of the process, that I finally realized, look, if I don't take my own initiative, if I don't start writing my own material, producing my own material, shooting my own material, you know, if I, I won't have any idea, you know, who knows how long I'm going to have to sit here and wait.

00:13:32:02 - 00:13:42:15

Clark

And I so of course, a lot of my friends with the same thing. And so there, you know, there was there was a group of us that continued to just do the same thing. They just kept submitting. They kept working on getting agents or changing agents. They kept you know.

00:13:42:18 - 00:14:05:09

Speaker 1

I think it's interesting, too, that you mentioned reel the like the reels, because I think that so many people that's like their their end goal, they're shooting everything in. They're real. They're shooting. You know, anything that they do, it's, oh, I'm, I'm going to this is my real I found the success that I've had with making connections and stuff has always been from just showing people things that I've made in full, not just showing someone a real, you know, showing somebody.

00:14:05:09 - 00:14:16:08

Speaker 1

Okay, here's a short that I did last year and letting them watch. You know what? What's the point of making someone watch a four minute reel if you could just make them watch an eight minute short film that you did? And Well, that's a.

00:14:16:08 - 00:14:18:17

Clark

Big difference on who you're giving it to, right?

00:14:18:17 - 00:14:19:10

Speaker 1

Yes. Yeah.

00:14:19:11 - 00:14:39:11

Clark

You know, if you if you are talking to somebody that you actually know in real life that you have a relationship with in some way, whether you've worked on a project before together or maybe you have, you know, just a one or two degree separation and you know, this is we talk about we're going to talk a lot about the importance of relationships and long term vision of your career.

00:14:39:15 - 00:15:06:12

Clark

So if you're looking at somebody like that, yeah, they're going to watch an eight minute short. But the challenges is that a lot of people are shooting off their reels to people that, you know, again, they're falling back to that previous category about they're begging somebody to give them a chance, to give them a shot. And those people who don't know you from Adam or Eve, who you know, are looking at, you know, literally 10,000 submissions on for an actor.

00:15:06:12 - 00:15:25:21

Clark

But maybe it's, you know, 100 or 1000 for DP or director or something. But they're looking through tons of them. They're definitely not going to watch an eight minute short film of yours. And so that's why people put these sizzles together, right? Yes, because they know they're sending them off to somebody who is not who's literally going to touch turn it off and go to the next one in 2 seconds if it doesn't grab their attention.

00:15:25:21 - 00:15:27:01

Clark

So, you know, that's.

00:15:27:03 - 00:15:36:07

Speaker 1

That's I mean, that's what I and that's what's really important is you kind of have to at some point and as as vague and as broad as it sounds, is like make your own opportunities.

00:15:36:11 - 00:15:37:02

Clark

Of course you do.

00:15:37:17 - 00:15:46:18

Speaker 1

And and I think that that's that's what's really, you know, again, going back to this idea of like found your own production company, you know, get a group of people together and.

00:15:46:19 - 00:15:49:05

Clark

If you don't. Right. And if you find if you sign papers.

00:15:49:12 - 00:16:09:00

Speaker 1

You know, sign in and say like, hey, we're going to work together. We're going to we're going to make it. That's what that's basically what United Artists was. I mean, you think of how successfully that one and it was. It's about, you know, it doesn't have to be all about financials. It doesn't have to be all about, you know, oh, we're going to be a business and we're all about branding and we're going to get.

00:16:09:10 - 00:16:09:17

Clark

Y.

00:16:09:23 - 00:16:10:14

Speaker 1

Y Z.

00:16:10:17 - 00:16:33:23

Clark

When you're really in the beginning, you know, I think a lot of people tend to or some people focus a lot on that about, oh my gosh, what's going to happen? It, you know, they get worried about stuff that is, let's face it, frankly, very unlikely to occur. Yeah. How many points do you get? You know, I think and we've talked about this in previous in a previous lesson, keep that stuff very, very, very, very simple and don't spend a ton of time on it.

00:16:33:23 - 00:16:35:09

Clark

Just make it simple, you know, an.

00:16:35:10 - 00:16:37:10

Speaker 1

Envoy, avoid legalese and all that and.

00:16:37:10 - 00:16:53:13

Clark

Don't put a lot of legal BS and B.S. into this. What you should be spending your time on. Is it, you know, finding that story and putting a small team of people together who can execute it. And so it's like I was going to say, if you if you are a writer, then great, right? If you're not a writer, then go find one and work with them.

00:16:53:18 - 00:17:10:03

Clark

If you don't want a DP or you know, and you you feel like that's not a part of your repertoire as a director, then you go and find a deep that you can work well with. Find a group of actors that you can work well with and build a team of people who you have, you know, similar mindsets and attitudes about filmmaking.

00:17:10:08 - 00:17:11:11

Clark

And it's going to take time.

00:17:11:22 - 00:17:12:14

Speaker 1

And I also.

00:17:12:14 - 00:17:18:07

Clark

I think it's like it's like it's easy to say, but it's taken me a decade.

00:17:18:13 - 00:17:31:22

Speaker 1

Well, and I exactly wanted to mention that, too, because I like we're talking I think one of the things that we talk about a lot and what Herzog talks about a lot is like, go out and do it. Go out and do it. But we never you know, we've we've kind of never really talked about the struggles and the difficulties.

00:17:31:22 - 00:17:52:23

Speaker 1

So I Oh, yeah, I'll I'll talk about right now is what you know with with my production company that Oh totally and rejection and all that but but for me you know I'm right now we've been doing it for three years professionally. I mean I'm going to be making movies for much longer than that. But since, you know, actually kind of in supporting this this production company, it's been about three years.

00:17:54:00 - 00:18:11:00

Speaker 1

And we're right now we're just working right now in pre-production on our first feature. But there's a lot of difficulty with that. You know, it comes down to like we don't have you know, I'm not going to go out and tell anyone to just go out and make a movie and and throw all their money into it, because I can't do that.

00:18:11:00 - 00:18:34:21

Speaker 1

And most people can't. Whereas what I've found, though, that makes my life a lot easier is a taking it slow, not feeling any need to rush into it because there is a point, you know, months ago where I could have just been like, Yeah, our script's done. Let's go film this, you know, at a friend's house and, and we've got a feature and it's like, No, no, no, I do not want to do that.

00:18:34:21 - 00:18:58:01

Speaker 1

And nobody should just want to rush anything. I think that's something that there's a difference between having drive and initiative and rushing. There's a really big difference. And so that's one thing I feel like I've been very I've pushed back the shoot date multiple times, both because of the pandemic and because of just preparation. Yeah, So that's of course been a challenge.

00:18:58:04 - 00:18:59:20

Clark

And even but be prepared.

00:18:59:22 - 00:19:20:03

Speaker 1

And I mean, even the idea I know that you had the one that you're working on right now had done it has done a successful crowdfunding campaign. And that's something that we've spoken about when it comes to the production of the feature I'm working on is but we're rather we're taking a little bit a different approach, which is let's put let's try to do this all on our own.

00:19:20:03 - 00:19:29:23

Speaker 1

And at the point where we need financing, then we can look into crowdfunding and stuff like that. So kind of the opposite, the opposite, I guess, order of.

00:19:30:09 - 00:19:31:18

Clark

Different ways to do it, right? Yeah, but.

00:19:31:19 - 00:19:32:08

Speaker 1

Exactly.

00:19:32:08 - 00:19:50:10

Clark

But the point is you're taking initiative. Yeah. And I think you bring up a really good point, you know, because we have talked so much about urgency throughout this entire series. It's something that Herzog is clearly has very strong opinions about. And, you know, I think you're right. It's a good point that you can work with urgency. Absolutely.

00:19:50:16 - 00:20:02:07

Clark

And, you know, I think, you know, taking initiative with urgency is so vital. Those two things go hand in hand together. But but also, though, being prepared, I mean, Herzog has spent years preparing for some of these films.

00:20:02:07 - 00:20:08:07

Speaker 1

It's not Well, he says about the first you know, everyone says, I loved your first movie, Aguirre Aguirre. It was so great. And he says, That was my 11th.

00:20:08:07 - 00:20:29:06

Clark

It's my 11th, right? Yeah, right, exactly. And so that's a really good point to make. You know, it's take initiative, but also take some time, work with a sense of urgency. But but be prepared. Learn from your mistakes because you're going to make a lot and you're also going to have a lot of rejection. That's something that Herzog talks a lot about here in this lesson 24.

00:20:29:11 - 00:21:00:22

Clark

And boy, I it's funny because I feel like I am I am an expert on very few things, but holy crap, am I an expert on failure or rejection? Let's say rejection and it feels like failure. And this is an interesting kind of part psychologically about this. But yeah, I mean, you know, as I've said numerous times before, I started working toward a career professionally as a storyteller, as an acting, that's where I, you know, I first like I, I'm in L.A., I've got to professional agents.

00:21:01:02 - 00:21:23:13

Clark

I am, you know, actively pursuing a career as an actor in the L.A. market. You know, boom, I'm there, right? Wow. Oh, my gosh. I mean, you know, up until that point in my life and I was younger, but I but not too young. I mean, I was 30 years old by the time I was like at it, you know, in L.A., in market profession, like pursuing a professional acting career.

00:21:23:13 - 00:21:27:12

Clark

So it's not like I had not lived before. It wasn't like I just fell off.

00:21:27:15 - 00:21:29:13

Speaker 1

Yeah, you weren't. They weren't just out of high school.

00:21:29:13 - 00:21:51:17

Clark

I had had I had had a decade long career professional career in the corporate world, in software before that. And so it's know, it's not like I was a spring chicken and wow, the amount of rejection that I was just that I was hit with like a mack truck just over and over and over. I wasn't prepared for a frankly, I just was not prepared for it.

00:21:51:17 - 00:22:18:15

Clark

And it knocked me off my feet and it took me years to recover from that experience. And so I, I feel so strongly about this. And you may say, well, acting is way different and it's not all you know, filmmaking is just a ruthless profession. It is extremely difficult. If you want to make cut and dry. Yeah, if you want to make a living doing any of these things, it is extremely difficult.

00:22:18:15 - 00:22:48:18

Clark

If you want any kind of any any decently sized audience to ever see any of your work. It is extremely, exceedingly difficult. It is so hard now it's worth it. But how you address rejection is so important to if you're even going to survive. Mm hmm. I cannot tell you how It's been such an interesting experience to be in that position myself and to see how that that rejection affected me and to see how it affected so many of my friends and to see the different types of reactions to it.

00:22:49:10 - 00:23:05:09

Clark

I it it's just really been eye opening. I mean, for me personally, you know, it it was I and I went into this and I'm thinking, okay, I know you get a lot of rejection. I know you get you know, and I was trying to prepare myself psychologically. And I you know, I had some mentors who had been in the industry industry.

00:23:05:09 - 00:23:23:21

Clark

And, you know, I had been preparing for this for a while, Right. So it wasn't just like I on a whim kind of decision to go out there. I mean, I had been preparing for about a decade and I had worked in theater before that, and it's in significant places. And in Colorado and Denver. And so I'd had a sense of these things, right?

00:23:23:21 - 00:23:42:22

Clark

It's not that I didn't have a sense of it, but even with all of that, I was completely blown away, man. I mean, I have a spreadsheet that I used to keep of every audition that I ever went on, right? And I would because I would keep track of, you know, which casting director brought me in and what project was it for and how did I feel like the audition went and, you know, and what happened, Right?

00:23:42:22 - 00:23:58:12

Clark

Did I get a callback? Did I get that I booked that gut job, whatever, so I could see I had a record, right? And I can't remember now exactly what my ratio was. But suffice it to say, I mean, we're talking hundreds and hundreds of no's just over and over and and.

00:23:58:23 - 00:24:20:11

Speaker 1

That's exactly what's important, too, about this whole like the amount of times that I've made a movie and been like, this is the best thing I've ever made. Still, you know, like you said, still sort of like while submitting to festivals or whatever, kind of going, okay, I'm prepared tonight. You know, it's festivals, but still it feels kind of crushing when you get that rejection, when you get especially when it's like it's like, okay, this one's really good.

00:24:20:11 - 00:24:40:22

Speaker 1

This one's going to go in with that, though. And I think this is one of the points that that Herzog really drives home, too, which I think is really important, is that you shouldn't make movies for festivals. You know, I've never once when I'm making a movie, cut something or change something because I've thought that like a festival screener isn't going to like it.

00:24:41:20 - 00:25:03:07

Speaker 1

I have always, always, you know, maybe that's a maybe that's something that I should work on myself. But but I it's something that I still believe that, like I am, I'm not interested in the art. You know, I have a friend who went to film school and his I think I've spoken about this before on the podcast, but but his, his no is always because of his, you know, his teachers and professors and stuff.

00:25:03:07 - 00:25:24:10

Speaker 1

They would always say, you know, your festival thing should be as short as possible. And you always know it is always like cut 2 minutes, just like arbitrarily cut to rates. And I'm always like, I don't care if a festival thinks my. The other thing too about that though and there's a video on YouTube somewhere about this, but it actually talks about the most successful festival movies and the movies that get to like the short films.

00:25:24:10 - 00:25:36:19

Speaker 1

I mean, they get to the Oscars and stuff. They're almost always above 15 minutes. The Oscar shorts are always, almost always, whereas everyone says that sweet spot is eight, you know, just under 8 minutes for festivals.

00:25:37:02 - 00:25:39:02

Clark

Everybody has got an idea of what the sweet spot.

00:25:39:02 - 00:26:01:09

Speaker 1

Yeah. And so I think that's really interesting is that like, you should take any information like that with a grain of salt because sure it does your film have a greater likelihood of getting into a festival if it's 4 minutes than if it's ten? Yes, because they want to fit as many movies in and slots in. But with that being said, does that actually impact the the the like the amount of reverence that your film will have there?

00:26:01:17 - 00:26:09:23

Speaker 1

No, because if your film is short, it's often just going to be washed in with all the other really short films and people. Whereas if you make a great that's like, you know.

00:26:10:04 - 00:26:35:11

Clark

Yeah, I mean, this is an important point. I'll, I'll kind of extrapolate this or I'll kind of raise this up to even kind of more encompassing level. I mean, look, we're talking about rejection now and we're talking about, you know, this I really can't overstate you cannot overstate how important it is to steal yourself and fortify yourself against rejection, because there's there's so many way, you know, so many ways that it affects people.

00:26:35:11 - 00:26:50:09

Clark

And it's not just cut and dried binary like, well, you know, you're either in the game or you're out of the game and, you know, as long as you just stay in the game, you have you have defeated rejection. No. You know, a lot of people get in many very different ways, get they get kind of jaded, cynical.

00:26:50:09 - 00:27:06:23

Clark

They get, yeah, you're trying to second guess an audience. You're like, you're just describing somebody trying to, you know, guess what? The judges are looking for in this film festival and then gear their content to that. And that's such a horrifically cynical national.

00:27:06:23 - 00:27:07:14

Speaker 1

Got to make.

00:27:07:17 - 00:27:08:13

Clark

Art in my.

00:27:08:13 - 00:27:22:04

Speaker 1

Especially considering that festivals are hardly like hardly ever the way to get into a further career unless you are somehow so success ful that you're going to get into one of like the big six.

00:27:22:07 - 00:27:22:13

Clark

Right.

00:27:22:19 - 00:27:46:05

Speaker 1

Which are, you know, Sundance, TIFF, Con, maybe South by Southwest and like Tribeca or something like that, or in a few other international ones. Yeah. Like unless you are successful enough to get a prime slot in any because I also know people who have gotten into those even like TIFF who have gotten into those. But, you know, they're they're movies playing in a tiny theater at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday.

00:27:46:05 - 00:27:54:18

Speaker 1

And it's like, you know, six people went to it. So I think that what you should focus on I think what what you're saying what I'm saying, what Herzog has always said.

00:27:54:19 - 00:27:57:00

Clark

The story in your head is, is it focuses.

00:27:57:02 - 00:28:27:08

Speaker 1

Well, and I'll quote him directly here, which is create something with so much substance that the film itself can take the punches. And that's so important because you should just don't strive to make something that, you know, again, like you said, that is the judgment of love in your art. Yeah. And just you're at something really good. And, you know, one of the I just I just got into a festival the other day with the documentary that I've been doing, a short documentary, but it's 18 minutes, I guarantee you had I shown that to two people and said like, yeah, I'm trying to get to festivals, like give me some feedback.

00:28:27:15 - 00:28:42:16

Speaker 1

So many people would have been like, It can't be 8 minutes. It should be 10 minutes, right? Yeah, I guarantee that. But I just got in on an 18 minute thing because I put a lot of heart into it and I put, you know, I think it's a I thought it was a really strong documentary. And I think that it's, you know, and it's I was really happy with it.

00:28:42:16 - 00:28:43:19

Speaker 1

So I got it. And it's.

00:28:44:09 - 00:28:45:00

Clark

And it feels.

00:28:45:00 - 00:28:45:15

Speaker 1

Really great.

00:28:45:15 - 00:29:08:08

Clark

But it is it's it's really easy to say. It's like, I really sympathize because I've been there myself. I've been there myself as an actor in the extreme where I tried everything I could possibly think of to change myself. Yes, Yes. What the casting directors wanted to to, like, fit myself into some mold that I thought was going to work.

00:29:08:08 - 00:29:37:09

Clark

And I did it over and over and over and over. And so I just I just want to kind of reiterate, it's not not like you should feel sorry for me, but that, like, I really do understand the temptation that comes when you're rejected over and over again and you're guessing you're second guessing yourself and you're you're you're trying to find a way to to make your way in this art, like, all you want to do is make films and you can't find a way to do it.

00:29:37:09 - 00:29:48:13

Clark

And the world is telling, you know, it's you know, it's totally understandable. I've been there myself, and maybe it's just a process that, you know, everybody kind of has to go through on their own, right.

00:29:48:13 - 00:30:09:22

Speaker 1

Because this is super important to what Herzog says, too, is about. Don't don't only spend your time doing this. You know, that's the time he tells the story about the guy that he met that had been in like 100 festivals just following it around. And Herzog says in that time, in the time that you've been following your movie at festivals and submitting and and spending money, you could have made three other previous films.

00:30:09:22 - 00:30:28:06

Speaker 1

And that's that's exactly like I will, I submit to a festival and I forget about it. I step back, you know, maybe if there's communication that I need to update or something with them, that I will. But, but my I, I submit a movie if I, if I am going to submit it to festival, I submit it and I forget about it, I immediately go my next my next project.

00:30:28:08 - 00:30:35:09

Clark

It's so huge. There's a couple, you know, look like having a life that's outside of this bubble is so important for a couple big.

00:30:35:09 - 00:30:35:23

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:36:04 - 00:30:57:17

Clark

For one is that you've always got to be filling your well and you can't just be working in the industry or working toward the industry or making films or do you or you have to have a life, you have to have a life that you can pull new poetry from, that you can create new images from when you are making film.

00:30:57:17 - 00:31:13:11

Clark

And I know I know a lot of people just get obsessed and they're like, I mean, I have it's like I know some filmmakers who it's like they have their day set. It's like I wake up at 5 a.m. and then I write for 2 hours and then I make phone calls to my potential agents for 2 hours.

00:31:13:11 - 00:31:25:14

Clark

And then I and it's like their entire day is just filled because they're like, I have to make it. I have to make it. And this is how I have to make it. I have to, like, outwork. I have to outwork the next person. I, you know, like kind of the. Will Smith kind of.

00:31:25:14 - 00:31:30:04

Speaker 1

Yeah, right. Yeah. No, Yeah. Smith Day grind. It's all about the grind. You wake up and.

00:31:30:08 - 00:31:43:11

Clark

It's like I'm successful because I stayed on the treadmill longer than anybody else. I just ran and ran and ran and I'm like, well, interestingly, I mean, look at what kind of actor he is and it's telling. I think that that's his attitude.

00:31:43:11 - 00:32:07:05

Speaker 1

But yeah, no, I will always say that. It's more like I have got to hand it to my students. I've said it's more about your skill set than it is about your your like blind perseverance. And I say blind perseverance because, I mean, there are people that just think that's important, but it oh, it's totally important. But I mean, that there's this there's this mindset that people like, get into, just like you just said, that it is kind of not to put down Will Smith or anything.

00:32:07:05 - 00:32:23:08

Speaker 1

But no, no, but this this mindset of like, as long as, you know, I, I just have to keep going and I have to keep trying and I got to keep climbing that mountain, it's like, are you while you're climbing this mountain, are you also working on your skills? Are you also going out or and working on other skills?

00:32:23:08 - 00:32:25:17

Speaker 1

I mean, are you having a life.

00:32:25:17 - 00:32:32:23

Clark

Your significant other with your family? Are you out enjoying sunsets? Are you eating an ice cream cone on the beach? Are you traveling or.

00:32:32:23 - 00:32:49:09

Speaker 1

Even just having different different interests? You know, I went, yeah, so I didn't go to film school, but I went to university. I went to the University of Toronto for a for criminology. I didn't finish the degree, but I went and people always ask me if I when I was going there, it was like, are you going? Because it's something that you're, you know, something to do with film.

00:32:49:14 - 00:33:06:15

Speaker 1

You know, you're going in for criminology because you like crime dramas and no, I want to go to criminology because I was interested in it. You know, It's the same with I have a desire by the end of my twenties to have my pilot's license. Got nothing to do with movies. I just it's an interest of mine. I like politics, I like law, I like history.

00:33:06:20 - 00:33:14:20

Speaker 1

These are all things that I will spend time reading about and doing, not so that I can generate ideas for movies just because I'm interested in them. And you know.

00:33:15:05 - 00:33:42:10

Clark

You can fill the well. And also it is, you know, Herzog talks about filling yourself with philosophy. With poetry. Yes. Yes. As a, you know, kind of like a prophylactic against burnout and against all this rejection. And, you know, this is that something taking the time to follow other interests, to pursue other curiosities, to work on relationships with people in your life, you know, your your significant other, your family, your friends.

00:33:42:10 - 00:33:53:18

Clark

I mean, you know, to be outside in the world, to travel, you know, it's just as if not more important to do those things than it is to do all the other filmmaking things combined.

00:33:54:00 - 00:33:55:06

Speaker 1

Mm hmm. And I do.

00:33:55:16 - 00:33:56:02

Clark

Yeah.

00:33:56:05 - 00:33:56:20

Speaker 1

Sorry. Go ahead.

00:33:57:00 - 00:34:24:22

Clark

I was just going to say, and it's just I know so many I have known so many people pursuing different positions, you know, different careers. But but in the filmmaking world, and I can't tell you how common it is that people get so single minded, they get so on one track. And it not only does it ultimately not end up being successful as far as having quote unquote, success in your career, but it also is not successful in the sense that it makes a really miserable person.

00:34:24:22 - 00:34:26:06

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's not fulfilling.

00:34:26:21 - 00:34:33:01

Clark

You're not it becomes you're going to take this to a place where it's no longer fun. Mm hmm. And and I know.

00:34:33:01 - 00:34:35:14

Speaker 1

People exactly who have burned out. Yeah. Yeah.

00:34:35:14 - 00:34:53:09

Clark

And we have this weird in our culture, you know, kind of Western culture, and I'm speaking only from that because that's where I'm kind of born and raised and that's why I know more about. So this might exist in other cultures, but I just can't speak for it because I'm not I'm not as tuned in, but, but in our culture, here it is.

00:34:53:12 - 00:35:02:11

Clark

We have this weird idea of what creativity is and that it has to be obsession and that you have to like, do nothing but right. It's like.

00:35:02:11 - 00:35:09:15

Speaker 1

If we romanticize that, that really psychotic person typing on their laptop with a cigaret and, you know, you.

00:35:10:05 - 00:35:34:19

Clark

Write and it's like you can't have a life. But anything I mean and I literally remember I mean, I remember being told over and over by different people when I was had first moved to L.A. and I was, you know, doing all the things and I had fall into that trap a bit myself. You know, people would tell me it's like, well, you can't have a relationship with if you're going to do this, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't spend time on these.

00:35:34:19 - 00:35:36:05

Speaker 1

Other Oh, God, it's insane.

00:35:36:10 - 00:35:56:23

Clark

And and of course, these people were miserable themselves because that's what they were doing and they were miserable. So, yeah, I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but guys, ladies, everybody, you know, to be a filmmaker is not to just cut out everything in your life. What's the point of making a film if you have no life to tell stories from?

00:35:57:05 - 00:36:20:04

Speaker 1

Yeah. So all and to tell and to tell stories to. And I want to double back real quick to just one more point on the festivals thing as well. Yeah. Yeah. Because, because I worked at TIFF in 2019. Yeah. And there's this, there's this line that Herzog says in here that he doesn't really get into too much depth about, but I think that I can kind of speak to, which is both festivals are self-centered.

00:36:21:07 - 00:36:23:22

Speaker 1

He talks about this idea that, you know, festivals are.

00:36:23:22 - 00:36:24:20

Clark

Well, they're a business.

00:36:24:20 - 00:36:45:18

Speaker 1

They're a bit exactly. And so there's so not even so we are me and you talked about this before, but disregarding the idea to even that there's there's 4000 plus festivals that go on every year. I mean to anybody that's insane. Of course, not every single of those festivals, in fact very, very, very, very, very, very few of them are going to actually have the publicity to get you anywhere.

00:36:45:21 - 00:36:47:11

Clark

Very few.

00:36:47:11 - 00:37:14:00

Speaker 1

So there's kind of again, there's those big six that I kind of mentioned earlier. So I worked at TIFF, which is the Toronto International Film Festival, which is by attendance, the largest film festival in the world. And yeah, it's something like 400,000 or something a year. People go to it. It's it's a huge event. And so I worked there and I sort of saw a sort of got this inside look at, you know, how exactly how are these festival self centered?

00:37:14:00 - 00:37:22:15

Speaker 1

And the way that they are is they've become so much less about. And, you know, I I'm not trying to sound like an old man because I certainly wasn't alive.

00:37:22:15 - 00:37:24:03

Clark

In my job. Exactly.

00:37:24:12 - 00:37:52:08

Speaker 1

But I can I can actually kind of vouch for the idea that like back in the day, they were different. They were, you know, when these festivals started up in the seventies, eighties, nineties and even, you know, the early 2000s, they were very much about rising up and coming stars. In this day and age, most of the big festivals are headlined by blockbusters that are, you know, so like Joker, yeah, Jojo Rabbit Knives out, you know, all.

00:37:52:09 - 00:37:53:01

Clark

These features.

00:37:53:06 - 00:38:17:20

Speaker 1

Huge movies that that that were that are produced by Universal and Fox and all this and it's like I always just kind of and I understand from a business standpoint why the festivals do it because they get a ton of money, a ton of advertising, a ton of you know, butts in seats for this. It's good. But what I what what really pains me is just that I'm like, imagine giving one of those slots to somebody who made a really beautiful, wonderful film and.

00:38:18:12 - 00:38:19:01

Clark

Unknown.

00:38:19:04 - 00:38:29:08

Speaker 1

Who has no chance. And it's like and there absolutely are people like that who have submitted, who have been seen by these these judges who are now on the cutting block because it's not going to make them enough money.

00:38:29:15 - 00:38:32:01

Clark

Yeah, it's a business decision, man.

00:38:32:03 - 00:38:52:00

Speaker 1

Yeah. And a friend of mine actually, perhaps a success story from this, a friend of mine recently released. Well, he was he was in TIFF with his co-directing partner in TIFF in 2019, the one that I worked at for his film White Lie, which had a budget of about a million, one and a half million dollars, which was their biggest so far, undoubtedly.

00:38:52:15 - 00:39:09:12

Speaker 1

And they're very independent and like that. But this is a huge budget for them. And they and so they got in and I remember I went to their premiere. It was great. There was a lot of people in the theater and they've gotten a theatrical release from it. And it's it's wonderful. And it's like really heartwarming to see because it still can happen.

00:39:09:12 - 00:39:31:22

Speaker 1

You can make it happen. It's just so difficult. And I think a big part of that, too, is and this is this isn't related to festivals, but I think it's related to the the environment that in the kind of ecosystem of entertainment and film in particular these days, that Herzog also mentions the idea that that before movies rather than commercials, they used to play short films.

00:39:32:11 - 00:39:45:23

Speaker 1

And I think like and I so I, I look at somewhere though I look at somewhere like the New Beverly, the theater that Quentin Tarantino owns, which I think like, you know, he I don't know. I don't know what his financials are there at all. So I don't know how much he loses money.

00:39:45:23 - 00:39:46:16

Clark

It loses money.

00:39:46:22 - 00:39:47:21

Speaker 1

So it does. Okay. So it.

00:39:47:21 - 00:39:50:09

Clark

Does subsidize it, I think I think and.

00:39:50:10 - 00:40:07:12

Speaker 1

I know that there are I know that there are other movie theaters that I've been to and I've heard of that don't show commercials that it's like their policy. They don't show commercials. And it's they operate at a loss because they and it's usually you know, it's it's it's usually run by someone like Tarantino. Maybe they're not a director, but they're businessmen who can afford to lose the money.

00:40:07:15 - 00:40:23:11

Speaker 1

Yeah. What I think would be so cool and I think, you know, I think it would be great is if we went back to that. Like, imagine how cool it would be for a young filmmaker who makes a short film to have their film shown at The New Beverly just before. And it's like those things that it doesn't have to be long.

00:40:23:11 - 00:40:34:05

Speaker 1

It doesn't have to be crazy. Yeah, to be an event. It would just be so nice to be able to open up the doors to people who have otherwise, you know, the most impossible time breaking into an industry.

00:40:35:12 - 00:40:56:03

Clark

Well, and you know, it's and so obviously we could talk about this a little bit that, you know, there are other distribution channels, you know, and Herzog talks about, you know, this, of course, like, of course, everybody is striving. Well, you know, I don't I actually can't say that. I don't know, maybe there are directors out there now who are younger who could care less about a theatrical release.

00:40:56:03 - 00:41:01:14

Clark

I don't know, maybe. But, you know, certainly my generation and before ever.

00:41:01:14 - 00:41:02:18

Speaker 1

That was the be all end all.

00:41:02:22 - 00:41:28:14

Clark

Yeah. You would have a theatrical release. I mean, that's to see you know the whole point is to see your film on the big screen right. And to have a communal experience and you know, with an audience in, in a theater and with this, we don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole because there's a whole conversation we could have and maybe we will in another episode about, you know, the difference between watching a film at home on your television and watching it with an audience in a theater.

00:41:28:14 - 00:41:48:12

Clark

But that was the dream. Now we're having to adjust. You know, it's very unlikely. And when I say very unlikely, that's an understatement. I mean, it's almost an impossibility that you, as a director are going to have a film that is going to be theatrically released, at least, you know, unless you rent a theater and pay them to play it, right?

00:41:48:12 - 00:42:05:04

Clark

Yeah, some people do that for sure, but outside of that, to have an actual wide release is extremely rare. Very few films do now. There are a lot of online distribution possible parties, but even that, you know, is very challenging. It can look like a great opportunity. And it is.

00:42:05:04 - 00:42:10:13

Speaker 1

But but who knows? Maybe you sell your movie to Netflix and it's buried behind hundreds and hundreds of other titles.

00:42:10:15 - 00:42:28:10

Clark

And they're right. And so there are some more distribution opportunities, but they still are very, very difficult. And even if, like you said, and even if they do, I mean, I know people who've have their films on Amazon Prime or Netflix or Hulu or there are many different places now. And you know, there's like their metrics are like almost nothing.

00:42:28:10 - 00:42:45:12

Clark

Like nobody will watch it for months and months and months because it's they're, they're not curated into, you know, top of mind for people. So they sit down at the bottom of, you know, 5 million different TV shows and movies and just nobody is ever going to find it. So it's it's tough no matter which way you cut it.

00:42:45:12 - 00:43:12:00

Speaker 1

But perhaps I'm an optimist, too. Yeah, I might add. You know, but I think what's really exciting about right now is that the landscape is changing so much and think that I think that, you know, whether due to the pandemic or not, I think that you're going to see a pretty big uptick, honestly, in independent theaters, because I think a lot of these multiplexes are losing a lot of money.

00:43:12:00 - 00:43:32:11

Speaker 1

I think that I think this this whole push to streaming, I think what you're going to see a smaller, independent run, more financially viable theaters. And I you know that to me and I at least that's something that I've seen a lot in Toronto lately, is that there's like this huge uptick in small independent theaters that show, you know, independent film, which is great.

00:43:32:11 - 00:43:42:16

Speaker 1

I mean, it gives those movies an opportunity to be seen on the big screen. So maybe, again, maybe I'm just maybe I'm just an optimist. But but I think that I always.

00:43:42:16 - 00:43:43:21

Clark

Would love it. I would love it.

00:43:43:21 - 00:43:57:06

Speaker 1

I think we're kind of almost in a like a new wild west of the industry right now with online distribution, like where it is, nobody's quite sure where it's going to go and how it's going to play out. Yeah, it's.

00:43:57:06 - 00:43:57:23

Clark

Interesting.

00:43:57:23 - 00:44:29:19

Speaker 1

Can be sort of it can be sort of. And I think that right now is a perfect time to make of it what you can and to kind of take advantage of of every single avenue that you can take advantage of, whether that's online, you know, YouTube. I mean, that that's that's the other thing too is like you look at the landscape of YouTube, how much that changed over the past ten years where back when I started on YouTube in 2008, it was like you would see short films on the recommended page.

00:44:29:19 - 00:44:58:12

Speaker 1

You would you would see people, short films on the homepage, like being, you know, top ten videos of the week. And it's someone's, you know, World War Two short or something. And now that's almost impossible. Now, if I saw a lifestyle article like this. Yeah, or political like clickbait, because that's where the money was. But I think that again, I think there there's definitely a pendulum swing and I think that right now I see us kind of at the precipice of this really, really click baity.

00:44:58:14 - 00:45:16:16

Speaker 1

Everything's flashy, everything's lifestyle. I think that's and I think we're slowly now starting to swing backwards into it's kind of like I sort of relate it to like the analog renaissance of, you know, people going out and getting records again and people going out and shooting on film again and people, you know, picking up, you know. So I'm not I'm not a psychic.

00:45:16:16 - 00:45:23:10

Speaker 1

I don't know if it's going to happen again. But I think if you're not if you're not hopeful about it, then then you're just going to drive yourself insane. So.

00:45:23:11 - 00:45:43:09

Clark

Well, it's you know, it's a combination of I mean, it's you know, it's interesting, too. And, you know, Herzog makes film at it myself, and he makes movies, but he has made things for television. I think, you know, made things for streaming. He clearly makes things for streaming. And so, you know, part of it is being willing enough to be, you know, to be flexible.

00:45:43:17 - 00:46:08:16

Clark

So it's, you know, but but finding that and it's kind of right. This is just the way it is with all of the creative process. It's kind of, you know, where do you draw your line with your content and with your vision? But allowing flexibility to come in so that you don't define success so narrowly for yourself that it's impossible, you know, So, you know, maybe, yes, you're not going to be a director who has their films on 2600 screens across the country.

00:46:08:16 - 00:46:32:04

Clark

But but maybe you've got a film that you have your own website and you've set up your own, you know, like I know some people who actually instead of selling it to some other VOD distributor, they distribute it themselves. They set up a paywall, they have their own website, and maybe it's only a thousand people or something. Watch the film for five bucks a pop, but maybe that's a start, you know?

00:46:32:04 - 00:46:34:01

Clark

So there's so it's been I.

00:46:34:01 - 00:46:53:06

Speaker 1

Mean, my website has a paid I'm starting to put movies that I'm making that I think are warranted of, of the money or payment I'm putting them on on my website for a dollar and you know like it's not like I'm asking a lot but I think that it's just it's right it's a way to at least generate something and some buzz.

00:46:53:15 - 00:47:14:03

Speaker 1

I think also, and maybe to segway a little bit here, we talked a lot about skill set. And I think one of the things that we very much agree on is this idea that people, they will put a goal in their mind of like, I want to make a movie, like I want to be a filmmaker.

00:47:14:04 - 00:47:14:12

Clark

Right?

00:47:14:14 - 00:47:16:17

Speaker 1

And they don't really know what that entails. And I've actually dealt with this a lot.

00:47:16:19 - 00:47:19:02

Clark

Usually it's like, I want to be Steven Spielberg. Yeah.

00:47:19:23 - 00:47:54:20

Speaker 1

And that's what I said when I was three years old. Literally, that was yeah, that was my response to when somebody asked me what I want to set up, right? Steven Spielberg Yeah, And, but, but I've actually dealt with this a lot recently in my in my work life, which is is this idea of and especially with students of mine and stuff where it's it's they their desire it's like I want to direct and it's like well a good director understands you know in in the slightest every other position on set and is able to communicate those things and is able to understand, you know, how a camera works and how a lighting crew does

00:47:54:20 - 00:48:02:22

Speaker 1

their job and how a sound crew does a job in costumes, and you don't have to be an expert. And I think that's something we've reiterated several times on here, is that you don't have to go in and be the expert.

00:48:02:22 - 00:48:03:10

Clark

At special.

00:48:03:10 - 00:48:21:07

Speaker 1

Effects. You should be able to communicate. Yeah, it's about it's about being able to communicate with those people. And it's also about, you know, within the line of my production company is what I've tried to really stress. And what everyone's been very much on board with is that we all have different talents, We all have special, you know, things that we're good at.

00:48:21:07 - 00:48:43:12

Speaker 1

And yeah, so that let's say, you know what, good. My good friend Blair, who is one of the producers on the feature film, are doing, if we're doing a short film that Blair is directing and that I'm not directing, then I can jump in and do this cinematography for it and operate camera. Now, Mandy, who is a really talented director, she can be.

00:48:43:12 - 00:48:46:18

Speaker 1

She's like a fantastic lady as well. Yeah, say hello to Mandy.

00:48:47:08 - 00:48:47:22

Clark

But I'm just not.

00:48:47:22 - 00:48:49:13

Speaker 1

But she but I mean that's the thing is that she's.

00:48:49:13 - 00:48:50:00

Clark

So.

00:48:50:15 - 00:49:11:13

Speaker 1

She you know she's a fantastic first aid so when she's off not directing, when she's not directing, she's putting her skills in. My friend Michael was like a fantastic ideas. Like he just comes up with ideas constantly. And so, you know, that's kind of when you're trying to make yourself valuable to people and you're trying to make yourself, you know, or rather invaluable to people.

00:49:11:13 - 00:49:33:14

Speaker 1

And you want people to make sure that you they want you on their set and they want to be working with you at all times. Then find a way to do that and find out a way to extend Sandra's skill sets so that you don't just kind of come in and go, Well, I've studied directed direction and I know about shot types and shot composition, and I know all about directing actors and stuff like really, you know, work with yourself that you can, you can kind of a skill set.

00:49:33:15 - 00:49:54:02

Clark

And I think a parallel to this or, you know, it goes right along hand in hand with what you're saying, is that you've got to know what you want. You really do have to know what you want. Now, again, I'll use an analogy of my of my past life as an actor. You know, so many you know, I hit the streets in L.A. and, you know, it's kind of like, you know, you kind of like it's almost like classes, right?

00:49:54:02 - 00:50:15:18

Clark

I'm like the class of 2000 or whatever, you know, And and there's like another 200,000 people that just, you know, fall off the bus onto the streets in L.A. every year with you. Right. And, you know, I saw this happen. It's like, you know, almost everybody that that fell off that bus with me when I was there. All these new young, aspiring actors didn't know what in the world they actually really wanted to do.

00:50:15:18 - 00:50:17:23

Clark

It's like you said, they're just like, well, I want to be an actor.

00:50:18:12 - 00:50:20:11

Speaker 1

Okay, What does that entail?

00:50:20:11 - 00:50:34:15

Clark

But what does that well, but do you want to be a stage actor? Do you want to be do you want to act in television? Because television and commercials are so different. Do you want to do commercials? Do you want to do voiceover? Do you want to do mocap? Do you want to do you know? And they're like, Well, I'm an actor.

00:50:34:15 - 00:50:36:20

Clark

I'll do anything. Well.

00:50:37:11 - 00:50:39:04

Speaker 1

You know, the other thing, too, is you've.

00:50:39:04 - 00:50:42:12

Clark

Got to you've got to hone in. I just want it, you know, it's like and learn.

00:50:42:12 - 00:50:43:14

Speaker 1

What's fulfilling to you.

00:50:43:17 - 00:50:59:11

Clark

Is a big difference. Right? And it's not it's about what, you know, really understanding. What do you actually want to do? What are you actually interested in? Because it is very different. Do you want to do soaps? Because doing soaps and, you know, doing so the single camera drama are radically different. Do you really want to be in commercials?

00:50:59:11 - 00:51:08:06

Clark

Because that's a full time job pursuing commercials as it is, and it's very different process than auditioning for legit theatrical stuff. It's very different.

00:51:08:06 - 00:51:28:20

Speaker 1

So perhaps me also, you know, I can just to relate to myself as well. The like one of the things that I think that I am good at is that I there are very few things in the industry that I don't like. I would be happy working as a a like a camera technician at, you know, Panavision. But I would not do.

00:51:28:20 - 00:51:31:20

Speaker 1

And that, and that's what I mean that and that's.

00:51:31:20 - 00:51:32:21

Clark

Oh no, no.

00:51:32:21 - 00:51:44:11

Speaker 1

And that's what I mean. But, but what I mean is that, that it's like if I, if I was stuck doing that I wouldn't feel like it, but like I have such a varying interest in it. There are things, of course, that I don't want to do. So for example, when I worked at TIFF, I was doing live Cam.

00:51:44:11 - 00:52:00:20

Speaker 1

It was all it was like TV, live TV camera operation. I hated it. I have no interest in doing that. So I know that there's there's exactly there's no interest there. And I mean, it was it paid well, but I have no interest in doing that as a career. And I think that's what you kind of have to you have to think about.

00:52:01:01 - 00:52:13:23

Clark

You have to maintain focus. You have to you can't you can't just try. I mean, hopefully it is right. You tried this thing because you were kind of put in a position where you had to do it. You realize you don't like it, okay? And you cut yourself off from that. You move forward. It's just, you know, it everything.

00:52:14:00 - 00:52:37:09

Clark

It's such a difficult industry to get into you. You are going to make it harder if you don't really analyze like have a heart to heart with yourself and say, okay, what do I actually really want out of this? And and then focus on that some more. But, but, and I'll even raise it above kind of this practical idea of, okay, well, what, what, what do I really want to do as far as, you know, the exact role that you want to have.

00:52:37:13 - 00:52:57:05

Clark

But why are you here doing this? Yeah. Yeah, because one of the things that I found and this was a huge kind of revelation to me, and maybe it's because I'm slow and maybe other people understood this really quickly. But, you know, when I first started acting, I was focused on almost everything but the story. So I was focused on how I looked, how I sounded.

00:52:57:05 - 00:53:27:08

Clark

I was focused on my headshot, I was focused on my resume. I was focused on the casting director and what was their background and could I find some common ground. And, you know, I was focused on pitching myself to them and I was focused on everything but the story. And as a filmmaker, you've got to focus on the story because and you mentioned this a little bit early, if your focus is on the story, that's going to carry you through so much focus on the story and the.

00:53:27:08 - 00:53:47:18

Speaker 1

Beauty of it. I mean, that's the thing is too, when I when I when I say store, like when I say to my students or whatever, you know, focus on like the story is what matters, it it is the storytelling. Yeah. And I think people often to get that confused where they're like, I just have to write a really good screenplay and that's what matters.

00:53:47:23 - 00:54:09:23

Speaker 1

Whereas and I think that you agree, which is when I say that, you know, it's the storytelling and it's the, it's the and that involves so much within the film. Like if you're going to make a film of a really good film and you're trying to, which I think everyone is trying to, unless you're doing like Birdman three or whatever, I think a lot of it is that is that you have to kind of pull all the stops.

00:54:09:23 - 00:54:39:15

Speaker 1

You know, if I have a really, really great screenplay, it doesn't stop there. It I'm going to try and make the cinematography as beautiful as I can. I'm going to try and make sure that the performances are as, you know, as as strong as I can make them. And I think that a lot of people, again, like they focus on one of the my least favorite things that I hear and I hear this so often, especially from people who are either in film school, had graduated film school, which is they'll say, you know, X is key.

00:54:40:02 - 00:54:44:05

Speaker 1

Mm hmm. So I've heard people say location is key. You know, location is the key to the movie.

00:54:44:08 - 00:54:46:14

Clark

Top three Secrets to Success.

00:54:46:15 - 00:54:57:02

Speaker 1

And it's like it's this thing that I hear so often and it's like, No, no, nothing is key. Everything is important. You just have to make sure that you you don't overthink it, too.

00:54:57:02 - 00:55:29:18

Clark

I do. I think I agree with you, but I bite. My ankle is slightly different. What I do mean is that the story is everything. And I hear what you're saying. You're saying, well, the storytelling. But I do think of it a little bit differently, so let me just speak to it a tad bit more. Sure. So to continue my analogy, when I was worried about all these other external things, when I would go in to audition or even perform, sadly, sometimes I wasn't being propelled by the story, okay by the story.

00:55:30:05 - 00:56:05:17

Clark

And then I started to learn to make the shift, to not forget all of those things, but to approach all of those things from a place of being completely captivated and involved in the story I was telling as an actor, things started to change radically. And so to translate that to being a director, when you are so spellbound, so captivated, so inside the story that you're telling, and that's the place that you're moving from for all of these different you mentioned, you know, it's it's not just the script, it's the cinematography, it's the acting performances, it's the this, this, this.

00:56:05:17 - 00:56:27:13

Clark

Of course it is. But when you're moving to those places, when your motivation for those things is coming from a place of absolute captivation and necessity from the story, I think that's when you're really on fire. And I think that's the kind of films that people recognize They're different, and I think people recognize the difference of that kind of motivation.

00:56:27:13 - 00:56:44:23

Clark

And those are the stories that at least have a fighting chance of cutting through the static of every, you know, all the stuff that we've talked about Now, the millions of films that are out there, the thousands that are released a year, all of the challenges, if you don't have that, you are really I mean, I would even ask I would say, what's the point?

00:56:45:02 - 00:57:09:11

Clark

What's the even the point of telling the story unless you are so captivated by it, you have no choice but to tell it. Every time I've worked on a film and I've and I've come out or a role and I've come at it from that place, it was a joy regardless of what the outcome was. Every time I did it, kind of from the outside in and I was like, Well, this will look good on my real or, you know, I need to do this for a buck or I look and sometimes you got to do this stuff.

00:57:09:11 - 00:57:26:22

Clark

So I'm not, you know, look, we don't live in an idealized world, but I just mean those experiences were always so far less than the experience. What, that when I was inside that story, man, and I was, like, captivated by that story and it was like I had to tell it. Then it just all those other things seem to just they fall in line.

00:57:26:22 - 00:57:43:05

Clark

It's like the universe kind of aligns and there's like this magic that can happen to you. And and that's what makes me crazy about filmmaking. The chance of that happening and when that does happen is so amazing. You know, so. So I do actually mean the story.

00:57:43:18 - 00:58:03:01

Speaker 1

Oh, totally. Yeah. I mean, I that's, that is the core of it because of course without it you can't there's not a storyteller but I mean I and what I just am more kind of pushing back on things that you see just all the time about like what is the key, what is the fundamental.

00:58:03:01 - 00:58:04:08

Clark

Oh yeah, for sure. It's like.

00:58:04:18 - 00:58:16:07

Speaker 1

This. I mean, for me and of course it's, it's also it's subjective to a degree. There are some people that don't mind a movie with bad cinematography or don't mind a movie with, you know, bad performances or.

00:58:16:12 - 00:58:16:20

Clark

Something, you know.

00:58:16:21 - 00:58:17:18

Speaker 1

With exceptions to every.

00:58:17:18 - 00:58:18:13

Clark

Rule, you know.

00:58:19:12 - 00:58:20:07

Speaker 1

And but.

00:58:20:07 - 00:58:21:11

Clark

But I think later it's not.

00:58:21:20 - 00:58:44:20

Speaker 1

Yeah, but, but I do think that there's there's a level to which the the movies that people generally consider the great and that kind of in the public eyes or the public eye is are considered like the greats they are both masterfully told stories that have wonderful, wonderful screenplays, excellently written, you know, rich, rich drama narratives.

00:58:45:04 - 00:58:45:06

Clark

And.

00:58:45:07 - 00:59:01:01

Speaker 1

So on. But also, yeah, exactly. Every everything's in place. I've written it oftentimes it's kind of funny. So everything sort of seems to fall into place occasionally in movies like that where it's like it's not even one person's doing. It's almost like an accidental success, which I think are really fascinating stories. But that's a whole.

00:59:01:04 - 00:59:19:06

Clark

Well, that's what I mean when I say that I think that the universe kind of falls in line when the motivations are pure and yeah, inside the story. But you know, maybe that's kind of a little poetry idealist B.S. but that's yeah, at least that's what I heard. But, you know, so we're getting close here to being done with.

00:59:19:06 - 00:59:40:10

Clark

Yeah. These last couple lessons, I think maybe a couple of things we've already kind of hit on, but I think we can kind of make sure that we've said our piece on a few of these last items. You know, we talked about keeping your curiosity awake. We talked about being interested in other things in life. Herzog definitely speaks to that here and these lessons.

00:59:40:10 - 01:00:03:07

Clark

And the reality is, is that, yeah, I mean, the filmmaking bubble is a goofy one. And, you know, and Herzog, you know, speaks to how silly and ridiculous Yeah. And that you really better step outside of it regularly and I think both of us agree we've talked about this and other and at least one other lesson and I think you and I maybe have slightly different opinions or or maybe not.

01:00:03:07 - 01:00:19:01

Clark

I can't remember, but we'll find out again. Now, you know, he talks about experiencing the essential moments in your life and keeping those separate and private. And I really agree with this. You know, the example he uses in the lesson is that, look, you know, if and when you have a child.

01:00:19:07 - 01:00:20:09

Speaker 1

Don't don't film it.

01:00:20:21 - 01:00:21:13

Clark

And film it.

01:00:21:18 - 01:00:22:04

Speaker 1

You have.

01:00:22:10 - 01:00:25:04

Clark

To be there to experience this moment. You know, In other words.

01:00:25:10 - 01:00:26:01

Speaker 1

There are.

01:00:26:02 - 01:00:31:06

Clark

There are definitely parts of life that you should be experiencing, not recording, because.

01:00:31:06 - 01:00:33:20

Speaker 1

You wind up as remembering through the phone.

01:00:34:04 - 01:00:57:00

Clark

Well, it's it's exactly. And I think there are two fundamentally different things when you're when you're filming something, you're observing, and when you are in life you're experiencing. And it's not just and I like it, maybe that's a little binary. It's not that you having an experience when you're filming, but my point is that there are definitely moments where you should be experiencing life and not making films.

01:00:57:00 - 01:00:58:04

Speaker 1

Your focus is averted.

01:00:58:04 - 01:01:24:02

Clark

Yeah, yeah. So experience those essential moments and and I love it. Of course, they're like, wrap up these lessons and effectively the entire class the last like the last kind of subtitle that it ends on is you are alone and, and all you have are your dreams. And I love it. I love it because, you know, it is kind of like a it's kind of a fundamental aspect to the human condition.

01:01:24:02 - 01:01:50:00

Clark

In many ways. We are alone, you know, And I just love that Herzog embraces that. It's it's just wonderful. I think it's like such a compelling part of his personality. But but he talks about how, you know, ultimately and he has some some wild examples here which he shares, especially the one about the crew member getting a snake bite and having to cut off his own foot with the chainsaw, which yeah, as much as I love filmmaking, I really hope that I mean, I hope.

01:01:50:00 - 01:01:52:12

Speaker 1

That I never have to have a crew on.

01:01:52:13 - 01:02:10:01

Clark

A set, but but he kind of talks about, you know, in kind of a little bit of a fun there is he tells these stories about how, you know ultimately at the end of the day, he had so many people trying to talk him out of what he felt was necessary for his film. You know, Fitzcarraldo and the steamboat going over the mountain.

01:02:10:12 - 01:02:40:00

Clark

And, you know, thank goodness he stuck to his guns. Right. Thank goodness we have that film and goodness, we have that story. And as he rightly knew that that was such a powerful and vital metaphor and thank goodness he stuck to his guns. And so, you know, the reality is, is that oftentimes in as an artist in any medium, you are going to be alone and all you're going to have are your dreams and but thank goodness that you have those dreams because they mean everything.

01:02:40:01 - 01:02:41:11

Speaker 1

And thank goodness you're following them.

01:02:41:20 - 01:03:02:08

Clark

That's not a small thing. Yeah, it's not a small thing. It's like he's like and all you have are your dreams. But. But think good. But that's so much. And of course, in many other ways, you're not alone. Actually, in reality. But. But yeah. So, you know, overall, I just kind of wrap up this whole thing. It's been it's been such a blast.

01:03:02:08 - 01:03:09:09

Clark

I you know, it's how I think what you and I had seen these these are these lessons originally. Yeah. How long ago now for you.

01:03:09:09 - 01:03:12:12

Speaker 1

It's 2016 would have been when we. Which blows my.

01:03:12:15 - 01:03:13:16

Clark

Mind. Yeah. Yeah.

01:03:14:01 - 01:03:16:02

Speaker 1

And I almost Well almost five years now.

01:03:16:02 - 01:03:30:07

Clark

Almost five years. Yeah. And I just remember being so captivated. Of course, I had been a, a fan of Herzog's and well before that, and I know you had to, but it was so fun to go back through these kind of talk through that there's.

01:03:30:07 - 01:03:43:04

Speaker 1

Great, great bits. Yeah. Like there's some really, really there's moments in there that I almost just like, want to show other people. Yeah. Just kind of like people that haven't taken it. Just kind of show them and be like, This is such a great line.

01:03:43:06 - 01:04:02:18

Clark

Hopefully this can be, you know, a little bit if somebody doesn't have the master class or, you know, if they haven't seen it and maybe this this series of podcast will inspire them to check it out, but it's so worthwhile. So it's been a blast. I can't believe that we've wrapped up all these lessons. It seemed like when we started, you know, a few months ago, it was like it was going to take us forever.

01:04:02:18 - 01:04:03:16

Clark

Well, here we are. Yeah, Yeah.

01:04:04:00 - 01:04:20:22

Speaker 1

I mean, it's also I think it's important to note, too, again, that we have no affiliation with master class, but I absolutely. And I'm sure you would too. I would certainly recommend the class. The Herzog class. Yeah. It, it, it can be because again and I've said this so many times, and I think if you've been listening to this, you probably have figured it out.

01:04:21:18 - 01:04:36:23

Speaker 1

It's not just about, you know, the filmmaking technique. It's not just about like, here's how philosophy of life. It's very much it's very much a kind of transcends all that stuff. It really goes into like the yeah, the philosophy of life. And it's very inspiring. Yeah.

01:04:37:13 - 01:04:41:18

Clark

Think really it inspired us to do 20 episodes of a podcast on it and.

01:04:41:18 - 01:04:49:06

Speaker 1

Yeah, and get to continue. And that's again, you know, we will be keep going. We as we said at the beginning we were.

01:04:49:06 - 01:05:14:21

Clark

Really going to be Yeah, yeah it's been such an inspiration for us, but it's as always, I mean one of the things I look, I could talk about film and filmmaking and art and life and just, you know, pontificate on that stuff forever. It's just endlessly interesting to me, but it also helps me refine my own views. I mean, talking about it here forces me to think about it more and helps me refine, you know, kind of my philosophy of filmmaking and art.

01:05:14:21 - 01:05:32:22

Clark

And I'm sure it does the same for you. And and that's kind of what it's all about. And hopefully it's interesting for a handful of people out there. So I'm so excited for our next our next episode. We're going to move forward from the lessons and go on to some new things and I'm super excited about it. So yeah.

01:05:32:22 - 01:05:38:15

Clark

All right, man. Well, as always, Colin, thanks for a great conversation and.

01:05:38:18 - 01:05:39:01

Speaker 1

Thank.

01:05:39:01 - 01:06:25:14

Clark

You everybody out there, Thank you so much for listening. We look forward to our next episode. And until then, signing off.

01:06:25:14 - 01:06:34:04

Speaker 1

Goodbye.

01:06:36:11 - 01:06:52:17

Speaker 1

All of life is suffering and you are all alone. The phenomenon of creation is the essence of life. The fire of our own evolution lit the flame that is filmmaking. Carry you into the sky. Werner Herzog.