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Undependent filmmakers dispense with
the myopic view that filmmaking should only proceed through the script-it,
pitch-it, fund-it, cast-it, shoot-it model. Instead, they follow the
load-the-camera and turn-it-on system. This aesthetic has the effect
of teaching the basic principles of filmmaking immediately. As soon
as the novice undependent filmmaker begins working he/she engages
all of the major components of filmmaking - e.g. content, lighting,
camera placement, framing, movement, focus, film-processing, editing
and projection. By completing the entire filmmaking process from beginning
to end, the undependent filmmaker rapidly discovers the true language
of cinema. Afterall, cinema's not words on paper nor pitches for funding,
it's the fluid rhythms and textures of moving images juxtaposed with
sound. As with any language, fluency comes fastest to he/she who is
totally immersed not through subdivision and partition.
The undependent path is the most direct form of filmmaking, and as
such it is the steepest. From setting the wrong exposure to miss-cutting
the original print, the possible pitfalls are many. But with practice
comes understanding, and with understanding can come mastery. Thus
the stakes are high and the rewards great for the patient, dedicated
filmmaker who chooses the way of undependent cinema.
Emerald Reels © 1999
"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible."
- Soren Kierkegaard