PAPER TOWNS (2015) is a coming-of-age film directed by Jack Schreier. This film was centered on the life of Quentin (Nat Wolff) and his enigmatic neighbor Margo (Cara Delevigne), who loved mysteries so much that she became one. After taking Quentin on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears.
Only leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. PAPER TOWNS was adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars). Surprisingly, it gathered low score in any critic sites. One answer i can think of? because they failed to crack the hidden message on PAPER TOWNS, while Jack Schreier is somewhat a Margo in real life.
I've met so many people who proudly stated that they are a director, editor, scriptwriter and director of photography. But when it comes to art directing, they tend to consider it as uninteresting. They're stupid. Main reasons? Art director is a highly skilled work.
Art Director is a superman disguised as Clark Kent.
Art directors literally have to worked their ass off since day 0. During pre-production, they have to manage almost anything. From arranging the art department budget and schedule of work, up to identifying and preparing sets, all props, and any special items that the script may needed. They have to commissioning all special effects (such as explosions or car crash sequences), hiring all vehicles (from cars to horse drawn carriages), organizing the casting of all animals (chosen by the director), and observing the construction process of the props needed.
During the production day 1, Art Directors had to present on set to oversee the construction, dressing and striking (dismantling) of the remaining sets. And even after the film wraps and the shooting is completed, Art Directors have to ensure that all sets are struck and locations cleared, and that all outstanding art department bills are paid.
Art is the biggest department on any film, and Art Director is their spearhead. Sadly, sometimes they are underappreciated. The audience tends to value highly the film directors and sometimes, director of photography. So little credit was given to the Art Director. Thus, only humble and highly committed person are allowed to walked on this path. Me? I'm half-assed person and a stage hogger, so i think i'll pass. Anyway, Let's just appreciate the ultimately tough jobs of Art Director. Here are several shorts that i think are perfectly displayed the splendid power of an Art Director:
You might be familiar with crowdfunding platform. It is a platform such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, that enable millions of people to fund a concept proposed by another user. Some thriving, some failing. But nowadays, those crowdfunding platform often get associated to startup, crazy idea in tech, gadget and engineering. But the virtue of crowdfunding should not be limited to those. Then what else?
Party
A moron (or perhaps a genius) named Zack Danger Brown started an uproar when his crowdfunding project: a party which involved with the creation of an ultimate potato salad recipes, skyrocketing in Kickstarter. Total 6,911 backers pledged $55,492 to help bring this project to life. He's mayhaps starting a potato salad as a joke (only god knows) but he certainly ended it in large amount of sums. For a potato.
Zack Danger Brown by New York Daily News
With his new crowdsourced fortune, Zack says he will create potato salad merchandise, a potato salad recipe book and even host a potato salad party during the Labor Day weekend where “the whole Internet is invited”.
Well, it's my second year acts as senior in my campus indie filmmaker community. It's not much actually, since there are thousand of filmmaker who really pour their heart, soul, and blood to filmmaking. And i'm kind of a half assed person. So, i'll write tips for another half-assed filmmaker. Here's the technique i really use to boil the ideas for a solid short film:
Personal experience.
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Awesome. Pour your experience into a solid short film script. Dig into your past. What in your life that you hated the most, and you sure as hell wanting to change them. With fiery passion to the second chance, as half assed as you might be, you'll manage to finish the production and get the shits done. Because, it's really personal to you. It's your story.
Is it interesting?
Yes your life suck. But is it worth it to waste other people time just to watch your short film? Because ultimately, you should know that your short films are supposed to be watched by other real people in the end of the day. So, before you jump to 'lets produce this film', ask yourself: are your story interesting? It is, if only it's relatable to other people. Your story only valuable if thousands or millions of people are experience the same pain as yours.
Be as local as possible.
You might think that disease and hunger in Africa is a damn good short film material. And it is. But remember, you're half assed. You won't find the budget to produce the scene or even flight to Africa to shoot the film. So let's be real: be as local as possible. Address the issue that only happening in your town, neighborhood, or family if possible. Or perhaps if you really want to address the issue in Africa, you can minimize it to semiotics and symbolism. My role model director is Abbas Kiarostami. And his "Two Solutions for One Problem" is impactful to my directing style. Since it talked of the global issue: war, potrayed by (might be Iran) children. He really do local to the big issue.
Keep it simple and stupid.
Consider your audience a troll. With their concept of intelligence, should they understand what you'll be talking in your film? I meet with so many indie filmmaker that overestimated their audience by providing the mindfucking oh-so-intelligent storyline. Let's face it: audience time are too valuable for your film. They have chores, homework, their own share of domestic problems. So tell me, why should they waste their time and their already exhausted brain power to watch your film? And this was the sole reason i could think of why the Korean Drama soaring up high. Because they treat their audience right.
You need reference.
Watch as much as short film. There's no merit in spending time to expand your reference. Maybe you'll find the role moder director that suited to your comfortable style. Being a good consumer of art makes you a better artist. And film is arguably an art form.
And here's the half-assed film i produced by using all of those concept in mind. It's private though, so you won't find it in regular Youtube search. Because of reasons.
