Independent Filmmaking as PERSONAL IDENTITY FILMMAKING
& Since Documentary has become the New Independent Filmmaking (Part 2 of 2.)
Click here for: Independent Filmmaking as PERSONAL IDENTITY FILMMAKING & Since Documentary has become the New Independent Filmmaking (Part 1 of 2.)
(NOTE: This essay on Independent Filmmaking was written on November 14, 2019, so before COVID-19, but the message stands even stronger now. It will be published in April, 2020. All Rights Reserved)
The Auteur: An Independent Filmmakers Publication
The Auteur: An Independent Filmmakers Publication, to be launched shortly on Medium at medium.com/@theauteur, will be a Film Theory & Film Criticism Publication by Film Organization The Auteur.
The investigation into the State of Independent Filmmaking, and the fact that it is still relevant as an Art Form today, is the main reason why I am launching my Film Publication The Auteur.
I’d like to contribute a few potential solutions to ensure its’ survival.
AUTEURISM & PERSONAL IDENTITY FILMMAKING
Independent Filmmaking simply means making films On Your Own (mostly) and Without Money (mostly.)
And in terms of Hollywood, means made outside of the Studio System.
It almost automatically means Low-Budget, as film is a rather expensive and also elaborate art form.
It is also almost automatically rather Personal in nature, as those films as “easier/ less expensive” to make, (and therefore actually more interesting, if you value examining human, personal life at least.)
The word AUTEUR, as I see it, and apply here, to the Medium Film Publication The Auteur that is, means applicable to a kind of Filmmaking in which a combination of at least some of the following aspects takes place;
The Filmmaker is a Complete Artist, (a Polymath by virtue of artistic curiosity and financial necessity,)
as the preferably the Writer of the film as well,
besides very importantly the Director of the film,
and also preferably the Producer, or one of the main producers (creatively, of the overall product and its marketing plan, and financially, as funding the project or getting the funding at least.)
And it helps even more if the Filmmaker has experience in various other areas of filmmaking, or art and life altogether, (Cinematography, Acting, Editing, Music, Marketing, etc.);
The Filmmaker’s Personal Vision (philosophy/ belief/ POV, over just artistic curiosity even,) is expressed through the Film;
The Filmmaker’s Personal Identity/Identities, or aspects thereof, (race, nationality, legal status, sex, gender/ID, sexual orientation, age, special abilities/disabilities, religion/belief-systems/ politics,) are expressed through the Film;
The Filmmaker’s Work has a Basis in Personal Experience and/or History,
and Most Importantly, a certain Human Truthfulness is of Primary Importance in the Film.
I’d also add, and reiterate again, that this kind of filmmaking is necessarily done independently of corporate funding and with a certain entrepreneurial spirit that is incompatible with corporate agendas.
And that because of this independent spirit and lack of corporate aide the budget is necessarily on the low end, and that this is even preferable for the purposes of human authenticity and creative control.
And lastly, that because of this kind of independent filmmaking, with a focus on human truthfulness, the focus and methods of the film also necessarily include importance of characters over plot, or rather character behavior as plot even, the importance of humanity and a range of human behavior over the cynical, the absurdist, shocking or super heroic/ supernatural types of storytelling.
This kind of independent filmmaking is human/ actor/ performance-focused rather than technically-focused, and usually of a dramatic nature/ drama-genre, (even though this can and should include comedy and tragedy and everything in between, in one film that is, and seems to also have elements of the experimental as well.)
This kind of independent filmmaking is authenticity-based and truthfulness-based, rather than fantastical or strictly “positive,” but rather complex, contradictory, uneven, nonlinear, questioning, introspective, dramatic, mature, and sometimes uncomfortable, gritty or crude.
It is also, as is any human-based material, funny, idealistic, sweet, hopeful, romantic, and any of the things not necessarily immediately associated with the “seriousness” of truth and drama.
And this kind of independent filmmaking is truthfulness-based, as in with a focus on human authenticity, but does not necessarily require for it to be “a true story,” or purely autobiographical, even though it absolutely can be.
Sometimes it’s simple and straightforward to pinpoint the Auteur of a piece but sometimes it gets complicated.
What matters most is that this is the coherent and strong vision of preferably a single individual, more so even than who that individual exactly is.
And super importantly, the very Purpose of this kind of independent filmmaking is to make one genuinely feel and think about life, rather than escape from it.
The above set of Principles I devised around my understanding of Auteurism, and to deepen the concept of Auteurism even, to specifically focus in on personal identity and minority identities/ statuses.
They are not necessarily the actual guidelines of my Film Manifesto, but do closely tie into the Manifesto.
I will publish the 4-Point Film Manifesto for a new Independent Filmmaking Movement at the very end of this loosely multi-part article about the launch of the Film Organization The Auteur and its’ Filmmaking Publication on Medium, The Auteur: An Independent Filmmakers Publication.
(See: A 4-Point Manifesto, for a New Independent Film Movement.)
(There will also be separate Film Notes that go into my thoughts about Independent Filmmaking much deeper, including potential creative and financial solutions, and Essays on Positive VS Meaningful On-Screen Representation, Montage VS Mise En Scene, The Roots of the Superhero in American Exceptionalism, and The Male and Female Gaze, from a Trans-Masculine Perspective.)
But this is where I’d like to think that I am actually deepening the concept of Auteurism, by specifically including/ and focusing in on Personal Identity and Minority Identities/ Statuses.
I don’t mean to suggest Identity Politics so much as just an Intentional Awareness in the story of Identity, and how it serves specific Purposes in the story in terms of Motivation, and which also, very importantly, adds a sense of Urgency to the Story.
I’d like to call this specific and deeper form of Auteurism, as I see it, PERSONAL IDENTITY FILMMAKING, (My Own Term for My Own Concept.)
This concept also answers the problem of lack of diversity and inclusion, by not focusing on quota’s specifically but rather on authenticity and urgency.
Does this story reflect the lives of certain people authentically, and is this story of urgency, and of necessity even?
Listed below are a few more Examples of Auteur Films with Personal Identity Filmmaking qualities, as I define these terms.
Many people would surely initially think that Martin Scorsese is the Auteur of Taxi Driver (1976) as its’ director, with Robert De Niro completely owning the title character, but it is clearly mirrored on the very personal life experiences of its’ screenwriter Paul Schrader, who therefore in my opinion, and according the principles I laid out above, would really be the true Auteur of the film.
It already gets slightly more complicated with Barry Jenkins Moonlight (2016,) of which I argue that despite Barry Jenkins being the brilliant screenwriter and the director, the playwright of the original source material, and whose life it is based on, Tarell Alvin McCraney is the true Auteur of Moonlight.
Despite the fact that both individuals are from the same neighborhood as depicted in the film, Freedom City, Florida, and are both male and Black, the key difference is of course that McCraney is gay and that this a crucial, if not the single most important, identity depiction in the film.
Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015) gets even more complicated because the original author of the book, Patricia Highsmith, is diseased, and cannot give her final approval of the overall finished film, and so the deep and personal vision of the film hinges entirely on the screenwriter Phyllis Nagy.
Both writers are of course lesbian, and this is again the single most crucial identity depiction in the story. I’d personally give the Auteur credit of the film version to Nagy, despite Todd Haynes’ excellent direction and own personal insider knowledge of homosexual life as a gay man himself.
And Stephen Daldry’s The Hours (2003) gets super complicated, with Stephen Daldry directing, based on a script by David Hare, based on book by Michael Cunningham, inspired by the novelist Virginia Woolf and her book Mrs Dalloway in particular. There appropriately seem to be as many layers to the authorship of the material as there are to this masterpiece of a film itself.
I’d say the uniqueness of this particular telling of Virginia Woolf’s story is the brainchild of Michael Cunningham in particular, and he is therefore in my opinion the Auteur behind the film, even if not directly involved with the film.
Of course the persona and philosophy of Virginia Woolf herself is what truly holds this entire vision together.
And again, it is important to note the homosexual orientation of both authors, Virginia Woolf and Michael Cunningham, regardless of their gender still, as this is the absolute leitmotif in the film. The film itself of course does focus primarily on female homosexuality.
And John Cassavetes’ highly personal films, dealing primarily with love and the lack of it, are all fitting of the title Auteur Films, even if he wouldn’t have called them that himself.
Again, who the particular Auteur of a film is is not the single most important thing, and in most of the examples listed above the director isn’t even the one.
What matters most is, in my description of Auteurism, combined with what I call Personal Identity Filmmaking, is that a film reflects an awareness of authenticity of human behavior is general, and of personal identity in particular within that.
Personal identity in terms of social status, and the particular needs and complications that come with that identity, and that this element of personal identity is an important driving factor in the story, giving it a sense of necessity and urgency, the more marginalized that identity is by society.
Thank you for reading,
The Auteur: An Independent Filmmakers Publication
The Auteur will launch shortly as a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit Film Organization (2020)
Brief Bio
