The Art of Filmmaking
Yesterday while driving to campus I was listening to an interview on NPR about creativity. The interviewer asked the author of a book on creativity to describe the definition. Personally, I feel defensive toward the notion of writing or describing any formula or process for creativity. To me, creativity is spontaneous by nature, and assigning any form of method to it negates the very spark of its natural manifestation. In response to the interviewer’s question, the author described the source of creativity as a substance that lives in the subconscious of the creator. Original ideas and authenticity come from within and present when an opportunity arises for manifestation.
Georges Melies offered a new and creative approach to
storytelling with his 1902 silent film “A Trip to the Moon.”
Though I am unwilling to read his book — again, I believe limiting a formula or method for the creative process to words on a page is blasphemous — his answer did resonate to a degree. I have had the opportunity over the course of my career to have many professional titles that include the word “creative.” These include creative director, chief creative, and director of creative services. In each capacity, my job has required me to rely on my intuition and ability to see things in an original way, and then to communicate using various art forms and mediums on behalf of companies and organizations. Mediums in my work as a professional communicator include illustration, graphic design, photography, creative writing, and filmmaking.
While corporate and cause filmmaking comprise a specific genre, the medium is indeed a medium for artistic communication. Sidney Pollack described, “The best part of what the filmmaker does — the part, when it works, that makes you want to see the film — doesn’t come from a rational consciously controllable process. It comes from somewhere inside the filmmaker’s unconscious. It comes from making unlikely connections that seem inevitable, from a kind of free association that jumps to odd or surprising places, conclusions that cause delights, something that creates goose pimples or awe.”
Consider Georges Melies famous French silent, black and white film shot in 1902, “A Trip to the Moon.” Melies broke ground with his ideas for creating moving pictures to tell a story, and one that required imagination of both the production team and the film’s viewers. The work was groundbreaking for its display of special effects and for capturing the imagination of the filmmaker in a new medium for artists. Today, filmmaking comprises many genres and is utilized worldwide to tell stories of endless types.
This color restored still frame from “A Trip to the Moon”
illustrates an additional artistic interpretation.
Eloquently stated, Pollack describes the very reason why filmmaking is an art: it comes from within, from “making unlikely connections that seem inevitable.” In eloquent words, Pollack offers a perfect description of creativity, and convincingly why filmmaking is truly, a form of art.
Q: Describe the aspects of creativity you witnessed in the last film you watched. Also, would you consider it an art film? Why or why not?
