THE SUPERBAD PUFFY CHAIR SOLD TO A RAPPER
2 Comments Published by BklynTAG on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 12:02 PM.Is it possible for me to care about a movie featuring adolescent-acting white males? Do my race, sex, and age limit the types of films I can enjoy?
The much hyped film SUPERBAD is number one at the box office for the second week. Some reviewers are talking instant comedy classic. It was produced by Judd Apatow, who produced and directed the two comedy hits KNOCKED UP and 40-YEAR-OLD-VIRGIN.
I saw KNOCKED UP. I thought it ok. To me it was a film aimed at pleasing a white male audience and to that end it shorted the development of the female character. I could believe the basic scenario: A beautiful, ambitious career woman has just been promoted to being an on-air TV interviewer and in a drunken celebratory stupor, sleeps one time with a grungy, chubby, happy slacker – and then finds out she is “KNOCKED UP”. I could not believe though, at least as it was scripted, that she would immediately be open to trying to have a committed sexual relationship with the happy slacker, just because he’s the father of her baby. The job of this ambitious career woman was ditched out of sight and mind from the audience for most of the film. Then at the end, PRESTO! Her job reappears and her employers finally notice her now kicking, watermelon-size belly. And of course, rather than harming her career, her pregnancy lands her a dream job. (The film’s disclaimer should be: No pregnant career woman was hurt in the course of making this film.) I didn’t leave the film KNOCKED UP “all touched”. It was ok. (Want to hear from another black sister – check out the KNOCKED UP review at http://www.3blackchicks.com )
Can I care about a film featuring an adolescent-acting white male? Do I want to? Actually one of my all time favorite films is about an adolescent-acting, slacker white male. More on that film later.
A couple of weekends ago, I happen to read in the New York Times Magazine an interview with Jonah Hill, the 23yrs old actor, who plays the chubby member of the 17 year old, white male trio in SUPERBAD. Jonah Hill seems intelligent and grounded. But what perked my interest was his answer to the question, “What do you think is the best film that disappeared overnight?” His answer was THE PUFFY CHAIR.
Well, what a coincidence. A DVD copy of THE PUFFY CHAIR was lying by my TV set. In fact, it had been lying there, unwatched for weeks and weeks. I love the Brooklyn Public Library. I can renew by phone indefinitely, unless someone else requests the item. I had been browsing the library shelves for DVD’s and couldn’t find a fifth film I wanted to watch to complete my stack. Then I saw THE PUFFY CHAIR. I had read about it from different movie reviewers and in indie film magazines. They all said good things about the film. But I just wasn’t in a hurry to see a white guy slacker film. Indeed, Jonah Hill describes the film as being about “a man who drives cross-country to bring his dad a puffy chair he had as a kid and that he found on eBay.” Driving with him is the girlfriend he didn’t want to take along, and his even slacker-slacker brother. Of course, on THE PUFFY CHAIR DVD jacket cover, there is the mandatory slacker-hero-picture of a white guy making an unmanly wild dash in his underwear.
IRREVERSIBLE HOLDS MY RECORD FOR LONGEST UNWATCHED DVD
So, it was taking me a while to get in the mood to watch THE PUFFY CHAIR. Though it certainly hadn’t yet broken my record for longest unwatched DVD sitting by my TV. That record dates back a couple of years ago, and belongs to the French film IRREVERSIBLE. I had rented IRREVERSIBLE through NetFlix, after hearing reviews that it was a well made film -- but sickening to watch. It was said to feature a brutally believable rape scene and a pulverizing fight scene. On top of that, it was being compared to the film MEMENTO – which I had found interesting concept-wise but boring character-wise – because both films had storylines that actually open at the end of the story. Then the scenes play out going back in time, until you actually get to the beginning of the story – at the end of the film.
Well, I just couldn’t seem to get my mood to match all that IRREVERSIBLE promised. Yet somehow I felt it would be a major personal defeat if I sent the film back unwatched. So IRREVERSIBLE sat unwatched by my TV for maybe 4 months. It held a permanent spot on my NetFlix list of three films that I could have out. Ultimately – though I can’t remember what mood I was in that was finally right – I did watch IRREVERSIBLE. It is an amazing film. Disturbing, yes. But it is also a layered study of intimate relationships, where your perspective of who is what changes, as the film precedes back to earlier times in the characters lives. And at the end of the film – which is the story’s beginning – there is a moment of devastating happiness. Devastating because you, the viewer, know the future is a hell hole.
THE PUFFY CHAIR’S DARK HAH-HAH-HAH!
So, back to the unwatched DVD now by my TV set. Propelled by Jonah Hill’s declaration of respect, it felt that the one moment in time that I would ever want to watch THE PUFFY CHAIR had arrived. I watched it. I loved it. It’s not a “KNOCKED UP” film. It’s a very real film. We all know the charming loser, with a short temper and a quick apology, and the ever suffering woman who loves him (or thinks she does – and why?) There is no PRESTO! moment. The white dude and the chick have confusions maybe never solved. The bruises they give each other are visible and hurting, and leave permanent damage.
And it’s funny. I mean yeah, THE PUFFY CHAIR has true HAH-HAH-HAH! moments – in a harmonious mix with the dark and sad. The ordinary can be unbelievably funny (and a little scary) when people go to extremes. Paying at a motel for one person while trying to sneak in three. Going to war to get that delivery that was “Promised today! NOT tomorrow! (Damnit!)”. It’s in these little life moments that we fall apart and show our true colors. Those of us who will brave looking at our own colors, might have some hope for the future. THE PUFFY CHAIR was a reminder to me that it doesn’t matter if the characters and their life situations are foreign to you. A truly good film shows people in their humanness, transcending culture and location and skin color and sex and age (did I leave anything out).
BROOKLYN YOUNG FILMMAKERS - LOST & FOUND FILMS
For several years Brooklyn Young Filmmakers operated a film club for working-class adults and teens. We viewed first run films at BAM and films on DVD at our office. Indie and foreign films – the types of films that make you think and make you question yourself and society – are usually not marketed to working-class people (….maybe some people don’t want us thinking and questioning – you think). If we are going to be moving out of our ruts, we need to be seeing the kinds of films that push us and send us stumbling out into the unknown. We recorded our wonderfully twisty and multi-directional film club discussions. Some of the discussions I have turned into written film commentaries. Brooklyn Young Filmmakers will shortly be putting up BYFC Lost & Found Films on our website – film commentaries on films available now on DVD that we think you should check out. We’ll post in the blog when our Lost & Found goes up. THE PUFFY CHAIR is the type of film I would show to a group of working-class adults and teens to generate an in-depth, thought-altering discussion about life, relationships, and being working class – and about being an artist not able to make art, so instead fucking up survival.
HOW DO WORKING-CLASS ARTISTS SURVIVE?
Yeah, the loser in THE PUFFY CHAIR is also a musician who has stopped making music. Do some people, because of their personal DNA, need to be expressive? Need to make art – to survive as human beings? How do working-class artists survive? Most artists (including filmmakers) are working-class, surviving economically from year-to-year, if not month-to-month. How are they able to survive emotionally in the face of such economic uncertainty? The New York Times in its Sunday, August 26th edition ran an article by Campbell Robertson, “What? And Leave Show Business?” which focuses on five working-class theater actors and how they survive. (To read the article go to http://www.nytimes.com/ and put into the search box: 8/26/2007 Theater - Campbell Robertson)
“MUMBLECORE” FILMS AS ROLE MODEL FOR RAPPERS
Another coincidence. Right after I viewed THE PUFFY CHAIR, I started seeing the film mentioned in articles about “Mumblecore” films, which is a name given to a new strain of low-low budget films made by white male directors. Mumblecore films are low cost (in the low thousands), with low production values (we can shoot in the parking lot or in my apartment), and dialogue that almost seems improvised. The cast are friends of the director, some with acting experience and some without. The storylines hinge less on major plot points, and more on talkative slacker-like characters who are being pushed over the edge by the build up of mundane crises. Because these films are being made cheaply, they don’t need big distribution deals to make a profit, many of the films are doing well in DVD releases. The IFC Theater just ran a “Mumblecore” film festival. (Just google “Mumblecore films” to find articles written about it.)
I would like to see the concept of Mumblecore films introduced to rappers. Ike Jones, a BYFC student and an ex-rapper who I mentioned in my GUNS & PRIDE post, recently told me he knew a lot of rappers who want to make films. He said even when he was rapping, he thought about making films, but there was no way in. Many low-income youth (if not on their way to being sports stars) have seen music as the most creative path towards economic success. Everyone in the hood knows someone, or the sister of someone, who’s made a name in the music world. The means of self-producing and self-distribution are readily available. But even though everyone goes to movies, up until recently no one talked about making films because no one knew anyone in film or understood the process of making films. But now that some major rap stars have become movie stars (Ice-T, Will Smith, Tupac, Queen Latifah, 50 Cent, etc) and there are cheap digital cameras, up and coming rappers are writing scripts and getting their hands on cameras. But Ike says they don’t know what they are doing or what a script really looks like.
Rappers are lovers of The Word. Those who want to depict relationships and community are having trouble breaking through in today’s rap world. I recently watched Dominic Carter of NY1 interview Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash, which is the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame. Mele Mel talked about how today too many rappers have a negative focus on gangster life, whereas Grandmaster Flash focused on political awareness and elevating the common people. Maybe the rappers who want to be real about community life might find a new vehicle for THE WORD in scriptwriting. And they would do well not to be studying big budget films, but films in the Mumblecore style that could potentially be self-produced. Ike recently recruited for the next BYFC ‘Intro to Scriptwriting’ Class a couple of rappers from Fort Greene public housing who he knows want to get into filmmaking. It will be interesting to see what they want to do with THE WORD in script form.
WRITING PARTNERS
Back to SUPERBAD. Seth Rogen (25) and Evan Goldberg (24) wrote the script. Seth Rogen is also the star of KNOCKED UP. Before you say, wow, they’re young! And they have a hit film with their first screenplay! You ought to know that the two have been working together on the script for ten years, since they were 14 yrs old and Bar Mitzvahs* buddies. They might only be in their 20’s – but they have worked almost half their lives on one script. How long have you worked on yours?
(*In the Jewish community a celebration is held for youth as they become teens (13). For boys it is called the Bar Mitzvah, and for girls it is the Bat Mitzvah. Many families are invited to the celebration. The Mitzvah circuit is where Seth and Evan met and developed the friendship that became a partnership.)
In the current issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine* there is an article on the writing partners and how they started. New friends, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, wrote their funny jokes down, and then had ideas for scenes and wrote them down. Then they kinda shaped all that into a script – though it didn’t really have a middle or an end nor was it – as they later found out – written in proper script format. So they wrote and re-imagined and re-wrote. They added characters and eventually a middle. Then through Rogen’s acting and comedy writing they met a great mentor, Judd Apatow. Judd taught them how to really hook an audience and make them care about all the jokes and all the scenes by making the characters seem real and multi-dimensional. These now twenty-something young men re-imagined and re-wrote again. It all sounds kind of easy, huh? I think it sounds mad-dog stubborn and like learning how to ride the big wave.
(*Subscribe to Creative Screenwriting’s free email CS DAILY – which is actually a weekly newsletter, go figure – http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/csdaily.html .)
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE WHITE MALE SLACKER FILM
Now to reveal my all-time favorite white male slacker film --- THE GRADUTE (1967), directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman. I will do a later post on why I love this film and how it was a cultural breakthrough.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST FILM THAT DISAPPEARED OVERNIGHT?
My selection for this honor – BLIND FAITH (1998), directed by Ernest Dickerson
(Look for a BYFC film commentary on BLIND FAITH when we put up our Lost & Found Films section on our website!)
“What do you think is the best film that disappeared overnight?”
The much hyped film SUPERBAD is number one at the box office for the second week. Some reviewers are talking instant comedy classic. It was produced by Judd Apatow, who produced and directed the two comedy hits KNOCKED UP and 40-YEAR-OLD-VIRGIN.
I saw KNOCKED UP. I thought it ok. To me it was a film aimed at pleasing a white male audience and to that end it shorted the development of the female character. I could believe the basic scenario: A beautiful, ambitious career woman has just been promoted to being an on-air TV interviewer and in a drunken celebratory stupor, sleeps one time with a grungy, chubby, happy slacker – and then finds out she is “KNOCKED UP”. I could not believe though, at least as it was scripted, that she would immediately be open to trying to have a committed sexual relationship with the happy slacker, just because he’s the father of her baby. The job of this ambitious career woman was ditched out of sight and mind from the audience for most of the film. Then at the end, PRESTO! Her job reappears and her employers finally notice her now kicking, watermelon-size belly. And of course, rather than harming her career, her pregnancy lands her a dream job. (The film’s disclaimer should be: No pregnant career woman was hurt in the course of making this film.) I didn’t leave the film KNOCKED UP “all touched”. It was ok. (Want to hear from another black sister – check out the KNOCKED UP review at http://www.3blackchicks.com )
Can I care about a film featuring an adolescent-acting white male? Do I want to? Actually one of my all time favorite films is about an adolescent-acting, slacker white male. More on that film later.
A couple of weekends ago, I happen to read in the New York Times Magazine an interview with Jonah Hill, the 23yrs old actor, who plays the chubby member of the 17 year old, white male trio in SUPERBAD. Jonah Hill seems intelligent and grounded. But what perked my interest was his answer to the question, “What do you think is the best film that disappeared overnight?” His answer was THE PUFFY CHAIR.
Well, what a coincidence. A DVD copy of THE PUFFY CHAIR was lying by my TV set. In fact, it had been lying there, unwatched for weeks and weeks. I love the Brooklyn Public Library. I can renew by phone indefinitely, unless someone else requests the item. I had been browsing the library shelves for DVD’s and couldn’t find a fifth film I wanted to watch to complete my stack. Then I saw THE PUFFY CHAIR. I had read about it from different movie reviewers and in indie film magazines. They all said good things about the film. But I just wasn’t in a hurry to see a white guy slacker film. Indeed, Jonah Hill describes the film as being about “a man who drives cross-country to bring his dad a puffy chair he had as a kid and that he found on eBay.” Driving with him is the girlfriend he didn’t want to take along, and his even slacker-slacker brother. Of course, on THE PUFFY CHAIR DVD jacket cover, there is the mandatory slacker-hero-picture of a white guy making an unmanly wild dash in his underwear.
IRREVERSIBLE HOLDS MY RECORD FOR LONGEST UNWATCHED DVD
So, it was taking me a while to get in the mood to watch THE PUFFY CHAIR. Though it certainly hadn’t yet broken my record for longest unwatched DVD sitting by my TV. That record dates back a couple of years ago, and belongs to the French film IRREVERSIBLE. I had rented IRREVERSIBLE through NetFlix, after hearing reviews that it was a well made film -- but sickening to watch. It was said to feature a brutally believable rape scene and a pulverizing fight scene. On top of that, it was being compared to the film MEMENTO – which I had found interesting concept-wise but boring character-wise – because both films had storylines that actually open at the end of the story. Then the scenes play out going back in time, until you actually get to the beginning of the story – at the end of the film.
Well, I just couldn’t seem to get my mood to match all that IRREVERSIBLE promised. Yet somehow I felt it would be a major personal defeat if I sent the film back unwatched. So IRREVERSIBLE sat unwatched by my TV for maybe 4 months. It held a permanent spot on my NetFlix list of three films that I could have out. Ultimately – though I can’t remember what mood I was in that was finally right – I did watch IRREVERSIBLE. It is an amazing film. Disturbing, yes. But it is also a layered study of intimate relationships, where your perspective of who is what changes, as the film precedes back to earlier times in the characters lives. And at the end of the film – which is the story’s beginning – there is a moment of devastating happiness. Devastating because you, the viewer, know the future is a hell hole.
THE PUFFY CHAIR’S DARK HAH-HAH-HAH!
So, back to the unwatched DVD now by my TV set. Propelled by Jonah Hill’s declaration of respect, it felt that the one moment in time that I would ever want to watch THE PUFFY CHAIR had arrived. I watched it. I loved it. It’s not a “KNOCKED UP” film. It’s a very real film. We all know the charming loser, with a short temper and a quick apology, and the ever suffering woman who loves him (or thinks she does – and why?) There is no PRESTO! moment. The white dude and the chick have confusions maybe never solved. The bruises they give each other are visible and hurting, and leave permanent damage.
And it’s funny. I mean yeah, THE PUFFY CHAIR has true HAH-HAH-HAH! moments – in a harmonious mix with the dark and sad. The ordinary can be unbelievably funny (and a little scary) when people go to extremes. Paying at a motel for one person while trying to sneak in three. Going to war to get that delivery that was “Promised today! NOT tomorrow! (Damnit!)”. It’s in these little life moments that we fall apart and show our true colors. Those of us who will brave looking at our own colors, might have some hope for the future. THE PUFFY CHAIR was a reminder to me that it doesn’t matter if the characters and their life situations are foreign to you. A truly good film shows people in their humanness, transcending culture and location and skin color and sex and age (did I leave anything out).
BROOKLYN YOUNG FILMMAKERS - LOST & FOUND FILMS
For several years Brooklyn Young Filmmakers operated a film club for working-class adults and teens. We viewed first run films at BAM and films on DVD at our office. Indie and foreign films – the types of films that make you think and make you question yourself and society – are usually not marketed to working-class people (….maybe some people don’t want us thinking and questioning – you think). If we are going to be moving out of our ruts, we need to be seeing the kinds of films that push us and send us stumbling out into the unknown. We recorded our wonderfully twisty and multi-directional film club discussions. Some of the discussions I have turned into written film commentaries. Brooklyn Young Filmmakers will shortly be putting up BYFC Lost & Found Films on our website – film commentaries on films available now on DVD that we think you should check out. We’ll post in the blog when our Lost & Found goes up. THE PUFFY CHAIR is the type of film I would show to a group of working-class adults and teens to generate an in-depth, thought-altering discussion about life, relationships, and being working class – and about being an artist not able to make art, so instead fucking up survival.
HOW DO WORKING-CLASS ARTISTS SURVIVE?
Yeah, the loser in THE PUFFY CHAIR is also a musician who has stopped making music. Do some people, because of their personal DNA, need to be expressive? Need to make art – to survive as human beings? How do working-class artists survive? Most artists (including filmmakers) are working-class, surviving economically from year-to-year, if not month-to-month. How are they able to survive emotionally in the face of such economic uncertainty? The New York Times in its Sunday, August 26th edition ran an article by Campbell Robertson, “What? And Leave Show Business?” which focuses on five working-class theater actors and how they survive. (To read the article go to http://www.nytimes.com/ and put into the search box: 8/26/2007 Theater - Campbell Robertson)
“MUMBLECORE” FILMS AS ROLE MODEL FOR RAPPERS
Another coincidence. Right after I viewed THE PUFFY CHAIR, I started seeing the film mentioned in articles about “Mumblecore” films, which is a name given to a new strain of low-low budget films made by white male directors. Mumblecore films are low cost (in the low thousands), with low production values (we can shoot in the parking lot or in my apartment), and dialogue that almost seems improvised. The cast are friends of the director, some with acting experience and some without. The storylines hinge less on major plot points, and more on talkative slacker-like characters who are being pushed over the edge by the build up of mundane crises. Because these films are being made cheaply, they don’t need big distribution deals to make a profit, many of the films are doing well in DVD releases. The IFC Theater just ran a “Mumblecore” film festival. (Just google “Mumblecore films” to find articles written about it.)
I would like to see the concept of Mumblecore films introduced to rappers. Ike Jones, a BYFC student and an ex-rapper who I mentioned in my GUNS & PRIDE post, recently told me he knew a lot of rappers who want to make films. He said even when he was rapping, he thought about making films, but there was no way in. Many low-income youth (if not on their way to being sports stars) have seen music as the most creative path towards economic success. Everyone in the hood knows someone, or the sister of someone, who’s made a name in the music world. The means of self-producing and self-distribution are readily available. But even though everyone goes to movies, up until recently no one talked about making films because no one knew anyone in film or understood the process of making films. But now that some major rap stars have become movie stars (Ice-T, Will Smith, Tupac, Queen Latifah, 50 Cent, etc) and there are cheap digital cameras, up and coming rappers are writing scripts and getting their hands on cameras. But Ike says they don’t know what they are doing or what a script really looks like.
Rappers are lovers of The Word. Those who want to depict relationships and community are having trouble breaking through in today’s rap world. I recently watched Dominic Carter of NY1 interview Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash, which is the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame. Mele Mel talked about how today too many rappers have a negative focus on gangster life, whereas Grandmaster Flash focused on political awareness and elevating the common people. Maybe the rappers who want to be real about community life might find a new vehicle for THE WORD in scriptwriting. And they would do well not to be studying big budget films, but films in the Mumblecore style that could potentially be self-produced. Ike recently recruited for the next BYFC ‘Intro to Scriptwriting’ Class a couple of rappers from Fort Greene public housing who he knows want to get into filmmaking. It will be interesting to see what they want to do with THE WORD in script form.
WRITING PARTNERS
Back to SUPERBAD. Seth Rogen (25) and Evan Goldberg (24) wrote the script. Seth Rogen is also the star of KNOCKED UP. Before you say, wow, they’re young! And they have a hit film with their first screenplay! You ought to know that the two have been working together on the script for ten years, since they were 14 yrs old and Bar Mitzvahs* buddies. They might only be in their 20’s – but they have worked almost half their lives on one script. How long have you worked on yours?
(*In the Jewish community a celebration is held for youth as they become teens (13). For boys it is called the Bar Mitzvah, and for girls it is the Bat Mitzvah. Many families are invited to the celebration. The Mitzvah circuit is where Seth and Evan met and developed the friendship that became a partnership.)
In the current issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine* there is an article on the writing partners and how they started. New friends, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, wrote their funny jokes down, and then had ideas for scenes and wrote them down. Then they kinda shaped all that into a script – though it didn’t really have a middle or an end nor was it – as they later found out – written in proper script format. So they wrote and re-imagined and re-wrote. They added characters and eventually a middle. Then through Rogen’s acting and comedy writing they met a great mentor, Judd Apatow. Judd taught them how to really hook an audience and make them care about all the jokes and all the scenes by making the characters seem real and multi-dimensional. These now twenty-something young men re-imagined and re-wrote again. It all sounds kind of easy, huh? I think it sounds mad-dog stubborn and like learning how to ride the big wave.
(*Subscribe to Creative Screenwriting’s free email CS DAILY – which is actually a weekly newsletter, go figure – http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/csdaily.html .)
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE WHITE MALE SLACKER FILM
Now to reveal my all-time favorite white male slacker film --- THE GRADUTE (1967), directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman. I will do a later post on why I love this film and how it was a cultural breakthrough.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST FILM THAT DISAPPEARED OVERNIGHT?
My selection for this honor – BLIND FAITH (1998), directed by Ernest Dickerson
(Look for a BYFC film commentary on BLIND FAITH when we put up our Lost & Found Films section on our website!)
“What do you think is the best film that disappeared overnight?”
Mark Morris is not a filmmaker or a writer but he's a dancer, choreographer and a director (artistic). He's retired as a dancer now. I was checking Wikipedia on who were the people that were born today and I found out that it's his birthday.His company, the Mark Morris Dance Company, also calls Fort Greene home just like Brooklyn Young Filmmakers Center. That's probably the best things that I love about Fort Greene -- it has a thriving artistic community just from a couple blocks away you have BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Paul Robeson Theater, BCAT, Brooklyn Music School and Urban Glass.
I was first introduced to these organization through a program called High 5. It's a program helped me as a high school student to go and experience New York City's best plays, dance, music and other performances. If you're between the ages of 13 to 18 you can go through this program too. The tickets are just $5 and the shows are listed in a catalog delivered to your school. If you don't have it you can visit their website and see which shows you can go see.
I'm glad Mark Morris opened his company in Fort Greene. It's a great asset to the neighborhood. So here's a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Mark Morris from India!
Do you have a favorite artistic institution/group or theater? What is it and why do you like it?
IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
0 Comments Published by Brooklyn Young Filmmakers on Monday, August 27, 2007 at 8:42 AM.Tina Bell is a BYFC board member and the Production Coordinator for Stiegelbauer Associates, which builds and stores sets for TV shows including "Saturday Night Live" and the soaps "As The World Turns" and "The Guiding Light".
Why should we re-educate adults to work in film careers?????
If you took an unscientific sampling at any large corporate office, I bet that you would find over half the employees wish they could change jobs but have no clue what other industries have to offer – especially the entertainment industry. They have no clue of how to go about getting the education/training needed to make the transition and how to look for work in the industry.
Brooklyn Young Filmmakers offers that opportunity, through its classes and salon series. Get insight into what happens behind the scenes with no sugar coating. Meet insiders who tell you the who, the what, and the how to move into this field. JOB SKILLS ARE TRANSFERABLE. MOVIEMAKING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!!!
Why should we re-educate adults to work in film careers?????
If you took an unscientific sampling at any large corporate office, I bet that you would find over half the employees wish they could change jobs but have no clue what other industries have to offer – especially the entertainment industry. They have no clue of how to go about getting the education/training needed to make the transition and how to look for work in the industry.
Brooklyn Young Filmmakers offers that opportunity, through its classes and salon series. Get insight into what happens behind the scenes with no sugar coating. Meet insiders who tell you the who, the what, and the how to move into this field. JOB SKILLS ARE TRANSFERABLE. MOVIEMAKING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!!!
So you think that you cannot make the transition from corporate to film/TV? Well my former life consisted of buying textiles!! My skills of negotiation and purchasing make this job a breeze!
All you makeup artists, hair folk, and stylists, IT’S YOUR TIME! The big 7th ON SIXTH Fashion Show in Bryant Park runs this year from September 5 – 12, and uses lots of volunteers – who get to meet the people running things. In my article “How To ‘Read’ A Magazine – To Get A Job”, in the BYFC NEWS Summer 2007 issue I mention the big 7TH ON SIXTH Fashion Show and how to work it for contacts. Do you know who Pat McGrath is???? Well pick up a copy of the newest VOGUE MAG and find out. She will surely be at 7th ON SIXTH!
Tina Bell is part of the HARRY POTTER nation, those book-clutching deviants
I'm Yu Yu -- the webmaster of BYFC's main site and 'Admin' for this blog. I'm based out of India in the City of Joy, otherwise known as Kolkata (the name was changed from Calcutta a couple of years back). I've been organizing/facilitating/helping out/volunteering/working with BYFC since 1999 when I was a 16 yr old high school student in New York City. I got involved when my film FRAGMENTS OF THE SPIRIT - a 16mm student film about Paul Robeson -- was screened at the famous BYFC Film Salon in the Spike Lee Auditorium at Long Island University in Brooklyn -- across from the world famous Junior's restaurant (NY cheesecake!).
From my first contact, I believed in BYFC's mission to do give job training and film education to ordinary folks in the community. What's unique about BYFC is the intergenerational learning approach. Back then we weren't a "501(c)(3)" yet, but we got together as friends, neighbors and filmmakers to organize salons, readings, and scriptwriting workshops.
I came to India when my father -- a Burmese diplomat -- was assigned to Kolkata. But my heart has never really left NYC. Staying in touch with Trayce and becoming web master for BYFC helps me to be closer to New York City. I'll be adding a dash of "masala" every now and then to this blog. I am a writer now by profession. I mainly write for online marketing and for websites. I dabble a little bit in web design and coding. In my free time, with my bro, I help build and maintain websites for other non-profit organizations in addition to BYFC.
We recently built the website for Elaan - a non-profit organization that is run mainly by youth and students. Elaan is a Hindi word that means "announcement " or "declaration". And Elaan's mission is to do exactly that -- raise awareness about child sexual abuse in India. It is the first of it's kind in terms of being both grassroots and an organization that is run by youth. The kinds of sexual abuse we deal with are physical, verbal and online. In addition Elaan runs workshops to educate parents and the community, raise awareness on HIV/AIDS, and for intervention through sexual education. There are a lot of cultural taboos in India where you can't really talk about "sex". Or a notion that, "Oh that sort of stuff can't happen in my circle -- It only happens to poor people." Another unheard of thing is that Elaan is run by a group of young people. The board and its officers are all young -- something unheard of in a culture/country that values more so than anything else "qualifications" -- pieces of paper with degrees and awards written on them. Please visit the Elaan website to know more. Right before celebrating it's 3rd birthday in July, Elaan received the Indian equivalent of a '501(c)(3)'. Like BYFC, there's a lot of work ahead for them, and like BYFC, they could use financial help.
As for BYFC, it's been great fun to be a part of this growing community -- even if I'm on the other side of the world. Getting our own non-profit status two years ago was an achievement. And getting a website up was a great team effort between New York and Kolkata. Now this blog is our venture to help BYFC to become known in the so-called "web 2.0" world. Trayce and I have been "meeting" online on a regular basis to develop and bring you more online resources and news to help guide you into the world of filmmaking and film careers. But BYFC is not just a learning center. It's not just a place to discuss films or writing. It is a place to network not only with people from the filmmaking community, but it is also a place to network with people in your community who also want to learn and might have something to teach. Remember, filmmaking is a collaborative art, unlike other art forms. It is also a science -- A science of suspense, light, photography, emotions all mixed into one big "masala", or mixture, where the final product is seen on the silver screen.
I hope you will enjoy journeying with us, as much as we've enjoyed our journey. You can join us on a regular basis by subscribing to our feed via a feedreader of your choice or email. This is a free service that will send the latest blog post to you from our blog to your email if you've subscribed to your email. A feed reader is a syndiction service that you can have in your computer (you probably have one if you use Firefox.) If you want to learn more about feed reader click here. If you want to go ahead and subscribe to the BYFC blog via email click here.
You can also contribute to building BYFC's online community. When you read our posts, please send us your comments. If you would like to be part of the flesh & blood BYFC community you can take our classes and attend our events -- Link to classes and salons. If you are a fundraiser or a funding source who would like to talk with Brooklyn Young Filmmakers about helping us open a Career Guidance & Networking Center for Careers in Brooklyn, please email or call us: wearebyfc@gmail.com (718)935-0490.
We're also looking for guest posts on our blog. If you're a filmmaker or film professional interested in contributing an article please leave a comment on the blog or email us: wearebyfc@gmail.com. If you are a filmmaker or film professional who would like to be a guest speaker or mentor, or who is looking for PAs for a shoot, you can also email or call us: wearebyfc@gmail.com (718)935-0490.
That's all from me for now. There's still a lot of things to cover and write about so stay tuned and visit us often. If you feel there's something we need to talk/write about or if you have questions regarding filmmaking and/or community building let us know. Treat this blog as an open forum.
Labels: About Us
On Friday I met in the BYFC office with Ike Jones, who is part of the special student cohort* working on ‘SCRIPT LITERACY 101’, our October 17th event at the Brooklyn Public Library. I am directing his scene, GODFATHER’S CRIB, one of the four short scripts we are showcasing October 17th.
Ike is in his late 30s and grew up in Fort Greene public housing. He worked in heavy construction for fifteen years, then got a little lost in life for a few years. He wrote a book and got some help. Now he's trying to gain new skills, so he can find work that truly interests him. You can find copies of his book HUSTLER'S DON, by Ike Capone (his writing name) on Amazon.com. The readers reviews say that it's an engrossing and real story -- that would be even better if the author had had a good editor working with him. And that's still Ike's situation today. He's ready to learn, ready to do. He's just asking for someone to teach him.
(* I happen to really like the word “cohort”. The sound of it is strong, mysterious. It means:
1) A group of warriors or soldiers
2) A group of individuals having a mission or membership in common
3) Companion, colleague
Should we not be all these things?! Therefore, I refer to both the individual student as a “cohort”, and to the student group as a “cohort”. Is this not, “One is all, and all is one” time? )
One of the goals of this blog is to encourage our students to write down their thoughts and ideas. To have something written allows them to step back and observe and better organize their own thoughts and ideas. So when I do a blog entry that pertains to the cohort (as this one does), we have a sergeant-at-arms who will rouse the troops to respond back with their comments.
PROFILE:
The 12 students in this special cohort range in age from twenties and thirties to forties and fifties and one senior citizen. Some of them rush from fulltime or part-time jobs, or other schools, to get to class. Some have extensive skills from prior jobs that might easily translate to film careers --- like hair, tailoring, carpentry, electrical, and construction work. Some are scholarship students who are looking for survival work – and they dare to dream they might actually get survival work that also interests them. Some of the students never planned to take a scriptwriting class (and even feared writing). But we told them, if you want a comprehensive preparation for film work, you need to understand how scripts are shaped and used as blueprints for production.
Ike is in his late 30s and grew up in Fort Greene public housing. He worked in heavy construction for fifteen years, then got a little lost in life for a few years. He wrote a book and got some help. Now he's trying to gain new skills, so he can find work that truly interests him. You can find copies of his book HUSTLER'S DON, by Ike Capone (his writing name) on Amazon.com. The readers reviews say that it's an engrossing and real story -- that would be even better if the author had had a good editor working with him. And that's still Ike's situation today. He's ready to learn, ready to do. He's just asking for someone to teach him.
(* I happen to really like the word “cohort”. The sound of it is strong, mysterious. It means:
1) A group of warriors or soldiers
2) A group of individuals having a mission or membership in common
3) Companion, colleague
Should we not be all these things?! Therefore, I refer to both the individual student as a “cohort”, and to the student group as a “cohort”. Is this not, “One is all, and all is one” time? )
One of the goals of this blog is to encourage our students to write down their thoughts and ideas. To have something written allows them to step back and observe and better organize their own thoughts and ideas. So when I do a blog entry that pertains to the cohort (as this one does), we have a sergeant-at-arms who will rouse the troops to respond back with their comments.
PROFILE:
The 12 students in this special cohort range in age from twenties and thirties to forties and fifties and one senior citizen. Some of them rush from fulltime or part-time jobs, or other schools, to get to class. Some have extensive skills from prior jobs that might easily translate to film careers --- like hair, tailoring, carpentry, electrical, and construction work. Some are scholarship students who are looking for survival work – and they dare to dream they might actually get survival work that also interests them. Some of the students never planned to take a scriptwriting class (and even feared writing). But we told them, if you want a comprehensive preparation for film work, you need to understand how scripts are shaped and used as blueprints for production.
Back to the office and Ike. I am directing his scene, GODFATHER’S CRIB, one of the four short scripts that we selected to showcase October 17th. I am directing two of the scripts, and overseeing student directors (who have never directed before) for the other two.
BACKGROUND:
BYFC offers both it's classes through the Continuing Ed Dept of NYC College of Technology. (The Workforce Development Center there subsidies our scholoarship students.) Our Intro to Script class is normally 3 sessions (9 hours) long. The assignment for the students over the three weeks is to write (and then hopefully rewrite) a scene written within given perimeters -- one location / 2 to 3 characters / must have an escalating conflict and a resolution. In class students stand up and read each others scenes. The emphasis in our class is equally on teaching our students analysis, problem solving, and communication skills, as it is on writing skills. Once their minds are freed up and made agile, their words flow.
BYFC offers both it's classes through the Continuing Ed Dept of NYC College of Technology. (The Workforce Development Center there subsidies our scholoarship students.) Our Intro to Script class is normally 3 sessions (9 hours) long. The assignment for the students over the three weeks is to write (and then hopefully rewrite) a scene written within given perimeters -- one location / 2 to 3 characters / must have an escalating conflict and a resolution. In class students stand up and read each others scenes. The emphasis in our class is equally on teaching our students analysis, problem solving, and communication skills, as it is on writing skills. Once their minds are freed up and made agile, their words flow.
When we decided to plan a public showcase of student scripts, I extended the “Intro to Script” class by another three sessions for this special cohort. At the end of the six weeks, the students and I selected four of the student scenes to present in a "theatrical" manner at the showcase. We are doing them with actors blocking, props, wardrobe, and minimalistic sets. Then I required that all the students take our “Getting Started in Film Careers” class (previously known as “Intro to Production Assistant” ).
I really want the students to have a firsthand experience of how a writer has no control over how his screenplay might get translated to the screen. The director is the director of it all. But the more a writer understands what directors do, how actors work, and the how all the visuals (including wardrobe and props) can be used to advance a story, the better chance the writer has of writing a script the director doesn't want to "fix".
DIRECTING GOALS
A good director personalizes the script and comes up with her own vision of what is most important and interesting in it. Then she uses her full palette -- the actors, sets, wardrobe, props, sounds, colors, locations, music, lighting, and framing to add dimensions to the storytelling, which the written blueprint she is working from (the screenplay) could never have. Along the way the story, as the scriptwriter wrote and meant it, can change drastically with just a few key strokes by the director.
I want students to understand how a good director establishes her own point-of-view towards the story and then plays it out visually, shooting the film (complete with sound) in her head. Knowing this will help them if they want to be directors, or if they want to work with directors. It’s the director’s show and everything, including the script, is meant to be malleable to her vision (limited of course by budget and producer’s contractual power to interfere).
A good director personalizes the script and comes up with her own vision of what is most important and interesting in it. Then she uses her full palette -- the actors, sets, wardrobe, props, sounds, colors, locations, music, lighting, and framing to add dimensions to the storytelling, which the written blueprint she is working from (the screenplay) could never have. Along the way the story, as the scriptwriter wrote and meant it, can change drastically with just a few key strokes by the director.
I want students to understand how a good director establishes her own point-of-view towards the story and then plays it out visually, shooting the film (complete with sound) in her head. Knowing this will help them if they want to be directors, or if they want to work with directors. It’s the director’s show and everything, including the script, is meant to be malleable to her vision (limited of course by budget and producer’s contractual power to interfere).
GODFATHER'S CRIB
When Ike's scene GODFATHER'S CRIB was first read in class, it was one of the scene's that everyone immediately got and liked.
Synposis: The GODFATHER is a low-key, street savvy man who is playing cards in his crib with LEROY, a friend that cheats. TINY, a young man who is staying with him, hurries into the house, goes briefly to another room, and then leaves out again. Seconds later gun shots ring out. The young man hurries back in, pursued by PAT, the person he shot at. It is up to the Godfather to defuse the situation. (Note: I allowed Ike in his first rewrite to add a fourth character to his scene -- the person who was shot at)
Ike wrote great dialogue and vivid character descriptions, and he wrote about a situation that everyone could imagine. But I told Ike something was missing; it was not hitting enough notes. In real life, a person as low-key as the Godfather was written, could conceivably defuse a potentially violent scene. When playing a story though before a film audience, you have to take them on more of a ride, and create more dimensions to the actions of characters.
When we first put GODFATHER'S CRIB up with actor blocking, the student actors were able to recognize areas where they did not have enough information. Who was Tiny to the Godfather where he could just enter freely into his crib? Would it really be so easy for a man to step in-between two hotheads with guns, speak a few calming words, and get them to lower their guns?
If we look to daily newspaper headlines, it would seem that the person who tries to defuse a violent situation is apt to be the first victim. Yet, as director, I wanted to embrace this vision, that peacemakers still have power. What was needed was more back story, for both the Godfather and Tiny. And there needed to be a turning point, where something erupted in the Godfather, recalling old ghosts, and turning him for a second from a lay-back character into someone capable of violence himself. This transformation will shock the two younger characters, Pat and Tiny, who see the Godfather as the embodiment of stability and calm. In that moment of surprise, the Godfather has the power to disarm them.
I looked in the script for a key moment where I could work Godfather's eruption in. I found it when the Godfather gives Pat the money Tiny owed. But instead of being satisfied, Pat waves the gun and starts talking about pride. Here I have the Godfather explode. "GUNS AND PRIDE?!" he cries, as he's thrown back into his own memories of what happens when you mix guns and pride.
The "guns and pride" phase immediately crystalized for the actors, and the rest of the cohort, what the scene was about. I also wanted to play off the word "crib" in the title. Yeah, on the street, it can mean one's home. But in the home "crib" is where we put our babies when we are taking care of them.
So then I turned to Ike, the scriptwriter, and said make these changes. And to the cohort I said, this is what happens to your blueprint -- it gets changed. If you want to be a successful writer, you better be ready to make the changes. The easier you are for the director to work with, the more likely you will be kept on to do re-writes -- rather than a new writer being brought on. I commend Ike on being a great writer to work with.
THE GODFATHER'S CRIB -- How Do You Separate "Guns & Pride" ?
Find out October 17th at our 'SCRIPT LITERACY 101' showcase.
I feel like a nervous pianist, sitting in front of an amazing new instrument. I have been told it has the power to resonate across the world. My nervous hands hover over keys. I’m testing now my sounds. Can I communicate heart and mind to others? And do they want to know mine?
This is my first blog entry, ever. But I’ve been reading everywhere about the potential power of blogs. The goal of Brooklyn Young Filmmakers Center’s blog is to test out the “THE POWER OF US” (see the BYFC News, Winter 2007). We are a non-profit run by volunteers of diverse ages, mostly women of color. We are working to open up a Career Guidance & Networking Center for jobs in film that will serve both adults and teens. This blog will help us get out information about film careers and film literacy to working-class people – and we hope it will help us raise support to open our center.
Me, I’m a middle-age, working-class black woman. I have no health plan or savings. I have very irregular income based on freelancing jobs and teaching. I’m a renter hanging by fingertips in rapidly gentrifying Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I came to New York to study filmmaking after a first career in California in social work (rape and family violence). While scrambling for survival work, I took all kinds of filmmaking and acting courses, here and there, and got firsthand experience as a PA on low budget productions. I made two uneven short films years ago. And I have scripts I have written sitting in a stack on my shelf. Pretty impressive, huh?
Well, I’m also founder/director of Brooklyn Young Filmmakers. I’m a systems thinker and a dreamer, and a pretty damn good teacher and writer. And for some years, through the educational activities of BYFC, I’ve been talking to and studying filmmakers on all levels, from junior high school level to union level.
One of my co-conspirators, Yu Yu, is also co-moderator of this blog and the BYFC webmaster. She’s handling her end from India, where she now lives. She’s worked with me on BYFC since she was a 16 yr old youth media producer here in New York --she’s now 25.
Stay tuned, and you will be meeting a passionate group of co-conspirators who believe that filmmaking and film studies can be used as an incredible vehicle for changing the lives of working class people – even if they never go into film careers.
This is my first blog entry, ever. But I’ve been reading everywhere about the potential power of blogs. The goal of Brooklyn Young Filmmakers Center’s blog is to test out the “THE POWER OF US” (see the BYFC News, Winter 2007). We are a non-profit run by volunteers of diverse ages, mostly women of color. We are working to open up a Career Guidance & Networking Center for jobs in film that will serve both adults and teens. This blog will help us get out information about film careers and film literacy to working-class people – and we hope it will help us raise support to open our center.
Me, I’m a middle-age, working-class black woman. I have no health plan or savings. I have very irregular income based on freelancing jobs and teaching. I’m a renter hanging by fingertips in rapidly gentrifying Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I came to New York to study filmmaking after a first career in California in social work (rape and family violence). While scrambling for survival work, I took all kinds of filmmaking and acting courses, here and there, and got firsthand experience as a PA on low budget productions. I made two uneven short films years ago. And I have scripts I have written sitting in a stack on my shelf. Pretty impressive, huh?
Well, I’m also founder/director of Brooklyn Young Filmmakers. I’m a systems thinker and a dreamer, and a pretty damn good teacher and writer. And for some years, through the educational activities of BYFC, I’ve been talking to and studying filmmakers on all levels, from junior high school level to union level.
One of my co-conspirators, Yu Yu, is also co-moderator of this blog and the BYFC webmaster. She’s handling her end from India, where she now lives. She’s worked with me on BYFC since she was a 16 yr old youth media producer here in New York --she’s now 25.
Stay tuned, and you will be meeting a passionate group of co-conspirators who believe that filmmaking and film studies can be used as an incredible vehicle for changing the lives of working class people – even if they never go into film careers.
To you, we may seem to be walking in Don Quixote’s footsteps, as we refuse to be sidetracked by the statistics and boxes that society, and too often funding sources, judge by. Usually the value of a program is determined by what can be reduced to numbers and neatly fitted into a tight category. Who wants to fund discussion and research; development of curriculum and informational handouts; and intergenerational educational forums and networking opportunities? (Please let us know!) We’ve been doing it as volunteers, with a few small grants and lots of in-kind help from community institutions and film professionals.
Say, do you know how many community centers the New York City Housing Authority ( www.nyc.gov/nycha ) has in Brooklyn alone? Over fifty! Brooklyn Young Filmmakers has an office in the Whitman Center, a NYCHA community center in the basement of a public housing residential building. It’s right off Myrtle Avenue, across the street from Fort Greene Park. This may be more geographical info than you want, especially if you are across the world – but you are forewarned! The BYFC blog is also going to be about location. It’s a great part of who we are --Rah! Brooklyn! Rah! (see Director's Message for more information)
We believe we can nurture a lot of birds from one hand. So what will our blog be about? Film / careers / students / teaching / funding / survival / location / community / India / links / how you can support us. It’s all fair game, because it’s our game. We also will be alerting you, as bit by bit, we add more info to our website. Don’t miss our new Summer 2007 issue of the BYFC News, which features my interview with John Ford, former Property Master and current President of Local 52 (Don’t know who Local 52 represents? – Then check it out!).
Well, I’ve written my first blog entry. And now we play tag. Who will send me the first comment? --- BklynTAG (Trayce Allyson Gardner)
p.s.
Plus check out Video Jug for some great short instructional videos on filmmaking and scriptwriting.
Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday is today, August 13th (born in 1899). To learn more about the vision and techniques of the director who put Freud into the movies see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock and http://hitchcock.tv/ The last film for Bryant Park’s outdoor summer screening series is PSYCHO on August 20th (Manhattan, 42nd & 6th Avenue, sundown)
Say, do you know how many community centers the New York City Housing Authority ( www.nyc.gov/nycha ) has in Brooklyn alone? Over fifty! Brooklyn Young Filmmakers has an office in the Whitman Center, a NYCHA community center in the basement of a public housing residential building. It’s right off Myrtle Avenue, across the street from Fort Greene Park. This may be more geographical info than you want, especially if you are across the world – but you are forewarned! The BYFC blog is also going to be about location. It’s a great part of who we are --Rah! Brooklyn! Rah! (see Director's Message for more information)
We believe we can nurture a lot of birds from one hand. So what will our blog be about? Film / careers / students / teaching / funding / survival / location / community / India / links / how you can support us. It’s all fair game, because it’s our game. We also will be alerting you, as bit by bit, we add more info to our website. Don’t miss our new Summer 2007 issue of the BYFC News, which features my interview with John Ford, former Property Master and current President of Local 52 (Don’t know who Local 52 represents? – Then check it out!).
Well, I’ve written my first blog entry. And now we play tag. Who will send me the first comment? --- BklynTAG (Trayce Allyson Gardner)
p.s.
Plus check out Video Jug for some great short instructional videos on filmmaking and scriptwriting.
Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday is today, August 13th (born in 1899). To learn more about the vision and techniques of the director who put Freud into the movies see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock and http://hitchcock.tv/ The last film for Bryant Park’s outdoor summer screening series is PSYCHO on August 20th (Manhattan, 42nd & 6th Avenue, sundown)
What Hitchcock said to a woman who complained that PSYCHO’s shower scene so frightened her daughter that the girl would no longer shower: "Then Madam I suggest you have her dry cleaned."
Labels: About Us
Welcome to BYFC Blog!
6 Comments Published by Brooklyn Young Filmmakers on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 12:19 PM."It's hip, it's happening, it's now, it's wow, and how?!"
-- from Spider-man 3--
-- from Spider-man 3--
Lets enjoy watching movies together and learn the magic of filmmaking.
