A Stranger In The House : the website of Alan Hubbard : A University Education
More Rules (This time for Film & Theatre)
Rules For Film and Theatre
The first rule of theatre and film is: there are no rules for theatre and film.
The second rule of theatre and film is: there are no rules for theatre and film.
Now for my set of rules (or rather aesthetic preferences):
FILM:
Film should be poetry, poetry of image, of word, of acting.
Film is an eye that captures the viewers and takes them where you want. Each shot should be deliberate, precise and aware of the viewer.
Film cannot be arbitrary, each shot and the placement of things within the shot must be considered. If you can control what is seen control it utterly.
Film is a way to tap direct into someone's head. A space that is totally controlled.
Film must seek to be more than convention.
Film is the perfect medium in which to use conventions and twist them.
Film is a medium that can reinvent all the idols of the classical age for this age. Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, let them come. Kafka, Orwell, Webster walk on. If they cannot work in film then you are not making the film right. All stories can work in film if handled well.
Three films made with the same screenplay by three different people should result in three very different films. Let us make our directors auteurs and our auteurs artists. But remember the writers, without them there are only pictures:
Leo Braudy [...] observes that ‘the text, the screenplay, is at best the skeleton from which the film grows, often unrecognisably,’ [sic] the film as experienced by the audiences is the product of a director’s conception, a cinematographer’s vision, and genre conventions.Keyishian (2001)
Film has a history. Like with life the only way to evolve and create new forms is to look back into history as well as into the future.
Film is a worldwide art form. We must look at film that is not western to be wholly aware of the spectrum with which we can paint.
Hollywood is not the enemy, what Hollywood stands for is the enemy. We cannot dismiss Hollywood films. Money can make art (as long as it sells).
All films have flaws that’s what makes them about humans.“One ought to make a film in such a way that the original idea, no matter where it comes from, remains the most important thing; and the feeling that one had at that moment of having the idea is important.” Akira Kurosawa
As Kurosawa says, be true to what you have to say.
Film is about creating realities, from the reality of reality to the reality of fantasies. We can make anything real:
“Solely by use of montage we showed a living girl, but one who did not actually exist, because we have filmed the lips of one woman, the legs of another, the back of a third, the eyes of a fourth.” Kuleshov
“The art of the actor, in it’s dynamic sense, is chained to the dead background of its setting. The absurd contradiction is abolished by the cinema which is firmly attached to the action of actuality.” Mayokovsky
Film must be aware of what it is and what it can do. A director must know the technicalities of the situation (and then say fuck them I want this.....) A director must be aware of genres but avoid getting comfortable:
“It is wrong to liken a director to an author. He is more like an architect, if he is creative. An architect conceives his plans from given premises - the purpose of the building, its size, the terrain. If he is clever he can do something creative within these limitations, Architects do not only create monuments and palaces. They build houses.” John Ford
And by all means build houses. But also transform what a house means. Build all types of monuments until monuments no longer exist. John Ford was a good director and in many ways is right. But film is art and must be treated as such. Let’s build houses, in a calm, methodical way, but let’s make them beautiful.
THEATRE:
Film is not better than theatre. Film is not a modern replacement for theatre. Theatre is dying, not because it has evolved into film but because it has been replaced by it.
What has theatre to offer?
1. The possibility of variation. If you watch the same play every night of a week you will see 7 different plays. Different performances, improvisation, new emphasis, mistakes.
2. The glorious feeling of having your disbelief suspended. You are aware that the person on stage is an actor but suddenly they are the character.
3. When you watch a play you make your own film. You are the camera choosing where to look. Film is prescriptive, theatre interactive. Both are good. Both are different.
Again; in order to make good theatre an awareness of history and unwestern concepts of theatre is necessary if we wish to develop new concepts.
Don’t get set in any structure of directing or acting. It is an age old debate, most famously championed by Brecht - intellectual - and Stanislavsky - emotional - over how actors should create characters. I believe in creating a balance between emotional and intellectual performance. I believe that if you adhere to one without the other then an important part of life is missing. We must use whatever practice is appropriate and not be afraid of mixing them up. But more than this we must be aware of other methods and the methods we may discover ourselves. There are many camps and we should try to sleep in all of them. From the two above through Artaud, Barker, DV8 to philosophers we might meet in the pub, everyone has something to say and if we are to make new theatre we must try to listen to them all, then decide what we want to use.
All mediums should flow into each other (this also goes for film) and theatre can be made from anything, not just from text but from paintings, sculptures, films, dance, photography, observation. And when text is used it doesn't have to be plays: Poetry, song, novel, stream of consciousness, all is theatre.
Theatre is more than just what is put on a stage. All spaces are potential theatrical spaces.
All types of theatre must be respected from the musical to physical theatre. If only avant garde is theatre we have created an elite. If all plays are working class message pieces we have forgotten most of our dramatic vocabulary. Let things flow into each other. Enjoy all that is done well.
FILM &THEATRE:
Definition is death. Let us not consider ourselves filmmakers or theatre practitioners. We do not make films or plays. We follow the route we see to where it takes us.
We cannot ignore the world. Even fantasy must have truth.
Why make art if you have nothing to say? Consider your response.Do not insult the audience with your work, insult them in interviews. Act as if they are intelligent even though they often aren’t. They might might surprise you.
However, be aware of the audience. If your work causes no reaction you have failed.
Respect narrative even if you discard it.
Make stories: Whether straight A to B’s of events or a random emotional splatter patterns art takes the audience on a journey.
Anyone can simply reflect the world: SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
SAY SOMETHING.
Do not expect to change the world. Do not assume that anyone is listening. But forget this when you make your art.
Do not forget the aesthetic. Ideology is bland.
Do not forget the personal. Ideology is bland.
Do not forget the emotional. Ideology is bland.
Do not forget detail. It’s the little touches that make things good. Ideology is bland.
Avoid making ideology bland. It is only bland because we make it so.
You can e-mail David here
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