GREATwarEAGLE said:
You seem like a nice guy Jason. But this project seems very self-important. Pretentious.
So there's no script, right? You walk around talking to people about making a film about promoting youself for making a movie about promoting yourself.
I'm really not trying to insult you - its just criticism. We all get criticism. Every pro established filmmaker gets criticism. And this isn't personal - I don't know you and you don't know me.
What is the planning that is going into this?
There is something that turns me off about this. It seems like a movie about promoting youself purely for the sake of exposure and or fame. I can't applaud every filmmaker just because they want to make a film. Every film is a struggle. I'm sure there were struggles involved in the production of Showgirls and Gili.
If it's just to demonstrate the struggle that new filmmakers go through - there are already plenty of doumentaries out there that illustrate that point by following the production of an actual film. And there are even documentaries that illustrate that even established award winning filmmakers face obstacles.
The idea, at first seems like a cute novelty, but I can't see it more than that.
But maybe you can shed some light. Or just ignore me.
But again, honestly, you seem like a nice guy. And I'm sure you've gotten similar responses from other people - so you've proabably already got a well rehearsed defense.
No worries. I welcome any opinions that anyone might have. There are times when people do not fully understand the concept of the film and it's usually only after about a 30min conversation that they really start to understand. Others get it after a couple of sentances. Some don't get it after an hour
But that's ok. The film isn't necessarily for everyone and after some of the slams over at the
Rotten Tomatoes forum, there's nothing that you could say that would offend me. I try to keep a very open approach with this film. I have to...otherwise I would go crazy. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect them all.
Anyway, you have valid questions and it is certainly not the first time that someone has gotten a bad taste from the whole StarMeter and "promoting myself" mentality. In fact, the StarMeter is a very small part of the film (even though the title "I Am DB" would suggest otherwise - my mom came up with the name). I would not say that I am promoting myself either. I wanted to have such a thing in place however in case the film was successful - so that it's success could be tracked and disected over a timeline. It's planning ahead and it's finest.
At the beginning, it was much more me-centric since I was about the only person in the film; cast OR crew. But now the film has grown in production value and crew size. It's very much a team effort now and the film would not be where it is today if it weren't for the help of the expanding crew. NUVO named me top 30 under 30 in Indianapolis, but that was their choice and their decisioin. I can't control the media. Some of them latch on to me as the director and others are hip to the movie itself. The media HAS been very kind to the production though and really has helped the steam behind this thing.
The whole film is not about simple promotion though. Pretty much every aspect of filmmaking is covered. Legal woes, crew drama (though very little drama), business, financial, actors (at some point), etc...Publicity is just one small part of the puzzle.
You are correct about there being plenty of resources to see how a film is made; DVDs, movies, books, etc...but it has never been done like THIS. As the saying goes, "there is nothing new under the sun". I Am DB is my spin on THAT process. I just watched a film from 1929 called
Man with a Movie Camera which was a great silent film that "is at once a documentary of a day in the life of the Soviet Union, a documentary of the filming of said documentary, and a depiction of an audience watching the film." It's amazing that there was a "take" on this process in 1929. It was very cool, very beautiful, and very motivational. And there has been many since...but again, not like this.
Even though it is at times hard to explain at this half-way-point, I feel confident that viewers will understand after they watch it from beginning to end. Being part of it I can say that there are some very cool paramters of the film.
So there's my defense
I hope it sheds some light. Don't hesitate to share more. I thank you for your time and interest in the film.
