A combination of Watership Down and The Animals of Farthing Wood. I went straight out and started filimg moor hens and bunny wabbits in the garden.
Which Movie Made You Decide To Become A Filmmaker?
- Thread starter ayisha1978
- Start date
Well played, Sir.
Mine is Fight Club and Cleopatra...the old one with Elizabath Taylor and richard burton.
....I still l
ove you
For me it was a combination weird out that took a long time to happen.
It all started with a lower budget film that I wandered on to the location of as a kid called My Bodyguard (Actually THEY wandered onto MY set, as when I found the filming, it was shooting in a junk lot where I used to play everyday.)
The whole thing struck me like my version of playing “cops and robbers” or something (playing pretend), but with a carnival atmosphere built around it. I was like “Holy smokes, these MFers know how to have a good time!”
When I saw the film in the theater a few years later or so, the way they managed to capture the very essence of the only places I had ever known blew me away again (It still does), and it stayed with me always at the back of my mind, but even with that experience I never connected or crossed paths with the practical craft of making film… it just wasn’t something people in my sphere of knowing did, but the ghost of those days finally intersected with me one day over 20 years later.
I was in the library and happened to open a book that someone before me left on the table where I was sitting. What I saw in it was shocking and almost made me dizzy.
It was a book that had script pages in it!
When I saw the format it was in, it was like… not so much someone reading my mind, but like someone else knew (And also used) the way I had for years and years thought and imagined and considered things in like formatted mental pictures! It totally blew my mind!
Eventually (Years later!) I realized that during those days on the filming locations (and in the trailers and other nearby and not so near by locations that I had just made myself a part of as a child), a young and very kind new playmate (Actress Joan Cussack) had showed me their script, and it just stuck wayyyy deep in the back of my mind as something I didn’t at the time understand for the life of me, but that I knew was somehow at the heart of all that fun and happiness and free food and commotion, and love.
So My Bodyguard is the film that got me into it, it just took like 25 years or somthing to do so.
-Thanks-
It all started with a lower budget film that I wandered on to the location of as a kid called My Bodyguard (Actually THEY wandered onto MY set, as when I found the filming, it was shooting in a junk lot where I used to play everyday.)
The whole thing struck me like my version of playing “cops and robbers” or something (playing pretend), but with a carnival atmosphere built around it. I was like “Holy smokes, these MFers know how to have a good time!”
When I saw the film in the theater a few years later or so, the way they managed to capture the very essence of the only places I had ever known blew me away again (It still does), and it stayed with me always at the back of my mind, but even with that experience I never connected or crossed paths with the practical craft of making film… it just wasn’t something people in my sphere of knowing did, but the ghost of those days finally intersected with me one day over 20 years later.
I was in the library and happened to open a book that someone before me left on the table where I was sitting. What I saw in it was shocking and almost made me dizzy.
It was a book that had script pages in it!
When I saw the format it was in, it was like… not so much someone reading my mind, but like someone else knew (And also used) the way I had for years and years thought and imagined and considered things in like formatted mental pictures! It totally blew my mind!
Eventually (Years later!) I realized that during those days on the filming locations (and in the trailers and other nearby and not so near by locations that I had just made myself a part of as a child), a young and very kind new playmate (Actress Joan Cussack) had showed me their script, and it just stuck wayyyy deep in the back of my mind as something I didn’t at the time understand for the life of me, but that I knew was somehow at the heart of all that fun and happiness and free food and commotion, and love.
So My Bodyguard is the film that got me into it, it just took like 25 years or somthing to do so.
-Thanks-
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YES!!! Along these same lines, I've drawn considerable inspiration from "Puffy Chair" (sorry if some of you are sick of hearing me blab about it, as I've mentioned it in other forums).
Hey, there's nothing wrong with liking the old classics, I remember watching those Frankenstein movies, my parents would put them on for us and I liked them too, I would still watch them and think that they are better than some of the 'horror' films they come out with now so far as entertainment enjoyment is concerned. I don't know, maybe I'm old fashioned or something but, I think those movies still have the power to inspire people in the future because it was about bringing your ideas to life and sharing them with others.
Hey there Roc, didn't mean to leave you out, glad to see a fellow Star Wars fan here
very cool, I had a few inspiring moments like that too, however it was after I found out people made films, I read the book "The Making of Dune" incredible what went into that movie (amazing Dino De Laurentiis production) and George Lucas is a Hero and inspiration to many of us Hollywood new comers and hopefulls alike because he was pivotal in Hollywood hiring new talent from outside their rather tight circle of behind the camera talent. He brought the world of being able to dream of other realities and then 'create them' in the hands of dedicated artists and by doing so made the world a much richer place.That is an amazing story, I love it, thanks for sharing. I often sit back in awe when thinking about how some of our choices and decisions, realizations and such, use the various experiences we've had throughout the course of our past, to continue to shape our lives. Like some kind of beautiful balancing and tangled juggling act that manages to take form. It's almost like a seed for a great film in itself.
All of that is something to think about though, I feel that creativity loses it's validity if it starts existing almost exclusively for the sake of itself or worse yet, mostly for marketing purposes. It's really kind of sad because before most films where about the sharing of lives, perspectives and creative dreams. Our natures seem to be needy for a sense of greatness, importance and to be constantly introduced to the awe of creation through new discoveries and realizations.
We may be missing that deep down inside and it's a bit reflected in our entertainment. We have to change our thinking perhaps. Years ago, before so many great things were done, there was still a question of greatness, because it was in a way, harder to achieve anything great/important. Similar things and heroics seem too easy or maybe common place now so greatness has somewhat lost it's sheen because it's lost it's challenge element.
What may be making matters worse is that all ideas and heroic fantasies have also been exhausted along with a lot of the "what if" world concepts. We're no longer in awe of our run of the mill perceptions of life. We've got to look for something new, some kind of spiritual/emotional enlightenment or evolution. We have to be careful here because this situation in the entertainment industry isn't sustainable, marketing doesn't continue to exist either in the absence of desire. If people come to subconsciously feel that films don't fulfill some instinct or intellectual need they have the demand for film could suffer.
I don't know what ya'll are talking about. I see great movies being made every year. Art flourishes in all times, under all conditions. Sure, there's a lot of junk out there, but there's a lot of greatness, too. Do you think crappy movies didn't exist in the 70's, 50's, 40's, etc?
Great story, those feelings that come over you when you know you've just got to do it, get into it, be a part of it all, stick with you your whole life and no matter what triggered those feelings you'll always look back on those things ( films in this case) with appreciation. Mary Poppins was a very well put together film as was Jason and the Argonauts. As filmmakers we should never look down on the "limited" productions of the past, our classics are what paved the way for the future and we need to always recognize that they were true achievements for their time (other wise we wouldn't be here now)
It's true, there were always crappy movies, but back then they didn't get marketed as well or as widely. Now a days it seems like our film fare is being watered down by the junk.
Thanks for this list SonnyBoo. Slacker was the first film than, that gave you your "I've got to do that" moment?
(Fellow animal lover
cute story. Have you got any clips of that I can watch, I'd love to see what you did? Thanks
Back then our film fare was being watered down with junk.
And back then the crappy movies were marketed just as
well and just as widely as they are today - comparatively
speaking.
In 2040 the crappy films of the 2010's won't be remembered.
People writing in 2040 will be saying that in the 2000's/2010's
there were fewer crappy films then because they won't even
remember the crappy ones. Just like we don't really remember
the crappy films of the 1960's and 1970's. At least those born
in the 1980's and 1990's.
Go back even farther to the 1940's and it sure looks like most
films made were pretty amazing. But that's because the films of
that decade that were crappy haven't survived in the current
recollection of those films.
I still haven't watched that classic with Elizabeth Taylor, at the time that movie broke the record for how many costume changes an actress had during the course of the film. (I'm interested in fashion too as well as film) as well as being a big budget production.
However, I did hope that people would explain/share why these particular films inspired them to get into film. The reasons, as well as the films are very interesting.