El Skid Music Video Reel 2011 (weirdly, there’s not a single frame shot on a DSLR in there…)

I had the surprisingly fun task of smashing together a new reel for the WideOpenCamera boys yesterday and I flipped a new post for the site as well, inspired (or not) by some new videos I’d seen on Vimeo that day. I get so bored of lame videos now that I very rarely watch anything I get sent anymore and yesterday just proved to me that, while there’s many more filmmakers than there have ever been, there’s still precious few whose work is genuinely great. That’s not a bad feeling, far from it, if it were easier then it would have no value. The problem I have is with the mediocre being held up as a shining example and everyone copying it in the mistaken belief that they will suddenly look like a rockstar. No juice. Sorry. But that’s where we’re at.

Strangely my post yesterday coincided with Chris Jones (Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook) offering some honest words of his own. Chris rightly points out that the childlike openness and freshness that characterised our early moves in filmmaking can quickly be subsumed into a greater need to be successful, to find the formula that suddenly catapults you into directing Godzilla (don’t laugh, just google Gareth Edwards). He advocates honesty, honesty about what got you inspired in the first place, honesty about what you love, and honesty about who you are. I go on and on and on about this because it’s taken me forever to get it, to understand why I was going wrong. If you don’t know who Chris is then that’s a real shame. Eleven years ago I was working as a set tutor on a small British movie called Diggity. In between lessons I was either on set or I was careening through Chris’s book The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook. That book inspired me to just get off my arse and make film my life.

Which brings me full circle to the process of putting together my showreel. This is just a music video reel, there’s all the dance film, drama, tv and commercial stuff I’ve done which didn’t even get a look in. I’ve actually really done a lot, I’ve had what most would consider a successful career to date. I remember when I had bugger all to put in my reel, and I was shooting as much as possible to scrape together two minutes to be proud of. The thing is, I look at my earliest work and see a freshness and intrigue that is completely absent from the majority of the work on this reel of mine. In the last 12 months I’ve taken Chris’s advice. I’ve reconnected with what I really care about, I’ve come to a point where I’ve ceased to care about the industry or what I should or shouldn’t be doing. I’m just going to do things the way I feel them, and trust to everything I’ve learned. I’d forced myself into a box I wasn’t comfortable in. Now, I’m broadening out into live shows, comedy, transmedia, the written word, music as well as film and it’s suddenly fun again.

Putting this reel together was fun, I had a chance to reassess where I was at a few years ago and how much I’d built, only to leave it all behind and regroup behind what I really value. It’s been a painful process doing that, and I often find I’m berating myself for not being further on in my career. The fact is, the music video industry sucks, I hate working on corporate jobs, I have no desire to work in commercials, and that starts to leave very little room to be a working director in. Drama and comedy are the only things I care about these days and I’ve had to retreat into editing, camerawork and graphics to pay the bills while I develop the fiction projects. I watch young directors starting to make waves with their work and I feel horribly threatened, pissed off and annoyed with myself. But this is just the pace of development in this industry. I watch their work though and see nothing to be scared of. They’re just making more noise than me. When the time’s right and I have the work in place then I’ll make some noise, but for now I’m content to keep working on my reel, being more honest, making work that I can actually be proud of. Much better.

Have a look at Chris’s blog, it’s spot on. Synergy seems to have had a hand in me writing a similarly themed post on WideOpenCamera. Right now, you can take your DSLRs, F3s, FS100s, and stuff em. Without honesty your work will be soulless and shallow. Not going to be a hater, but there’s a certain prominent blogger who could benefit from that advice.

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