Reflective Blog - Week 3
Who will give you money for your art is a huge concept that most people including myself don't consider. When I wrote my short film Love in Motion I wasn't thinking about the audience or who would pay to see it I was thinking about what I wanted to achieve with the film. I wanted a story that would move people's emotions in some way. I felt that if people didn't feel an emotion watching my film then I had failed to tell the story. Often we focus on the art we are creating rather than the audience it is being created for and this means our art may be good but is it marketable and will anyone want to pay to see it?
After considering this point I reflected on the new piece I am writing and started to look at what was my audience going to be? Who was I hoping would see the film and be moved by it? The answer seems to be men over the age of 30 who have had kids, yet the main film going audience is 18-25. Does this mean I have limited my film? Honestly I don't know yet. What I do know is that it is a story that needs to be told and it is point of view I don't believe has been done before. It will challenge me as a Director to draw out the best in my lead actor and he has never done a role with several of the scenes before. I am also asking him to use and American accept to get away from his Russian accent.
In choosing to push this actor to places he has never been before as an actor and to depths of acting he has never had to go I hope to hone my skills as a director and his as an actor to produce a piece that propels us into greater skill levels. I want to enter the film into festivals that are open to the Oscars and I am planning to make a film where he is strong enough in the film that either the film or his role are at least nominated. From the first film I have learned a lot and implemented those changes into the Twisted script and procedures I am following to create the film that work best for me. I don't like wasting time on location and would rather iron out any wrinkles during the script writing and preparation stages.
I am selectively choosing to create content that is not catering to the lowest common denominator and carving a niche market of fans for my work. This is a hard thing to do but I think it will be worth it as, I can change how the public view films and help change the community much the same way that music and other art forms change our culture. Do I know my audience yet? No I don't but will I? Yes I will because I will know who they are by how they respond to the art I create. Will my films be financially viable? That is the goal but nothing is a certainty as art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder and until I make a film and it goes to the public then I won't know who my audience actually is for all my films. I do know that I won't have one type of film but several so I have different audiences to connect to. This diversity is also a reflection of who I am and the tastes I have.