Zen Filmmaking: Truth Verses Lies By Scott Shaw

By Scott Shaw

 

I am so often perplexed by people that go after other people, via whatever method is at their disposal, as a means of attack. Sure, we all like what we like and don’t like what we don’t like, that’s life. But, what I find profoundly troubling is when people state completely wrong ideas, that are complete erroneous about that someone/anyone else. I mean, if you don’t possess a fact-based knowledge about a person or a subject then all you are spilling is conjecture. And, if what you are saying is wrong or flat-out untrue, shouldn’t that make the speaking individual feel bad and shouldn’t they do all that they can to right their wrong? Yet, who does?

As someone who has been in the public eye, (in my small little way), via my writings, my films, my music, and the like for many-many years, I have encountered a lot of falsehoods being stated about my works and myself. So, I guess that has provided me with a bit of insight into the all of this. Personally, I really don’t care what someone is saying, especially if what they are saying is false. This being stated, I have witnessed the impact of how some of these false words have negatively affected my life’s landscape.

I threw Zen Filmmaking into the title of the piece as I was just having an interesting discussion with this one guy, who’s a fan of my films. Thanks! He mentioned that he had read that someone on some site was going on about my movies, stating that all I do is turn on the camera and let people speak. And, that’s why they are all so bad and he hates them. That’s not true. That’s not true at all.

Zen Filmmaking is not about improv. Zen Filmmaking is not about letting people say whatever it is they want to say. Zen Filmmaking is about embracing the perfection of the moment and allowing the magic to happen. In terms of dialogue, I set up the scene and then allow the actors to put the situation into their own words. Thus, allowing them to be natural in their words and their responses. It’s as simple as that.

Every scene, in all of my Zen Films, I know what we’re going to shoot. I simply allow the actors to decipher the dialogue and their actions by their own unique methods of interpretation. I allow for the freedom of the spontaneousness and the natural to guide us through the scene and in new directions if that becomes the inspiration.

The reason I spell this out, (and for those of you who know anything about Zen Filmmaking, you already know about all this chatter), is that here is somebody making a statement, proclaiming it to be true, but what they are saying is just blatantly wrong. He (or she) hasn’t studied the craft of Zen Filmmaking, yet they proclaim all this supposed knowledge about the art form, but they are wrong. What does that say about them?

I haven’t even made a Narrative Zen Film in well over ten years. I’ve been focused on creating the Non-Narrative Zen Film. So, everything that person is speaking about is ancient history.

Over the years, I’ve read some of the reviews of my films, or even watched a few of the video presentations people have done about my movies, but what is so often the case is what they are saying is wrong. What they claim is not true about the inspiration, about the story, about the method, about the technique, about me, and about the everything else—particularly when they are basing their appraisal upon a negative point of view. Yet, they present it as fact, nonetheless.

Do they ever communicate with me to check their facts? Do they ever go back and correct their mistakes? Do they ever say, “Sorry, I was wrong?” Nope. They just leave all of their falsehoods out there for the world to see. What does that say about them as a human being?

You don’t like my Zen Films, that’s fine. Here’s an idea, don’t like ‘em, don’t watch ‘em. But, don’t proclaim factual falsehoods and pretend you know anything about the craft, or about me, when what you are saying is blatantly false.

We each encounter this style of life-dialogue all the time. Look around you: view, listen, read; people talk all the time about all of the things they claim that they know, but how often is what they are saying simply based in their own personal, unrefined, prejudices and not based in truth or fact?

What can we do about all of this? Nothing. It’s just the name of the game. What we can do, however, is not be that person who states false facts. We can choose to only speak the truth. I mean, why talk about anybody else anyway? Don’t you have enough going on in your own life to keep you busy?

Moreover, if you see, hear, or read the falsehoods, call these people out. Because if no one stops their speaking of un-truths, just think about how many lives they will hurt.

Like I state in my number one motto, “Be Positive.” Say good things. Do good things. Help everyone you can and never hurt anyone. Just think how much better the world would become if we all practiced that philosophy.

 

Copyright © 2023—All Rights Reserved

 

Originally from the Scott Shaw Blog @ Scott Shaw.com 

Scott Shaw Zen Filmmaking

 

Casting the Script of Life By Scott Shaw

By Scott Shaw

For anyone who has ever thrown their hat into the Hollywood ring of acting they can quickly detail that when someone is casting for a film they provide a fairly detailed view of what they are looking for. For anyone who has ever been on the other side of the camera, creating a movie, they know that when they are casting a character in a film they have an image in their mind of how that character will look and how that character will behave. Look on any of the Breakdown Services that come out from the industry and each character has a name and a description. Filmmakers are looking for what they want that character to look like and actors are trying to become that character.

In traditional industry casting session you will find an untold number of similar looking people vying for the same role. Casting offices are full of them. And, this goes on everyday.

To be cast in a film the generally process is a hopeful actor is given what are known as, “Sides.” This is a limited amount of dialogue taken from the script. The actor then practices those lines, gets into a self-created costume, shows up at the casting office, waits with all of the other actors that look and sound just like them, and finally goes in to, “Read.”

That’s the game. People try to become the character in hopes of getting the role. But, most people do not get the role. In fact, some people go to an untold number of auditions and never get a role. They do this, spending all that time and all that money, until they finally give up. What did it all prove?

In some cases, once an actor has developed a name for himself or herself they are allow to play a role completely off-script. Think about it; think about some of the films you have seen where one of the known Name actors has not looked at all right for the role. Maybe it was their hair. Maybe it was their beard. Maybe it was their size. But, because of the fact that they had a, “Name,” they were asked to portray the role simply to bring buzz to the film. And, that’s all part of the game. The game of casting for life. People try to become while some people have already become. Some people will never become while others have become and do not even realize or care about what they have become.

Think about your life. Think about who you are attempting to become. Think about what you are attempting to portray. Is what you are projecting to the world actually you or is it simply and image of a person created by someone else—a person you are pretending to be?

In life, we all do all kinds of things to be seen the way we wish to be seen. This is what leads to lies, this is what leads to overspreading on clothing, this is what leads to anorexia, this is what leads to bad haircuts.

The thing that most people never take the time to realize—never have the capacity to realize is that what anyone projects is not necessarily a true representation of themselves. It is simply a game they are playing that is then projected to the world. How about you? What do you do to solidify your projection to the world? How does that projection contrast to who you really are? And, who really knows the truth about who you really are? Do you?

We are each two things. We are who and what we are in our minds. And, we are who and what we are that we project to the world. Some people are very true to themselves. But, these people are very few. Most simply lie about the truth that they project. They lie to themselves and they lie to others.

So, here’s the test. Who are you? Who are you really? What are you? What are you really? Who and what do you project to the world? Who knows who and what you truly are? Are you simply an actor attempting to get cast in a film and pretending to be something you are not or are you truly you? If you do not have a clear and honest definition of this you do not have a clear definition of your life.

Copyright 2019 -- All Rights Reserved

Scott Shaw Zen Filmmaking

I Make Weird Movies. What? By Scott Shaw

By Scott Shaw

I always find it interesting how in the Independent Film Industry people find easy targets for their criticism. This is especially the case in the No and the Low Budget Arena. This lack of understanding and appreciation goes hand-in-hand with something I have talking about literally forever whenever I speak with new filmmakers in my classes, seminars, or face-to-face. …You cannot become lost in attempting to imitate a film with a large budget when you have no budget. …You cannot expect your film to come out looking like a film with a million dollar budget when you have five dollars.

For the actual filmmaker, this concept is much more easily comprehended. For the viewer and the critic, not so much.

Most film viewers go into any film watching experience with preconceived expectation based upon what they have viewed in the past. Most of what they have viewed in the past is based upon a film with a substantial budget. Even most Independent Features are bankrolled with a fairly sizeable budget.  But, then there is the whole other area of the film industry, the area of the industry where people are making movies for the love of cinema. Though they may have no money at all, they make their movies anyway.

Now, at this level of the industry some people do attempt to mimic what they have seen in the High Budget Arena. Most fall very short of this. Of course, there have been a few films made with no or a very small budget that have broken though. The most obvious examples of this are perhaps the original Blair Witch Project and El Mariachi. But, it is essential to note, that the versions of these films that went to wide-release were not the original versions of these films. They had major dollars poured into them for reshoots, editing, and sound tracking before they found their way into the mainstream.

All this being said, the viewing of any cinematic project is about the viewing of that particular project itself and it should not be about comparisons. Yes, this is a philosophic concept that most people will never understand or put to practice. But, just because it is not understood does mean that it is not true.

From a personal standpoint, I’ve watched over the years as people have compared my features to other pieces of cinema. They have gaged my work in comparison to the works of other filmmakers. They have tried to make sense of my work by placing labels on it. But, by doing this, in and of itself, they have missed the point.  They have tried to place definitions and judgments on my work when they have not possessed the mindset to even understand it.

This does not bother me particularly. That’s just the name of the game in art. People gage things through their own level of realization. They want to find a reason to love or hate a project.

Also, this does not cause me to change. I mean, any artist who adapts their work simply because people criticize it is not an artist.

This being said, artists do evolve. I certainly have. My film work certainly has.

For example, I used to make abstract cinema attached to a verbally driven storyline. But, as I have long said, the stories have all been told. I don’t care about the stories. Leave that to the filmmakers with big bankrolls behind them. Though there may have been a subject matter in my films of the past, the story-driven dialogue was never the focus. And, this is where many critics got what I was doing all wrong. The words were just there as an abstract koan to take the viewer into the mind of Zen. The words never meant anything. They were nonrepresentational. They were just people taking about the nonsense that people normally speak of in life. I mean really, how much of what anyone says really matters?

But then, I left all that talking behind. I moved forward to focusing solely upon images.

The fact is, I have not made a dialogue-driven film since 2009. That’s almost ten years ago. Yet, most the people who talk about my Zen Films are not even aware enough to be aware of that fact. What does that say about them? Yes, I’ve made tons of movies since then, but they are all unspoken. They are simply non-figurative images moving across the screen. The reason? Again, to guide the viewer into the meditative mindset of Zen.

So, next time you see a film, especially an experimental film, try to move beyond what you already know—what you already think you know. Leave behind your judgment and maybe you can understand what the filmmaker was actually attempting to portray. Maybe you can encounter Zen.

Copyright © 2018—All Rights Reserved

Originally from the Scott Shaw Blog

Scott Shaw Zen Filmmaking