They
say that you have ten minutes to pull someone into a movie,
otherwise there's a good chance you've lost them for good.
While
this is a good concept to keep in mind as you make films,
I would crystalize it a little further: Creating a film
is like creating a 90 minute roller coaster ride for your
audience. If you can arrest all of their senses in the first
ten minutes, then they will hang on for dear life and pray
that the entire ride continues to be this good all the way
to the end. If, on the other hand, you can not grab their
interest in that introductory time span, they will either
bail out of the ride midway through its run or they will
simply endure the ride until its shaky ending, never to
return to the ride again.
The
wonderful thing about Film 101 is that it quickly
pulls you into its drive and humor so that you';re holding
on and praying that it finishes as strong as it begins.
The story of Film 101 is the story of Kevin, a disaffected business student that has switched his major to film studies, much to the dismay of his conservative Indian mother. In order to prove to her, his friends, and himself that film is the right career for him, he must complete a killer thesis film to graduate and hopefully get him into the film schools in either New York or LA.
Kevin
has many of the same filmmaker friends that many of us as
filmmakers are very familiar with: mostly ones who think
they can accomplish anything without having any experience
doing so. With their staunch initial support, Kevin decides
that his thesis film will be a "brilliant action short"
shot on "glorious 16mm color film".
In order
to fund this glorious project, he tries to get his mother
to contribute the entire $4,000 budget for his film. When
she tells him that she doesn't have that sort of money,
he turns to his savings, selling blood, and cash advances
on his credit card to make his film on a much more modest
budget.
He has
decided that four days should easily be enough time to create
his action opus, complete with martial arts sequences and
gun battles. Of course, he quickly finds that there are
a host of problems that get in his way as he works to make
his film, especially when dealing with an all volunteer
crew. For instance, his fellow student cameraman is not
as familiar with the 16mm camera as he thought he was, and
ends up shooting an entire day with the film loaded in upside
down. The gaffer is uncertain how to light color film and
the main female star, Kevin's Russian girlfriend, Anji,
quits the production after only one day of shooting. Now
Kevin must track down replacement leading ladies, track
down rapidly disappearing volunteers, and keep his sanity
as his brilliant opus spins radically out of control.
While
the film will definitely appeal to every low-budget filmmaker
alive, it's got enough humor and insight throughout that
a non-film person could watch it and find it quite enjoyable,
feeling somewhat like a cross between Indie-phenom Swingers
and Hollywood's slapstick Bowfinger.
Content
Although the story and premise of Film 101 are very good and enjoyable, there are two issues that would help unify the film more.
The
first thing that would help the content of the film is more
connection of Kevin with an actual college project. This
could be accomplished by having some reference to a class
related deadline, as well as a quick scene of Kevin in his
filmmaking class somewhere in the course of the film. This
is important because, although Kevin refers to his film
as a thesis project, he has actually told his mother that
he is dropping out of being a business major at college.
Because we hear almost no mention of his current college
again and only hear mention of the colleges he would like
to get into, it can become easy to think that he's completely
dropped out of school and is making a film to try to gain
entry to one of the prestigious film schools he's got his
eye on. To remove this confusion, having a quick scene of
him in his film class would help out, as well as introduce
his instructor, who has an important role in the ending
scene.
This brings us to the greater of the two issues: the ending. The reason this is a major issue is because there are currently three separate endings, rather than a single unified ending.
Warning: In order to bring up the issues and possible solutions with the endings, I will have to explain what endings are currently in place, which will obviously include ending spoilers.
Ending #1:
As Kevin's project descends into chaos, he loses more and
more of his actors and crew, until, eventually, he is unable
to complete his film, tells off Dong Su, his best friend
and co-writer, and must show up for his final thesis presentation
at the college theater with only a partially completed film.
(There were no subtitles to delineate that this as the day
of the thesis showing or that he is at his local college,
which can confuse audience members who might easily think
that he is somehow showing this at a local art house movie
theater somewhere. More on that in the Visual Look section.)
Because the film won't stand on its own, he has to explain
what he's got of the film and tell what he intended.
Apparently
Kevin is the last to present his film, as most of the class
has filed away by the time he finishes up, leaving only
a few local spectators and his professor in the audience.
Kevin goes to sit down with her and she explains the old
adage of the pyramid of filmmaking: Fast, Cheap, and Good;
you can only choose two. Kevin agrees with this sentiment
and then wonders if he'll have what it takes to really make
it as a filmmaker. In an effort to make him realize that
"if it's fated to be, it will happen", his instructor
tells him a rambling tale based around the film Lawrence
of Arabia. Unfortunately, the tale is so confusing and
obtuse, that the audience has no idea why it comforts Kevin
at all and how he comes up with whatever insight his teacher
is trying to convey.
[Note
to Director: This scene felt very much like you
were very familiar with Lawrence of Arabia and assumed
that your audience would be as well. Unfortunately, many
people are not and the amount of explanation for this scene
is insufficient for most people. Additionally, it's not
really needed due to the final conclusion of the film.]
After this tale, that somehow encourages Kevin, he leaves the auditorium and runs into his best friend that he had previously told off. They repair their friendship with an understanding hug. End of ending #1.
