"Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…
This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which
instinct has learned nothing from experience."
Opening
with this often partially-quoted statement from George
Santayana in his 1905 book, The Life of Reason, Volume
1, John Gaspard explains how often this concept can
apply to new filmmakers that do not learn from the mistakes
and successes of the past. Gaspard brings up the fact
that every new generation of Indy filmmakers tends to
rediscover things that have already been discovered by
filmmakers in the past, which impedes their momentum in
taking the movement forward. (Don't forget from our past
discussions of the avant garde movement, that the
basis for independent filmmaking is to be ahead
of the pack, not behind it!)
As
Gaspard succinctly puts it: "I'm all for artistic
expression and singularity of vision. I just don't see
the need for every generation of filmmakers to re-invent
the wheel when the previous generations did a fine job
on the wheel and came up with the pulley and lever in
the bargain."
Gaspard
became inspired to write this book by a comment from Ron
Howard in the DVD commentary of his first film, Grand
Theft Auto--a low-budget film produced by Roger Corman.
Howard commented that every film he's worked on since
GTA has required him to put into practice tricks that
he learned in that one film. Gaspard realized that if
a director like Howard had learned so much in his first
film, which had a terribly low budget, how many more gems
could be scattered throughout the other low budget films
made in the last century.
He
ended up finding quite a few (nearly forty, actually)
which he has pulled together in this book and refined
through conducting interviews, reading interviews, and
watching DVD commentaries with all these fascinating filmmakers
and the films that started them off.
In
the end, Gaspard has helped create a classic work of filmmaking
literature that reminds filmmakers everywhere to learn
from the past and forge new roads into the future.
Comprehension
This book is very simple to understand-though, for some
reason, he quits doing a bullet point overviews of folks
after an initial chapter on Roger Corman. Nonetheless,
the rest of the book keeps up a very easy to undstand
style that he ties together with very easy to associate
subject headers. And, for those of you who really want
to be able to draw upon the knowledge in the book, he
uses a film-comparative, alphabetized lessons redux as
the final chapter. All of these facts make this book simple
to comprehend.
Depth
of Information
The depth of information in Fast, Cheap, & Under
Control is varied. Sometimes it seems to be turning
up a number of new truths every few pages, whereas, at
other times, there seems to be lots of restatement of
two basic truths: low-budget gives you more control and
you've just got to go out and make your films. While some
of the repetitiveness may seem to be redundant at first,
it ceases to be so when you consider it as a chorus of
filmmakers from the past and the present. The reason certain
things keep being repeated is because they are true and
they have been discovered by all the people who have become
successful in every edge of the avant garde and independent
world.
If
there's one type of information this book tries to arm
its readers with it's how to, as Robert Rodriguez puts
it, "be scary." John Gaspard goes on
to clarify Rodriguez comment with the statement: "If
you can do it yourself-literally everything on a movie
yourself-then you don't need Hollywood. And when you don't
need someone, it gives you a tremendous amount of negotiating
power over them when they need you." In an independent
world in which many filmmakers crave Hollywood's acceptance
much like an overeager high school freshman craves the
acceptance of the seniors, this is advice that should
be remembered by all of us.
As
Henry Jaglom (Director of Someone to Love) points
out in this book, "You can be friendly with [Hollywood]
but you can't be of it, because if you're of it, you're
buried by it and they don't want you anymore." Which
is precisely why Stephen Soderbergh, Kevin Smith, and
Robert Rodriguez so quickly returned to their home territories,
rather than trying to co-exist so near the bureaucracy
of Southern California.
One
slight downside with the depth of information found in
this book was the fact that five of the films Gaspard
brings up range from difficult to impossible to rent,
especially at most local rental chains. As to national
chains, The Last Broadcast wasn't available through
Netflix but was available through Blockbuster. I could
not locate the next three--Patti Rocks, David
Holzman's Diary, and Someone to Love--for rental
on Netflix or Blockbuster. (Now, you can find these four
films available for purchase, largely on used VHS, on
Ebay and Amazon, but most of us would like to rent a film
before we buy it.) As to the fifth and final movie, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm:
Take One, it is not in any form of distribution that
can be found, precluding it from both rental and
purchase. (However, according to the author, this is supposed
to be released on DVD later this year, so that will hopefully
change shortly.) It would be nice if a company would re-release
all of these films on new-edition DVDs so that they could
be more readily enjoyed.
Interest
Level
Cut into segments that pertain to specific films, Fast,
Cheap, & Under Control keeps you interested throughout,
even if you are unfamiliar with the specific movie that
is being talked about. And because Mr. Gaspard specifically
wrote the book to be non-linear, the book is easy to skip
around in, if you ever come to a spot that isn't holding
your attention.
I
personally burned through the book in two sittings because
I simply found it so interesting to immerse myself in
the continuum of filmmakers from the fifties to the present.
There is something about realizing what legends have walked
the same paths we are currently walking that is utterly
fascinating and compelling.
Reusability
Because of the way in which this book is broken up by
film, it is extremely easy to find comments that you would
want to share with other filmmakers or your crew. Because
it reminds you that you are not alone in the continuum
of filmmaking, it is a book you will return to many times
in your career.
Value
vs. Cost
I found this an immensely reassuring book that also provided
helpful tips. While it wasn't quite as packed with tips
as I was hoping, it provided enough meat that it is well
worth owning. At the price of $25, it's an excellent investment
because it will encourage you to continue becoming a better
filmmaker and refining your craft because of your limitations,
rather than in spite of them.
Overall
Comment
While some of the information Gaspard has collected may
be stuff you already know, there is enough that is new
and fascinating for it to be a necessary book for any
filmmaker. More than anything else, it reminds current
no-budget filmmakers that they are not alone and encourages
new comers to make the leap and tell their stories! More
than anything, it encourages all of us to just go out
and do what we love to do, without sweating the small
stuff!
