How many times have we all looked forward to watching a movie for the first time or were stuck not knowing what we want to see, then we try a certain something out and five minutes later we’ve already switched to something else? Happens all the time, unless of course you are so lazy that once you start something you don’t have the energy to turn it off. But we get lost because whatever we started didn’t grab us. And with the influx of film productions in recent years with technology where its at pretty much anyone can make a film. Such has, in some respects, diluted the quality, originality and captivating qualities of film. And sadly, as independent film has grown, theres lots out there that tend to lag along with no real build or arch and they leave viewers like me wondering why I wasted my time.
Even a fairly novice filmmaker should know the importance of making a film start strong and end strong as well. But still that’s lost on many, even at the professional level. My strongest suit, as I’ve discovered in the past two years or so, has been in the realm of drama. I feel so much more driven when I can do film about the types of things that really happen in this world and in many cases that takes a turn towards the more painful and problematic. I have always felt a strong connection and sense of compassion towards people who struggle under means that they did not create and either cannot or have extreme trouble controlling. My first serious film was about a repeat rape victim encountering the first man who attacked her years later. Since then I have done films focused on the loss of loved ones and just recently finished a piece centered on both domestic violence and social issues regarding homosexuality in our society. And at this very moment I am prepping for production on a film about a woman struggling from the effects of withdrawals from prescription drug addiction. Needless to say then, I feel I am at my strongest when dealing with those aspects that cause us and those around us the most pain, but they’re often things we can find solace with over the course of time and, in particular, through the care and compassion from other people. And that’s not me being corny, that’s just psychology. That’s why, no matter what we want to believe, we need the concern and influence of others in our lives and such is why loneliness and isolation make us feel so damn miserable.
In pursuing these types of issues in constructing storylines they open up for a variety of different directions one can go in without becoming overly dramatic or breaking up the ability of viewers to suspend their disbelief. Because of the variety of different directions one can go with these types of stories they also make for great chances to create twists and unexpected turns not only at one point but throughout the film. It has hence become a theme I go with in terms of beginning a film that I like to start with a scene that grabs your attention while also forcing you, as the viewer, to pose questions about what just happened and what is to follow. And if one has questions posed on the opening of a film they are more likely to continue watching because regardless of how they feel about the film as a whole they want to find the answers to those questions.
For instance, in a film titled The Runner that I shot in the early fall of 2013 the film follows (spoilet alert) a young man suffering after his fiance’s death in a mall shooting, only to discover in the end that she died shielding a young girl from gunfire. While this doesn’t bring his lost love back from the dead, it combats his depress and frantic sadness in his prior beliefs that she was simply the pointless victim of gunfire. But this twist is not discovered until the end of the film and after the lead develops a close friendship with the mother of this young girl who survived. Within the film, we see that the lead, Cal, has only one coping mechanism when he becomes overcome by the sadness and that is to go out and run and run and run until he can handle life again. With all these later details yet to be known, the opening scene begins very calmly along a running trail at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Reserve on the southern edge of the Portland city limits. So it begins quietly with visuals on the trees and lilac fields and bees buzzing along flowers only to have a shot where Cal suddenly cuts in and the mood changes completely. We begin tracking with Cal as he runs and it’s still relatively relaxed but not as much. We are just watching a man who looks like he’s out on a casual daily run... until he starts running faster... and faster... and faster and suddenly he’s in an all out sprint as he heaves for air. He keeps going and going until he’s on the verge of collapse and he stumbles to an emotionally shaken and drained stopped. We make a quick transition from the calm and quiet of a beautiful natural setting to a man running himself into the ground and seemingly on the verge of emotional and physical collapse. The viewers perspective is flipped on its face and they are reeled in because on the outside of the film they have to make such a leap. On top of that the viewer is immediately asking those questions I discussed earlier. Namely: what the hell is wrong with this guy? Why is he running himself into the ground? Is he just a disciplined runner? Is he a marathon runner? This film is called The Runner so is it just one of those dedicated runner Steve Prefontainish films? Is this an emotional reaction to something? I mean the questions can go on and we’re literally only two minutes into the film.
And the questions continue as bit by bit little details are revealed and visual symbolism is presented that give clues as to what has this man so troubled. From there we discover what it is that bothers him and are able to delve deeper into his psyche and look at his obsessive running from another angle, a place of knowledge. Even by this time we are still asking the ongoing question that remains unanswered till the end which is: what were the circumstances surrounding his fiance’s death? Was she just a chance victim; wrong place at the wrong time? It’s always important to make the viewer ask questions because we are inherently curious creatures. Someone says, “This stinks, take a smell?” and despite the fact that we already have a good reason not to smell we do it anyway because we just want to know. How many times have we got a song lyric or a line from a film stuck in our head but we cannot remember where it’s from and so we spend forever dwelling on it until we find out where it’s from? We need to know and so a film that doesn’t give all the details away is tailor made to be both captivating and to keep a viewers attention till the end. It’s seldom the type of film someone’s going to tune out from or walk out on halfway through.
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