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« Monday « January 5, 2004
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Art & Fear: Best advice on how to do art
(CoolTools blog)
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Excerpt from Art & Fear: "Filmmaker Lou Stouten tells the painfully unapocryphal story about hand-carrying his first film (produced while he was still a student) to the famed teacher and film theorist Slavko Vorkapitch. The teacher watched the entire film in silence, and as the viewing ended rose and left the room without uttering a word. Stouten, more than a bit shaken, ran out after him and asked, "But what did you think of my film?" Replied Vorkapitch, "What film?"
The lesson here is simply that courting approval, even that of peers, puts a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the audience. Worse yet, the audience is seldom in a position to grant (or withhold) approval on the one issue that really counts - namely, whether or not you're making progress in your work. They're in a good position to comment on how they're moved (or challenged or entertained) by the finished product, but have little knowledge or interest in your process. Audience comes later. The only pure communication is between you and your work.
I read this passage to mean that you should undertake almost any creative pursuit in this manner, that is: focus on perfecting your craft. Period. (This even applies to blogging, unless, of course, you're one of those blog-for-dollars folks ... which must pay really good money if you can get inside of the blogosphere's A-List.) If what you do rings true with enough people once you put it out there, then you'll eventually build an audience. But if your ultimate goal is adulation, instead of mastery, you'll never get there because you'll never develop the skills you need to build an audience in the first place. After I wrote my second screenplay, I realized it was the process of creating this world and the people within it that I enjoyed the most. Would I like to see some of these scripts up on the big screen? Hell yeah! But by that point, it would no longer be my creation, but a team effort, and something completely different. As I focus on making the scripts better, I'm enjoying it more. The rest will come later. Or not ... but so what, as long as I enjoyed the ride.
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