Recognizing Filmmaking as a Collaborative Craft
Maris Lidaka
Filmmaker | Documentary Editor | Founder of The Blended Future Project. Talks about #filmmaking #editing #filmdistribution #culture and #diversity
Imagine a gathering of editors and post-production professionals. Stop me if this is what you're picturing:
A few days ago, I attended a meetup hosted by BIPOC Doc Editors. A small group of us gathered at the back patio of a bar and, despite the extremely loud cover band, talked for several hours about a myriad of topics including:
The takeaway I received from this event was simple:
We're all here together because we are artists. We have just specialized in a particular way of expressing it.
It reminded me of a concept I've been thinking about for a while:
FILMMAKER IS A GROUP CLASSIFICATION
In America, we like to categorize everything - race, sexuality, friend groups. This has permeated everything we do and how we perceive the world. People naturally create categories; it's how our monkey brains separate safety from danger. But in America, we take this to a completely different level. And it's bled into how we view the craft of filmmaking.
We consider the filmmaker as being an individual person. A solo genius who leads other ancillary pieces to complete their vision. They are this force of nature that conjures up images in their brain. Everyone chips in a little, and the result is a visual masterpiece. In essence, we praise the individual. They get a little ego boost and forget that there are countless others involved in the creation of any piece of visual art.
Every person on set is a filmmaker. It's a collaborative medium. Especially on a film set, every person is lending their creative perspective inside of the role they are performing. Setting up a light in a particular way can influence how the cinematographer shoots a scene. It can influence how a director sees the same scene playing out. It can give the actor an idea of tweaking something in their performance that can completely change the film itself. It's these spontaneous moments that are part of the magic of film and video.
But we keep trying to eliminate the magic of this collaborative process.
A SOCIETAL EFFECT
As the industry progresses and technology advances, the emphasis keeps coming back to creating individual geniuses.Between social media and generative AI, the focus is on stripping away as much collaboration as possible so the individual can create their work alone. We cheer how we can save money by eliminating people from the process. And while it's beneficial for filmmakers to not be held back by the expense of creating work, we still have to ask ourselves:
Are we taking away what helps inspire us to begin with?
We saw during the pandemic that connection is what humans crave. We used as much technology as possible in order to see and communicate with each other. The isolation we endured during that time led to an increase in anxiety and depression that we are still feeling. And if we start making creativity an isolating pursuit,
We might take away its appeal entirely.
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NOTHING IS DONE ALONE
In the making of all art, we never do this alone. We are inspired by life and other people. And this is especially true in film. A healthier way of looking at the making of a film is like another collaborative art form:
Architecture.
Think of a classic building you've seen - like the Pyramids or Notre Dame. How many times have you asked yourself this question:
How did THEY build that?
We know that a single person, or small group, was responsible for the initial idea. But it would not be possible without the craftsmanship, skills, and labor of countless individuals. All of whom we know deserve credit for the creation of this single structure. The general public doesn't think about which individual contributed more, or who deserves the most credit for the idea. We see them all as part of a whole that created an incredible achievement.
Filmmaking is exactly the same.
A BETTER RECOGNITION
All art and creativity is collaborative. Parts of it are done alone. But the end result is the same:
To connect with other people.
It's why we share on social media (despite our awful relationship with it). It's why filmmakers love screening in a theater. It's why we show family and friends. To create a film is to not only share a perspective or entertain an audience. It's a subconscious message:
My existence matters.
So even with new tools that are coming out to help reduce the cost of the process of filmmaking, which does allow more people to create and tell stories on a screen, we have to focus less on how to take more people out of the process,
And how to bring them in. Perhaps in a different way.