Rule 6: Use What’s Available To You, Not What People Tell You To Use. AND THAT INCLUDES AI!
As far as I can tell, art is born out of three defining attributes. The first is the ability to identify subjects and scenarios that the artist can then learn to produce representations of, which can then be mixed into new and transformative ideas. The second is the ability to advance those ideas into new situations through experience plus imagination. This is more commonly known as daydreaming. The third is to imbue them with emotional resonance so that the viewer can reference an empathetic and evocative connection to the work. At its base, we refer to this as being relatable, but if we’re really rocking, we can call it being transcendent.
There are varying degrees which these three parts may have in any particular work of art that may help us to determine if it is good or bad and taste will always come into play but overall, those seem to me to be the requirements.
How you get a movie to the point of being “real art” is irrelevant beyond those factors but people have been trying to come up with their own criteria to hamstring their contemporaries with, for the sake of exclusivity within any given hierarchy for as long as history has recorded. It behooves you to keep in mind that the greatest figures in history are usually the ones who broke out of these arbitrary constraints and whose legacies endure much longer than their critics.
If you’re truly talented then most of these people will not be qualified to judge your work in the first place. Only posterity can do that.
All this to say that it doesn’t matter what you use to get your shot. The audience can’t reach into the screen and touch what they see, nor can they peek around the edges to see the crew standing just outside of the shot.
If you can afford to build the set or get the location, that’s fine but if you have to build it out of stuff you found dumpster diving, or you learn a new 3D program, or use AI, then that’s fine, too.
If there’s an aspect of your medium that drives why you’re making your movie, you need to pinpoint where to pour your focus, those techniques and moments that deserve maximum impact. Then, figure out how to efficiently handle the rest, the parts that don’t matter as much. AI is one tool that could be perfect for that: when used cleverly for the small stuff, like filling in gaps where budget or resources fall short, it can blend seamlessly when done well. The audience won’t notice what’s missing in production value, leaving the key scenes that reflect who you are as a filmmaker to shine.
As long as the end result is true to the vision you set out to create, it’s all fine. Filmmaking is the creation of illusions at twenty-four frames a second. It doesn’t matter if your crew helped you or if a gadget did the heavy lifting. The fact that you can make it meaningful for someone beyond the sum-total of its parts is where the true miracle is happening.
Rule 7: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.
This was comedian Steve Martin’s advice when he was asked on The Charlie Rose Show what the best way to break into show business is. I think about that answer a lot. He explained that instead of chasing shortcuts like networking or gimmicks, aspiring performers should focus on mastering their craft to such a degree that their talent becomes undeniable. Yes, I said in the last rule to use whatever you can get your hands on to realize your vision, but the best and most expensive ingredients in the hands of someone who can’t cook will still end in an inedible mess that no one will want to eat, let alone pay good money for.
This is a problem I see with a lot of filmmakers who want the independent film sphere to overtake Hollywood. We have everything we need at our disposal to make movies just as good or even better than the mainstream but most of us are still offering an inferior product in the form of either deliberately low quality farces or safe and unambitious genera flicks that shine a spotlight on their own limitations. This is only continuing the stigma and stereotype of indie films being a glut of VOD trash.
Now, you can be offended by that, you can point to exceptions, you can argue that everyone has got to start somewhere, and I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong. All I’m saying is that the barrier to entry is mostly gone for everyone, and that means standing out in a crowd is harder than ever in a world where there is a finite amount of viewers with narrow tastes and limited time.
Your days are numbered, too, so do yourself a favor and ask yourself if another found footage, slasher, ironic comedy, about trauma is the best you have to offer, or if maybe there’s something about you that could really be special in a way that people are going to remember.
Yes, it’s a risk but to paraphrase Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, “If risk isn’t your business then get the hell off of this star-ship.”
Rule 8: Ideas Are Cheap. Originality Is Impossible. It’s Your Unique Point-Of-View That Makes It Special
I’ll keep this one short. I’ve had a hundred people come up to me offering ideas for movies that will make a million dollars and when I do listen, they’re almost exactly the same. Every idea has already been done and most likely a thousand years before we were born, only to be forgotten and re-thought of. They may look different on the surface because of the times but they’re not new. I never let that discourage me and nor should you.
Ideas are worthless unless they’re brought out from our imaginations and into reality through starting and not stopping until they’re out there for everyone to experience. Originality is an elusive specter that vanishes when you chase it and causes creative paralysis when it’s nowhere in sight, but if you are authentic to your perspective and true to your values, then it will come and stand over your shoulder while you’re too engrossed to notice, but other people will.
Rule 9: Don’t Give Up Your IP For Any Less Than It’s Worth
Unfortunately, when presented with a piece of art that is good, most people don’t care to truly consider its value. That often includes the person who made it, but in an industry that has grown more cynical than I ever thought possible, that can include the person who wants to buy or distribute your intellectual property (IP), as well. A movie might be a masterpiece, the packaging polished to perfection, the test audiences jumping out of their seats, yet once handed off to an out of touch and unenthusiastic distributor, looking to bundle a bunch of cheap movies for a quick buck, you may find all of your hard work quickly forgotten, with you shut out and unable to have any say in what happens to it, ever again.
You no longer own or control it and your chances of making any money have just gone down to zero, while people who didn’t do any work are profiting off of your blood, sweat, and tears.
If someone is going to buy something you made, make sure the price reflects what it’s worth to you, not just in cash but in the freedom to keep telling your stories. There’s more to life than what’s in your bank account.
You a******s are trash for using AI art.
AI-generated artwork is only possible because of the wholesale theft of millions of artists’ intellectual property. When you use it instead of paying human artists, you are complicit in that crime. Any publication that engages in such practices disdains and disrespects art and artists.
The idea that AI is some form of theft is based on old misnomers perpetuated in its early days and has been debunked. I addressed this in my previous article and will elaborate in my future writings. Stay tuned.