In 2002 Jen McGowan gained a place to study in the MFA directing program at the University of Southern California. In 2004 she began production on her graduate thesis film, Confessions of a Late Bloomer.
Jen was honored with a grant from The Caucus Foundation for her work on Late Bloomer and well as a scholarship from Women in Film recognizing outstanding young female filmmakers.
Confessions of a Late Bloomer began its festival run at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and is still screening at festivals worldwide. Some honors for the film include: Best Editing, Creative Excellence, Best Short Film, Best of the Fest and Best Student Film.
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Daily Blog
May 26, 2009
Alright, I did not write this, but I found it this week while I was tidying up my computer and I thought I’d share it. I wish I knew who did write it so I could attribute it, but I don’t so don’t sue me whoever you are. Anyway, it’s something I was given while I was at USC and while I don’t agree with all of it I found it funny/antagonizing/challenging.
I hope you enjoy it!
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WHY STUDENT FILMS SUCK
“I’ve made it a point never to watch anyone’s student film. I usually tell people, ‘I’ll hire you–as long as I don’t have to watch your student film!’ Most student films feature two things–a not particularly attractive girl running towards the camera, and a suicide. If it’s a comedy, it features a not particularly attractive girl and a dog. I should know. I made one, and so did my son. But these kids are stealing jobs from me, so they must be doing something right.” -Chuck Workman
Chairman of the Director’s Guild of America’s Academic liaison subcommittee
(As quoted in Billy Frolick’s What I Really Want To Do Is Direct.)
How dare we?
- On the whole, student short films SUCK!
(This does not contain the usual advice you get in film school about the elements of good screenwriting. No no, rather, it is a very specific list of common mistakes and trends we’ve seen in crappy student films again and again at screening after screening.)
- Before you even think of making a student film, read this list .
- If you’re a genius, then go ahead - break these rules.
- But let’s face it, if you think you’re a genius, you’re not. So play it safe and spare your audiences the uneasy task of having to lie when you ask, “So- what did you think?”
Let the sucking begin… __________________________________
Dolly & Zoom
No question. This is the most egregious, blatantly non-creative, non-cool, total student film red flag. Sure, Hitchcock used it in Vertigo, Spielberg used it Jaws , but enough is enough. It’s cliched, overused, goofy, and overall a bad idea. By the way, what we’re talking about here is a simultaneous Dolly-in/Zoom-out or vice-versa which compresses the background while keeping the subject at a fixed size during the shot. A student film no-no. (The dolly/zoom is such a mark of a student film, it’s a joke in the opening of THE BIG PICTURE.)
The Tortured Artist Film
The story goes like this. A struggling artist (writer/painter/sculptor/musician — 90% of the time, it’s a writer) grapples with some sort of inner conflict, (a dead relative, writers deadline, religious confusion, etc). Our tormented soul encounters a muse (beautiful woman, endearing older character, magical artifact, etc) who helps the protagonist come to a sort of realization which ultimately opens the creative floodgates and allows the character to succeed (finish the novel, paint the painting, sculpt the likeness of the muse, or perform at the big recital). The Tortured Artist Film usually involves a so-called “man vs. himself” struggle which is guaranteed to put you to sleep in the first two minutes. Related to this is the “introspective shot” which usually features the main character staring into space for a good minute (usually smoking a cigarette). File this under “Pretentious as Shit.”
Dream Sequences & Flashbacks
If you don’t want your student film to look like a friggin’ episode of Kung Fu, then stay away from dream sequences and flashbacks, young grasshopper. A dream sequence generally says “I couldn’t think of a better way to reveal information about the character than this.” So-called “funny” dream sequences are usually not.
Time-Elapse Montage
You’ve got say, 15 minutes to get your point across in a short film. Every second of screen time should be treated like gold. A time-elapse montage not only demonstrates an inability to structure your film pacing-wise, it makes the audience wait unnecessarily. Try to find a simple and efficient way to indicate the passage of time without resorting to this too easy narrative device.
Bad Audio
You can have a great looking short film, but if the sound is bad, the film itself comes across as bad. Nothing gives away a student film like the soundtrack. Budgets are tight, sure, but many student directors simply don’t place any importance and give any thought to what their film sounds like. The result is often a beautiful picture with a badly mixed, distracting audio experience. In the same vein, if you’re making a 16mm film, be aware of how crappy the 16mm optical track is going to sound (which is REALLY bad) and try to prepare for it.
And now, free of charge, a canonical list of BAD musical soundtrack instruments:
- Synthesizer (the “porn” soundtrack)
- Your friend’s band (trust me, they suck)
- “the lone, slow piano”
- “the lone guitar” (flamenco esp.)
- The “impish” clarinet
- The cello dirge.
- The “spirited” piccolo.
- Any kind of wood blocks.
“Look at me, I’m a director!” shots
Examples include– the gratuitous “fishbowl in the foreground” shot, the “overhead for no reason ‘cept we’re shooting in a soundstage” shot, the “we think it’s cool slanted dutch angle shot” and perhaps most insidiously the “fridge POV shot”, otherwise known as the “put the camera inside the trashcan/toilet/mailbox shot”. Ok, maybe you need to get this stuff out of your system, but just be warned, it’s usually cheese.
Ultra-slow Dialogue
A film professor once told me that on a film set, one second of “real” time equals three seconds of film time. Something to remember: Watch a student film and notice how often there are long pauses between lines of dialogue. Why is this? I don’t know, but if you watch the average “real” film, you’ll see that the dialogue often occurs ultra fast. Maybe it’s because we can hear faster than people normally speak. Who knows? A side note– these pauses also extenuate bad lines of dialogue. A poorly written line is going to hang in the air like a fart if not closely followed by a fresh line to cleanse the air like a gentle breeze…
Blatant Miscasting
- The audience can tell when you cast your significant other as the romantic object of desire.
- Don’t try to pass off someone who is shall we say, “fugly”, as a supermodel.
- In the same vein, why do so many student films cast SAG boy wonders as the “computer nerd” who can’t get a date?
- Mismatched couples. Be honest: “Do you believe that SHE would go out with HIM?” Make sure the answer is “yes.” The audience can only suspend their disbelief so much.
- Don’t have your friends play “older characters.” The baby powder grey hair trick doesn’t work. Neither do the fake beards.
- And while we’re at it, don’t cast people just because they’re hot. This mainly applies to the young male director. Whether they want to admit it or not, they will cast a very attractive actress in a role just so they can be near a hot girl. The script will usually require the actress to be in a scantily clad outfit or a nude scene or whatever. This is the power trip of the young, horny director. It preys on the good faith of young actresses looking for work. It’s not about substance or story; rather it’s an excuse to get an actress naked under the guise of “art”. It is motivated by the director’s ego. This is filmmaking, not a bikini contest - create your film with higher purpose.
“Eyebrow acting”
It may work at the Golden Tugboat Dinner Theatre, but it doesn’t come off on film. What’s eyebrow acting? It’s an overly expressive use of facial muscles more suited to miming than screen acting. This acting technique is only acceptable in films where the characters have sex within the first four minutes.
The “Nothing Happens” short film
A very common bad student film. Usually consists of a main character who spends his or her time talking to people about nothing of consequence. Nothing happens for up to forty-five minutes. At the end, some contrived “climax” comes out of nowhere and tries to wrap everything up, but because there has been no conflict of any sort for so long, the audience is asleep and misses it. Common threads of these films include the “personal discovery/epiphanies that go inside the main character’s head” film, the “warm remembrances of my childhood that no one cares about” film, and the “Slice of Life that is more uninteresting than real life” and “funny people I know come to life on the big screen.” Nearly 50% of these films include an alcoholic single parent.
Note:Before you begin writing your screenplay, start with an outline. This allows you to see the problems and strengths in your idea before you invest countless hours of time and effort. An outline is your chance to confirm something interesting happens. If you begin by writing dialogue there is a good chance you’ll write a problematic story.
The Feature Film Masquerading as a Short Film
If you’ve ever sat through a student screening, you’ll notice that often the films best received are the shorter films. Now it could be argued that this is due to the simple fact that they suck and less sucking is better than more sucking. It could also be that the audience is sitting through many, many student films in one evening and appreciates the shorter ones because it means the whole thing will end sooner. In the short narrative film genre, every moment is precious. It’s to your advantage to make your film short but sweet– for one thing, shorter films cost less, take less time to edit, and allow you more time to focus on making your film as tight and well designed as possible. Ask yourself when writing (and editing) the film -is this scene necessary? Is this moment necessary? What does it do for the audience? We call this The “Get In And Get Out” principal. Don’t cram a full-length feature into the short film style. Do what your film needs to do and then get the hell out. Remember, longer isn’t necessarily better. Less is more.
The One Joke Film
A good short film has got to be a collection of good ideas, not one good idea stretched out for fifteen minutes. In any event, at least make an attempt to fill your time with stuff that’s actually interesting to someone other than yourself. I don’t know how many bad student films I’ve seen that are actually about the filmmaker’s uninteresting life or contain vignettes that go on and on and on. Before you shoot, make a list of all the “good ideas” in the script. You should have lots of them. How’s that for a generic tip?
The “Walk into the Camera” Transition & Other Lame Ideas
- This one is crazy. A character walks INTO THE CAMERA LENS! And then we fade to black, or more commonly, cut to the reverse– someone walking AWAY FROM THE CAMERA LENS! OOOooo! What a good idea…
- The zany “Slacker with a Gun” film
- You’re not Quentin Tarantino. Don’t bite his style. Be you.
- Overuse of bad video effects. In fact, just stay away from effects unless they help to tell your story. Just because somebody left you in front of the AVID and you figured out where the effects palette is doesn’t mean you should use it. The point is to tell a quality story. Gratuitous effects at the student level usually shout LAME STUDENT FILM! (except for cinelook or magic bullet - if you shot on DV then by all means please apply these “film looks” to your project)
- Keep dissolves to a minimum. They are not synonymous with cuts. Same goes for wipes, keys, etc. The 80’s are over. Video effects suck.
Note: As a general rule, make sure that every directorial choice you make is a motivated choice. Your choices should assist and complement your story. Don’t do anything just because it “looks cool”. Gratuitous cuts, transitions, shots, gimmicks, and effects will simply bog down your film. Attempting professional effects at the student level student level typically lacks the necessary quality. Remember to work within your means. If you have no budget, don’t attempt Lord of the Rings. Besides, quality and originality is what the audience and the industry is looking for; so go for something witty and interesting that doesn’t require elaborate effects.
The “Dramatic Cigarette”
A character is having a dramatic crisis: So what does he/she do? Whips out a smoke and puffs dramatically as if to say, “Look, this is so serious I’m smoking.” YES, people do smoke when they are nervous or excited, or under pressure. But there’s no excuse for using the long, boring “drag ‘n puff” scene as a lazy alternative to finding a more original way to express the same thing.
Ramblers: The “Quest for Truth”
There are several permutations of this theme.
#1. The Puzzled Scientist: The “story” deals with a puzzled reclusive scientist who learns to forgo cold, hard science for something warm, gushy and intangible, like love, god, morality, religion or free will. Films in this genre are usually condescending to the audience and set up bogus sounding explanations of scientific principals (look for glossed over references to Chaos Theory, Grand Unification Theory, Relativity, etc.) and far-fetched reconciliations of the two. Filmmakers, please: if you must write one of these and want to be taken seriously, at least do a little research so you don’t insult real scientists.
#2. The Venting film: Broke up with your boy/girlfriend? Please, don’t make a movie about it! It’s dangerous - These self-examinatory “why my ex dumped me” films that turn into long diatribes about the nature of love, the nature of mankind, etc. are rarely insightful and usually about as interesting as listening to a friend complaining about a relationship gone bad. In short, philosophical examinations of human existence and relationships, when discussed on an abstract level, will almost guarantee that the audience will become bored and/or confused.
Shooting into Mirrors
Now don’t get me wrong, shooting into a mirror can be used to great effect when used at the right time and for the right reasons. But like so many narrative devices abused by student filmmakers, the “reflective” shot has become a staple of the bad short film. “Cool! So she puts her hand mirror right there and then we can see her boyfriend yelling at her behind her and it’s all in one shot. Man, I’m a genius!” Or more recently, I have noticed a new crop of mirror scenes involving someone holding a razor blade, staring into the mirror, and contemplating suicide. (see: tortured artist films above)
Voiceover
A poor excuse for not using action to tell the story. This happens because students are too lazy to create an interesting scene that actually defines a character and the world of the movie, so they use the easy way out - voiceover. Ultimately, voiceover is cheap and boring. If you don’t want to use actions to illustrate your story then why are you in film school? Words are for books! Speeches are for theatre! Talking is for radio! Use voiceover sparingly.
Interminable Credit Sequences
We know you’re excited about your film and you have a lot of people to thank, but please consider the poor audience member who has to sit through ten films. We’ve seen credit sequences that last longer than the film itself! Here’re some things to think about: (1) Scroll fast. Real fast. (2) Small fonts are great. (3) Title cards are fast but not every crewmember needs one. (4) Must you really thank your entire family tree by name?
Excessive Gratuitous Profanity
Why? Because you saw Reservoir Dogs? Because gangsters are tough? Because you want to show them how “anti-establishment” you are? Come on.
Scene One: The protagonist wakes up.
There’s nothing INHERENTLY wrong with starting a film with the buzz of an alarm clock, a hand slapping the snooze button, eyes fluttering open, followed by a yawn or an “oh my god, I’m late!” - But why so much of this? We see it all the time. It’s as if the writer/director woke up one morning, looked around and said “Wow, This is cool!” Uh, yeah, just go back to sleep.
Nothing To Say.
Filmmaking begins in the heart. If you don’t have anything to say, why should the audience care about your film? Find your own voice, carefully define your ideas, and then work really hard to bring them to the screen. Just because every twenty-something around moved to LA and wants to be famous doesn’t mean they deserve to be recognized. Originality is highly valued - your own unique style is waiting to be honed.
Tired Plot Ideas:
Someone is gay (or is questioning their sexuality). Someone is dying, Someone is on drugs (nobody cares you were “brave enough” to show pot/coke/heroin in your film, unless they are injecting it into their eye). Someone’s mom is dying. Someone is stalking someone else. Young gangsters. Old gangsters. Sensitive guy likes girl who doesn’t like him. Someone has AIDs. The Disfigured hero (outcast boy has third arm protruding from his back eventually finds a girl who loves him and we find out she also has a third arm on her back). Somebody dies in a bathtub (how convenient for cleanup). Spoofs of old horror or kung-fu movies. Person walking around a city glumly looking at stuff. The streetwise prostitute finds man who wants to save her. Kids aren’t as innocent as they seem (yeah, we know). The bad marriage. The rape. The doppelganger film. Finally, the incredibly popular: Person contemplating suicide.
NUMBER ONE:
The number one reason student films suck is because the director doesn’t do the work necessary to make a high caliber film. You and your crew must take the project VERY seriously.
FINAL WORD:
Art has no rules! And yet Art does have rules! So there you have it, I leave you with a strange paradox. It’s true you are free to do whatever your heart desires; but keep in mind that attempting to produce “art” without knowledge of the craft often collapses into incomprehensibility and self-indulgence. (but then again, a lot of people love David Lynch)
April 28, 2009
Last week I got in a car accident. I’m ok and it wasn’t my fault so that’s good. Actually it was a pretty funny situation of a 16 year old boy being distracted by some cute girls that caused it and I suspect will end up in one of my movies one day, but it got me thinking about health care and health insurance.
It’s a pretty boring subject, so I’ll keep it short, but I know it’s a topic that comes up a lot when you get a few freelancers in a room. So this week’s blog may not be entertaining, but hopefully it’ll be helpful.
If you don’t work for a company that supplies it, there are only a handful of ways to get health insurance in this business. At least at the moment.
The most preferable is to be a member of a union. Lots of people talk about health insurance as a free union benefit. That’s not strictly true because you do pay yearly dues, but usually the benefits are very good and for what you get the dues are reasonable.
The next way is to buy it on your own. This is what I do and it pretty much sucks because the good coverage is pretty expensive so you get what you can afford. The rates depend mostly on your age and your pre-existing conditions. (Personally I think that’s a bunch of bullshit - one friend recently got turned down because she took anti-depressants fifteen years ago in high school and another had a breast cancer scare that turned out to be false! But whatever, it is what it is.) And ladies if you’re thinking about getting preggers there’s an additional fee for that coverage. The best thing I can say about this is get it when you’re young and healthy. But, expect it to go up every year like clockwork. My policy started at about $100/month and now it’s $250/month. Grr… When you look for plans ask around and know that they differ from state to state so what’s good and cheap in NY may not be in LA.
There’s also the Freelancers union. I’ve heard they offer good, reasonable policies. But again they differ from state to state.
The only other way I’m aware of is to use your spouse’s coverage, be young enough to be on your parent’s, start your own company and offer it or get a real j-o-b.
Finally, and I’m definitely not advocating this, but if you’re really strapped many people risk it and go without. If you do that here’s what you need to know… many cities like NY and LA have excellent free clinics for the times you get non-emergency sick and for gyn Planned Parenthood will see patients on a sliding scale. If you ever have an emergency, public and Catholic hospitals will not turn you away if you can’t pay.
That’s it. That’s all I know about health insurance. Short and sweet.
Good luck out there people! Stay well making movies!
April 10, 2009
Truth is a funny thing in Hollywood. When you’re a kid you’re told to always tell the truth. It’s a non-negotiable fact. One of the hard moral lines of the world. Nice though that is for fairy tales and Catholic school it’s not really my experience.
What I have found about the truth is that it’s a rare commodity to be given and taken with care. And not because people are evil or immoral or whatever. It’s mostly because people don’t know the truth, don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings or just want to keep their job so they can pay their mortgage.
Now, not to say that I’m a rampant liar, but I look at my truth as something I can choose to give or not. And it’s just not always warranted. Here’s an example, you go to see a film of some guy you sort of know and it sucks. Like seriously sucks. It’s the first screening, the guy is excited and nervous and filled with adrenaline. And just after the show he comes to you and says, “What did you think?” Ugh.
Years ago when I was a young student in New York I would have felt it was my moral duty, my obligation to tell the truth. If I didn’t it somehow reflected on my own artistic integrity. It would have been my job to either tell this poor guy how bad his film was or to find something, anything, nice to say about it. Which lead to quite a few, “The titles looked good?” type awful comments. But now I know better.
Truthfully? The film sucked. But here’s the thing. What would saying that get anyone at that exact moment in time? Make him feel like crap on his big day? Make me look like a know it all? I know my opinion, I don’t need to hear it out loud to be convinced. Ruin a potential relationship? The film’s done, it’s not like he’s going to go recut it on my advice. Also, if he doesn’t know he made a shitty film it’s not like he’s all of a sudden going to be able to see that now. And besides, I could be wrong. How mean would that be?
So this is what I’ve come to. Truth is not the standard here. And it’s fine. No need to rail against it. And no point going looking for it where you know you’ll never find it.
But it is extremely important to know where it does exist. The people in your life who will tell you the truth are invaluable. I think this is one of the best things I got out of film school. I know exactly who to ask when I need an honest opinion. And this week in particular that really came in handy.
It also got me thinking about the truth. And I’ve noticed there are three times when I always give it. When a friend honestly wants my feedback, when I’m looking at my own work, and when it’s something I give a crap about.
Other than that, I’m happy to smile politely and drink my gin and tonic.
March 14, 2009
I’m in post right now on the short film I shot a couple weeks ago and I love the editing process. It’s like writing without all the pressure of the entirely blank page.
The way I work with my editor is to first give him some time alone with the project. This allows an entirely new perspective to infuse fresh energy into the project and it gives me a small break after shooting. Which not only gives me a chance to physically rejuvenate after larger shoots, but also gives me a break from the project mentally so I can come to the cut with some fresh eyes of my own.
Sometimes my editor and I will speak a lot at this point and sometimes just a little. Almost always in broad terms though. For example, I might say “This film is about loss,” or “This is really so & so’s film so let’s make sure we’re cutting from her pov” or “I know it looks like we covered this one section a lot but it’s because I really wanted to build out the moments between so & so because that’s the changing point in the film.” We’ll talk about feel, pace, rough beats. Music is always a great thing to talk about. Whatever gets my editor cutting the same film that I’m making, but not so much that he’s creatively shut down.
It’s key that I work with someone who understands story and characters the same way I do, but I also like working with someone who’s a bit more experimental than I am. Someone that will push me to see new things, surprise me when I’m watching my own film. Someone that will look for material in the stuff between takes as much as what we meant to shoot. It’s also key that my editor, like all members of my team, feel ownership over the project.
The one thing I’ve found consistently across all aspects of filmmaking is that if I do a good job hiring creative, hard-working people, the next step is to give them clear expectations and room to shine. That’s especially true with editors. It’s the final opportunity to do another draft of the film so the stakes are high and you want to make sure everyone’s bringing their big guns to the table.
March 3, 2009
This week I got invited to screen my commercial, Viesso: Couch Therapy, at The Be Film Festival in New York. And you know what? Hell yeah!
Is it the biggest film festival world? No. Has anyone ever even heard of it? Perhaps not. But you know what? I don’t care. It rocks. It rocks because it’s the world giving me feedback and it’s not a poo sandwich so that is a good thing.
I’ve found that most of the progress to be made in this industry is slow and steady if you’re lucky, slow and jerky if you’re like everyone else. And, if you’re really fortunate, punctuated by a few grand leaps forward that will someday be neatly edited into a 30 second summary for E! True Hollywood Stories.
So in the meantime, it’s important to find pleasure, gratification and learning experiences wherever you can along the way. Or you may one day end up a very grumpy monkey indeed.
Have a great week everyone!
