All language subtitles for MasterClass - James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking 15.Making Your Way And Leading With Passion Eng

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I can't emphasize enough
the importance of curiosity.

I think curiosity is how you're
going to find your stories.

Curiosity is how you
interact with the world

and observe how people are.

Before you can make a film,
you have to have observed life,

you have to have
lived some life.

And you have to have to
have been in relationships,

and you have to have
noted things about people

and found people just
endlessly fascinating.

Before you can radiate,
you need to absorb.

You know, it's the
law of thermodynamics.

It's the creativity
law of thermodynamics.

So, you know, you have
to get good people.

So all right, so you
want to understand

the basic technologies
of computer animation.

How does it work?

What are the steps involved?

It doesn't just
spring full blown.

You're going to
start with ideas.

You're going to
start with design.

Sometimes it's character design,
sometimes it's creature design.

Sometimes you'll go through
performance capture.

Maybe someone is playing
a creature or a character.

You need to know how to
integrate these things

with live action
elements if you choose

to go down that
path of doing highly

effects oriented filmmaking.

It's really-- I don't want to
say it's a separate art form,

because there's a lot of--

it's a gradient.

You could be making the most
humanistic simple drama,

but in order to create
that scene in 1954

that you want to do, suddenly
you're in the effects world.

So how are you going to
learn about that stuff?

Well, to start a lot of the
tools are readily available.

You can work relatively
cheaply in some

of the newer visual
effects apps,

so get some nerdy
friends to come in

and show you how to do
that, or just sit and watch

over their shoulder
while they do something

and learn the language.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Personally, I think
it's really important

to understand all the jobs
on the set and all the jobs

associated with making a film.

So as one is coming
up and trying

to find your place in the
ecosystem of filmmaking,

I think it's a really good idea
to try a bit of everything.

Be the boom operator for
one of your friend's films.

Understand how cameras work.

Learn to understand
how lenses work.

Don't, I think-- don't
fall into the trap

that a lot of
filmmakers do early

on when they come to it
from, let's say, writing,

or they come to it from acting.

You know-- because there tends
to be this sense of dividing

the process of filmmaking into
the humanistic, empathetic,

sort of internal--

you know, actor and
writing kind of side of it.

And then there's all that
technical stuff that people do.

I think it's important to
remember that first of all,

it's a fusion of
both of those sides.

And you have to
inhabit that dualism

where you can speak
to the actors,

you can talk to the writers, you
understand the inner landscape

of all the characters.

And at the same time, you
can ask for a certain lens

and know what it'll do.

You can talk to the DP about a
backlight, you know, a desat--

you know, whatever it is,
whatever stylistically you're

trying to do.

I think it's really critical
to not sort of categorize

oneself going in as
a technical filmmaker

or humanistic filmmaker,
but understand that they

are two sides of the
same coin, and you really

can't be operating in
the role of filmmaker

without understanding
both sides of those.

And that's one of the things
that I believe in and try

to do in my own life--
not get too drawn

into the technical side of it.

So the more you have of
the technical expertise--

it doesn't have to be
expertise like you're

going to go out
and offer yourself

to the industry as a top sound
person or a top dolly grip

or whatever.

It's enough to be able
to speak the language,

because the art
of film directing

is the art of making
it happen in real time,

at that moment, when
everything has come together.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I think people who are
coming in to film these days

are shocked to find
out how much is really

a visual effect these
days, how much of maybe

the view outside the
window is entirely

done with green screen,
wasn't there at all.

So you really can't be--

this is going to be
a sweeping statement,

and there will be
people that reject it--

but it's pretty hard to
be a filmmaker these days

without being conversant
with simple visual effects,

putting something
outside a window,

putting something outside
a car, that sort of thing.

So you really need
to understand--

you know, like right now, it
may not look like it because I

don't know what they're going
to do later in composite,

but I'm sitting on a green stage
where they can put anything

they want behind me later.

So maybe you guys can
switch that off, we

can see that it's just
a blank green stage.

And then you can switch it back
on and show what it's like,

and maybe you didn't even
know that was happening,

or you suspected it.

And I think it's important
to know what level of realism

is required.

It's important to find
good visual effects people.

It's important to speak their
language enough that it doesn't

sound like Greek to you
when they're talking about,

you know, what they're going
to use as a key-in color.

Is it going to be green?

Is it going to be blue?

How does that affect
your lighting?

What are they going to need
in terms of the on-set lining

up of the shots,
because you're going

to be putting
things in later that

have to go in the right place.

So you become very
reliant on those people.

And if you're not--
if you haven't come up

in the technology of
visual effects, like I did,

for example-- because I come
from the technical side--

you need to find
good people that

have done good work
on the type of film

that you're trying to make.

I've heard filmmaking
described, I think best,

as you're laying track in
front of a moving train.

The train is not going to stop.

And so the decisions that
you make in that real time

are going to be the
sum total of everything

you've learned along the way and
your instinct, which I've which

I've already talked about.

And to a large extent,
they're kind of irrevocable.

And it's important
to come prepared.

Fortune favors
the prepared mind.

So what's your preparation--
well, you're storyboarding,

and you're writing,
and you're pre--

I'd don't want to say
pre-visualization,

because that's a process
and it's a process

shared with other people.

I'm talking about your
pre-imagining of the scene.

Run that scene in your mind.

Imagine what it can be.

Once you're cast, imagine
it with those actors.

Maybe you don't
have to imagine it.

Maybe you do a fair
bit of rehearsal,

maybe you even tape
some of the rehearsals.

Maybe you tape the
auditions and actually cut

the scene ahead of time.

I've done that as well.

Cut the scene, understand your
scene before you go into it.

Know what your
important scenes are,

make sure everyone
else is prepared.

And I'm not just talking
on the technical side.

I'm talking with the actors.

Make sure they're prepared
mentally and emotionally

for that scene and they
have whatever they need.

They've had the rehearsal
time that they need

and that they want.

And so the more you understand
the trades, the more you

understand the craft of it--

work with a DP or become
a DP on a low budget film.

Understand lighting.

So this is all the craft.

This is the technical
craft of filmmaking.

And I think there are lots of
great books on the subject.

You can read "American
Cinematographer,"

which is a good source.

And there are other
magazines, trade magazines,

on cinematography.

Absorb it.

Be a sponge.

Learn it all and make
friends with people

who are interested in
those specific aspects

of the art, someone who is
an aspiring cinematographer.

Make friends with
that person and say,

hey, let's make a film.

Doesn't even matter-- let's
just make up a story real quick

and go make a film
and experiment around,

and get other people
enthusiastic about that

and come in.

The only way to learn
it, really, is by doing.

I think the thing that's
important to remember

about film is that it's
a collaborative meeting--

so it's a team, a
bunch of people.

But somebody needs to lead
that team in real time.

So the director is kind
of like a war president,

you know, in the sense
that you don't have time

to take it out of committee.

You're dealing with stuff
that's coming out you,

1,000 questions a day,
1,000 little decisions

a day-- do another
take, don't do

another take, do this, do that,
red wardrobe, green wardrobe,

whatever.

So it's a system
that sort of rewards,

in a sense, a kind
of autocratic system.

And for me
personally, my journey

around the leadership
of how you do this

started with me being
you kind of a tin pot

dictator, because the movie
was the most important thing.

And everything, everybody
serves the movie.

And I was the
representative of the movie.

And so I think I
was rough on people.

I don't think I was cruel.

I was just rough because
the pace of events

demanded it and all
that sort of thing.

But what I've
learned over time is

that people don't
do their best work

if they're not respected and
appreciated and have a voice.

And so if I've learned
one thing that I

would like to go back
and do differently,

It's not necessarily
the choice of lenses

or the choice of
dialogue or anything

within the films themselves.

It's the nature of the
working relationship.

I could have listened more.

I could have been
less autocratic.

I could have not
made the movie more

important than the human
interaction of the crew.

And it shouldn't be, because
I think when we start out

as filmmakers, we tend to think
that the movie's the world,

and it isn't.

And years later, you realize,
well, I'm still here,

and all those people are still
around, and the movie is--

everybody's forgotten it.

You know, I think somebody
like Ron Howard, who

is innately a team
player, who came up

in the culture of
a television show

from the time he was a
kid, he's great at it.

When I first saw him
work, I was dumbfounded.

It's like, wow, he takes a lot
of time complimenting people.

You know, what's
he on about here?

And I aspire to,
even to today, to try

to be my inner Ron Howard.

Thanks guys.

Well done.

Fun, fun, fun.

And I've told him
this, by the way.

This is no secret--

because I think
that's how it's done.

And he's a great filmmaker,
he's a fine filmmaker.

So the two are not
mutually exclusive.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The other aspect of leadership
is you have to inspire.

And you inspire
by communicating.

If you're not
passionate about it,

if you're kind of
phoning it in or you

don't know how to express
that, or you sit back

with a kind of a blank
face, why are other people

going to be excited about it?

You've got to get
people excited about it.

And you-- and I don't care
if it's day 100 of a shoot.

And if you're
starting out, you're

probably a ways away from that,
but trust me, you'll get there.

I don't care if it's
day 100 of a shoot.

You got to come in
with that enthusiasm.

You got to have that
lightness in your step.

You've got to see the wonder
that's happening right in front

of you and be excited by it.

You know-- and run in.

I've run into a shot
when the camera's still

rolling and hugged the actor.

You know, what you
just did is fantastic.

You know-- oh, cut, by the way.

Share it.

Share the joy of creation.

And I think it takes a
while to be secure enough

to be able to do that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Film is about compromise.

It's all about compromise.

But it's not compromising
from some crystal

vision that already exists.

I always say it's a process of
working with a group of people

to get that picture to come
more and more into focus.

So I can use the
example of creating

elements for a fantasy
world, or a science fiction

world, and a whole bunch of
designs start to come in.

And you work with artists.

And you look at
something and you

say, oh, that's interesting.

I hadn't seen it that way.

Let's pursue that idea.

And somebody else would
come with a different try,

and say, well, that's
kind of interesting too.

Let's pursue that idea.

At a certain point,
one speaks to you

a little more than the other
and you make a decision.

And ultimately, all those
decisions are binary.

They're one or the other
and they're forever.

You know, and you can't let
the forever of it weigh on you.

You just have to
make it a fun, kind

of vigorous creative process,
because the second you bog down

on--

shit, what I just
decided I'm going

to have to live with
for the rest of my life,

you'll never get anywhere.

You just have to kind of
keep your heart in the game.

You make it fun.

You encourage other people.

And you make decisions at a
kind of instinctive level.

But that instinct is well
cultivated over time.

It really consists of every
film you've ever watched

and either enjoyed
or didn't like,

but saw something in
it that was cool--

every book you ever read,
every dream you've ever had.

And by dream, I
don't mean ambition.

I mean, the actual
mental process

of stringing together random
images and bits of narrative

in your head all night
long every night.

And I think that's
something that one

needs to learn to believe in,
to listen to and believe in,

because it's really the sum
total of all your inputs

and all of your likes
up until that point.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It's people that are
rabid scared and rigid,

and holding onto
their storyboards

like this, that can't see the
magic and can't incorporate it.

So you got to get past that.

Yes, you got to be prepared.

You've got to come
in with a plan.

And sometimes that's
the only thing

that keeps the day going along.

You know, go to--

we're doing shot five
on the shot list,

it's right here in
the storyboards.

And everybody's happy because
they know what you're doing.

But it doesn't have to be that.

It's your film.

You can do anything you want.

You can take that out or you
can do something different,

or maybe the actors come in
with some really cool idea,

or something happens
in rehearsal.

Rehearsal's a great, highly
fertile time to see new ideas.

So you let the cast
off their leash

and they'll come up with
all kinds of crazy stuff.

And I've always been
attracted to the actors that

are the most inventive.

You know, Bill Paxson
being a very good example.

He'd come in, he'd have thought
for months about the dialogue

he wanted to do.

He'd be constantly saying, I
could do this, I could do that.

I'd throw out nine tenths
of it and keep that 10%,

and the movie was better for it.

You know, when he says,
what are we going to do now,

we're in some real
pretty shit now--

you know, that whole rant
that he does in "Aliens,"

he just kind of riffed that up.

You know, you got to keep
your eyes open for the magic.

And I think the most important
thing is every single day,

working with your actors,
lightning is striking.

How do you bottle it?

How do you bottle
that lightning?

You can't predict
what an actor is

going to do or say, or just a
little gesture that they do,

or color that they add to
a line that was not maybe

the intention of
the line at all,

but it comes out of left field
and all of a sudden, that fits.

That fits.

That's better.

And when they sit around
in film studies classes,

and you read all the
cahiers du cinema stuff,

and they talk about all
these brilliant things

that filmmakers do, they
tend to forget the fact

that most of those movies
didn't have very big budgets.

And people were just doing what
they could do in the moment,

and something great
came out of it.

It's not quite the
highly precise process

that people think it is.

And a lot of the things
that we applaud in movies

were basically happy
accidents on the day.

And I don't want
to say accidents.

I want to say they were moments
of taking the opportunity,

seeing something
happening, maybe

some particular configuration
of where the sun was

at the location, at the time.

And instead of doing
the shot that way,

you decide to move
everything over to here

to take advantage of it.

All filmmaking is kind
of combat in the sense

that you're going into a
highly fluid situation.

Instead of having a defined
enemy, your enemy is entropy.

Your enemy is that
tendency of the universe

to go from a state
of order to disorder.

But you can be prepared to the
extent that you have confidence

and you have options.

You can switch, you can switch
track, you can go around.

I mean, I think of filmmaking
like water flowing inevitably

downhill.

It goes around rocks,
doesn't go through,

so you've got to go
around the obstacles.

You've got to be
that flowing water.