All language subtitles for 4 - Discovering Your Process

I don't think there's anything that could be

that could be deemed a process

which covers all the bases

so to speak

I mean look

yes it's a process

in order to start shooting

you have to put the camera on some sort of device

or you want to hand hold it

you have to make a choice there

there are some basic things

that are about more logistical than anything else

uh the use of equipment

knowing what equipment could do

knowing which tool to use

um but natural process

you know there are many people who just work it out

and many people who kind of write as they go along um

the script for Vijawin Italia

Voyage to Italy by Rossellini was free

I saw it framed on a wall in an apartment in Rome

it was one page paragraph

not saying everybody does that

Fellini when he would um

shoot I was on a set of number of times

but 1980 81

um doing city of women

um he had five different sets in on the same stage

and there was constant talking and shouting and yelling

and he was running up and down and people laughing

people arguing

in the meantime

he was shooting

he was shooting

I remember people saying

what's going on as well

he's shooting over here in one

it was a very different way of shooting

course in Italy they don't use sync sound

so the sets are

everybody used to speak

talking loudly

you know um

and as we shooting

we were guests on the city

to come over and talk to us and go back to the shot

so it's a very different way of

working a very different process

there are filmmakers who are more filmmakers

who have an editor whom they trust

who knows their style and knows who they are

and has worked with them a long time

editing while they're shooting

the film could be put together

two weeks after the pictures finish

rapping shooting um

I like to wait until I finish shooting

and work with my editor

you know um and so um

what I'm saying is that there is no process

and when people talk to you about a process

you might as well open a textbook

textbook give you some basic facts

logistics facts

that sort of thing

but whether good or bad

it's art meaning

the quality of it

I don't know

it depends on the person

quality of your own work

I don't know

you just know you have to do it

so in that doing of it

you are making judgments

whether the quality of the judgment

is something that's gonna last

mean something to people 50 years from now

who knows you know

do you feel good about it

very often people feel terrible about some of it

and it's quite good to many people

so there really is no process

I mean yes to a certain extent

it would be good to talk to the costume person

before shooting

okay I mean

it's common

common sense

preparation seems to be good

especially for narrative cinema

that sort of thing seems to be

which means you should talk to your director

photography

talk to your locations people

describe what you want um

this is aside from working with writers

of writing it yourself

working with the actors

all of this sort of thing is

is a common sense

I think the actual logistics

and the Rubik Cube of making a film

is something that you may need guidance with

people who are real pros at it I mean

for example

Michael Ballhouse

when we were doing Last Temptation of Christ I had

worked on the

we worked on the schedule and

and all of this sort of thing

we had it ready

the first scene in the script

was gonna be the first thing we shot

and I was all ready to do it

but a week and a half or two weeks before shooting

Michael came to me and said look

instead of the first scene

we should go to the

there's a scene with their crucifixion of

a guy was called a zealot

he said we should shoot that first

it's daylight

the light will be right

we get three days of daylight out of the way

and then we go indoors

and for whatever reasons I

it was made clear to me that

that was the most sensible way of going

because of budget and schedule

and I wanted the luxury of continuity

I couldn't have it

and so this is what I mean about it uh

there is no process so um

you know um

there's a process in that

in that you must rely on those who

know how to get the things done

um what those things are

come from you

and is it practical or not you know

is it practical for the amount of money you have

the amount of days you have

the people you're working with

that sort of thing

and if it's not

how could they get close

enough to what you'd like you know

a life of a film is perceived differently

from different filmmakers you know

for me it means

allowing the film to have its own life at times

and to um be able to take the chances

to burst the seams of the picture

and for us to take advantage of the um um

the possibility of special things that would happen

within the scene

with the actors

with the camera

with the light

all of this

um you know

there are many films have been made

and many continued to be made

where in a sense

almost like director free

they're like succession of line readings

in a sense of good script

really good actors

and you can enjoy it

but I don't feel it cinema

I don't feel that the it's a film somehow

cause here's the thing

you have to stay open

you have to stay open to what's happening

right in front of you

around you at every single moment

as you envision a scene

as you work on the scene

with the crew

with the with the cast um

you designed it in your head

of course you have

you know even the lenses you wanna use

in some cases

you design the camera moves

the camera moves mean something we hope uh

the cuts could be designed in such a way

as to an editing pattern you know

you work with the production designer

custom designer

and then with course

the art director

custom designer on the set

and then with the actors

and you shoot it

and something completely unexpected happens

it adds new value to the scene

in the case of good fellas

for example

the third night of shooting we

because of schedule problems

we have to shoot this really important scene

where character stacks

played by Sam Jackson

gets assassinated by Joe Pesci's character

and he had his friend with him

Frank and we did all in one take

um and it was before digital

so there were prosthetics and all kinds of

it was very complicated to do but um

when Joe came in

but Frank said

a lot of stacks and said

maybe some coffee

will you told Frank

so Frank's making the coffee

I thought you

had one of your bitches in here we

got these hot books around or get you something

Joe comes around in the frame

circles around and finally surprises everyone

and Frank comes out with the coffee pot looking

he just took the coffee pot with him

the fuck you look at

so Joe told him come on

make that coffee to go let's go

they actually start to leave the room

and Frank is walking with the coffee

but it's not a joke

the fuck you doing

it's a joke a joke

put the fucking pot down here

take the coffee

and so I began to get a sense of the horrifying humor

uh and um the dark humor of the picture and the story

and the lifestyle of

making jokes in circumstances like this

and the psychopathology of it

and this is really coming out of

working with the actors and

happened repeatedly throughout that film

or in the editing

for example

where you taking good fellas where

Mori keeps asking Jimmy to get his money for him

and they're in a bar

it's later in the picture

and you begin to hear uh

Sunshine of your love cream

and at that point you see Jimmy

played by Robert De Niro

looking around and checking out each one in the bar

and realizing to himself

that why should he have to share the the loot

why don't you just kill them all yeah

but I had made a note that we move in on him

we shoot it at 36 frames a second or 32 frames a second

and when we were sinking up the music for the scene

a guitar riff

hit right at the moment that Bob's eyes flared

and we realized this was it

this was the moment we were looking for

it was a combination of planning and the imagination

on the page

32 to 36 frames a second

a camera moved in

and the editing of the picture few months later

using that piece of music

many even sometimes surprises in the mix

like a raging bull or Frank Warner

we kept saying

there's so many sounds of punches

and these fight scenes

it was one big moment

I think Jake swings his arm into frame

and gloves smashes into the head of the other fighter

knocks him out

whatever we're sitting there saying

it's just how many more ways could we uh

express the sounds of gloves slamming against flash

or whatever

or the speed of the glove going right past you because

a lot of the sound effects in those scenes in the ring

were meant to be

just as the visuals were meant to be

impressions of how Jake saw it in the ring

not from people outside the ring

but how you perceive reality

after being punched or throwing punches

and losing your breath and trying to stay in shape

and trying to stay on your feet

and so everything was twisted and turned in a way

so Frank was thinking

Frank was thinking

so what if we take out the sun

I said yeah let's do that

and sure enough

that's how it worked out

but again it was created there in the mix

but all of us working together

and so the point is

Joe is really have to stay alive

to what's happening in front of you

right in front of you

and you could have the

some calling a negative way

preconceived ideas

but as long as the philosophy of the idea still

still retained

you could change the aspects of it

you could change

the elements which create the concept of the shot

and so you know

I think the picture itself takes over in a way