What film directors do you want to work with?

Ada Lovelace

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JJ Abrams was the keynote speaker at a student film festival last year, and was fantastic. I don't plan on going into the entertainment industry, but it would be an enormous honor and joy to be able to work with him.
 
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Resha Caner

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The color Purple and Schindler's List.

Umm. OK. I would agree The Color Purple is an excellent film. Schindler's List ... not so much.

But while I can admire the concise nature of your answer, it's not giving me what I was looking for. Given that I'm nobody, I realize I should just be grateful were I given the position of assistant to the assistant to the assistant. Still, one of the ways I divide my writing is based on the amount of artistic control I would want to retain. Some stories I could give to a director and say, "Have at it," and when the resulting film is nothing like what I intended, I would be OK with that. Other stories have been designed for a purpose, and there is no point in putting them on film if that purpose isn't realized.

So, I'm interested in directorial style/vision. Do the listed directors try to build a collaborative team, or are they directive? If they tend toward the latter, what type of vision do they typically promote in their films? What world view?

If I had any say in the matter, I wouldn't know what director I would want to work with.
 
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brinny

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Umm. OK. I would agree The Color Purple is an excellent film. Schindler's List ... not so much.

But while I can admire the concise nature of your answer, it's not giving me what I was looking for. Given that I'm nobody, I realize I should just be grateful were I given the position of assistant to the assistant to the assistant. Still, one of the ways I divide my writing is based on the amount of artistic control I would want to retain. Some stories I could give to a director and say, "Have at it," and when the resulting film is nothing like what I intended, I would be OK with that. Other stories have been designed for a purpose, and there is no point in putting them on film if that purpose isn't realized.

So, I'm interested in directorial style/vision. Do the listed directors try to build a collaborative team, or are they directive? If they tend toward the latter, what type of vision do they typically promote in their films? What world view?

If I had any say in the matter, I wouldn't know what director I would want to work with.

I disagree about Schindler's List. It is a masterpiece and it's based on history, and an unlikely "hero" who had no intention whatsoever, of becoming the furthest thing from his mind: a most unlikely "hero".

I don't have any answers for you regarding the other points that you raised.

Steven Spielberg is a brilliant director, producer, and screenwriter. I would consider it a rare privilege. The outcomes of his work speak for themselves in MHO.

I do wish you well, however. It sounds exciting, what you are attempting to do.

What do you write about, if you don't mind me asking?

On a side note, Jon Avnet, who directed a phenomenal movie called "Fried Green Tomatoes", is another brilliant producer, director, and writer.
 
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Resha Caner

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Steven Spielberg is a brilliant director, producer, and screenwriter. I would consider it a rare privilege.

I agree Spielberg is good. I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to work on one of his films. Should I ever be more than a flunky, however, I wonder what people I would want in order to get my vision across. I'm pretty sure I would make a horrible director, so I wouldn't try to take that on.

I disagree about Schindler's List. It is a masterpiece and it's based on history, and an unlikely "hero" who had no intention whatsoever, of becoming the furthest thing from his mind: a most unlikely "hero".

Uh oh. Hopefully this doesn't become a distraction, but now I can't resist commenting.

In addition to admiring Spielberg, I admire Liam Neeson and Ben Kinsley as actors. I also admire what Schindler did in real life. But I didn't like the movie. Spielberg seemed to have a disturbing preoccupation with shooting people in the head. It became a distraction. At one point I was thinking, "Oh, please, not again," and I started to get bored. I couldn't finish watching it. Then, the whole thing with the red coat in a B&W film just seemed pretentious and ill-suited to the structure of the rest of the film.

What do you write about, if you don't mind me asking?

I usually write speculative stories. I like character-driven stories rather than plot-driven, and I like to explore subtle situations in which the MC is pressured by society to concede personal mores. I want the reader to start off thinking, "What's the big deal? Why does this matter to him?" The story then explores the consequences, and hopefully the reader will eventually say, "Ah! I get it!"

So, I've worked hard to develop story settings and structures that embody a Christian worldview - specifically a Lutheran worldview. It's actually very difficult. For example, I prefer Tolkien to Lewis. In Lord of the Rings people wrinkle their brow and ask, "This was written by a Christian?" In Narnia they say, "Well, that was blatant." Again, I prefer Tolkien. The danger with that subtle approach is directors like Peter Jackson. In the first film (Fellowship of the Ring) I could still see Tolkien's vision and message. By the 3rd Hobbit film it had been completely obliterated. I had trouble watching that one to the end as well.

That's a high-level summary. I don't know if you were interested in a more in-depth discussion of the themes I write about or if you wanted a synopsis of an actual plot from a specific story.

What do you like to write?
 
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brinny

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I agree Spielberg is good. I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to work on one of his films. Should I ever be more than a flunky, however, I wonder what people I would want in order to get my vision across. I'm pretty sure I would make a horrible director, so I wouldn't try to take that on.



Uh oh. Hopefully this doesn't become a distraction, but now I can't resist commenting.

In addition to admiring Spielberg, I admire Liam Neeson and Ben Kinsley as actors. I also admire what Schindler did in real life. But I didn't like the movie. Spielberg seemed to have a disturbing preoccupation with shooting people in the head. It became a distraction. At one point I was thinking, "Oh, please, not again," and I started to get bored. I couldn't finish watching it. Then, the whole thing with the red coat in a B&W film just seemed pretentious and ill-suited to the structure of the rest of the film.



I usually write speculative stories. I like character-driven stories rather than plot-driven, and I like to explore subtle situations in which the MC is pressured by society to concede personal mores. I want the reader to start off thinking, "What's the big deal? Why does this matter to him?" The story then explores the consequences, and hopefully the reader will eventually say, "Ah! I get it!"

So, I've worked hard to develop story settings and structures that embody a Christian worldview - specifically a Lutheran worldview. It's actually very difficult. For example, I prefer Tolkien to Lewis. In Lord of the Rings people wrinkle their brow and ask, "This was written by a Christian?" In Narnia they say, "Well, that was blatant." Again, I prefer Tolkien. The danger with that subtle approach is directors like Peter Jackson. In the first film (Fellowship of the Ring) I could still see Tolkien's vision and message. By the 3rd Hobbit film it had been completely obliterated. I had trouble watching that one to the end as well.

That's a high-level summary. I don't know if you were interested in a more in-depth discussion of the themes I write about or if you wanted a synopsis of an actual plot from a specific story.

What do you like to write?

If you didn't watch the complete movie (Schindler's List), i'm not certain how you can actually comment on it.

The little girl in the red coat, was a poignant part of what kept me glued to the screen.

In addition, it was Schindler's face and expression, indicating his very soul, when he saw the little girl in the red coat, and then saw her later.

The end of the movie was powerful.

Steven Spielberg was a courageous and out of the box director, to direct this phenomenal film.

I write rants, thoughts on Bible books, and random nonsense'es, mostly.
 
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Resha Caner

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If you didn't watch the complete movie (Schindler's List), i'm not certain how you can actually comment on it.

I saw the majority of it.

Also, I used to be a slush reader. I got to a place where I could spot a bad story in the first paragraph. Every now and then I would feel guilty about quick decisions, so I would read to the end. Not once did that change my opinion. I talked to other editors, and all of them did the same thing.

"Bad" is different than a difference in style or a misunderstanding. I can name 2 films I didn't like because they confused me (2001 and 8 1/2). But I dug into it more, and once I understood them I could appreciate what they were doing.

I write rants, thoughts on Bible books, and random nonsense'es, mostly.

You mean nonfiction? So do you write scripts? My history has been writing prose, but recently I've developed an interest in scriptwriting.
 
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brinny

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I saw the majority of it.

Also, I used to be a slush reader. I got to a place where I could spot a bad story in the first paragraph. Every now and then I would feel guilty about quick decisions, so I would read to the end. Not once did that change my opinion. I talked to other editors, and all of them did the same thing.

"Bad" is different than a difference in style or a misunderstanding. I can name 2 films I didn't like because they confused me (2001 and 8 1/2). But I dug into it more, and once I understood them I could appreciate what they were doing.



You mean nonfiction? So do you write scripts? My history has been writing prose, but recently I've developed an interest in scriptwriting.

It's a looooong movie, but well worth it. The ending is priceless.

I don't write scripts, just thoughts from me head.....i gots ta share me weird-ness-es :p
 
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