Moviemaker's Master class

Groundbreakers John Boorman:

At the beginning of the chapter one entitled 'Groundbreaker's, the first interview was with John Boorman, who was born in 1933 in London, England. He started as a director in 1965 and he tried throughout his career to explore all forms of cinema, from experimental to 'revisionist operatic epic excalibur'. However, he learned filming through starting as a film critic for a newspaper when he was eighteen. Then he began to direct documentaries for the BBC, until he started doing dramas for TV and the cinema. He comments that he thinks this is the best approach to learning the tricks of the film industry. He states, 'I think film making is essentially a practical undertaking, and I think that, the apprenticeship system has always been the most affective'.

Master class with John Boorman:

When asked about his approach to directing he suggests that his method is to try to be more focused on each particular shot. When planning the storyboard, if you can see that a particular scene needs fourteen shots then you can work out that's two days of filming, then you ask yourself, 'is that scene worth two days?' he states, 'if the answer is no, [...] rewrite it or cut it.' this way 'you look at the resources, [...] the money, [...] the time and the effort, [...] and you can judge whether it has value or not.'

All directors write:

John comments that 'you can't separate shaping of the script from the writing of it'. I think this implies that in a scene, all directors are simultaneously writers, as they write and structure the shape each scene. However, when he is creating a film he likes to not pan everything and let the writing develop with the development of each scene. He says, 'it is the excitement of exploration with appeals to me.', 'you always hope it's going to lead you into something really new, fresh and original.'

Classicism versus Brutalism:

John when filming and directing his movies does not like to move the camera unless there is a purpose for moving it. The same goes for cutting, he does not cut unless it is necessary. But, he has explored with experimentation in his films, such as, 'Leo the last'. He states that he was using a 'post modern techniques' in which he 'made the audience aware of the fact it was a film', 'a fabrication', 'an artifice'. The subject was commenting on the film. He says that he learned this style of experimentation from D.W. Griffith and his use of close ups and vignetting to illustrate thought. Therefore, in terms of visual grammar for John, the 'spatial relationship between the character is the vital thing'. For example, 'If characters are emotionally close, I bring them physically close. If they're emotionally distant, I separate them. He says that he doesn't like experimenting with the visuals too much because he think's it takes it away from the art and context of the film. He comments that films like 'Armageddon' you see things that are 'forbidden' in classical cinema like 'crossing the line'. He states, it is a way to 'artificially generate excitement' but doesn't have any basis to it'.

Giving life to a scene:

When creating a scene his main goal is to give it as much 'life' as possible. He does this by focusing on the actors emotions and making sure they focus completely on every scene, making sure that they improvise what happens 'before and after' that scene. When preparing for each scene he works on the first shot, sets down the camera, the composition and puts marks down for the actors. Another thing that Griffith did that interested John, that I touched upon earlier, was 'moving the camera', which made it become a 'God's eye, [...] an omniscient viewpoint'. Giving the camera another dimension and creating a condition close to dreaming. However, as previously stated he himself doesn't move the camera. He also doesn't 'cover' his scenes and doesn't film a lot of takes either.