How many times have you seen an article title or video claiming to give you the key to achieving your artistic goals in three easy steps? Well, if you don’t want your bubble to burst, this might be a good time to stop reading.
I just spent a long and extremely hot weekend in Los Angeles doing two things. One, profuse sweat. And, two, binge on the Hulu show Dropout, the limited series about Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the now-defunct and discredited medical testing company Theranos. You may have seen it. I can slow going around to reach the program. But, even if you don’t know yet, you probably know the basics. The young entrepreneur founded a tech company, becoming the darling of Silicon Valley and Washington DC, only to later reveal that the business was a total scam and that the emperor had no clothes.
At the beginning of the film, Holmes, played by Amanda Seyfried, is shown as an aspiring teenager driving her car when the Alabama song “I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” is about someone who wants to get ahead in life. start playing on the radio as quickly as possible. She then quotes Mark Zuckerberg’s famous Facebook slogan: “Move fast and break things.” Among the many shortcomings of the series’ central character, some of the main themes are impatience, a desire to succeed, and a willingness to cut things off to get there as quickly as possible.
Of course, Elizabeth Holmes’s story is not unique. It is human nature to want to get from A to Z in as few steps as possible. The more letters we skip in between, the better we find ourselves doing. It’s not lazy. It’s effective. And just as it makes sense for humans to want to shorten their journey, it is equally as realistic that another group of people must appear to seek to exploit the first group by promising to bring them there in secret. .
Prophets who claim to have all the answers are not necessarily quacks. In fact, the basis and motivation behind the advice given is often not taken in good faith. Another element of human nature is that when we learn something of value, we tend to want to pass that information on to others. It is a charitable disposition and one of the best natural instincts man possesses. So the words I am about to say are not meant as some kind of condemnation to those brave enough to offer help. Instead, they are meant as a warning to those who want to use that help. Beware of those who come with promises of a straight path to success.
We live in a world where millions of blog posts, millions of videos, millions of books and millions of opinions, are constantly trying to define for us what art is supposed to be. In the internet age, where everyone with a keyboard can claim to be an expert, the recognition of this advice becomes even greater. In the world of algorithms and trend chasing, the definition of “good” seems to change like the wind. Cannot be determined. As my favorite football broadcaster, Ray Hudson, would say: “it’s like trying to nail Jell-O to the ceiling.”
However, every day I go to YouTube and am greeted with titles like “How to grow your photography business in three easy steps”, “I am changing from camera to camera”. other photos to take my work to the next level” or say “Do this if you want your footage to be cinematic.” Letting go a bit that the majority of such videos don’t seem to really understand what the word “cinema” starts with, the problem lies in the instructions given less and more on the initial premise. The idea that someone can follow specific steps and get a specific result. This can work in a mathematical formula. But such a magic formula does not apply to art.
Let’s take the many “how to be cinematic” videos as our starting point. Most are mostly focused on a few basic points. Light from behind. Use a shallow depth of field. And color grade your footage some version of the teal-orange split. If you do those three things, voila! The footage of your five-year-old birthday party shot on your iPhone will suddenly look like it was shot by Roger Deakins.
Obviously, this is pointless. However, because human nature dictates that we want to get from point A to point Z in as few steps as possible, we may find ourselves too eager to believe any simple advice given. because we are so desperate for what we perceive. a higher artistic level. Because humans are crowded animals and are tended to expect some degree of acceptance from their peers, we can be heavily influenced by the suggestion that a particular approach will not only make our work better, but it will also mean that our work is “accepted” by other artists. To some extent, we all want to be part of a team. Even if this means ignoring that one of an artist’s fundamental strengths is their ability to stand out from the group.
But stopping to ask very basic questions would make us skeptical. Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films ever made and completely pioneered the use of deep focus photography. So it’s not cinematic because it doesn’t use depth of field? do the right thing bathed in warm reds, oranges and browns to portray the sweltering heat of summer. Does that mean it’s not cinematic because it doesn’t have that cool teal-orange color? Many great stars have been blown with light from all angles, including the front, to make their close-ups glow on the screen. That means that almost all of the classic studio movies from the 30s and 40s aren’t movies because they don’t resemble the most recent installment of the franchise. Ozark? (I love Ozarkby the way, just use it as an easy to understand example).
The point is that being a movie is not about following some simple formula that anyone can gather to get some YouTube videos. Cinema is storytelling. How the images relate to the particular story being told. The way lighting is designed to support mood and performance. How the performances make the script come to life. How the production crew worked tirelessly to realize the director’s vision. How the director has a specific vision for this particular story is based on the needs of this particular story rather than following an arbitrary set of rules for making something cinematic taken from the internet.
Sorry for the rant. But, I think we can all agree, even those who have used it in a title in the past, that the word “cinema” is quickly becoming one of the most confusing phrases. and is used incorrectly in modern vernacular. And I do not mean to consider it the only shortcoming of the pursuit of modern art. Rather, it is a prime example of the danger we all face.
Art is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. There are specific techniques that we share in common. For example, learning how to use tangent triangles is a mathematical fact. It is necessary to become a great photographer. But, even with that said, there is rarely a “right” contact. What is “right” is up to the individual artist behind the lens. How you choose to interpret that equation is what makes your work different. If you rely on what people do to decide what you will do, your job will certainly be the same as everyone else’s. And if you just end up making copies of already existing images, what’s the point of choosing a camera in the first place?
The Twitterverse we live in rewards brevity. We live in a world where we want the meaning of life explained to us in 280 characters or less. Our craving for depth and nuance has been greatly diminished by an algorithmic society fueled by temporary hits of dopamine rather than sustained growth. But the truth is that if you really want to grow as a photographer or filmmaker, there are no shortcuts to success. Only a long, sometimes slow, sometimes painful, journey to art discovery may or may not lead to success. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with watching every YouTube tutorial video posted or even making one yourself. However, it is essential to realize that the people who make those videos are on their own creative journey and they don’t have all the answers either. So while learning what you can from others is a wise decision, rely on arbitrary rules to determine what is good and what is stupid.
Art comes from within you. It cannot be defined in simple terms. Not even a rambling, rambling person like me. There will come a time in your artistic journey where you will realize that you must be the one to determine what is good and what is not. You must decide what is the right aesthetic approach to your work based on the story you are personally trying to tell. Don’t rely on anyone else’s set of rules.
There is no magic cure for creativity. There is only the endless pursuit of happiness.
