Why Film Critics Are Necessary For Film Makers

Lately I've been doing heavy amounts of drinking and movie watching with a few film journalists from Austin, Dallas and Los Angeles. Call them reviewers, critics, or bloggers (because print journalism is just ignored now. Even the Austin Chronicle -yikes). I also follow them on twitter because they are absolutely the most fun people to talk about film with. I personally declined an offer to write for a film blog, because although you can certainly be both (like Robert Cargill. Great writer IMO) I felt like establishing myself as a film blogger would hurt my plans on being a commercial science fiction film director. Although there are so many times when I wish I could write about film, but again I feel like it's not my place as a film maker. Let the people who blog about film do that.

Yesterday, quite a few of them were tweeting about Film maker, Kevin Smith's slam against film critics. There's one dude I follow named @ScottEWeinberg who I swear is like some kind of mystery dude. We have mutual friends and I've apparently gone to multiple parties and screenings that he's been at but never met him. Or at least didn't know it (which would make me a socially awkward jerk). This guy, Scott wrote a great article defending his profession and craft from Smith's SDCC statement. You can read it here.

It was a great article but I really felt like it was missing a lot of points on why critics are so necessary to film makers.

So I wanted to throw in my point of view. First of all some background if you don't know me. I made a no budget feature length slasher film when I was 21. Looking at it now, I'm embarrassed at thinking I was ready to make it, however it was almost a full 4 years of film school itself (I dropped out even though Cliff Robertson told me not to. Bad idea. Should've listened to Uncle Ben). By making that film and taking it to festivals and horror cons, I met a lot of people who are currently my friends and future collaborators. But regardless, it's a shitty film. But hey, we all have to get our first film out of the way. We can't all make "The Duel".

Here are a couple of bad reviews on it. I did have some good reviews but I refuse to post them because that's not the point. (but just know that some people liked it and I'm way better now). This first review was on Dreadcentral. I consider this a poorly written bad review. I learned nothing from it and the reader doesn't know why my film was boring. The second review from KillerFilm was a great critique that actually said why my film was shit.

With that said film reviews can be incredibly insightful to learn and grow and know what your weakness are as a film maker. I'd be fucking lying if I said they weren't stressful to read, but grow the fuck up. One of my friends who's a film maker once came across his film on the iTunes Store and was amused at the negative customer reviews on it. He sincerely laughed and I'm jealous of him.

I also really enjoy the reviews made by Red Letter Media. They are most known for making Star Wars prequel reviews that are over an hour long. When I watch these reviews I feel like I learn more about what works and what doesn't work in the language of film as well as understand and reevaluating the basics of character and story structure that I feel is lost and forgotten very often. You can learn a lot from watching, reading or listening to other great reviews.

Truthfully criticism is necessary for any professional or artist of any craft or medium to learn, grow and improve. The best people for this job are indeed film journalists because they are fucking journalists. They are able to analyze and write what they feel doesn't work and articulate it better than anybody else.

The audience isn't stupid. If they don't like a particular reviewer, they won't pay attention to them. If they find a reviewer their taste is inline with, they'll frequent this reviewer. Because enjoying film isn't about good/bad or right/wrong. It's about fucking liking the movie. I lost some absolutely bad films because they're fun.

Since 2005ish, it seems like people have replaced the life and arts section of their local paper with blogs. This is a result of more journalists having a much larger medium to establish themselves than just one or two local newspapers. As a guy interested in movies, I had the choice to read certain reviewers on the internet and not the reviewers of the Austin American Statesman or the Austin Chronicle. Because I had a choice. And after I watch a film, I definitely want to know what someone else thought. And sometimes I'm quiet and antisocial.

If films aren't criticized or the criticism is ignored, the entire film industry will continue to get worse and worse and only be determined by how much shit it can sell. And that is only an indicator on how well a movie is marketable; not an indicator about how enjoyable the movie is. And we all want a return to artistically driven films. So let's respect our critics.

4 years.

So it's 2012 now. It's a very fun summer of films. Especially if you're a comic book geek. This summer started off with the Avengers that has been building up since Iron man in 2008 and we are a whole month away from The Dark Knight Rises which has been building since The Dark Knight in 2008. I have to be honest, the last time I've ever been this excited for a film was The Dark Knight 4 years ago. Nothing can make me feel more like a kid than waiting for a new Batman movie to open.

I find it interesting that our summer films are repeating the pattern but with a more finale feel. Being excited for a Dark Knight film reminds me of where I was 4 years ago. I had started my day job and at the same time, my friend, Mel started production on Walking Distance before it was renamed Psychic Experiment when it was sold to Lionsgate. This is cool because that was the summer when I met everyone I know now and this is kind of the year where we all grow up in a way.

When I got my current job 4 years ago, I met a lot of awesome dudes and gals. Most of them have all moved to California for the job. I decided to stay here until I get my next film wrapped. Meanwhile I also started working on Walking Distance and met most of the people that shoot who I now consider my regular "film family". Since then, I think we've all done a lot of growing up. Most of us are becoming the artists we were always supposed to be, a lot of those friends have had kids and I think at this time we're really starting to find ourselves as artists if that makes sense.

Shit. I think this blog had no point. But it's as personal as this blog ever gets and I wanted to share my inner thoughts about the crazy reflection this summer has given.

Where's Robert?

So a few people wondered why I didn't go to Texas Frightmare Weekend this year (2012) after I've been there every year since 08. "But Robert you drove all the way to Dallas just to see Robocop a few weeks ago but you didn't go to TFW?" Yyyyyup!

So first of I'm not dropping out of filmmaking or anything like that. I have been laying low. I'm doing a something. Trust me. This thing I'm working on is taking longer to develop than I fantasized about so I may make one more short film in the mean time. If I do that, I'll combine Nonexistent, Succubus and this third short film to make an anthology film. I feel like I'm waiting and therefor I need to stay busy. 

So back to TFW. At this point, I feel like this horror convention doesn't serve me as a film maker like it did before. In 08, I was starting out and figuring out how to exist in the indie world. 09, I had matured (so I thought) and was there to flex my cinematography muscles with the Possum Walk trailer as well as reunite with all my friends from Psychic Experiment (AKA Walking Distance at the time). The following two years I really had no purpose to be there other than get drunk with Mallory. I was quite disapointed that after so many years of promoting the film there that Possum Walk was not shown at TFW 2011. Although they did host a great screening in Dallas the December before.

This year, Mallory has moved away and truthfully I had no reason to be there as a film maker. Ya see artistically I'm moving away from horror and realizing that this entire time I was inspired by science fiction films while horror was just an easier jumping off point. And it was. I'm not dissing the genre. I like horror as equally as I like any genre. A Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead 2 are still some of my favorite films. But if I'm asked to define my style with a genre, it's not horror. So with no film playing, nothing to "promote", I truthfully had no reason to be there. There were a few friends I wanted to see but I couldn't muster up the strength and cash for a Dallas weekend visit.

I did hear back from a few people on Facebook who bought the limited edition Possum Walk copy. That was pretty cool. Since I didn't have to sit through a screening (torture for any film I work on), it was great to hear people compliment my cinematography. Truthfully at the end that's all I was the actors. I thought the cast I filmed and edited was great. Particularly Maggie Conwell and Tyler Tackett. I know the audience loves them and I want those two kids to shine. I also loved working with Andrew Sensenig and Tim Taylor. Okay I liked every actor on the set so just read the cast and that's who I liked working with and those are the guys that inspired me to finish the project past the point where I was artistically ready to move on. 

Local DJ, Dale Dudley has a small part at the end. Therefor I spread the word to the Dudley & Bob fans on twitter, known as the #warriors that the movie was being sold there. A few of them tried looking for the table and couldn't find it. So for those that looked for it, thank you; I'll make sure you guys can see it or let you know when you can order it.

TL;DR= didn't go to TFW but glad people I've never met saw Possum Walk.

I'm still alive

Every week, I keep telling myself to write a new blog entry.

Then I realized that it's creeping up to two years since I last wrote something.

Just a quick update, I'm actually in a stableish relationship. Me having a girlfriend that lasts longer than a week confuses my friends and gives them worry about the world ending this year.

Since then I finished and screen Nonexistent, followed up with Succubus but since screenings and festivals cost money, I've been holding out on screening that. I've also been laying low lately. Trying to stay quiet until I work on a new project. Will talk more about that in the upcoming months when things start happening.

Just an update to say I'm alive before I start using this blog to bitch and rant about things I feel like talking about.

Texas Frightmare Weekend 2010

Texas Frightmare Weekend is probably THE biggest Horror convention and film festival.

Period. It's a place where i'm treated like a rock star, and more importantly I see lots of out of

town industry friends that I haven't seen in a while. In some cases, since last years. Last year at

TFW, we announced Possum Walk and showed a teaser right before and had a great time. So

this year I was incredibly stoked. Now, a year had passed, we have filmed Possum Walk, and I

have started the process of reinventing myself as a film maker with my new "sister"as she, tyler,

and I had filmed "Nonexistent". I had made a trailer and was ready to whip it out at a moment's

notice.

The weekend was fantastic. I met up with my wingman, sister, and snappy dresser of an actor, Mallory Carrick before going to the festival. We got there just in time for the Red Carpet and also set up the Possum Walk Display on the Horrorphile Entertainment table, while selling my first feature film, The man in the Garage on DVD on the table as well. Although I have to admit, Mallory and I were not able to crash the red carpet this time. We did get a nice greeting from everybody as soon as we walked in, including Melanie Donihoo's greeting, "Uh oh. The troublemakers are here." When did we get that reputation? Dumb question.

I'm sure most people there on Friday afternoon can tell you that I was just a little bit inebriated. It's not a lie. Ya see after the Red Carpet, Mallory and I needed dinner so we had fish and chips with beer, followed by shots of Jameson Whiskey (Bring on the Irish stereotype jokes) and I had a fine buzz and had no intention of passing the buzzed line, but every time I walked either away from the bar or towards the vendor room, an actress from one movie or another (mostly from Possum Walk) wanted to have a drink with me, up until the point where my brain turned into pudding. Enough time magically flew by very quickly, and I was able to sober up during Sweatshop. If you hear stories from that screening, I witnessed the drunken fall. Poor bastard. I wasn't that drunk.

In the end of that night I was very happy to see all my friends. I'd love to list them all but that would take up half the blog. So I'll post pictures if we were in any together. We did, however, buy Derek Mears a shot for his birthday, just for being such a swell guy. Below are pictures of Chris Warren, director Imago. I haven't mentioned him yet, but he's a swell guy too.

Evening came and morning followed... way too soon. Since Mallory was part of the TFW video, we had to wake up way earlier than what was legal. Mallory participated in the zombie walk and I walked around like a zombie so it worked out.

Most of that day was an exhausted blur. There were two celebrities (that I don't personally know) that I wanted to meet. Margot Kidder from Superman and Keith Gordon, director of 8 Dexter episodes including my favorite episode and Michael C. Hall performance, titled "The Dark Defender". Truthfully I was way too beat dead tired to socialize with people I didn't know.

During that time, it was quite badass to see all of my friends from Sweatshop including Jeremy, Kristen Hall, and Melanie being treated like movie stars as a huge long line waited to get their Sweatshop poster signed by the cast and crew. That was awesome to witness. Sucked for them. They had to sit their for two and a half hours. Jeremy did not stop bitching about that.

One nap later and I was back in business. Mallory interviewed me about Possum Walk and Nonexistent for the TFW video. Went back to her apartment, changed to flirtier party clothes and enjoyed the night. I admit, I felt a bit tense for no good reason and didn't drink as much because I just couldn't loosen up. Until things just went crazy with the Sweatshop cast by the end of the night. Everything after that night was quite dramatic and may show up in a movie, with some creative changes made to protect the innocent.

Final day. I believe I spent most of the weekend just spending time with friends and flirting with girls. But Sunday is the day when I snapped into business mode. I know it seems like most of this blog was devoted to drinking and partying. Truthfully yes. A lot of that happened. But I was here first and foremost to show my self as a film maker.

Mallory was able to use her charms to get us a spot in the Texas Frightmaker's Show and Tell panel. We showed a Possum Walk clip, that got some juicy reactions. Then we finally were able to show the trailer to Nonexistent finally. that was exciting. I lied. It was scary. The entire time I was so worried that, because I was the one guy showing a trailer that didin't feature gore and violence, then I would be considered the pussy film of that bunch. After wards, I got a lot of people (mostly chicks, which is actually cool) that state they really liked seeing something different from the rest of the films that featured true drama and acting. So that is awesome. That's pretty much what I wanted. A few friends have also commented that the title shot at the end gives them chills. A few people were disappointed and confused that I was making a short film. I still believe that I need to rebuild myself and I can do it faster and more efficiently with a shit ton of shorts with higher prodution value then what i could currently accomplish by making a feature.

If you're wondering what I'm referring to, I will be posting the trailer this Friday. The panel was great, however I preferred how things were done last year for the same panel. First of all they had a much better sound set up that really made things pop and boom. Also, last year we were able to bring up the whole Possum walk family (cast and crew. But I say family) onto the stage to feature them. This year they slumped all the director's together to briefly say hi and answer whatever questions pop up.

After wards, I finally had a conversation with Keith Gordon about Dexter and working with Michael C. Hall and the cinematographer of the show, Romeo Tyrone. That was awesome.

After everything winded down, I took the Possum Walk table down and thought I was about to have a quiet drink until EVERYBODY was still there. So that lasted all night until Mallory passed out. Then the weekend was over, I said my goodbyes and they all lived happily ever after.

I can't think of a clever title but it's a post "Nonexistent" update

So it's been about two weeks since we filmed Nonexistent. Since then Mallory and I have partied at festivals, seen Walking Distance be birthed on the screen and Fangoria issued a press release about nonexistent here.

Mallory sent me the most epic voicemail of excitement. I really hope she gives me permission to put it on the internet because it was amazing. After it was put up and finally announced the film, my friends have been extremely supportive of the project and I thank them for that. I'm also getting pressure from everybody to get a trailer ready in less than a week for Texas Frightmare Weekend. I'm already part of a panel for "Frightmakers' show and tell" representing Possum Walk. We have a full clip to show since we've already showed off two awesome trailers.

So I've cut together a trailer and should have the whole thing finished by tomorrow. At this point I just have to do color correcting, clean up a few "ghost effect" shots and clean up the sound. Leroy James is currently working on the posters and so far I've seen a few designs and they're awesome.

Seeing as how I've marketed the film on Fangoria, it's gotten a few misconceptions and possibly expectations of me. First of all it's not a feature, it's a short film, but I'm still going to make a big deal out of it as if it was a feature. Also, even though I wrote it up like one in Fangoria, it's really not a horror film, but a supernatural drama (not like Twilight), but it has a very horror movieish ending, that I think will be awesome. Unfortunately I can't show too much of it in the trailer since I don't want to say how it ends, although really, it's the ending that makes the whole damn movie.

I also wanted to reflect after finishing the movie and the effect it's had on me. I know I mentioned some of this before but it's kind of amazing to me. First of all, I can sleep at night. Most everybody who knows me knows that I usually go a few days without sleep. Sometimes I'll just lay in bed in the dark until morning. But since finishing the movie, I sleep and wake up like normal. I also feel like an emotional weight involving a person from my past has been lifted. I thank my friends for bringing characters to life to bring out these emotions and help me express myself. I feel like I've been artistically frustrated and just now got to blow my load... artistically. I feel amazing now. I also thank my crew for helping me keep my shit together to make and finish the film.

Next weekend is Texas Frightmare Weekend. Every year that is an insane party. We'll see what happens next weekend.

Dallas International Film Festival

Last week I spent some time in Dallas at the Dallas International Film Festival.

I finally got to see Clay Liford's Earthling, which I've been wanting to check out for a while. I also got a chance to catch up with actor, Andrew Sensenig who I haven't seen in almost a year, since we shot Possum Walk.

I then met up with Mallory to begin DIFF partying. I found a tie to match her shoes and she had a dress to match my shoes. Yes we did insist on matching and hell yes, we were adorable. After that festival, I can spend my whole life without ever drinking Stella Artois again. Seriously I had nothing productive to add about that night. We were festival crashing. It was awesome.

The next night of the festival was very special to me, because Walking Distance finally opened. Damn near the entire cast and crew was there, which was great to see and catch up with everybody. Mel and James were totally owning the crowd of photographers and journalists on the red carpet. Adrienne and Shannon were there, which was fantastic. I was actually quite happy and proud to see my friends eat that night up. On my end, I couldn't stop getting compliments from everybody whose seen part of the BTS/Making of featurettes I had made for the film. Then we all had a preparty at the bar next door. More debauchery. Damn Mallory and her need to do shots every 10 minutes.

Then showtime came and the movie started. Although I might have seen a few of the completed scenes already, it was weird to see everything put together and the fruits of everybody's labor.

Evening came, and morning followed, the next day: More festival partying. A lot of damned people I don't know took our pictures. I'm sure I'll never see these photos for my entire life. Unless I get magically tagged on facebook by someone who happens to recognize me.

So ended another festival and only two weeks away from Texas Frightmare Weekend.

April has been a hell of a month.