A Note of Appreciation... For the Monsters!
I'm taking a moment here to look around me and, knowing the power of appreciation, I decide to focus on what makes me smile.
The first thing that comes to mind is the decision that I took to stop working for compensation, and work directly on what I enjoy the most. Making films, as opposed to working and being compensated for the time spent on something that I didn't fully enjoyed.
Now, eventhough I spend most of my energy on this project, I never feel that I'm "working"! I'm having a blast! Immense appreciation for my determination, knowing that I have the powers of the Universe behind me. I'm who I'm really am, so to speak, a long lost kid who has found his home, finally, Cinema and Creation.
I appreciate that I have rediscovered other filmmakers. This summer, I spent a great deal of time watching films (catching up on what I had missed these past years and older films - Fight Club, Magnolia, Frida, Glengarry Glen Ross, Old Boy, City of God, etc.), and getting a clearer vision of what I like, and what I don't. The process is continuing. But I can say that I like films that leave me with hope. I love films that depict the incredible resources of human beings and the Universe. I don't like gruesome, in your face depictions of violence. They go against my grain, and to tell you the truth, I would see those on the news when I was watching them. The truth is in the emotion of characters, not the image itself. Show the emotion (or the lack of it) on a face, that's 10 times more powerful. So appreciation for more clarity with my craft. Immense improvement in the past months (thank you Tom Bauer for being an agent of that change).
Appreciation for having met Annie. She is a sister to me. I wanted to tell stories through film, and look what I got, an infinite source of stories and characters in her person. Every time we meet, I have to pick up my pocket PC and start writing. Thank you Annie.
Appreciation for having written a 20 minute short film entitled "The Film of my Life".
I appreciate Tom Bauer tremendously for bringing forth Abraham, and Ester and Jerry Hicks. Thanks to their work, relentless, I can appease myself and start enjoying the process of being alive, focusing on emotions that give me more and more control of my life, and in the end, allow the Universe to assist me with all my desires.
I appreciate my former wife and my 3 kids, who give me the contrasts and challenges that make me progress towards who I really am.
I appreciate the notion that we are eternal beings. Yes, when you start thinking in those terms, the present moment becomes real, for real! Because things will never get done - there will always be something new, new desires, and more and more appreciation. Might as well enjoy the present moment.
Why are we needing great monsters in our stories? In a story, an antagonist, or antagonistic forces seem overwhelming in stopping the hero's quest. But his or her determination will make us, as viewers, discover who she or he really is. Good against Evil is simply that. They don't really objectively exist. Only from the standpoint of the hero's quest.
That old classical type of storytelling simply reproduces our own search for who we really are. The individuals who you let create mayhem in your life are there to make you look for who you really are, just as in stories. I think of Salieri in Amadeus. Somewhere, his quest for Mozart's destruction only lead to Mozart's shining genius.
Finally, I appreciate immensely this blog! It is a perfect tool for the unfolding of things. It's a story telling tool.
Thank you for being part of it.
The first thing that comes to mind is the decision that I took to stop working for compensation, and work directly on what I enjoy the most. Making films, as opposed to working and being compensated for the time spent on something that I didn't fully enjoyed.
Now, eventhough I spend most of my energy on this project, I never feel that I'm "working"! I'm having a blast! Immense appreciation for my determination, knowing that I have the powers of the Universe behind me. I'm who I'm really am, so to speak, a long lost kid who has found his home, finally, Cinema and Creation.
I appreciate that I have rediscovered other filmmakers. This summer, I spent a great deal of time watching films (catching up on what I had missed these past years and older films - Fight Club, Magnolia, Frida, Glengarry Glen Ross, Old Boy, City of God, etc.), and getting a clearer vision of what I like, and what I don't. The process is continuing. But I can say that I like films that leave me with hope. I love films that depict the incredible resources of human beings and the Universe. I don't like gruesome, in your face depictions of violence. They go against my grain, and to tell you the truth, I would see those on the news when I was watching them. The truth is in the emotion of characters, not the image itself. Show the emotion (or the lack of it) on a face, that's 10 times more powerful. So appreciation for more clarity with my craft. Immense improvement in the past months (thank you Tom Bauer for being an agent of that change).
Appreciation for having met Annie. She is a sister to me. I wanted to tell stories through film, and look what I got, an infinite source of stories and characters in her person. Every time we meet, I have to pick up my pocket PC and start writing. Thank you Annie.
Appreciation for having written a 20 minute short film entitled "The Film of my Life".
I appreciate Tom Bauer tremendously for bringing forth Abraham, and Ester and Jerry Hicks. Thanks to their work, relentless, I can appease myself and start enjoying the process of being alive, focusing on emotions that give me more and more control of my life, and in the end, allow the Universe to assist me with all my desires.
I appreciate my former wife and my 3 kids, who give me the contrasts and challenges that make me progress towards who I really am.
I appreciate the notion that we are eternal beings. Yes, when you start thinking in those terms, the present moment becomes real, for real! Because things will never get done - there will always be something new, new desires, and more and more appreciation. Might as well enjoy the present moment.
Why are we needing great monsters in our stories? In a story, an antagonist, or antagonistic forces seem overwhelming in stopping the hero's quest. But his or her determination will make us, as viewers, discover who she or he really is. Good against Evil is simply that. They don't really objectively exist. Only from the standpoint of the hero's quest.
That old classical type of storytelling simply reproduces our own search for who we really are. The individuals who you let create mayhem in your life are there to make you look for who you really are, just as in stories. I think of Salieri in Amadeus. Somewhere, his quest for Mozart's destruction only lead to Mozart's shining genius.
Finally, I appreciate immensely this blog! It is a perfect tool for the unfolding of things. It's a story telling tool.
Thank you for being part of it.
posted by Alex at 11:55
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