lesson 10: american independent cinema professor aaron baker

Lesson 10:Lesson 10:American Independent American Independent

Cinema Cinema

Professor Aaron Baker

Previous LecturePrevious Lecture

• Documentary-Form

-History

-Economic Context

• Born Into Brothels (2004)

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Today’s LectureToday’s Lecture

• Independent Cinema

• Definitions

• History

• Lone Star (1996)

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Part I: DefinitionsPart I: Definitions

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Vision More Than ProfitVision More Than Profit

“[Independent film] expresses the director’s personal vision rather than someone’s notion of box office success.”

--Roger Ebert

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Creative FreedomCreative Freedom

• Conditions of Production/Exhibition

• “As few controls as possible” -- Alan Rudolph

• Outside Hollywood

• Low Budget

• No Interference

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Jim Jarmusch making Jim Jarmusch making Ghost Dog Ghost Dog (2000)(2000)

Radical IndependenceRadical Independence

• Technological (8,16 mm, Digital Video)

• Institutional (Communal Production)

• Formal (Original Ideas Not Genre)

• Political (Disenfranchised Not Status Quo)

• Economic (Vision Not Money)

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Radical VisionsRadical Visions

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Stan Brakhage painting filmStan Brakhage painting film Kenneth Anger’s Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising Scorpio Rising (1964)(1964)

MindsetMindset“Independent film is really a way of thinking. I used to think it was where the money comes from, but now it’s clearly about having a vision and a point of view . . .” -- Nancy Savoca

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Two Definitions of Two Definitions of Independent FilmIndependent Film

• How Film Made

• Done, Seen Outside Corporate System

• Low Budget = High Degree of Creative Control

• The Film Itself

• If strong vision, originality. . .

• Can be made, distributed in corporate system-- to get done, reach audience

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Question:Question:

Does working within the profit-based corporate system inevitably compromise the vision of the independent filmmaker?

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Part II: History of Independent Part II: History of Independent CinemaCinema

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John Waters’ John Waters’ Pink Flamingos Pink Flamingos (1972)(1972)

1970s/1980s1970s/1980s

• Decline of Studio System

• Influence of Counter Culture

• Idiosyncratic Visions Valued

• Niche Audiences

• David Lynch, Eraserhead (1977)

• Jim Jarmusch, Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

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Sex, Lies, and Videotape Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)(1989)• Steven Soderbergh• Prizes at Sundance,

Cannes• Made $24 million in U.S.• Sex in Age of AIDS• Demonstrated

Crossover Potential of Independent Cinema

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Blockbuster HollywoodBlockbuster Hollywood

• Starting Mid-1970s • Huge Budgets• Saturation

Marketing/Distribution• Safe Stories • Global Audiences• Special Effects, Action

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Remakes/SequelsRemakes/Sequels

• Recycling Past Success

• Presold Stories

• Frontloading

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Mission Impossible II Mission Impossible II (2000)(2000)• Sequel to Mission

Impossible (1996)

• Tom Cruise

• Action/DGI

• Screenwriter Robert Towne: Director John Woo had action scenes he wanted story built around

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SpectacleSpectacle

• Lou Lumenick of the New York Post: "Check your brains at the popcorn stand and hang on for a spectacular ride.”

• Please view a clip from Mission Impossible II.

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Spectacle (continued)Spectacle (continued)

• Physical Pleasure of Action, Excitement

• Hero Who Saves Day

• Little Dialogue

• Little Thinking Required

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Market for IndependentsMarket for Independents

• Drop in Foreign Films/ 2% in 1990s

• Subtitles/Too Slow

• Home Video, DVD (25% in 1990s)

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Popularity in 1990sPopularity in 1990s

• Reaction to Blockbuster Dominance

• Real World Stories• 1985 = 50; 1998 = 1000• Academy Awards 1996:

4 of 5 Nominees for Best Picture Independents

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Star ActorsStar Actors

John Sayles: “It never used to be hip the way that it is now to be in little independent movies. It was a signal that your career was in trouble.”

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Bruce Willis in Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction (1994)(1994)

Acting SkillsActing Skills

• Increases Visibility

• Attracts Audiences

• Creative Challenge as Actors

• Character Roles Not Star Turns

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Harvey Keitel in Harvey Keitel in The Piano The Piano (1993)(1993)

Quentin TarentinoQuentin Tarentino

• Video Store Manager, Screenwriter

• Resevoir Dogs (1992)

• Guerilla Production

• Keitel, $1.5 million Budget

• Festivals

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Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction (1994)(1994)

• Allusion, Music, Foregrounded Narration

• Violence, Genre

• $108 Million Earnings

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MiramaxMiramax

• Weinstein Brothers

• Sex, Lies and Videotape, Pulp Fiction

Good Will Hunting (1997)

• Distributors to Producers

• Recutting26

Film SchoolsFilm Schools

• 1980 35%, 1992 72% First Time Directors

• Industry or Art?

• USC, UCLA, NYU

• Cost

• Lack of Diversity

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SundanceSundance

• Top Independent Festival

• Robert Redford

• Labs for Aspiring Filmmakers

• Multicultural Emphasis

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• Proven Crossover Profits

• Studios Set Up Indie Divisions-Disney/Miramax

-Universal/Focus

-Time Warner/New Line and HBO Films

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Industry InterestIndustry Interest

Focus CEO James SchamusFocus CEO James Schamus

Older ViewersOlder Viewers

• Don’t Want Blockbusters, Adolescent Comedies

• Films for Adults

• 1990 27% Audience Over 40

• “Adults are quality driven, review driven, subject-matter driven”--Thomas Pollack, Former Head of Universal Pictures

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Part III: Part III: Lone Star Lone Star (1996)(1996)

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John SaylesJohn Sayles

• BA Williams College 1972

• Meatpacker, Construction Worker, Nursing Home Orderly

• Novelist, Screenwriter• Storytelling Skills

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Sympathy for Working PeopleSympathy for Working People

• Regional Realities

• Untold Stories of Social Conflict

• Please watch a clip from Lone Star.

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Matewan Matewan (1987)(1987)

Textbook ConflictTextbook Conflict

• Anglos and Latinos in South Texas

• Social Change and Debate About History

• Politics and Responsibility to Others

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Independent in Both Senses: Independent in Both Senses: Outsider VisionOutsider Vision

• Uses Screenwriting Fees to Make Films

• Small Budgets• Producer Maggie

Renzi• Politics and History

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Social Reality Not AllusionSocial Reality Not Allusion

“When people leave the theater I want them to be talking about human beings, about their lives . . . rather than thinking ‘Oh, that was like Citizen Kane’.” -- Sayles

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Social DifferenceSocial Difference

• Multicultural America

• Underrepresented Groups

• Please watch the second clip from Lone Star.

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Chandra Wilson in Chandra Wilson in Lone StarLone Star

Colonel Payne (Joe Morton)Colonel Payne (Joe Morton)

Emphasizes pride in work and responsibility to others as a response to racial disadvantage.

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Discussion QuestionDiscussion Question

• Lone Star is a film about negotiating social difference. Sam and Pilar use their love to overcome it.

• Why does Sayles imply that their relationship may be incest?

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End of Lecture 10End of Lecture 10

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