The basics

I am going to state the obvious: without the fundamentals we are nowhere.

Yes, this is indeed obvious, so how come then, we so often forget this, or, purposefully neglect it. Take movies as an example. A film with pretty pictures and a crap script/story should be a photo gallery instead. And a burnt pizza, with delicious toppings should rather be a salad. You get the idea. The fundamentals have to be in place, otherwise you are nowhere. On our movie example, who cares about pretty pictures if the film is boring.

Of course, in the movie case, pretty pictures add to compelling story telling, but stunning images and flat characters does not amount to a good movie. This is like having a great knife and fork and a shit meal.

So, how come again, here in South Africa, do people always go on about the photography in local movies. No one sees an American film and goes "Crap film, but I loved the photography". The reason we go on about the great photography in the film is because the rest of the film was crap. Imagine a comment like "Well shot kak movie" - ja, right.

We are now two months away from finishing the Material movie, and yes, it is beautifully shot. But, that won't make the movie work. I hope our fundamentals are spot on - I think we are on track, but we won't know until you tell us. Soon soon ...

Posted by Ronnie Apteker