#rebelwithalens

[rebelwithalens]

5 Non-Filmmaking Books Every Documentary Filmmaker Should Read

Your bookshelf might be fully stocked with filmmaking how-to books but I think the most powerful books a filmmaker can read aren’t related to filmmaking at all. In order to be an effective documentary storyteller, you need to have insight into how people think and what motivates them to do the things that they do.

An understanding of human behavior will help you conduct interviews, research, and explore the narrative. Here are 5 books that’ll make you a better journalist and filmmaker.

1. “Merchants of Doubt”, Erik M. Conway & Naomi Oreskes

We live in a world that’s orchestrated by spin; where PR professionals are ring leaders of the spectacle and we’re both the audience and the main attraction. Merchants of Doubt explores the idea that we live in a post-truth world, meaning that people are, in fact, entitled to their own facts. It proves that a side doesn’t need to prove that they’re right— they just need to inject enough doubt to make the audience believe that there’s still a debate to be had.

The book begins with the political and public relations machines that manipulated the American public’s consciousness for decades in regards to the potential for tobacco to cause cancer and continues to explore how systems played the same script with acid rain and climate change, among others.

Miseducation campaigns only promise to grow in size and scope, making this a timeless and timely read. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself highlighting the majority of every page.

2. “Predictably Irrational”, Dan Ariely

A hot political talking point is about our need to have a “rational debate”; one that favors facts over feelings and statistics over heart-warming gibberish. But is the line separating the two that easy to draw or even easy to see?

To enter into a scenario with the assumption that humans will naturally shy away from emotions can produce potentially disturbing and disrupting consequences because it ignores the real fact: at their core, humans are emotional beings, incapable of ignoring an irrational urge even when faced with a much smarter solution.

We do ourselves a disservice by ignoring this certainty but also insult the beautiful humanity in our choices. Predictably Irrational is an engaging, quintessential read to gain a better understanding of our irrational tendencies that are, in fact, completely predictable.

3. “Drive”, Daniel H. Pink

Carrots and sticks: it’s supposedly the force that guides what we do and even influences who we become but what really motivates us? What pushes us to work, to create, to pursue? How do we influence others to do the same? The answer isn’t what you might think.

There’s a mismatch, a culture clash, between what science says and what business believes, and bridging the divide is how we can grow as a society and enrich the world. Understanding motivation is a critical issue in crafting a narrative in stories. What pushes your character towards their goal? That’s where your story lies.

4. “40 Psychology Studies That Changed The World”, Roger Hock

The Stanford Prison Experiment. Stanley Milgram. Being sane in insane places. These might be events, people, or concepts you know but what do you really know about them? The title isn’t hyperbolic: these studies really did change the world and this book highlights the beautiful and the macabre findings and all the triumphs and the shortcomings of our humanity that have been discovered.

The stories that are explored here can give you insight into your subject matter, the people involved, or perhaps will motivate you to explore the study itself. The subjects are cumbersome but the writing is accessible and although the chapters are technically snapshots, they’re never lacking in substance.

I’ll admit, this particular choice is incredibly biased—and yes, I know the whole list is but this one, specifically, is—this book is one of my favorites, and I don’t just mean for this list.

5. “Dealing With An Angry Public”, Lawrence Susskind & Patrick Field

Every industry has a plethora of skeletons in its closet; secrets buried deep that must remain hidden in order for power players to not only survive, but thrive. What happens when sunlight is let in and nerves are exposed? How do you handle the backlash and the inevitable fallout?

This book is based on the infamous MIT-Harvard “Angry Public” seminars. It’s even been used as part of the marketing strategy for certain natural gas companies (as explored in Gasland 2). I’ve read reviews of this book in which readers seem outraged by the authors interpretations and proposed manipulative behavior but I don’t think that’s an effective interpretation nor is it accurate.

It’s actually a powerful tool if you’re trying to understand the marketing and public relations strategies that are typically employed by corporations in the aftermath of a scandal. It’s, in fact, a playbook of sorts; and in that regard, it provides remarkably valuable insight into the maneuvers and skills that are necessary for a business to survive a reckoning.

I hope these book suggestions help you in crafting your next masterpiece 😉 Let me know what adventure they lead you too 🤘

[rebelwithalens]

The most exquisite way to watch “Mr. Robot” is on a laptop, in the dark, hoodie pulled up, while eating a Funfetti cupcake.

Don’t fight me on this. You will lose.

[rebelwithalens]

“We can live a thousand lives in one life because of each other.”

This is the magic of stories. This is what they allow us to experience.

Quote from: “This Is Storytelling’s Greatest Misconception”.

[rebelwithalens]

Movies That Made Me Fall In Love With Movies

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

Before Sunrise

Fight Club

Sex, Lies and Videotape

The American President

There are others, of course, but if I had to pick 5, those are what first spring to mind.

What are some of yours?

And I don’t mean that in a “plz reblog w/ comment thnx” way-- I’m genuinely curious as to what resonates with other writers and filmmakers and what makes them spark.

[rebelwithalens]

“Tell whatever’s inside of you and tell it any which way you can.”

[rebelwithalens]

5 Ways Indie Filmmakers Can Use Pinterest

You probably know it best as the place where people save pretty things but what you should also know is that in 2019, Pinterest’s active user base grew by 26% to a staggering 335 million and it became the third-largest social media network (with Facebook and Instagram taking the first and second spots, respectively).

But why should you, a humble indie filmmaker, care about a place for pretty things—even if there is a monster-size potential audience waiting for you?

600 million of Pinterest’s monthly searches are visual.

There were six times as many video views in 2019 as there were in 2018 (a statistic that continues to rise in 2021).

And both sets of stats makes it ripe for independent filmmakers who are looking to get some eyes on their projects.

Pinterest is actually a perfect tool for filmmakers to use for pre and post production tasks. Here are 5 of the best ways I’ve found to make it work for us.

1. For Marketing

If you’re on the internet to make filmmaking your business (and by “business”, I mean either a die-hard passion that you want to share with the world or the opportunity to get paid for doing something that you love) this is, by far, the single greatest way to use the Pinterest platform.

Pinterest is a potential traffic driving machine because it’s first and foremost a search engine; so whether your original pins are leading to your website or your Instagram, you’re building the opportunity to get some eyes on your work.

The platform yields a lot of possibilities for branding in general: every pin, every board, every profile is built on the principles of SEO, meaning that if done properly, it can be very effective in teaching the Google Search gods what you want to be known for. Like any other search engine optimization, time and consistency are both key here in building a reputation with the app.

Pinning (and then appropriately repinning and repinning again) helps Pinterest learn that your work is good for users who are interested in seeing what you’re working on. Many users are a fan of group boards (I only belong to one myself) which is another way to generate a stream of traffic to whatever it is that you want to showcase.

Sometimes all it takes is one pin to gain traction to truly kick things off and then it can continue to be a consistent way to lead people to your content. There’s 1 pin on my profile that, in the past month alone, has generated over 21,000 impressions all by itself. In my experience, this can ebb and flow, but even once it eventually dies out for that pin, it doesn’t change the traffic it created previously or all the people that it lead to my profile.

2. To Create Awareness (a.k.a Marketing For A Cause)

This is closely interconnected with what we discussed above but it deserves it’s own bullet point because if you’re dedicated to documentary film, it’s kind of a big deal (insert the obvious meme here).

If we’re going off of the idea that Pinterest is a good way to generate traffic, a great off-shoot would be to utilize it to do some good and that makes it a natural fit for your next documentary project.

For example: let’s say you make a documentary about veganism or about animal agriculture. Including vegan meal prep ideas on your Pinterest boards could lead people to your own content.

The best part is that it would fundamentally be a targeted audience because if someone is interested in vegan dishes, chances are that they’re also interested in learning more about the lifestyle and about the issues that are directly connected to it. So, really, it’s Pinterest FTDFW! (For The Documentary Film Win. Don’t worry, that acronym isn’t a thing and it should never be).

All of this creates a deeper web of meaning for your content which can lead to a stronger connection with your audience. You’re demonstrating your commitment and interest in whatever cause you explored in your documentary and you’ll continuously help to bring awareness to the issue and further promote a conversation about the topic.

Ultimately, we make documentaries to spread a message and social media is a potent way to amplify that idea.

(Pinterest as a marketing platform—and marketing in general—is a topic that I’ll be exploring more in the future so stay tuned, kids!)

3. For Networking

So, Pinterest is a search engine that can lead others to you and your films— but what about all the other people and projects that it can lead you to as well?

Most of the blogs that I’ve followed have been because of a Pinterest discovery. We all know how easy it is to go down a social media rabbit hole and this platform is no exception— but I mean that in a good way.

Pinterest presents you with a wonderful opportunity to find people who are talking about or making things that you also care about.

With proper nurturing, a random encounter can become a fulfilling professional relationship. Personally, I’d prefer to have an organic relationship with someone who I found because of a dope music video or web series that they made than just posting an ad on Craig’s List and hoping for the best (but bracing myself for the worst).

Finding someone whose style and work ethic that you genuinely connect with is an exciting feeling. Most artistic endeavors are solo missions with our family and friends not quite understanding our world, regardless of how much they’d like to.

We need to find more people who get it and Pinterest is absolutely a way that you can find a creative with whom you can have a mutually rewarding experience with.

I recognize that since this is a marketing post, it’s a bit of a faux pas to “throw it some shade” (as the kids would say) but as people who need to use social media for marketing, it’s easy to forget or neglect the social aspect of it. Ultimately, the goal of social media was always to form a connection and platforms are just tools to help us find like-minded people.

4. As Inspiration

Okay, okay! Yes! We’re finally getting to the pretty things:

Sometimes filmmakers just have concepts floating around in their head but in order for them to turn their latest dream into a reality, they need to hammer them down into something more concrete, right?

“I’m really thinking that an alternative reality cyber surrealism feel with a touch of boho chic tones is the way to go for the set… but wtf would that actually look like?

And what the hell is ‘cyber surrealism’, anyway?”

Although this platform is ripe with the fruits of other pinners’ labor, you can always upload your own, even if you don’t have a website— you just need to have an account.

SHOT LIST

Is there a picture perfect shot from a movie that makes your filmmaking heart swoon and you’ve just been dying to use it one day in a project of your own? Pin it.

Have you ever been scrolling through Instagram and discovered another filmmaker or photographer’s work that just sets your imagination off? Pin it.

Do you have a favorite LIFE magazine or Vogue cover shoot that makes you dream up an entire world around that one moment? PIN IT, baby!

A Pinterest board can become a type of storyboard with each pin giving an explanation—or, at the very least, an indication— of the frame that you see in your head.

AESTHETIC

Every filmmakers’ got their own style and each project of theirs has its own flavor too. Creating different boards is a really fun way to flesh some of that out. Filmmaking is as much about feeling as it is about seeing.

When everything’s laid out, it becomes easy to see the commonality in what you choose to pin which can produce interesting insights about what vibes you’re attracted to. Color, texture, movement, lighting, and yes, the aesthetic, are all boards that you can create.

See what you discover about yourself and your work. We all have our personal signature but sometimes we need to see it visually in order to crack the code.

SET DESIGN & COSTUMES

Explore iconic costume designs. Let yourself stumble across concept art fashion. Save photos of the worlds that you’ve loved seeing built in movies. Part of being a filmmaker is allowing yourself to play.

Let yourself use an idea as a springboard and see where the Pinterest rabbit hole leads you.

5. To Help With Collaboration

Regardless of whether or not you have it private or public, a group board for the people who you’re working on a project with can be a valuable tool.

Your production designer can pin their ideas while you pin yours. Your gaffer can see what lighting ideas you’re envisioning. Your costumer can see what your inspirations are while they pin along with you. It’s an easy way to brainstorm together and instantly see what’s catching the others’ eye and it’s all in one consolidated place.

Communication is key with a film crew and Pinterest is just another language that can help everyone understand each other better.

This post isn’t #sponsored by Pinterest. I’ve spent a lot of time doing a lot of trial-and-errors over the past few years, on a variety of different accounts, all to see how I could best use it and I honestly just want to share it with you because I wish someone would have shared it with me.

Filmmaking is a nerve-wracking, exciting, terrifying, beautiful adventure and if I can make it even a little easier for someone else, I’m definitely doing it.

Pinterest is a great way to centralize all of those abstract ideas that you love and promise yourself that you’ll make someday (just don’t make someday too far away, okay? I’m serious. Promise me you won’t, and email me when you finally do so we can clink virtual champagne glasses 🥂)

Let me know if you have any Pinterest questions and if I’ve got answers, they’re yours.

Now get out of here, and go have a filmmaking adventure! 🤘

[rebelwithalens]

This Is Storytelling’s Greatest Misconception

Maybe you’re a writer. Maybe you’re a filmmaker. Maybe you’re a graphic designer. But that’s what you do — that isn’t who you are.

Who you are is a storyteller.

But what if you aren’t any of those things? Can you still call yourself a storyteller?

Yes, you can.

And if that answer surprises you, then the problem is how you’re thinking about storytelling.

It’s not your fault: It’s an ugly habit ingrained in many of us by overbearing high school English teachers and a programmed public that believes in extreme absolutes when judging anything. As a result, we favor a pass/fail rubric: you’re either this or you aren’t, you’re either hot or not, you’re the best or the absolute worst.

In order to best understand storytelling, we need to talk about what it is but also what it isn’t.

Good Writing ≠ Good Storytelling

The greatest misconception surrounding storytelling is that you need to be a good writer in order to be a good storyteller. Storytelling isn’t about spelling, grammar, or knowing a lot of words:

It’s all about emotion.

Writing is a form of storytelling but stories are so much more than just writing.They come in all shapes and forms: film, music, graphic design, painting, coding, fashion, cooking, photography, architecture, dance:

It’s all story.

A story isn’t “just a story”.

Stories are what propel us forward. They’re what force us to seek our greatest truth. They’re what can express the depth of our anguish, our love, our rise and our fall. They’re what captivate us and shake us and what pushes us back and pulls us forward. Stories can give us hope and even hope to persevere — yes, hope to continue hoping!

Because sometimes that’s all we have.

They’re lessons and cautionary tales others tell to try to save us from experiencing that very same heartache. We look to others’ stories for validation that we’ve made the right choice in our life, they force us to consider humility, remind us to be thankful, and empower us to believe that we are more than our circumstances.

They’re our own very unique form of magic.

Storytelling isn’t just about the ‘teller’.

Storytelling is our search for meaning and for immortality and it’s nothing without empathy.

At its core, it’s simple:

We see ourselves in others’ stories. They give us a perception or clarity that we may not have otherwise had.

We can live a thousand lives in one life because of each other.

It’s our quest for a legacy. It’s what we can leave behind to say, “I was here”, “I felt this”, “I imagined this”, or “This happened”.

And you might be thinking: But I have nothing to ‘say’.

Maybe what’s been holding you back is this pervasive belief that many of us have: that we shouldn’t create because we don’t have anything unique or meaningful to contribute.

I’m telling you that anyone can be a storyteller because it’s in our nature to be.

We’re human, therefore we’re storytellers. We’re storytellers and that teaches us what it means to be human.

We’re social creatures: we share our lives through stories. From the purest elation to the most exquisite agony, stories are how we communicate our wishes and fears and, above all else, connect.

You don’t need to have an idea that no one else has ever had in the history of the world. It’s absolutely ridiculous to think that any of us could — there are, after all, over 7 billion people on this planet.

“Finding” your voice is good but learning how to use your voice is so much better. That’s what sets stories apart and makes them come alive. The idea isn’t necessarily unique. The way you choose to tell it is.

And the experience you seek to create will still be unique.

Here’s why:

Your telling will be unique because even though many of us have experienced the same things — a hurricane, a wedding, a graduation ceremony, a house fire — no one has ever or could ever experience those things the way that you have.

You enter into, process, and accept those situations and the resulting emotions through a lens that only you possess because only you have had the combination of events that transpired in the before and after. We color everything with our own perspective and chemistry.

That’s where inspiration comes from and thrives.

It doesn’t matter if it’s your interpretation of something you hear on the news or an imagining of something from the future:

Storytelling is nothing if not personal.

Choose your weapon wisely.

You need to find the right medium and the right language for you and your tale.

It’s important to choose wisely because miscommunication happens when a medium is misused and is a poor fit for that particular story or that particular telling of it. A story’s always affected by its method of expression — in many ways, the medium is a message all of its own.

The phrase “lost in translation” doesn’t just apply when you’re interpreting from German to Japanese. If the medium changes, there can be something that’s lost. There’s a particular essence that’s absent.

It’s not necessarily better or worse:

It’s just different.

The problem really happens when we expect the same experience that the first medium promised and delivered on. But it won’t be the same and it never can be — that’s just the nature of the beast.

Your job is to make sure that whatever you’ve created has the clearest, most intentional version of your message.

After that, it’s entirely out of your hands.

Stories are everywhere and they can be told in every way imaginable.

If you haven’t found a style that fits yet, don’t give up. Try it a different way.

There’s a quote that’s commonly attributed to Albert Einstein:

Everyone’s a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.

Don’t do that.

Tell whatever’s inside you and tell it any which way you can.

Because everyone has a story to tell.