Money and Film

In reading William Goldman's article Adventures in the Screen Trade, one of the most interesting parts was discussing the cost of film: something an audience and budding screenwriters take for granted. I, myself had never realized how much it would actually take to create a scene that required 100% realistic action. For instance, Goldman talks about how the designer on a particular film was talking about how to shoot a car crash. The big piece to shooting this whole sequence was that not only did the film have to look real but the car was only a rental and had to be returned unscratched. This was in 1960's where there was no computers to generate a scene like this without ruining a car. The biggest lesson from this short passage is simple. It not about what you want; its about what you can afford.

I think one of the side lessons that I learned just from this short passage is that film is complex organism with multiple, vital parts to it. All these parts help to create a film. However, if one of these part is not there or is not fulfilling it part then the organism will shut down and it will be useless. Its the same with film. It you can create reality or your actors are sub-par then there is no way that you can create a good film. It will be useless.