If you’ve read my work before, you are probably aware that one of the themes I’m most interested in is communication. I have discussed this so many times, but it’s important because most things in life boil down to that one concept, its inefficacy, and the potential disaster that can lead to down the road. No matter how effective or articulate you think you might be, the very structure of communication is unreliable and often betrays what we really mean. It’s a xerox of a xerox of a xerox, so by the end what is really said is a mere fraction of the thought that occurred in the speaker’s mind (which is why it’s so crucial to think about what you say before you say it).
One of my biggest interests in life is filmmaking and acting. I have studied the craft of filmmaking for years now, and I’ve worked as an “actor” in the past for various commercials and productions. I am using “acting” very generously obviously, but technically that is what I did. I am not Daniel-Day Lewis, but I pretended to be something I was not, so technically I’m a master thespian babbyyyyyyyy, lol. I love doing this stuff so much I’ve always been willing to work for free if I believe in the production or filmmakers in question. Anyway, this idea of communication I’m trying to discuss can be seen in almost every walk of life, but in the film world specifically it manifests in a very clear way.
Now that I have gotten the opportunity to work with various directors as an actor, and study how exactly they work under various conditions and pressures, here is a commonality I have noticed about the art of filmmaking and acting: when you have a bad performance in a film, or even a bad movie as a whole, what it really boils down to is poor communication. There may be many other factors at play, but from my perspective that’s the main one. Communication is everything, never ever ever overlook it. Even when you think you’re doing great as a person, you drank a lot of coffee that morning, and you’re firing on all cylinders conversationally: doesn’t matter. There is always always always room for improvement. I can’t stress this enough.
To give you a concrete example of what I mean, this is a commercial I was in a couple years ago. Your humble narrator appears in it at around 45 seconds as a delivery driver for Amazon. Now, to link it back to what I was just talking about, here’s the interesting thing about the whole experience: from the audition process to the filming, not once did anyone tell me it was supposed to be a commercial intended for Christmas. In the audition process, the casting directors were very secretive about it, which is usually the case and I understand why — nobody in any artistic field wants what they’re doing to be spoiled in any way, even if it’s a commercial and not some arthouse movie with a complex plot, etc. All they told me was that I was a delivery driver who was working, and it was a regular day like any other. That’s it.
On the day of shooting, I still wasn’t told it was a Christmas commercial. As we filmed throughout the day, I noticed the director and cinematographer seemed to be communicating with each other more than the people they were filming. Not only that, but they didn’t appear to be in complete agreement with what they were telling me. One person was telling me I was “in a rush,” and the other guy was telling me I was, “supposed to be happy.” And once again, mind you: I still wasn’t informed it was a Christmas commercial. In retrospect, now I can probably guess that they were trying to articulate that it was a Christmas commercial without actually saying those words. I’m not sure if they weren’t allowed to tell me or what, but they never did.
As the day went on I think they got more frustrated with how my facial expression was coming out on camera. In their minds, it was supposed to be a Christmas commercial with a happier feeling, and yet there I was flipping the box and perhaps not looking “warm” enough. If they had told me what it was we were working on, I’m sure I could’ve given them a better smile. My parents paid a lot of money for braces when I was a kid; I would’ve been more than happy to accommodate that direction. But it never came. Instead, they kept arguing with each other instead of the guy they were filming.
Now, contrast that with another commercial I was in here. This is probably the best directing I’ve witnessed to date: everyone was in complete agreement and unification with what had to be done that day. There were no secrets about what was going on, what we were filming, and what the end goal was supposed to look like. The type of direction I was getting was pretty much exactly what the final result looks like: “Look desperate, we want to hear your voice here, you just lost something important on your computer, tap the keyboard, more of that, you just experienced the worst moment of your life,” etc.
I realize these are two very minor examples when it comes to filmmaking, but they are worth noting nonetheless. It’s amazing to me that for a medium as visual as filmmaking, the people involved in certain productions aren’t as clear and direct about their objectives as they should be. They don’t realize that all their mistakes on the ground will later show up onscreen.
Communication can literally make or break a project, and whatever you fail to address in the short-term will almost certainly show up tenfold later. “A stitch in time saves nine,” is a really great piece of advice, and communicating things clearly is a big part of that. If you fail to address something in a film production, it will almost always translate to a faulty product later on. I have witnessed this time and time again, from smaller student productions to bigger budget things for things as major as Amazon. When I make my masterpiece someday, I really hope I don’t forget this! Good luck to all you creatives out there.
