Everyman a Cecil B. De Mille
May 12, 2003
By Randy Fitzgerald, University of Richmond News Feature Service
Making films used to be the purview of well-heeled moguls. Not anymore, says Andrew Lane, a producer-director-writer who is teaching a film class this summer at the University of Richmond for ordinary people who want to improve their film and video skills.
The technology is increasing at such a rapid rate, Lane says, that anyone with a good idea and a good eye can make a movie. In fact, over 500 of the 800 movies at the most recent Sundance Film Festival were shot on video.
Look at "The Blair Witch Project," Lane says. "It was huge, but it was done with a home video camera. It was a good idea and promoted smoothly on the Web for a specific niche of the marketplace."
Lane has made 18 full-length features for television, including "The Secretary," "Trade Off," "Desperate Motive" and "Lonely Hearts."
Many aspiring filmmakers these days take their video movies on the festival circuit, says Lane, then get press, build a groundswell and finally convince a big company to buy it and transition it to film. Or, they can go directly to the home video market.
There are all sorts of markets for videos/films, Lane says: from the arts, museums, academic circuit to the education circuit, to the specific product circuit, to the lifestyles circuit."
Making films can be done anywhere, too, Lane says. "Richmond is right next to Hollywood."
What it takes is "a good idea, well thought out," he says. "That will take you far."
Taking Lane's course might be a good idea too. Lane says he wants to make his students "aware of their own lives." He wants them to make their "personal beliefs relevant to their story telling." He also teaches them major film storytelling techniques, such as composition, mood, timing, screen direction, extending and condensing time and editing.
A good Web site to check out Lane says is scriptshark.com, which for a fee can help you sell your scripts to Hollywood without your having to leave your armchair.
A really good book to get you thinking about story ideas for your own movies, Lane says, is Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." "It's one of the fundamental books, all about archetypes. George Lucas studied it before composing 'Star Wars.'" And if you're really serious about film making yourself, Lane advises persistence and belief in yourself. "Art is a good deal of rejection."
For information about Lane's film class, call (804) 289-8133.