Far more shocking to me than a failed blockbuster, is the idea that anything with that many people working on it, and that much attention, could ever be creatively cohesive and successful. Like a military campaign, it takes a unique kind of leadership to not only have the vision, but to execute it in a way that makes sure that a team of incredibly talented people are all working together to bring the dream into reality.
This New York Times article on the making of The Dark Night Returns, is an interesting one. Spoiler free, it focuses on the method to the madness, and provides what I think is some genuine insight into the film-making process.
But if Mr. Nolan was feeling any stress on the set in Chicago last year, his easygoing reserve concealed it. Dressed, as always, in his own somewhat formal uniform — dark blazer, waistcoat, French cuffs; a thermos of tea in hand; a wireless video monitor around his neck — he also seemed a bit of a throwback. While many filmmakers watch in seclusion on television screens, he stood next to the camera, always on his feet unless he was kneeling to whisper in someone’s ear. “Acting is such a vulnerable thing, you don’t want to be told in front of others that you’ve made a mistake, or ‘Try this,’ ” said Aaron Eckhart, who plays Harvey Dent, a district attorney. “Chris understands that.”
This is one film that I’m definitely looking forward to. Good superhero stuff is always about echoing the characters internal conflicts into giant external conflicts, and I thought the first film did a great job of that.
There’s something incredibly powerful about Twitter. While the basic functionality is basically just basic IM software married to an old-fashioned party line (check out some sixties sitcoms if you don’t know what that is), the real innovation is the way in which you relate to the other people that you’re connected with.
While it appeals to the collector instinct that other sites like MySpace and FaceBook have seemed to have capitalized on, it’s not all that useful to be following hundreds of different people. The signal to noise ratio is pretty low to begin with, and everyone you add is basically fracturing the conversation a little bit more. What’s nicer is when someone new follows you. It feels like your megaphone is growing a little bigger with every person who connects to your feed. I’m sure that’s a metaphor for something…
It’s an egalitarian process as well. There are no barriers to communicating with strangers, and they’re perfectly welcome to respond to you without having to go through an official process to make the connection.
And its core message is all about the power of premise. The whole thing is built around a single fundamental question:
What are you doing?
Hanging out in dorm room, listening to Dark Side of the Moon is a rite of passage, or at least it used to be. It was easy to get lost in those psychedelic riffs, spacey hooks, and mind-blowing jams while doing nothing more than chilling out and starting at a tie-died sheet on the ceiling. And while his name and face are gone forever I can still remember the dude who harshed my mellow, “Man, that’s totally easy to play! I could do that on my guitar!”
Often in life you’ll miss the opportunity to say the perfect thing at the right time, but this wasn’t one of those moments. The words came out of my mouth almost instantly, “Yeah, but did you do it first?”
People have a bad habit of using words like “obvious” or “simple” as a way to put something down. But if you can come up with an idea that’s so simple and straightforward that people’s first reaction is “I could have thought of that myself,” it’s usually a good thing. Creating something that people can “get” instantly is hard to do, and making something that feels so perfect that it’s part of the natural order of the universe is even harder.
Ideas like that can turn the world on it’s head, and if you look at what makes a big hit big there’s usually an underlying simplicity to the idea. Steve Jobs is the master of the “obvious idea” (usually coupled with incredible product design). He’s managed to sell society the simple over and over again. How about Harry Potter? A “Wizard’s School” seems like a good concept no matter how you slice it.
Sure there’s more work to be done once the concept has been discovered, but just because something is obvious doesn’t mean that it isn’t time to make some money.
Latest Comments
Jay, Drew, Jane
Matcha Media
hentai maria mario
ninaibe
Scott