Friday, February 27, 2009

Egyptian Movies

I once saw an Egyptian movie many years ago. The film was peculiar in that the camera was fixed and seemed never to move either to follow the actors or to pan the scene. Of course this was many years ago but this film technique and use of script, scenery and plot development to tell the story made the film about the film technique and not about the story. This movie reminded me of a soap opera with no one manning the camera. It was as though the camera was operated by one of the actors. He would turn on the camera and then run into the frame to deliver his lines before running out at the end of the scene to turn off the camera again.

When George Lucas made the first Star Wars movie he did something that was considered quite extraordinary for the time. He built elaborate and expensive sets, used them for one or two scenes and then either blew up the sets or moved on to the next expensive and elaborate scene. To make his characters and alien planets believable and to tell the story in a compelling manner he had to create a whole universe for the characters to inhabit. If you look at, what was considered to be the standard for science fiction storytelling prior to this you would watch re runs of Star Trek. If you compare Star Trek to Star Wars you will find that Star Trek is scripted and filmed very similarly to the Egyptian film technique.

George Lucas understood storytelling. He created a technique that is still considered groundbreaking today because he focused on the result and did not make his films about the process. Whether we are raising children, learning to ski, going to work or having a quiet dinner with the family, if you keep your focus on the whole experience and do not get caught up in the minor, sometimes irritating events of the day then your results will shine in spite of the process you went through to accomplish them.