FilmSpring Info

Our FilmSpringOpen website is an extension of the Film Spring workshop, which started in 2005, where a team of 14 filmmakers from various European countries write a script online and then meet in Poland to shoot the film in three weeks. Although the official Film Spring participants are chosen by film institutions in their countries, you are very welcome to join us as an observer and make your own film at the same time.

In the centre of today's model of filmmaking is the notion that the individual artist tries to transform his/her vision into a singular reality. Only later, does he/she discover that he/she is stretched too far. The approach of Film Spring is directly opposed to this concept. It is comparable, rather to that of chamber music, where success and failure are shared amongst the participants with hope that true growth is achieved.

Changes in technology over the last decade have had a huge influence on the way feature films are produced. Yet, one gets the impression from educational institutions that this change in technology has not had much effect. Films continue to be made desperately, reiterating the same patterns and negative working relationships. Here too, it seems necessary to offer a different paradigm.

A collective effort

Film Spring not only offers emerging filmmaker's the chance to develop a screenplay, but also the opportunity to shoot and edit it. The script will be developed by the participants in a specially created Production Room, where they can exchange their ideas, develop the screenplay, and discuss pragmatic issues, such as casting.

Furthermore, the technical and artistic proceedings will be organised by the participants themselves. This includes full involvement in set decoration, costumes, props and equipment.

The rules of the game for the actual shoot will be that every participant will change position and responsibility for every scene. For each scene there will be one director, for the next scene he/she will become the assistant director, costume supervisor, etc…For the camera department, the same holds true, the DOP for one scene will become the gaffer for the next.

The first cut of the film will be assembled day by day, during the shoot. The film will thus take shape and constantly be discussed.

During the preparation period, actors will be cast and chosen by all the Film Spring participants. Despite variations amongst the group, the language of the workshop will be in English.

New profiles for a new process

The workshop is aimed at film young professionals working as directors or cinematographers, as well as editors, sound professionals and designers.

Pre-requisites for participation include professional experience in the film industry, readiness to take part in a group creative process (including script development) and involvement in the complete post-production of the film.

Interview with Slawomir Idziak, author of the Film Spring idea, by Irena Gruca-Rozbicka for ‘Film and TV – Kamera’

The Children Is What Matters Most

The third edition of Film Spring will take place in Jurata (Hel peninsula) in Poland in November 2007. Film Spring is a workshop for filmmakers, the brainchild of cinematographer and film director Sławomir Idziak (A Short Film About Killing, The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colours - Blue, Gattaca, King Arthur, Black Hawk Down, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Fourteen young filmmakers representing four countries will be spending three weeks in Jurata shooting their own movie. The three-week shoot and production period will be preceded by six months of script development. And who will be writing the script? The same people who will be coming up with visual ideas for the movie, picking its cast, recording sound on the set - all participants of the Film Spring workshop.

Background

Musicians, even when they are meeting for the first time, sit down and play music, they improvise. Filmmakers start their meetings by arguing who will be the leader.

The workshop participants spend months discussing their ideas in virtual space before they meet for the first time on their film set in Jurata. The only limitation imposed on them is the subject matter of their film (love between two cultures and nationalities) and - their own egos. Idziak explains: "The artist's ego is sometimes the mightiest opponent, especially if it is incorporated into a concrete educational system, but this very same ego is essential if we are to have artistic creativity: people lacking a powerful ego lack the courage to expose their inner selves, to engage in what amounts to a kind of exhibitionism. The trick is to reconcile these two extremities".

Idziak believes that an ego compromise of this kind can be achieved through group filmmaking, with movies produced by groups of artists being an alternative to the so called auteur films and the American commercial blockbusters. "Auteur films in Europe do a lot of harm because the entire film education system there hinges on them," says Idziak. "Every film school student imagines he or she is another Antonioni or Fellini and is not inclined to engage in collaborative ventures. Meanwhile in the American film industry the director is just one of many people hired to do a film. This definitely does not give rise to individual filmmaking - this is not about a single person making decisions about everything, a situation that in extreme cases leads to the kind of film repertoire we see in Europe where the number of films appealing to no one, films which are meant only to satisfy the ego of poorly educated and unprofessional filmmakers is quite staggering. I believe it might be worthwhile to develop an alternative model of filmmaking, one perhaps not intended for the most gifted artists who will always remain individualists - nothing can be done about that and I'm not calling for any revolution here - but for all the others. Group filmmaking is one such idea and Film Spring is based on this model".

Sławomir Idziak has been making films in Europe and around the world for 35 years now and has spent years teaching in various film schools. He believes, however, that film education is out of date. It does not prepare students to function in a dynamically changing film industry. "The technology we now have failed to substantially change the ways in which we think and operate, which, incidentally, is quite natural and to be observed in every sphere of human activity," observed Idziak. "We accept novelties in technology, fashion or in superficial aspects of our behavior, but deep down we remain unchanged. We make films using technologies that are quite unlike those available to us 20 years ago, but the way we make them is exactly the same as before. True, technology does force us to change our ways to some extent, but whatever can stay the way it once was, stays that way. Meanwhile the pitiful state of European filmmaking and the unfair divisions in the worldwide film market should be prompting us to adopt at least some revolutionary measures, to revise the way we perceive the future of filmmaking."

Method

The Film Spring idea was inspired by the Polish model of cooperation between the film director and camera operator, both of whom are equally important authors of the movie they work on together. Idziak explains: "If we look at the complex architecture of film and want a simpler model to analyze, we can assume that movies consist of two equal halves: the literary part which requires a sensitivity to the spoken word, and the visual part. If we look at films in this way, the model whereby the final form of the movie is the responsibility of two people, one of whom is well versed in drama while the other knows how to lend drama the right kind of visual form, is actually incredibly modern."

All the filmmakers in Jurata get the same starting position, regardless of their previous involvement in the script development stage. It turns out that people whose English is poor and who therefore cannot contribute much to the script often make up for their earlier lack of activity with great visual ideas for various scenes. "I never allow the script authors to assume leadership positions during film production," says Idziak. "Everybody has to be open to suggestions from the others, has to analyze ideas proposed by others and must overcome the urge to stick to their own guns at all costs, insisting on making all the decisions as the one and only director on the set. I try to avoid arbitrary solutions but whenever I see someone behaving too individualistically, I fall back on my privileged mentor status and remind everyone that ours is a joint effort and that while I have no intention of challenging individual ideas, certain rules must nevertheless apply during the film production process. And so far this approach worked quite well."

Idziak admits that in addition to being a mentor he occasionally had to act as mediator: "Conflicts arise, tears are shed, people feel unhappy and want to go home because their ideas were rejected and their souls got bruised. My job in such cases is to calm everybody down".

In addition to working on their film, the workshop participants attend lectures. After a day's work on the script or on the film set - and these can sometimes be 14-hour days - the young filmmakers all watch movies together. They bring their favorite films to Jurata and these are analyzed by everybody. The workshop program includes also a dramaturgy course. The educational program of the workshop is tailored to specific problems that arise in the filmmaking process.

Barriers

"There is a specific obstacle, a kind of barrier in the way young filmmakers think: they all seem convinced that vast sums of money are needed to make a movie. This by no means has to be the case," believes Idziak.

And he is right. As it turns out, it is possible to make a 30-minute film practically for free. The biggest item in Film Spring's 50,000 Euro budget is the cost of the workshop participant's three-week stay in Jurata (food, accommodation, plane tickets). The camera is provided by sponsors and so are the lights. Everything else is up to the participants' commitment and ingenuity.

"They wanted to film in a restaurant and they had to go and get permission themselves," recalls Idziak. "And we must not forget they were all foreigners. I helped them out only once when I made my car available to them. They were completely on their own and had to take care of everything themselves - there was no make-up artist, no transportation. At one point they even began recording sound themselves because they decided they didn't like what the sound recordist was doing. I believe that volunteer initiatives by several people represent a huge economic potential. The workshop participants are now going about looking for money to pay for more professional post-production services, but want to handle the easy stuff themselves, things like opening credits, music and syncs."

Another relic of the past that Idziak is trying to overcome is the 19^th-century model of the artist who is convinced a fine work of art will definitely be rewarded. "In the avalanche of loud voices, words and images we are immersed in, promotion is very important," he explains. "We can't have artists sitting back and relaxing once they gave birth to their brainchild, we need them to also launch the fruit of their labor into the world. The Film Spring participants already know this. One reason why the Internet portal was created was to integrate them in these efforts. I am persuading them to start selling their movie over the Internet for one euro. They designed a poster and are submitting their film to a variety of festivals - and all the festivals are interested since this is such an extraordinary project. The film was shown at the Solothurn Film Days Festival in Switzerland, among other places."

Results

The three 30-minute films made during the previous editions of the workshop may be confidently described as professional productions. An experience that is particularly instructive is the comparison of successive edit versions of the movies. This is when you really get to see the process of fine-tuning of the vision, the intellectual ferment that accompanies it, and the exchange of ideas and the intensity of discussions between the filmmakers.

Film Spring resulted not just in tangible effects, namely the movies. There were also less tangible, although perhaps more important outcomes. Slawomir Idziak says: "I believe that the greatest success of the previous workshops is that two and a half years down the road the workshop participants, who never met before and who come from different countries, are still together. They are constantly in touch with each other. The friendships that emerged go beyond our particular project. We see scriptwriters teaming up with directors, directors with editors or directors with cinematographers to work on professional film productions. More importantly, many of these people now see just how crippling and imperfect one's ego can be, how often it leads one into dead-end streets. While working on their film in Jurata they learned to approach their own problems and their attitudes, often the product of the education they received, with humility."

Asked about the benefits he himself derived from his work with the Film Spring participants, Idziak said: "Given my place of birth and the kind of education I got, I am an outsider. At the same time, thanks to my comprehensive experience from working on European movies and high-budget American productions, I possess a body of knowledge which I believe is worth utilizing. I have a sense of profound satisfaction at having come up with an idea and doing something that makes sense. I am creating a community. Film Spring will eventually lead to new initiatives. I will no longer be involved in them, but they will be focused around this particular group of filmmakers I helped assemble."

One of the past Film Spring participants became so used to collective script development that now he finds it hard to stop. He describes his stay in Jurata as "a life changing experience."

The Future

Today's technology enables us to hold conferences at no cost whatsoever, which means we can handle the film production process online. We can swap ideas and files in virtual space. There is software that lets us edit movies offline in close to real time. Traditional film schools and institutions lag behind today's technological revolution, while implementation of digital cinema requires a change in our mindset: "I believe that when looking at the future of filmmaking, we should bear in mind the tendency in Western communities whereby people are no longer content to be just viewers, mere observers - they want to participate. Every form of collaboration and participation, made possible and inspired by the Internet, is increasing in popularity. The best proof of this is the proliferation of festivals, whether big or small. These might attract five or six thousand young people who travel long distances in search of opportunities to participate: to have discussions with artists, to contribute, to party. People no longer want to be viewers and nothing but viewers. The ongoing interaction-oriented revolution in filmic art will force us to redefine the concept of "author of a work of art": the children (i.e., the films) will be more important than the parents (artists) who begat them. FilmSpringOpen is the future.