Orson Welles was a master of cinema. A true pioneer and icon. “Citizen Kane” and “Touch of Evil” are two of my favorite films. Welles was also a man that knew how hard it was to make a film – especially on your own terms. Financing was often difficult for him (especially in his later work) and some of his films remain unfinished. He was also someone who understood what it took to make an artful film. One of my favorite quotes from him is “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” This quote comes to mind most often when I hear other filmmakers and film students complain about the limitations they have in making a film. If only they had more time, or more crew, or more $ – THEN the film would have been good. I don’t buy it. Look at some of the worst movies made in recent years – many of them have GIGANTIC budgets and all the time, crew and $ in the world – and yet they’re still awful. Now look at the films that come out of many of the best festivals in the country (Sundance, Tribeca, SxSW, RIIFF) and you’ll find wonderful movies made for almost nothing, shot in no time with a skeleton crew.

We can look back even further at an example from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Some of the best films made in the 1940’s & 50’s were B-movies, films made cheaply by the studios to run alongside their big budget, star-studded “A” movies. Our cinephile friends, the French, even coined a term for the B-movies from that era – Film Noir. Watch “Kiss Me Deadly”, “Gun Crazy”, “Double Indemnity,” or any of the dozens of wonderful Film Noirs to see what I’m talking about. With limitations, a filmmaker is forced to invent creative solutions – he/she can’t throw money at the problem – they must discover innovative storytelling techniques that often create a more exciting and visually interesting cinematic moment.

As an educator and filmmaker, I’m going to take this idea of limitations one step further and make the argument that even the PROBLEMS or MISTAKES you made during production can turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Mistakes as a good thing? Has JB finally lost his mind? How could a mistake do anything except hurt my film? Well thanks for asking – I’ll tell you.

Look at a famous example of this happening to another terrific filmmaker, Stephen Spielberg (though I’m much more partial to his early work). While filming “Jaws”, Spielberg and his team couldn’t get their mechanical shark (Bruce) to work properly. It was constantly malfunctioning, breaking down, and generally looked like a giant rubber bath toy. This apparently forced Spielberg to rework many of the shark attack scenes in the film – using his camera as the shark for some scenes and/or editing around the missing footage. What could have been seen (and probably was at the time of shooting) seen as a disaster (the film is called Jaws and the main character isn’t performing = problem), actually turned out to be a blessing. By not showing the shark until later in the film, it creates a greater sense of mystery and fear. The film is better (and makes history) BECAUSE of the problems and the creative solution it forced upon the
filmmakers.

In every production, there will be limitations and problems/mistakes will happen – it’s a fact of filmmaking. Rather than seeing these as fatal errors, look at them as creative opportunities to make your film better and more dynamic. In editing, it is vital to free yourself from the singular vision you have of your movie – the ONE and ONLY way the film can be. By embracing, rather than cursing your challenges, you free yourself to look at your film in new ways. Remember, Orson Welles is always right.

Jeremiah Birnbaum
President
Fog City Pictures