John brought up an interesting point two posts ago. How does one react to negative press. I think the other important question is how does one react to positive press. I have been looking at a lot of first time directors and independant directors who have recieved positive feedback from critics. They almost seem to have a harder time of it than do the ones who get slammed. If critics pan a film, the film maker must push even harder to make a better film. However, if it recieves praise, justified or not, often times the film maker seems to drop the ball, lose his/her edge, and produce a film not nearly as good as the first.
So, whereas no one wants negative reviews (and there will be negative reviews) no one should totally buy into all of the positive ones. It's all about balance. At some point the film maker and his/her crew must separate from the audience and from the critics and ask themselves the really tough questions...
1) did we make the film we set out to make?
and
2) how could we improve our next project?
We had fun shooting this project and the preproduction was a wave a creativity that I have not ejoyed for a long time. It was great. Now as we begin post, I am hoping that people who watch this film will ejoy seeing it as much as did making it.
...and I also hope to never see it on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000...yikes!
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2 comments:
Allen, I've seen people slate movies like Lord of the Rings, Blade Runner, Aliens,2001 and many many more and seen people give glowing reviews to movies like Battlefield Earth. Everybody has to make up their own opinion on what your movie is like. Trouble is a lot of people don't look beyond the budget, Phil Tippett made Starship Trooper s 2 for $7m compared to the first films $100m budget, Tippett also shot in just 26 days, now a lot of people hate this movie,mind you some hate the first, but I thought for what he managed to do Starship Troopers 2 is a fun little movie, more like an episode of a Starship Troopers weekly TV show maybe. It must be hard for people like Tippett to see people who slate this film as crap who don't know what went into making it. The same could be said for The Planet that Michael worked on, I from the beginning appreciated that this wasn't big bucks Hollywood,but a film made by a bunch of guys with a passion for doing the best they could with the resources available. So if some people think your movie is poor let em,I'm sure there'll be an equel amount who'll love the fact that you've tried something original and haven't just opted for another Star Wars or Star Trek fan film.
I thank you for your words. I totally agree. I have a few gems of my own I really like that people hate. And there are some I hate that everyone seems to love...I'm not sure where you stand on "Citizen Cane", but I was soooo bored by it. Yet I could sit through "Ran" any time and not be bored. I love what Tippett does and I've been looking for an excuse to see ST2...guess I have one. My son and I loved the ST series. It was called "Roughnecks" here in the states.
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