Paul Greengrass rocks

Paul Greengrass came to talk at Goldsmiths today for the Olive Till Memorial debate. Paul Greengrass, a very politically concerned director, got his directing chops doing World in Action on TV in the '80s and basically developed a style honed in documentary, do-it-all-yourself small crew film making. An unlikely guy to end up directing Hollywood blockbusters (such as Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum and United 93) except, as he pointed out, we now live in the age of the mobile phone when film making is accessible to all and people see the world through a much more instant form of film than the traditional stock shot "vicar walks in to tea room - cut to close up of teapot" style. Also, in the US film making is more about everyone trading jobs and not sticking to fixed roles as it is in the UK.

He even said that during the car chase shooting day in Bourne Ultimatum, he saw many members of the public, phones held aloft. After filming, that evening on Utube there were a whole load of mobile phone films of exactly what he had been filming that day. Must have been interesting to see if any of the general public who filmed on their mobile got a better shot than he did.

He also said that he saw the British film making tradition as still too influenced by text and plays and the "Hampstead dinner party" scenario. His vision is that screenwriting and directing are getting closer and closer. He writes the screenplay for most of his work - Bourne excluded - a legacy from his documentary days and in line with his belief in winning the war of the director versus the writers in a film. In 10 years he said he thinks they will be the same thing. Writing will be about conceptualising and more about ideas than so many specifics. He does not do traditional storyboards, but visualises in line with the ideas, not with the script. Script and visuals are a moving feast, influencing each other. Before even writing a script we can now collage so much with an apple mac that the visualising and concepts can influence the action much more.

Fascinating. I was discussing with my friend that, as a creative, when asked - "what is the best way to get into this?" at the end by his interviewer, he answered as all creatives do. And it is the best advice: find out what you really want to direct, as a topic, what subject really concerns you. And then make the film. And keep just making films as much as you can. And that's it.

Today I found an old list of films I gotta see:
Badlands - Terence Malik. Watched today. Absolutely incredible composition of the shots. So subtle. Watched it today
Manhunter - Michael Mann
Repo Man - Alex Cox
Fanny & Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
Dogville - Lars von Trier
Chinatown - Polanski
A bout de souffle - Godard
Block Party - David LaChapelle
The Firm / Elephant - Alan Clarke (massive influence on Paul Greengrass)
The Ipcress File
Eraserhead - Lynch. Couldn't get through it last time. But this time it is on at the ICA. So possibly try again...