Ricky Don't Hit that Upload Button! Challenge of art in Vimeo Era

[Ed_David]

from  http://eddavid.tumblr.com/

This happens to me all the time.  I create something and I upload it immediately, like in a great rush.  I'll post a video or even a blog post and then I regret it - I sent it too soon.  The color is off.  There are typos or grammar errors.  

Why am I always in such a rush to post things?

My latest short film about leaving the city for the country has taken a lot longer, because I'm not rushing - I'm stopping to think - sitting on something for days or weeks - and thinking about it. Even though honestly I already posted it for 6 hours, and then I regreted it and pulled it from vimeo.com.

I think now more than ever for all artists it's so tempting to just hit the "upload" button like never before.  Before youtube and vimeo, you made a film, you had to show it publically and not as easily - so you had time to tweek it and prepare it more.  Now it's so different and maybe that's why so much art I feel is becoming more and more disposable.  There is still so much good art happening, especially in films (2014 was an excellent year) but there is so much more trash since the democratization of filmmaking.  So much more content, and so much of it needs more revisions and revisions.

Authors always have their editors.  Films have their executive producers.  But now more than ever there is little financial need to be cautious - you can just make a film on your own and upload.  And I am guilty of that.  

The limitations and people's voices can sometimes lead to a greater piece of art. And that's kind of why I enjoy working in commercials - because there are so many voices and opinions and the end goal is to make the best film possible.  I like this collaboration - it interests me to see how directors work with this - and how to keep their vision in this difficult field where there can be up to 20 different voices.

The classic example of art taking its time vs rushing is  Star Wars.  I could use Woody Allen, but it's time for me to not be pretentious at this one moment in time. When George Lucas had to fight and fight and fight to make Star Wars in 1977, he made a beautiful, challenging, relatable film.  When Phantom Menace came, he had complete creative control - and it was less than ideal - poor story poor acting, poor editing, and even kind of racist.  No one questioned him. Not even about the racial implications of the aliens and Jar-Jar Binks - what was he thinking with this guy?  And the man had some of the best actors of the time and they gave wooden performances.  Interestingly enough too, Star Wars 1977 was shot on film, Phantom Menace was shot digitally.  Not to open up that bag.    There is a hilarious youtube video about figuring out what went wrong with the Phantom Menace.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

But anyway now more than ever artists really need to take a step back, and be wary of that, "instant gratitude" button.  Sure you get a few 100 likes or some comments, but you're going to look back in 10 years and go, "man , I wish I took a little more time on that one."  Because at the end of the day, we should all be making art for the betterment of the world, and making art that lasts.  And the best film I have seen in recent years was made in 1968 - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One - and definitely feels like Bill Greaves really took his time on it.  It's polished - it's a perfect run time, it's challenging, it has no fat in it.  It feels like someone really took their time, and it stills captures the essence of life, so flawlessly, so breezily.  And that takes a lot of work.