Chapter From idea to Cinematic Story Our first job is to look, Our second job is to think of a film that can be made. Abbas Kiarostami (Marrakech, 2005) There's no doubt about it. Filmmaking is exciting stuff. Working on a set, surrounded by the energy of a great production crew, collaborating with actors, setting up lights, lining up shots, calling out "Roll camera! Action!" Seeing a film project come to life can be an exhila- rating experience. In fact, most aspiring filmmakers simply can't wait to get their hands on a camera and start shooting. Once they get an idea, they're ready to go! But wait. What are you shooting? What is your idea? Are your characters interesting? Does the idea have a shape? Just what do you want to say and how will you say it? What does all this activity on the screen add up to? What about the practical side of making this film? Are the subject and visual approach appropriate for your resources? Can you get it done? Whether your project is a two-minute chase scene with no dialogue or a complex psy- chological drama, the first step in any narrative film production is coming up with an idea that is stimulating, engaging, and ripe with visual possibilities. The idea is the DNA of the entire filmmaking process--it informs every word written into the script, every shot you take, and every choice you make along the way. The better your basic idea is, the better your film will be. But an idea is only the first lightning bolt of inspiration. All ideas have to be developed--fashioned into stories that can be told through the medium of film. This means turning an idea into a story that can be captured and conveyed by that camera you're dying to get your hands on. 1 n FIndIng an Idea At the beginning of any film, there is an idea. It may come at any time, from any source. It may come from watching people in the street or from thinking alone in your office. ... What you need is to find that original idea, that spark. And once you have that, it's like fishing: you use that idea as bait, and it attracts everything else. But as a director your main priority is to remain faithful to that original idea. David Lynch (From Moviemakers' Master Class, by Laurent Tirard) Where do we find ideas? Where does inspiration come from? As Lynch reminds us, ideas can come to us anywhere and at anytime: an act of kindness we witness on the street, an individual we watch on the bus, a piece of music that moves us, an experience a friend relates to us or a memory we can't let go. John Daschbach's Waking Dreams (one of the short films available for viewing on the Voice & Vision companion website) came from a particularly vivid dream, and Ramin Bahrani's 2007 feature film Chop Shop was inspired by an evocative location that struck him as a perfect setting for a dramatic story (see page 127). I once attended a reading by the fiction writer Raymond Carver, and someone in the audience asked him if he had any secrets to becoming a writer. He said simply, "You have to be a sponge, you have to constantly absorb the world you live in." If you keep your eyes and ears open, you will discover that material is all around you. Everyday life provides fertile ground for story ideas, visual ideas, and character ideas. Stay alert and connect to the world around you, then you'll be able to connect with your audience. 3