Sun Tzu's The Art of Film Making Hoooah!

Within the art of film making lie many: The Art of Storytelling, the Art of Directing, The Art of Cinematography, and the arts of audio and editing. Films can be dissected into two different types: the mainstream films that are seen in today's popular theaters and the Independent films that involve a lower budget and are marketed much less than regular films.

The Art of Storytelling within the film making involves a three act structure that presents a problem, displays the hero's attempts to solve the problem with difficulties along the way, and the eventual resolution. That is not to say that the Art of Storytelling is set in stone but the three act structure is merely a base from which most stories begin. One must learn not to drag the story or else the audience may turn on the director and look for further flaws. The storyteller must know which elements are crucial for the success and which parts of the story can be left out.

The Art of Directing engages an officer to take command and lead his men through the actions set up in the storyboard. To engage his fellow into film making and to come out victorious with the hopes of being recognized when they return is one of the goals but also to experience the battle. The director takes care of his men making sure there is food and water and that their minds stay sharp by switching things up and livening the work. The Art of Directing wishes to establish brotherhood while maintaining respect as a leader from fellow peers.

An Art that is shared between mainstream and independent film making but more important to independent film makers is the Art of Saving Money. Film makers are always tempted to complicate there shots before going into battle by throwing in random dolly or crane shots but these kinds of shots add to the already big expenses of film making. There are many makeshift ways to achieve the same effects one attains through the use of dollies and cranes. The equipment that many mainstream film makers use today make the job easier but that does not say that job cannot be completed without them. One can attach tennis balls to the ends of a tripod to glide a camera along the ground smoothly without the use of a dolly, a set of wooden boards can provide a track for which the camera moves on a cloth, and pantyhose can be used as a filter to change the ways light enters a cameras lens. Film making has been around for a long time and many of the techniques today were first achieved without expensive equipment.

Lastly, the Art of Audiography plays a more important role in manipulating the audience more than one may believe. Within films are levels of dialogue, ambient sound, and music that get the audience to experience whatever the director wants them to: Sadness, happiness, anger, sympathy, etc. Within ambient noise is Foley sounds which can be used when normal sound recordings don't work well enough. One may record the opening and closing of a door, a punch against a piece of raw meat to simulate fist contact with flesh, and taps of wooden blocks on heads to simulated a brutal nun-chuck hit.

The many arts within film making are skills that contribute to the art of illusion that films utilize to tell a story to an audience in the most entertaining way possible. Pictures will be provided in next week's hopefully much shorter blog.