Rodriguez on Creativity

I just finished reading Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew, which deals with the making of his acclaimed low budget film El Mariachi. Rodriguez has some strong views on creativity, which include the following points:

1. Lack of money and resources leads to creativity. When films have a high budget, they try to solve every problem with money.

2. Do as much as you can yourself instead of leaning on partnerships (or in the case of film, a big crew), because you have to learn more and also, it's too easy to blame someone else for any mistakes that come up in the process if you're collaborating.

3. Don't believe the cliche about "learning the rules before you break them"; just jump in and learn as you go. Always question the accepted method of doing things.

Post by Suzanne Castillia

Comments

[bob.os]

If you ever get a chance, watch the "10min film school" shorts on Rodriguez's Spy Kids DVDs. It's amazing to see him play with his kids and a video camera and then throw a little low-fi post production on what they shot.

My oldest is fascinated by this, along with picking apart how movies are made from this.

There is a DV camcorder somewhere in our future, but we're avoiding it.

[David]

I just added it to my netflix!

I don't know if you have a mac, but the software that just comes with the computer is amazing for simple, straightforward movies.

Does the os stand for O'Speilberg?