Shot by Shot

A view from inside the Belfry of Bruges, January 2017
13 April 2019

No one really ever asks me for advice about filmmaking... but if they did, I would say the most important thing is to understand the whole system, not just one's part in it.

Try every job. If you're an editor, direct some actors and record some sound. If you're a cinematographer, colour grade your shots and spend time in the art department. If you're a producer, cook and make coffee for the cast and crew.

When you look beyond your cog in the very complex filmmaking machine, you'll be able to tune in to your comrades and appreciate how your small efforts have big effects on the cinema screen.

Actually, machine is a poor analogy for filmmaking. Unlike this automated carillon that I snapped in the Belfry of Bruges, the most important parts of a movie are people. Messy, creative, egoistic, brilliant things that you have to understand just as well.

Like making a Belgian waffle, how the flavours of butter, syrup, cream and chocolate combine into--... now I'm just waffling.