John Badham on Directing by Badham John

Author:Badham, John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions
Published: 2013-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

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In these days of hysterical editing, crossing the 180-degree line, low-key photography, or just flat-out sloppiness, the director has to constantly watch out that the audience is following what is happening and where we are in an action sequence. We have to be sure that in the midst of the visual charivari and chaos that we’re not losing the audience in the dust.

Look at Tony Scott’s Top Gun to see one nasty challenge he faced making the film. On the ground, in the barracks, the bars, and the parties there’s no problem knowing who everyone is. That’s Tom Cruise, that’s Anthony Edwards, that’s Val Kilmer. Couldn’t be any clearer where we are and who’s who. However, when they put on their helmets, their flight suits, their face masks, all of which look alike, and mount their fighter jets, it turns into Where’s Waldo. Scott is cutting rapidly from one pilot to another as they fly through their war games. As the action increases and the cutting speeds up it gets harder and harder to keep everyone straight and who’s doing what to whom. Scott was smart to write the character’s names on their helmets . . . if you have time to read them. Illiterate viewers will just be confused.

Why do we care about this? Isn’t it enough to take the dogfight rides, to feel the excitement of flying at supersonic speeds? No, it’s not enough. We need to stay invested in the characters, too. We’re not being hurled around on a terrifying ride at Magic Mountain. First of all, the parks do it better than the movies can. They can throw us up, down, and all around with extreme vometic, (sorry, kinetic) action. They generate enough adrenaline in our bodies to power a small village. We identify with ourselves and the very real scary thought that we might die if thisdamnride breaks. When we take a commercial flight, they do everything possible to calm us down, to make us feel safe. On Magic Mountain’s scariest ride “HOLY SH#%T LOUISE!” they do the exact opposite . . . freak us out! Deliberately. Else why pay fifty bucks to ride it?

In the movies the experience is very different. In any good film we get involved with the characters, we care about what happens to them. Even if they are bad guys, serial killers, and major weirdos, we can care about them. Otherwise why would Silence of the Lambs, No Country for Old Men or Dracula be such memorable films? The magic of the movies is that we can care about people who ordinarily we would flee from. Whether it’s bug aliens from District 9, Hannibal Lecter, or Aunt Smellypants, we can care about them.

Just so long as they don’t come to our house afterwards.

If we don’t care about the characters in a movie it’s going to be a very unsatisfying experience. My friend Scott thought he would hate the characters from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and didn’t want to spend two hours with them.

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