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The analogy between movies and opera

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Why thinking about a movie as you make it is death
Michael Chapman Film-maker
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It brings in a kind of awful self-consciousness that interferes with that bravado and... and energy that is doing it... oh, you should never think about... oh my God, what a terrible idea. It really is very... it's death to... I've been on a few movies where people were very conscious they were making art, and they... but they weren't, and what you really want to do... I mean, first of all, what passes for art is usually just the intelligent solution to mechanical problems. But, aside from that, what you want to do is do the work as best you can and as passionately as you can and hope that sometime later, in post-production, or 20 years from now, when the critics write about it, they're going to find something in it, but you must... if you start thinking about that, it interferes desperately with... with the... Oh shut up, that stupid cat. It interferes terribly with the... with the mechanics of doing it, which is what you're supposed to be doing.

Michael Chapman (1935-2020), an American cinematographer, had a huge influence on contemporary film-making, working on an impressive array of classic films including 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'The Lost Boys' and 'The Fugitive'.

Listeners: Glen Ade Brown

British Director of Photography and Camera Operator Glen Ade Brown settled in Los Angeles 10 years ago.

He has been working on features, commercials and reality TV. He played an instrumental role in the award-winning ABC Family series "Switched" and is also a recipient of the Telly and the Cine Golden Eagle awards for Best Cinematography. He was recently signed by the Judy Marks Agency and is now listed in her commercial roster.

Tags: self-consciousness, making movies, critics

Duration: 57 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2004

Date story went live: 24 January 2008