May 15 2008
The Butterfly the Diving Bell and the Video Producer
This week from the “Not my job” department:
When I first saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly I was convinced that it deserved academy awards for director and editor.
Now having watched the “making of” DVD feature I’m not sure who exactly deserves the accolades.
Many of the stylistic decisions which I had assumed where Schnable’s were made by the screenwriter without any consultation.
The multi-layered composited sequences scattered throughout the movie were created in camera not in the edit suite.
Critical elements of the film’s aesthetic - shooting in French, shooting in the actual clinic/room where Bauby lived, and using Mathieu Amalric instead of Johnny Depp - took significant commitment from the producers.
That’s really it.
Producing successful video for any platform involves a slew of different skills, talents, attitudes. Historically these roles have been assumed by a varying number of professionals. Over recent years more affordable technology has combined roles - first camera, sound and light were merged, then camera & edit, now camera > edit> distribution.
But what happened to the producer? the researchers? the PR wallahs? the marketing department?
- there was a great motto popular among East End tailors: “never mind the quality - feel the width”.
Now taken up by video evangelists.
As quantity trumps quality video becomes a commodity - it is no longer a bespoke product: you don’t go to Savile Row you go to Nordstroms or Target.
There is a story about Abe Lincoln (?) presenting a bill to the Virginia senate for “surveying work $100″. No they needed an itemized bill. So he sent back: “60 stakes $2, knowing where to put them $98″.
As video itself becomes a commodity, knowing where to put it becomes the marketable talent.
I loved “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, but the movie I’d rather see is “My Stroke of Insight”, which is the amazing bestselling book by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. It is an incredible story and there’s a happy ending. She was a 37 year old Harvard brain scientist who had a stroke in the left half of her brain. The story is about how she fully recovered, what she learned and experienced, and it teaches a lot about how to live a better life. Her TEDTalk at TED dot com is fantastic too. It’s been spread online millions of times and you’ll see why!
Yes DBB was not an inspirational work in the traditional sense. I will check out the movie you mention - thanks.