Background Information :

About NLP

Choosing a provider

Features :

Competitions
NLP Articles
NLP Exercises
Newsletters
Top Tips
Podcasts

Learner's Resources :

Members discussion forum

NLP Practitioner Quizzes

NLP Master Practitioner Quizzes

Poetry and Metaphor

NLP Book Reviews

Useful links

Borrow the DVDs of “Frida” and “Magnolia”.

Why . . . ?

These films are held up as examples of film-making at its best. Both won top awards. Both have long director’s commentaries, and sections about the music and why it was chosen.

The music to both is stunning and haunting (yes, that combination is possible!). In the case of “Frida”, Julie Taymor’s director’s commentary is a full re-run of the film, but with the sound turned down as she explains what she’s done. And how and why. “Magnolia” is long at 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Writing a filmscript, and then directing the film, is a powerful metaphor for writing your life and directing it. What will you leave on the cutting room floor? How much will you be able to squeeze into those precious 90 minutes or 2 hours? How will you stick to your filming schedule and budget? How will you balance what you want with what the other people involved want? How will you motivate all the people you depend on – the actors, the set designers, the cameramen, the investors, the composer . . . your loved ones? How will you motivate yourself? Which actors and musicians do you want to work with? What settings do you want to film in? What impact do you want the film to have on the audience?

How will you respond to the critics? How can you still make the film if a disaster occurs – like if an actor walks out or is taken ill? What if the film is not released? Both these films demonstrate how to fit an incredible amount, breadth and depth of experiences into a very short time.

If you don’t have time to watch the actual film then just watch the Director’s commentary on each DVD as it takes you through step by step. . . . but beware! You’ll find yourself sucked into watching the film itself as you experience the passion of these directors, actors and music makers.

Why these particular films, and why watch the DVDs . . .?

“Frida” is about the tortuous, tortured, life and love-life of the South American painter Frida Kahlo and her artist husband Diego Rivera. It is biographical, and at one stage in her life she was Leon Trotsky’s lover while he was in exile. Notice particularly how Julie Taymor uses colour to create atmosphere and feeling . . . . the bright colours of their home, and the cold, clinical colours of the hospital.

I nearly didn’t watch Magnolia. Paul, my writing coach, told me that it’s his all-time favourite film. After the first half hour of watching I was getting annoyed with it. I couldn’t get it. There were unbelievable coincidences, and everything seemed fragmented. The soundtrack was cleverly hypnotic . . . you could hear snippets of conversation, but couldn’t catch enough of it to make any sense - because the background music drowned it. I decided I’d give it another go the following evening. It kept me up, and on the edge of my seat, ‘till well after midnight.

“Magnolia” deals – in a very edgy, pull-no-punches way - with deep life issues. Coping with cancer and death. The impact of parents on children. “Seduce and Destroy”. Coincidence. What it’s like to be a child celebrity. People with so much love to give, and their struggle to find an outlet for it, and how to express it. And more. Paul Thomas Anderson, the director, explains that there are 9 characters in the film, and that it is really 5 interwoven stories that could make separate films in their own right.

The DVDs don’t cost much to rent, being a few years old.

If you can steal the time, try the following:

1. Watch the film
2. Watch the Director’s commentary, the musical commentary and actors’ comments
3. Watch the film again from this new perspective

Paul Anderson, who wrote “Magnolia” as well as directing it, uses the following metaphor for writing a film:

”writing a film is like ironing. You start at the top and iron from left to right. Then you move down a bit and do the same again, while maybe going back over the bit you’ve just done. Then repeat this as you move down the shirt.” And as he says this, he also uses another metaphor, possibly out of his awareness. The movements of his hands and arms, and the focus of his eyes, tell you that – in his mind’s eye – he is rearranging small pictures or photographs on a glass window in front of him. Maybe like visualising a storyboard.

© Mark Batten 12.02.06
mark@makingbreakthroughs.com