Re: Hollywood considered harmful (was: 2 FAB QUOTES)

From: E. Shaun Russell (e_shaun@extropy.org)
Date: Thu Jun 28 2001 - 01:55:52 MDT


Eliezer wrote:

>A Singularity movie would be terribly easy to screw up and a screwup could
>easily be far worse than nothing. I fear the scriptwriting and production
>process; it is too fragile; there are so many points where it's so easy
>for things to go wrong. The process of making a future-changing movie
>takes more than a future-changing script. There are so many powerful
>people along the way who can screw things up beyond repair just because
>they feel like meddling.

So why not do it all yourself? You can be the producer, director, lead and
supporting actor(s) as well the cinematographer, editor, gaffer and dolly
grip. Not quite. Seriously Eliezer, if it is perfection you are looking
for in the filmmaking process, then you aren't going to find it for the
very reasons you point out above. However, does this mean that a
"non-perfect" movie shouldn't be made? Of course not. I don't believe in
the need for compromise, but neither do I believe in an objective sense of
perfection. A movie, or any productive work which requires multiple people
rarely comes out the way it was initially envisioned, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that the product is unfit for release.

Think of the powerful movies that you have seen in the past, and determine
why they moved you. Was it the director's singular vision or the writer's
cohesive plot? More likely, it was the way everything went together and
*fit*. Movie-making is by no means a "perfect" art, no more than your view
of what and when the Singularity will be is a perfect view. What is
important is that movies still get made *despite* the fact that they are
not perfect, and that true classics and gems do arise amidst duller fare.

It would be a damned shame if no-one brought their "perfect" works out of
their closets for fear of them being corrupted. A damned shame indeed.

_______________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
                                 COO and Director, Kryos Biomedical
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                  ~K i n e t i c i z e Y o u r P o t e n t i a l~



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