As I have stated, perhaps way too many times, when the nighttime gets deep and I am sitting around looking for that last grasp at inspiration sometimes I will watch music videos on the various stations that still offer such things or pop over to YouTube and let the algorithm take me where it will.
 
Recently, I’ve noticed a few music videos, created around the music of large artists, that were filmed in the elevator of the Bonaventura Hotel in DTLA. That hotel played an essential role in my life via a few pathways, but I won’t speak about that here. What I will say is that, when we were filming my Zen Film, The Rock n’ Roll Cops we did shoot at that hotel and filmed an important scene in that elevator. You can, of course, go and check out that movie on my YouTube channel, and elsewhere, if you feel like it.
 
Anyway, it got me to thinking… I wondered just how many takes of that scene we did, as Don was my cameraman on that film, and he was deeply lost into his obsessional camerawork at that stage of history. I even thought to maybe grab all of the footage and put it up as a collection on YouTube or something…
 
Yesterday, I went and dug out the footage and played it back. There were several takes and some good moments in each of them. I’m not sure which take I actually used. Or, if I used multiple takes; intercut. I mean, I edited that film so-so long ago.
 
But, then I decided to just let the essence of Zen remain intact and not rebroadcast the other takes of that scene. At least not right now.
 
One thing I did strongly come away with, from viewing that footage, was the reminder of just how easy it is to create cinematic art, if you choose to do so. I mean, there we were, my acting partner and myself. Don shooting the camera and me setting up the sound, recorded on a DAT recorder, (for the few of you out there who even know what that is), and a guy manning the sound mixer. That was it.
 
I don’t know how big the production crew was, stuffed in that elevator for the aforementioned high-end music videos I was discussing. But, that elevator is not big. So???
 
The thing is, you can create art if you want to. I mean, pretty much we all like to watch movies and TV shows and music videos and all that kind of stuff we. Right?  But, watching is not creating. At best, watching is veging.
 
Back then—back when we shot, The Rock n’ Roll Cops, yes, film creation had become more simple. With the introduction of high-end video to the prosumer market, movies could be made for a fraction of the cost that was once necessary. Now, today, we all have our iPhone. Which, as I have, (also), stated way too many times, is a better camera with a better lens than most of the 16mm and even some of the 35mm cameras of times gone past.  You can create cinematic art virtually for free. You can do it, if you choose to do it. But, do you choose to do it?
 
It’s no secret that I have a bit of a problem with most film critics. Why? Because they never get their hands dirty and actually get out there and make a movie. It’s easy to throw shade, but let’s see what you can do. …Or, they maybe make one film via a class they took or something and that’s that. But, criticism is not art. Art is art. Creating art is art. And, it is now so easy to do!
 
A lot of times in my feeds, I get people demonstration techniques of how to film things in a creative way on an iPhone. Some of that content is very inspirational. But, if you don’t do it, you don’t do it. Then, what?
 
What I’m saying here is that art is at your fingertips. You have all the tools you need to create art right in your pocket or your purse or your backpack or your whatever. Knowing this, what are you going to do about it? Create art, or sit back and create nothing? Your life, your choice.