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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Which movie turned you into a film maker

I think it was "Star Wars IV: A New Hope" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that did it for me (and half of the rest of my generation i guess).

We had already been making 8mm gangster films with my friends, but after seeing those flicks, i really wanted to make my living outta this - especially visual effects.

I was about 9 when star wars came out, 11 when Indiana Jones was released. Been a long road, but i'm not complaining ;-)
 
"Aliens"

"The Abyss"

and reading Cinefex magazine and looking at the BTS photos of miniatures and such.
 
in addition to my previous mentions of cinematic inspiration, "Blade Runner" solidified my interest in special effects and compositing. The beautiful thing about "Blade Runner" that still holds up today is the fact that it's really the last great 'organic' visual effects movie. No computer compositing was used, every process shot was done optically, all done with cameras and film, real elements and amazing attention to detail.

The making of DVD that come in the suitcase version is well worth the investment in time to watch. Some incredible things were done to preserve quality in that film, all the scenic plates were painted in negative colors so an intermediate pass was not necessary thus preserving image quality. And the effect of the aircraft lights penetrating the skylight in the hotel atrium was done with etching the emulsion away the shape in order to create the matte image. Some brilliant solutions were engineered up to create some wonderfully realistic imagery.
 
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial at my local cinema early spring 1983 when I was nine years old. I used all my savings to go back and see it again and again - 6 times over two weeks, I had to make up stories to tell my parents so that they didn´t know I was seeing the same movie night after night after night...
 
I think a combination of Disney films turned me on to filmmaking at a very young age, Clockwork Orange made me want to direct, and when I saw Seven on the big screen I knew Cinematography was the only answer.
 
Interesting, for me it's not so much movies themselves but the behind the scenes of movies. I always thought that making movies/tv you get to work with incredible people with a totally insane array of talents - and what would be better than that sort of diversity in the work place.

Probably a big reason why I am attracted to producing more than directing.
 
Fight Club had a big influence on me, helped handling life, than I found a book about David Fincher, I did read the 300 pages in 2:30 hrs and suddenly I did know what to do. I did quit university and went to a filmcamp for youngsters, i did win both competitions, came back to Berlin and started.
Then as a new filmmaker I fell in love with Raging Bull, Shining and the Good, the Bad and the ugly.
For me probably the 3 most important movies.
 
Chaplins long movies (Dictator/the Kid, Modern Times), Harold Lloyd, RAN - Kurosawa, The Wall, Clockwork Orange...

Yup I know, I am pretty messed up... -:)
 
Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Peter Sellers, George C Scott, Sterling Hayden and Slim Pickins.

[Strangelove's plan for post-nuclear war survival involves living underground with a 10:1 female-to-male ratio]
General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
 
A couple more films that inspired me to become a director:

Memento

Jerry Maguire

The New World
 
Joel Chu said:
Have you ever seen one movie that make you want to be a film maker?
Click to expand...

No one film made me want to be a director, but actually directing a 30 minute short film in college with ~70 of my classmates got me permanently hooked. Shortly after, I took one of those multi-hour computerized tests in the career office and got back two surprising suggestions for a career: film director or industrial engineer. I chose "film director" and haven't looked back.
 
Nostalghia by Andrei Tarkovsky. Stumbled out of the theater realizing that I'd seen something very profound that I couldn't for the life of me wrap my head around. Stopped being an engineering major shortly thereafter.
 
I've watched movies ever since I can remember. No one particular movie made me want to make movies, my life experience making my first film made that happen. However, some movies did have lasting effects on me.

1. The Evil Dead - The original Sam Raimi masterpiece inspired my indie spirit with the story of how it was made and eventually succeeded.

2. Clerks - It wasn't really until the Clerks X DVD with all the special documentaries that I received additional inspiration with Kevin Smith's story.

3. 300 - This film really inspired me to do everything digital, even though it had been filmed on film, but the idea of greenscreen and computer animation and everything was just mind-blowing at the time for my imagination.

4. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children - It was a tough call between this one and "Beowulf" because I started to see the real strengths of 3D animation and what could be achieved, thus bringing me to the motion capture madness I deal with today. :laugh:

I know there are classic movies that had effects on me but these were movies that I've grown up with, I would have added "Big Trouble in Little China" or "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" but I just love those movies as a whole, not necessarily anything particularly filmmaker-making about them, although I could look back now and see things that way I'm sure.
 
My mother took me to see Seven Samurai when i was 8 or 9. The experience was so vivid that years later I remembered that the film as if it were in color, everything down to the color of the bandits armor. So at 12 or 13 before sitting down to watch the film again I argued with my mom about the film being in color. Imagine my surprise when we started to watch and saw where my memory had filled in the blanks all those years. This may have been when I realized how amazing our brains are and what a unique medium film is.
 
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