Free Flow

"Some people try to squeeze ideas out as if they were constipated, sitting on a toilet seat, glancing occasionally at the toilet tissue, wishing something would come through. When artists do that, the result is very meek and very technical. They always refer back to technicalities and try to produce something out of that --- but they don't really feel good about the whole thing at all. What we are talking about here is the opposite of that. It is not exactly like developing diarrhea, but there is some kind of free flow, in which you have the confidence that you can actually produce ideas."

Page 16, "True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art" by Chögyam Trungpa

A Dual

Dual means two and in the context of this blog two opposites: good/bad, male/female, art/commerce. We classify and partition the world into these parts to create a persona. "I am ... a male filmmaker that makes art."



Nondual indicates one. A unity. Holding opposites in balance. Here we surrender all mental comparisons and judgments. There is no goal except to experience the other or whatever experience comes to us. When for a moment, we let go of the identity we have created, the fear of failing disappears. How can I fail if there is no standard or expectation to reach. Here there is freedom. "I am."

There is a cultural construction that says if I am not using my intellect, I am not progressing. The opposite is true. For example, in the moment of listening, I am not evaluating. I am fully experiencing what you think. When you finish speaking, I intuitively draw on my own experience and create a thought, speak it, and then let it go. I may disagree vehemently, but the conversation becomes about holding opposite ideas together. Letting words, ideas, and passions flow. I am one with you in the moment.


"The electric charge on a body may be positive or negative. Two positively charged bodies experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two negatively charged bodies. A positively charged body and a negatively charged body experience an attractive force."
"Electric Charge", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_charge

I am

I am 'filmmaker'.

Filmmaker is one of my identities I put on to connect with and be shaped by my 'tribe'. My tribe are filmmakers and audiences who decide whether my film fits their cultural construction of what a 'good' film is. I will then adapt my film to grow as an artist and human being, conform to the tribe's expectations, and work out my dysfunctions. An end goal of an identity is to shed all identities and live out of the true self, that is the part of me which is confident and compassionate.



Test audiences who have seen my first feature film say that the story is fragmented. The story gaps between plot points are too big. So big even "Three Months Later" cannot fill them. Traditionally story editors assist in resolving these issues. Our process didn't include a story editor. In fact, we shot the first act of the film before we had the second act written. So our process risks not meeting audiences' cultural expectations. This does not mean that we are right and they are right or that no standard exists. It just means that the film will be different than other films. Can we grow by including others in our story editing process? If we wanted. Does it make me, my films, inferior to others? From a film industry construction it could affect how I am perceived. In the end, I need to be confident in my choices and experiments. I need to be compassionate with myself and know that I am in formation.

Identities are necessary ego structures for the individual to experiment with for the purpose of working out their human nature issues.

Camera Noise

I went to an excellent demo of HDDSLR Cameras by James Swirsky at New Media Manitoba.

I walk in and feel like a stranger. I need to belong. There's Mark and David.

What is the demographic of the audience? Where do I fit in? How am I different? How does what I'm creating compare with what others are doing? I need new technology to create something of quality.

I use up huge quantities of mental energy to help me feel comfortable in my identity as filmmaker.

Intelligence is the wise use of the intellect. Even the ability to turn off the intellect when it becomes noise.