As a person watching Jason Peters create and express is a joy. In a previous interview he spoke about his work as a writer, editor and publisher. With this interview we speak to him about his entry into film.
ALEX: Of all the ways to write or bring a creation to the public, what is it about film-making that stirs your inner fire as a creator?
JASON PETERS: I believe it has to do with the fact that film-making is so all-encompassing; in terms of art forms, it definitely engages the most senses at once. You're essentially taking the individual arts of photography, music, acting/performing, and writing, and combining them into a singular work, so the degree of difficulty is insane (and don't forget to throw directing, producing, and editing on that pile for good measure). There's so many moving parts and specific ingredients to work with that no two films could ever be the same, which I suppose is something of a quandary given that there's so many films out there that simply regurgitate what someone else did before.
I'm also incredibly attracted to the marriage of sound and visuals, and film-making provides the most opportunities to explore that concept. Whether you're looking at how to incorporate the proper background ambience into your exterior dialogue scenes, or you're out-and-out making a music video, there's so many different ways to stimulate the different senses in your viewer, and I enjoy experimenting with that.
ALEX: I once heard a famous filmmaker say that film is the highest form of creative expression because it utilizes all of the various parts of creative work. It uses sound (music and dialogue), image (scenes, costumes, cinematographic presentation), sequential storytelling (comic books), and a certain rhythm in the telling. (Like poetry) Is this far too deconstructed to be accurate?
JASON PETERS: I should have read the questions ahead of time, lol. See previous response.
ALEX: In a dream project, no budget, do it, whatever the cost with whoever acting you wish. Can you then make a perfect film? Does a perfect film or short film presentation exist? Or, beyond the idea of if it can be achieved, isn't the fact that certain things can't be presented in forms of storytelling prevents a full on real experience? I point to the Mel Gibson The Passion of the Christ. It was meant to show the viewer how great the sacrifice was, attempted to present a reality but outside of giving the audience mallets or ice picks to self harm, isn't it impossible, regardless of budget and talent, to create a physical feeling or to replicate a human emotion? Why or why not?
JASON PETERS: The truth is, films are so subjective in how they are received that the notion of the "perfect" film is really difficult to identify. What makes a film "perfect"? Is it that it is simply devoid of technical error? Because if so, I would argue that a film could very easily be technically sound but emotionally dull, which is the antithesis of where I would want a film to err, so such a film would
not be perfect in my eyes.
A good example of this is the work of Stanley Kubrick, specifically 2001: A Space Odyssey. Is it a boring, pretentious art film that is inconsiderate of the viewers time or is it a cerebral, gorgeous marriage of sound and visuals that allows the audience to sit in this atmosphere and truly experience the world Kubrick created? 20 year old Jason would argue the former while 37 year old Jason would argue the latter. I think both can be true relative to your experience. I'm fairly certain my 16 year old daughter would find 2001 painful to sit through, so as far as she may hypothetically be concerned, it's far from a perfect film, regardless of how I may disagree with that assessment.
Personally, I'm someone that likes a little dirt and jank in my A&E, from dirty old school blues guitar to abrasive EDM sounds to grainy 70's film stock to improvised performances. The only place that doesn't apply is dialogue, which needs to be clearly understood across the board.
And the perfect film definitely has little to do with budget. Wonderful films have been made for nothing and absolute shit films have had hundreds of millions of dollars thrown at them. At the end of the day, I think the biggest determination of success is how passionately the film was made by its creators, and I believe the same can be said for many concepts outside of film.
ALEX: What specific talents must a creative talent have to make great films? What trait is common to the best filmmakers of all time?
JASON PETERS: Interestingly, great directors tend to be left-brained dominant as opposed to right-brain, which is obviously different from most of the individual artists that contribute to a film in terms of photography, performance, sound, etc. Because what makes a great director is the ability to bring all of these disparate elements and creators and extract their brilliance in concert with a grand, coordinated vision. So put simply, I think the same quality that makes someone a great coach in sports or life is what makes a great director; the ability to understand what someone else is doing and how to get them to a higher plane of execution in their field, as well as the ability to tailor your approach to the unique personalities of individual creators. Effective management never has a "one size fits all" approach, especially when you're dealing with the batshit-crazy criminal cowboys and cowgirls that comprise those of us in the film-making community.
ALEX: Could you argue that perhaps all forms of art are equal, even if one can't paint they might express in words, or some such compromise? For example “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” Leonardo da Vinci Is creativity a formless beast that takes on the need of you (whoever is being referred to) to express through it talent?
JASON PETERS: Yes and no. I think that there's an easy trap to fall into where, by virtue of wanting to be accepting of all different forms, we equate different formats as equal. But to use an example, a micro-fiction piece is never going to be up to the standard of work required to create a screenplay, and a screenplay will never carry the disciplinary requirements of finishing a novel. I've written all three, so I know what I'm talking about here.
Screenplays feel like a cake-walk after taking on the challenge of successfully seeing a novel through to completion. And you get waaaaaaaay more leeway with regards to how detailed you have to be in painting your pictures on the page, as you know directors and actors will be there to help bring your words to life. A book is just you, the page, and the reader. That can be a heavy load to carry.
But there is a time and place for any and all art forms, and I do respect that aspect of different formats.
ALEX: I asked some famous people why some are great at what they do creatively. Many had no answer, but if possible, if we all have the same number of piano keys, and for debate purposes we are all equally skilled playing, if that is true, why did Mozart create in his mind, and others toiled, even with equal mechanical skills?
JASON PETERS: I think the x-factor is vision. Not everybody has the ability to see something in their head before it's put down in actuality. For the film that I am currently making, Toast, I was able to cut together the film in my head before we ever stepped foot on set, and from there it becomes seeing how close we can get to that original vision. It's never perfect or exact, but that's the great aspect of film; you can still have a fantastic movie even if it's not one hundred percent the way you envisioned, which it never could be anyway.
There's also a unique aspect of humanity where often, the people thatare best at creating something are not the best at operating it. Take a motor vehicle; the best race car drivers are not the best at creating the vehicle they're operating, and the engineers and designers that create the vehicle are never professional drivers... Great players rarely make great coaches and vice-versa, though of course there are exceptions. Can't really say why, only that the concept has demonstrated itself to be true time and time again.
Alex: Find Jason at
Publisher: Aberrant Literature
Editor in Chief: Jason Peters
Twitter: Jason
Twitter: Aberrant
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