Matthew Toffolo BLOG Entry January 15th/07
This is an amazing time for filmmaking. There are thousands of people all over the world making short films and expressing themselves in that medium. The equipment is cheap and now anyone can pick up a camera and shoot a film. Of course what happens now is that there are a lot of bad films because the filmmakers haven't studied the art of storytelling and fall too much in love with their films. And they forget that the reason you're making it is for an audience to see it. Well at least you hope so. If they are doing it for themselves and their friends/family, that's fine too. Just don't submit them to festivals and try to get them out to the world. Just have fun with them when you screen it at your friends house. Matthew Toffolo's Positive Feeling Towards the Industry But there hasn't been a more magical time for the art of film. In 100 years we've come a long way and changes of style and technology have evolved the medium to what it is now. A human trait is to resist change because things are fine how they are now and why rock the boat. But change will happen, no matter how much you resist it. You may slow the change, but it's coming. Let's look at all the great things that are happening because of cheap technology. I'll use the analogy of comparing the internet to filmmaking. When the net came there was the idealistic view of bringing the world together and having us all connect. Of course you can argue that the world has sort of disconnected because of the net. But look at all the great things that have happened because of the net that evolved accidentally. Those are generally the brilliant moments in the history of man. A seed is planted to grow an apple tree but a brand new fruit has formed instead. Matthew Toffolo and Technology That's what filmmaking is in the midst of evolving into. As we grow into this rapid technology and have everything we need at our disposal, it's the ones who understand how to get the best out the technology, be the mavericks of the world and have the determination do things their own way with it, who will be the winners. We've all heard how to do things the proper way (and a lot of this information about filmmaking is on this site) but it's the risk takers who will be the leaders of this generation and have that inner confidence in themselves to do things they way they want to, bring together a team of talented people in the proper roles to believe in them, and then execute their plan and be prepared to fail. But knowing if it works out, they will have left their colleagues behind and have entered a whole new world of creative fun. Matthew Toffolo and the Stienbeck Machine I remember finishing film school in New York back in 99' where my classmates and I edited our final year thesis films on the Stienbeck machines. There were about 30 of us in a large dark closet cutting and splicing our great epic shorts for hours and hours. I remember one Friday night hanging out in the NYU bars doing what boys do and then having this great idea pop into my brain and figuring out a new way to edit my film. So instead of going after my latest female conquest, I decided to head to school and execute the idea I had in my head. I remember entering the room at 3am, full of about 60 people with a green mist of smoke hovering in the air editing their films and partying it up with their friends who were excited just to be there as they went from Steambeck machine to Stienbeck machine watching everyone's films. It was a magical moment of youth. We all were the next great filmmakers in our minds who were ready to concur the world.
Matthew Toffolo and the Change of Filmmaking I stayed in New York for a bit after school and took in the city and its museums and theatre shows that I avoided my whole time there. One day I was waiting outside my just graduated school waiting for an actor friend of mine who I was going to have coffee with and noticing a group of movers taking all of the Stienbeck machines out of the school. Curious, I entered the school and noticed that all of the Stienbecks were gone and they were in the midst of putting in their new AVID machines, and separating each machine into their own rooms. I went to the head of the department who explained to me that I was the last generation. "It's a technology world now, son. No one edits on Stienbeck anymore." I was 21 years old with my whole life ahead of me but not ready to start what I knew I needed to begin. So I went back to my home town of Niagara Falls and became a Midnight Shift manager at the grocery store I grew up in. This was a business I knew very well that was also entering a gigantic shift in the way they did things as Wallmart was changing the world. I stayed there for six months, travelled through Europe by myself for a while, witnessed friend after friend and family memeber after family member get married and then headed off to Toronto on January 2nd, 2000. I knew nobody. I also knew almost nothing about the Film Industry and the way they did things because I was at Auteur school is what I like to call it now. They taught filmmakers how to shoot movies, not how to actually make a film in the real world. So I headed to what I knew best at the time (and probably still do) and worked at a grocery store. It took me six months to enter the film industry as a security guard (and later a Production Assistant) where I sat near the set and watched the camera trucks or star trailers. I was farther on the outside of filmmaking no matter how close I was to the set and the stars. I really didn't start to become a filmmaker until three years later and begin to focus on that solely. Those times I'll save for another blog, but let's just say that I had to fight a lot of demons: drugs, alcohol, womanizing, the fears of actually doing what would make me happy etc.... Hope to see you all at our upcoming Reading Series and Film Festival events. Will write will about the events on Thursday. Matthew Toffolo
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