Our film, Zero Sum Game, has gone through many edits, as all films do. In that process, I've had the privilege of feedback from friends and colleagues, letting me know if this part needs tightening up or that part is confusing. As I have digested this feedback and reshaped the film, I ran into the question of who exactly I'm making this film for. And in that thought lies the answer to the illusive question, is my film art?
I've studied cinema my entire life--read books on cinematography, screenwriting, acting, directing and film theory. I've watched YouTube essays on blockbusters, art house films, niches, and I've read dozens of blogs and articles. Let's face it, no one has one, single,unifying theory as to what makes art and what makes not art, typically referring to Hollywood films made to "entertain" as opposed to make one think and/or consider. But as I read, heard, and watched all the theories, it occurred to me that almost all of them take an outside/in approach. They depend on the viewer, the experiencer, to decide whether or not something is "art," as if the consumer of art has a magical power to define the undefinable.
When we study any art form, one question always enters the mind of the consumer of that art: "What was the artist thinking?" This is at the heart of my definition of film as art.
When I am putting my vision on a moving image, it is my intention that makes art. If I say, I like the scene with the cat because it's meaningful to me so I'm keeping it, that is art because I want what is meaningful to me to be all important; the point is to express myself as an artist. If I say, the audience will never understand why I have a cat in that scene so I'm going to remove it, then that is commerce. I am intentionally changing a "product" so that a buyer will want it. In this scenario, the audience is all important.
That's not to say that thinking of an audience somehow disqualifies something as art. If my intention as an artist is to make the audience feel nervous but the cat scene doesn't accomplish that goal, then it is an artistic choice to remove it because it doesn't serve my artistic intention. But if I think the cat is accomplishing my goal but I take it out regardless because I'm trying to make the audience happier in some way, that's commerce.
I have often asked myself whether or not the public will purchase Zero Sum Game, and I've gone over the film hundreds of times trying to see it from their point of view. But I also realize that I didn't start the film with the audience in mind. Every frame of the film was made from my desire to express something inside of me. So as I shape this film into its final form, I have to ask myself, is this your art, or is this your product? It's a question most directors have to face. Watch an interview with Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, or Quintin Tarantino (when he first started) and they'll illustrate for you that every writer and/or director who we considered to be great artists has faced this crossroads: Someone has told them (typically the people bankrolling the movie), "take that out and put that other part in because we want to please the audience." Then, the director has a decision to make, do as they're told in order to gain a broader audience, or protect their artistic intention.
I'm not getting on a high horse here, telling you that art is all important and that capitalism is the scourge of the Western world. Writers, directors, actors, costume designers, cinematographers... They all need to eat, put a roof over their heads, and put clothes on their children's backs. And I am constantly amazed when artists dance on the razor thin line between making art and giving up everything to the almighty buck! I guess I'm just acknowledging that I too am dancing on that edge, questioning my reasons for everything and re-evaluating my decisions a thousand times after I've made them.
Then what is my intention going forward? Do I try to shape my film into Coke Zero for the mass market, or do I stick with my bathtub kombucha which is bound to have a much smaller, but loyal following? I have made a one hour and forty-one minute piece of art. I very much would like as big of an audience to see it as possible, but I'm going to protect my intention and be an artist.
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