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by Aisling O Connell I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal
It's rules to this shit, I wrote me a manual A step-by-step booklet for you to get Your game on track, not your wig pushed back - The Notorious B.I.G This piece of writing will use and abuse the lyrics of ‘Ten Crack Commandments’ by the Notorious B.I.G, in an adaptation geared towards selling the sweet, sweet, slip into a full-blown addiction to the creative process. This process, a deeply personal practice, should be something every creative individual pays very close attention to. The privilege and outrageous luxury of attending third level education, is that this observance is often a requirement, and you sometimes get rewarded for it. This is my opinion only, and I hope it does not read as prescriptive. We all know how dangerous it is to mess around with other people’s prescriptions! (Still though... MR PHARMACIST!!)[1] I have chosen ‘Ten Crack Commandments’ as an example of what it is, I think we should be chasing when it comes to what influences, excites and informs the/our work. Chase the attitude that excites you. Don’t limit yourself to your own discipline. Let your influences and references be as varied and sprawling as they want to be. Find the ethos you believe in. Punk, hip-hop, 70’s protest images, Debenhams sit ins, Joe Strummer, Ben 10 on repeat on your kids iPad, rise of fascism, the constant drone of lockdown, Francis Bacon, a lone man protesting outside CUH, teenagers wailing in the night, Irish wakes, Brendan Behan, neighbours playing classic hits through the walls, drunk people playing hurling in your driveway, grime, Vivienne Westwood circa 70’s in her SEX shop, Vivienne Westwood TODAY, Emily Dickinson, originator of outsider ethos, speedcore Techno-outsider ethos, getting lost, Rebecca Solnit, Joseph Beuys gilted gold, True Crime magazines, shotgun weddings, 90’s Playboy covers, trashy is classy, Maya Derren, Jeff Keen, opiate queens, a long, slow scrape of a hand through the earth. If you are a filmmaker, don’t always look toward film to inform your work. Get the richness and the layers from everything else that surrounds you. Embrace the chaos and approach it systematically. Rule Number Uno, never let no one know How much dough you hold cause you know The cheddar breed jealousy 'specially If that man fucked up, get yo' ass stuck up In terms of budget, just don’t have one. Just have no money, no resources, and no equipment. Any limitations, circumstantial or personal, will perfectly be putting out the fire with gasoline.[2] Necessity is the mother!! And your films will be the beautiful babies! You will recognise ‘the one’ when you begin to acquire equipment. You will develop real, legitimate connections to these devices, especially if you’re working from a low budget. Think about and question these relationships often. These devices are an extension of you and your thought process. Number 2, never let 'em know your next move Don't you know Bad Boys move in silence and violence? Your creative arena, I believe, is the only place you don’t have to let anybody know your next move. It is a place of total freedom. The decisions you make, in terms of composition, colours, subject matter are your choices and yours alone. In the ‘real’ world, we all have so many responsibilities and people to consider. In this creative space, you decide what gets in and out. You decide what lives there. You decide who you want to talk to. And nobody else really cares what you are up to in there, which is liberating. Moving in silence and violence lends itself well to the discipline of filmmaking. Don’t explain everything, and a violent approach to cutting, editing, and shooting has always been my personal favourite. Number 3, never trust no-bo-dy Your moms'll set that ass up, properly gassed up Hoodied and masked up, shit, for that fast buck She be laying in the bushes to light that ass up To talk about trusting anyone or anything in these bizarre times would take too long. Trust your instinct and that is all. Number 4, I know you heard this before Never get high on your own supply I strongly oppose to this, in this context. Get so high on your own supply. Use that addict spirit to create! Channel it into creating, chase the adrenalin rush that comes from it. In my mind, nurturing a creative practice, presents itself like addiction. There is insane highs and severe lows. You think you have it under control, then control is dead. You think it’s gone, then it’s back, devouring everything in sight. Pay attention to this process, let it happen. Don’t let any amount of sitting in beige and brown walled, plastic chaired, damp carpeted rooms kill this addiction. This is the addiction that will triumph over all others. The others will starve and erase you. This is the addiction that feeds you, nourishes you, reaffirms your identity, and you just get a huge buzz off it, let’s be honest. Number 5, never sell no crack where you rest at I don't care if they want a ounce, tell 'em bounce! Let’s say crack in this instance is your work, where you rest at, is your story. Visit your own stories, things you know. It is up to you if you want to embellish these stories or keep them hidden away. I believe an individual’s creative practice is a process in which you are getting closer to who you are and what you believe in. In times of great uncertainty, housing, unemployment and now pandemics, your creative practice can be the one place of certainty you can return to. It’s the only solid thing, and its not solid at all. It’s slippery and unpredictable and delicious compared to all these other unstable elements that make up daily life. When we talk about these unstable times we are living in, there is often a pressure that we should be making art about it. Art as activism, a site for politics and protest. I do believe that art, film, and literature should reflect on and be critical of what’s going on around us. However, I would be very cautious about trying too hard to say something of great political importance. Go back to your own stories. Nobody really has an easy ride of it. In this way, the personal becomes political, and then you know what you want to say, and why. Number 6, that goddamn credit? Dead it You think a crackhead paying you back, shit forget it! I will take from this, the idea that you will start to recognise other ‘crackheads’, or slaves to the creative process. Gravitate towards them. This will make it easier to begin to identify yourself as an artist, a filmmaker, a writer. This is a hard step to take coming out of your undergraduate course. It always felt embarrassing to me to think of myself as an artist and a filmmaker. Now I am clearly past caring. Lol. 7, this rule is so underrated Keep your family and business completely separated This is a luxury most of us can’t afford. I think I’ve always been trying to balance being a parent with trying to establish a creative practice. Both things started at the same time, and this has been my main experience of adult life so far. My studio must be my kitchen. Acknowledge your circumstances, never be defined by them. Or just ignore them totally! Listen to BbyMutha if you want some guidance about being creative while parenting. Punk ethos!!! Also, Patti Smith writes beautifully about it in the even more beautiful book, ‘Antonin Artaud, Works On Paper’ (MOMA, NY). Or just read Artaud all day for a few years. As we’ve heard one million times, the pandemic has meant we are all working from home. This is important. You must know you can survive without the support of an institution, or the company of friends, or a shared studio space. You must know you will continue to create, without the deadlines of college, or the chance of a group exhibition. Taking time out of education to establish your own routine, your own process, strengthens your resolve to carry on even if there is a real possibility nobody might ever see your work. And then, you can go back to the warm safe space of the institution and focus on your studies! Number 8, never keep no weight on you! Them cats that squeeze your guns can hold jums too So, to paraphrase Biggie, don’t get caught. A mistake I have made many times, is proclaiming I have a film nearly made, or an essay nearly finished, and then realising I don’t really have anything done at all. Say nothing!! Number 9 shoulda been Number 1 to me, If you ain't gettin' bagged stay the fuck from police In terms of potential creative inspiration, engagement with any kind of state services is usually very beneficial. Generally, anger, frustration and desperation are hugely important components to making great art. Don’t totally rule out getting arrested. Number 10, a strong word called consignment Strictly for live men, not for freshmen If you ain't got the clientele, say "hell no!" 'Cause they gon' want they money rain sleet hail snow The consignment, the crack – your work, should always be coming in, even if you don’t have the clientele. Don’t worry about who will consume it. Just keep making, no matter what. Don’t be afraid of it. Imagine somebody’s dad shouting and spitting from the side-lines of an under 12’s GAA match, roaring, his face red and contorted from the pull of his hands in his thinning hair, and he is pointing at his child, DON’T BE AFRAID OF IT!! DON’T BE A AFRAID OF IT!! This is your guardian angel, you are his child, and if you are lucky, he will sit on your shoulder and scream this in your ear every time you stare at a blank screen, a white canvas, or stand behind, or in front of a camera. [1] Mark E Smith, The Fall, Mr Pharmacist [2] David Bowie, Cat People (Putting Out Fire) https://aislingoconnell.com/
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UCC Film WritersEditorials and reviews by students at University College Cork. Archives
April 2024
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