In the Sea of Mediocrity

Technology has changed the way we make art. Anyone, anywhere can now make a short film, a feature, a documentary or series. Technology, particularly the internet, has democratised the means of distribution. You can put a short film on YouTube or Vimeo and anyone in the world can watch it. This must be celebrated, it is easier than ever to express yourself, and make an impact, but it comes with a price.

Since anyone can now make a movie and post it on the internet, anyone can be discovered.

Making films is a highly skilled business. Producers, writers, directors, camera technicians, lighting and sound operators, set and costume, make up and continuity – not to mention actors, all require levels of skill, knowledge and experience that contributes to top class product.

When the people making films do not have this level of skill, knowledge and experience, inevitably, often the quality of the end product decreases. Owning a camera doesn’t make you a Director of Photography, like having a pad and paper doesn’t make you a screenwriter. It’s not that I don’t believe you should be given the chance, I want anyone to have the chance to express themselves and build a career.  It’s just that when the skill, experience and knowledge isn’t there, but the technology is, then the quality of material being uploaded tends to be quite low.

We should applaud the attempt, but we do not need to applaud the lack of quality. When there is quantity but a dearth of quality, we are soon swimming in a sea of mediocrity.

If we want to be noticed, we need to be exceptional. As Seth Godin suggests, in the field of regular cows, we need to be the purple one.

The trouble is that the uninitiated, the inexperienced, they do not necessarily know good quality. And projects often move, as Werner Hertzog once said, from aesthetics to athletics, meaning we just want to get them finished, quality suffers again.

Add to this the universal support of friends and family, and we’re sliding down the jetty into this sea of mediocrity.

I recently saw that someone I know had produced a short film. They posted it up on Facebook for everyone to comment upon. There were over 60 positive, supportive comments from their friends and family. Seeing this wave of support, who couldn’t be seduced into believing they had laid a golden egg? The trouble is that the acting, the writing, the directing, were all substandard.  I liked the concept, but the actualisation was tremendously poor. Another turd floating in the sea of mediocrity, with all their friends and family cheering it as it floats by.

Now some might argue that the Brontes wrote hundreds of shitty short stories before they became expert novelists and that’s true. But they did not force these low quality scribbles upon the world. They waited until their work had quality before trying to get it published.

If you want want to make films, develop a craft, and you will stand out. Just because you can make a film, doesn’t mean that you should make a film. But if you are going to make a film, make it stand out, make it of quality, make it your best, make it rise above the rest.