Perseverance has kept me going over the years. Things rarely happen overnight. Filmmakers should be prepared for many years of hard work. The sheer toil can be healthy and exhilarating.
Werner HerzogRead
You should look straight at a film; that's the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.
Interpretation
Films should be experienced directly rather than analyzed academically, as true understanding comes from emotional engagement.
Werner Herzog emphasizes the importance of experiencing film as a visceral medium rather than a mere academic subject. He argues that film creates a powerful connection with audiences that transcends scholarly analysis, suggesting that those who engage with film on a personal level are the true 'literates' in this art form, capable of grasping its depth and emotional impact.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a film discussion group to highlight the importance of personal experience in watching movies.
Perseverance has kept me going over the years. Things rarely happen overnight. Filmmakers should be prepared for many years of hard work. The sheer toil can be healthy and exhilarating.
Hold firm to your vision but don't be a tyrant on set.
For a moment the feeling crept over me that my work, my vision, is going to destroy me, and for a fleeting moment I let myself take a long, hard look at myself, something I would not otherwise do--out of instinct, on principle, out of self-preservation--look at myself with objective curiosity to see whether my vision has not destroyed me already. I found it comforting to note that I was still breathing.
Very often, footage that you have shot develops its own dynamic, it's own life, that is totally unexpected, and moves away from you're original intentions. And you have to acknowledge, yes, there is a child growing and developing and moving in a direction that isn't expected-accept it as it is and let it develop its own life.
Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project.
Coincidences always happen if you keep your mind open, while storyboards remain the instruments of cowards who do not trust in their own imagination and who are slaves of a matrix If you get used to planning your shots based solely on aesthetics, you are never that far from kitsch.
poetry is the breath and finer spirit of knowledge
Sometimes writing a novel is not unlike having a baby. You'd have to ask a female novelist to compare the pain.
As a viewer, the minute I start getting confused, I check out of the movie. Emotionally, I'm severed.
Man must speak, then sing, then dance. The speaking is the brain, the thinking man. The singing is the emotion. The dancing is the Dionysian ecstasy which carries away all.
I think all the great studio filmmakers are dead or no longer working. I don't put myself, my friends, and other contemporary filmmakers in their category. I just see us doing some work.
There's a steady forward march of a creative process that some of us stay with and don't give up - that should be an admirable thing - from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to Miles to Ornette and some people who are not even known today - some kids coming up - people who are out to change the world.
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