Filmmaker (1968)

Director:

George Lucas

Writer:

George Lucas (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot Keywords:

Behind The Scenes | Director | Narration | Film Making | Independent Film

Cast

Francis Ford Coppola

Also Known As:

Filmmaker: A Diary by George Lucas

Runtime:

USA:32 min (revised) | USA:64 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Lucasfilm

Movie Connections:

Referenced in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to George Lucas (2005) (TV)

Insightful look at the new wave of filmmaking in the late 60s.

An early film from director George Lucas that chronicles the making of Francis Ford Coppola's ‘The Rain People', Lucas goes on the road with the crew and documents the processes and troubles involved in the making of the film. Starting off with shots of the cast in rehearsals with Francis, then heading off through the countryside as the cast and crew travel to the different locations. Lucas focuses his film on Francis and mostly just chronicles the process of daily filming, using narration from the different crew to explain the problems they had making a low budget film. One of the most interesting points of the film is its depiction of the new wave of filmmaking, as the equipment was now lightweight it was easy to break away from the studio backlots and go out on the road. This gave directors a new sense of freedom which Lucas's film captures perfectly. The cast and crew travel around in cars and had problems when parts of their convoy would get lost. Lucas manages to capture the spontaneity of low budget filming and shows Francis rewriting the script to include a local parade that's happening in town. Francis is show arguing on the phone with the Directors Guild about their insistence that he take along an extra assistant director, which he vocally disagrees with. Afterwards he claims that the current system will be brought down by its own weight. One of the highlights of the film is seeing Francis without his beard, Lucas explains in his narration that everyone had to get their hair cut to look presentable on the road so they would be aloud to shoot in the towns they came to. Francis looks unrecognisable without his beard. It's an informal film and shows that Lucas was in tight with Francis as he's allowed access to everything, while his direction is laid back but also reveals a lot about the making of this underrated film.