The Robert Rodriguez Ten Minute Film School (1998) (V)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot Keywords:

Film School | Filmmaking | How To | Film Making

Cast

Carlos Gallardo	...	Himself (also archive footage) (uncredited)
Robert Rodriguez	...	Himself - Narrator (uncredited)

Also Known As:

The Ten Minute Film School (USA) (closing credits title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Los Hooligans Productions

Movie Connections:

Features El mariachi (1992)

If I hadn't already been into film-making when I first watched this... I would have been before it was over

Robert Rodriguez has always impressed me. He works every job he can on his productions, and manages to make fun, cool and entertaining films for much less than they look like they cost, and while his writing may sometimes lack something, his movies are almost always worth watching. The fact that he was initially inspired by another film-making idol of mine(who also works several jobs on his films, and makes marvelous films, arguably better ones than Rodriguez does, and does so for reasonably small sums of money, as well), John Carpenter, is simply icing on the cake. Where many directors will come off as self-absorbed and focused only on their own work, Rodriguez seems like the kind of guy who'd be your good buddy, and he serves so many excellent tips on the art of making motion pictures in this documentary(which, in spite of its title, is actually longer than ten minutes... but I'm certainly not complaining, because they fly by), with "you can do this, too" in his tone. Whilst he was arguably fairly lucky on his first production, with many things working out very well for him, it is inspirational... and he passes on the torch to young hopefuls, like he himself once was, in this visual examination of how he pulled the thing off. Describing how he shoots, how him working most of the jobs creates opportunities that no regular film-crew has and how he managed to do scenes with dialog in spite of having to record all the sound separate from the actual film footage, he hands out countless tips worth gold in the hands of people as talented as he. I recommend this warmly to anyone interested in film-making, whether or not they plan to attempt to make something themselves. Just over ten minutes packed with experience from a film enthusiast who continues to bring marvelous films in under budget. 9/10