Blog Post #38: Experiment!

I present the following not out of conceit but out of a desire to share a bit about my creative process and perhaps encourage experimentation in any practiced art and/or craft. 👨‍🎨

The list of statements below reflects the experimental approach, big or small, I deliberately took with each short film I've made, numbering 16 in total. I don't consider myself an experimental filmmaker because all but one of these films clearly fall under the category of narrative or documentary. However, the list underscores a consistent excitement about trying something different, in form or content, right out of the gate each time.

Here's the list:

1. Mass Education (2003) - What's it like to make my first movie?!

2. Does Free Speech Matter? (2005) - Let's try wall-to-wall narration and political subject matter!

3. The Procrastinator (2006) - Let's try no words at all and ordinary subject matter in one minute!

4. May Day! or: Two Americas (2006) - A documentary vignette with a constantly tracking camera!

5. Meat on a Grill (2006) - A story in terms of movements, like music!

6. 3,000 Too Many (2007) - A traditional cinéma vérité-style documentary!

7. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (2007) - An anti-commercial designed around banal routine.

8. Jesus Christ Goes to Mars (2007) - A darkly satirical thesis film built over the remains of a failed attempt at one!

9. March on the Pentagon (2007) - Documenting an anti-war march at the seat of US power!

10. Rough Cut (2007) - No dialogue or even identifiable characters!

11. The Nap (2008) - A movie with non-actor parents as leads!

12. Occupy Miami! (2011) - A fact-driven documentary!

13. Semester of Madness (2012) - A semiautobiographical story driven by speedy narration!

14. Proteus (2013) - A silent film with virtually no moving camera and animal talent!

15. Leo's Love Letter (2014) - Let's just build up to a spectacular payload at the end!

16. The Promotion (2016) - How about a production with an on-set sound mixer for once?!

With all that said, keep having fun making things and occasionally tilling the soil! 🌱