One of my favorite aspects of film making is using location as a character. This stuck me when I recently visited Bruges, Belgium. I had just seen “In Bruges” and, as the title suggests, the town is an integral part of the film. When walking the tiny, ancient streets, I already felt as if I had known the town. The location was necessary for the story, and was a fine combination.

Of course this is done frequently, but not as much as one would think. Woody Allen does this, most notably with “Manhattan” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” It’s something that I tried to do myself in “The Wayfarers” in the shots of a seaside fishing community - using the ocean, fishing boats, and small harbors to support the story of a family of lobster fishermen.

With new inexpensive and small equipment, I think it could be a tremendous opportunity for filmmakers to travel the globe and make stories about cities most people have never heard of, with visuals few have seen. However,  I also wonder if the increasing use of green screen and studio shooting is going to take away some of these location based films.

To me, the wide shot establishing the local flavor is as important as the close up of one of the faces of the leads…

There was a moment I had on the set of one of the “Mayfarers” shoots when I thought not of the future of filmmaking, but of the past.

To me, I love watching old footage of the early days of cinema. I love reading about Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, and the Keystone cops. In those early days there seemed to be a crazy rebel spirit - a sense of comraderance, and a circus like atmosphere of “putting on a show.” They worked fast, and had fun. It seemed to have none of the rigidness that most big budget productions have.

I would love to time travel back to those big old studio lots and see those guys putting on a show.

In many ways I think that fun and sense of joy is passed down in today’s world to the projects online. Instead of a factory made type product its a fun joy de vivre.

But I wouldn’t totally want to go back there. I don’t think I could give up using color, sound or the HD cameras we have now for what they had then.

Also, it would be mighty difficult to update this blog.