20 Kasım 2009 Cuma

Thank you Nigel Walters BSC


"An early morning hotel breakfast is not the usual time to encounter lively film students. The first to appear with the typical live - in look was Barbaros Gokdemir, the lone Turkish participant, who informed me that he had found the most useful aspect in the previous three days, had been the lectures. Lectures are harder to come by in developing countries such as Turkey. On the bus journey the magnificent Korda Studios the various advantages of this style of "hands on" Master Classes with lectures and analysis carefully choreographed were to be revealed to me by various scholars and participants."
Thank you Nigel Walters for mentioning about me in your article about the Budapest Cinematography Masterclass 2009. It has been quite a long time since the masterclass is over but I just found out about this article and I was very happy. The Masterclass provided me with an invaluable experience of the craft of cinematography, filmmaking, and collaboration. I was able to work with film students from different 16 nationality and a very strong mixture of film schools. To meet and work with film students from UCLA, Nfts, Taik, Lodz, Victorian College of Art, Westminster, FTII and many others put me on the right track in the sense of knowledge and experience and gave me a chance to enhance my skills on cinematography. I believe what I recieved from the masterclass is transferable and marketable in the field and it will help me reach my goals as a filmmaker.
Without the masterclass, I don't know if I would have the experience to work with Panavision cameras under the supervision of a great tutor Benjamin Bergery. Working on Korda Studios and understanding how a sound stage really works and how major productions are being done is very crucial. Having lectures and conversations with great cinematographers like Vilmos Zsigmond and Elemer Ragalyi and great tutors like Nik Powell, and having a chance to meet and hear his experiences on film industry from Anthony Dod Mantle was all a part of the masterclass.
I miss you Budapest and I am very happy to be a part of the masterclass.

10 Kasım 2009 Salı

Filmmaking Has No Boundaries

"Telling stories, communicating through images is what this profession is about. Today the film industry is a global sector and filmmaking has no boundaries. A project may launch in France, the pre- production part may be done in Italy, the production may be handled in Middle East and post - production in England. Within the international working environment I think it is crucial for any young filmmaker to have advanced social skills. I believe studying at the University of **** will provide with an invaluable social experience: to work, collaborate and create with people from different backgrounds who share the same passion for films and filmmaking."

That's what I wrote in my letter of intent last year for my application for graduate degrees. And finally, I am experiencing what I said. A friend of mine from Turkey is about to finish his graduate degree in England, Westminster Film School and he just completed the principal photography of his thesis project in London. He is still there fighting to get a decent post - production company to get the timings and gradings of his picture and I am sitting in my room at Sabanci University, editing his thesis project. It is incredible how technology evolved and became what it became today. It is just extraordinary. I am just editing a short film that was shot by a Turkish director with British actors and actresses and with a British team. I mean of course, we knew that from big productions of Hollywood that we were led to a work flow without the boundaries of space and time but I never imagined that I could be a part of a film project just sitting in my room. If I am lucky and if I am good at what I am doing (first of all you have to know what you are doing, right!) in the future, I may even edit the new film of Tom Cruise that was just shot in L.A. which has to go all over the World within the virtual space to complete the post - production. The future is full of opportunities and it is a god damn fair play!

9 Kasım 2009 Pazartesi

Missing the Reality

Last Friday, I found out that two close friends of mine are getting engaged. I was very surprised by that and of course very happy. The reason why I was very surprised by that is because it is not something that occurs very often in my life. Or because I am just getting older and older (though I am only 24), that kind of event will occur more often that usual because all my friends and I are getting in a period where we can officially work, have a career, get married and have kids.
Actually, that wasn't the only factor that I was affected by this event. That we are getting adults. But I started questioning myself. What am I doing for god's sake. Sometimes you lose yourself in trying to make long terms plans for your life and for your career and you lose the reality and what is happening around you. You forget to be happy. You forget that you can actually love someone, meet someone or even have a conversation with someone. As an individual who always had issues on having intimate relationships with the opposite sex, it gave me a chance to question myself. And I am happy for that.
When I think about my past relationships, I can't stop thinking about the notion space and time. Thought I was always close to my girlfriends in case of in the same city or even sometimes in the same house, the idea of making progress in life, achieving something always destroyed my relationships. And I wasn't always the guilty one. The objectives and our passions in our lives made us so different that our relationship became a conflict for them and it was something that we had to abandon. It always led us to loneliness.
Now, I am scared of having a relationship. One reason for that is because I cannot really trust anybody. You say "Relationship? What for?" You know that it is going to end with a failure again. Does it worth it? I don't know.

8 Kasım 2009 Pazar

How Does One Take an Action as a Filmmaker?

I don't know about you but aren't you sick of hearing the same advices from the filmmakers you admire so much? Why is that? Are there some kinds of things that they have to say in interviews of stuff like that in order to promote a certain product? Or may be we are caring to much about what they say and we ideolize them and this is something that we shouldn't be doing!
I was reading another article or interview by Roger Deakins and I am sick of hearing the same phrases.
Here one for exemple:
"A lot of people say it's nicely photographed, and I think it is," he says. "And I think it's the simplicity that makes it well photographed. ... It's not like these are necessarily fantastic images; it's really about the content. It's not about making great images."
Or:
"When you move the camera, or you do a shot like the crane down [in Shawshank] with them standing on the edge of the roof, then it's got to mean something," he says. "You've got to know why you're doing it; it's got to be for a reason within the story, and to further the story."
In a way, I am obsessed about reading interviews. But doesn't seem to be improving anything in me. Or may be I am wrong but I just can't make it anything out of it to really understand their choices and of course when I am in action (producing something) doesn't really make it easier for my choices and my dilemmas. For me they are saying to much and at the same time, they are saying anything. It really doesn't answer any of my needing as a person who wants to do that job. I guess you just have to find a way to answer all these questions and that is something that has to come from within. And that's really the point when you really understand the craft and this profession and actually all the answers are already in yourself. You just have to look for it. In that way, I am trying to be as much optimistic as I can.
"There's nothing worse than an ostentatious shot," Deakins argues. "Or some lighting that draws attention to itself, and you might go, 'Oh, wow, that's spectacular.' Or that spectacular shot, a big crane move, or something. But it's not necessarily right for the film — you jump out, you think about the surface, and you don't stay in there with the characters and the story."