BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) HIP INDIE MUSIC
Is your band bare footed or bearded men in skinny jeans? You then have a chance at being featured in an indie movie. It’s not quite emo… not quite rock… it’s just that blandness in the middle. Of course there has to be witty lyrics and a cutesy melody that makes house wives feel hip. If you’ve seen it on MTV then you’ll probably not see it in these movies. It’s college radio all the way. Calmer and blander the better!
(THREE) DRAWN LOOKING FONTS
I want to blame “Juno” for this one, but I don’t think it begins there. I’m being anal about this, but as a designer AND filmmaker this stuff matters to me. It seems like in the 90’s the goal was to make any text on camera look like it was from an old type writer. Now it seems the current trend is block letters that looks like it was drawn by a sixth grade girl in the margin of a paper bag book cover. I’m not ruling the look out at all, but let’s leave it as an artistic option rather than “this is what indie films do now”.
(TWO) DESERTS AND CONVERTIBLES
When you don’t have a budget a good location can go a long way. I think this, and the fact they’re in the same general area as LA, is a main reason why a lot of indies are set in the desert. The wide desert skyline is always an impressive view. It’s just becoming redundant. How many convertible in the desert movies do we need? How many narratives can they fit into the same location? I can think of like ten movies that used the convertible in the desert shtick that I adore and love, but let’s move on. It’s 2011. Let’s show the kids some grass.
(ONE) SHAKY CAM
If a movie has ANYONE that was cast in X-Men or a blockbuster then it’s NOT a real “indie”. If the camera goes out of focus or is shaky then it’s gritty and indie. I’ve seen some great movies that fall into this “fake indie” category. I’m not trying to hate on them, but there should be a different term for these movies. Maybe “art house” would be okay, but to call these movies “independent” because the camera shakes and the budget is ONLY eight digits is ridiculous. The days of Kevin Smith, Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Wes Anderson being discovered are over. Now, we’re forced to pretend George Clooney is an artist. The days of a true independent are fading. Sundance used to feature “the little guys”, now it’s the rich and famous making a movie for under ten million and “slumming it”. Whatever.
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