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The thing I love about Grizzly Man is that I’ve seen it probably 10 times and still am not quite sure how I feel about it. It takes me through nearly the whole spectrum of human emotion. It is at times both intentionally and unintentionally funny, but also incredibly sad. I don’t feel particularly bad for him, as he pretty well knew what he was into, but you do feel for Amy.
I have to be in a mood for it, but I would absolutely put it among my favorite films.
I went to NYU film school and graduated in 1996. I’d agree that many of the technical things I learned there are now completely out of date, and wouldn’t help me at all in any current job. For example, I learned computer animation on an SGI Indigo 2 running Irix, with Maya animation software. It had a whopping 32MB of RAM, which was HUGE at the time. Believe it or not, actual special effects for real Hollywood films were animated on systems like this.
But the important things film school teaches you are not technical. Technical stuff you can learn just by reading a book and doing it; you don’t need a school at all. The "school" part of it comes from interacting with other people, including both the other students and teachers. Learning how to tell a story; that’s what comes from that. (Not to mention networking, a pretty important skill in the film industry.)
I can’t even tell you how valuable it was to actually be able to have a dialogue about that on a consistent basis for four+ years. You know, you see a lot of independent films now from filmmakers with no real training. It’s become easy and cheap to buy a DSLR, install Magic Lantern on it and have a rig that easily bests any 16mm film setup and approaches professional quality on a technical level.
But most of these films can’t tell a story to save their lives, because the filmmakers have not had that constant back and forth with both their peers and those more experienced than they are at telling stories on film. You really can’t know how a story is going to translate to film until you’ve done it a bunch of times and heard the opinions of others (because it’s easy to fall in love with your own footage, and lose sight of how the audience sees it). You don’t really strictly need a school for that either, but that’s true of anything – you could just go out and do it and get savaged by critics until you eventually learn, but it’s just a lot harder that way. School is a shortcut to make learning easier.
Anyway, I’m glad I went to film school, and it definitely did help my career in a whole bunch of ways, even though I didn’t end up working in film. (I worked in video games for a while, then web production, and now run my own business).
I too went to film school. However, I wish I’d studied something else – though I work in the business (television, mainly).
My experience is a bit different than yours because film school actually prepared me technically for the industry’s shift to digital technologies – this was the 1990’s, however, when digital filmmaking practices and applications were in their infancy, so the ease with which one could learn the technical aspects on their own simply wasn’t too widespread.
Once I entered the business, I quickly learned that the people that I respected, or were at the top of the creative food chain, mostly did not have a film school education. Most went to university, but studied English, history, economics, etc. Essentially, people who went to university to become educated in the traditional sense of the word. A well-rounded mind, as it were. Life experience, and genuine curiosity about interpersonal relationships and human experience make a good storyteller, in the end. I think that’s the primary reason Herzog’s films resonate.
(one small bone to pick with the interviewer – he implies that Herzog is a ‘documentarian’ only, thereby missing an opportunity to cite that Herzog also has a rich narrative filmography – especially his films in the 70s and 80s)
Overall, an excellent article. Love Herzog’s perpective about technology. This era’s genealogical barrier is bigger than ever exactly because now we coexist with people who never knew about a non-connected world.
Comments
Grizzly Man is by far one of the best comedies I’ve ever seen.
By Honsten on 07.28.16 4:01pm
The thing I love about Grizzly Man is that I’ve seen it probably 10 times and still am not quite sure how I feel about it. It takes me through nearly the whole spectrum of human emotion. It is at times both intentionally and unintentionally funny, but also incredibly sad. I don’t feel particularly bad for him, as he pretty well knew what he was into, but you do feel for Amy.
I have to be in a mood for it, but I would absolutely put it among my favorite films.
By ryan.folks on 07.31.16 11:47pm
Kind of a bold statement to call any part of a Herzog film ‘unintentionally funny’. I’m sure he would welcome your laughter.
By filmantopia on 08.01.16 7:40pm
The idea of Werner Herzog playing PokemonGo is amazing.
By Dayvie on 07.28.16 4:58pm
Can’t wait. Herzog’s documentaries are the best. Definitely the top of his class.
By Nickerbocker on 07.28.16 6:47pm
I went to NYU film school and graduated in 1996. I’d agree that many of the technical things I learned there are now completely out of date, and wouldn’t help me at all in any current job. For example, I learned computer animation on an SGI Indigo 2 running Irix, with Maya animation software. It had a whopping 32MB of RAM, which was HUGE at the time. Believe it or not, actual special effects for real Hollywood films were animated on systems like this.
But the important things film school teaches you are not technical. Technical stuff you can learn just by reading a book and doing it; you don’t need a school at all. The "school" part of it comes from interacting with other people, including both the other students and teachers. Learning how to tell a story; that’s what comes from that. (Not to mention networking, a pretty important skill in the film industry.)
I can’t even tell you how valuable it was to actually be able to have a dialogue about that on a consistent basis for four+ years. You know, you see a lot of independent films now from filmmakers with no real training. It’s become easy and cheap to buy a DSLR, install Magic Lantern on it and have a rig that easily bests any 16mm film setup and approaches professional quality on a technical level.
But most of these films can’t tell a story to save their lives, because the filmmakers have not had that constant back and forth with both their peers and those more experienced than they are at telling stories on film. You really can’t know how a story is going to translate to film until you’ve done it a bunch of times and heard the opinions of others (because it’s easy to fall in love with your own footage, and lose sight of how the audience sees it). You don’t really strictly need a school for that either, but that’s true of anything – you could just go out and do it and get savaged by critics until you eventually learn, but it’s just a lot harder that way. School is a shortcut to make learning easier.
Anyway, I’m glad I went to film school, and it definitely did help my career in a whole bunch of ways, even though I didn’t end up working in film. (I worked in video games for a while, then web production, and now run my own business).
By badasscat1 on 07.28.16 6:56pm
I too went to film school. However, I wish I’d studied something else – though I work in the business (television, mainly).
My experience is a bit different than yours because film school actually prepared me technically for the industry’s shift to digital technologies – this was the 1990’s, however, when digital filmmaking practices and applications were in their infancy, so the ease with which one could learn the technical aspects on their own simply wasn’t too widespread.
Once I entered the business, I quickly learned that the people that I respected, or were at the top of the creative food chain, mostly did not have a film school education. Most went to university, but studied English, history, economics, etc. Essentially, people who went to university to become educated in the traditional sense of the word. A well-rounded mind, as it were. Life experience, and genuine curiosity about interpersonal relationships and human experience make a good storyteller, in the end. I think that’s the primary reason Herzog’s films resonate.
(one small bone to pick with the interviewer – he implies that Herzog is a ‘documentarian’ only, thereby missing an opportunity to cite that Herzog also has a rich narrative filmography – especially his films in the 70s and 80s)
By babyshakes on 08.06.16 2:13pm
If you have not seen Where’s Waldo or Madeline narrated by a Herzog parody go to YouTube now and treat yoself
By VoxMediaUser1831837 on 07.28.16 8:21pm
Thank you. Paying it forward.
By city talk on 07.29.16 4:20pm
Do they bleed?
They are fighting?
LOL
By pacokiu on 07.28.16 11:59pm
This was a fantastic article, great insights. Thank you, Emily.
I’d like to see more articles like this from The Verge. Less politics, please.
By Pacinamac24 on 07.29.16 1:04am
Why wouldn’t you release the video interview?
By octavianro2002 on 07.29.16 4:28am
Wonderful interview. Just wanted to say thanks.
By whatthewhereis on 07.29.16 10:04am
You waste the end of the interview on Pokémon Go!?!? EMBARRASSING
By dreambreath on 07.29.16 10:09am
Arguably not being dazzled by Spielberg is actually a testament of good taste.
By Luis Mercado on 07.30.16 12:54am
Overall, an excellent article. Love Herzog’s perpective about technology. This era’s genealogical barrier is bigger than ever exactly because now we coexist with people who never knew about a non-connected world.
By Luis Mercado on 07.30.16 1:11am
I feel extremely priviledged to live on the same planet as Herzog and be his contemporary.
By YorkshireTeaLover on 07.30.16 6:25pm