The movie that has had the greatest impact in my life, with respect to producing, is without a doubt the 2000 Special Edition VHS of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The tape itself I picked up from a bargain bin at my local Blockbuster in 2002. I’ve always had a soft spot for westerns. My Dad’s obsession with the miniseries Lonesome Dove (and all the cowboy western accoutrements around the house) gave me a natural fascination and allure. This paired with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains I enjoyed growing up in the foothills of Colorado gave me a taste of the setting and a longing for adventure. My father spent a lot of time on the road for work so I was excited to have a movie I could talk to him about when he’d get home on the weekend.
The film itself has always been among my top favorites, along with some other honorable mentions (I'm sure I'll write more to that point later). However, despite my affinity to westerns and absolutely healthy man-crush on both Paul Newman and Robert Redford, its not the actual feature presentation that served as the tipping point for me. No, the spark that would set my life onto a bender of passion into screen craft lays in director George Roy Hill's behind the scenes feature that played at the end of the credit roll.
It was the first time I had ever seen behind-the-scenes footage. I’d rewind and re-watch the tape over and over, eroding the line between the motion picture and the technical operation off camera. This all blew my effing mind and from that moment on, I would never view movies the same way. I'll have to find a link to this video to post here, but basically the video jumped right into the action. Gritty 8 and 16mm footage accompanied by rolling timecode at the bottom of the screen was such a contrast to the polished 35mm film that proceeded it.
The featurette opens with footage of a steam engine rolling into frame, a camera platform rigged off the side before cutting to the camera tracking along with Sundance on the side of a passenger car. Within seconds, the curtain between story and set operation had been ripped away. Like a bazar out of body experience, here I was watching a cinematic sequence I had only just seen play out seamlessly a maybe an hour before, from a completely new and unexpected angle. This perspective was a revelation for me, from then on out, every film or video I’d watch I imagined how and where the camera was rigged to capture the scene.
George not only spoke to the technical elements of the film, the featurette covered his rehearsal/directorial process, art department elements, special effects, locations, frame rates, music, and casting process. In addition, the video featured sound bites from the Redford and Newman who spoke to their experience of working with Hill on the project. The video itself is a completely comprehensive insight into filmmaking that left me, at twelve years old, absolutely inspired and eager to make my own films! My excitement and completely newfound obsession did not go unnoticed. That winter my Grandparents gifted me the Spielberg Movie Maker Lego set.
From that moment on, I would spend countless hours researching and practicing with my own elaborate videos. My excitement was infectious, as I began to enlist my friends in for cast and crew on both live action and stop motion productions. We converted my friends basement into a makeshift studio, complete with a green-screen, boom-mic, nook-lights, and editing station. Any excuse to film for a school project developed into being a series producer for my high school's video announcement course, which eventually turned into a desire to learn the equipment, to working on sets, to producing short films, to producing features... It all leads back to that video.
Though I've long since relinquished my VHS collection, this is a gem I will never forget. I've searched the web to find the video with no such luck. I hope I do stumble upon it again so I can share it with aspiring filmmakers, and enjoy watching again the video that changed the course of my life.
What inspired you to make movies?