This weekend I watched a film about the life and times of
Charlie Chaplin, from his vaudeville days to his time as a director and
producer and owner of his own studio, and it got me thinking about the time in
my life that I spent as a filmmaker. As much as I hate to admit it the reason I
wanted to be a filmmaker more than likely started after I saw my second Star
Wars film and became fascinated with the art of special effects. I would like
to say that I had had more lofty inspiration than that, such as some of the
greatest films of all time, but the truth is I wanted to play with space ships
for the rest of my life. When I made it into film school I started to
understand, and fall in love with, the art of filmmaking and it was at this
time that I became acquainted with the works of Charlie Chaplin, as well as all
the other legends of film, in my film history courses. As a kid I knew about
Chaplin from my parents but only thought of him as an actor and comedian it was
not until college that I found out that he was so much more.
In discovering and watching many silent films and I really
began to understand how pictures and images could tell a compelling story
without the use of words. Something that I think today’s Hollywood should try
to rediscover. In the film I watched this weekend I was reminded that Chaplin
held out on making talking pictures even though the technology was around and
available to him for many of the years when he was producing films. One of the
reasons Chaplin did not want to start making talking films was because he did
not want to alienate his audiences around the world that did not speak English.
In some ways I have a similar philosophy about my children’s
books. The words in my books can be translated into any language, in fact both
of my current books (The Deep Black Pond and The Gray Garden) are available all
around the world, but it is the photo illustrations that I hope will inspire
children of all ages and of any nationality to want to read those words. I
still love films and filmmaking, and I use many the techniques that I have
learned when producing my illustrations, but I have gotten more satisfaction
out of creating my books than I ever felt even on the biggest film or stage
productions that I have worked on in the past. I think that could be because of
the way that I work now is similar to the way of the early days of filmmaking.
It is simpler and less complicated and a little more pure. I use just a camera,
a stage, and a few lights to make my magic and I hope that, like the films of
Charlie Chaplin, will appeal to a wider audience.
Good luck and keep writing.
Morgan
