"There's something beautiful .... weirdly Tarkoveskian about those transformers fighting in those Birchwoods" that has been stuck in my head ever since i saw this video ...i just love the idea that you can experience something so seemingly surface level and get these profound or ethereal observations out of it ...very inspiring
That's called being a pretentious twat. You know... like Wes Bentley's character in American Beauty filming garbage bags in the wind and "seeing beauty" IN LITERAL POLLUTION - because he is a dumb high-school kid who is also the "Cool Guy" cause he smokes and deals pot, young girls love him, their fathers want to be him... it is really hard to tell a director insert sometimes. But not there! Sam Mendes wears his pretentiousness and daddy issues on his sleeve.
"A guy who builds nice chairs doesn't owe money to everyone who has built a chair.". This line from The Social Network comes to mind whenever someone criticizes a film for taking an element from another film. I heard this a lot about Inception stealing from Paprika. They are 2 different films from different countries and industries that inspired eachother. I recently had this experience myself of writing a screenplay and once I finished and watched some of my favorite films and realized I took so many of the elements from them but I wasn't consciously doing it when I was writing it. It was a mix of many. All artforms are like Jackson Pollock's painting. Each paint splatters is original and unique layered on top of one another to form a whole artwork, one cannot be complete without the other and it's something that is never finished. This is by far your best video. Love it! I'm glad you're continuing to make these. Thank you.
Yes! Many are quick to point out references or homages in films and declare them to be cheap imitations of the original, but there’s really more nuance to these discussions. We were really hoping to get that point across with this video. Thanks so much for your comment, as always!
Everything is a remix. As an individual, one can't help but be inspired by others. And one also can't help but draw from those influences. That's just life.
This is very timely. Just yesterday I saw an 'Avatar stole from Dances With Wolves' comment for the umpteenth time and I had to tell them that even Dances With Wolves wasn't original. People, especially younger movie goers without an extensive film knowledge of the past, ridicule James Cameron so much, but our colonial mistakes from the past are an important enough message to retell again and again, whether in literal interpretations (Dances With Wolves, Little Big Man, Lawrence of Arabia) or in allegory like sci-fi.
Thanks for the comment! Originality tends to be what’s most focused on, but this can undercut the importance of a unique perspective. There are many films that follow similar plot lines, but a filmmaker who finds a unique way to express conventional ideas is - in their own way - making something entirely original.
my problem with avatar is more that it it doesnt only use one of the most tired story structures there is, but that it also fails to provide any sort of new or interesting characters, story or themes. It’s entire purpose is CGI and its genuinely one of the most uninspired films ever made (same goes for the sequel, even more so to be honest)
You're my new favorite cinema video essayist. This essay is SO GREAT. Your analysis, choice of references and depth of field reflects a tremendous intellect. Excited to find this channel.
Been binging this whole channel and can confirm it is in the top tier of film analysis videos on TH-cam. I applaud anyone and/or everyone who runs this channel. Wow, please keep going, the success will pile on soon enough!
You’ve successfully made the argument against Welles’ statement - there is so much to be learned from the possibility of cinema by movies (or rather anything visual) made before you. I think that, usually when starting out, students of film will often seek out all these shot decks from previous movies and every piece of their film is an homage. But I also think that can be one of the best ways to learn (because you’ll eventually understand why it works).
More than anything, i really admire the knowledge of cinema that the creator has… at times, we see a lot of movies and we get invested in it so much that we dont actually draw the parallels between scene unless its very direct… but kudos to you, for making such a highly intellectual video… 👏🏻
This video was so well done and informative. Thank you for sharing it. It's the first video I have seen from your channel, and it prompted me to subscribe.
My take on the Orson Wells quote is don't be lazy! sure be inspired, maybe make some sort of nod to an influence but don't let it lead you. Everything is stolen from somewhere else or at least is influenced, Just use that influence creatively to inform your own creative narrative. Don't blatantly use it as an 'homage' just because you can, unless it's for outright parody.
You misunderstood the point Welles was making with homage. The first generation of filmmakers drew almost all of their inspiration from outside the world of film - and created new cinematic language as a functional way to translate those inspirations to film. Welles himself famously came from theatre and radio, and directed "Citizen Kane" with what he described as complete ignorance of filmmaking. But beginning around the 1960s, a new generation of filmmakers were emerging that had been raised on film and took a lot of their inspiration from it. Some of their work celebrated cinematic language itself, rather than using it as a tool to convey something with it. Sort of like doing an impression of Einstein to evoke the emotional response to intelligence, rather than saying something intelligent. This is fine in small doses, and in the early years this fresh perspective of the film school generation gave rise to a lot of new and exciting filmmaking - but by the time Welles gave that speech, homage had become an ouroboros. Film, as a cultural institution, had started down the path self-awareness and self-referentialism - which is the deathknell of an artform. In-jokes and meta references may be fun for people who're already fully-immersed in a subculture, but to everyone else they're tedious and annoying. That's not to say filmmakers shouldn't draw inspiration from cinema - nor that people shouldn't do impressions. When done properly, both can elevate and entertain in a unique and interesting way. But it takes very little to overdo it, and when overdone it quickly becomes cringeworthy. That's why Welles made such a big point in his speech for the students to seek adventures outside of the filmmaking bubble. The idea being art comes from the struggle to translate a unique experience into the medium of film - and in order to do that, you need have those experiences first.
I understood it the same way. Orson Welles might have been influenced by Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation" which dives into the philosophical theory of a "Hyperreality" - when directors take all their knowledge from movies and "simulate" them by creating a movie on their own then nothing "real" is left, just a symbol of a symbol. (That's at least how I understand it)
Nail on the head. I feel like people used to write movies based on things they have experienced. Now days people write movies based on movies they've seen
A great perspective for sure ! Good to see even the masters chime in on the matter. Even this channel has taken license from the great YT series “Every Frame A Painting” by Tony Zhou !
I wish this video were clearer about what is being addressed. Using the same technique and adopting a particular style, then calling it an ‘ohmage,’ is akin to saying, ‘I created my own language, but it’s mostly English.’ The true originality lies in the story itself.
if you're looking for some academic reading about this check out the anxiety of influence by harold bloom. its specifically about poetry but he presents a whole approach to how true artists seek to have independence while running from their influences
The great Quentin Tarantino himself admitted that he steals from everyone. He even once said if you’re not stealing from the greats you’re doing it wrong.
Tarantino shouldn't be taken as an example of typical filmmakers. He's a collagist, like the score composer John Williams. They both have an encyclopedic knowledge of what others have done and use others' previous work literally like vocabulary, plugging in what they need where they need it. That's a particular talent few have, which is why their imitators are so often so bad.
There are experiences most people will never encounter without artists borrowing from the past or more obscure sources, like Wes Anderson's inspiration from Peter Greenaway (I'm assuming).
Is there a list of films presented here? While I have watched many shown here I feel I have missed out on and not seen So many. Like there's a wonderful masterclass I can jump into for the remainder of the summer.
Idk if I agree with your interpretation of Welles, Homage as he defines it is much more about cueing in an audience through reference and not as taking inspiration. I think another issue he raises in that talk (it’s been years but I remember it fairly clearly) is the fact that these filmmakers only refer to film and not other art, which handicaps them
It is a reality that many movies disappear from common knowledge over time. Humanity is about carrying on the torch. How will future generations know about Dancing with the Wolves and the principles it carries without watching Avatar? Isn't that the purpose of storytellers?
Hi. I'm curious to know who you are. I watched a couple of your videos and you seem very knowledgeable. Do you work in the film industry? If so, in what capacity?
You seem to be conflating references (the password in The Bear) with homages (running across the football field in Sex Education) with fully acknowledged remakes and adaptations (Anyone But You), and unintentional influence with deliberate rip-offs. These are all different things. A nod in the dialogue to a movie you liked isn't the same as lifting a shot, which isn't the same as lifting the entire plot. Filmmakers have been retelling Shakespeare in different ways since the first films were made. That's because everybody is familiar with the name "Shakespeare". Kurosawa adapted three of his plays, including setting Hamlet in 1960 corporate Japan. He adapted American noir potboilers into samurai films, too. His storytelling style is still extremely influential, but that doesn't mean those who are influenced by Kurosawa are ripping him off. Mostly, they're telling their own stories in their own ways and he's added to their storytelling vocabulary. His samurai films, on the other hand, were frequently ripped off by Western filmmakers - Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, Star Wars - for the same reason studios greenlight remakes and reboots now: In Hollywood, nothing succeeds like what has already succeeded. The issue isn't that there are no original storytellers, it's that the money to tell stories is mostly given to people telling stories we already know.
can homage or tribute be in Musical Composition?... not 'sampling' like hip-hop or rap, but play it in a different tone or octave or notes decorations, eg, use a bridge part of Star Wars score and make it sound 'arabic'?... will composer get sued?
It’s from The Worst Person in the World OST by Ola Fløttum. I don’t know the track title, but it’s the song that plays during the freeze-frame sequence.
Well, obviously. Nothing is imagined in a vacuum. Literally _only_ nothing can be imagined or constructed in a vacuum. Humans initially got their mental images from the environment and other humans. Then those images and concepts got used and slightly modified to fit a different location or framing than what they were used for before. And that process just continues to the present. They're applied at a different time. They're combined with other derivative concepts and images that create a unique _combination_ of things. All sets of things are built from already existing particulars and subsets.
Perhaps when a director steals something, it's to make themselves look good at the expense of someone else's creativity. To use inspiration from other sources to make your piece work though, is more of a collaboration and an homage
Orsen Welles’ brilliance as a filmmaker is undeniable. I also think he may have been one of the original Internet trolls before the Internet existed. No disrespect, but some of his hot-takes are legendary. 😆
@@fromtheframeI agree, he was a funny guy in that way whether he was always fully conscious of it or not. I think it’s possible his gargantuan hubris overran his own sense/ intelligence at times- only someone with an insane ego would say something akin to what he said about homage,as it’s essentially insinuating Welles thinks of himself as someone who never did it himself or would never do it- and to say that is tantamount to proclaiming himself a complete original (and while in some ways you could argue he was, to a point - not one creative person has ever existed that kind of vacuum and anyone of his intellect should know that). So he either accidentally painted himself into a corner with that perspective (or he’s the OG film troll) 😂
This is a really well made video, but it feels like it's missing some subtext. Let's ignore semantic words like "stealing" and "borrowing" and simply ask, when does an homage cross a line? When does having an original idea warrant artistic credibility and when does copying a scene warrant criticism? Those are more difficult questions and I think it would be interesting to see an exploration of the answers.
I feel like it spent its full length responding to a straw man. Is there an argument that homages are considered stealing when they're openly acknowledged by their very nature? How do they add to the decline of originality? Are movies, or any medium, merely composed of the same references arranged in the same sequence? Should I brand Lynch's films as unoriginal because they incorporate elements from Tati and Hitchcock?
I think a good director and writer, beyond all odds, go into projects believing they can achieve originality. I think anybody who sets out with the mindset that everything has been made screw it let’s do something, that’s just incorrect
Damn right. Artists might not always be wholly original, but all artists I consider to be “great” always innovated in some way shape or form- they don’t exclusively steal.
Ya okay “Scorsese” a lot of film is taken from other film. A lot of songs are taken from other songs. But if you don’t watch a lot of film or listen to a lot of music. You won’t see it. Block head.
Originally is when enough disparate elements are combined to create something never seen before. Copying 1 to 1 is lazy rip-off plagiarism. Understanding how many disalike things can cohesively work together to create something new is the action of originality.!
You really cherry-picked a lot of quotes. Scorsese is also the same person who said that the Marvel Universe is not cinema, and he's right. Welles was right about homage. There was a lot of that during that era of the late 60s early 70s, but the great films of that era, the most memorable, are those that broke with convention and classic predecessors. Today there is a great deal of extremely well-marketed mediocrity, of which Barbie is perhaps the epitome. Even the casual movie viewer with a taste only for the most commercial films perceives the lack of risk-taking and originality. Those who churn out the product and those who happily consume it must endlessly justify all the laziness, copy-and-paste, and cliche.
"Style is when you begin stealing from yourself." --Alfred Hitchcock
wow. love this.
Somewhere in America a pencil scribbles quickly across a tattered note book.
Guess who’s back
Back again
Shady’s back
Tell a friend
"The difference between an artist and a great artist is the great artist never reveals who he stole from". Pablo Picasso
I thought it was “Good artists copy, great artists steal”?
"There's something beautiful .... weirdly Tarkoveskian about those transformers fighting in those Birchwoods" that has been stuck in my head ever since i saw this video ...i just love the idea that you can experience something so seemingly surface level and get these profound or ethereal observations out of it ...very inspiring
That's called being a pretentious twat.
You know... like Wes Bentley's character in American Beauty filming garbage bags in the wind and "seeing beauty" IN LITERAL POLLUTION - because he is a dumb high-school kid who is also the "Cool Guy" cause he smokes and deals pot, young girls love him, their fathers want to be him... it is really hard to tell a director insert sometimes. But not there!
Sam Mendes wears his pretentiousness and daddy issues on his sleeve.
"A guy who builds nice chairs doesn't owe money to everyone who has built a chair.".
This line from The Social Network comes to mind whenever someone criticizes a film for taking an element from another film. I heard this a lot about Inception stealing from Paprika.
They are 2 different films from different countries and industries that inspired eachother.
I recently had this experience myself of writing a screenplay and once I finished and watched some of my favorite films and realized I took so many of the elements from them but I wasn't consciously doing it when I was writing it. It was a mix of many.
All artforms are like Jackson Pollock's painting. Each paint splatters is original and unique layered on top of one another to form a whole artwork, one cannot be complete without the other and it's something that is never finished.
This is by far your best video. Love it! I'm glad you're continuing to make these. Thank you.
Yes! Many are quick to point out references or homages in films and declare them to be cheap imitations of the original, but there’s really more nuance to these discussions. We were really hoping to get that point across with this video. Thanks so much for your comment, as always!
Everything is a remix. As an individual, one can't help but be inspired by others. And one also can't help but draw from those influences. That's just life.
Totally agree - this was an especially insightful video imo
lol love that you referenced that line in TSN. Never heard it mentioned by anyone else until now. Made my day.
Tl;dr
🤡🤡🤡
This is a truly good video. I watch TH-cam all the time but it’s rare to find a video with as much substance and this one. Thank you.
The obsession with “Don’t Look Now” is amazing. Great fucking film. Masterclass in editing
We love Don't Look Now, and were glad to come up with a video where we could fit it in. That opening edit is mind-blowing.
This is very timely. Just yesterday I saw an 'Avatar stole from Dances With Wolves' comment for the umpteenth time and I had to tell them that even Dances With Wolves wasn't original. People, especially younger movie goers without an extensive film knowledge of the past, ridicule James Cameron so much, but our colonial mistakes from the past are an important enough message to retell again and again, whether in literal interpretations (Dances With Wolves, Little Big Man, Lawrence of Arabia) or in allegory like sci-fi.
Thanks for the comment! Originality tends to be what’s most focused on, but this can undercut the importance of a unique perspective. There are many films that follow similar plot lines, but a filmmaker who finds a unique way to express conventional ideas is - in their own way - making something entirely original.
This is talking about cinematic techniques and story structures. Not fatuous ripoffs.
my problem with avatar is more that it it doesnt only use one of the most tired story structures there is, but that it also fails to provide any sort of new or interesting characters, story or themes. It’s entire purpose is CGI and its genuinely one of the most uninspired films ever made (same goes for the sequel, even more so to be honest)
“Our mistakes” I didn’t do anything
@@NASkeywest So you're a sovereign citizen that feels they belong to no nation in the world? That must be very liberating.
This is exactly how I try to look at films in the big picture, thank you for this wonderful piece.
You're my new favorite cinema video essayist.
This essay is SO GREAT. Your analysis, choice of references and depth of field reflects a tremendous intellect. Excited to find this channel.
Been binging this whole channel and can confirm it is in the top tier of film analysis videos on TH-cam. I applaud anyone and/or everyone who runs this channel. Wow, please keep going, the success will pile on soon enough!
Amazing edit, music selection and voice over. The ending montage gave me chills. Loved it!
Thanks a ton! Glad you enjoyed it!
The quality on your videos is incredible, you deserve so many more subscribers.
Aw, thank you! That means a lot!
Thank you for putting this video together, really beautiful to see all of these different and inspiring takes throughout the decades of filmmaking!
Thanks for such a kind comment! We always enjoy making these videos, so we're glad to see people enjoying them too!
You’ve successfully made the argument against Welles’ statement - there is so much to be learned from the possibility of cinema by movies (or rather anything visual) made before you. I think that, usually when starting out, students of film will often seek out all these shot decks from previous movies and every piece of their film is an homage. But I also think that can be one of the best ways to learn (because you’ll eventually understand why it works).
As someone who suffers with imposter syndrome while writing. This video makes me feel good.
Such an inspiring and insightful piece, thank you for putting in the time to create it.
What a brilliantly researched, perfectly edited, thoughtful film you have made. And here it is on YT for free. Fascinating. Awesome.
This was a great essay. I love getting more and more into classic films because you start noticing these references everywhere.
Really enjoyed this video. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it.
This is such a great channel-please keep going!
Thanks ❤️
More than anything, i really admire the knowledge of cinema that the creator has… at times, we see a lot of movies and we get invested in it so much that we dont actually draw the parallels between scene unless its very direct… but kudos to you, for making such a highly intellectual video… 👏🏻
This is a very, very good breakdown. One of the best I've seen. Well done!
Wow you really capture interconnected moments and influences with top notch meanings. That's a hard thing to do. Thank you
Everything is a remix (redux) (2024 edition) (hd) (new, never before seen footage)
great work guys
Thank you! It means a lot.
Although I’ve yet to see it, ‘Don’t Look Now’ is truly timeless. Rest in peace, Donald Sutherland.
This video was so well done and informative. Thank you for sharing it. It's the first video I have seen from your channel, and it prompted me to subscribe.
Glad you enjoyed it!
How i missed this channel ? Greaaaaat content, ty alot . Subscribed .
Your channel is great. Amazing, in depth research. Keep it up!
Brilliant video essay. You bring so many threads together to illustrate the story. Great effort, wonderful result :)
Many thanks!
Love references and homage, just don't be snobby about it because it's called "fun."
Great video, thanks!
My take on the Orson Wells quote is don't be lazy! sure be inspired, maybe make some sort of nod to an influence but don't let it lead you.
Everything is stolen from somewhere else or at least is influenced, Just use that influence creatively to inform your own creative narrative.
Don't blatantly use it as an 'homage' just because you can, unless it's for outright parody.
Love this video!! You tapped into the filmmakers mentality for sure ❤
You misunderstood the point Welles was making with homage.
The first generation of filmmakers drew almost all of their inspiration from outside the world of film - and created new cinematic language as a functional way to translate those inspirations to film. Welles himself famously came from theatre and radio, and directed "Citizen Kane" with what he described as complete ignorance of filmmaking. But beginning around the 1960s, a new generation of filmmakers were emerging that had been raised on film and took a lot of their inspiration from it. Some of their work celebrated cinematic language itself, rather than using it as a tool to convey something with it. Sort of like doing an impression of Einstein to evoke the emotional response to intelligence, rather than saying something intelligent.
This is fine in small doses, and in the early years this fresh perspective of the film school generation gave rise to a lot of new and exciting filmmaking - but by the time Welles gave that speech, homage had become an ouroboros. Film, as a cultural institution, had started down the path self-awareness and self-referentialism - which is the deathknell of an artform. In-jokes and meta references may be fun for people who're already fully-immersed in a subculture, but to everyone else they're tedious and annoying.
That's not to say filmmakers shouldn't draw inspiration from cinema - nor that people shouldn't do impressions. When done properly, both can elevate and entertain in a unique and interesting way. But it takes very little to overdo it, and when overdone it quickly becomes cringeworthy.
That's why Welles made such a big point in his speech for the students to seek adventures outside of the filmmaking bubble. The idea being art comes from the struggle to translate a unique experience into the medium of film - and in order to do that, you need have those experiences first.
I understood it the same way. Orson Welles might have been influenced by Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation" which dives into the philosophical theory of a "Hyperreality" - when directors take all their knowledge from movies and "simulate" them by creating a movie on their own then nothing "real" is left, just a symbol of a symbol. (That's at least how I understand it)
Nail on the head. I feel like people used to write movies based on things they have experienced. Now days people write movies based on movies they've seen
This is a great piece of work, thank you for the effort. Subscribed!
Thanks for the sub! Glad you enjoyed the video!
The only time I will ever hear "But what about Transformers 2?" in my life.
😂
This video essay should have 10 million views
A great perspective for sure ! Good to see even the masters chime in on the matter. Even this channel has taken license from the great YT series
“Every Frame A Painting” by Tony Zhou !
I stumbled on your content. During the watch, unconsciously, I found my tongue salivating.
This video is awesome this applies for music as well even before sampling was a thing
What a beautiful and timely video!
This was such a good video. Thank you so much.
Thanks for watching!
I wish this video were clearer about what is being addressed. Using the same technique and adopting a particular style, then calling it an ‘ohmage,’ is akin to saying, ‘I created my own language, but it’s mostly English.’ The true originality lies in the story itself.
What an amazing video!!!
Keep it up!!!
Thank you! Will do!
Lovely. Thank you.
Fantastic video, excellent work as always 😄
Thank you so much 😀
Beautiful video, makes me inspired to create!!!!!!
Aw, thanks! That means a lot!
if you're looking for some academic reading about this check out the anxiety of influence by harold bloom. its specifically about poetry but he presents a whole approach to how true artists seek to have independence while running from their influences
Great work! Great channel - subscribed :)
Thanks for the comment and the watch!
The great Quentin Tarantino himself admitted that he steals from everyone. He even once said if you’re not stealing from the greats you’re doing it wrong.
Tarantino shouldn't be taken as an example of typical filmmakers. He's a collagist, like the score composer John Williams. They both have an encyclopedic knowledge of what others have done and use others' previous work literally like vocabulary, plugging in what they need where they need it. That's a particular talent few have, which is why their imitators are so often so bad.
Only a talentless hack would say that.
Incredible video. Thank you.
There are experiences most people will never encounter without artists borrowing from the past or more obscure sources, like Wes Anderson's inspiration from Peter Greenaway (I'm assuming).
Brilliant video!!!
Great video…thanks
When Baron Harkonen came out of the goo I literally stood up for a second in the theatre before promptly planting my ass back down
Excellent
So very good. *Subscribed.
My whole movie podcast Piecing It Together is about looking at a movie through the lens of what inspired it.
this video is so well made. this is now my Transformers 2
Subscribed - what a video !
Thanks!
Is there a list of films presented here? While I have watched many shown here I feel I have missed out on and not seen So many. Like there's a wonderful masterclass I can jump into for the remainder of the summer.
Well done
great video, subscribed ✅
Great video!
The under the skin reference is also on Get Out and Kendrick Lamar's Swimming Pools music video
Very very well done video 👏👏
Thanks ❤️
Idk if I agree with your interpretation of Welles, Homage as he defines it is much more about cueing in an audience through reference and not as taking inspiration. I think another issue he raises in that talk (it’s been years but I remember it fairly clearly) is the fact that these filmmakers only refer to film and not other art, which handicaps them
Is there central repository somewhere to look up all these homages and references in films? How do you find this stuff?
I can’t understand one line from this, at 11:14 the subtitles say cucor but it sounds like she says cute core but that’s still not it.
great video I loved it
Fury Road and Furiosa: more badgers.
You can say the same of music: *what* we say never changes, only *how* we say it.
what is that music at about three minutes fifty five...?
I'm not forgiving y'all for ruining "The worst person in the world" for me
Really NEEDED video for people to watch
Thanks!
It is a reality that many movies disappear from common knowledge over time. Humanity is about carrying on the torch.
How will future generations know about Dancing with the Wolves and the principles it carries without watching Avatar?
Isn't that the purpose of storytellers?
Hi. I'm curious to know who you are. I watched a couple of your videos and you seem very knowledgeable. Do you work in the film industry? If so, in what capacity?
I think homages in cinema are awesome. It becomes destructive once it becomes something like the isekai genre in anime.
‘2001’ and ‘Primer’ were wholly original imho.
19:26 Charlotte Wells can be casted for Isabella Rossellini
I cant hear the theme to Jurassic Park with out singing
"What are thoooooossee??!!"
Like this comment so that I can rewatch this video time to time. I need it
You seem to be conflating references (the password in The Bear) with homages (running across the football field in Sex Education) with fully acknowledged remakes and adaptations (Anyone But You), and unintentional influence with deliberate rip-offs. These are all different things. A nod in the dialogue to a movie you liked isn't the same as lifting a shot, which isn't the same as lifting the entire plot.
Filmmakers have been retelling Shakespeare in different ways since the first films were made. That's because everybody is familiar with the name "Shakespeare". Kurosawa adapted three of his plays, including setting Hamlet in 1960 corporate Japan. He adapted American noir potboilers into samurai films, too. His storytelling style is still extremely influential, but that doesn't mean those who are influenced by Kurosawa are ripping him off. Mostly, they're telling their own stories in their own ways and he's added to their storytelling vocabulary. His samurai films, on the other hand, were frequently ripped off by Western filmmakers - Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, Star Wars - for the same reason studios greenlight remakes and reboots now: In Hollywood, nothing succeeds like what has already succeeded. The issue isn't that there are no original storytellers, it's that the money to tell stories is mostly given to people telling stories we already know.
can homage or tribute be in Musical Composition?... not 'sampling' like hip-hop or rap, but play it in a different tone or octave or notes decorations, eg, use a bridge part of Star Wars score and make it sound 'arabic'?... will composer get sued?
With a little research one may find Orson Welles' comment about homages was itself an homage - with all the irony he often intended. Maybe.
Oh thank god!
Anyone know the music at 12:30?
It’s from The Worst Person in the World OST by Ola Fløttum. I don’t know the track title, but it’s the song that plays during the freeze-frame sequence.
Thank you! It’s on my watchlist. Wonderful video!
Movies fucking rock.
Ridley Scott’s film “Legend” pays homage to Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast”
Anyone But You, the sink water on the crouch scene is ripped off from Roxanne.
Well, obviously. Nothing is imagined in a vacuum. Literally _only_ nothing can be imagined or constructed in a vacuum. Humans initially got their mental images from the environment and other humans. Then those images and concepts got used and slightly modified to fit a different location or framing than what they were used for before. And that process just continues to the present. They're applied at a different time. They're combined with other derivative concepts and images that create a unique _combination_ of things.
All sets of things are built from already existing particulars and subsets.
Perhaps when a director steals something, it's to make themselves look good at the expense of someone else's creativity. To use inspiration from other sources to make your piece work though, is more of a collaboration and an homage
Under the Skin is wild. Scarlett was 💯💯
Orson Welles was obviously a brilliant director and very interesting man but he was so bitter and dismissive at the end of his life.
Orsen Welles’ brilliance as a filmmaker is undeniable. I also think he may have been one of the original Internet trolls before the Internet existed. No disrespect, but some of his hot-takes are legendary. 😆
@@fromtheframe
Ya he was really dismissive of Bergman, Antonioni, Fellini, even Hitchcock.
You can’t take some of the stuff he says too seriously.
@@fromtheframeI agree, he was a funny guy in that way whether he was always fully conscious of it or not. I think it’s possible his gargantuan hubris overran his own sense/ intelligence at times- only someone with an insane ego would say something akin to what he said about homage,as it’s essentially insinuating Welles thinks of himself as someone who never did it himself or would never do it- and to say that is tantamount to proclaiming himself a complete original (and while in some ways you could argue he was, to a point - not one creative person has ever existed that kind of vacuum and anyone of his intellect should know that). So he either accidentally painted himself into a corner with that perspective (or he’s the OG film troll) 😂
I take a drink every time she says intertextual.
This is a really well made video, but it feels like it's missing some subtext. Let's ignore semantic words like "stealing" and "borrowing" and simply ask, when does an homage cross a line? When does having an original idea warrant artistic credibility and when does copying a scene warrant criticism? Those are more difficult questions and I think it would be interesting to see an exploration of the answers.
I feel like it spent its full length responding to a straw man. Is there an argument that homages are considered stealing when they're openly acknowledged by their very nature? How do they add to the decline of originality? Are movies, or any medium, merely composed of the same references arranged in the same sequence? Should I brand Lynch's films as unoriginal because they incorporate elements from Tati and Hitchcock?
I think a good director and writer, beyond all odds, go into projects believing they can achieve originality. I think anybody who sets out with the mindset that everything has been made screw it let’s do something, that’s just incorrect
Damn right. Artists might not always be wholly original, but all artists I consider to be “great” always innovated in some way shape or form- they don’t exclusively steal.
10:49 no. “Soaking yourself” in fictional realities will leave you out of touch with real life.
Ya okay “Scorsese” a lot of film is taken from other film. A lot of songs are taken from other songs. But if you don’t watch a lot of film or listen to a lot of music. You won’t see it. Block head.
No story is original, it all come from something. You decide which is inspiration, you decide which is plagiarism
Plagiarism would be the actual copying of a script, not a scene similar to another.
@@zyxw2000 oh..
Originally is when enough disparate elements are combined to create something never seen before.
Copying 1 to 1 is lazy rip-off plagiarism. Understanding how many disalike things can cohesively work together to create something new is the action of originality.!
Love the comment about transformers by the director of The Worst Person of the Word
Found this one while doing research for the video and thought it was perfect. Glad you enjoyed it!
You really cherry-picked a lot of quotes. Scorsese is also the same person who said that the Marvel Universe is not cinema, and he's right. Welles was right about homage. There was a lot of that during that era of the late 60s early 70s, but the great films of that era, the most memorable, are those that broke with convention and classic predecessors. Today there is a great deal of extremely well-marketed mediocrity, of which Barbie is perhaps the epitome. Even the casual movie viewer with a taste only for the most commercial films perceives the lack of risk-taking and originality. Those who churn out the product and those who happily consume it must endlessly justify all the laziness, copy-and-paste, and cliche.