Feb 19, 2013, Lasalle
School of Arts, Singapore
Lord Puttnam's talk
went through the story of film, then his personal journey and lastly
how film can contribute to society. This is what I gathered
from my notes and what I remember from the talk:
In the days of silent
movies, the message was universal. The moment there was sound then
films became culture bound.
In the early days, the
US purchased all their films from Europe. They had people who
watched films and ascertained if the films are saleable to the
American public. This differs a great deal with European film makers
who see film as an art. Even those who made films to sell those days
felt that films rightfully belonged to the arts.
The need for films to
sell is an old requirement dating back to the 50s. This is nothing
new.
Lord Puttnam started as
an advertising executive. He said that music changed his life -
“saved by Elvis Presley” (in his words) – so, many of the films
that he produced has an element of music in it.
He brought anecdotes of
his journey by screening clips of the films that he produced and were
major box office hits.
His early film was
“
Melody” (1971), he casted Mark Lester and got a then
up-and-coming band called the Bee Gees to play the music. He was
delighted but surprised that the Bee Gees agreed to come in with
their songs. Some bands who have not been in films before may be
interested to be, as it adds to their publicity. So he urged the
audience to try. If you don't ask you wouldn't know.
"Melody" was a hit in Japan (and hence those subtitles), probably for its very English setting that the Japanese considers romantic. It is also released as "S.W.A.L.K." (Sealed With A Loving Kiss), in the UK and some other countries like Singapore. I remember Mark Lester was such a darling among the teenage girls in Singapore then. That is also the time when the Bee Gees songs got rapidly popularised.
He then showed the clip
of the young Mark Lester as an athlete in the school sports day,
running around the field to impress a girl that he fancies in the
story.
Then he showed a clip
of “
Chariots of Fire” which he made 10 years later, also of the
protagonist running around the university tracks. “Why waste a good
idea?” he quipped.
The scene in "Melody" was captured
during a school sports day with two cameras, but only one director.
So, he asked his colleague at the advertising agency at that time, Mr
Alan Parker, who took a day off to see the shooting, to man one of
the cameras. After that scene, Alan came to him and said that he is
quitting advertising and coming in to make films.
In
Stardust (1974) he
was to squeeze 24 songs in the film. He showed us a clip where six
song clips were inserted in a mere three minutes.
In “
Bugsy Malone”
(1976) he ended up having five major investors, as he couldn't get a
single investor to put money in a gangster film where the average age
of the actors was only 12. I guess it must have been hard to manage
five investors, compared to one.
When Jodie Forster was a child.
“
Midnight Express”
(1978) was a turning point, as after Midnight Express, he felt that
he was accepted by both sides of the Atlantic as a film maker.
In Midnight Express, he
didn't want to cast a famous actor as he wanted the audience to feel
the vulnerability of the actor, that the character may not make it
through the torturous journey in the Turkish jail. If it had been a
star, the audience would have somehow believed that he will make it
through.
Though Midnight Express
was a huge success, there was something that he thought he had
misjudged the audience totally. That was the scene where the
protagonist bit off the tongue of the sinister prison mate. The scene
was crafted to show that the protagonist has gone through so much
torture that he has lost his mind. This message seemed to have
conveyed well in Europe. However, when shown in America, he was
shocked that about two-thirds of the American audience actually
applauded the gruesome scene.
Probably because of the
success of “Midnight Express” the Turkish government subsequently
agreed that American offenders on Turkish soil are to serve their
sentence in jails in America. So you see films can have a tremendous
influence and role in society. Films, unlike books and other forms of
art, tend to hang around for a long time.
So in “Chariots of
Fire” (1981), he made sure that he understands the audience and
craft the more delicate scenes carefully to convey the messages that
he wanted to. So, when the film came out during the triumphant scene
at the end, it seemed that the messages were well understood.
The “
Killing Fields”
(1984), was conceived after the Vietnam war when many Western
journalists were coming home and Lord Puttnam wanted to make a film
about the stories that they bring back.
In
the Mission (1986),
is a film where Lord Puttnam worked with the a multi-cultural and
multi-racial cast. He wanted to cast the then young Liam Neeson and
signed a contract with the young actor, but was objected by Warner
Brothers who funded the movie. So sometimes you have to compromise.
“
Memphis Belle”
(1990) was made to honour the people who had fought in the earlier
world wars. This was also inspired by his father who was a
photo-journalist. They managed to get some B16 to fly. Given that at
that time there were only 12 B16s that could fly, that was a
remarkable achievement.
Questions from the Audience:
How to pitch for
funds?
With difficulty. A
belief. A belief that if this investor don't someone else will and it
will make the preceding one feels that he has missed an opportunity.
The belief must be strong. Even when he first started, he never
believe that he will not win an Oscar. Call it arrogance, self
conceit or however you want to interprete it,... it is this belief
that will propel one to success. It is through self-belief that
others will believe in you. Particularly so in his case, as he
related, that his wife Patsy believes more in him than he has
already has on himself.
If you believe that you
have a message to tell and that this message will change the world,
go ahead and you will succeed.
Given a good script,
would he choose a new director or an experienced director?
If he knows the new
director well, he will choose the new director. He finds that
directors seldom improve after their second movie, as they get more
concerned about their reputation...etc.
Will the West
accepts Universal messages told by a non-western source?
At the moment no, but
surely yes in time. In the Asia Pacific Film Festival, films like
“Aftershock” is such a profound movie and yet it didn't receive
much response in the West. It could be cultural and it could also be
due to distributors who tends to prejudge the film.
Why didn't he direct
the films?
He worse fear is that
he had to fire himself from the job because he is not good enough. He
feels that he is not as good as the directors that he hires. So why
pretend that you can do a better job, when there are others that can
do so. He said that he is not an artist but a facilitator for other
artists.
.
.JPG)
This film was previously called, "When the Cold Wind Blows". I like the title as it gives a certain emotional undertone of what to expect. Subsequently, the title was changed to "Hentak Kaki", which literally, 'hentak' means 'shock' and 'kaki' means 'leg'. But together, "hentak kaki" does not compound to 'shock leg', but rather, "marching on the spot" - a metaphor that describes someone who has reached a stagnant point in his career. This is what happened when the lead character, Warrant Officer Lee Teck Hong, faced with his injured knee, was re-assigned to a desk job as a military counsellor, where he faced up with long time friend and then detainee Raj.
