Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Lucija Piršič Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

I made a film that was impossible to make,

Ustvaril sem film, ki ga je bilo nemogoče ustvariti,

but I didn't know it was impossible,

toda nisem vedel, da je to nemogoče

and that's how I was able to do it.

in tako sem ga naredil.

"Mars et Avril" is a science fiction film.

Mars in Avril je znanstveno-fantastični film.

It's set in Montreal some 50 years in the future.

Dogaja se v Montrealu, čez približno petdeset let.

No one had done that kind of movie in Quebec before

Nihče v Quebecu še ni ustvaril takega filma,

because it's expensive, it's set in the future,

saj je stal veliko, postavljen je v prihodnost,

and it's got tons of visual effects,

vsebuje na tone vizualnih učinkov

and it's shot on green screen.

in je posnet z green screenom.

Yet this is the kind of movie that I wanted to make

Kljub temu sem si želel ustvariti takšen film

ever since I was a kid, really,

že od otroštva,

back when I was reading some comic books

ko sem še bral stripe

and dreaming about what the future might be.

in si zamišljal, kakšna bi lahko bila prihodnost.

When American producers see my film,

Ko si ameriški producenti ogledajo moj film

they think that I had a big budget to do it,

mislijo, da sem imel na razpolago visok proračun,

like 23 million.

okrog 23 milijonov.

But in fact I had 10 percent of that budget.

V resnici pa sem imel le deset procentov tega proračuna.

I did "Mars et Avril" for only 2.3 million.

Mars in Avril sem ustvaril s samo 2,3 milijona.

So you might wonder, what's the deal here?

Najbrž se sprašujete, kako?

How did I do this?

Kako mi je to uspelo?

Well, it's two things. First, it's time.

Najprej sem si vzel čas.

When you don't have money, you must take time,

Če nimaš denarja, si moraš vzeti čas

and it took me seven years to do "Mars et Avril."

in potreboval sem sedem let za dokončanje filma Mars in Avril.

The second aspect is love.

Potem pride na vrsto ljubezen.

I got tons and tons of generosity from everyone involved.

Vsi sodelujoči so bili neizmerno velikodušni.

And it seems like every department had nothing,

Vsak oddelek se je spopadal s pomanjkanjem,

so they had to rely on our creativity

zato so se vsi morali zanašati na svojo kreativnost

and turn every problem into an opportunity.

ter vsako težavo dojeti kot priložnost.

And that brings me to the point of my talk, actually,

To me pripelje do bistva mojega govora,

how constraints, big creative constraints, can boost creativity.

kako lahko velike kreativne prepreke povečajo kreativnost.

But let me go back in time a bit.

Naj vas najprej popeljem malce v preteklost.

In my early 20s, I did some graphic novels,

V svojih zgodnjih dvajsetih sem ustvaril nekaj risanih romanov,

but they weren't your usual graphic novels.

ki pa niso bili običajni risani romani.

They were books telling a science fiction story

To so bile knjige, ki so s slikami in besedilom

through images and text,

pripovedovale znanstveno-fantastično zgodbo.

and most of the actors who are now starring

Večina igralcev, ki zdaj nastopajo

in the movie adaptation, they were already involved

v filmski priredbi, je že bila vključenih

in these books portraying characters

v teh knjigah, ki so like prikazovale

into a sort of experimental, theatrical, simplistic way.

na skoraj eksperimentalen, teatralen, poenostavljen način.

And one of these actors is the great stage director

Eden izmed teh igralcev je veliki gledališki režiser

and actor Robert Lepage.

in igralec Robert Lepage,

And I just love this guy.

ki ga preprosto obožujem.

I've been in love with this guy since I was a kid.

Občudujem ga že od otroštva

His career I admire a lot.

in zelo občudujem tudi njegovo poklicno pot.

And I wanted this guy to be involved in my crazy project,

Želel sem, da bi tudi on sodeloval pri mojem norem projektu

and he was kind enough to lend his image

in bil je dovolj prijazen, da je upodobil

to the character of Eugène Spaak,

Eugèna Spaaka,

who is a cosmologist and artist who seeks relation

kozmologa in umetnika, ki išče povezavo

in between time, space, love, music and women.

med časom, prostorom, ljubeznijo, glasbo in ženskami.

And he was a perfect fit for the part,

Bil je popolna izbira za to vlogo

and Robert is actually the one who gave me my first chance.

in Robert je tisti, ki mi je tudi ponudil prvo priložnost.

He was the one who believed in me

Bil je tisti, ki je verjel vame

and encouraged me to do an adaptation of my books

in me vzpodbujal, da sem svoje knjige priredil

into a film, and to write, direct,

ter da sem sam napisal, režiral

and produce the film myself.

in produciral ta film.

And Robert is actually the very first example

Pravzaprav je Robert že prvi primer, ki pokaže,

of how constraints can boost creativity.

kako lahko prepreke povečajo kreativnost.

Because this guy is the busiest man on the planet.

Robert je najbolj zaposlen človek na planetu.

I mean, his agenda is booked until 2042,

Njegov urnik je zapolnjen do leta 2042,

and he's really hard to get,

zato je do njega res težko priti

and I wanted him to be in the movie,

in jaz sem si želel, da bi prav on

to reprise his role in the movie.

upodobil dano vlogo v filmu.

But the thing is, had I waited

Toda, če bi ga čakal

for him until 2042, my film wouldn't be

do leta 2042, moj film ne bi bil

a futuristic film anymore, so I just couldn't do that. Right?

več futurističen, zato tega preprosto nisem mogel storiti.

But that's kind of a big problem.

To je predstavljalo velik problem.

How do you get somebody who is too busy

Kako prepričati nekoga, ki je prezaposlen,

to star in a movie?

da bo igral v filmu?

Well, I said as a joke in a production meeting --

Na produkcijskem sestanku sem se pošalil

and this is a true story, by the way —

- in to je, mimogrede, resnična zgodba -

I said, "Why don't we turn this guy into a hologram?

da bi Roberta prikazali kot hologram.

Because, you know, he is everywhere

Na planetu je njegov lik istočasno povsod,

and nowhere on the planet at the same time,

hkrati pa ga nikjer ni.

and he's an illuminated being in my mind,

V moji domišljiji je dobil obliko razsvetljenega bitja,

and he's in between reality and virtual reality,

ki se nahaja med resničnostjo in virtualnostjo.

so it would make perfect sense

Zato bi ga bilo popolnoma smiselno

to turn this guy into a hologram."

prikazati kot hologram.

Everybody around the table laughed,

Vsi prisotni so se zasmejali,

but the joke was kind of a good solution,

toda šala se je izkazala za dobro rešitev,

so that's what we ended up doing.

zato smo se zanjo tudi odločili.

Here's how we did it. We shot Robert with six cameras.

Naredili smo sledeče. Roberta smo posneli s šestimi kamerami.

He was dressed in green and he was like

Oblečen je bil v zeleno, postavili smo ga v neke vrste

in a green aquarium.

zelen akvarij.

Each camera was covering 60 degrees of his head,

Vsaka kamera je posnela šestdeset stopinj njegove glave,

so that in post-production we could use

tako da smo v postprodukciji lahko uporabili

pretty much any angle we needed,

katerikoli zorni kot,

and we shot only his head.

ki smo ga želeli.

Six months later there was a guy on set,

Šest mesecev kasneje smo uporabili

a mime portraying the body,

telo nekega drugega igralca,

the vehicle for the head.

ki je služilo kot vozilo za Robertovo glavo.

And he was wearing a green hood

Igralcu smo glavo pokrili z zeleno masko,

so that we could erase the green hood in postproduction

da smo jo v postprodukciji lahko izbrisali

and replace it with Robert Lepage's head.

in jo zamenjali z glavo Roberta Lepagea.

So he became like a renaissance man,

Postal je neke vrste renesančni človek

and here's what it looks like in the movie.

in lahko vidite kako to izgleda v filmu.

(Music)

(Glasba)

(Video) Robert Lepage: [As usual, Arthur's drawing

Kot ponavadi Arturjev načrt

didn't account for the technical challenges.

ni zadostil tehničnim izzivom.

I welded the breech, but the valve is still gaping.

Zvaril sem zaklepišče, toda ventil še vedno zeva.

I tried to lift the pallets to lower the pressure in the sound box,

Poizkušal sem dvigniti palete, da bi spustil pritisk v zvočnem polju,

but I might have hit a heartstring.

pri tem pa sem morda zadel občutljivo območje.

It still sounds too low.]

Še vedno zveni prenizko.

Jacques Languirand: [That's normal.

To je normalno.

The instrument always ends up resembling its model.]

Inštrument je na koncu vedno podoben svojemu modelu.

(Music)

(Glasba)

Martin Villeneuve: Now these musical instruments

Ti glasbeni inštrumenti,

that you see in this excerpt,

ki jih vidite v izseku,

they're my second example of how

predstavljajo drugi primer kako

constraints can boost creativity,

lahko prepreke povečajo kreativnost.

because I desperately needed these objects in my movie.

Te inštrumente sem v svojem filmu krvavo potreboval,

They are objects of desire.

po njih sem hrepenel,

They are imaginary musical instruments.

saj so obstajali samo v moji domišljiji.

And they carry a nice story with them.

Zgodba njihovega nastanka je zanimiva.

Actually, I knew what these things would look like

Že vrsto let sem imel vizijo

in my mind for many, many years.

kako naj bi izgledali.

But my problem was, I didn't have the money

Toda problem je bil, da nisem imel denarja

to pay for them. I couldn't afford them.

zanje. Nisem si jih mogel privoščiti.

So that's kind of a big problem too.

To je predstavljalo velik problem.

How do you get something that you can't afford?

Kako dobiti nekaj, česar si ne moreš privoščiti?

And, you know, I woke up one morning with a pretty good idea.

Nekega jutra, ko sem se zbudil, mi je v glavo šinila dobra ideja.

I said, "What if I have somebody else pay for them?"

Kaj če bi nekdo drug plačal zanje?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But who on Earth would be interested

Ampak koga pri zdravi pameti bi zanimalo

by seven not-yet-built musical instruments

sedem še ne izdelanih inštrumentov

inspired by women's bodies?

navdahnjenih po obliki ženskega telesa?

And I thought of Cirque du Soleil in Montreal,

Pomislil sem na Cirque du Soleil v Montrealu,

because who better to understand the kind of

edine ljudi, ki bi lahko razumeli to

crazy poetry that I wanted to put on screen?

noro poezijo, ki sem jo želel prezrcaliti na ekran.

So I found my way to Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil's CEO,

Zato sem poiskal Guya Laiberteja, ki je generalni direktor podjetja

and I presented my crazy idea to him

in mu predstavil svojo noro idejo

with sketches like this and visual references,

s pomočjo takšnih skic in vizualnih pripomočkov

and something pretty amazing happened.

in zgodilo se je nekaj neverjetnega.

Guy was interested by this idea

Guyu je bila ideja všeč.

not because I was asking for his money,

Ne zato, ker sem spraševal po denarju,

but because I came to him with a good idea

ampak zato, ker se mu je zdela to dobra ideja,

in which everybody was happy.

s katero so bili vsi sodelujoči zadovoljni.

It was kind of a perfect triangle

Bil je popoln trikotnik,

in which the art buyer was happy

kjer je bil kupec umetnin zadovoljen,

because he got the instruments at a cheaper price,

saj je dobil inštrumente po nižji ceni,

because they weren't even made.

ker še niso bili narejeni.

He took a leap of faith.

Moral je skočiti v neznano.

And the artist, Dominique Engel, brilliant guy,

Dominique Engel, krasen umetnik,

he was happy too because he had a dream project

je bil tudi zadovoljen, ker je lahko celo leto

to work on for a year.

delal na tem sanjskem projektu.

And obviously I was happy because I got the instruments

Jaz sem bil zadovoljen, ker sem dobil inštrumente

in my film for free, which was kind of what I tried to do.

za svoj film zastonj, kar je tudi bil moj cilj.

So here they are.

Tu jih lahko vidite.

And my last example of how constraints

Zadnji primer, kako lahko prepreke

can boost creativity

vzpodbudijo kreativnost pa

comes from the green,

prihaja iz zelene,

because this is a weird color, a crazy color,

saj je to nenavadna, nora barva,

and you need to replace the green screens eventually

zaradi nje moraš green screen sčasoma nadomestiti z nečim drugim,

and you must figure that out sooner rather than later.

kar je prej ali slej potrebno storiti.

And I had, again, pretty much, ideas in my mind

Znova sem se zatekel k domišljijskim podobam

as to what the world would be,

o svetu, ki sem si ga zamislil.

but then again I turned to my childhood imagination

Znova sem se vrnil k svojim zamislim iz otroštva

and went to the work of Belgian comic book master

in si v Belgiji ogledal delo belgijskega striparskega mojstra

François Schuiten in Belgium.

Françoisa Schuitena.

And this guy is another guy I admire a lot,

Tudi njega zelo občudujem

and I wanted him to be involved in the movie

zato sem želel, da bi on sodeloval pri nastanku filma

as a production designer.

kot oblikovalec.

But people told me, you know, Martin, it's impossible,

Toda ljudje so mi govorili, da je to nemogoče,

the guy is too busy and he will say no.

da je preveč zaposlen in da bo zavrnil ponudbo.

Well, I said, you know what, instead of mimicking his style,

Toda odločil sem se, da njegovega stila ne bom posnemal,

I might as well call the real guy and ask him,

ampak da ga bom kar poklical in vprašal.

and I sent him my books,

Poslal sem mu svoje knjige

and he answered that he was interested

in odgovoril je, da ga

in working on the film with me

sodelovanje zanima,

because he could be a big fish in a small aquarium.

saj bi bil velika riba v majhnem akvariju.

In other words, there was space for him to dream with me.

Z drugimi besedami, odločil se je sanjati skupaj z mano.

So here I was with one of my childhood heroes,

Tako sem s svojim herojem iz otroštva

drawing every single frame that's in the film

izrisal čisto vsako sličico, ki sestavlja film,

to turn that into Montreal in the future.

in vse spremenil v Montreal prihodnosti.

And it was an amazing collaboration

Bilo je čudovito sodelovati

to work with this great artist whom I admire.

s tako enkratnim umetnikom, ki ga občudujem.

But then, you know, eventually you have to turn

Toda sčasoma je potrebno

all these drawings into reality.

vse te skice preslikati v realnost,

So, again, my solution was to aim

zato sem znova ciljal

for the best possible artist that I could think of.

na najboljšega možnega umetnika, ki sem ga poznal.

And there's this guy in Montreal, another Quebecois

V Montrealu živi še en quebečan

called Carlos Monzon, and he's a very good VFX artist.

Carlos Monzon, ki je zelo dober na področju vizualnih učinkov.

This guy had been lead compositor on such films

Bil je vodilni v filmih

as "Avatar" and "Star Trek" and "Transformers,"

kot so Avatar, Star Trek in Transformerji

and other unknown projects like this,

ter pri drugih neznanih projektih kot je ta.

and I knew he was the perfect fit for the job,

Vedel sem, da je idealen za to delo,

and I had to convince him,

zato sem ga moral prepričati

and, instead of working on the next Spielberg movie,

in namesto, da bi delal na naslednjem Spielbergovem filmu,

he accepted to work on mine.

je sprejel delo na mojem.

Why? Because I offered him a space to dream.

Zakaj? Ker sem mu ponudil možnost sanjati.

So if you don't have money to offer to people,

Če ljudem ne morete ponuditi denarja,

you must strike their imagination with something

morate razvneti njihovo domišljijo z najbolj

as nice as you can think of.

privlačno stvarjo, ki si jo lahko zamislite.

So this is what happened on this movie,

To smo naredili pri tem filmu

and that's how it got made,

in tako je tudi nastal.

and we went to this very nice postproduction company

Zelo prijazno postprodukcijsko podjetje

in Montreal called Vision Globale,

iz Montreala, Vision Globale,

and they lent their 60 artists to work full time

nam je posodilo šestdeset umetnikov, ki so posvetili

for six months to do this crazy film.

šest mesecev svojega časa temu noremu filmu.

So I want to tell you that, if you have some crazy ideas

Kar vam želim sporočiti je, da če imate kakšno noro idejo

in your mind, and that people tell you

in vam ljudje govorijo, da jo je

that it's impossible to make,

nemogoče uresničiti,

well, that's an even better reason to want to do it,

je to še boljši razlog, da jo uresničite.

because people have a tendency

Ljudje težimo k temu,

to see the problems rather than the final result,

da vidimo le probleme in ne tudi končnega rezultata,

whereas if you start to deal with problems

ampak, če se začnete do problemov obnašati

as being your allies rather than your opponents,

kot da so vaši zavezniki in ne nasprotniki,

life will start to dance with you

bo življenje zaplesalo z vami

in the most amazing way.

na najbolj osupljiv način.

I have experienced it.

To sem sam izkusil.

And you might end up doing some crazy projects,

Mogoče boste delali na kakšnih norih projektih

and who knows, you might even end up

in kdo ve, mogoče boste celo

going to Mars.

odleteli na Mars.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)