For the longest time, I asked myself, why is it that most Indie Films seem to not be as successful as their creators want them to be? I’ve had numerous conversations with my friends and colleagues in the indie film industry about this subject, and upon deep reflection, I’ve come up with an idea I would now like to present to you.

The Problem

Indie Films don’t stand out when their creators refuse to be original and exercise their creativity at their full potential, in favor of joining the latest trend.

In the couple of decades I’ve been doing sound design, I have witnessed, with frustration, countless filmmakers of all ages and levels of experience, reject, by default, all sorts of opportunities of being original; not just on set, during post-production too.

A recurring situation I’ve encountered is the sacrifice of a beautiful acting performance, in the pursue of technical perfection. 

For example, when editors cut off takes in a way that alter the original intention of the artist, just because they want to impose their own sense of what the rhythm should be, based on textbook dogma, rather than protecting an original performance. 

This is particularly evident in comedies when good performances are artificially sped up in the cutting room to make them “funnier”, ultimately loosing their humorous tone and heart.

The Trend Trap

By the way. I’m not talking about one particular experience in some isolated small town in the middle of nowhere; I’m talking about independent film productions in the NYC Tri-State area, which attracts some of the best talents from all around the world.

At the risk of sounding antagonistic, I’m gonna dare say that it is almost guaranteed, that indie filmmakers would rather be trendy than original. They want to be the next “name”… that already exists. They aim at replicating somebody else’s yesterday’s success, instead of creating something new; They don’t want to be themselves and never develop an artistic signature, so to speak, of their own.

Why is this? I kept asking myself for the longest time.

I now believe the reason they do this is that it’s easy. Audiences follow trends and it is only natural that, in the process of trying to appeal to the biggest audience possible, filmmakers end up copying each other, rather than exploring their own artistic expression.

To follow up the previous example, the biggest comedies in the American film industry, which is the biggest in the world, are relatively high paced. So… indie filmmakers who make comedies also want to make their films high paced, even when that requires cutting off otherwise good performances, as I explained before.

The Consequences

In general, my perception is that independent film productions, tend to tell similar stories in the same genres; they use the same styles in directing, acting, cinematography, editing, music and yes, sound design too.

In other words, “everybody” applies the same filmmaking styles to their work.

As a result of that, their Indie Films look, feel and sound all the same and therefore, none stand out, which is something that ultimately hurts us more than it helps us. 

When originality is sacrificed in favor of following trends, the art of filmmaking suffers… and this is not exactly an easy conversation to have with filmmakers. As I mentioned before, there’s a tendency to antagonize the bearer of bad news.

Of course, the elephant in the room is that this reality is not exclusive of independent films (shorts and features), it also applies to documentaries, music and digital content in general. For that matter, it applies to all modern art forms, but that’s a conversation for another time.

The Solution

As a way of concluding this brief article, I’ll say that sacrificing originality is something I avoid in my work, like the plague, and over the years I’ve developed a style of my own that my clients, and their audiences, appreciate. 

Whether it is sound design or music scoring; I do offer a personalized artistic signature to all my works.

If you’re interested in exploring unique creative opportunities, that give your story a memorable sound, hit me up at info@jcgorritti.com

I’ll be more than happy to have a conversation about collaboration opportunities.

Let’s Make Short Films Great Again!