Film Auteur in Franklin Lakes

By The Franklin Lakes Journal

Published: August 27, 2008

Filmmaking is an art form that involves a variety of skills and people, but many aspiring filmmakers by necessity follow in the tradition of the Auteur theory. This is the belief that a film is a reflection of the director’s artistic vision. Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock are prime examples of directors who believed in this theory. Short films by independent filmmakers are usually limited in resources, so the artist often writes, directs, edits and acts.

This is the case at CkinkProductions where Chris Kincade is a young auteur. The Journal contacted Chris after being impressed by the editing and framing skills evident in his videos. It came as no surprise that one of the most important skills for him is editing. The relationship between directors and editors is usually intense, and if Chris is lucky in the future he’ll find a person he can trust. Such is the case with Martin Scorsese who has been working with film editor Thelma Schoonmaker for over 40 years. According to Chris, “The hardest thing about filmmaking is cutting things out. Even if you think every scene deserves to be put in, it is important to edit it down. And, I truly believe that this is my biggest weakness.”

Preparing to film is key to getting a good end product. “I do a lot of planning and trying to see how certain things will work out.”, says Chris. This involves creating what is called a storyboard. It might look like a comic strip with text and images, but it is the structure he uses to layout the narrative prior to shooting. Each frame contains a small hand drawn image with a bit of text explaining the shot.

Independent filmmakers often perform all of the jobs from beginning to end themselves, and being able to take criticism is something that many find difficult; but, Chris believes it’s an important part of the creative process. Not yet having the resources to collaborate with a screenwriter, a film editor, or trained actors, he relies on friends and family to offer critiques. “Ohhhh Yeah, my family is constantly giving me advice suggestions and all of that critique only makes me a better filmmaker.” Although his interest is in directing, he hopes to gain some acting experience to help improve his understanding of all facets.

One of Chris’s shorts employs the reverse technique where the images are played in reverse for special and often amusing results. When questioned as to whether he was influenced by any of the silent pictures from the era of Chaplin and Lloyd, he affirms a similarity. “I have seen a few of them and every time I end up holding my stomach laughing. I think our films are very similar because we can express comedy without words.” Expanding on the response he got from the Rewind Movie, he describes a couple of scenes. “The one that seems to be everyone’s favorite is the banana scene and that basically came to me out of the blue one night when I was planning. So I just filmed it to see how it would come out and I really liked it. Another one that was one of my personal favorites was the trampoline scene and that was probably the first thing that came to my mind because I go on the trampoline so much and I just knew it would come out amazing.”

Chris’s preference leans towards subjects that have a comedic element, but he does hope to expand his projects. He is exploring the possibility of doing a documentary on his brother’s basketball team, and also hopes to work on a project for the Iron Matt Foundation which he links to from the CkinkProductions website.
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This the most recent project from CkinkProductions. This is a music video which was created as an exercise to practice camera angles, create suspense, and try his hand at some special effects.

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This is the Rewind Movie:

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This is one of the earlier videos available online. Called Heart of a Champion, it exhibits his talent for comedy and editing.

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The last selection here is short project developed during the filmmaking boot camp he attended this summer. It was Chris’ first foray into dialogue and is called Candy Quest.