You were born in 1978 in Eskisehir; studied Radio, Television, and Cinema in University of Ankara, and then left for Poland National Film School to study visual direction between 2003-2005. What do you have to say about the education you received in these two countries?
When I first got into Ankara University, I was thinking of being in front of the camera. I was planning on working in TV journalism or programming. I did not really have a special interest in cinema.
In my second year, I started to get involved in film with the influence of my friends in the camera group (including Ali Taner Baltaci who directed the movie “Hokkabaz”), my professor Bulent Ozkam, and the screenings of ODTU cinema community.
Around this time, I started to shoot short films for my classes. I attended the film festival of LODZ National Film School with one of these movies and everything changed.
Throughout the festival, I was surprised by the quality, and success of the international movies. The period that started as being ashamed of my film, ended with the understanding that it has a lot to do with film education.
Ankara University does not include film studies because of the structure of the school except for the efforts of some professors. There is a big difference between Faculty of Communications and a film school. Almost everything is different. You cannot have a film education without specializing, whereas in Communications the approach is towards the general along with technical shortcomings and imbalance in student numbers. I do not mean to say one is better than the other, I am trying to say that it’s like comparing apples and oranges – the difference is that obvious. Moreover, there is the fact that you enter the Faculty of Communications with a general exam while you have to take a special exam for film schools anywhere in the world.
Another point is that most of my friends in Poland went to LODZ after a different undergrad education like sociology, photography, media, etc. Hence, film represented a specialization for them as well. This affects the quality of education to a great extent. There is a huge gap between being decisive on what you want and looking for the right path.
You won prestigious awards with your 35 mm short films during your years in the national film school in Poland. In your school, under which circumstances were the students given the chance to shoot 35 mm?
It is not right to think of the education in LODZ independent of 35 mm. This is one of the best film schools in the world, and one of the best in visual direction. That’s why 35 mm is a part and parcel of this process; it’s not an extra luxury. The visual directors have to know everything from film stocks to chemicals, and from light to laboratory; otherwise it’s not right to talk about a real cinema education.
As for the application:
LODZ has a very rooted and solid structure. The quality and the quantity of the films every student has to make that year are pre-determined. For instance, freshman camera students are obliged to make a 3 minute long black-and-white film without dialogue in their first term; and a 5 minute long black-and-white film without dialogue in their second semester. In their junior year, they have to shoot a documentary in their first term, and a color film from an adapted screenplay as long as 10 minutes in their second term.
How the films are shot, with how many rolls, in how many days and in which period of the education are all determined and written in the curriculum.
You have two rolls -meaning 8 minute long 35 mm film- for a 3 minutes piece. In your junior year it amounts to 40 minutes of 35 mm for a 10 minute long film. But the proportion is never too luxurious. If your father has money, you can obviously buy more rolls and shoot more scenes :) There are people who work like this.
Every film has a budget determined by the school (quality, timing etc.), and the students never touch this money.
The money stays at the production department of the school. When the school lends you cameras for three days, they cut the rent for three days from your budget. If you have your father’s money, you can get the camera from somewhere else and direct your budget in a different way. (the school cameras are really old)
In addition to this, with the same production logic, the school has its own technical staff. There are light officers and camera assistants of the school like janitors and dining room staff. To use the school’s sources depends on you and whomever you rely on. Hence, the structure is the same as working with a professional production company.
After the film comes back from the laboratory, the whole class watches the material in a movie theatre without editing. So, everyone sees what the others did with how many takes and mistakes. The professors always ask why the repeated scenes are repeated. If a plan is repeated more than necessary, then it’s blamed on the cameraman. You get the passing grade with a collective screening at the end of the year, followed by all the professors. Also, you are deliberated by people who do not know you. For example, you are a cameraman, but the professors of editing also grade you. Even this structure is sufficient in explaining why film education is clearly unique.
When you evaluate the last developments in digital image technologies, to what extent do you think we approached the 35 mm level? Between these two worlds, is your preference film, or are you among those who cannot wait for video to develop more?
Let’s shoot an empty room with the same light and art direction, in the same hour of the day from the same spot both with digital and 35 mm. When you watch the digital record, it feels like someone just left the room. With 35 mm, you feel like someone can walk in any minute.
The dramatic effect of 35 mm could not be captured by digital technology yet. Of course, the money invested and the increasing pixels will achieve this one day. But I don’t expect it to reach an international standard any time soon.
From the Ford Transit Commercial with Mona Lisa to Pepsi Max with Aysun Kayaci; from the Genc Turkcell commercial with crabs to Beko’s refrigerator film named “Illusion” you did a lot of good work. Millions of people have seen these films on TV and in movie theatres, and they still are. How do you define “Commercial Director” as a profession in terms of independence, originality, profit, and artistic concern?
I think that direction is close to craftsmanship more than anything, but the biggest difference in commercial direction is that you are trying to sell something. When that’s the case, independence depends on money in the project. Money does not necessarily mean freedom or the lack of it. In a discipline like direction where you have to deal with external factors all the time, the concept of independence becomes very intricate. Independence is re-defined every time you need a camera, or a third person whatever the storyline or the aim might be. For this reason I cannot evaluate my profession in terms of independence.
Originality, on the other hand, is very important in advertising. In times when information and production are shared so quickly, it is hard to talk about something real ‘new’. Everything becomes a derivative, the transformed or the mixed version of something else. So much so that we encounter ‘post’ definitions or products to the extent that we forget the roots of that thing. At this point, what Kieslowski said comes to my mind; where and what I bring does not matter, where I take it does. Of course, it is something that opens the door to re-define the gap between inspiration and stealing due to personal concerns. I still try to make ‘my’ movies.
Artistic concern has to be forgotten when it comes to advertising. In the end, someone pays for the whole thing. Here, I become picky as the director, and accept work in which I can stand behind and have a say in. Maybe this approach involves artistic concern to a certain extent. I want a portfolio with more spunk, and more content.
You keep on receiving personal satisfaction for your visual power and talent with numerous awards. In 2006, you received the most prestigious award in advertising – the Crystal Apple- as “The Best Commercial Director”. Can you tell us about the award night and what you felt?
The Crystal Apple is very important for everyone in the advertising world. This sector needs to applaud itself because our success is only measured by sales and label reputation. But every sector has to evaluate the internal communication and the action. The refrigerator salesmen also come together annually to discuss how to sell more and how to do better.
For me, the award meant two things.
First, it’s just been two years since I started doing it. This was like a welcome sign from my colleagues.
Second, the award was given under Ali Tara’s name, who was the biggest commercial director in Turkey. I never got to meet him but I now what he means in this world, and still follow his work. So, the award was very valuable for me.
One of the most talented film directors in the recent history of our country, Reha Erdem, collected five awards during the awards ceremony of the Movie Critics Association. He gave a surprising and bitter speech saying, “I’m not sure whether or not I will make more movies in this country.” How do you deliberate this message? Do you have plans of shooting a long movie in Turkey?
I don’t think I can say anything based on what Reha Erdem said. However, I am not someone who made several movies, succeeded to a great extent, and experienced various difficulties and periods. That’s why I cannot comprehend his mood, or say anything on that level. What I can say is, I wish I can say something like that after winning so many awards and that someone would think that this is a problem for Turkish cinema. It must be valuable to have this ‘concern’.
Imagine that you have no budget limitations, and that you have the chance to shoot the most expensive movie ever. What kind of a story would you tell, and whom would you work with?
I think I would spend most of the money to pick the story. I would prefer to work on a novel, or a historical event. My biggest dream today is to shoot the life story of Abidin Dino from abroad to Cukurova, from USSR to lodges in Galata, and from there to Picasso.
When you look from the outside, it is easy to observe that the European cinema is going strong in all glory whereas Hollywood is slowly losing pace with increasing criticism. How do you evaluate the future of cinema in the world?
Cinema, like it or not, is losing its traditional strength. iPods and Internet are creating a generation independent from the medium. Cinema has to transform with the DVD, home theatre, and pirate movies. I believe that this will bring along a structural change. It is not the abandonment of film, but let’s face it – cinema was the art form of the 20th century. 21st century is fuelling other things. Hollywood criticism is not anything new; it’s related to the destruction of author cinema. This is deriving from the fact that cinema is now linked to the bank accounts of big financial men, not to a group of artists. We are talking about a European charisma because Europe still supports movies with funds and artist based organizations to create a ‘European culture’.
As for the future of film, in a broad sense, Hollywood will transform its superiority on genre films to structural matters; digital screenings, international screenings from one source, iPod movies, home theatre from I-pod projectors, etc. But I think the content will be the as magical and superficial. The Oscars will obviously be handed to DIFFERENT movies that criticize America from a very American perspective.
On the other hand, in Europe movies will become smaller and more political. It is becoming harder to find something new or surprising in terms of classic cinema, so the ‘word’ itself will become more important.
In Turkey or worldwide, who do you find close to yourself in terms of visual perspective?
Now that the world cinema is busy with realism, I like Innaritu. I always followed Haneke with interest and admiration. I like the Coen Brothers a lot. But, I believe the name that influences me the most is Jonathan Glazer who also came out of visual direction. I think his movie ‘Birth’ is a masterpiece.
The theme of the 11th issue of Bak Magazine is “Contrast”. What does this word mean to you?
The first thing that comes to my mind is dialectic. Meaning an altering mode of opposition. When you say ‘change’, I think of drama, which means growth through conflict. I mean contrast is drama itself. And the drama is us, what’s more to that! Putting political nuances in between lines while working on a commercial is the real reflection of this on life.