The story and characters of Fight 4 Your Life have many influences. Bryan Bachar, creator of F4YL, grew up moving across the U.S., his father being a United States Navy SeaBee. From the experiences of being immersed into many different cultures Bryan learned to appreciate the wide variety of ways of life the different parts of the U.S. offer. This immersion also allowed him to live in many different styles of life, from poverty to a more middle class environment. Always being one to jump around between different groups of friends, Bryan used his rich knowledge of society’s groups to acquire a broad understanding of the differences and likenesses of the peoples of his country.
“It’s true, as they say, that we aren’t so different as we would like to believe. I’ve seen the same faces, known the same personalities, no matter where I’ve moved to in the States, whether the southern Bible Belt, the west coast, east coast or mid-west. It’s funny to me how many people are so quick to think of themselves and their community as so unique. For example, many people in California, which has been my home for a good portion of my life at this point, have this Nor Cal vs So Cal mentality. I’ve lived in both and both have the same type of people. Same can be said when compared to Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, Texas, or anywhere else I’ve lived.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are shell differences. These differences are what I like to think of as culture, what is seen from the outside looking in. How we partake in our daily lives, the color of our skin, the music we listen to, our spiritual beliefs, language and dialect, our ancestry, our food, what we hold important and so many other things make up this shell. But once it’s cracked the inner part of who we all are is pretty much the same, no matter if we want to accept it or not. We all face the same inner struggles at various points in our lives. We all want relatively the same things in life…happiness, success, good health, family, friends, to feel appreciated, to be respected, freedom, love, etc., etc.
This is why I love the creative medium of filmmaking so much. It allows me to fully express these shells of people, then shatter them to demonstrate how alike we all really are. Through this destruction audiences are able to deeply connect to the characters on screen, surpassing the simple connections made by shell likenesses. It makes no difference the race, gender or social status of the character. A successful film gets viewers to feel for those persons they are watching. It subliminally forces them to sympathize and root them on, hate them and boo them into damnation. What a good film does, more than anything, is tell a story. Within telling that story, it allows each and every crowd member to see a part of him or herself on that screen. This is why movies are so powerful.
And this is why my fixations on culture, history and films blend so well. Filmmaking already showcases all the shells of humanity. It already promotes the deeper inner workings of us all. Throughout cinematic history genres have been created to demonstrate these different sides of the human spirit. In turn, these genres have been continually diluted into each other, blurring the lines of what kind of film a movie can actually be categorized as. Especially in today’s age, everything has pretty much been done already, in terms of filmmaking. This is why we are constantly being thrown recycled stories and franchises, because Hollywood uses what works.
In recent years I’ve noticed a focus on the technical aspects of filmmaking rather than what matters, the story. For the last seven years or so big budget Hollywood has seemed to have been more concerned with how to shoot a story than how to tell a story, what story to retell rather than what kind of story could be told. There have been bright spots, sure. There always are. I try to never speak in totality. And the advancements in technology are great! How films are made are vastly important towards the evolution of filmmaking, helping keep things fresh and more efficient. But it’s all about balance. Visual effects and computer animation are here to aid the star of a movie, it’s story, not be the star itself.
But it does seem as though this generation of Hollywood is beginning to get it again if they ever did truly lose it. After all, no one can turn a blind eye to the fact filmmaking, as much of an art as it is, is a business when it comes to Hollywood. And we all know the struggles creative media forms have been dealing with due to the same technological advancements that are making them reach higher grounds. Piracy, I’m sure, has a strong part in the downward slope of Hollywood’s originality and focus on story. The main thing to understand is things are turning around for a positive.
The big boom of comic book films demonstrates this well. We are seeing these fictitious films based around fantastical heroes and villains dominate the box office. Why? Well, for the first time these stories can be told how they were meant to be told because of the excellent technologies now available. Cheesy FX in the past made it difficult for films like these to be believable. Now, they can be quite believable. This has attracted high caliber talent, writers and crew. And boy has Hollywood caught on, taking these types of films much more seriously because of their lucrativeness, which, in turn, has allowed for a better balancing of technical and traditional story telling and acting aspects of filmmaking since so much is now going into these films. They aren’t the dirty step children any longer, but the prized saviors, perfectly built to demonstrate both technical achievement and traditional storytelling.
You have fairly deep, complex characters now being truly explored by legit actors because there isn’t the stress of the “how to” and the “what does it look like” anymore, with the stories and characters being complimented by these awesome visual devices. Once again the focus is back to where it should be, and everything is falling in place. It’s really a no brainer for Hollywood to be taking advantage of making these kinds of films at this point. It’s the perfect time for them. They’ve always been around. But not until recently could they really work. And in their own way they’ve brought back some originality to big budget Hollywood.
The problem is people are always going to be hungry for something new. There is a plethora of original stories to pull from when looking at the multitude of comic book universes out there. There is originality in that. But eventually people are going to yearn for more. They are always wanting more.
So, what we have seen more and more is a melting of storylines and genres together in order to make a new type of film, one that can’t fully be clarified and categorized. It’s less about what kind of film a movie is now than it is about what kind of story it is. And this is totally fine by me. After all, it really has always been about the story. Genres are just a shell in themselves, a way to categorize and say “this is this and that is that”, just as with people and our races, countries and cultures.
Mainstream Hollywood still might be following strict guidelines. But just as it has had success due to the advancement in technology, so too has the independent realm of filmmaking, which doesn’t suffer, at least most of the time, from the same burdens and restrictions as the big time studios. More so than ever are we seeing independent film flourish. Why? Because here is where the true risks are taken artistically speaking. Here is where experimental storytelling happens. Here is where actors get to really focus on acting.
Hollywood might be catching up. Of course, there are plenty of Hollywood budget films that have great acting, stories and overall artistic expression in them. All I’m saying is independent film has always been the true storyteller’s and committed actor’s escape, an arena to truly engage one’s craft at the most pure of levels. It’s never been about the big visual FX or monster budgets for indie film…..although every indie filmmaker would love a bigger budget I’m sure.
However, technology has made it easier for independent filmmakers to create higher quality films. We are seeing breathtaking visuals come out of small indie studios, hell, even individual homes, all across the country, and the world for that matter. And now with crowdfunding hitting the net hard independent filmmakers have a highly attractable, though not always successful, outlet to raise large sums of funds for creating their works. More than ever independent filmmaking is on the rise.
The bridge between big Hollywood and independent film is becoming shakier and shakier. In my humble opinion I foresee there one day being very little to distinguish between the two. Sure, Hollywood will likely always exist. It’s established for a reason. But that doesn’t mean it’s system can’t be implemented by others, especially since the walls once holding smaller Joes back are becoming more and more scalable.
Fight 4 Your Life represents an inkling of what’s happening. It might be my first full length feature. But I believe in it, and so do the many other people involved in its production. Who knows what success it might have. I would like to say much. But that is left up to time and viewers. My team and I can’t force people to like our film. We can only do the best job we can and see where it goes from there. We can push to get your support though. That is something we can get no matter if someone ends up enjoying the film or not.
My hope is people, at minimal, recognize the good message F4YL possesses within both its story and its creation. It’s not that I am not confident in the film. Rather, I have nothing but confidence in it. I wouldn’t be putting in this exhausting effort otherwise. I’m just a realist, a dreaming realist, with my head in the clouds and my feet on the ground. And, if anything, I just want people to respect what the film is about and how we did it. I hope it shows people that with enough tenacity, with enough diligence and smarts, something of this scale can be done in today’s world without the influence and power of those finger pointers and dream killers that would normally have the ability to stop it.
I’m doing it my way. There’s no patting on the back going on here by any means. Shoot, the film isn’t even done yet. But there has to be something said about that at the same time.
I know I’m not the only one out there that feels this way. And I’m most definitely not the only one doing it this way by a long shot. The Sacramento area is just one of many throughout the U.S. where filmmaking communities are growing, hungry for acceptance, thirsty for something more. It’s not just about Los Angeles and New York anymore. They will continue to be the epicenters. But this doesn’t mean they will remain alone. In no way am I a L.A. or N.Y. hater. I love the places and recognize their importance. I just like seeing change, especially when that change is needed. There’s enough creativity to go around and these juggernauts don’t need to hog it all. With the mentioned advancements there’s no need for them to anymore.
Films are being made, good films, great films, passionate films. It is passion which drives us all. A good friend of mine, Urijah Faber, believes this. And I agree with him 100%. Without passion we are lazy. Without passion nothing of value gets accomplished. The journey of F4YL might be a tough one. But nothing worth anything comes without a fight.
Just as Fleet Blackwood must fight for his life within the film, so must the film itself to be created. The name is more than a simply a stylized motif. It is a creed.
My upbringing, my relationships, my experiences and beliefs, they all reside in this film. The countless hours of movies watched, characters learned, story arcs discovered, techniques revealed, they all are within this film in some way. This is what I aim to do with every piece of art I make, always giving it my all. My soul, my spirit, my passion, this is where Fight 4 Your Life stems from.
I realize I may speak a bit dramatically, even over the top. But it’s my heart that takes over. That’s that. Just as with any one person, F4YL has many sides to it. It is the melting pot of genres I spoke of. The overall story may have been told many, many times before. But it’s how you tell it. That’s what makes a story original. Fight 4 Your Life aims to be successful at bringing together many things, many sides, into a single cohesive work.
Wish us luck in getting it there.”
– Bryan Bachar
Director
Thank you for supporting Fight 4 Your Life. We still have a long way to go. But if you’ve read this much, you’re interested in joining the fight. It’s appreciated. If you would like to help out further, please, check out our Funding page. Everything helps, even just getting word out. Thanks ahead of time.
– The one studios crew
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