Project Nihilo

Creatio Ex Nihilo

That’s the Latin term for “Creation From Nothing”, pretty cool how they sound the same, huh? It’s the idea in some religions that God created the universe, from nothing. The thought process is that, everything that exists must have come from somewhere, and the universe happens to exist, so therefore, it must’ve come from somewhere.

“But Dan“, I hear you say, “I didn’t come here for a theology lesson, what audacity is this?“. Well, dear reader, if I get to throw Latin words around, I feel nice and smart, so bare with for a moment.

Technically the stuff I’m about to talk about is Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, (nothing comes from nothing), but the case, regardless, is a focus on the idea that something can come from nothing.

From the Ground Up

As artists, we often take our tools for granted. A painter carefully selects expensive brushes and paints, a musician spends years working towards their dream instrument, but once we have those  tools, they become just that. Tools to enable us to create.

I’d like to refocus on those tools. Everything needed to create this film will be built from the raw components, and I’ll say it again, I do mean everything.

I’m going to build the camera, the editing software, the musical instrument to create the music, hell, even the pen and paper to write the script on! 

This is Stupid

I know, and that’s probably why I planned the project, then filed it neatly in my “Problems for Future Me” pile. Even if I never continue and complete this project, the planning of it was pretty fun. 

There’s a ton of learning I need to do to understand how to build those tools, and lots of time needed to get there. 

What I’m going to do is break down the main plan, and then I’ll go into detail about what each section needed to complete it. Get yourself comfortable, and keep asking yourself the same question I ask myself.

“Why does he do this to himself?”

The Plan

So, just before we continue I want to point two things out. First, this isn’t an exhaustive plan. I’m confident that in the development of this project I’ll become aware of how vastly underappreicative I have been of all the components that make up a functional film production.

Secondly, I’m just as confident in the fact that I have the potential to learn and execute every element of the process. I truly believe that, given enough time and access to information, anybody can learn anything. Sure, in life we’re not be able to prioritse just learning, we’ve all got bills to pay, but this entire project is borderline hypothetical at this point, so just be cool, ok?