Idea #28 - Akira Kurosawa’s Filmmaking

“When you go mountain climbing, the first thing you are told is not to look at the peak but to keep your eyes on the ground as you climb. You just keep climbing patiently one step at a time. If you keep looking at the top, you will get frustrated. I think writing is similar. You must make an effort to learn to regard it not as something painful but as routine.” -Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa, a Japanese filmmaker directed merely thirty films, in his entire career that spanned over five decades, and yet, is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. “How” you wonder? In Akira Kurosawa’s Great Advice to Aspiring Filmmakers we learn his little secret in the simplest of words.

Kurosawa genuinely believed in and implemented the art of reading and writing to be a successful filmmaker. He believed that unless you have a rich reserve within yourself, you cannot create anything; that a good story comes from memory, be it from a book you read or from personal experience, you always extrude ideas from what you absorb.

Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement captures Kurosawa’s innate understanding of movement and how he retained the essence of the story with the aforesaid alone, and we learn the nuance and significance of composing motion correctly.

Kurosawa’s genius came from mere consistency and patience.

By reading, by writing, by observing the world around him, he created nothing but masterpieces.

Written By: Arya Kastwar

Curated By: Hetvi Kamdar