Free Blog post: Boyhood

First and foremost, Boyhood is a film by Richard Linklater that depicts the life of a boy and his family during a 12 year period of time. The film was filmed during the same time length using the same actors that came to shoot the film for three days every year.  This has turned the film in cinema history and has been renown for it's genius. But what makes Boyhood a masterpiece? What creative methods have gone into making this very long project? First we will see the conception of the film and then we will talk about the process.

Because Richard Linklater is a self- taught director, he has always felt a certain freedom when it came to filming. He woke up one day thinking he would love to make a film about childhood, something everybody could relate to. However he did not want to pinpoint a certain time in childhood but he had one restriction which was the actors' age. As he went to write a script, an idea came to his mind. He wanted to film a bit of the film each year for 12 years with the same actors in order to follow the maturity of the characters in the most human way possible. This meant he didn't want to make a film with a plot but he wanted to make a film with an accumulation of non important moments in life that turn out to be the ones that we go on to remember. To do this the director chose the characters he wanted to build and when he cast the actors he knew he wanted the boy to be artistic and alternative so he chose Ellar Coltrane, who had two artist parents and who was natural and relatable,  to play the part of Mason. Richard describes this project as an active collaboration as it is a reflection on parenthood as well as childhood which meant all the actors were involved actively in the script and in the building of the characters which made them even more realistic and truthful.

On the down side, this film was the most unpracticle film to shoot as the production had to be homogeneous which explains the choice of recording on film to give it a non aging look. What is more, all the licences for location had to be renewed every year and the crew had to be employed every year which ended up having all the contracts rewritten yearly. Also, this project involved a huge amount of organisation which meant two years of pre-production and post-production was needed including the editing and the distribution of the film. Making the film twelve years before any actual income came in is considered a very big risk in the cinema community which shows what a work of art this is in contrast to the big blockbuster movies. They ended up making a low-budget movie on a huge budget which makes this project one of the most expensive indie movies ever. We should add that the film was critically acclaimed as it represents a reflection of everybody's lives and was even played at the Sundance festival. 

Finally we can say that the film is a one of the kind project that has made cinema history for it's inovative storyline and concept. All the actors were deeply affected by the experience as they each have a secret related to each scene they acted in as they could see their own life in their character's eyes. Boyhood is therefore a true masterpiece.