The independent film movement of the 1990’s allowed for a range of young, hungry filmmakers to move to a forefront which many directors nary got a chance to experience in the past. Yearning for voices which were "out of the box” in story, dialogue and acting, these indie flicks began to span beyond just arthouse cinema. Creatives didn’t always have to rely on big studio backing to get their projects off the ground. Often rough and raw, the films and their visionary maestros orchestrated their ideas into small budget foundations as a calling card for future endeavors. Gumption and innovation to bring non-Hollywood concepts to the screen on a shoestring budget helped to shape new ways of making movies rather than waiting for a big break to find
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An everyman with a knowledge of film, Smith bridged that gap for many moviegoers who may never have imagined stepping foot in an arthouse theater to see a little known film. Scripting lowbrow humor with highbrow dialogue, Smith made his first foray with the micro-budgeted Clerks in 1994, a raunchy buddy comedy about life behind the counter of adjoined convince/video stores. Pulling from his own experience as a clerk, this day in the life journey took a simple narrative concept and sculpted it into an outlandish farce of everyday life at a menial …show more content…
Often basing (or at least referencing) his cinematic misadventures in his hometown, Smith pulls from his roots, sometimes lampooning the life he led there. But his creative muse actually spawned after a trip to Manhattan where he saw Richard Linklater’s Slacker (1991) on his 21st birthday.
Realizing story can outweigh budget, he enrolled in the Vancouver Film School, a venture which lasted a mere four months, but introduced him to friends and fellow creatives, Scott Mosier and Dave Klein, both of whom help to create Clerks. Maxing out a slew of credit cards, borrowing from family and selling his beloved comic books, the total spent on the entire production was $27,575. Assisted by local talent, friends and family as both crew and performers, Smith worked all day and shot all night using his workplace as the set.
Clerks tells is the bawdy tale of two friends dealing with getting older, relationships, living in the past and what lies ahead told through pop movie references, dirty jokes and eccentric characters. The film revolves around Dante Hicks, a self-loather who sees the glass half empty. Clerking at Quick Stop Convenience Store, he dreams of more but holds himself back even with prodding by his girlfriend Veronica to get back in
An everyman with a knowledge of film, Smith bridged that gap for many moviegoers who may never have imagined stepping foot in an arthouse theater to see a little known film. Scripting lowbrow humor with highbrow dialogue, Smith made his first foray with the micro-budgeted Clerks in 1994, a raunchy buddy comedy about life behind the counter of adjoined convince/video stores. Pulling from his own experience as a clerk, this day in the life journey took a simple narrative concept and sculpted it into an outlandish farce of everyday life at a menial …show more content…
Often basing (or at least referencing) his cinematic misadventures in his hometown, Smith pulls from his roots, sometimes lampooning the life he led there. But his creative muse actually spawned after a trip to Manhattan where he saw Richard Linklater’s Slacker (1991) on his 21st birthday.
Realizing story can outweigh budget, he enrolled in the Vancouver Film School, a venture which lasted a mere four months, but introduced him to friends and fellow creatives, Scott Mosier and Dave Klein, both of whom help to create Clerks. Maxing out a slew of credit cards, borrowing from family and selling his beloved comic books, the total spent on the entire production was $27,575. Assisted by local talent, friends and family as both crew and performers, Smith worked all day and shot all night using his workplace as the set.
Clerks tells is the bawdy tale of two friends dealing with getting older, relationships, living in the past and what lies ahead told through pop movie references, dirty jokes and eccentric characters. The film revolves around Dante Hicks, a self-loather who sees the glass half empty. Clerking at Quick Stop Convenience Store, he dreams of more but holds himself back even with prodding by his girlfriend Veronica to get back in