The Masters: Philip Bloom, Part I

Philip Bloom has become an idol of mine—and a lot of other people too. He seems to have exploded onto the scene via the DSLR video phenomenon. My goal here is to see if I can deconstruct Mr. Bloom's meteoric rise to see what we can learn from him, not just as an artist, but as a new filmmaking icon. Here are my initial thoughts.

I have been following Philip Bloom's blog for almost a year now, coinciding with my rekindled interest in filmmaking. I have been following him on twitter for a few months, and on Vimeo for a couple of months as well. The guy is ridiculously prolific. I haven't seen him comment on the source of his productivity, but I think it has something to do with working non-stop. Perhaps at some point I will be lucky enough to ask him. But whether it is his films, his blog or his tweets, the guy is always posting.

I decided to go back to the beginning. I started with the first post in his archive. What I have learned is that from day 1—or at least day 1 of his blog—that:

• He knows his stuff (technical proficiency)
• He has a great eye and is a damn good filmmaker
• He is well-established (his first post mentions an upcoming project for the BBC)
• He is an engaging personality
• He is already looking for ways to shoot good looking images more efficiently and inexpensively

We will learn later what a brilliant self-marketer he is—and believe me this is not a negative; while that statement might make some cringe, self-marketing is important, especially for an artist looking to be self-sufficient.

I will continue with Part II after I do more research.