In class on Thursday we talked about the history of film. Film has evolved so much since it’s beginnings and has become an art of innovation. I’ve never thought about film from this perspective; actually, I’ve never given much thought to film at all. Sure, I like going to the movies every once in a while, but I know nothing about the art of filmmaking. I can’t even remember the actors’ names the moment I step out of the theater, much less recognize the use of lighting. Due to my ignorance with regards to the film world, I keep wondering what it would be like to watch a motion picture for the first time. Would I have been the one who screamed and ran out of the theater when a moving train appeared on the screen? I’d like to think not, but I probably would have gotten motion sickness.
I found it interesting to think about what film was “like” when it first came to be. I’ve never thought to compare it to anything because film is just film to me. But when film got its start about a hundred or so years ago people needed something to compare it to. To them it was a moving photo, it was theater, and it was real life. Now I feel that movies are nothing like any of these things. It has changed so much over the years. Now film is not like a photo at all. The things we see in movies are not things we can take pictures of in our everyday lives. In fact, the movie plots we see almost never happen in our day-to-day life. If film was a depiction of real life then I doubt anyone would care to see it. Why pay to see something you can live for free everyday? And film is definitely not theater. We are no longer the distant audience; instead, we are a part of the action. The fact that film has changed this much since it first began is quite astonishing.
I hope through this class I can expand my knowledge of film. The activity we did at the end of class forced me to realize how difficult it can be to pick a subject worth filming while taking into account framing, lighting, and the other endless aspects of filmmaking. By the end of the course maybe I’ll be able to understand these aspects and put them into action. I feel that this course will challenge me in ways that I have not been challenged before, as well as, force me out of my comfort zone.
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Not only will we understand these things, we will put them into action and make a short film!!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how much film has changed. It's pretty much impossible to compare some of the computer-generated movies to simple black and white photographs of generations past. I'd like to think it's a good thing that film is evolving in so many ways, but because it's changed so much, I feel like we often forget how cool the simple things can be. Can you imagine if we were truly amazed by the clip of people exiting the train?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, film is now a metaphor we can apply to other things (including our lives)! Thanks for these reflections!
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