What Do I Know?
Not much.
But, as far as my essential question is concerned (and my essential question is: how can we talk about, and understand, film?) I know a little. Throughout the past week, Kamara and I have talked about 5 wildly different films, and we’ve talked about, and understood them (in a sense), in wildly different ways. Some of the films, like Akira, are just begging to be watched again and again if only to be fully understood. Other films, like Cinderella (1922), don’t ever need to be watched again. The essential question isn’t necessarily one that I can fully know about/can fully answer. The only way I can know my question is to keep watching films and to keep dissecting and analyzing and talking about films. Every film will be understood differently by different people, and I think knowing that is a huge part of watching and talking about film: there isn’t one way to appreciate or understand a film. This topic matters to me because I want to make movies in the near-future and knowing what makes a movie tick/what makes me feel emotionally involved in a film will help me create better films. If I know what I like, and understand why I like it, I can go out and create things that other people will (hopefully) like. The main understanding that I’m bringing with me into this process is just my love of film and my many hours spent talking about them. Hopefully, throughout Senior Project, I’ll get better and better at talking about film. The outside source (criticism by Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael) has helped me understand that there are wildly different ways a film can be interpreted. They’ve also helped expand my views on how a film can be watched/judged and have helped me watch a more diverse group of films.
What don’t I know?
Most things.
It’s important for me to find out more about my topic because I want to be able to have better conversations about film, conversations that go deeper than just shot type and pretty colors. I want to be able to articulate why a movie touched me so deeply or why it was absolutely horrible and disgusting. The only way to gain this ability is by just continuing my analysis of film with Kamara (and reading more criticism). The main area of inquiry, I think, that needs to be explored is just watching more films, not necessarily mainstream films that immediately come to mind, and discussing them and exploring their worlds. Watching films from different countries with different perspectives will help broaden my mind as far as understanding film goes and will help me get closer to finding an answer to the essential question. The other questions that lie underneath our essential question is: Why does a film work the way it does? How can someone take a camera, some words, and a microphone and make a person laugh, cry, or anything else?