That's a Wrap!

Well, this past week was our final regular class period before the final later this week. I can't believe how quickly the classes have gone by and am so excited to see everyone's movies at the film festival this Thursday! It will be worth it to see all the hard work the different groups have put in over the past couple of months. It has been a challenging process, but I have definitely learned my fair share of knowledge about the movie-making business.

The last class period was fairly mellow. The only thing left for our group to do in order to prep our movie for the big screen was the editing process. On Thursday, Eric did help our group to finish digitizing our film onto a hard-drive so that the editing could begin. It has been several days since then and I believe that Cameron (our editor) is very talented in this area and will make our movie look more polished and professional. I am hoping to see our movie before we have to showcase it on Thursday, but it all depends on how quickly the editing process goes.

Although my group, and I'm sure others, has had its share of quarrels and obstacles, we really pulled through and were able to come up with a story and film that is chilling. But whether we can scare the audience or not is a different story. Trying to come up with a plot for our horror movie was rather difficult. I guess I never realized how hard it is to scare people with a film, especially when you are rookies with limited resources. If we do or do not scare our audience, I will survive. The fact that we pulled off this movie with no external crew members beyond our group is impressive in my eyes. I just hope that our fellow honors classmates enjoy it!

We have, in fact, reached the end. I have actually enjoyed this class more than I expected. I have always loved watching movies, but learning how they were made and the technical aspects behind film was not entirely appealing at first. But ironically, I thoroughly enjoyed this class and learning about branches of film such as editing, sound, and cinematography. The movie nights and discussions after each new film we saw were probably what I enjoyed the most. This enjoyment was simply because I was being exposed to films I have never heard of before. I truly did learn a lot about film throughout this semester; and even with all the stress, our short film and the fact that we can now say, "We did it," is all worth it.

Ready and...ACTION!

This last Thursday in class, my group met once again to discuss the plot details for our short film. We have been throwing around several storylines, but none of them seemed to stick until this Thursday. We figured out a strong plot that will be simpler to film and manipulate into a horror story. As we each contributed our ideas, everyone seemed to get more and more excited about it. We wrote out a screenplay and the different shots we need to get with each major scene.

And at the end of the class, we were able to get the camera and a blank tape, allowing us to shoot our film over the weekend. In fact, we are shooting it tonight, and I am excited to see how smoothly things go! For my group, this has not been the simplest project; but I have a feeling that with a more organized plot to follow and our newfound enthusiasm, everything will fall into place.

During class on Thursday, I went and picked up several props for our film. I hope that they will add reality and a touch of detail to our major scenes, making them more believable and frightening for the audience. Although there is not much time left, we will get this project done; and in the end, I believe it will turn into quite the short film.

The Home Stretch

Well this blog is for the class of Thursday, April 15th. I am late in posting because the blogging completely slipped my mind with all of the tests and preparation for finals week! In this class period we came together and continued to brainstorm on possibilities for our film.

We have had several obstacles on our way to creating our short film. Scheduling conflicts, loss of our main actress, and unavailable resources have caused us to change our plot and screenplay numerous times. We figured out this week that the camera will be available to us next Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to figure out the final details of our film and get our shooting done as soon as possible!

I have noticed throughout this experience that the planning in creating a short film is just as important as the filming. If the planning and scheduling is done incorrectly, other things can easily fall apart. Organization is definitely key. I feel like my group is very aware of this fact and that our film will show it!

Light at the End of the Tunnel..

So this week we met with our group and discussed different aspects of our film and the things that still need to get done. Although it was a relatively short meeting, I believe that we made some progress and are moving in a promising direction!

We had some trouble with filming in our assigned session due to scheduling, but we have decided that we are going to use the camera when it was available for pick-up shots in order to get the last amount of footage we need. Although it has been stressful trying to figure out when we can use the camera again, I am confident that everything will work out fine and we will be able to get the rest of the filming done. I am thankful that we have different positions for everyone in our group. This design evens out the work that needs to be done and allows each member to focus on their specific tasks; and come time to meet on Thursdays, it is easier to bring together everyone's progress and ideas concerning different elements of the film.

We also made some changes to our screenplay. We decided that the screenplay we had was good in its ideas, but it was not realistic to the time limit requirement and resources that were available to us. These last minute changes might put more stress on the group, but I think that in the end, it will prove to be better for the outcome of our project.

We also discussed some other last minute tasks that need to be taken care of, including the signing off on the production papers. I will go to our filming location this week and try to get the approval. I think these points just about cover what we accomplished in this past group meeting. Even though my group still has a ways to go before we can breathe sighs of relief, I think that the direction we are moving in is positive. We can only move forward from here!

Adaptation

After watching Adaptation, I can honestly say it was one of the most interesting and deep films I have ever seen. I do not want to fool you by saying this, though. Although the movie was interesting, I did not enjoy watching it in the least bit. Throughout most of it, I was disturbed and confused as to what was going on. Was his twin real or fake? What does this seemingly random scene mean? Is this or that symbolic of something? Luckily, the discussion at the end put some of these things into perspective for me.

First of all, I was surprised at how lonely and pathetic the filmmakers were able to make Nicholas Cage look. I have not seen many of his movies, but I am used to seeing him play confident and heroic roles, such as in National Treasure and The Family Man. I thought his acting was well done. I can imagine that this type of role would be difficult to play, especially since the character of Charlie Kaufman is so complex.

One of the major themes within the movie is that of adaptation (note the title). There are two meanings of adaptation expressed in the film: evolution and changing one artistic work into another. In order to better understand these definitions, it helps to know what was going on in the plot. Charlie Kaufman, a screenplay writer, is trying to write the screenplay for an award winning book. While reading the book, he loves the simplicity and reality that it expresses, but he has a difficult time making an interesting movie out of it. He does not want to change or adapt it to the screen because it would mean removing part of its truth. Although the book is a touching and realistic story, it does not have any events or happenings that would be called "exciting" by filmmakers. In other words, making the book into a film that will engage the audience is nearly impossible. Kaufman's job is to adapt the book into a screenplay, which is where the problem begins.

In the end of the film, many fast-paced events that included car chases, guns, murder, sex, and drugs plagued the screen. This last hour of jam-packed excitement paralleled to what Kaufman did when he adapted the book into a "suitable" screenplay. It shows that reality and simplicity are not always what make the best movies. Most movies are created with some sort of conflict, action, or corruption in order to keep the audience's attention. Yet the book expresses that life is not always exciting and filled with drugs, sex, and violence. Sometimes people do not act on their impulses, such as Meryl Streep's character did. Sometimes regret and disappointment are more common than having no regret or disappointment. Sometimes life is boring and unexciting. But do any of these things, although they may be true, make Blockbuster hits?

Gradually Gaining Insight...

This last class (which was about two weeks ago) is difficult for me to remember. It's always been hard for me to adjust to school and recall the things being discussed in my classes after a long break, but here it goes.

The first thing we did was watch a short film called, "The Last Summer," which was created by a graduate film student for his thesis. It was helpful to see all of the elements of the filmmaking industry we have been learning about being united on-screen. By watching this film, we were able to see how the setting, the actors, the screenplay, the script, etcetera are able to mesh and become an organized story. Each week, we do a different workshop that is focused on a different aspect of film. For example, we have done workshops on sound, editing, and cinematography. But it can sometimes be difficult to tie all of these elements together. This short film helped me to wrap my head around the fact that each part of film is intimately tied to the other parts of film. Yes, they each are constructed and work differently, but they are all vital to the end result and must fit together.

After watching and discussing this short film, we were also shown several videos. The "Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer" was very funny and emphasized how cliche and predictable many movies can be advertised in trailers. Another video was of Alfred Hitchcock discussing the importance of cinematic tension. He was telling viewers that the most important factor in film is determination; and when the plot calls for tension, it must be built up and then relieved. Otherwise, the audience will not be satisfied with the plot's delivery. After discussing these videos and answering questions, we then broke up into our individual film groups and discussed any last-minute details.

In my group, we made some important decisions on what type of lighting we should use in certain scenes. In addition, we decided where we were going to film and when our first time to film would be. We also decided to do a walkthrough of the different camera angles before filming. By walking through the set and camera angles beforehand, the actors' and other crew members' time wouldn't be wasted with a lot of standing around on film day. After making these decision, we were ready for the camera and have already begun shooting our scenes. I am excited to see what the final product will be!

A Twisted Ending

After watching The Player, I have to say that I was creeped out and unhappy with the ending. Although I am a sucker for the happy endings to prevail in movies, I was especially rooting against the anti-hero, Griffin Mill, in this particular film. In fact, this movie has a consistent theme of the movie-making business and happy versus unhappy endings. Oh, the irony.

As the movie came to a close, I found myself feeling irritated, confused, and disturbed. The discussion about the movie brought a lot of different things into perspective and gave me a little more understanding as to why the ending was how it was. The movie is focused on a movie executive whose job is to listen to an endless number of writers' pitches for possible movies. After getting several threatening postcards in the mail from an unknown writer, Griffin Mill tries to hunt down his attacker. He eventually tracks down a writer and kills him, but it turns out that the writer he kills was not his attacker; thus, the threats persist. To make this movie even more twisted, Mill falls in love with the dead writer's girlfriend. And in the end, he lives happily ever after by appeasing the angry writer and getting away with murder. The fact that he gets away with murder is what bothered me. Where is the justice? What did the innocent writer die for?

Well, maybe these questions can be answered by the director's intentions of the film and film's background. After discovering that the film fits into the genre of film noir, things began to gradually become pieced together. The music beats during the dark/disturbing parts of the movie along with the twisted ending allow this fact to make more sense. Robert Altman, the director, created a theme of the movie-making business in the film. He depicted this studio business as one that was averse to risk and shallow, screwed people over, and created empty, unrealistic movies. This last point about unreality points out another theme within this movie: the battle between reality and unreality.

One important instance in the middle of the film is when Griffin Mill hears a movie pitch from two writers who want to make a film with no big stars and an unhappy, depressing ending. The studio decides to try the movie; and at the end of the film, we see that the movie opened into theaters using Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis as main characters and instead of dying, Julia Roberts gets saved. Altman is sending the audience a message that in the movie-making business, it all comes down to the story film makers want to tell versus the story they believe that audiences will want to see. Most often, unreality is what dominates in movies. Yet the fact that Altman allowed Mill to get away with murder illustrates that in reality, unhappy endings can be just as common (if not more common) than happy ones.

Short Film Workshop

And so it begins. This past Thursday our class opened up with Eric showing a couple of short film examples. In these clips, he pointed out the importance of details that should be included in our films. From costumes to the background scenery, details should be added to a film in order to make the scenes seem more realistic. Other vital tips that Eric gave us include advertising for good actors. Actors can make or break a movie, so it is a good idea to advertise far enough in advance to cast the actors you are interested in. And probably the most important tip Eric told us is to have everything ready before shooting. By being organized with paperwork, knowing which shots go with each scene, and having your lighting and sound set up correctly, the time you spend on set will go smoothly and productively.

Although we do have a script and storyboard written, we still have a long way to go before we are ready to start filming. Our next step is to begin the production process. I thought that we already had our crew assembled, but we are missing one key member: the producer. The producer is vital to our short film project because they are responsible for getting the paperwork assembled and organizing the set. My group definitely needs to designate someone as producer as soon as possible due to the fact that we begin filming in 4 short weeks!

The second half of the class we broke up into our small groups and had a workshop, discussing ideas about our plot and the technical aspects of our film. Although we had created a storyboard and script, we decided that we needed to expand our ideas a little bit, allowing our short film to be longer in length to fit the assigned time. In addition, we decided that we needed more actors in order to expand our story. Although we have the framework of our script and storyboard, we still need to decide what to do about our lighting and the location of the film. We are gradually making progress, but I know we still have quite a ways to go before we can even think about filming. Having the genre of horror, I think that my group has a big challenge to overcome. It is hard enough to legitimately scare someone with a movie that even professional filmmakers create. And it will be that much harder for us rookies to do the same; but do not worry, we will find a way.

Brian De Palma and Blow-Out

After watching Blow-Out, I felt like it was a different experience than watching Sunset Boulevard and Singin' in the Rain. The plot was definitely slower in this movie than the other two, and the climax was not reached until the end of the movie. Although it was more gradual in its plot, I think this movie had more depth in its chosen themes and more to say to its audience.

Two of the movie's main themes were discussed at the end of class: the moviemaking business and a depiction of America. The movie follows a man, played by John Travolta, who works as a sound editor for a company that produces sleezy horror films. The studio and film business is depicted as run-down and unoriginal in its movie production. Travolta is tired of the fake elements of his career; and after being told by his boss to find more realistic sounds, he takes his gear outside to record actuality. Coincidentally, Travolta ends up recording the fatal car accident of a famous politician. But he does save a young girl from the scene and befriends her.

At this point, the audience begins to see Brian De Palma's depiction of America. Once Travolta arrives at the hospital, the police department tries to convince him to forget about the accident and keep things quiet. Rather than pursuing justice, the detectives are satisfied with covering the accident up in order to protect the politician's reputation. Unwilling to go along with the police, Travolta decides to take justice into his own hands. But in the end, the young girl who Travolta befriended gets killed during a liberty parade. This final scene is very striking because it encompasses De Palma's message about America to his audience. There was a murder occurring, yet no one else heard or saw it because they were listening to the music and enjoying the festivities. No one else heard or saw it besides Travolta because they were not looking for the truth. America, according to De Palma, can be corrupt and ignorant when it comes to actuality and the truth in our daily lives. I do not know if I would have picked up on these themes of reality and America had we not discussed them. But I am glad I did simply because it makes the movie more deep and real; rather than just telling a story, the movie taught its audience about truth and reality.

In addition, our discussion focused on the tendency for filmmakers to borrow/steal elements of cinematography from other movies and previous filmmakers. For example, we discussed how Blow-Out was a re-make of the 1966 Blow-Up. Modernly, I have seen many movies that are re-makes of older films. It is interesting to compare the two because they are not always exactly the same. And I do not know if this is notable or not, but I have always liked the original movies better than the re-makes.

Discussing how this film was a homage to Hitchcock's work, in the sense that many of the filming techniques and shots were the same, was interesting to me. It makes sense that borrowing occurs in the film world because there are only so many shots that can be done. And I never realized this until today, but by looking at other movies and the techniques that are used, we can be inspired to use some of them in our own short films. Having the genre of a horror film, this should be interesting, to say the least.

And So it Begins...

After completing these workshops of editing, cinematography, and screenwriting, I definitely feel like I have a better grip on how films work. I was excited this week to meet with my group and discuss our ideas for the short film project. This project consists of getting in a small group of about 4 to 5 people and creating a short film. But, like most projects, we have several requirements to fulfill. The film must be 3-5 minutes long and fit into a certain genre that is assigned to each group. In my group, for example, we have to construct a horror film. In addition, each group must have the items of a cheese grater, a guitar, a skull, and a mime/clown. The line, "Why is this happening to me, today of all days" is also required to be in the film. Knowing these limitations and our specified genre, my group began discussing ideas for a horror film.

I believe that our film is headed in a unique direction regarding the horror genre. I do not think it is going to be your cliche, man with a chainsaw scary movie. We discussed making it more of a psychological horror that toys with the audience's mind. (The less gore- the better, in my opinion!) In addition, we discussed making the movie with less actors. Instead of having numerous people in our movie, we thought it might be better to have fewer characters for our audience to focus on and relate to. We did not come up with many ideas, considering two of our members were not present in the class. But I can see that our group is going in a creative direction, and I am ready to start making more detailed plans!

As the director, I am not fully aware of all my responsibilities just yet, but have several ideas for our film. I think that we should use the camera not only as the audience's eye but as a first person perspective as well. I think it would make the film unique and better engage the audience. I believe that with my group, especially since a couple members are highly tech-savvy, we will be able to accomplish an entertaining and impressive short film. Since we have the technology and the people who know how to use it, our horror film should be an event to be excited about!

I believe that our ambition is to create something that is unique. Often times, I see thrillers or horror movies that are far too predictable. In this film, I want something to stand out to the audience and make them say, "Wow, I have never seen a horror movie like that before!" If a movie is unique and different, people tend to remember it more than the films with cliche plots and endings. That, I believe, is our goal. And to achieve it, I think we just need to be creative in how we approach the film-making process, using the skills taught to us in class with an open mind.

Singing in the Rain!

This fact may disgust some of you, but to be perfectly honest, until last Thursday I had never heard of Gene Kelly or the movie Singing in the Rain. I had heard positive things about this film though, so I was very excited to see it! And I am so glad I did because I enjoyed it tremendously! There are so many different aspects of this film that make it entertaining and enjoyable for the audience. From the sound and theme to the dialogue and plot, I found myself forgetting to take notes because I was so engrossed in the film.

Immediately I noticed a key theme and major element of this movie is the sound, particularly the music and musical numbers performed by the actors. This important aspect of the film is seen within the first few minutes and persists throughout the entire length of the movie. When the musical numbers were shown, the choreography and setting for the different scenes impressed me. This movie was a musical to the fullest extent, and you can see the crew's hard work with the lighting, props, music, and choreography within its musical scenes (especially the Broadway scene).

The primary theme that the film focused on was that of the film making industry and a tug of war between appearance versus reality. It somewhat reminded me of Sunset Boulevard in how its plot was centered around the crew members of Hollywood. Both movies highlight the skewed reality some people tend to have toward movie stars and the lack of glamour that is sometimes present. Yet I enjoyed Singing in the Rain much more, probably due to the fact that it is more upbeat and colorful. It conveyed this message by having the silent films mask the truth, while the introduction of sound to the film business brought in a new element of reality. The sound shattered everyone's perspective of Lina Lamont, the pretty face who became popular on the screens of silent films. It seemed amusing and ironic to me that Lina's agent would never let her speak to the public, keeping her voice from ruining her glamorous image. I see irony in this part of the movie simply because even today, our society is still concerned with the external image above all else; and not much, in this aspect, has changed.

The technical aspects of the movie, such as when sound was introduced into show-business, made me realize how far the film making industry has come. One scene, where Lina keeps forgetting to speak into the "hidden microphone" and the camera is locked in a soundproof room, shows that the cinematography equipment we use today is highly advanced. Compared to this early time period in film's history, we can now swing cameras across the top of fields during football games. It is highly impressive. I guess I just never realized how far the sound technology in films has truly come.

Overall, this movie was spectacular. It definitely goes on my list of favorite movies (which is not an easy task, by the way). I hope that I can find other classics like this film and get a chance to see them. I feel like some of the movies I see today are too predictable and hum-drum. Watching movies like Singing in the Rain entertain me while keeping me on my toes; and I think these two sensations are what crew members should strive to capture in their audience as they produce new films.

Cinematography Insight

Within this week's class session, we discussed everything from lighting to cinematography dynamics. And to be perfectly honest, I am still overwhelmed with the technical terms associated with the camera and lighting of films. All of the different methods and tools cinematographers use to capture the performances we watch every day open up an endless number of options for us rookie film students. It makes me wonder how we will be able to choose which effects to put into our short films. After watching the "Bloody Omaha" short film, which mirrored a scene from Saving Private Ryan and was created by three people, it made me realize that if you understand the dynamics of the camera, lighting, and other special effects, then you can utilize those tools to create an impressive film.

Over the past several weeks, I have noted many different effects that film makers have used and the message they want to send the audience with those effects. Among one of the first effects I was fascinated by, and many other people I am sure, was the transition in Citizen Kane that represented the passing of time. After making my short film with the assigned twenty movie clips, I used different transitions and felt like they truly made the different scenes flow and connect to one another. I feel like a transition such as the one in Citizen Kane would be a tool I would like to use in my group film project. By using such a transition, it seems that it would definitely be possible to do with editing software, but it would also allow our short film to stand out and creatively show the audience an element of the story.

Several other methods that can be used within my group film include differing types of camera shots we have studied. These shots include dolly shots, the close-up, and establishing shots. After studying several elements of photography and understanding the dynamics of the camera, I believe that these different shots could be attainable, making the film more professional. In addition, I would also want to use shots based on symbolism, such as the ones made in Sunset Boulevard. In one scene, there was a deep focus shot into Norma Desmond's house, creating a field of depth. This technique seemed powerful to me. I felt like it was both symbolic to the movie's theme and visually stimulating for the audience. If a shot like this could be made in my short film, then it would be used to symbolize a key theme in the plot or visually enhance the setting.

Other effects that could be made are those involved with the lighting. After learning about the three types of lighting (key, fill, back), it showed me that many different techniques can be made with them in order to set a mood in the movie. Whether my short film has a dark, peaceful, or terrifying mood, the lighting can be used to create the mood by casting shadows on the characters. These effects will allow the audience to experience this mood as well.

"I am big...it's the pictures that got small"

Sunset Boulevard...what a movie. I have heard of it before but never took the time to sit down and watch it. With a consistent theme of the movie business and stardom, this film projects a not so glamorous image of Hollywood. It follows a washed-up silent film star, Norma Desmond, who is desperately trying to get into the spotlight again. She uses a film writer, Joe Gillis, to make her feel wanted and young again. Yet throughout the movie, I found myself sitting there thinking that even with the fame Norma had when she was young, it was not worth losing half of your life to feelings of isolation and unimportance. Even today, as glamorous as celebrities may seem, I do not desire their lifestyle simply because it comes with far too much pressure and attention. It seems that this film was trying to show its audience that the movie-making business is not as glamorous as it seems and that actors/actresses are subject to flaws as well.

Throughout the movie, I found several things that struck me as being unique. I loved the creativity at the beginning of the movie, including the shot of the curb with "Sunset Boulevard" painted on it. Even the way that the credits were being filmed on a moving road boosted the movie's overall effect. Another part of the movie that was unique was that Joe Gillis was the narrator telling his story. By having a narrator, it makes you feel closer to Joe's character as he tells you about his tragedy and even foreshadows several events. In addition, one camera shot at the very beginning was of Joe Gillis floating in Norma's pool, but the shot was underwater, looking up at Joe Gillis' face. It is such a bold camera angle that truly grabs the audience's attention. And the fact that this shot represents the end of the film but was shown at the beginning is another creative element of the movie.

After the movie, we discussed how Sunset Boulevard falls into the genre of movies called film noir. I had never heard of this genre before, but after discussing the elements of film noir, I could gradually see how this film could fit into that category. The fact that it was a black and white film in 1950 is one reason it is part of the film noir genre. It seems that the dark lighting and lack of color add to the darkness and tragedy within the plot. Yet the sound and music was one of the best features of this film by far. The opening scenes of the movie have powerful and suspenseful music that draw you into the story. As the plot and actions of the characters thicken, so does the sound. Yet the sound and music seems to be intensified around Norma. Whether her emotions were dark or uplifted, the music hinted at her present mood. I can understand why this movie won an award for its music; it was powerful and just as much a part of the movie as its acting.

After seeing this movie, it makes me want to see other classic films. The only film that is "old" that I can say I have seen and loved is Gone With the Wind, and I would definitely be interested in increasing this list. I love modern movies, but it seems that they are lacking the classic features that films from decades ago mastered. If anyone has any suggestions as to which movies I should watch, let me know!

Behind the Camera

Medium, medium-long, long, close-up: this list of words represents a small fraction of the amount of camera shots that movie and television crews utilize in the filmmaking industry. It seems mind-boggling. And what makes these shots even more complex is that each of them is used in specific situations and scenes of films. I honestly have never thought about the job of the camera man or that he even had a very difficult job until now. Yet after learning about the different shots and when they are used, I was getting slightly mixed up with the terminology. Imagine being a camera man and having the pressure of taking the correct shots at the correct moments during filming. One incorrect camera angle could evoke the wrong experience for the audience. Needless to say, the job of the camera man is far more intricate than I have ever realized.

In addition, the short videos we watched last Thursday revealed another job behind the scenes that I have never thought much about: the editor. The footage covering the detailed work of the editors for the most recent Star Wars movies was interesting. Although the job title gives it away, I never understood just how much editing an editor would have to do in order to produce a hit film such as Star Wars. And it is not just large chunks of the movie that can be edited all at once. The editing occurs in each scene and for every camera frame that is shot. It made me realize that directors, writers, editors, and the camera crew have equally difficult jobs and no position should be valued above another.

When watching the videos about the making of Lord of the Rings, I was fascinated with the creativity behind the sound editor's job. I have always ignorantly thought that the sounds within movies can simply be made within a computer program and zapped into the film. I had no idea that sound editors had to physically travel to distant zoos or drop boulders in order to create the sounds desired for a movie. The creativity behind this type of position truly suprised me. It makes me respect the movie-making business even more now that I better understand the detailed work that film crews undergo to produce those Blockbuster hits.

Thoughts From the First Day

I have always been a fan of film. Whether I am in the company of television or movies, I have no problem spending days in front of a screen and being entirely unproductive. Growing up on Disney movies (which have been proven to be not so kid-friendly) and Nickelodeon, I have gained a love for films of all kinds and have a collection that grows every year.

Yet Thursday's class caused me to realize that film has not always been so technologically advanced. Even modernly, film itself is still developing and changing. I was excited to see Avatar and witness the ground-breaking technology that was used to make the movie. It was definitely a milestone for film. After seeing such an advanced film production, it's fascinating to think that only 100 years or so ago film was just beginning.

I find it amusing that people were intrigued by watching ordinary scenes such as the arrival of a train. As simple as such scenes were, it makes sense that people were excited by the fact that they could watch moving pictures and recordings of real life situations simply because they had never experienced it before.

After watching Neil Patrick Harris in a musical scene from How I Met Your Mother, I thought about all of the things to consider in order to create those few minutes of the show. With the music, choreography, lighting, scenery, camera angles, and additional elements to consider, the entire process of making a scene from a television show or film seems overwhelming. I now understand why the credits at the end of movies seem to be never-ending.

I believe that the metaphor stating that the camera is the audience's eye is quite accurate. The camera and its recordings allow the audience to experience a journey or situation from a different perspective. This seems to be a primary reason that many people, including myself, enjoy film so much: it allows them to experience and be a part of a story. Whether this story is realistic or not, most people are drawn to the world of film and the feelings it provokes within them.