i have blogger's block...

which is unfortunate, considering i have about an hour before the deadline.

Let's see...

I guess I'll write about the Film Festival--get my bonus points...

In the first film, Still Roommates, I noticed a few things that I would have missed, had I not taken this class. First of all, I noticed the use of the 180 degree plane in the dialogue between the two actors. The filmmaker also made good use of close up shots to emphasize the characters' feelings of disappointment, frustration, etc.

The film She is Sister also made use of close up shots. I think these shots had a different effect than the close ups in Still Roommates. Instead of revealing the emotion of the character, I think the close ups of Sister evoked emotion from the viewer. I'm not sure why, or what the difference was... hmm.

Also, on a more personal note, I noticed that I found more enjoyment in the films that were purely entertaining than I did in the ones that were trying to communicate some deeper message. I think that's partially due to a misconception I have that movies=entertainment. I don't explicitly believe this, but I think it is an underlying expectation that I have. When I sit down to watch a movie, I expect to enjoy it--not to be challenged by it. Not that I can't enjoy something AND be challenged by it. I don't know... I just found myself wondering if the films I liked more were actually better, or if they were just more entertaining. And of course, an important aspect of any film is that it captures the attention of the viewer. So maybe the films that I didn't enjoy as much were lacking in some way artistically, despite their good message?

wow. Did that make any sense? I'll stop rambling now.

One of the biggest things I've learned as a result of this course is that everything is so much more complex than I even realize!