How do I create something that matters?

I like film as a medium because I feel it to be the perfect marriage of almost all other forms of art. Traditional painting or drawing translates to composition and framing, music is very obviously a major aspect of filmmaking in and of itself, along of course with the art of writing. It all comes together to form the beautiful art that is cinema. However, taking each of those separate aspects and combining them, though they may individually be of high quality, does not necessarily result in a high quality output. Most importantly, each aspect must also serve the story. What I appreciate most is when a filmmaker respects this golden rule. Now, serving the story is very different from relying on the story, something I believe to be a common pitfall among many creators. Relying on the story seems, to me at least, to disrespect the art of filmmaking. This is where I feel many documentaries fall short, when they rely too heavily on just setting up a camera and letting the subjects tell the story. Film or cinema as a form of visual storytelling is a very powerful medium, and every decision that is made should be made in an effort to enhance the story.

Every once in a while, a film or a show comes around that completely captivates and envelops an entire audience, and I believe that nearly all pieces that have this effect share a common quality. Wether it be something like Breaking Bad, or The Revenant, it is often not so hard to tell when someone’s, or most often a group of people, vision comes to life. When everything you see in the frame was put there for a deliberate reason it becomes not something that you simply watch, but rather something that you are shown. These sorts of shows or movies could also be considered “instant classics,” if you will. However, when it comes to such pieces, I do not think that they achieved that status because that was the end goal. I think, rather, that it comes as a result of something else. But what that ‘something else’ is, that is what I want to find out.

Links

1.) Embodied simulation, empathy, and social cognition. 2.) The visual in documentary. 3.) Myth of the western. 4.) Controversial Cinema. 5.) Documenting the Documentary. 6.) The synergy of film and music. 7.) Documentary Film: context and criticisms. 8.) Kubrick’s total cinema. 9.) The importance of entertainment film. 10.) Exhibiting Cinema in contemporary art.

Keywords

Film, cinema, importance, relevance, controversial, story, filmmaking, art.