I Love It, and That’s the Beginning and End of Everything.
The drowsy jazz, the old smoking pipe and dimly-lit bars in old films, never fail to fascinate me. On a normal summer evening in 2008, father brought home some classic film DVDs he purchased in the night market. It turned out those old-fashioned DVDs companied me for the rest of that summer and opened up a brand-new world to me.
Gradually, my attention switched from those fancy frames and scenes to actors and actresses, whose passion for acting is a rare thing today. I started to watch as many films as I could find. When I first saw the face of Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain and the light shining in his eyes, his pure concentration on acting immediately struck me and I marveled at hi well-rounded portrayal of diverse roles. These legendary figures teach me about the commitment towards your lifelong career. Stephen Chow, Marlon Brando, and Charlie Chaplin have imperceptibly become part of my life.
I used to believe that it is common for people to get immersed in their interests and share them with others. I talked a lot about movies and photography with people around me, but their feedbacks were not as I had expected: friends around my age just cared about Hollywood blockbusters; some grown-ups even took it as a time-consuming obsession that might influence my academic performance in school. It is immensely depressing to find no resonance. Fortunately, my parents always stand behind me: “The way people interpret beautiful things and the world are different. Embrace the difference and just focus on whatever way you enjoy doing it.”
Driven by their encouragement and my eagerness for getting more academic exposure to filming, last summer I attended the Film-Television Summer Program at UCLA, where my favorite director Francis Ford Coppola got his Ph.D. degree. It was like a pilgrimage experience since Hollywood, the holy kingdom of filming, lies not far away and I really enjoyed the life there: We admired trailers and short videos from classics; We also had weekly discussions on typical strategies in films. I learned that the whole development of film and photography actually encompasses many more unseen aspects engaged such as industrial development, new coming-up technology, and much I had yet to discover. In his last class, Professor stated something that left me a long reflection: “Step out of the film and go read extensively, and you will understand them better.”
Inspired by the experience at UCLA, upon returning to China, I started to read and write film reviews on forums and founded an online group to explore more about films, the directors and their backgrounds. I feel really satisfied when seeing my fans give the thumb-ups online. I wrote more and shared with others to find out something unique beyond simply appreciating a movie. Also, I set up a film club in my community for young children to learn more about film and filmmaking once a week, where I stay with those children and watch films together. The first movie was The Little Prince because I want them to feel pure love in the story that has always touched me. It turned out to be the perfect choice for young children to start their movie adventure. Weeks later, my club activity became a hit in our community. Under such encouragement, later my online reading club and personal homepage for filming and reading were soon put into use and attracted more followers with each passing day.
The film, a modern art form of vision and audio living on the big screen, teaches me how to live my real life and guides me to fearlessly explore into the future.
