“A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s bending the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later“
– Stanley Kubrik –
Introduction
Every storytelling medium has its obsessed fanbase. This includes: Writers who spend every waking second figuring out the best ending for their book. Musicians who seek to touch people’s souls with a unique melody. And the photographer who wants to help us see the world through a different lens.
To me, it would seem there is a unique obsession among the fanbase that loves filmmaking. There is a reverence for film from the fanbase itself that is unparalleled. Why is that? Probably because film is a collaboration of every storytelling medium there is.
crafting a film
The crafting of a film is not quite like any other art form. Tweaking the lighting, softening the music, and playing around with the editing can make a scene have a completely different meaning from what was originally intended. It’s like a puzzle. You have to assemble everything in just the right way to get the idea across.
The process for filmmaking is extremely experimental. A screenwriter may put something down on paper, but what they have written will develop into something else by the time it reaches the screen. While the script sets the foundation for an idea, the film will have to adapt once the other art forms begin being integrating with it.
teamwork
Film requires there to be a leader at the helm, a director. They tend to be a jack-of-all-trades and know a just enough about everything to conduct the crew appropriately. Underneath the director are the specialists who know how to bring the vision to life through their craft.
Immense team work is required to complete a film. This is perhaps another reason why people treat it with such reverence. Other storytelling mediums do often have large teams that contribute, but film casts such a wide net to bring the best-of-the-best in all areas of storytelling in to contribute.
A young art-form
One of the most exciting things about film is that it’s one of the younger storytelling mediums. It’s only been around for about a century. Most of the other mediums have existed for a much longer time. What does this mean for film? It means we’re only at the beginning of understanding what it is capable of. It’s an extremely experimental art-form. People are pushing the envelope of how they can use film specifically as a medium to tell a story. With the advancement of technology, we’ve seen incredible leaps of what we’re capable of conveying on the screen.
It is of my opinion, that if you are going to tell a story through a particular medium, you need to be intentional about why that medium works best for the story you are telling. Film is an incredibly immersive experience. One should be taking advantage of the visuals or the music or the editing to tell their story. It feels like a waste if a story is told through film for no specific reason. Many people tell a story through film simply because it’s easy entertainment and money. This trap isn’t just exclusive to the filmmaking medium; however it does feel especially egregious to me because the medium of film is still so young. There’s abundant new opportunities to use it to tell powerful stories. Too often people don’t want to put in the work to discover its potential.
Conclusion
All that to say, it seems most people don’t really appreciate what film is and everything that goes into it. It’s a celebration of all the arts in a single package that can inspire us and move us. It draws us in through immersion. True film enthusiasts know this, which is why they are so passionate about it. They see the potential in it that the general public doesn’t see, and they get excited. There are stories still to be told through film that will surprise us. But how do encourage this in our filmmakers? We, as the audience, have to understand and revere film for what it is.
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