leeburnett
Active member
To start with I want to say that I'm really growing to love this website. I haven't really used it that much until recently, but as filmmaking and cinematography are becoming more important to me, the conversation and advice here has become an invaluable resource for my learning, so thank you.
I recently posted a quite vague question about what kit a cinematographer should use and started to realise that I'm at a point in my film work where i need to choose a more specific route in terms of what sort of film / video I want to work on. Patryk_Rebisz posted a response with a link to John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' video series which brought up a lot of ideas I hadn't had since studying graphic design at University. Ideas about the power of images in todays culture and how our mind comes to understand and decipher what we see, how advertising alters our image of ourselves etc. etc.
These ideas are one of the reasons I wanted to pursue film more. It felt like film as a medium allowed me to express more emotion than graphic design did, or maybe I just understood film more, but either way I saw film as a way of expressing some sort of truth, moving beyond prejudice of other people and really experiencing empathy for a person. As I have been learning the techniques of what goes on behind the camera and in the editing suite I have become more fascinated with film's ability to create an imaginary place. Whether it's documentary, narrative, advertising or whatever, film really captures people's imagination and can equal far more than the sum of all its' parts.
So forgive me if I'm going back to basics 101, but I'm really interested in hearing other people's ideas and hopefully starting a discussion on this topic. There's so much talk about technical specifics and kit, which obviously is a vital part of filmmaking, but I wanted to hear why you love or hate making films and your views are on what film means in a society where 99% of people have cameras in their phones.
I'll start with the link that Robisz shared with me, to 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk
I recently posted a quite vague question about what kit a cinematographer should use and started to realise that I'm at a point in my film work where i need to choose a more specific route in terms of what sort of film / video I want to work on. Patryk_Rebisz posted a response with a link to John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' video series which brought up a lot of ideas I hadn't had since studying graphic design at University. Ideas about the power of images in todays culture and how our mind comes to understand and decipher what we see, how advertising alters our image of ourselves etc. etc.
These ideas are one of the reasons I wanted to pursue film more. It felt like film as a medium allowed me to express more emotion than graphic design did, or maybe I just understood film more, but either way I saw film as a way of expressing some sort of truth, moving beyond prejudice of other people and really experiencing empathy for a person. As I have been learning the techniques of what goes on behind the camera and in the editing suite I have become more fascinated with film's ability to create an imaginary place. Whether it's documentary, narrative, advertising or whatever, film really captures people's imagination and can equal far more than the sum of all its' parts.
So forgive me if I'm going back to basics 101, but I'm really interested in hearing other people's ideas and hopefully starting a discussion on this topic. There's so much talk about technical specifics and kit, which obviously is a vital part of filmmaking, but I wanted to hear why you love or hate making films and your views are on what film means in a society where 99% of people have cameras in their phones.
I'll start with the link that Robisz shared with me, to 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk
