Something I’d like to build into my filmmaking practice in time for the third year of my Moving Image degree is time for reflection before presenting the ‘finished’ film to tutors and fellow students (I imagine this practice will continue but I don’t know for sure). It’s now a week since I presented House Boat Train and I have come to realise this: follow stupid rules and you get a stupid film. I based my process on John Cage’s process, but the reflection has taught me something: avoiding or distancing is like doing nothing. I was avoiding making decisions in this final project after reading the feedback on the project before in which the acting was criticised. I suppose I felt the criticism was unfair (and it wasn’t mentioned in the final critique) and it wasn’t supported with evidence of what ‘good’ acting is. I chose to distance myself from the film in order to avoid that sort of criticism. To be fair, it was a very busy time and I was feeling the pressure to make a decision on what my dissertation would be about at the same time.
This reflection has shown me something interesting about following stupid rules. I don’t like my film. It doesn’t do much but it does show me that following stupid rules is pointless in editing, and also in other areas of life so in that respect it was a success.
Anyway, here’s the film:
Oolia touching reality 