Ben Bonham FST 302

Stan and Christian did wonderful jobs on their presentations today.   It is very inspiring learning about all of these amazing experimental filmmakers. Christian made a great point today about her subject, George Kucher.   She said that George talked about how he always has footage to work with because he has so many unfinished projects.   I think this can apply to a lot of people; we just have to always push ourselves to finish them.   Learning about Stan’s subject, Stan Brokhage, was also inspiring.   Stan Brokhage was a very intimate filmmaker, which reminded me the power of cinema.   It can reach the deepest depths of person’s soul and sometimes ITS PUBLIC! Having something so personal and to be public is extremely risky in my opinion but it is hard to say why it feels that way for me.   Stan Hankins said that Stan Brokhage did not mind one bit about having public personal films and actually wanted to make more of them.   “Shockingly” his wif...

Shooting on Film is awesome! I can only say that because I have done it now.  Throughout my filmmaking career, I have only ever shot on digital video.  I always knew shooting on film was a whole lot different but now I truly understand what is so different about it.  It is more of an appreciation of the way film came about and it evokes a certain way of thinking.  It was awesome because when my group and I were downtown Wilmington, an old man came up and saw that we were using film and told us to be very selective. To experience the feeling of having a roll of film that cannot be deleted and is permanently altering the picture was rather enlightening. Before digital technology, movies had to be shot on film. Film is where it all started, so in order to understand the movie making industry and process, film is an important concept to understand.  Maybe one day we will have another type of medium to shoot movies with. Who knows.

Week ones presentations went great! I’ll start with Matt. Matt’s presentation on Jonas Mekas was fantastic. I know I have learned about Mekas in the past but now I understand. He is the “Godfather of Avant Gard.” Meaning, he started the movement! I think… But Mekas seems like he did a lot of really awesome stuff and its amazing he is still doing work today being as old as he is.   It was also neat learning Mekas did the Anthology Film Archives involving Harry Smith.   I also appreciate his love for filming as I wish I filmed my life as much as he filmed his own. Melody Faith’s presentation on Viking Eggeling and Hans Richter was great as well. She did a good job of explaining how they got into art and film.   German Art, Music, and Film has always intrigued me.   It is unfortunate Viking died so young. It also made me think about looking more into war film considering the cameras were military issued. I have always wanted to get more into political art and f...