Opinion Piece: The psychology behind your films is important.
The psychology behind your films is important.
Adding more psychological depth within your filmmaking, both in the technical aspects as well as the written aspects, are important because it allows your films to become more personal. For my first year of being a college student, I’ve been placed into film classes that were heavily focused on film theory and the basic psychological effects of filmmaking. At the time, many of my fellow students had complained about as well as grudged on about how irrelevant class felt because we weren’t learning more of “how to make films” but how to think about films. What I found to be interesting about film theory is the idea that you can convey a certain feeling and emotion to your audience through the amount of psychological depth that you put into your films. [And I’m not so familiar with “professional” or “official” film terminology so bare with me as I attempt to describe them in more basic terms]. In writing, you are able to give your film life; the intro, the body, the ending, these are the basic components of storytelling. In film, you are able to give some more psychological depth to this storytelling by adding or removing dialogue, actions, and responses of the characters (or the lack of characters) in the scenes that you are drawing up (this may sound very basic and more like commonsense). Many experimental films deal with psychological impact as their concepts are drawn out mainly by their experimentation in various mediums and themes in technicalities but for experimental films like visual poetry and mixed-genres like experimental-narratives, the writing does a good job at helping the filmmaker express themselves and their thoughts to their audience.
In writing, I believe that having uniqueness is very important, things like twists and turns in your plot, unexpected or unpredictable events in your story, and even the idea of taking a common concept or theme and adding your own personal view and perspective on it is important. As filmmakers, we are constantly trying to be unique and different, we’re always trying to stand out amongst the crowd of competition, it becomes a requirement after a while: to be that brand new artist. For a visual example, imagine having a globe at the center of the room and now imagine that there are several people looking at it from different parts of the room. Everyone’s perspective on that globe is very different, even the slightest distance from you, they see that same globe from a different angle and they even either more of the globe or the less of the globe in comparison than you do. Everyone in that room is going to be drawing the same globe, but they will all be different art pieces, very unique to your own perspective. The same concept applies to stories and filmmaking. I’ve seen many student films from my first semester tackle the theme of heartbreak and a split in a relationship, all ending in the same typical, common, and ordinary way (similar to the typical romance-drama movie that everyone is familiar with). The same goes with horror films and or documentaries [and this sounds like I am now crapping on a bunch of my fellow students’ work, I assure you that I am not. A good many of them are amazing pieces, I want to be able to look deeper into the art of filmmaking.]. Though they are / may be very visually appealing and naturally, following the common concept, there is a clear audience that would be interested in watching movies / films like this, I felt a lack of personal input into them. Allow your writing to change the perspective on the audience, to have them feel a certain way about a topic, to make them think differently about a certain thing and to question their world in relation to the film that you have created.
In technicalities, psychological depth is definitely important when holding the camera. You are able to alter the way your audience sees this globe, which perspective you want them to look at. Allowing the camera and the lighting to give authority to your characters, to take it away, to divert their attention, to use colors to change their senses, etc etc, the psychology of your filmmaking is important and the theories as to why you’re doing a specific thing is relevant. When we think of filmmaking, many people see the type of camera, lighting, and or lens that you are using, but I think that it’s also important to take note of the way that you are using this equipment to tell your audience something, to make them feel a specific way. The same concept can be applied for photography as well, you are essentially trying to appeal to your audience. As an artist turned filmmaker, the rules of visual arts have helped me to look at the great works and art pieces of very famous artists in a very different way and to apply these methods of deciphering and interpretation into filmmaking. As if painting a canvas and or drawing a picture, being mindful of the decisions that you make in creating each frame in regards to the psychological effects that it has on your audience will help to allow a sense of yourself into your film pieces; you will be able to create your own style, express your own distinct perspective of that globe, and allow your audience to see that perspective which I think is the most important part of filmmaking: it’s to allow your audience to look through your lens and see the world the way that YOU see it. Being different and having a different mindset will definitely set you apart from other filmmakers.
Adding more psychological depth within your filmmaking, both in the technical aspects as well as the written aspects, are important because it allows your films to become more personal. For my first year of being a college student, I’ve been placed into film classes that were heavily focused on film theory and the basic psychological effects of filmmaking. At the time, many of my fellow students had complained about as well as grudged on about how irrelevant class felt because we weren’t learning more of “how to make films” but how to think about films. What I found to be interesting about film theory is the idea that you can convey a certain feeling and emotion to your audience through the amount of psychological depth that you put into your films. [And I’m not so familiar with “professional” or “official” film terminology so bare with me as I attempt to describe them in more basic terms]. In writing, you are able to give your film life; the intro, the body, the ending, these are the basic components of storytelling. In film, you are able to give some more psychological depth to this storytelling by adding or removing dialogue, actions, and responses of the characters (or the lack of characters) in the scenes that you are drawing up (this may sound very basic and more like commonsense). Many experimental films deal with psychological impact as their concepts are drawn out mainly by their experimentation in various mediums and themes in technicalities but for experimental films like visual poetry and mixed-genres like experimental-narratives, the writing does a good job at helping the filmmaker express themselves and their thoughts to their audience.
In writing, I believe that having uniqueness is very important, things like twists and turns in your plot, unexpected or unpredictable events in your story, and even the idea of taking a common concept or theme and adding your own personal view and perspective on it is important. As filmmakers, we are constantly trying to be unique and different, we’re always trying to stand out amongst the crowd of competition, it becomes a requirement after a while: to be that brand new artist. For a visual example, imagine having a globe at the center of the room and now imagine that there are several people looking at it from different parts of the room. Everyone’s perspective on that globe is very different, even the slightest distance from you, they see that same globe from a different angle and they even either more of the globe or the less of the globe in comparison than you do. Everyone in that room is going to be drawing the same globe, but they will all be different art pieces, very unique to your own perspective. The same concept applies to stories and filmmaking. I’ve seen many student films from my first semester tackle the theme of heartbreak and a split in a relationship, all ending in the same typical, common, and ordinary way (similar to the typical romance-drama movie that everyone is familiar with). The same goes with horror films and or documentaries [and this sounds like I am now crapping on a bunch of my fellow students’ work, I assure you that I am not. A good many of them are amazing pieces, I want to be able to look deeper into the art of filmmaking.]. Though they are / may be very visually appealing and naturally, following the common concept, there is a clear audience that would be interested in watching movies / films like this, I felt a lack of personal input into them. Allow your writing to change the perspective on the audience, to have them feel a certain way about a topic, to make them think differently about a certain thing and to question their world in relation to the film that you have created.
In technicalities, psychological depth is definitely important when holding the camera. You are able to alter the way your audience sees this globe, which perspective you want them to look at. Allowing the camera and the lighting to give authority to your characters, to take it away, to divert their attention, to use colors to change their senses, etc etc, the psychology of your filmmaking is important and the theories as to why you’re doing a specific thing is relevant. When we think of filmmaking, many people see the type of camera, lighting, and or lens that you are using, but I think that it’s also important to take note of the way that you are using this equipment to tell your audience something, to make them feel a specific way. The same concept can be applied for photography as well, you are essentially trying to appeal to your audience. As an artist turned filmmaker, the rules of visual arts have helped me to look at the great works and art pieces of very famous artists in a very different way and to apply these methods of deciphering and interpretation into filmmaking. As if painting a canvas and or drawing a picture, being mindful of the decisions that you make in creating each frame in regards to the psychological effects that it has on your audience will help to allow a sense of yourself into your film pieces; you will be able to create your own style, express your own distinct perspective of that globe, and allow your audience to see that perspective which I think is the most important part of filmmaking: it’s to allow your audience to look through your lens and see the world the way that YOU see it. Being different and having a different mindset will definitely set you apart from other filmmakers.
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