Thinking about the Art of Film

    Creating a Documentary is something that sometimes seems purely focused on the information being conveyed to an audience. When thinking about Documentaries, however, the most important point that Michael Moore makes in his 13 rules for creating documentary films, was that when creating a documentary it is important to remember why you're making a film in the first place. It's important to remember how you're presenting information, and not only on the information being presented. 

  Getting someone interested is just as important as having something interesting to say. When thinking about making my own film, it's a good reminder of what the real goal of a film should be. What will be interesting, what will be the things that draw people in? And how can I do that thinking as an artist who wants to teach people about a specific thing? When approaching issues in a more cinematic way it makes it more beautiful and interesting to learn about. 

   When looking at short films and documentaries, I was able to watch a short film that caught my attention because of the story, but also the way the artist presented it. "Twisted" a short film on http://www.shortoftheweek.com/ was a film that only needed one character to say everything it needed to. The viewer, put in the position of the main characters friends, says no words but listens and is spoken at by the main character telling a story about walking into his home to find his mother and dog, dead. In the end, we find out this story captivated a girl, and although fake, motivated the character to want to kill his mother. 

  A successful element in this film was surprise, as well as the position you're in as the viewer. When making a documentary, I'm definitely going to try to include some of these same captivating elements that made this film entertaining to watch. Although a film and not a Documentary, watching it really gave me a lot of ideas about the art and medium of film itself.