Student Writing: Cinema – the state of the art

In his article Geunes states, “The joy of thinking creating, and assembling images and sounds that mean something is your entire reward. For when it is all over, you can look back at the project in amazement: ‘God! I made a film! I did it! My film!’ you can be proud.” By saying this, Geunes talks about the fact that if a filmmaker can create a film that means something and that represents who they are, how they feel and shows their love or dedication for what they created then that mere process of creating the film and the gratification and pleasure that is obtained from creating the film is the reward in its purest form. The fact that the filmmaker has created something that represents their original thoughts, ideas and feelings and can call it theirs is what makes the end result of making a film so great. I do think however that Geunes’ quote about gaining pride about creating your own film or project holds true for all films but is less directly referencing the Star Wars fan videos that have been created and placed on the internet in the past few years.  I think that gaining this full pride and respect has a lot to do with creating something that is the entire creation of the artist. That is genuine in showing and speaking the artist’s feelings, emotions and ideas, not someone else’s. By creating something new and original the artist is creating an art form and sharing a piece of themselves instead of creating a “stimuli” (pg 30) in which masses will watch but are not necessarily touched or given insight into the artist’s feelings or ideas. By creating a Star Wars mock video or something else along those lines, it’s almost like creating a product or something which is entertaining to watch but not necessarily memorable or special. If so many other people have access to creating a video using Star Wars clips, ideas and sounds then there is nothing that can truly set the videos apart and nothing for the artist to claim as their own and hold full pride in creating.
After reading “Cinema: ‘The State of the Art’”, it has made me feel more strongly about the fact that a filmmaker should strive to create something that shows their views and feelings in their work. Even if the work does not blatantly show exactly how they are feeling, it should have some genuine form that underneath everything sets the film apart from other films because of the original choices made by the filmmaker, one should be able to sense a feeling of dedication or pride that went in to making the film. It should not feel like a project but feel like a piece of the artist, in a way that clearly shows that the artist but a lot of themselves emotionally into the piece but also a lot of work and time into creating what they pieced together. A film should be as much from the filmmaker as a painting or any other art form is connected to the artist. Geunes’ article has made me want to try to create work that is original in content and expresses my experiences and thoughts as opposed to others experiences and thoughts. My experiences might be similar to others, but in some ways there will be clear differences. I don’t feel a desire to create something that uses others ideas or images, I feel compelled to take on the challenge of creating something that is solely mine. Although it might include an idea similar to someone else’s that will be for strictly reason of relation and the fact that I have been impacted by that idea or experienced that thought or idea for myself.