In my opinion, the most important part of being a filmmaker is a deep understanding and knowledge of film history (including the history that’s being created as we speak). I truly believe that through the courses I took in CASL at UM Dearborn, I was able to increase my base knowledge of film into an entirely new and expanded perspective, one that has instilled in me a desire to continue learning well past graduation and has informed all choices I’ve made in my career.
In a history of documentary class, I had my first real direct-something-and-show-it-to-my-peers moment. Our final project was a to make our own documentary. I remember the Professor coming up to me after class and complimenting me on the interesting perspective I had chose to shoot it, which was incredibly encouraging. This class also opened me up to documentary as a medium, something that initially didn’t interest me, but I eventually came to love and realize how it completely influenced narrative filmmaking. I also recall that it was through this class, a group of us were offered the opportunity to visit a television
World cinema is also something incredibly dear to me and the introduction to it was the German cinema classes I took. One was a history of expressionism and the other was specifically about women in Germany. Its important to not only get a perspective of what was going on in cinema in certain times in our world history, but also how countries influence and are inspired (and directly copy) each other. My professor was so incredibly passionate and knew exactly which films to choose, and her enthusiasm made me enthusiastic. I still love watching German films and think about that class.
On my short film, it was a non negotiable for me to have an all female crew. There is a terrible disparity in the
While these classes were more geared towards my field, a lot of the CASL classes I took may not have been directly about film, but helped to make me a better filmmaker and storyteller. For example, I took multiple English classes, ranging from the fairy tale to American contemporary, to British literature, to dramatic plays, to the writings of women in the Renaissance. The most essential part of filmmaking is story. Without a solid story, you cannot make a good film. These classes helped me to understand story structure. They also helped me to gain more insight into different perspectives from around the world. Hearing voices other then your own, opens your viewpoints and gives you an insatiable curiosity. Reading helps make you a better storyteller. One of the most interesting classes I ever took in the CASL program was a class about the psychology of theater. It ranged from discussing why actors make the choices they make to what goes through our heads as an audience when we watch or hear something. We also looked at the psychological concepts present in a lot of plays. It was fascinating and it has not only helped me in how I approach and interpret material, but also how I directed my actors on the set of my film. Art was a subject that I didn’t know I had a very real interest in until taking Modern Architecture and Western art at UM Dearborn. I was so passionate about it, in retrospect it should have been another minor for me. Regardless, these classes taught me about colors, shapes, and composition-all essential filmmaking concepts. While paintings, sculptures and buildings aren’t the same as digital images, they all apply the same basic principles of creation. I often go to art museums when I’m feeling uninspired. Physical art really feels like the closest tangible thing to the visual medium of cinema.