The rough theater to me

The idea of a rough theater is a fascinating one. What engrosses people in cinema? Is it the imagery? 

Well to be honest, it’s probably the combination of multiple things working together to create the film – almost like a technological mise-en-scene. However, for me, there are certain elements that need to stick out to fully engross me into a film.

Sound design – whether it be dead silence, a soft thought-provoking piano piece, or hard rock music, sound is what can envelop a person into a scene from the first frame and keep them until the final one. Sound is so important in this way, especially music, with it’s ability to connect with our minds on an emotionally crazed level.

A weird one I always think of as well is typography. Are the fonts of the opening credits and title in tune with the tone of the film? I know it sounds weird, but take Interstellar for example, it has a very definitive typography. And the spacing between the letters is larger, making it easier to read and super cool looking. Now had the film used times new roman or something like that, it would have lost some of it’s impact on when it appears. I’m really picky about how fonts should be used in film. They have to be perfect.

Those are just two of the things that get to me, and it’s crazy to think that that notion of a rough theater is subjective to everyone, allowing for infinite possibilities. 

Responding to the Bolex shoot

The Bolex long take was quite the intimidating shoot. Our group had a cool idea, not super complicated, but still tricky. We had to get the blocking down perfectly so that our one take was not wasted or ruined. And that’s what got me – we only had one chance for perfection. It’s such a daunting task. Growing up with digital video cameras made takes seem somewhat obsolete considering that you can do as many as you like and it not cost extra money or supplies. But working with film stock, which my first time ever doing so was in this class, brought a whole new perspective to film for me, and a whole new respect for filmmakers. Shooting on film is much more intimidating, as you want to have the least amount of takes possible to capture a great scene, so directing, blocking, etc. become much more crucial to each take. With only having one take at our disposal, rehearsal became a huge part of production when most students probably dismiss it and just wing it on the first few takes. When we got around to actually filming, I was quite nervous. I didn’t want anything to mess up and fail at our one chance and that be it. Luckily, it seemed to come out pretty cool other than a few minor hiccups. I can’t imagine what going through an entire feature’s worth of film stock on production would be like. 

Whoa.