As an aspiring filmmaker, the digestion of films over the lockdown period has tremendously helped me to keep inspired and to continue to learn more about the industry. In conjunction with enjoying a movie for the sake of entertainment, I too pay attention to all the attributes that make up a film. I find myself paying attention to the story structure. How the conflict is set-up, the substance of the story, the character arcs, the dialogue and many more elements of the story. I pay attention to the production design in which the characters navigate their world. I notice the subtle usage of colour which provides further detail about a character, scene or plot point. I analyse the cinematography and how the composition and movement of the camera inform me about the power dynamics of the characters. I get a kick out of the seamless editing of a really good movie and sit in awe when the soundtrack tenderly entrances me further into the world of the movie. For instance, after watching Lee Chang-Dong’s slow-burn mystery drama /Burning/ (2018), the following day was spent going through the events of the movie to piece together clues so that my understanding of the story would be deepened. My mind is encouraged to appreciate the craft of creating an intricate story with stunning visuals that leave me satisfied long after the film ended.
The credits from James Ivory’s 1985 film, ‘A Room With A View’ rolled across my laptop screen. After what felt like a draining week, I needed to be comforted and so I had resorted to watching something that would be easy on the mind. The two-hour romantic drama set both in the Italian and English countryside had been the ideal movie to spend my Sunday night. The movie had gently embraced me into a warm hug and lulled me into a peaceful slumber. For the first time, in a long time, I had finally been able to release the heavy burden that weighed upon my shoulders.
I hesitate to use the phrase, “I watch movies to escape reality.” Because that is simply false. As Robert Mckee stated in his book /Story/ “We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days.” Mckee’s sentiment about movies could not be any more impactful now that most of us are spending a majority of our time limited to our homes. With my days painted over in black and white, I desperately seek a source where I can finally allow the colour to enter the empty void. Through the medium of film, I have undertaken journey’s too vast and various realities with epic stories and dramatic characters. With each film, I was introduced to a story in which I could spend many days in contemplation after watching it. Suddenly, even in the quietest moments in my life, my brain would go back to a specific movie scene and relish in the story once again. After watching Greta Gerwig’s /Little Women/ (2019), I had a sudden urge to bake strawberry muffins. I had noticed how food played a significant role in the production design of the film and it inspired me to take some time out of my day, from the mundane routine, to fill it up with something extraordinary. After munching away on my fresh batch of strawberry muffins, I felt content with my life at that moment.
Room With A View dir. James Ivory
Burning
Lee Chang-Dong
How Movies Saved My Life
7.8.20
Little Women
dir. Greta Gerwig
The connection to story extends further than the arbitrary distraction from reality. I couldn’t put into words on how film and television had a literal impact on my body. Besides the emotional connection, after a really good story, my body would feel lighter. All the fears, anxiety and burden from the external world was halted for two and a half hours. I had pondered on how a story could have such a deep-rooted significance to me. As a matter of fact, there is a scientific explanation for human beings love of story. As Joshua Van De Blake writes in his article, /The Science of Storytelling: Why we love stories/, our levels of the hormone, the chemical, /oxytocin/, increase when a story we hear deeply resonate with us. Through hearing stories, it triggers the sensory centres in our brains. Neuroscientists at Princeton University found that when a person is told a story, the exact same areas of the brain light up on the MRI in both the storyteller and listener. The brain itself reacts as if we’re experiencing the very same story that is in front of us. Our innate human features respond positively to the story due to the connection it strikes within us. When a character advances through a story, a connection is created. /Oxytocin/ is released causing us to associate with what’s happening onscreen. Thus, we connect to the story on a profound level. That’s why people are taught, when writing a screenplay, to create a link between the audience and the protagonists. A transference of empathy has to occur so that the audience can feel the impact of the story. Thereafter a good story, in the background of my days, I would be filled with small moments of contentment.
In a time where our days have become filled with seemingly ever-increasingly bleak news, in which our sources of comfort and pleasures have been reduced. For those of us, who’ve been privileged enough, to have once enjoyed the cultural artefacts of ‘a normal life’ are now renegaded to our homes in isolation. Ironically, the outside world has become a cage where we are confined to our grocery stores and homes. Days blur into each other and before we know it, a week or a month has passed. Despite all that, the expansive and intricate worlds located in film and television have now become a plane of existence in which our imaginations are allowed to run freely without any constraint.
During my time in lockdown and social distancing, I have found that film and television have nourished my battered soul with delight, inspired my mind and eased my body.