Final Class Reflection

soooo this semester did not start off great. I think I mentioned this before, but I spent my whole first year here hating UNCW and hating film studies because I really didn't have close friends with whom to share my love of film. I spent every minute of every class just wanting to be home already. But when I started this class, I immediately liked almost everyone and could instantly sense a strong sense of community amongst everyone (after all, we all really wanted to be there; why else would we have willingly taken a class on experimental film?). As we began doing the projects, I started to actually look forward to class meetings and working on the assignments. Then, when my group and I went downtown to shoot for Assignment 1C, as I pointed the Pentax camera at a glowing American Spirits sign at a corner shop, I had a realization: I was having fun.

Fun?? Film had not been fun to me since before I'd started in the program. Yet here I was, laughing and having the best time ever while working on a project for a film class.

I've learned so much in this class, but maybe not in the traditional sense. I mean, yes, I've learned more information about experimental filmmakers than my brain can possibly contain; I learned about how to shoot on film and use light meters; I learned how to use a ton of different effects in Premiere (thanks Briese); I learned how to throw a damn art installation. But I also learned how to come out of my shell more, how to be more confident in myself and my talent as a filmmaker, and how to have fun doing so. It sounds so cheesy, but this class (along with several other personal little life changes) has completely altered my outlook on film studies, on my future career, and on my life itself. I honestly feel like a different person than I was when I began this semester; slowly but surely, I am becoming the person I really want to be. I like it.

So thank you experimental film, thank you FST 302-003, thank you Shannon, for generally just making me a better person overall. I loved experimental film before I took this class, but now it has a whole new meaning to me. And thanks to Window Water Baby Moving, I now have the coolest video to show any time my friends and I don't know what to watch. Viva experimental!!