REFLECTION 7 – WHAT IS A FILM?

What makes a film different from a random edit of clips. It’s the way in which we invoke meaning in both creating it and viewing it. Or at least that’s what I think it is. We watched a lot of examples of the different ways we could make a film throughout this class, but today was a bit different. These were actually films that almost went outside the norm, the same way I think Robin would like us all to do as well.

For example if we were to make a short film about a local football club, why don’t you just show the club members only and their relationship to the team, but throughout the entire film never show the actual team. In “We are the Faithful” we witness the club supporters of FC Basel cheering and crying for their team. We witness all their pain and their joy for the game that unfolds in front of them, but we never actually see the ‘main subject’. We only see their faces, their reactions and their passion. I also noted how at the beginning we weren’t properly introduced to anything aside from these rabid fans. These people came across as very obnoxious at first, but as the film continues we see these people become vulnerable and by the end your opinion of these mindless masses changes to focus on the individual that stands there alone. I thought this shift in the way we think of the fans in this crowd is very interesting, because its easy to assume one thing, but for it to turn completely around. I think this film was a great example of what we can show in a film without having to actually show everything.