Journal 1 - Week of Jan 22

Well for the first week we have watched some interesting films. The first one we watched was "So Is This" by the filmmaker Michael Snow. This film is unique to say the least. I was not a big fan of this film, not because it was a silent black and white film, but because his point of view was so redundant and he tried to enforce over and over again. There were some points of comedic relief that was a nice break from his boring film. But on the other side I couldn't take my eyes away from what he was spelling out, so maybe he is brilliant. I found what he had to say interesting, but the way he brought it across the screen for his audience was annoying to me. I hate to be brash, but that is how I feel. One part I really liked in the film was when he asked us to sing together in our heads and actually spelled out the notes and keys for us. Because in reality everyone in their heads are reading and actually singing to themselves making it a silent sing a long. If you would ask people to sing that out loud together I bet you wouldn't get even half the people in lecture to sing.
The next film we watched was "There There Square" by filmmaker Jackie Goss. This was a shorter film that had color, but was still silent. It centered itself around a map of the United States. It would cut in and out of the map giving us history of the places it would key in on. The map would also transform and change colors. I thought this film was interesting because it gave me knowledge about history I did not know about. Also it was short enough to keep my attention long enough not to get distracted like the first film. These films were the first silent word films I have never seen before and I would have to say I wasn't that intrigued.