The Player

Last week in class we screened the motion picture, The Player, from the early 1990s. Prior to class, I’d never heard of the film, so I didn’t really know what to expect going in. The opening scene was one memorable continuous shot. Because I didn’t really know what was going on in the shot and the content was kind of cluttered and random, I found myself focusing on the film making aspects used. I think that the director of this motion picture definitely pulled out all the stops when it comes to film making techniques. The dramatic close ups of the main actor are some of the most captivating I’ve seen.
The wide shots and odd shooting angles helped make each scene unique from the last. I just kind of sit there wondering what would come next.

I enjoy the way that the director uses his particular art media to point out and illustrate his views of the world. What other reason is there to produce art? If you’re not infusing your creation with some small portion of yourself to share with the world, you’re pretty much wasting your time. I may not agree with his cynical approach but you can’t argue with its effectiveness. Not many people can say that they came away from the screening Thursday without taking a moment to reconsider the way our culture functions. The corruption portrayed in this film focused on writers and small sections of the motion picture industry, but they are not unique to those areas. We inhabit a despicable world. If justice, fairness, equality, or and other moral I can name actually extended past the words on my page and meant something today, the world wouldn’t be such a harsh place. We live in the world’s greatest society and we’re still bombarded with images of people struggling and going without. America, the land where dreams come true, chews people up and spits them out. We really don’t have a chance.

The closer we get to kicking off our film making projects, the more I find myself scrutinizing film and television clips for their shooting styles. There seem to be endless possibilities for setting up and capturing any particular scene. I love the fact that the exact same, well developed screenplay will turn out unique from one director to the next based on their personalities. Our most undiscovered and subconscious character traits are illustrated in the art we create. Perhaps, when this semester is over and I look back on the film we turn in, I will be able to discover some aspect of myself that has gone unnoticed. Perhaps I’ve stumbled upon the real meaning of the project. Am I supposed to be learning something about myself? Is there some aspect of my psyche that’s been left overturned? I’ve reached the point in my life that all people struggle with at some time or another. I’ve really found myself struggling to keep going this semester. I don’t know what it is about the collegiate situation that bothers me so much, but I don’t believe that life is supposed to be a routine. I’ll never be okay with laying down to sleep and knowing that I’m going to wake up tomorrow and have to do the exact same thing that I did today. I hope that the week spent behind the lens of a camera will open my eyes to the world. I strive to find my niche. Where do I belong? Where am I meant to be?