Tradition In Film

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Tradition In Film

Film is one of the most influential (and most influenced) mediums in existence. Films have fuelled the fires of war and have been the dove of peace. They can show the complexity of human emotion and let us better understand each other and ourselves. They can turn back time and show us places we have never been and can never go. They can show us the fantastic and the horrible, the grotesque and the magnificent. They allow us to see truth, lies, and everything in-between. They are a universal language.

Since its creation and first practical use in the early 1900’s, to its steady rise in popularity with the advent of “talkies” in the 1920’s, to the present day and rise of internet video, film has been a staple of pop culture and human identity. Throughout the years, though the equipment has changed drastically, the basic storytelling techniques of even the earliest films are still commonly used. “Parallel-action” shots, first notably used by D.W. Griffith (director of the classic Birth of a Nation) are used in countless films. The shot consists of nothing more than the inter-cutting of views between two or more actions occurring in different places, simultaneously. Films throughout history have consisted of simple shots such as “close-ups” and “pans” as well as more distinctive ones such as the director of the Evil Dead trilogy and the Spiderman series, Sam Raimi’s, lightning-fast first person camera work, which is a staple of his films. Tradition in cinema is inescapable. It is the duty of the new filmmaker to attempt to innovate and build upon existing traditions.

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As an amateur filmmaker and lover of cinema, I want to make my own contribution to the world through film. In doing this I hope to not only bring a unique perspective to directing and make movies I would like to see, but to also pay homage to my idols and share my vision with the world. I have found that the directors I have most in common with are the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Sam Raimi, and Tim Burton. They are a few of my many favorite directors and have a few things in common that I have noticed ...

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