What is a film?

Ever hear the old adage ‘misery loves company’? I can’t think of a better example than writer’s conferences which have proliferated in the past decade.  Pick a state and you can find a conference where professional and beginning writers band together and obsess about writing, not writing, thinking about writing, what makes a good story, what makes a bad story, what do audiences want, etc.

Apparently this is not the case with independent filmmakers (hence the term independent one could add).  I wish there was such a foundation for independent filmmakers who could then explore topics such as “What is the definition of a film?”

At this point, I have seen my fair share of independent films and I do know that there are guys (and gals) with cameras who do not know what a film is. While I do not expect to personally love every movie I see at a film festival, I do expect to see a movie.

When I shell out my cash to see a movie that is exactly what I want to see. A movie is not a collection of “stuff” sandwiched together in consecutive frames.  A movie tells a story and the toolkit for assembly, good, bad, or otherwise, still requires a plot. The definition of a plot, according the Free Online Dictionary, is a sequence of events. A sequence of events has a purpose. My personal definition of purpose is the intent to tell a good story. Beyond that, the answer to what makes a good movie is entirely subjective. Thank God.

~Peace,

Tina