last post!

Well I have to say I learned a lot this semester. To be completely honest, I only signed up for it because I had friends taking it, I needed a class, and because I figured if Shannon was teaching, sure why the hell not. I did not take it because I was naturally interested in experimental filmmaking. I should have known better, because I felt the same way before taking 6x1, and that ended up being one of my favorite classes. I guess what I've learned from both though is that no matter how hard I try, watching famous or not famous experimental films is just not my thing. I rarely enjoy them, and I never feel like I understand them. However, I LOVE making them. I had so much fun with the music video, and I never really thought of music videos, even the weird ones, as experimental before. I learned that experimental can mean a lot more than Roger Bebe and Brakhage, that it can cover a lot of more mainstream entertainment as well, such as Aaron Valdez. This class really opened my eyes to different areas of experimental, and how it may fit into my own work as well.

I learned that as a filmmaker myself, I don't want to make pure documentaries. I really like that I have built up skills that enable me to be able to make documentaries that have experimental twists to them to add flavor and style. I still want to lean farther to the documentary side, but I don't want them to be plain and boring, and I now feel that I can avoid that pretty well. I think I learned more about the experimental community and the different levels of that community. I also learned a lot about the experimental community at UNCW. I was amazed that I could walk into a Silva class as a senior and not know at least half of the kids in it. It was great to be able to work with everyone and get to know people that I would never have met otherwise. I learned that experimental especially is all about helping others out whenever you can, because with as little money as most experimental filmmakers have, it is always good to rub someones back in hope of getting a back rub of your own in the future.