How Going To Film School RUINED Watching TV Forever!!

I studied Cinema at University with the naive assumption that I was going to not only understand what makes a movie great (technically), but get the opportunity to see full length "classics" I've never seen before. Art has always been about sound or colors for me - film combines these elements and adds even more!

I did watch A LOT of movies and shorts. It got pretty boring when we started watching Hungarian productions (with subtitles). One movie in particular feature a single shot that lasted almost 20 minutes. It may have been a wonderful film about revolution - but I certainly didn't appreciate it as a form of entertainment. Every genre and culture have different motifs - but regardless of nationality - the techniques used in film production are available to almost everyone (cost being the only thing in the way).

How did this ruin watching TV?

Shot Over Shot

Shot over shot or over shoulder shot is how Hollywood (and others) do scenes with dialogue. It allows actors to be filmed saying their lines without any other actor being there.

This is accomplished by using a bunch of lookalikes to play the back of the head or the shaded side of the face or any scene where you don't see the actor dead on. This is similar to how stunt doubles are used except much more disturbing.

I judge a production by the number of times you see actors together on screen in the same shot. If you watch a big production with a lot of "expensive" actors - count how many times you see the big stars of the movie together in the same shot - you will be surprised to note that they are almost never together in the same shot - and most of the movie is filmed separately by the main character and cobbled together in editing.

On TV we see shot over shot all the time in most popular shows. If you are watching a sit-com like "Big Bang Theory" - you will notice that all the characters interact with each other in each shot and you can be sure they are actually acting on the same set. I wouldnt say a sit-com is the best genre because of this - but having actors on screen together more in movies like "Birdman" elevate a good film to great film.

Next time you watch film or TV - try to count how man "shots" there are over the span of a minute - don't be surprised if there are 30 or more.

Most film and television is designed to make the most money by spending the least. Any production that relies heavily on big name actors who aren't on set gets shut off pretty quickly by me. Its one thing to know that an actor is talking on the phone to "nobody" - its a whole other thing when you never see two main characters (or more) actually meet in one scene.

Studying film changed the way I think about it - pulled back the curtain and exposed the "magic". The downside is - I will never be able to enjoy a "blockbuster" again. The upside is - I appreciate good art even more - even if it is hard to find.