If we go to dictionary.com, we get several views on this word. Here’s one that’s particularly appropriate to film: “a visible scene, esp. one extending to a distance; vista.” What is film, but visible scenes, strung together? We’re all fairly familiar now with the idea of individual frames of film, individual pictures shown to the human eye, one after the other, many times per second. Even digital video, which doesn’t truly exist as different frames of film, is presented to the human eye in this fashion. In order to represent movement, we parse it out into thousands of individual, static pictures, each with its own perspective.

In film, we must choose our perspectives wisely. There are so many factors to consider! Cost of the shot, availability of the actors at a certain time and place, the amount of time the shot will take, the artistic merit of the shot, and whether or not it will make any bloody sense in the overall context of the film, just to name a few. And the choice of visual perspective for a particular shot in a film is based entirely on the perspective of the people working on that film. From the writing of the script to the editing of the final cut, the entire film is based on choices we make.

And while there must be (I believe) a director or directors for the film, someone to guide it and have the largest “perspective” on it, I also believe that each person who works on the project, no matter at what level, must be allowed, somehow, to bring a certain amount of their own artistic perspective to bear.

We’re trying to make art, after all, and if I’m your director, I see you as an artist – at least potentially. It takes all our perspectives, collectively, to make this world we’ve created and that we continue to create. We all have to choose our perspectives and then live from them. And although life may never be “finished” like a film can be, we can still shape it as much as we are able – from our own, unique perspectives.

Which nearly always takes quite a bit of persistence (click here for part 1 of this 3 part series).

What’s your perspective on…perspective?

Thanks for reading!

Shake the foolish tree,

Ian Carruthers
Filmmaker
www.foolishtreefilms.com
Let’s make a movie!

Passion (click here for part 3 of this 3 part series)