"Devotional Cinema" Response (Anthony)

After reading Devotional Cinema by Nathaniel Dorsky, I was unsure how to react to his view of filmmaking and viewing. He expressed thoughts on subjects that were probably out of my league. For me, I’ve always had a “Neanderthal-like” train of thought when it comes to making films: Camera. Subject. Story. Done. Granted, I do put more thought than just that into the process, however, Dorsky’s book goes to a whole other level.

Early in his book he mentions how after a six-hour movie-going session the details in his eyes and mind were amplified as he walked out the theater. “All those little details were presenting themselves to me in a way I was unused to”. As he described the experience I realized that I should take advantage to acknowledge detail as he does. Because, in filmmaking you always have a “big” picture played out in your head, which is healthy so you have a general idea of beginning, middle and end. However, to accomplish this process in a more fascinating way, details must be embellished narratively and visually.  In the case of our boxing documentary, I can’t be satisfied with just HOW the coaches have changed the live the young men at the gym but WHY they chose to help change their lives when, after all, all they just wanted to learn how to box. And to have these details revealed I must be proactive in my awareness of them rather an relying on subtleness to all of a sudden jump out at me one day.

Another topic Dorsky touches on, Shots and Cuts, was also enlightening. He talks about how “cuts seem to work in a hierarchy”. With so much detail, I’ve never analyzed cuts to such a degree. First, cuts have to have to work on a visual level and each cut has to “create a visual freshness for the psyche”. When a cut works visually, he mentions two after shocks may occur, dream connectives or literal implications. Though I think that could both work simultaneously to some degree, either must be accomplished per cut. With the boxing documentary I must keep this in mind during the editing process. Every cut has a purpose. Visual images can’t be put together because I like them. They’re must be a reason why I leave one cut advance to the next.