Dear Monica (and anyone else who is frustrated with this discussion
thread),
I hope you'll stick with this list. I'm glad that you've learned a lot
already, in the short time you've been a Frameworker. I've been on the
list almost since its inception, and have learned a lot too. But
please realize that Frameworks is not just about the "nuts and bolts"
of filmmaking. Certainly that is an important facet of the list, and
though I am a scholar rather than a maker, I've appreciated all the
discussions of craft, technique, technology, and so forth - my own
work has greatly benefited from such exchanges.
But Frameworks is equally about the ideas, concerns, history, theory,
challenges, vexations, etc., of experimental film culture, which
involves much more than the practicalities of filmmaking, or film
aesthetics. As Pip points out, this list has over 1000 members
internationally, including film and video makers, scholars and
critics, curators, gallerists, film programmers, students and
teachers, aficionados, and so on. The membership is a microcosm of the
experimental film world, and the great variety of discussion topics on
this list constitute a kind of "pulse" of that world. This particular
discussion raises all sort of important ideas and questions: about the
relationship of independent, experimental filmmaking to other forms of
media; about the political and social ramifications of the choices we
make about communication, media, and the circulation of ideas and
works; about changing patterns in audiences for this kind of
filmmaking, etc. I would suggest that these are just as important to
someone who makes films as information about cameras, editing
software, and film processing.
And, as others have pointed out, you can always use that "delete" key.
But before you do, I hope you'll consider that this type of
discussion, though it irritates you, might be important to you.
Indeed, the very fact that it troubles you might be telling you
something.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
Jonathan Walley
Assistant Professor of Cinema
Denison University
walleyj_at_denison.edu
_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Received on Wed Jun 15 2011 - 06:19:53 CDT
