Films, and Why I Hate Discussing Them

Seems I’ve entered the age where all my friends have become cinephiles. Of course, having worked on a few short format films I do love the medium, but I have less appreciation for video’s lengthy formats. After about and hour and a half I find myself aware that I’d like it to end, even if we’re at the peak of the storyline. I think the issue for me is the assumption that I will finish the piece in a single sitting. With TV or a series, it’s broken into digestible pieces. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour of my attention is required at a time, and then there’s the option of an out. With a movie you’re locked in for a minimum of 90 minutes (more like 150 these days) with zero opportunity to stop it. Sometimes I just want to scream and get off the train.

And then of course there’s the problem that I encounter with all video format: I’m paying attention to the wrong things. As a designer and as someone who has led production teams, I’m keenly aware of the creative choices being made throughout the film. I’m focused on color, perspective, wardrobe, hair and makeup, and all the other elements my teams routinely are in charge of. I can’t undo it, and it means I miss the kinds of things “normal” movie goers might pick up on. I wasn’t thinking about character development, I was thinking about why the production designer used five different fonts on the same road signs and if it was a mistake or intentional (I’m looking at you Asteroid City). One of those fonts wasn’t even evented yet. The film is set in the 1950’s and using a slab-serif that likely popped up in the late 70’s.

So, I hate talking to my friends about movies. We aren’t watching the same thing. Matt Reeve’s first Batman overused an orange-tinted filter over the camera lens, and it made me a bit sick. It was like driving through thick orange fog the entire movie- everything was out of focus. Plus, they should’ve rethought their set design. I didn’t need to see the same angle of the club-like warehouse every other scene. I figured it probably cost them a lot. Their set continuity was comically flawed, the 1st AD should’ve caught that. Or maybe it happened in post-production, I’ve had that happen before. The most recent film I worked on had a scene cut that took my costume team almost 3 hours to prep the actors for. I wanted to throw something at the screen when I first watched it.

If I talk about the design of the film, I sound too posh. I sound like I’m trying to sound like I know films. I don’t, I just was paying attention to different aspects than most people. My director friends will describe films by the type of camera shot, like how it opened with a Dutch angle or transitioned into a wide shot. Most of the time that kind of nuance goes unnoticed for me, but the baby blue hue lights brought in during the night scenes to contrast the hot-pink world of Barbie? Noted. Costume did a good job incorporating silver to keep the other colors vibrant. I took notes on that one. Anyway, don’t ask me about my feelings on a film, I was probably only looking at the production design.