My First Cinematic Experience

I was given an assignment to write about my first cinematic experience, what stage of production stood out to me, and how it relates to audience reactions at the turn of the century.

I had a hard time thinking of my first experience. Movie had been such a big part of my life for as long as I could remember. I would DAILY watch Mary Poppins–I was a little jealous when she picked my daughter to dance with at Disneyland and not me.

Reflecting on this was a learning experience. I learned a lot about myself and how I’ve been primed for a career in film making, and I wish I had realized it sooner. To me, experiencing a movie is really different than simply watching it.

I remembered the first time I was moved to tears in a movie. It was for The Mighty Joe Young, I was only ten years old and saw it with friends in the theater. This humungous creature was so gentle and they illustrated on screen just how human animals are and how they can be the best companion. When he was given a monster’s reputation and pushed to the point of violence, I started choking up. In the deadly scene where he falls, I lost it. The tears started rolling down my cheeks and I tried hiding them. I understood basic storytelling and knew there was no way he was dead, but Charlize Theron’s performance was incredible. She  evoked the right emotions of losing a friend, and I experienced them myself. I also knew that the giant beast was a huge puppet. I was impressed with how lifelike he looked and how this machine could show emotions so well.

I can’t remember exactly when in the timeline of my childhood we went to Universal Studios, but I remember everything I saw there. Based on a tour guides recommendation, my mom drug me on the tram tour. This was where we took a tram through all the old studios. We saw the Red Sea parted for when The Ten Commandments as filmed, the lake where Jaws was filmed when he ate the fishing boat, we went underground in a subway station and experienced an underground earthquake (terrifying) and we even walked into a warehouse to be shown pyrotechnics for the making of BackDraft. When the catwalk artificially buckled where I was standing and the flames exploded in front if me, that’s when I lost it. I was genuinely grateful to the man next to me who was comforting me that it wasn’t real. For years after that, I would pray nightly that no back-drafts would ever happen to me. After this tour, we got to be a studio audience and see a set rotate between scenes, see exactly how Doc worked on the flux capacitor and how Alfred Hitchcock achieved his Vertigo and Psycho effects. Seeing all of these studio tricks took the magic of the screen away from me, but it replaced it with an even bigger magic for me. The magic of cinema! I was more fascinated with how they could make a bicycle fly than the belief that an alien was flying in the basket of Elliot’s bike. Since that trip, I would see a scene and try to figure out just how they could make it appear so.

Back when Nick at Nite played the golden oldies, they would also show “behind the scenes” footage of all the good shows: Happy Days, I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke. I particularly remember when they showed inconstancies with the set and props on one episode. This was so fun to me, that since that moment, I would scrutinize over movie and TV scenes trying to find anything out of the ordinary. With my analysis, I would also poke holes in storylines at  an early age–along with shouting at characters for making things difficult by not speaking up, now I’ve learned this is on purpose.

While this assignment had me diligently mulling over my cinematic history for week and stumped on how to convey it on paper, I was so thankful for the project. I always knew it was “into” movies, but before I really dissected it, I never imagined the actual effect movies had on me, and at such a young age.

Apprenticeships

Last summer I read Rue McClanahan’s autobiography My First Five Husbands, and I was simply blown away at what life was like back then for actors. Yes, I understand there are still poor actors today, but I had never heard of such a hard worker! To me, she didn’t get her due credit until she was on Maude, and even then she wasn’t stable if they didn’t renew her contract. She worked herself into the ground, all while supporting a family, pursuing her dream and staying fit.

I read another celebrity autobiography belonging to Dick Van Dyke. He didn’t get his break until his late thirties! He was supporting his family on so little money, it amazed me they were able to survive! And he never lost faith, he kept pushing on! Once he got his break, he was so humble and thankful for it and continued that good work ethic even to present day (and he’s well into his 80’s).

These two stories have helped keep me humble. In today’s society of instant gratification and entitlement, it’s easy to lose sight of things and forget about the effort needed to achieve things. (Hmm, if only I had the dream of a perfect house, my efforts would be spent there!)

In one of the many screenwriting podcasts I listen to, the speaker was talking about apprenticing to the top. He gave plenty of examples of how to be a great [insert profession] you need to spend years working from the bottom up. In screenwriting (or any profession in the film industry) your best bet is to start from the bottom up. Become someone’s lowly assistant, make an impression and you’ll reap the benefits. So much notice is given to the naturally talented athletes who were “handed” their awesome job. What most people don’t realize is that their careers usually started when they were kids–going to ball practice, games, conditioning, college etc.

I’m at a point in my life where I feel I should be doing bigger and better things. Unfortunately, since I’ve just now started actively pursuing my writing dream, I’m afraid I’m at ground zero. It’s encouraging to hear these accounts of hard work and eventually getting your break. It really helps me stay on task and continue on the daily grind, knowing that my hard work is not wasted. I think I’ve finally found my bliss. I’m reaching for a career where I don’t care about the money, I just want to do it. I think that is the first step to achieving one’s bliss. Finding something that you love so much that it’s worth all sacrifice–that’s what the speaker was talking about.

To achieve my bliss I am willingly going to put my blood sweat and tears into this (I’m assuming that phrase applies to writers in the form of lots of papercuts) and all my efforts. I still have days (today even) where I get discouraged with my dead end, menial, “still making minimum wage at 25 years old” job, but I hear about all the success stories and how hard those people have worked and I quit my whining and count my blessings that I even have a job and a family who take care and support me. (Look up Nick Swardson’s story and how he lived in his car while pursuing comedy).

So here’s to the journey ahead! I’ll remember to enjoy the scenery, because the journey is sometimes better than the destination!