Unoriginal
“This movie leans heavy on the back-of-the-head follow-shot, which has become an indie cliché.” - Noel Murray, A.V. Club review of Sundace, Day 2
Huh. I admitted upfront that my “masterpiece” of Intro to Digital Media Production, my Video #3, my Final Project, was heavily influenced by a number of indie films. I knew I couldn’t make a blockbuster and I knew I liked indies, so why not play on their techniques. When you literally have no budget and when you understand the kind of stories they tell (and get that they play best in the short time span of five minutes) it’s the smart thing to do. It happens that it turned out to be the fun thing to do, at least for me.
But as I was reading the A.V. Club reviews of Sundance I came across that line. And I was a bit floored. Everyone - the actors, my teacher, my classmates - everyone liked that shot. Everyone thought that it played well, and even my shaky camera work made sense in portraying the emotional state of the characters. I knew I wasn’t the first to do it. I knew the mockumentary style shows I watch had probably influenced this as well. But I was surprised to read that it had become a cliché.
To be fair, I didn’t just use it to transition. That was a main part of the movie, and I also swapped to walking in front of the characters so we could see their faces. That’s not part of the cliché. I know this reviewer means me no harm, but it stings reading that. As I’m tentatively touching my toe to the water, ever so careful to make the fewest ripples I can in this possible new foray, something like this makes the water chill. If I, with my relatively small exposure to film and television (I’ve taken no classes, had no professional instruction) don’t have my own voice or anything original to offer now, how on earth will I became more unique if I jump into the water and am surrounded by examples to steal, of clichés to overuse.
