When I wanted to start work as a lecturer, I went to my film lecturer Dr. Ben Williams to write a recommendation letter telling the school that I'm good enough to be employed as a film lecturer. In the letter, he wrote ' he has astute eye for photography ' as I read through the letter I asked myself - do photographers\film makers have eyes? What makes their eyes different? When I checked the meaning of the word 'astute' I just remembered one of our shoots under this man Dr Ben Williams, when he asked me to light a night scene and call him to come and shoot. When he came to set, he looked through the LCD and said 'Finest can't you see the light is spilling?' It took me some more seconds to see what he saw at a glance.Note: he looked through the LCD and not with mere glancing at the actors.
Back to the word 'astute'. If you want to be a film maker, don't see things the way others see it and don't analyze pictures with other people's eye. For those who didn't attend film school or offered photography as a course in school, I will suggest you read ' How a camera is like human eye and how a camera is not like human eye '. Good film making starts from WHAT DETAILS the film maker can see and as well as THE DETAILS the FILM MAKER can see THROUGH THE CAMERA.
If I were to be a priest I will just recite the popular 'prayer before bible reading ' open our eyes oh Lord that we may behold all TINY DETAILS HIDDEN IN THE FRAME...'
paraphrased by me. What ever helps you to see clearly should be encouraged. If you go back to the things around your street, you might be shocked to notice some details about that sign post, that building or even the TV set in your house. Film is a business of vision - HOW FAR CAN YOU SEE?
finest Nwaoma
Young and vibrant film makers taking over the industry, no more Aba and Asaba rush rush , gush
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