The Hillman Curtis Artist Series is incredible.
Mark Romanek changed my opinions of music videos. I always believed that most music videos are cheesy things that directors put together quickly to accompany a song (which may be true in some cases). However, music videos can be seen as art. There are so many details that I never noticed that go into these videos. I didn’t realize all of the work that is put into choosing the right cast, settings, and camera angles. It is essentially like making a short movie.
I like to plan out every detail of everything that I do. I’m an organizer. I make tons of sketches. I plan out every single detail. But I learned from Romanek that accidents are welcome and that every planned detail does not have to be used to create something beautiful. I learned that no matter how beautiful the shot, if it doesn’t trigger some kind of emotion or thought then you probably should not use it while making a film of some sort.
In the future I would love to eventually own my own production company as a side project. I watched the Pentagram ’07 of the Artist Series which documents briefly the start and expansion of the company and capped off the short film with different projects the firm was responsible for. From this, I learned that companies can run without a corporate office or a president. People that simply love what they do can run a successful company no matter how many managing partners or offices that there are.
These videos have inspired me to become better at all aspects of media production. I don’t have to always have every detail planned and I should sometimes let the art tell its own story. I also don’t have to micromanage everything if I want it to become successful. Needless to say, these videos are inspiring.