Dispatch From the Future
What high school students love about film gives me hope
A few weeks ago an email hit my inbox with the subject: “Lick-Wilmerding Film Class Needs You!” I opened it because Lick-Wilmerding1 is my alma mater and the author of this line wisely pulled at my high school heart strings and also, fine, my vanity. Said author was film teacher Barre Fong, reaching out to this alumna to ask if she would consider speaking to his class about her “career in film” (quotes are mine). I replied with an enthusiastic, “I’d love to!”
As luck would have it, I was planning to be in San Francisco for SFFILM a few weeks hence, so we arranged a time for an in-person classroom visit. Not only did I attend Lick as a student, but I also taught English there for three years in the mid-2000s. I hadn’t been back to campus since I left that job – and the classroom – in 2008, so I was both honored and a little nervous to step foot in that building at 755 Ocean Avenue again after so many years.
The 50-minute class period flew by in a flash of Barre asking me questions and me blabbing answers and then a few students asking questions and me blabbing answers. Before I knew it, it was time to go and I hadn’t had a chance to do what I was most looking forward to: Ask the students, “Why film? What do you love about it? Why do you want to learn how to make movies?” A lot of indie filmmakers teach, mostly at the college level, so they have a regular window into what would propel a 21-year-old digital native to want to learn filmmaking. But those of us who move in an all-adult world are just getting the bad news about our young folks and their shrinking attention spans and addiction to auto-loading short videos. I was excited to hear what these high school kids find cool about the movies.
As the students gathered their bags, I asked if it would be OK for them to jot a quick answer to my questions and send it via email to Barre to then forward to me. Guess what? You’re in luck! They completed the assignment and very kindly agreed to let me share their words with you. Here’s what they said, in all their enthusiastic, perceptive, inspiring glory.
I enjoy making films because I get to tell someone’s story in a creative, visually capturing way. I love the idea that you can turn someone’s passion into a story about who they are and why it is so important to them.
I think similarly to you, I’ve always loved stories and storytelling, and film is a very dynamic and interesting form of that. Many of my favorite stories have been movies, which has pushed me to explore storytelling through this medium. Even though we’re now entering a period where short-form media such as TikTok is becoming increasingly popular, I think and hope that film will continue to be a significant cultural force, as many people my age love watching movies and really appreciate things like good writing and cinematography.
Film to me means inspiration and connecting with myself. When watching a film, unlike short form content, you sit there watching nothing but the film in a dark room with sound systems and lighting that just draw you in. I find myself noticing all the little details and appreciating the soundtrack. I just love all of the components that make up a film, music, angles, cuts, color grading. It’s just an amazing art form. Additionally, whenever I watch a film I get inspired by the story, and it always makes me want to better myself.
Film matters to me because it gives me a way to express what I can’t always put into words. It lets me turn thoughts and emotions into images, and bring ideas to life in a visual, meaningful way. I love how it allows me to be creative while also telling stories that people can connect with. Stories that are not only entertaining, but also personal and impactful.
For me, film is a way to experience emotions, whether it is through the story or artistic techniques, if it is a serious film or a more playful one I think it is really powerful how they have the power to provoke such empathy and kind of serve as something that unifies all people under the emotions that we all feel and through that film can represent sort of like those shared experiences of life.
To me, film is about capturing and preserving motion. I think film connects us the most to people, because we can see, hear, and even feel the subject on the screen, and the emotions they express. I love and practice many mediums of art—from writing to photography to dance—but to me, film brings people to life the most, and their actual words (alongside their facial expressions and demeanor) can be captured simultaneously, which is super cool to me.
For me, even though the physical act of watching a film, the anticipation, and the almost ritualistic aspect are not the same, the feeling and awe that film brings me are still immense. I think I love film, and it’s significant in my life because I see it as a reflection of humanity. Whether I’m watching a documentary or a narrative, it is the complex connection of emotions, relationships, and art that you could not get in any other experience or art form. When I watch great films, no matter the topic or genre, they bring me awe. It’s almost like a stylized memory or a summarized experience, choosing only the raw, emotional, and beautiful moments and presenting them in a stylized and easy-to-understand way.
To me, I think film is a huge inspiration loop. I believe that to some extent, many films are inspired by other films, and even key aspects of life. Film is an outlet for many people to start new journeys in their lives, whether it is through watching a film or creating a film, you have the freedom to choose what you want to do. This is why I love film!
Film has a special ability to convey emotions unlike any other medium. It has the ability to connect people unlike many other artforms. I love stories and film is stories. Film feels so special to me because it is the combination of many different beautiful artforms. I think most of all there really is nothing like watching a beautiful film with your loved ones and just being like woah.
For me, film is a way of storytelling. It’s kind of like when you see something and no one else can see it, and you just want to give them your eyes so they can see what you’re seeing. For me, those eyes are film.
I think films and different movies mean a lot about connection and how I find myself. A lot of times this kinda comes up through simplicity or beauty throughout the movie, but also a lot of the emotions evoked, even if it takes place in a completely fictional place, can speak to me and really resonate with me. I think this is why I find my favorite movies to be coming of age or based in reality, since I have a real connection and overall just pleasant association with the feelings being evoked or emotions portrayed.
I love film because I want to introduce the next era of animation to the world. I want to learn how to work with 3-D animation and incorporate 4-D into future films.
My favorite part about filmmaking is how significantly a movie or documentary can change your perspective. It was interesting what you were saying about how our generation is shifting toward short form content, but I think longer form film will always be able to strike a chord in you more than short form.
I’m so heartened by these young folks’ commitment to the power of long-form storytelling, of the communal viewing experience, the beauty, the emotional resonance that film singularly generates. I spend so much of my waking hours thinking, reading, writing, and talking about the gatekeeping, roadblocks, and resource constraints that choke creativity and deprive audiences from connecting with the beautiful work that does manage to make it to the finish line. These emails provide a wonderful antidote of pure inspiration I’ll tuck away and return to when I could use a little pick-me-up. Maybe you will, too.
Just being like woah, indeed.
Yes indeedy, Lick-Wilmerding is the name of my high school. Lick was one guy (James) and Wilmerding was another (Jellis) who each had schools named after them; in 1950 they merged and there you go. We had a great sense of humor about the name back in the day, chanting at sports games: “Lick my left, Lick my right, Lick my Lick my Wilmerding!” You could make jokes like that in the 80s.
Shout out to the perceptive kid eyeballing the color grade! Love to see it.
Wow - how often can we sit in a classroom of forming minds and passions and learn about what is driving them? And how often do students so eloquently share their passions? You gave them a place to connect with themselves and you. And you, by virtue of this, are giving us a way to connect back with them. Thank you for being the documentalist - and the conduit. Thank you for giving all of us a pathway into connection with story, ourselves, and the wider world.