Final Project, Final Blog

To discuss how the final project reflects my goals as a Mormon artist, I guess I should first have some goals as a Mormon artist. I've talked about what it means to be a Mormon artist, and about what an artist's general responsibility is, but I don't suppose I've ever actually thought about my goals specifically. I don't think my goals as a Mormon artist are particularly Mormon in nature. They're probably not much different from the goals that any other artist has, unless of course there is an artist whose goals are anti-Mormon in nature. At any rate, I guess you could say that my goals as of right now are somewhat selfish. I hope to, by learning about other people and their beliefs, be able to establish and solidify my own beliefs. This project fits perfectly with that goal. Did the project partly inspire this goal? Maybe. But it's a valid goal nonetheless. In addition to the fact that this project was purposely constructed to help us learn about the beliefs of another person, our documentary subject was particularly interesting in this regard. She is a BYU professor that taught a class called "This I Believe," where she guided college freshmen as they attempted to find their beliefs for themselves. Her interview was very thought-provoking. She talked a lot about paradigms and paradigm shifts. She talked about the importance of time spent thinking about beliefs. This project, for me, was a little more than just a school project. It was somewhat of a mentally challenging, if not spiritual, experience. I learned things about myself and was able to understand the viewpoints of another person. I’d say this pretty well fits with my goal as a Mormon artist.

I really did learn a lot about what I’ll need to know in the future and what I should learn in the film program at BYU. I don’t know anything about Final Cut Pro, for example. I should probably learn how to use that. I also noticed that I tend to think very simply. I don’t really think a lot about the different sorts of shots that I’ll need before I start shooting, and even then I usually just pick one and stick with it. It was good to get some varying ideas from my group members. It makes things more interesting. Really, I need to learn more about almost everything, but it was good to pick out some things specifically to focus on.

Blog 10

Describe the ways that your final project reflects your goals as a Mormon Artist. What has the collaborative process has taught you about your own need for growth in the BYU film program?

Mark Fletcher Blog 10

This final project has taught me a lot about what it means to be a Mormon artist.  To be a Mormon artist to me is to create a piece of artwork, whether in the fields of film, paint, sculpt etc, my art needs to show my morals and standards.  That doesn't go to say that my art needs to always reflect my religion specifically, but it needs to reflect what I believe in and what morals I live by.  Many times I think that some Mormons artists are not taken as seriously because they think we will only create works of art that reflects Christ, God, stories in the Book of Mormon.  Not to say that these subjects are not worthy of art, but I would like to expand the representation of my art to be able to apply to all people; Christians, Muslims, Atheist and other people of different religious background.  I hope that my art can help more than just the people within our faith by teaching morals that can help people understand the value in living morally.  This film I think does a good job of this.  It does touch some subjects that relate to the Mormon faith, but some of those parts can be related to everyone who is facing challenges and not just a secluded number of people who have faced the challenge of returning home from the mission.  Theo Harris does a great job of telling his story to the world and not just a small number of Mormons.
I think that this project has helped me to grow in the film program a lot.  It has helped me see what I need to do as a Mormon artist and how I can best portray the benefits of living a moral life through my art.  I hope that I can improve my art still and show how its not the title of Mormon that makes us happy, but its the standards, morals and ethics we live by that makes us who we are.

Mack Robins, Blog 10

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and as an artist, I get to seek out positive messages to show are share with others. I was glad that and my group and I get the chance to expose my friend’s beliefs about this Church and about herself. I really do wish that we can somehow have the whole interview in the video because it was so awesome. She has such a cool opinion and belief about things. She talked about Heaven and what she believes it will be like. Also, one quick example of what she believes is that it is more important to have your heart opened by the savior rather than just your ears. Another thing that I feel needs to be done is learn about others. We as members of the Church get to break down walls that stand in between races, genders, cultures, and yes even religions. Here I am grateful for the chance to show some people how not scary it is to meet a Deaf person. Shantel is awesome and she is a very normal person who is very easy to talk to, she is patient with people who don’t know sign and she is very good at speaking.

I think our collaboration was good, I know I need to learn patience and I also need to realize that making a movie it hard, and to be a full time student on top of that makes it that much harder. Also, it is really hard for me to allow other people to work. During the process I wanted to do everything. But as the process went on it was actually nice to allow someone else set up the camera and have someone who is also willing to put hours into a film. I think that we are doing a good job working together and I look forward to making many more movies with other students in the film program in the upcoming semesters.

END OF YEAR AND STUFF

Describe the ways that your final project reflects your goals as a Mormon Artist. What has the collaborative process has taught you about your own need for growth in the BYU film program?

It's hard for me to say exactly how my final project reflects my goals of being a Mormon artist. I don't really want to be considered a "Mormon" artist to be honest. I am all for upholding my values, but at the same time I want to be who I want to be without having any kind of label or being placed into a certain group of people just because of my religion. I can't really say that my final project reflects exactly Mormon values just because of its subject matter (being video games), but there are elements of family and other productive activities. I don't really know if this has to do with being Mormon, but for me, this documentary gave me a heightened awareness of human qualities that people do and don't want to show on camera. Our interviewee completely changed when on camera as far as his personality goes. He acted like a completely different person and we had a hard time getting him to show who he really was. The collaborative atmosphere taught me that I am a lot less prepared for the real world of film then I thought I was. Not that I considered myself to be cocky or anything about it (and I hope other people didn't think that about me, but you never know), but I have (what I thought to be at least) a lot of experience in the film world. A lot of things can't be taught from being on set. Film, whether fiction or documentary, is all about people skills. No matter what position you are taking you cannot learn about people without outside experience. In the end, I am just as experienced as everyone else because even though I have a lot of time on set, I need to spend more time thinking about people rather then film while on that set. If that makes any sense...

Reflecting on the Semester

This semester has been an incredible one. I feel like I have learned and grown in ways school has never forced me to grow before. As me, Jacy, and Amy have worked on our final documentary, I have been thinking a lot about what I believe and what goals I want to set for the future.

Our documentary is about an inspirational professor named Cheri Earl. She teaches a variety of classes, but we specifically asked her about the “This I Believe” class that she created for Freshmen. As we interviewed her, I was really impressed by how well she knew herself and her own paradigms. She said that she tends to react with fear first in any stressful situation. She has had to work to strengthen her faith so that it counteracts or replaces that fear. As she was explaining this, I realized that I too tend to respond with fear first. When I face a big trial or difficult situation, I tend to get really stressed out and worry about it until it’s over. Then, I look back and say, “well, that wasn’t so bad.” I know in the scriptures we learn that faith and fear cannot coexist. So, my new goal as a Mormon artist is to strengthen my own faith so that others can gain strength from my art.

As I go forward in the BYU film program, I know that I will continue to face new obstacles and be stretched in new ways. I think that I need to learn to be more open about myself and not be afraid to speak up. I also need to be willing to take on extra projects and learn new skills on top of regular classes – not to the point of being overwhelmed, but enough that I can feel confident in myself as a filmmaker. As I do these things, and continue to work hard, I believe that I can make an impact in my own unique way. I look forward to the rest of my time in this program.

Hey, Did You Know This is Our Last Blog Post?

Last blog post. Weird. I am not much of a blogger. But maybe I will feel inspired to get my own blog. Probably not. But you never know.

My final project (along with Seth's and Parker's) was about this gamer named Jordan. I know next to nothing about gaming, so i found this topic really interesting. Because I think there definitely is the stereotyped "gamer" and that;s not fair because there really is so much more underneath it all. This film really helped open my eyes to the stereotypes I place on people every day. I mean it is pretty hard not to. It is something I am sure we all are guilty of. So this project really helped me take a step back and dig a little deeper. I think as Mormons, we are often stereotyped as well. I know back home, I was the "Mormon Girl." Once you have a label like that people continue to make assumptions about you that really aren't true. This project taught me that as a mormon artist, I want to make sure I don't create stereotypes or be stereotyped. It is important to to create art that is wholesome and uplifting and sticks to our values, but I dont think it needs to yell "Hey I am a Mormon!" The subtle things in life are much more effective.

Working with my wonderful teammates has been a great experience. With this project, and other ones I have worked on this semester, I have learned that you cannot do it alone. A finished film is a culmination of a bunch of different people doing different things, that become one big whole thing when put together. If that makes sense. I've learned that in order to grow in this program, I need to help on as many films as I can getting experience doing different things. I hope to gain lots of experience in these next few years, so that when the time comes,  I am able to survive out in the world. Well I couldn't think of a better first semester in the program and it so crazy it is already pretty much over. But I am so excited for everything to come.