Advertising and genre have the power to sway our film choices thanks to our favorite genres...

As I finish up my interviews, advertising has proven to have a huge impact on the viewer. Whether the student or professor I interviewed was associated with the film program or not, advertising was mentioned as a big role in their film viewing. There is always an exception; however, a thrilling trailer or enticing poster tends to draw the potential viewer’s attention. Depending on the genre, the advertisement will be different. Advertisements for a comedy will often contain a few of the funniest parts from that certain film, in order to cause the viewer to laugh and display the nature of the film. On the other hand, an advertisement for a drama will show a taste of the plot and will often leave the viewer feeling an intense emotion about the film.

The genre of the film poses to be quite important to all motion picture viewers. Not one interviewee I spoke with had left out the importance of genre when choosing a film. Although non-film and film students and professors selected different types of genres, both spoke of the importance of viewing films within comfortable genres. Often the advertisement will play into viewer’s choices because it displays the genre and nature of the film; therefore, if a viewer tends to be more comfortable within a certain genre, the advertising will easily sway them one way or the other.

"Film" reviews only seem critical to those in the "Film" program...

Based on my interviews, I have found that film students and professors tend to hold critic reviews in higher regard than those who are not in the film program. Often times, film students will look to reviews to decide whether or not a film will be worth seeing. These critic reviews are viewed as trusted sources to those in the realm of film because they have worked hard to get where they are in the industry and base their reviews on the same criteria each time. This way, critic reviews prove to contain little to no bias on the critic’s part and therefore are more reliable than the reviews of peers or making a decision based on an actor or advertising. Non-film students and professors tend to rely on other means, leaving critic reviews as a last resort for the information on an upcoming film.

Whether the student or professor is a real film snob or not, they tend to heavily rely on some of the basic peer reviewed websites, which give a rating and synopsis of the film. Some of these websites are on a scale of one to ten, others go by a percentage between zero and one hundred. The majority of film students have told me that they at the very least visit two or three simple review websites. However, a large amount of the film students also admitted to researching more in depth websites with acclaimed critic reviews. I was happy that I found time to interview one of the busiest, but most highly recommended film students, for his work done here at the university. He told me a lot about the process he takes when reviewing upcoming films and the specific reviews that never let him down. I was very happy to learn about more critic reviews that I did not already know about because I feel they will benefit me, considering I have much of the same taste in films as he does.

Although reviews can be very helpful and beneficial to students and professors it is important to find an established website or article because some reviews lack credibility and have little to offer potential audience members. I have read many reviews that were not helpful and had a lack of critical information regarding the film. I talked with one of my film professors who told me about some of his critic review experiences. My professor expressed his passion for reading established critic reviews because they analyze films in specific aspects that we, as viewers, do not ever think about. He has his favorite critics that he always falls back on; however, he has been branching out to other critics that he has more recently discovered. My film professor would not stop stressing the importance of established critics because he has had many bad experiences with new films based on random critic reviews. He told me about a few times in the past when students and other professors have asked his opinion of certain films. On multiple occasions he took his chances and told others what he read about the film, not having seen the film, which ended up not being helpful and horribly wrong. From my own experiences, I cannot stress in words how important it is to read multiple reviews for one specific film and to make sure that the majority of the reviews are held in high regard.

How the production value of a film only seems relevant to those in the film program and how the actors of a film do not seem relevant to anyone...

The appreciation or lack of appreciation for the production value of a film is an interesting and often critical factor in film viewing choices for some. In almost all cases so far, film students and professors have stressed the importance of the filmmakers and personnel that make the actual film. These students and professors are studying and teaching in the realm of film; therefore, those who work so hard to make a film possible are the very people that hold the positions these students are looking to someday be in themselves. The students and professors within the film program hold a higher view of those involved in the film because they understand the effort and countless sleepless nights and hours of work that go into each film. I am currently taking a class focused on cinematography and my professor explained that he only watches movies that are made by specific film companies. Usually he won’t watch a movie unless it has a filmmaker that he respects or already knows a lot about. During the summer months, my cinematography professor works on a feature length film, so he knows how much work it takes to make a successful film.

Non-film students and professors usually only look at the outcome of the film and usually don’t stress or even realize the importance of those individual talents working behind the scene. Very few non-film students and professors expressed their desire to watch a film based on who actually produced and made the film possible. Non-film students and professors tend to look at the talent in the shining light instead of those who are behind the scenes. Such people tend to look toward the actors and actresses starring in the film instead of the directors or writers; however, I was surprised that the importance of actors was not relevant to all of my interviewees. Before starting the interviewing process, I was sure that everyone would rely heavily on the actors in the film. I had the chance to interview a music major at Titania Midwestern who expressed that he will still see a film with an actor or actress that he may dislike if the genre of that particular film is a genre that he was comfortable with. It surprised me that he demonstrated a lack of importance of actors and actresses, even those that are disliked by the viewer, contrary to my original thoughts. Both film and non-film students and professors did not display a strong pattern of actor importance; nevertheless, those who did show a large reliance on the actors in a film generally fell into the non-film program category.

How Gender has affected my interviewing process...

Throughout all of my interviews, I have taken notice of the fact that there are very few females within the film program. After asking a few questions, I discovered that the few girls in the program are mainly minors of film, not majors. Most of the females in my film classes have many hurdles to jump in order to one day become successful in the film industry, considering there are very few famous females in high positions, such as directors. I conducted a very unique interview with a female film student who actually graduated, but came back to take a few classes to gain more knowledge. She explained to me that getting started in the film industry has been a hard obstacle to overcome because females are usually not looked upon as highly as men in positions of high authority. Her movie choices are heavily dependent on who directed the film, being especially interested in films that have female directors. After the interview I tried to think of famous female directors or cinematographers and I had a very hard time coming up with more than a few.

The male to female ratio of film students is very one-sided compared to the professors within the film program that I had the chance to speak with, which displayed a fairly equal male to female ratio. Almost every professor, at some point in their career, had worked in the film industry and now teach as professors. Although it is hard for females to be successful in the film industry, teaching seems to be welcomed and preferred by both males and females. I have noticed that not only is it easier for a female film major to work as a professor, but it is actually preferred, especially after working in the industry for a few years. Males, on the other hand, have a better chance of cracking into the film industry in a big way; however, male professors I have spoken to also enjoy working with students as much as, if not more than, working hands on in a film or in the heart of the industry. In fact, professors often view teaching as the heart of the industry, because it is in the universities that the greatest directors, cinematographers, and script writers are given their first chance to shine.

The Importance of Biases...

I still have a long ways to go in the interviewing process for my project on film viewing criteria; however, I have noticed a few interesting trends. I have made a point to interview my close friends that are students but also other classmates that I am not very close with. The reason I have chosen to do this is because of my biases. My roommate made a great point the other day by saying that I tend to influence those around me with my biases about film. He explained that my friends, himself included, tend to highly regard what I say about film as important because I have a lot of background in the subject matter. I did not really understand how this would be relevant at first; however, after interviewing some of my close friends, I have realized that many of them now share some of the same ideas about film as myself, most likely due to my biases. In order to properly complete this project I need to interview a wide range of students and professors in the field of film and those who are not. Although it is convenient and good to interview close friends, I need to branch out and be careful because I may have already biased their opinions. To help avoid biases, I have created a list of interview questions which mesh together a nice medium of questions I feel important and those that other viewers, unlike myself, might find helpful. Any biases I have are prior to starting this project.

I had the opportunity to interview a few film students this week, one of which I am not close with as a friend, merely just another classmate of mine. While interviewing her, I made sure that I did not ask any questions that were biased toward my opinions. Out of all the film students I have interviewed so far, this was the most interesting and different opinionated interview I have held. I noticed that her main area of focus when deciding to watch a film is safety. She loves watching the same movies over and over again because they are her favorites. She does not tend to branch out and watch new movies or even movies other classmates and professors suggest, which is very rare for a film student. She does not watch many movies at all and when she does decide to watch a new film, reviews are not relevant to her. Advertising does play a role in her decision making process, along with her peers suggestions. Every once in a while she will see a movie that is coming out that she is dying to see; however, for the most part she just likes watching her favorite films. She feels that in order to become a great filmmaker she needs to be creative and come up with her own spin on how to make a film. Watching a lot of movies would influence her opinion when actually making a film. All and all, the directors, producers, cinematographers, etc. do not influence her film viewing. Every so often, she will watch a film because of an actor starring in the film, but mostly any new movies she will watch are based on the genre of the film. She does not like watching movies in general, but when she does, branching out is not important to her.