Scene Is Believing

slaver (SLAV-vuhr, SLAY-vuhr) verb tr., intr. 1. To slobber or drool; to smear with saliva.

I recently read the Onion AV Club interview with Terry Gilliam, a director that consistently chooses challenging films and tends to produce, in my opinion, movies with incredible visuals. Anyway, during the interview he muses about the state of television and film, comparing the image-driven genres to radio. The link to both story-telling methods, he alludes, is imagination (or, in terms of his critique, lack thereof). While imagination and radio seem obviously connected, imagination and film seem connected by mere suggestion, akin to the difference between reading a novel and then watching its "equivalent" on screen. Gilliam contends that the determining factor for a film's success directly relates to the degree the audience incorporates imagination into the production.

This high regard for engaging imaginations struck me as quite noble--the amount of money and judgement implicit in the movie-making process could easily squash one's creative perspective. Furthermore, Gilliam's comments reminded me of my own goals as a creative person and, I suppose, the most fundamental rule of artistic creation: show, don't tell. TV's Grey's Anatomy and Lost come to mind as immediate culprits of daily entertainment no-nos, constantly soundtracking every tear, every chase, and every quirky little moment of comedic relief. When these shows leave the characters alone in their environment and pursue each shot with intent to capture the scene and not the feeling, they succeed.