Experimental Film

Sheltered Last summer, I directed and produced a short experimental film back home in a small town in Southwest China called “Eat Me.” “What is an experimental film?” my family and friends always asked me. I came to the United States when I was thirteen as a sophomore in a private Christian high school in suburb Chicago, and that is where I discovered my passion in filmmaking. However, by that time, I still had no idea what experimental films were all about. I was making films in an extremely sheltered environment, but I knew deep in my heart that I wanted to create something more extreme and more conceptual. Then I moved to New York City, and I encountered this art form that caught my attention at the first sight. Then, I started to study …show more content…
The director takes you to his very personal island. Citizens there speak the language the director creates; the scenery builds upon his imagination; the culture ties up his value and belief. Experimental film does not have a specific destination, but the audience’s imagination. The director creates symbols, metaphors and images that will recollect audience’s experience and form a different world for each audience. In order to guide the audience’s imagination and to make the audience’s journey unique and worthy, it is crucial for the director to enrich himself with new experience, new image, and new worldview by taking a plane not only in movie theaters watching other films, but also traveling to other cultures. That is one of the major reasons why I am here in the United States as …show more content…
I went to elementary school when I was only four (normally one should start school at six). I was protected by my family and my teachers. I was sheltered. I was a “good student” according to my parents. I spent all of my time in a tiny classroom: memorizing ancient Chinese poems, working on math problem sets, writing science lab reports, and reading elementary English articles. All I wanted to achieve was to make my parents proud of me getting perfect grades. By doing so, I ignored to discover who I was and what I wanted to pursue in the future. When my parents asked me about my dream job, I would always say a banker because I thought it would be an answer they would like to hear. Not surprisingly, I guessed right. Did I really want to become a banker? I was not sure, and I did not care. I did not know what I want, so following my parents’ suggestions and pleasing them seems like the best way. I was sheltered, and the shelter I lived in blinded my