Club Corner: Filmosophy Club Gets the Picture

Movie Buffs Gather to Watch and Analyze Videos, Short Films

With hundreds of thousands of films out on the market, it is difficult to actually go to Blockbuster or log onto Netflix and decide what movies are good to see. The Filmosophy Club offers the perfect solution to this everyday movie dilemma because it focuses on films and appreciation for them. The club meets in Room 401 at lunch on Thursdays with English and Film Analysis teacher Galen Rosenberg as adviser.

According to club president senior Christian Koch, there are only about 10 members at the meetings on any given day.

“We may watch a short film and discuss it or talk about film in general,” Christian said. “Valuable resources include what we have learned in Film Analysis or this huge book in Mr. Rosenberg’s room ‘1001 Movies You Must Watch Before You Die.’”

General movie talk is common during club meetings.

“We usually talk about what movies we’ve seen or what movies we want to see; sometimes we analyze them, sometimes we debate about them, sometimes we diss them,” senior Maris Colcord said. “Some meetings we end up going from movies to deep talks about life. Mr. Rosenberg joins in sometimes, too.”

Some club members discuss other forms of film, and events in the film world.

“We talk about different film topics,” senior Pedro Parodi said. “It ranges from the Academy Awards, movies with cross dressing, short films, or the more artistic side of film. If it is related to film, the topic is game.”

While the club has not yet been able to watch an entire film due to time restraints, it watches many short films as a group and then discusses them afterward. Videos from youtube.com that are funny, entertaining or artistic are also part of the club’s agenda.

Filmosophy Club members are also passionate about making their own movies. Some of the club members recently got together and made a short 12-minute film together. Called “Refuge,” it tells the story of a man whose plane crashes into a mental ward disguised as a hotel. The main character, played by senior Ben Colman, spends the duration of the film trying to escape the wrath of “insane people” occupying the ward — yet at the end becomes crazy himself. The film was directed by Christian and shot in a friend’s backyard.

“‘Refuge’ never went anywhere besides a small project, unfortunately,” Pedro said. “We did not finish it and we do not plan on finishing it. It was a good thing the experiment with, but we really needed a solid screenplay to go anywhere with it.”

The club is not currently working on another collaborative project such as “Refuge,” but its many senior members are enrolled in the Film Analysis class. All these seniors are applying techniques and skills used in the club to their end-of-the-year research papers and film projects.

Being part of the Filmosophy Club deepens one’s movie-watching experience. While at first, many movie-goers are unable to see the artistic elements of a film, upon analyzing and looking at it closely they can appreciate it more.

“[Filmosophy] Club has helped me get a new perspective on how to view different films,” Marisa said. “People look at things differently, and listening to how different people can look at the same film from different angles helped me kind of change the way I look at movies — I look more holistically at the full thing now.”

Pedro agrees.

“My favorite thing about Filmosophy Club is the freedom to talk about any movie I want and not be constrained by a reinforced curriculum,” Pedro said.