The Reel Life: "Why filming great scenery doesn't work"

During my semester abroad in Australia, I have traveled to various beautiful places around the country including beaches, major cities, rain forests, and the Outback. At each place, my film major side kept thinking, "I should film a movie here."

But I soon realized something. There is an abundance of films that really emphasize the scenery where the movie was filmed. Just take a look at Lord of the Rings, almost every Western, and every Ang Lee film. There are many shots with tiny people and big mountains. It's almost as if the director arrives at the set, admires the beauty of the location, and says, "Damn, we should put this in the film."

The problem is that the experience of being at these locations does not translate into watching it on film. Many directors somehow think that the feeling they felt when filming will be placed into the viewers when they watch the movie. Yet, it never really works that way.

I've never watched a movie and thought it was good just because the scenery was cool. That's because the sight of these locations isn't the same as actually being there. Film is powerful, but it cannot give a person the complete feeling of being in the Australian Outback.

My advice to the all the artsy people out there is to limit the beauty and euphoric feeling of scenery and focus on a story. Don't get me wrong, I love great scenery, but the focus should never be on it, because of its intangibility on film. During my trips to these various places in a week of traveling, I took a ton of pictures and some videos during the first days. I looked at my pictures and realized they did the location no justice. Even though I can make all my friends jealous by putting a gazillion photos on Facebook, I realized the inability of pictures and videos to do justice to the landscape.

This entire realization may be really weird coming from a film major. But film, my personal reason for living, has limits. Reality goes beyond pieces of celluloid, but the great thing film can do is try to explain it.