HAPI Guide HAPIguide FALL 2017 | Page 34

CONSCIOUS CINEMA Cinematic Missteps W By Brent Marchant e all make mistakes, even filmmakers. De- spite valiant attempts and seemingly the best of intentions, some- times they just miss the mark. But these celluloid missteps shouldn’t be seen as “failures.” In actuality, they’re better viewed as valuable learning opportunities that represent potentially significant mileposts along their creators’ person- al and artistic learning curves (unless, of course, you’re director Ed Wood, the auteur of notoriously bad, low-budget cult flicks, but then that’s another story). So how can these cinematic blunders be consid- ered learning experiences? As in virtually any type of materialization, they help filmmakers refine 34 | HAPI Guide