EXTRA CREDIT - Donal Foreman, the young Irish Filmmaker

The most memorable thing that happened during Donal Foreman’s visit was the mentioning of one of his inspirations - John Cassavetes. John Cassavetes was known for doing a lot of improvisation in his films. He worked with his friends, shot in his house and used his own money. I found this to be deeply admirable as well as nostalgic. A few years ago, I was doing things very similar to John Casssavetes. I was creating my own short films. I was my own actor, my own writer, my own director. I shot a lot of my scenes from my home and local church. I improvised A LOT and I used all my own money to purchase my equipment. It was a lot of fun and deeply rewarding. In one of Foreman’s films, a quote is mentioned that really played on my heart strings. The quote reads “they (the filmmaker) must have the courage to account for their lives”. The reason this quote stands out to me so much is because I believe in making the most out of your life. I think filmmakers are brilliant in the fact that not only do they have the ability to bring their stories to life but others stories as well (whether real or fake). During Donal’s visit, I appreciated how many tips he gave us regarding creating our own short films. He mentioned “just practice… keep making films”. He also advised to know your work inside out because things fall through at the last minute and time is of the essence in filmmaking. I experienced this personally with my final project in FILMP 160. I had a few props that were needed in my short film but I forgot them in my car and it would take too much time away from shooting to go and get it so I improvised and bought the props from the vending machine in the school where my film scenes were taking place. Overall, I greatly appreciated Donal Foreman’s visit to our class.