David Lowery: On Teaching

July 25, 2010

On Teaching

While embedded in the jungle, I received an email asking if I might be interested in teaching a two-day cinematography workshop at the Dallas Museum Of Art, immediately upon my return. The class would be geared towards high school students, and the curriculum would be up to me.

Now, an intractable tenet of my personality is that, regardless of whatever misgivings I might have, it is well nigh impossible for me to say no to any given proposition. So in spite of the fact that I wasn't necessarily jumping at this particular opportunity, I swallowed my jet lag and a few days later found myself at a podium in front of a gaggle of teenagers, holding a copy of Bresson's Notes On Cinematography (I had decided to use his more inclusive definition of the art as a jumping point, you see) and listening to crickets chirp.

It wasn't exactly that bad. Still, the idealized version of myself I pictured striding to and fro in front of those kids (wearing a neat blazer), breaking down the theory and practice of the craft into colorful building blocks of erudition, never quite materialized. Instead, the real me free-associated his way through an opening lecture, giving an unintentional primer on the pitfalls of nonlinear structures. Later, in trying to demonstrate the importance of lenses in realizing one's mental images, I couldn't get the lens adapter on our model camera to discharge the 50mm; I quickly backpedaled, all the way to an early break for lunch.

My dad is a professor, and a natural pontificate; I always thought that I might have the same knack for conveying ideas, but standing up there at the front of the room, trying to explain F-Stops and shutters and three-point lighting, I felt incredibly frustrated. Both towards myself and my inability to be lucid, and towards the students for not already knowing what I was talking about. I want to teach people who understand where I'm coming from. By the same token, I like to direct actors who already know what I want and don't need me to explain things to them. I can explain things to them, but by the end of those explanations we'll all be confused and unsure and filled with grave self doubts. Better to affirm, I think, than to teach from scratch! Tabula rasas are not my cup of tea, kids don't care who Bresson is and it was too hot to wear a damn blazer.

That was the first day. On Day 2, things got better.

Posted by David Lowery at July 25, 2010 1:37 PM

Comments

I was among the "gaggle of teenagers" during those two days, and I must say that I have been thoroughly inspired by your originality and unique perspective. Shortly after leaving that tiny auditorium, I logged onto Vimeo.com and indulged myself in your films and several interviews (above all, 'Some Analog Lines' truly spoke to me). Still, I am driven to create my unique film style, just as you have, and am currently working on my first film. During this less-than-no-budget film, a piece of advice you gave on the first day has been a genuine comfort to me: "We're all poor. That's part of being an artist."
Thank you very much for taking time out of your life to enlighten the few of us who care.
-Joshua

Posted by: Joshua Chumbley at December 12, 2010 11:34 PM