The Pledge

"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge." The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't." -- Cutter, The Prestige (2006)

It’s not unusual to be a movie lover. There are always people who claim they never read books or don’t watch TV (two groups of people I have no time for), but I’ve never met someone who said they never watch movies. Unlike books and TV, which have inherent (but misjudged) high- and lowbrow connotations respectively, movies seem to be a great equalizer.  So I feel that I can out myself as a movie lover without any embarrassment. And really, I love movies.

But it’s more than that. I’m starting grad school in August, and I’ll be studying Archives and Preservation. My goal, though, way on down the line, is to continue on to a Ph.D. in Film and then work in film preservation. So why am I telling you this? Because I adore movies and I want to spend my life working on them, but I'm not a movie buff or a cinephile or any number of other words that describe someone who has wide-ranging knowledge of genres, titles, actors and lingo. I can’t describe a cinematographer’s use of deep focus, for example, and I’ve seen pitifully few classics. If the rest of my life is going to be dedicated to movies, I should probably work on that.

I majored in English and Art History, so I have plenty of experience writing about all kinds of artsy subjects: literature, poetry, paintings, sculpture, performance art, furniture and architecture. I even wrote a 15-page paper about a hole in the ground (albeit a very attractive one). But film? I wouldn’t know where to begin. That’s why this blog exists. I’m going to get a feel for writing about film by, well, writing about film. I don’t know what form this will take – could be reviews, mini-essays, random thoughts. And I’m going to study like mad, taking in all kinds of information from anywhere I can find it. So if you’re reading this, my unassuming little blog is the pledge. For the turn, you'll have to keep reading. And if you're looking for the prestige, well, so am I.