WILL ROOSE — Staff Writer

Whether binging the latest television series on Netflix or watching a film from the 1960s for class, streaming has been nothing less than a revelation for students hoping to relieve stress after a busy week, especially as finals loom closer with each day.  

Theatrical windows have been shortened, Marvel and nostalgic properties seem to dominate popular culture, and smaller indie projects have fallen to the wayside despite needing more support than ever.  

All that aside, the Denison cinema department has maintained itself in pursuing the art out of sheer passion despite the challenges and creative vulnerabilities.  We want to make content to serve you, the student, striving to inspire, exhilarate the emotional core, and provide a sense of escapism to the often demanding reality.  

However, this semester has proved more difficult than ever, and need collective help to continue the filmmaking journey here on campus.  When the Michael D. Eisner for the Performing Arts was announced, one would assume that the cinema house would be implemented into one of the building’s many art studios.

After all, Eisner was the CEO of a company quite literally built on the art of filmmaking.  Unfortunately, our department is still isolated across the street, with a theater that is now completely eclipsed by the new auditoriums.  

This is not a symptom of jealously, a notion that I turned over in my mind until remembering that the equipment we use has consistently become broken and rendered unusable for the rest of the semester.  

It has become a reoccurring joke in that conceptualizing a film even remotely close to the term “ambitious,” will almost always result in extreme failure.  A few weeks ago, I inadvertently stranded myself in Herrick Hall with three hundred pounds of film equipment because I stupidly thought it would be a good idea to shoot in a location other than Mulberry Street.  

Mind you, this isn’t an impossible demand or a result of poor pre-production.  It is simply a result of underfunded and lack of tools necessary to meet modest, simple requests from a directorial standpoint.  This isn’t a matter of present inconvenience but also hinders future endeavors, such as internships. 

When an artist picks up a paintbrush and tries to connect it with a canvas, at no point does that brush suddenly fly out of the creator’s hand and fly into the sun.  Yet, when I (like many of my fellow classmates) try to pick up a camera and create art with it, the technology either stops working from age or cannot capture the shot required for production.  

Will an employer care about the effort that was taken in creating an unfinished product?  The simple answer is no, and the artist who was unhindered by circumstance can now present their work without a second thought, without competition.  “Well, that is just filmmaking. Part of the process.  Things happen” — if this was indeed the case, this article would cease to exist. 

I do not believe the art form I have had a passion for since I could barely walk would impede me to such an extent that I couldn’t even create an output of finished work. This is a much deeper problem, one that affects all the incredible professors and students who have to deal with production issues on a daily basis.  This is not an ask for help, but a cry for one; the cinema division of Denison is paralyzed at this point.