Before you commit to a course of study, it might be useful to get a better idea of what it is that course is going to focus on and what work it will require. You should ask yourself if you prefer the nuts and bolts aspects of film making, the history, or the interpretation. Also consider how you want to use this knowledge in the future. What is your goal in pursuing this course? Would you like to make films? Do you want to teach? Do you want to be a critic?
If your interest is more in film history or theory, that may require more attention to film analysis. It seems to me that film aesthetics is going to require a great deal of analysis. I personally find analysis fun on occasion, but only as it helps me learn more about how to tell a story of my own. I prefer the practical aspects of studying film over the less tangible aspects.
Being an Aspie who pursued film making, I'll throw my two cents in about my career...
I was once told by a person who knew a lot of film makers that I did not seem to have the right personality to be a film director. I think what he was trying to say is that most film directors tend to be very confident in themselves. I have very little confidence in myself and expect others to reject or ignore my ideas implicitly. But this doesn't mean I can't make a good film. It just means I am not likely to do well in conventional Hollywood film making.
I think Aspies who want to pursue film making are better off in small, independent productions rather than in big grandiose blockbuster style films. In smaller productions the valuable ideas that you might contribute are less likely to be drowned out by all the noise and commotion of a big production. I am at my most confident when I am alone. Since film making requires a great deal of confidence just to keep going, I find it easier to work with small groups when I need assistance and work alone whenever I can.
I made a couple of films in college that were not very good. (I was a theatre major and most of what I know about film making is self taught) The hardest thing for me was getting people to cooperate in my productions. Actors would show up late, cast and crew objected to walking the extra few hundred feet to get a better angle etc. I didn't have the confidence in myself to insist that the film would be better if they just did what I said. In hindsight, I would have been better off if I had been more demanding. An Aspie director might do well to team up with a confident NT producer.
In recent years I have become interested in documentary. If I'm not trying to do anything terribly complex, I can set up a camera, lighting and sound kit that I can run on my own. I have less of a need to get others to cooperate with me. I think what I really like about documentary is that it allows me to ask people questions and dig into interesting details without seeming too weird. So long as I keep the scope of what I am doing small, I seem to do alright.
My day job is doing visual effects and motion graphics work for a small film production company. Mostly I work alone in my office, but on rare occasions, I have had to be on the set during shooting. I always feel awkward and out of place. Everyone else seems to know their job and exactly what is expected of them. I usually feel like I am doing nothing and just taking up space. So I much prefer hiding in my office and working alone.
Animation can also be a good field for an Aspie since a lot of it can be done in isolation. With modern digital still cameras, you can photograph drawings, puppets or clay models and sequence them in a computer to form a movie. There is also a great deal of good software for doing computer animation.
At any rate, film is a huge field and there are many aspects to it. I think you need to do a lot of looking at your own interests to figure out exactly where in film you might be happiest.
Good luck,
Lars
25 Mar 2010, 10:28 am
