S. Allyn Bayley                                                          
 
    							         Film 474                                                          

 
                                                                                      
 
                                                                                      
 
              My background is one of color and sound.  That is, literally,           
 
 the background of my life is art and music, my mother being a painter and            
 
 my father a composer.  Being aware and being capable are not always                  
 
 synchronous.  I soon found out I was neither artist nor musician.                    
 
             My first film course was titled Film Appreciation.  It was               
 
 a moderately large class, 35-45 people, and structured as a lecture with little      
 
 discussion.  I believe this was largely due to the students lack of interest         
 
 because I was later told that my comments would have been warmly received.           
 
 The course was designed to include both basic history and aesthetic                  
 
 evaluation of American film.  We watched approximately two feature length            
 
 films a week, starting with short films on film terms, editing, etc., then           
 
 to The Great Train Robbery, Mutiny On The Bounty, My Darling Clementine,             
 
 Citizen Kane, and fourteen or so others.  The assignment for the class was           
 
 to keep a movie log; a detailed personal observation of each film, its               
 
 impact on me, what I could recognize as technical reasons for that impact            
 
 (say specific mood-special lighting or exact editing).  During the course            
 
 I found that the utilization of my eye's view and my ear's hearing, that were        
 
 such a part of me, had an outlet in viewing and analyzing films.  I became a         
 
 prolific log writer, "logging in" over 75 pages for the course.                      
 
             My eyes had seen, my ears had heard!  What to do?!  The documentary      
 
 film course I took next had a similar format - lecture, film, log - but              
 
 less students, giving us some room for more intimate discussion.  I rebelled         
 
 against writing a log, having both burnt myself out somewhat, and, also,             
 
 having decided I had a specific interest wanted to investigate that I felt           
 
 fit (enough) into the course content.  About all I remember about the course         
 
 is watching Man Of Aran, two "opposing" views of the Vietnam war, and that           
 
 I was the only woman attending.  What I do remember is my work in the                
 
 library and at home, scanning, reading, and reviewing some 35 or so books            
 
 about and by directors, documentary and otherwise.  I don't have access to           
 
 the list at this time, but it included such diverse personages as Grierson,          
 
 Fleharty, Wilder, Bergman, Kubrick, Warhol, Renoir, Preminger, Hitchcock,            
 
 Truffaut, Godard, Peckinpaw, plus some  young contemporary American                  
 
 directors/filmmakers, etc., etc.  The final outcome of this effort was both          
 
 a bibliography of books with short reviews, but also an exposure to many             
 
 different approaches to film.  Armed with this information, I also composed          
 
 an essay on the documentation quality/aspect of film, its validity.  This            
 
 paper's contents, or, better perhaps, my understanding of them, have pretty          
 
 much shaped how I approach film.                                                     
 
             Between the time of taking the documentary film course and the           
 
 present my only contact with film was in production, minimal at that                 
 
 I collaborated with three other people on a 2O minute documentary film of            
 
 Chico's Bidwell Park.  The hands-on practice of filming, editing, etc.               
 
 with a group was a quite an experience.  Besides what seened like group              
 
 pregnancy and miscarriage, separation from loved ones, unemployment, and             
 
 emotional breakdowns, we worked with rear screen projection, with a                  
 
 multiple slide set-up, music and narration editing, and dealing with labs            
 
 hundreds of miles away(a lesson in itself).  My input in this project was            
 
 largely with the audio and overall editing, as it seemed that my eye and             
 
 ear were much better trained tan my hand.                                            
 
             That is where I find myself now - with the ideas and concepts,           
 
 and very barely budding physical ability to interpret them.  Film-wise, I am         
 
 currently also enrolled in a Super 8 production course and Film History 3OO,         
 
 which is not too repetitive, as it is broader than my previous experience.           
 
 The attraction to this course was tri-fold. I was intrigued by the idea of           
 
 "visiting" instructor.  I saw this as an opportunity to be exposed to                
 
 someone outside of San Francisco State's spectrum, with, hopefully,                  
 
 different experiences and attitudes to relate.  (I did not know until the            
 
 start of the course that Ms. MacKenzie was to be teaching or who she was.)           
 
 I also felt I needed a course that would look at film from other than its            
 
 strict technical aspects and historical context: to see a film as a part of          
 
 my experience, an extension either to or from me, pertaining to areas of my          
 
 feelings(output) or someone else's(input). Thus, I was interested in the             
 
 portion of the title-"Politics".  My last previous college classes had               
 
 been political science courses, where I had been most interested in the              
 
 concept of treaties, world law, and the "extending" element of any political         
 
 situation out to other countries/spheres, the influence of one situation/            
 
 environment on another.  The course presented an opportunity to assess the           
 
 ebb and flow between myself and the rest of the world.                               
 
             The relationships I create between this course and other areas           
 
 are vast.  On a personal level, I can draw upon my past political-social             
 
 experiences and compare and contrast them with what I extract from films             
 
 and readings.  This could possibly be called personal political evaluation,          
 
 not an always pleasant, sometimes painful process, yet a necessary  element          
 
 of growth and enlightenment.  Then again, I can approach the material from           
 
 my emotional sources, the humanity of my existence and experience                    
 
 associated with that which I see and feel in the material.  Externally,              
 
 the concept of "recording" or documenting man's history/man's view of                
 
 history/man's view of man is intriguing.  This has been a function of all            
 
 art for ages and film has easily filled this role.  It can represent                 
 
 either the theory or the analysis or the proof of a given situation;                 
 
 it is also a scientific tool.  I hope to be able to see it as both in the            
 
 course.