Finished in April 2018

I Feel

By Zac Langridge

When people watch films

They watch it

When people watch films

They see it

When people watch films

Their eyes show it to them

When people watch films

They understand it

They think about it

But when I watch films

I feel it

I see it

But I’m inside it

I understand it

But I live on it

When a character is in danger

I’ve become his fear

When a character is happy

I embody his joy

When I’m treated to beautiful cinematography

I inwardly thank the filmmakers

When I hear a great musical score

I punch the air in triumph

When I feel a great scene

My lungs get smaller, I can barely breathe

When I feel a great movie

My face gets hot, my mouth twists into an unstoppable smile

When I feel, embody, live off an amazing story, an experience, an emotional ride

I become myself, an aspiring filmmaker, a lover of stories, a passionate writer, an addict to music

I become me

When I hear people underestimate films

Or sneer at them, or brush them off

I feel disgust and (admittedly) vicious contempt

And struggle to hold back a perfectly valid statement, saying: “Why the hell don’t you try and make a film?”

They wouldn't understand the passion, the love directors, writers, actors and composers have of their craft

They don’t feel the pain that artists have to go through to slowly present a story

Be it movie, novel, song, or painting

They haven’t bothered to get off their lazy, unproductive, unimaginative asses and tried to make a story that reaches their own unreachable merits and standards

They don’t get what I get

They don’t feel what I feel

And I feel sorry for them

Because I feel films

I feel books

I feel music

I feel art

I feel

And any true artist or admirer, director or author, composer and more, feels it too

I feel