10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You’re A Film Major

Being a flim major comes with a lot of ups and downs. Here are things you can relate to if you're a student who works with the movies and cinema!

And action? Being a film major is no joke! While many might question your decision, it is one that is mentally fulfilling and enriching! Film majors learn to educate themselves on the art of film and so much more!

1. People Assume It’s Easy

“So all you have to do is watch movies right?” If you are a film major, you basically hear this question in your dreams! Holidays back home are spent answering questions and concerns from parents, aunts and uncles on the benefits of your degree.Film is a broad term, so when people hear it, they assume its just hanging out and laughing along to some films!

When people think of our major they think it’s all fun. games, movies and popcorn galore! While yes, film is fun, being a film major means a lot more! It means creating scripts, working collaboratively and analyzing film in a critical manner. To all the naysayers, think back to writing long book essays except instead of a book its a film. Seems a lot more harder huh? Film majors learn the art of understanding a film, not just enjoying and watching it.

2. Becoming a Film Snob

It is only natural really. Part of the process of learning how a film is made is learning how good or badly constructed a movie was created. To the baby film major newbies this means rejecting anything considered “too mainstream”. You’ll probably scoff at the latest superhero film or grimace when someone mentions that their favorite movie is something like Rampage. Don’t worry though, the film snob phase usually disappears after a while!

3. Falling in Love With Obscure Films

Yep, film majors love weird films. Everybody has a film that they hold dear to their heart even when they know no one else has watched it. These tiny obscure movies are somewhat a source of pride and make you look 10 times cooler. Sometimes you try to humble brag with your other film friends on how many of these small films you’ve seen. Bonus points if they are black and white and silent or experimental.

4. Watching Basically Every Film

“Want to watch this film?”

“Already seen it..”

“What about this one?”

“Seen it twice.”

This convo is a common conversation you have between your friends! Being a film major means being in love with the artform and binging on it whenever possible. Film is addicting, intoxicating and as a film major, you are helpless! You waste too much money on films and rewatched ( RIP Movie pass) Whether it be a good film, a critically acclaimed film or a bad one, you just can’t not watcch it! This slightly backfires however when you and your friends plan to go out to watch a film. You’ve basically seen it all before them!

5. Nitpicking Scenes

Your mind turns into an internal conversation with yourself while watching films! Nope, they should have cut here. Long shot coming up next. Extreme Close Up? Hmm interesting choice… wow the symbolsim if it all. The COLORS. Your mind has been hardwired to think like this for your major and the habits have stayed. Every scenes is being thought inside the context of analyzing and you nerd out when some of your predictions turn out to be true!

6. Dealing With Film Bros

This one is for all my film ladies out there. Film bros often try to mansplain films to us all the time. Whether it be inside a lecture or in discussion groups, film bros will try to downplay your value by interrogating you on film. They’ll always bring up Fight Club and 2001: Space Odyssey and while yes, those are good films, they aren’t a border between a true film lover and just a casual fan.