Rough Theater

The concept of "rough theater" is exactly what it sounds like. Namely, it is theater that is organic and a bit rough around the edges. The beauty of this type of theater lies in its intimacy, an audience sitting in a pristine palace looking at an opera through binoculars does not experience the raw reality of actors performing in a barn with minimal props other than their unbridled enthusiasm.

But how does this concept translate to film? By creating something that uses film as a medium but does not comply with the rigid rules of Hollywood story structuring, filmmakers are able to bring a roughness back into a art form that can be too perfectly coiffed. With celebrities who can make it through an epic battle with nothing more than a few well placed cuts and tussled hair, there is magic in seeing the humanity in a imperfect rendition of one aspect of the human experience.    

This past semester, after spending countless hours in the editing room, I have come to the conclusion that some editors must realize that they are allowing a few "mistakes" to make it into the final edit. Maybe this is so that cinephiles who are searching for any discontinuity have something to get excited about. It would be pretty hard for anything to slip by an editor but appear noticeably enough for an overzealous critic. But I believe that some editors find joy in emphasizing their media rather than hiding it.

There are many ways to remind a viewer that they are indeed watching a film from including time-codes to showing the boom mic's shadow. Stylized editing also functions to make the media highly visible. There is something that is so refreshing about unpolished creativity. After manipulating film in many ways ranging from camera-less filmmaking to stop-motion, I feel like I have grown to have a broader understanding of what a film can be. Sometimes beauty is in the charred and rough edges of a raw idea.