Author: matthustead714

Me and Film

I use Letterboxd to document and rate films I watch. I find the service to be quite useful, and I find myself checking it more frequently than any other social app I use. I spent most of February and March watching and rating new films, but have recently slowed down as finals begin to approach. I also use the site to document my favorite films, which changes quite often. I don’t really know anybody on the site though, so my ratings are largely just to document my own feelings on film. If you are curious, my account is here:

https://letterboxd.com/matthustead714/

As mentioned earlier, I have a place where I defined what films I would consider to be my favorites. I’m not sure if I would say I have a #1 favorite, but my top 4 (Back to the Future, Evil Dead II, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey) are at the pinnacle of my film enjoyment. I love films that subvert genre, as I find them to be much more unique and emotionally impactful.

Although I don’t think I have a #1 favorite filmmaker, I do have favorites for each position. They are (currently) as follows:

Director: Stanley Kubrick, Sam Raimi, Edgar Wright, Wes Anderson

Writer: Charlie Kaufman, Darren Aronofsky, Stanley Kubrick

Director of Photography: Benoît Debie, Bill Pope, Roger Deakins

Yet again, I wouldn’t say I have favorite “scenes” in film, but here are a few that come to mind (in no particular order)

The monologue in this scene is absolutely incredible, made even better by the amazing score by Vangelis.
I find this scene to be both amusing and disturbing at the same time, which makes for a very unique feeling that few films offer.
One of the few endings that actually makes me cry every time I watch it.
Incredibly exhilarating ending to a fantastic film. Perfectly cut to the beat of a great track, and the camerawork is some of the best I’ve seen.
Easily my favorite opening to any film. As with Whiplash, the way its cut to the beat makes for an exciting and adrenaline-filled experience.
The Ultimate Fourth Wall Break.
Just one of many scenes I love from Wes Anderson’s masterpiece “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. I only saw it for the first time in 2019, and I have already rewatched at least 10 times.

About Me

My name is Matthew Hustead, and I am 19 years old. I currently attend Howard Community College, and next semester I hope to continue pursuing film studies, then transfer to a 4 year university in 2020. Although directing and writing is my #1 choice for a career, I would like to do many jobs throughout the course of my life, as I find many topics interesting and want to explore different ways of living. I am also interested in Astrophysics, Architecture, Mathematics (especially geometry), Philosophy, Set Design, Theme Park Design, and Psychology.

In this course, I learned quite a bit about the process of film creation, from how to write scripts and storyboards to how to get more aesthetically pleasing audio and shots. I also learned quite a bit about other medias as well, such as photography, a topic I have had an interest in for a while yet never bothered to study.