Loveday Writing

My Degree in Late Night Movies (Sandy McEwen)**

Movie Buff

My viewing schedule is as full as a doctor’s wallet.

I hit the university study jackpot with a Bachelor of Film Studies (majoring in reviewing). Basically my studying consists of watching movies, sorry, films, for years on end and writing reviews. This semester’s focus is late night movies.

I’m starting my day with Basic Instinct, in which my review will revolve around how the bunny boiling moment symbolises Alex’s obsessive and unstable nature. Just a fancy way of saying she’s as crazy as a bag of cats.

Later, I’ll be choosing a horror movie of some kind and arguing for and against jump scares – are they are crucial building blocks for the genre or a lazy way to scare its adoring fans?

I’ll be spending my evening analysing whether the famous running home sequence in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off changes from a race to a chase sequence/montage when Jeannine nearly hits him with the family car and wants to beat him home, as well as Rooney’s desperate desire to prove Ferris’ truancy. I honestly think it does and I love watching it over and over.

Some days I fall asleep doing my work, eventually waking up via a hypnic jerk and my overly long fringe being the first thing I see. Some people think I need to socialise more, or don’t believe my degree will get me anywhere. But I love my life as a movie buff, it makes me as happy as a clam.  

**Reference: Marsden J 1998, Everything I Know About Writing, Pan Macmillan, Australia.