The spectator in the film-maker: re-framing filmology through creative film-making practices

ABSTRACT The relationship between film-makers who create and spectators who judge film is the focal point of this paper. It examines theoretically how these two positions co-exist inside a film-maker that can be supported through critical and conceptual creative practice frameworks. By drawing on filmology, an early film studies area of scholarship, original film theory elements will be re-framed. For example, the filmic terms ‘diegesis’ and ‘spectator’ are central to film theory and pedagogy but ‘creator’, ‘afilmic’, ‘profilmic’, ‘screenic’ and ‘filmographic’ are not frequently used. A re-framing of the filmology suggests another way for the film-maker and spectator to co-exist as a filmic agent who produces creative practices through film-making structures and production contexts. Spectatorship provides one component of the knowledge, skill and practice required for a film-maker to work creatively in a system. Other systemic components that co-exist with spectatorship are the practical, logistical and networking skills required to conceptualize, finance, execute and distribute a film. The Systems View of Creative Practice provides one theoretical explanation where the filmic agent can hold knowledge of both film-making and spectating that enables them to make decisions inside temporal filmic structures.