Compass/MapI recently began working in the library’s Instructional Media Center department in Fall of 2016. I had never worked in an A-V department before, and within a couple weeks of working here it became woefully apparent that I was very far behind on my movie knowledge. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but apparently everyone else has been watching new movies every year and instead I was only re-watching some personal favorites from time to time. This needed to change. I resolved to teach myself about film. I checked out books from our (wonderful) West Chester University Library about the art of film and set about the learning process. However, the first chapter dealt with key words involving the analysis of film, and by the third page I was confusing the difference between a tilt shot and a tracking shot, trying to understand what exactly was a mise-en-scene, and marveling that people could understand the composition of a shot that was only on screen for a brief second. In this moment, I had a brilliant idea.

Rather than try to understand film without watching any film, I would actually watch film! It was genius!

From this point, I went on a mission to discover which films I should watch first. Everyone had their own ideas of which films I should watch. While I appreciated the suggestions and they helped start my movie adventure, my true journey started with the discovery of Letterboxd, a movie tracking website (https://letterboxd.com/). On this website, I discovered a list called “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”. It was perfect for me! It would allow me to track my progression (I went through and clicked on the movies I had seen—less than 100) as well as help me remember which movies I had watched.

As I experience these movies, I hope to be able to share my adventure and discoveries with the rest of the West Chester community. Please feel free to comment with any suggestions!