By Kylee Crisswell, Yukon High School
Ben Johnson, a playwright of the early 1500s, once wrote, “Curiosity killed the cat.” While he may be right, humanity knows no limits regarding learning. For Becca Benson, a 17-year-old rising senior of Frederick High School, curiosity is the first step in gaining new knowledge about film production.
Becca believes that there is not one set way to portray a story. She said that the uniqueness of a story is what makes it worth being told.
“Media is storytelling, and those stories can be told in many different ways,” Becca said.
Becca goes on to explain how learning is a combination of tactile and visual presentation for her. Growing up, while her siblings were more interested in reading, she gravitated toward film. Part of this media interest stemmed from the memories surrounding her childhood.
As she continued to grow up, Becca also began watching film classics, such as the 2005 rendition of “Pride and Prejudice.” This inspired Becca to get involved in the performing arts, where she even had the opportunity to perform as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.” Beyond that, she has also participated in her local high school marching band and choir. Although these experiences put Becca in the limelight, she quickly found an interest in behind-the-scenes work.
Becca’s transition to working behind the scenes was also inspired by her experience watching a Marvel movie.
“I went to see the first ‘Doctor Strange’ movie,” Becca said. “Afterward, I just remember being really impressed with the editing and thought, I want to know how they did that.”
Becca has been taking a multimedia production class. Now that she has had the opportunity to learn more about working behind the scenes, she has become more aware of scene-blocking behind the camera.
“I think about what is physically happening with the camera, and how each shot is set up,” Becca said.
Becca explained that there is more work involved in pre-production than in production itself, yet the pre-production is still her favorite part of filmmaking.
Although she has not yet had an opportunity to go in-depth with film work, she has learned how to balance out the lengthy process of editing with the creative aspects of production such as scriptwriting, storyboards and production sketches.
Becca said that curiosity should be encouraged. Each process has its own unique steps required to begin the project itself, and each of those processes have to be learned and understood to be used.
For Becca, knowledge is only as good as a person’s interest in the subject, and this desire for knowledge has sparked both her curiosity and her interests in production. Although she has not yet decided on what college to attend, she does want to continue following the path of film and creative media production. Becca provided some insight into how curiosity plays a role in education.
“I think that being curious is a good thing,” Becca said. “I think that even if you don’t like it, you should try to push yourself and be more open.”
