Caroline Hippler

Besides film and video and acting what else are you interested in?

I'm interested in getting started in photography. I'm trying to take a class in that next semester, but not right now. Theater in general, working behind the scenes and on the stage. I was the assistant stage manager for Pippin, that just ended. I guess writing.

How did you know that film and video studies was what you wanted to major in?

I've always been really interested in movies; my family is really into it. I started to think that it might be what I really wanted to do in high school and when I came to U of M, I took the intro class, 236: The Art of Film, and it was just a really good class, I enjoyed all aspects of it and that kind of convinced me that I wanted to major in it and then I went and declared.

What prior experience do you have in either art form, film and video or acting and theater?

In theater, I was in a traveling drama troupe in high school, which was through my church. There were like, ten of us, and we went and traveled around the state and the country a little bit too. A part of the group went international. And then for film, I took a semester long film class senior year of high school and it was really minimal. We watched movies and talked about them. Since it was high school, it took like, three class periods to watch a movie and one to talk about it. But it was cool. It was an overview, I learned some basics. And my family talks about movies all the time.

Where do you hope to go with this? What aspects of film and video are you interested in?

I haven't totally decided. I really enjoy writing about film and analyzing it. I like that a lot. But right now, I'm in this production class and I like it. It's really hard, really different. So I'm thinking I'll either be a critic or a producer or director maybe. And kind of maybe acting. Maybe. I'm not sure.

How does your art add to your experience at U of M?

It kind of makes my experience at U of M because I'm studying something I really enjoy and I'm excited to go to my classes for that area of concentration. It comes into other aspects of my life. I have an arts job and I'm involved in arts through the RC. It kind of keeps me sane because I have econ now and if I had all quantitative classes like that, it would be so unbearable. Basically if I weren't studying film, I'd be talking about it all the time anyway.

What do you do outside of schoolwork based on arts?

I work at Arts at Michigan, so I have an arts job, which I really enjoy. And I'm in RC Players which is a theater troupe, and I just finished a Musket show so I'm working on that. I'm in the Film and Video Student Association so I get emails about that. I keep meaning to get involved with M-agination Films but I just haven't yet.

Is it hard to balance studies and craft?

It is kind of hard because film takes up a lot of time. This one three credit class takes up 50 percent of my time sometimes. So it's kind of hard to balance that and get everything else done. I usually get everything done, it just seems like not as good as it could be.

What do you enjoy the most about theater or film?

With film, I really just like having conversations about film and just being able to catch different elements and being able to understand the filmmaker's intentions; seeing how things are conveyed with images rather than words. With acting, this sounds really cheesy, but I really just like experiencing emotions that I haven't before. If you're playing a certain part you probably haven't felt all of the emotions that the character has.

Do you have any influences that have really inspired you?

My parents have always put an emphasis on art and making sure I've been involved in that somehow. As a family, we all just really like movies and when we went to movies, we always talk about them afterward. So I'm going to go ahead and blame my love of film on that. In the field, I'd love to be able to be like, "Yes, all my films are very Hitchcockian" or, "I really like Truffaut, Jacques Ta-"Éno. I haven't made enough films to have an influence yet.

What are your goals?

I either want to end up being a film critic. Oh! Roger Ebert. That would be an influence. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, I used to watch their show all the time and I still do. I read Roger Ebert's reviews all the time. I really respect him as a writer so if I end up having a career like his, because he writes not only reviews on films, but essays on film, and I would really love to do something like that. Or if I end up in the production aspect, I'd like to either direct or produce, but eventually own my own production company.