Stop helping everyone else make their films, and enlist them to help you make yours. This is an exaggeration, but the point is - you are the one person who cares the most about your project, so you have to take the leadership in driving it forward.
Jenni OlsonI think the biggest misconception about experimental film in general is that it is always difficult and inaccessible.
Jenni OlsonI find that I always also manage to incorporate a simultaneous reflection on cinema history into my films.
Jenni OlsonWhile the creative aspects of my filmmaking style are challenging in their own ways, I have developed such confidence and passion over the years that it has become much easier.
Jenni OlsonI've been making 16mm urban landscape films about San Francisco for many years. I choose different nonfiction themes to investigate and am generally interested in surfacing lesser-known histories. I like to investigate and illuminate these histories, combining them with my own unconventional storytelling style, which is generally a stream-of-consciousness voiceover involving a steady stream of personal reflections on pining over unavailable women.
Jenni Olsonather than Eisenstein's fast and hard cutting, I like to hold the shot very still and for longer than we're accustomed to. For me personally as a viewer, this technique invariably causes me to have waves of emotions that I think arise from a profound form of mindful awareness and the feelings that go along with that. I am frequently brought to tears by this kind of existential cinematic technique.
Jenni Olson