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What should you do at your wits end?
Understanding what wit is would be a good place to start.
Wittiness is a social virtue that involves Saying and listening to the right things in the right way in regards to humor and amusement. - Aristotle
So to understand this, lets look at the extremes so we know what wittiness is not. A witty person is not bore nor are they a buffoon.
A bore would be some one that would never say anything to make you laugh and never laugh themselves. That certainly sounds boring.
A buffoon on the other had will do anything for a laugh.
If it is at someone else expense the buffoon does not care.
They don't care if it's good or true. They just want to laugh.
As a filmmakers we need not glorify these extremes in our story telling.
They are not virtuous. But the boor or the buffoon would make good characters in need of redemption. Meaning redemption in a story.
To become less of a buffoon. To become less of a bore.
But to do that the filmmaker needs to know what is witty. What is truly funny. And what is not funny. How do you use humor for the sake of the good of your audience. How do you help your audience flourish from humor?
We have to figure these things out. Since you are a filmmaker, You need to know.
One thing for certain the answer is not found in modern gobbly gook philosophy that denies all the normal natural stuff that has be know for thousands of years. We come to know things through our senses.
This is natural. This is nature. And all things made lead us back to its Creator. We came only from God. He is not creation. He is the Creator. He doesn't change. He is not in time. Time is in Him.
Maybe that's why modern art is desperately trying to create something not based in this world. Why not base what they make on what has been created?
Because they know creation will lead back to God and the modernist does not want God.
The funny thing is the Godless can't get away from Him. They must mask and plagiarize what they make so as not to reference the One, True God.
On the other hand,
Think of TIME. What if you simply present Time well in your story. You can lead your audience to GOD!
For us as filmmakers, the responsibility to properly show the natural world in order is calling.
We must understand the grave requirements presented us.
You have a gift. You have to be a good steward of your gift.
You have to develop your gift.
The talent you have been given is not for you to look at and say wow, look what I got. What you have is a morsel of the total talent that will be demanded of you at the end of your life.
According to Christ you should be at least twice as talented as you are right now. (I'm not going to give you the parable I'm referring too. But I hope you will recognize the demanding story.)
AND more importantly knowing what will be demanded of you can help get the fire lit, but then let LOVE take over. Love is the greatest motivator.
To double the talent you've been given is only going to happen if you are disciplined with your craft. That is daily.
You must exercise your talent daily. Mary Flannery O'conner was an author of fiction who wrote 2-3 hours a day. And she was battling Lupus. Which ultimately she died from. Maybe that reality helped motivate her. She was going to die.
Guess what. Your going to die too. Develop your discipline in the art of filmmaking. Greatness awaits.
In conclusion, the answer to greater wit is not in some other universe on the back of a random crystal that somehow has no beginning. The answers are not complicated. They are natural. They are in nature. The answer is in the 2000 year deposit of faith that has be researched for you. They lead us to God. So if you find yourself at the end of your rope tie a knot. Get a good book like this one and hoist yourself back down to earth.
I can't do this topic justice in a blog. To go deeper we need to connect and come together for the glory of God.
Pray that people will have generous hearts and fund this renaissance.
Unite with other Catholic Filmmakers like you.
