Hope that got your attention! Have you ever noticed someone on campus for the first time and then, suddenly, you keep seeing them everywhere? Or maybe you’ve noticed a specific number once, and afterward it seems to appear constantly. If so, you’ve experienced the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, which Psychology Today describes as a “cognitive bias in which someone learns a novel word or concept—and then ‘suddenly’ encounters it everywhere.” That phenomenon is essentially what I’m experiencing, but with every piece of media I consume.
Film and media have always been interests of mine since childhood. I used to beg my parents to take me to the movies, even though I wasn’t allowed to go out on school nights, and I would stay up late watching the behind-the-scenes features of almost every Disney Channel show released between 2002 and 2013. Without doing much analytical research on filmmaking, I assumed all that behind-the-scenes content I consumed would somehow turn me into a great movie critic. Combined with my growing passion for cinematography, cameras, and the evolving world of content creation, I truly thought I knew everything there was to know, not just about watching movies, but about eventually creating one of my own.
That belief remained strong until I took this class. Taking the time to read Film Art every week and diving deep into various genres has made me view all upcoming blockbusters in a completely different light. Movies I’ve watched in the past now feel changed when I revisit them with this new perspective on viewership. Even the slightest bit of cinematography I see in a TikTok or instagram post has me questioning the mise-en-scene of it all.
An experience that I had recently that reinforced this phenomenon was my when I watched the movie Wicked: For Good. Having studied the elements of a musical along with the mise-en-scene from Dancing In The Rain, I spent a good chunk of the movie hyper focusing on the costume choice, dialogue, and various whip pan transitions of Elphaba screamign about Fiyero while flying around Oz on her broomstick. In that moment, I realized how much this class really reshaped how I engage with storytelling. Every film, every scene, every quick-cut TikTok suddenly feels layered with intention, style, and technique that I never would have noticed before. The frequency illusion has ultimately enriched the way I see things, and while a part of me misses having the ability to watch things “just for fun” I’m grateful that I’m now able to analyze the craft I’ve had a passion for. The lessons taught within this course have shown me the artistry and patience woven into every frame, upholding the child in me.
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