'An Evening with Kevin Smith' here we come...

'An Evening With Kevin Smith' is coming to Houston this Friday, so I decided to buy tickets for myself, my brother (his birthday present), and Bill. The only problem is that I had two midterms this friday. Dr. Wright, my Bible teacher said it was no problem and had me come in this morning at 8 a.m. to take the test. In order to get permission in my Mass Comm class to get the test early, I was required to write an essay on Kevin Smith and the importance of his work in film today. I kind of forgot that he told me that he wanted it before I left on my trip, so this is what I threw together in the last 30 min. or so. Enjoy my first blog in almost a year or something.


Kevin Smith has come a long way since he first wrote and directed his first movie Clerks. According to Smith’s website, Viewaskew.com, his first attempt at film making cost him just over 27,000 dollars; paid with maxed out credit cards, his entire comic book collection, and a family donation. The film went to the Sundance Film Festival and won an award for best drama. Smith’s film was picked up by the Miramax movie studio and released in a wider format. Since then, Smith has gone on to write, direct and/or produce over 10 successful films.
Kevin Smith has changed the way people think about the movie business. While many people in the past have had dreams of going into the movie business, nobody has been able to “Forrest Gump” their way to the top like Kevin Smith. He showed the world that with a little bit of talent and luck, and a whole lot of determination and drive that one can make their dreams a reality.
Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith are two writer/directors that have really influenced the film industry with extraordinary works of art. Both are very similar in their film making. Both have only made a few movies compared to the many films that most directors work on. Both have very high quality dialogue in their film that is the most essential part of their films. Yet it is interesting that Smith gave himself a recurring role in these brilliant dialogue based films as a character named Silent Bob, who hardly ever says anything at all. The poetic irony that he places on himself is just remarkable.
From Clerks all the way to his newest script he is working on right now called Hit Somebody, Smith has always focused on the smaller side of life. He usually focuses on his own small town upbringing, most of the time setting his movie in a small town in New Jersey like the one he grew up in. He filmed Clerks in the very convenient store he worked at and based it on the boredom he felt at work with his friends. Dogma was a film blasting at the dogmatic rules and regulations he suffered through as a child growing up in the Catholic Church. Most of his movies he throws in a few homosexual issues because of the lifestyle his own brother has chosen to live.
Even though most of his films are looked at by many as being very vulgar and offensive, he writes his scripts from the heart and it shows on screen. He writes his dialogue like people talk and gives his characters feelings that normal people have. He is one of the few genius movie makers that has chosen not conform to Hollywood’s set ideals. He writes what he wants to write and when he gets the green light to film it, he makes it the way he wants.