At first this lecture just completely caught me off guard. This film maker walks into a film class and starts off by just stating " I could explain to you how this applies to film, but that will take to long, so I'm going to just do math." Now dont get me wrong I was way more into this then the last guest speaker we had, just for the fact that even if he wasnt 100% talking of film, his methods of thinkign and problem solving kept me listening. This whole lecture he did on explaining algebra and numbers really got the class discussing problem solving as a whole. This is where I believe he truly shined as a lecturer. I thought past all the numbers he was discussing and took more of a look at how he was solving problems and the methods he used. It almost irritated me when someone would ask a question regarding numbers being right or wrong in his equations, because I feel that wasnt the point at all. He took a very unique approach to a subject most reject and hate. Not only did I approve of this method, its how my brain wanted to think since I ever started math of this caliber. Why cant I divide by this number? Why cant I put this into that equation? All things I felt restricted by in math classes he just came and tore those barriers down, especially when he got into infinite and imaginary numbers. I heard a few people discuss how they felt it was annoying that he would stop in the middle of an equation and go to a new idea or thought and not conclude the previous steps. I truly liked this because it truly shows that his mind is racing with new ideas and processes, and he can change those in a snap (much like directing). This all boils down to how I feel that the creative nature and random changing of thoughts and ideas, bundled with amazing problem solving and an open mind is what make James Benning a truly gifted film maker and more importantly a teacher.
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