You Have to go through it

The Issue of Time
Shooting live action has its ups and downs. Not just in the pre production phase... but in the time to come after as well. This experience is one that has made more confident in not just my skills as director or designer, but as a professional. Learning to let your work speak for who you are and how you feel, and allowing your actions to always relay the message that you are a professional has been a process worth talking about. Some may ask why is this important... and the answer is simple. It is one of the most important lessons to learn about being in the entertainment industry. The belief that others will help you or do what they say they will is nonsense. People drop out, miss deadlines, and collectively decide that they will not do something because they feel it is not their job, or has no impact on there future. The idea of loyalty, is something that is only understood through the color of green. Not knowing any of this, I set out to make a piece that would be centered around dealing with these core issues. While I spent the majority of the time narrowing down shots, finding costumes, and doing the important things of production, I did not stop to think about the human side of working on a piece like this.

There are stresses that may make you feel overwhelmed. This entire process is about one thing, how well you perform when everything seems to be falling apart. When your actor quits the day before your shoot because they have another gig on the same day, do you go into panic mode... or do you pick up the pieces and keep going. When your sound fx artist is unable to provide you with further assistance because of their on personal troubles... do you change the entire piece or do you look for the alternative. When the person who you are counting on the most lets you down... do you let yourself crumble. Its these questions that determine whether or not the job gets done. Sure they may sound emotional, and as someone once referred to me "too sensitive." However at the end of the day, the human side is what makes you continue to work harder or waste time watching TV because you just don't want to think about thesis.

So how does this relate to the production side of my thesis.... It is simply the factors that have caused me to hit or miss my own deadlines. Fortunately, I have been working overtime to catch up and I am confident that by next Monday. I will be back on schedule. For any students who read this blog to learn more about the thesis process... I encourage you to be wise in setting you production schedule according to life... not animation. Make sure you pencil in all the dates and times that you will need to complain about the things wrong with you, your project, other peoples projects, other people, and anything else that will delay you from working on your piece. Only in doing this will you have an accurate idea as to how much time you will actually be spending on your piece.

ex. (This took me 15 minutes to write...but 4 hours to understand how it was necessary to say).