So yeah, I’m approximately 204 videos in to my daily film making habit. The last twenty of which were a series that required hours of green screening each day (yes, you read that right, hours)
Not the dream.
But I’m glad I saw out the series and was pleased with the final episode I put out yesterday. I’m glad I could exhale completely the initial impulse that spurred it, I mean how great to make something with a beginning middle and an end!
I was reminded by the great Chase Jarvis about the purpose of practice. That’s what I’m doing with this daily habit after all- I’m practicing. Chase reminded me that the purpose of practice is to practice the most fundamental, elemental basics of the thing you’re trying to get better at.
For me it’s acting, it’s telling stories that connect people to their heart and the hearts of others real or imaginary. Things that make people laugh, but most of all move people in a way. This can be a 1 second clip or a 3 hour movie- the length doesn’t matter, but that’s the element I’m seeking to improve.
Looking back on my 20 days of working on this series, I realised the majority of the time was spent keying out backgrounds and creating complex soundscapes to sound like another dimension. And I’m definitely not trying to practice keying out backgrounds OR creating complex soundscapes to sound like another dimension.
I suppose in a vague pursuit of story telling, acting and moving people I found myself doing that. And I’m glad I did because it spurred this realisation.
ANYWAY.
All this to say- I won’t be spending those hours on the thing I’m not here to practice. S0 my new rule is this:
Each day’s video can take no more than 30 minutes to shoot and no more than 30 minutes to edit. That’s it.
I think this will be tricky to do- BUT I can’t let my life be slowly taken over alien green screening. I hope the constraint will force a ultra clarity on the purpose of my practice each day and help me build the skill I want rather than a side quest that accidentally wastes my time.
Let’s see.
