Your self-image & communication abilities have a lot to do with whether or not you become successful building a career in film (or any other creative freelance industry)
IF YOU GET CRITICIZED, DON’T SAY YOU ARE SORRY.
FIND THE GRAIN OF TRUTH.
Thanksgiving Eve Greeting from some BYFC students in the current Fall/Winter MAKE A FILM Class Series at NYC College of Technology’s Continuing Ed
In the first session of our GETTING STARTED IN FILM class that started November 9th, I introduced students to how low budget film sets are organized, and all the different jobs involved. We screened and discussed the first 20 minutes of LIVING IN OBLIVIION, which is about a director trying to shoot a simple scene, and everything that can go wrong (and be done wrong). (Check out the trailer and clips from the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaTEaKhXfzM )
My students were surprised when in the next two class sessions, I put a major focus on them – who they are as people, their self-image, and how they communicate. The film industry, as in all creative industries, has lots of freelancers who work per project. Even if you are just doing unpaid production assistant gigs for experience and to make contacts to help you with your own projects, you need to be prepared to work with all kinds of people in sometimes seemingly chaotic situations.
It’s not about who you know, when you are just starting out and have no industry contacts. It’s about your ability to get known for being a competent, reliable, and flexible team member. Are you able to let your positive and resourceful personality shine through — while doing the most humblest things, from running errands to tending the craft services table? Do you know how to weather other people’s bad moods and mistakes, not letting them get you down, while being able to bounce back from your own missteps with greater confidence?
This is not most of us in our normal state. As working-class people, we have learned to survive and keep a job by not really saying what we are thinking to those who we work for, nor volunteering to do anything outside the role that we have been assigned. Or we rebel, going the opposite route, and saying everything that comes into our head with passion and abandon, without thought to the bridges that we are burning behind us.
I think this is part of why we want to work in film – to be in an atmosphere where conformity is not the normal, and individuals are striving for more authentic ways of being – including how we communicate. But wanting something doesn’t make you know how to do it.
A very important part of communications and growth is being able to give and receive constructive criticism. Join me for my talk with my students on how to deal with criticism – by always starting with a grain of truth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_CpVIlvGsE (Note: this was shot on a flip by a student who is intent on turning the world upside down — which he kinda did with the camera, thus the unusual perspective!)
Trayce
Director
Brooklyn Young Filmmakers
NEXT WEEK: Learning to Sail Your Ship in the Storm (Tips for being a great Production Assistant)
“This organization has received funding from the JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council”
“This Program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council ”
