One of the essential features of my career is that I'm in orbit around people whose opinions I trust and respect. Whose thought processes I trust and respect. The degree of success I enjoy in my career is fueled by people on whose judgement, whether glowingly positive or critically negative, I rely.
Of course "glowingly positive" is waaaay better, much more preferred, and definitely sidesteps any insta feelings of defensiveness my body has zero problem conjuring.
As a Creative, I need to know when I'm off course. I need to know when I'm wrong whether that be in vision or execution.
Notice I didn't say "want" as in "I want to know" 'cause I don't. My ego wants awards and accolades.
But I do "need" as in I do need to know.
Because that level of scrutiny reliably produces my best work. Especially when a project involves a lot of moving parts. Typically, when length and complexity intersect.
Our plot twist today comes from a new development here on the bleeding edge of technology where we've run into not length and complexity but complexity and density. That is, full spectrum complexity packed into about six minutes.
Usually the lengths fall between 25 minutes and 55 minutes. At those lengths, between edits, effects, graphic design, spelling, motion graphics, color grading, sound design, sound mix, and maintaining specific video specs for broadcast...
There's just a whole lot in there that might be wrong or (usually) that could be more effective.
For context, we're talking about my initial cut of a project: the rough cut. By its very definition we're compelled to pursue the question "Where do we go from here?" not needle producers to address the statement "How brilliant am I???"
Now, because of the tools at my command, the rough cut process is a uniquely personal, hugely emersive experience that produces a cut that's as polished as a finished cut.
So yeah. I get attached. Which is why either subsequent cuts require a fair amount of time between them as a palate cleanser for my brain...
Or it's time for fresh, critical eyes to assess the work as it is, as it would play for a broadcast audience that doesn't suffer my emotional baggage and investment. And yes: this process enables not just mine but all of our best work. All of us. Each one elevating the work of the others.
It's been a helluva creative ride through the years. I won't lie. πππ
Now that we're surfing the bleeding edge of modern post-productuon technology, though, the complexity of our work is multiplied into shorter durations. Hence... the unexpected density of it and the scrutiny that's required to assure that we're doing what we intend to do down to the level of detail in each second of our work.
Not kidding about that, by the way. This is playing with fire in a high tech environment and we best know what we're doing and why. So thinking through the project and the process, imagining a finished show scrutinized by an audience, attempting to collectively identify strengths and weaknesses (especially weaknesses) is essential to our success. It helps to have in play a diversity of brains, each one with different strengths, each one focused variably as we attempt to dial in and sequence the perfect balance of context, specificity, ambiguity, and flexibility to craft the strongest version of our story with tools that were brand new to us a year ago. And the reason I'm dancing a little thankfulness jig right now is because there are so many moving parts competing for our attention or hiding outside our focus (even within an individual frame, even at 1/30th of a second)... that it's essential to articulate what I've done, how I've done it, what I learned, and what my recommendations are. Each of these are substantial topics of discussion in their own right, of course, and within the collective discussion that ensues when my next cut comes up for air... we're considering the merit of that work in every possible way as well as considering our in-house process to accommodate or absorb our new abilities in a manner that will both serve our objectives as well as prevent the post-production tail from wagging the dog (which, yes, it did during my early trials on this bleeding edge).
Ultimately, there's a huge amount of freedom in being able to take a project from where it initially arrives to the furthest I can take it. There's freedom in knowing for a fact that it will then become better than wherever I left it. Mostly, though, this is my career that continues to sustain my interest and creativity after decades.
That wasn't just because of me. It's because this is an actual adventure, an expedition, a quest. This is straight up discovery in the best way possible... and the best way possible (for me at least) always involves fellow travelers and adventurers whose curiosity, experience, and expertise define the journey.
Seriously. This is the fuel that keeps me going the same as when I was brand new and sky's the limit.
Because now there is no limit and I'm exploring that expanse with the best people ever.
