Fall travel..engage. I should have known. “Milnor, you can’t do this by yourself,” a filmmaker friend told me when he found out I was headed into the motion world. He knew that I knew that he was correct, but he also knew that I would ignore this fact and would attempt to do everything on my own. I’m just happier by myself, even when I’m in the middle of a crowd. I was born this way. But the truth is I can’t do everything. I just can’t. No matter how much I want to. So I can’t text and email all day long, travel, staff events, attend events, write posts, cover stories, make stills, journal, create art, socialize, and vlog at the same time. Something has to give. What’s that something? Quality my friends, quality.
So I compromise. You heard me. The “C” word. As you will see.
What have I learned so far? Well, I’ve learned a lot about other filmmakers, Vloggers, etc. and why they do what they do. Tricks. Tricks to cover for bad sound, or tricks to fill/kill time. Formulas. Formulas that work, but formulas that reveal how little time they have for making original content. Not much. Original content requires undivided attention and long periods of mental clarity, the two palaces being overrun in modern society. I told my wife yesterday, “I can’t’ wait to actually work on a real story from the motion perspective, but when I do, I will entirely unplug from the rest of my life.” “There is no way I can do this and do anything else and expect to make something good.”
The other thing I’ve learned is that there are clear limits to the gear I’m currently using. I don’t mean these aren’t GREAT cameras, only that there are limitations I must work around. I don’t have a stabilized camera body. So I have to use a gimbal. The gimbal works great, but it’s something I have to carry, and when I’m carrying my normal gear, my audio gear, my Blurb stuff, you begin to understand what it means. I also realize I need a tripod at all times. Now the gimbal can serve as a tripod, kinda, so that’s nice. I realize I have no way of doing a video interview unless I either get a better shotgun mic or a wireless lav. I would prefer both but we’ll see. I’m not going to rush out and buy new cameras, or the XT3 or the XH1 or anything else. I’m going to work with what I have. (The “A” key on my keyboard just fell off, so my death ray is still strong.)
This is fun.
Comments 3
CAT6! Get a second helping if you’re hungry for more!
So basically you live in a tiny bubble of Australia at all times. The world is trying to kill you, 24×7.
I’ll see you in Seattle, but please don’t get too close, ‘k?
Jesus Christ! Dan stay at home, inside, away from the kitchen or anything remotely sharp or pointy (yes, that includes crayons too). If something happens to you who is gonna tell us to move our asses and print shit?! Tell us how much os a failure we are for not doing. It might sound like a joke but I really get motivated when I hear you saying those things, LOL.
Take care man, there is only one Daniel Milnor (thank God! lol).