Perfect Your Craft, Indie Producer
Listening to a lot of tech talk on podcasts lately and seeing a lot of talk out there on workflows, etc., brought a thought to my mind…
Technology be damned! Perfect your craft!
In today’s age, it is just a matter of time until perfect pictures can be transmitted to any device or venue. This will also be a democratized situation, where it can happen at practically any budget, if not basically free.
So, stop fighting for perfect pictures now or for the top of the line this or that. Really, you can shoot perfectly good video and audio with a micro-micro budget and post-produce and post it now. You have to hand the ability to create endless streams of content. Everyone has it. There are countless channels of drivel out there. What stands you apart from everyone else out there? Your stories. Your viewpoint, your angle of view of the world. So I’ll repeat, hone your craft.
Not a producer? Just an editor or a shooter or a grip? Perfect your craft! Digital storytelling requires as few or as many hands as are needed for each different situation. There have always been different sizes of productions. Size has never been the deciding factor for quality. There are quality projects at all levels of production size. That being said, if you plan to be a part of a bigger team, a team is as great as the sum of its weakest parts (they say). Do your part to be the best at whatever you do. Obviously some parts are more technical than others, but technology really isn’t that important. What is important is what do you have to say and how well do you say it?
Artistry is a quality of communication. Communication is basically a technical factor. Technologically, it can be delivered with precision. That is constantly being worked on. It almost happens without effort. But the art with which it is delivered is what I think most of you reading this blog would be most interested in. So as artists, artisans and crafters, that is the one thing we can really concentrate our efforts on, to the end of a well received piece.
So, let me admonish you all to “perfect your craft!”
–Eric Francis Harnden