Knowing what to be afraid of when making films
Filmmaking is a very fearful process at first for most people... WHAT IF THIS GOES WRONG?! WHAT IF THAT GOES WRONG?! WHAT IF ITS NOT A SUPER ULTIMATE MASTERPIECE?!?!
I've found through experience... you learn what you DO need to fear or be careful with and what you can IGNORE... knowing these things makes all the difference when it comes to TIME... or how long its going to take you to make a film...
In my experience you SHOULD be afraid of having a CRAP or SLOW character rig because it can make production a NIGHTMARE...
You SHOULD be afraid of falling behind on your daily shot quota as it can make the production last much longer than you'd like...
You SHOULD be afraid that no one is going to know what the fuck is going on so you should really focus on clarity
What happens when making cg animated films is that there are SO MANY things to think about... SO MANY technical issues you can easily forgot about what is important... like FINISHING THE FILM and making something INTERESTING... something compelling to people other than you...
I look at the things I've made and I see the problems... I see the things I need to work on and those become my production FEARS... the things I spend energy on... I also know the things I'm good at so I don't worry so much about those...
You really can't tell what your strengths and weaknesses are as a director or animator or UBERECTOR until you complete a film... when you make that first film you're afraid of EVERYTHING so it can be a slow and painful process... then when its done you can look back and see what you're not so good at (what you should be afraid of and focus on) and what you're good at (what you don't need to be afraid of)
So as you make more films you should get FASTER as you're only "afraid" of a few things... The less fear there is the more fun it is as well... I hope to improve my skills and keep making films until there's no fear at all and I can just bust em out ^_^
So if you're making a film and shaking in yer boots with FEAR don't worry its normal... it just means you care... know that you're going to make mistakes BUT you'll only be able to see them when the film is COMPLETED... so do yer best at everything without giving yourself a nervous breakdown...and get it done. Learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them... then make another film... and another!Brought to you by professional weirdo M dot Strange.