Carnage in the switch
And believing you’ll get there.
This is just an observation, a little speck on my plane of thinking:
It’s really difficult to write one day, and film the next.
Daily writing means I’m constantly thinking of new ideas and then attempting to put them in to a language you all can understand. My ideas tumble out in a flurry of vocabulary, and through careful sentence structure, I make them a reality.
Then, when I want to make a film, that style of thinking becomes obsolete. No longer do my swirling wordstorms have any use. Now, I need to think in pictures. I need to see, in my mind’s eye, the visuals I want to shoot.
And there’s absolute carnage in the switch. Words to pictures and back again. That’s not an easy transition. At least not for me.
It makes auteurs all the more impressive. The Alfred Hitchcocks and Quentin Tarantinos and Martin Scorseses of this world, who write their visions in a script and then direct those visions in to a film. It takes an insane level of skill and intelligence, and it’s a level not many people can ever reach.
But I have a goal to get on a similar level. I might not ever make a feature film, or write a script, or be recognised as one of the great auteurs, but if I get to 50, or 60, or 70, and can look back on an array of films (be they short or long) that were all created from my individual vision, then I’d be pretty happy.
To reach that happiness requires solid, continuous effort though. It’s another 50–60 years of hard graft. It’s 50–60 years I’m looking forward to.
I’m ready. My non-existent work/life balance is ready.
And I’ll get there, because you always have to believe you’ll get there.
