a long overdue post about post

[I'm at the age where I know I'm not old enough]

In case you hadn't noticed, I've stopped blogging about post. Some of you may find it tragic but I suspect those of you who may have already left. Yet somehow I'm compelled to write an explanation, perhaps to create a sense of quasi closure.

There are three reasons:

(a) I now work in the world series of post, feature film VFX for Hollywood productions. I spend much of my working life thinking and talking about pipeline and process and renderfarm capacity. Ergo, I have no massive interest in blogging about it*.

(b) A lot of what once interested me has now been solved. Desktop DI is [sticks finger in air to feel direction of wind] 4 years away and inevitable. Intelligent media management will be the new battleground for professional post products. Toxik is just the beginning; expect FCP and its ilk to nail MM over the coming five years. As for shooting mediums, there's already an entire gamut of awesome choices. The HVX200 solves the low end totally and (soon) Red will solve the high end. Personally, I'd shoot S16mm and do a full DI. In the end, though, it doesn't matter. Why? Your choice of shooting medium is so solid now that absolutely the only thing that will fuck up your film is...

(c) Storytelling. This is where my focus is and always has been (however subconscious). I've simply let myself get distracted by questions of post and production because the a're easier, because they are solveable problems. I deluded myself into thinking that by solving production issues, I'd suddenly be able to tell stories. Bullshit. Storytelling is hard. Storytelling is hard because its ethereal. Thats what I love about it. The time for delusion and distraction is over.

This is where I start rambling, so you're welcome to alight from the bus now....

I'm not alone in such an epiphany. See:

In the summer of 2005, I made an important decision. I concluded that screenwriting was my best bet at becoming a filmmaker. You see, I had spent the last few years trapped in a creative dead-end. Instead of making short films, I kept micromanaging a spectacularly successful fantasy career. I conceived a whole body of work, and imagined the production process and critical reception of each film.

-- Ismo Santala on Smart Hollywood

(I've only discovered the above quoted blog tonight and I'm enjoyng it. Ismo sounds even more insanely abstract than me. Brilliant.)

Let me share a secret with you:

Storytelling is fucking hard.

This means two things.

1. If you want to be good, you have to earn it. Note my judicious choice of the word 'earn' over the word 'work'. [waits for pin to drop]

2. If you become good then you've got a chance.

Hence screenwriting. I don't care if you've won (or been) a finalist a Tropfest or directed TV Commercials -- fundamentally, you'll need a fucking good script to get the coin to make a film.**

So I've asked myself, where do I want to spend my (little remaining) energy? Trying to crack into the TVC directing world, trying to make a successful short film, or learn how to actually write the 'fucking good script'? Seems to me that the other two 'paths' throw additional variables in the mix, cause you'll still be hunting for a good script. Yeah, they are good writers out there, but you'll have to spend time finding them and having the skills to pick out a good script. I'd just rather do it myself.

Yes, ultimately, I want to direct... and cinema is littered with the bodies of writer-directors who just weren't that good at one of those things (if not both). I don't plan to do that. Yes, I am itching to get back on set. But whatever I make next cannot be shackled by bad writing. To take the next leap in my directing skillz, I need to have a good script... Really, I think it is that simple.

... and I actually find writing deeply satisfying too. So its not like its a burden I'm struggling with out of necessity.

At this point, I was going to segueway into discussing this awesome article: How to Do What You Love. However, I am tired, and I think it merits a whole separate discussion***. I've rambled enough which, evidentially, is something I do love doing...

[I'm at the age where I know I'm not old enough]

* Truth be told, this is not strictly true. Some friends and I mooted the idea of starting a new blog dedicate solely to discussing 'next generation post'. Real big picture, where can we be in 5 years, kinda stuff. However, notice the complete lack of development on that front beyond mooting. c.f. article on doing things you love above.

** And I want the coin, not because I want rich, but coin gives you the freedom to make it properly. I've worked on enough sticky tape and glue productions to know its not how I want to make something.

*** Fooled you.