Better Late Than Never

If it wasn’t obvious from the two late blog posts...I’ve been slipping since The Rona started her world tour. It’s crazy how not really having to do anything makes having to do things so difficult.

I initially had big plans for April because it’s my birthday month, moreover, the 29th is my late Grandmother’s birthday. I wrote a script about her and the intent was to have a birthday party and screen the film there. It was going to be so cute and a little exclusive. Ugh! I also had administered a film challenge (The Love and Dedication Challenge) and I was going to screen those films as well, but you know, Coronavirus...so I had to pivot.

When I say I procrastinated with April's film, I PRO•CRAS•TI•NA•TED !!!

I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted to do, but I didn’t start “shooting” until maybe the 3rd week of April. And that decision bit me in the a** because the vision had to change and rearrange.

My initial thought was for the film to only consist of polaroids, which I thought was feasible because I had so many, but once I started editing, it felt too boring and too stagnant. So although I didn’t necessarily waste three days (yes, it took me three days to shoot some damn photos), that three days could’ve easily been one and that extra two days could’ve gone to collecting iPhone footage, but no, I was too married to the Polaroid idea for too long and it cost me those three days, plus more.

The one thing I did in a timely fashion was request voice memos. Thankfully for me, most of them were under a minute, so it was super simple to find the parts I wanted to use. Not only that, what was said was so incredible and inspiring. It was a great boost and I was able to edit the audio on in just a couple of days.

Another great decision I made was to enlist my friend Cam to do the music. This decision saved me from scouring SoundCloud, which saved me time, and it gave me a deadline (at least for the audio) because I needed to give him something to work with, in addition to the reference tracks he requested.

Needless to say, the music is beautiful. I actually shed a thug tear or two.

Overall, I’m happy with how the film turned out and although I didn’t release it on time, I’m happy I got it out in the same month and only a day late.

Lessons learned (That I already knew):

• Start early/On time - As soon as you have your concept, get started. You will give yourself the necessary time to figure out what’s working and what’s not, to try out different things (in this case, I could’ve tried different editing techniques), and to make changes if need be.

• Be flexible - your initial idea may not be what’s best for the story/theme. Be prepared to pivot if it serves the story.

• Give yourself grace - Creatives are notorious for being their own harshest critics, but we must remember we’re human. And in crazy times, whether internally or externally, we are operating under new rules, socially, physically, mentally and emotionally. Being kind to ourselves will help us get over whatever hump is in our way much better than being hard on ourselves.

Things to keep doing:

• Get it done! - Late work is better than no work.

• Collaborate with talented people - Especially in a time where people are looking for things to do, ask them to be a part of a project you’re working on. It’s a great way to stay connected.