help, film-life crisis.

R

RealJasonBourne

Can anyone give me some words of wisdom.

How do you stop yourself from getting overwhelmed and procrastinating? Or feeling too tired to work on something and would rather do something else?

Whenever I think "we should go out to the park and practice" I get thoughts of carrying a bunch of equipment to the car, driving to the park, unloading everything, carrying it and then doing multiple bad takes that drain all your energy.

I waste too much time on youtube and on the internet doing nothing when I could be putting time and effort into planning a short film. (I don't have anything to put in a demo reel and I hate that).

What the hell is going on here man. I know that wasting time doing nothing is just basically putting your life on pause.

Has anyone ever gone through this?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
You can laugh at it, but you write you are passive and afraid.

Sounds depressing to me, so you need to get out of the house, do fun things. Move your body, laugh with friends, cycle roads you never cycled, walk in the sun.
That will give you energy.

Watching youtube all day won't.
You can't watch everything.
You'll always miss more than you can see.

It's allright when you practise and the result is not so great.
Do you think Rembrandt's first drawing was a masterpiece?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
WalterB said:
You can laugh at it, but you write you are passive and afraid.

Sounds depressing to me, so you need to get out of the house, do fun things. Move your body, laugh with friends, cycle roads you never cycled, walk in the sun.
That will give you energy.

Watching youtube all day won't.
You can't watch everything.
You'll always miss more than you can see.

It's allright when you practise and the result is not so great.
Do you think Rembrandt's first drawing was a masterpiece?
Click to expand...

lol oh sorry, I thought you were joking and telling me to continue to waste my time on the internet.

ty for the advice.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
UcNvldW.png


Ok, so you think you know what you want to do with your life. Well, do it. You don't get to 'be' something unless you 'be' it every day. Not planning. Not thinking about it. Being.

So get the fuck out of your comfort zone. Try, fail, learn something about yourself. Grow up and be a human being on this earth and fucking do something.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
get some exercise. walter is right. you need to go outside and experience the world. how can you get inspiration if you have no experiences to base it off of? You can watch youtube videos about how to do a triple backflip on rollerblades all day long, but you won't be able to do it until you try, fail, try, fail, try, fail, try and then possibly get it right. Failing is a good thing, it helps put things in perspective for you and you feel like you're growing rather than just being stagnant and letting opportunities pass you by. just my 2 cents
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Make a to do list. You have to do at least one or up to 3 things on the list before you can do activities that waste time. It can be anything from write 1 page of a script or anything else related to your goal.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RealJasonBourne said:
Can anyone give me some words of wisdom.
Click to expand...

Sure. It sounds like filmmaking is not for you.

How do you stop yourself from getting overwhelmed and procrastinating? Or feeling too tired to work on something and would rather do something else?
Click to expand...

You don't. That's part of life.

You either decide that something is important enough to you that you're going to do it even when it's hard, when you're exhausted, when you're overwhelmed - or you don't, and you find something else to do. If it's not worth the effort, fine. Find something that is.

Forget all that "follow your bliss" and "If you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life" motivational bullshit. Anything worth doing is going to be hard at times, sometimes a lot of the time. Passion is doing it despite the hardship, despite the challenges, regardless of the effort. If you're not willing to do that then it's probably not something you're really passionate about.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How do you stop yourself from getting overwhelmed and procrastinating?
Click to expand...

That's a tough one. For some people that comes from taking on too many roles. If this is the case, you need to develop your skills that let you build and develop your team. This is tougher than it sounds to build long term teams.

It could be a misunderstanding of what filmmaking really is. It can be hard work. Lots of it. Lots of dedication. Long days. Getting up at 4am when you wrapped at 10pm for the 5th day in a row.

For other people, as Don mentioned, filmmaking may not be for you.

Or feeling too tired to work on something and would rather do something else?
Click to expand...

It sounds like you need to stand back for a little while and gain some perspective. Take a few weeks away from the forum, from the internet, from sets, from writing and so on and just contemplate what you really want to do. Most people get caught up in the glitz of the finished product and forget the hard work, the sacrifices, the talent, the skill and the teams that go into building the finished product.

Work out if you want to be a filmmaker or if you're just in love with the glitz of being a filmmaker. If it's the glitz you love, get out. You'll live a miserable life.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Time enjoyed is not time wasted. Do with your free-time what you enjoy doing. That might be filmmaking, or it might not be.

If you think filmmaking is your thing, what specifically do you enjoy about it? What lengths are you willing to go to in order to make the fun part happen? How do we make this fun for you? If it's not fun, then why the hell would you do it?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If you are truly passionate about something it won't matter how tired or overwhelmed you are, or how much "real life" is encroaching upon you. You get out there and do it; not because you have to, but because you absolutely love what you do.


Now, if you are in a bad personal place and having difficulty getting out of your rut you have to change you circumstances. You'll get lot of suggestions on how to motivate yourself, but some - maybe most - may not work for you; you'll have to find your own way. The important thing is to keep trying.

Whenever I think "we should go out to the park and practice" I get thoughts of carrying a bunch of equipment to the car, driving to the park, unloading everything, carrying it and then doing multiple bad takes that drain all your energy.
Click to expand...

I used to live in a third floor walk up with narrow halls and tight landings. Yet three to six nights a week I has to carry to and from my car - three keyboards in hard cases (50 to 70 pounds each), two racks (35 & 45 pounds), a speaker cabinet (50+ pounds), a pedalboard in a case, two cases for cables, etc., a speaker stand, and a keyboard stand plus a hand truck. I fit it all, and my garment bag, into a VW Rabbit - and could still have a passenger and see out the back window! Okay, I was paid for those gigs, but I moved even larger, heavier gear (in my old Ford Galaxy 500) for years without much compensation as I was working my way up the ladder; rehearsals, auditions, jams, etc., etc., etc. And yes, I was working two jobs while doing that. And I still practiced almost every day, called my mom, found time for my wife & family, stayed up on the news and even saw my friends once in a while.

The only way I could/can do that is a lot of discipline; lists and schedules.


I agree with WalterB - get out there and do some fun things. Get a few friends, or your girlfriend, and go to an amusement park, or a free concert in the park, or any of a thousand other things - just don't go to a movie. Be out there and participate in real life. Meet people, experience new things...

Once you've refreshed yourself get into a discipline. Start small and increase the "work load" every two weeks or so. And decrease your media (phone, 'net, etc.) usage by at least 50%.

But if filmmaking has become a drag maybe it's not for you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree with some of the things people said here, and I don't agree with other things. You just need to find your process. That's all. Just because you feel lazy, doesn't mean you're not passionate. Just because you feel lazy doesn't mean that this is not your calling. Writers get writers block. It's possible for filmmakers to be in mental quicksand also.

If you think you're a filmmaker, you're a filmmaker. How good a filmmaker you are is something completely different (FYI, most of us suck). But if you want to make films, you're a filmmaker.

Youtube is fine, if you're watching tutorials. At some point, the marginal value of watching tutorials starts to go down. At that point, tell your brain you no longer need to watch youtube.

The other thing is "find your process." Find a point to start. For me. I get an idea. And I have knowledge of my gear and my available locations from friends. And I write a script according to what is available to me. For example, I don't write a script about whaling, because I don't have access to the ocean. Writing is the starting point. Once the script is finished, whatever the hell it's about, then start planning and then start doing.

Find your process. You won't feel lazy once you have a script in your hand, and you start thinking about how to actualize it. You won't feel lazy. Trust me :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think you need a get away vacation for a while to clear your head from the cobwebs and time to lift your spiirts.

Travel, see new places and meet new people. Let your travels inspire you to do greater things. You may even want to take a workshop class in filmmaking to help you get your life in perspective.

When you can't get something to work, take a break from it and clear your mind before going back into it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
trueindie said:
If you think you're a filmmaker, you're a filmmaker. How good a filmmaker you are is something completely different (FYI, most of us suck). But if you want to make films, you're a filmmaker.
Click to expand...

This is the one part of your post I'd completely disagree with. If you want to be a filmmaker, you have to make films. If you haven't ever made a film, or aren't in the process of making one, then you're not a filmmaker yet. Wanting to be something is the first step in becoming that thing, but it's not enough in and of itself to get you there.

You won't feel lazy once you have a script in your hand, and you start thinking about how to actualize it. You won't feel lazy. Trust me
Click to expand...

I also think this is only partially true. You might find that having the script finished and ready to go inspires you to keep making progress, but not always. The fact is there will always be a point (probably many) in the process where you feel lazy, or exhausted, or discouraged, etc. Sometimes it's just a sign that you need a break to refresh or regain perspective. Most of the time you'll need to figure out a way to work through it, or despite it, because it's inevitably going to keep happening if you're pushing yourself hard.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top