Before The First Chord
Movies That Made Us
Here we are once again, first Monday of the month…new Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple
Movies That Made Us is a doc-series on Netflix about the making of a bunch of famous movies.
A pretty common theme throughout all of these classics is that they almost didn’t get made.
Budget issues, personnel issues, timing, marketing, editing, locations…and after all those have been overcome, is it still might not get released because someone pumps the brakes.
It turns out this heavy lift doesn’t just go for classic movies. It goes for all kinds of releases both big and small. Most things that get released almost didn’t get released for one reason or another. But everyone found a way.
Keep finding a way.
What Can We Get Away With?
It’s a bad idea for advertising (though often used). Think of the phrases ’see fine print for details’ or ‘screen images simulated’ or ‘screen images sped up’ or ‘rules and restrictions apply’. Advertisers go right to the edge of what they can get away with to hook us in before we find out that it’s not quite as good as we thought.
But ‘what can we get away with’ is a great idea for creativity. Because it’s more than you think. It stretches you. It surprises you and the audience. You’ll learn something. It brings excitement. It makes you face some fear and insecurity. And if it doesn’t work out it’s not going to kill you.
All That Practicing
The amount of time you’re going to spend practicing (and preparing) far out weighs the amount of time you will perform.
So the natural question is…does the thrill of the performance out weigh the long practice hours?
But the better question is…do you like practicing?
Practicing and preparing only for the thrill of the performance is sure to burn you out.
Perfecting Senior Year
If you repeat senior year of high school over and over...you’re sure to perfect it…you’ll keep getting better test scores, you’ll figure out the funnest route to the next class, you’ll memorize which days you should pack a lunch instead of hot lunch, you’ll optimize your locker space, you’ll learn how to maximize hall pass time, you’ll learn how to secure a spot on the homecoming court in the fall and in the spring be one half of the hottest couple at prom. Sounds like a lot of fun.
But the point of senior year isn’t to get it all right.
The point is to move on.
When we’ve done the hard work of getting pretty good at something, it’s easy to want to keep playing in that sandbox for a while.
The mechanic who takes ten years to restore the car.
The chef who hasn’t thrown a dinner party because the dish hasn’t been perfected.
And most certainly…the artist, songwriter, producer, musician who won’t stop tinkering with the song and just release it.