In the last post, we discussed how important it is to take a passionate approach to your church media work. Without passion, you’re role as a media producer stands less chance of success than a snowman in the Summer. But passion alone will not an effective producer make. The next key ingredient in the formula for success?… PATIENCE!
PATIENCE = PROGRESS
As boring as it may sound, this Essential is the one that will save you the most stress and improve your skills in the long term. Much like painting or shooting hoops, becoming an experienced video producer is unlikely to happen overnight. Polishing your skills and mastering your craft requires a lot of practice, and a lot of practice requires a lot of patience.
So, off the top of your head, who’s the most patient person you can think of? Mr. Miyagi? Master Splinter? This dude? All very patient indeed, but the type of patience I’m thinking of is best personified by a person in the Bible by the name of Job. If you’re not familiar, he has a whole section of the Good Book dedicated to his story – check it out!
Job patiently endured through some of the hardest challenges imaginable. When EVERYTHING in his life seemed to be falling apart- his family, his health, his fortune… Job persisted. While none of us will ever experience the type of frustration in our production work that Job fought through in his life, it’s important to acknowledge that we will MOST CERTAINLY come across issues in our media production. To be successful we must endure through those challenges. Even if you have many years under your belt as a video producer, it’s a healthy practice to remind yourself to be patient and persistent; that God works through us on His own schedule.
If you’re new to media production, I can assure you that there will certainly be mistakes along the way. There’ll be crashed computers and lost files. There’ll be rendering problems and challenging team members and all types of unforeseen stresses. A big part of our jobs as content creators is to learn from those situations, let the non-constructive aspects roll off our backs, and move forward with our development. When we approach our work knowing that challenges will arise, we’re allowing ourselves the patience necessary to overcome those obstacles and refine ourselves as instruments for The Lord.
PAYING IT FORWARD
Many times in my experience, I’ve realized that I was only able to conquer a problem or avoid a huge blunder because I’d previously gone through an experience that taught me how to better handle the situation. Trial and error, learning from mistakes, and always trying to move forward are CRITICAL to becoming a polished video producer, so don’t feel bad for yourself or beat yourself up over the challenges. Be like Job and endure; your reward will be exponentially more fulfilling.
SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE
Looking for some tips and resources to help save you from frustration later on? Here are a few that helped me:
- Tutsplus.com offers a rundown of 12 common mistakes that motion designers make and how to avoid them. It’s a long read, but definitely worth your time if you’re newer to the field. Shoot, even if you’re a veteran producer, click the link anyway and refresh yourself on these potential pitfalls.
- For videographers, browse through this checklist and other techniques on videomaker.com. Committing these tips about live action recording to memory before you head to your shoot will save you many-a-headache. It’s much easier to do the work while shooting than in post-production, so get it right the first time and you’ll probably thank yourself later.
- Check out Crashplan.com, it’s like an insurance policy for your project files and video assets. Their service will automatically back up a copy of all the files you tell it to and can restore the data if your computer ever dies on you. I’ve never had to restore my computer (AMEN!), but if and when I do, I’ll be thankful to have backed my work up on Crashplan.
RECAPPING THIS “ESSENTIAL”
It’s a fact: challenges and mistakes are going to happen. To be successful in video production, or anything else for that matter, you cannot let those difficulties defeat you! Endure through the tough times, like Job did, and you’ll be a stronger instrument for God.
