Screen and Film School Brighton’s Student Blogger Lauren Louise shares her top lesson learnt from her second year: how to stay motivated.
If my time during second year has taught me anything it’s that motivation is not consistent. It’s easy to wake up and have an idea, it’s another thing to wake up every day and execute that idea.
Making a film doesn’t just require creative thinking, but critical thinking and the ability to remain focused, even when things feel as though they are falling apart…which happened a lot during my second and first years at film school, which is why the hardest lesson to grasp was the ability to stay focused and keep pushing ahead with your ideas from both a creative standpoint and a production one. For example, I love to make storyboards for my shorts, but that also means I have to location scout, block and have production meetings with the crew to ensure my time is being spent wisely and that everyone is on the same page.
I’m going to be honest here and say, in my case, the struggle of staying motivated becomes even harder once the vision is shared with others, because everyone has their own thoughts and opinions, which can be an amazing thing! Or can make things very difficult when people start to lose momentum or lose track of the vision. This is why it is so important that everyone plays their part in the pre-production from floor plans to test shoots, because the best way to stay motivated is to be excited! The more you work to make something out of nothing, the more it slowly becomes a reality.
Your idea is no longer an idea, it’s a story shared between you and your crew.
We all lose motivation sometimes, but it’s determination that keeps the wheels turning. Decide what you’re going to make your idea real and then set a day to do it. Tell yourself “On Saturday I am going to finish act 2” and then attempt it. It’s okay to fall short- I lost track of the amount of times I’ve sat down to do just that and ended up changing dialogue instead or only getting a page into my second act. It’s like the saying goes. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Most importantly, remember you don’t have to do it alone. Other people are usually the best encouragement and only motivation you need to achieve. Then once you’ve done, make sure to reward yourself and relax. Stress is the biggest inspiration killer.
