NEW BREED: Keeping Yourself on Schedule
Mike Ambs reports – The six months it took me to import and tag the more than a 100 hours of footage – the main bulk of the film – was fairly easy for me to keep a pace with. It was “easy” because there was a solid goal: x number of tapes. It was “easy” because my progress was obvious: I would log the number of tapes imported by date, I would mark when that entire tape was properly tagged, I would keep track of which drive it was kept on. The process of importing was done in baby-steps, and as long as nothing stood in my way – ie, hard drives filling up – then I kept moving along.
But now, the footage is imported, it’s scattered in chunks across a timeline that can be overwhelming to make sense of some nights. There is no x number of blank for me to track… there’s 100 of hours of footage, and millions of ways to structure it.
There’s pieces of the edit that I cut, and then re-cut a week later. There’s pages of storyboards and scripts and hand-scribbled notes that get pinned to walls and scanned into Evernote. And they are built upon, over and over again.
So, after a few months, near the end of last year, of unsatisfactory progress – I decided to try and trick myself into a more reliable and steady “schedule”. I maybe not know how many pages total I’ll have to write before I’m done with the film, and I may not know how many storyboards and notes I’ll have taped up on my wall before I’m finished… But if I have tiny goals set-up for myself, and I meet those goals, then it feels more trackable. Here’s what I’ve been trying:
Set the bar low… very low: Each Wednesday my iCal reminds me that I need to write one page of script for the film. I realistically know that I need to write more than that each week to make any real progress, but I also know that a constant reminder to write five / seven / ten pages is intimidating.
Writing one page is easy, it usually starts off as notes, just thinking on paper… and then that sheet gets set aside and I write another scene down, and I grab a pen and scribble two more pages of notes. Writing is usually contagious – especially when I’m on my typewriter, that “ding” is very therapeutic – and by having a goal of one page, which is met very quickly, I feel good that I met my goal, and the next few pages that come out do so much smoother.
Share all of it… even the bad stuff: It does me little good to have a growing pile of storyboards and half-finished script pages pushed off to the side of my desk. Even if I think it’s good enough to tape to the wall, it eventually becomes overlooked.
Every day that I type more of the script or detailed notes I scan those pages into Evernote, same with sketches for shot ideas we still need to get of Larry in his “present day routine”.
Our Evernote account is shared by Amanda, Angela and myself – seconds after I add a new note or image, it’s viewable by either of them. They can make notes, add their own revisions or tell me if something isn’t working yet.
Distract yourself… but not for too long: This is the one that I have the hardest time sticking to – I have a tendency to work and work and work on Pedal. It’s not a habit (good or bad) that was easy to form. This being our fifth year of working on the project, it took many years for me to be so… addicted, I guess is an okay word, to Pedal. I wake up in the morning and I start working on Pedal, I get home from work and I sit down and look over the film’s timeline, I spend my weekends updating the blog or tweeking the site to work better.
But what I have to remind myself of, is that I get much, much more done on the film – mainly writing and storyboarding – when I take a break: to watch an old film that a friend recommended (or just a favorite, I can easily watch Days of Heaven several times a month), go for a long walk with a notepad and pen, lay down on the floor and listen to music for a half an hour. Something… just step back, let your head rest and clear, when you get back to work you’ll be much more focused.
Do any of you have tricks to make yourself stay on schedule and be more productive?
FOR MORE VISIT THE NEW BREED
Mike Ambs moved to Los Angeles in February 2004, from the small town in south eastern Michigan where he grew up. He is a certified graphic designer and a naturally talented editor, with a truly unique ability to capture life through a camera lens. In 2007 Mike won 1st place in the Network 2 “how to watch internet TV” video contest and in 2008 was a finalist in the Cannes Babelgum online film festival. Mike has worked as an editor and camera operator for NBC.com and is currently working as editor for the amazing internet show Epic-FU.
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The eternal struggle of editing a film. I know this well. I’m working on #3 now and with docs, you have sooooo much footage and a nice general lack of direction. It always takes a long time to log and edit, but then comes the actual edit.
My suggestion – have to create a good outline; then start cutting rough scenes; get a couple additional editors; get coffee; and plan on lots of all-nighters. When the creative juices are flowing, you have to keep going.
I find that I work very similarly to this and that in fact I need a lot of time and distraction to gain the distance I need to my own work. It all come together in rather unpredictable ways so using these new tools is very helpful. Also I like the low set bar of pressure, I had a daily reminder to write more for me too. Most of the days they were postponed but other days I could haul out several days worth of work at once.
The problem is still hitting a deadline…
Awesome post, Mike! I’m definitely checking out evernote right now. Scheduling is definitely one of my weakest link, so I’m always looking for new ways to manage my time. I’ve tried to do lists for the iphone, but they don’t seem to work for me.
Handwritten to do lists, however, tend to work wonders — especially when super-neon colors! I’ll make a short specific list (broad never works) and stick it to my writing book I carry. Works well, but sometimes the notes are a little too small in size for the amount of work to do.
Thanks for the tips! Sounds like Pedal’s coming along well!
-Christopher from down the hall at CultureHacker
)
After reading this I checked out Evernote in their own words, and I was not surprised to see that they were endorsing the application in somewhat nerdy, generic terms. It sounds like you’ve really managed to incorporate Evernote into your creative workflow, and I would be curious to get more insight into how you think about what Evernote is doing for you. Is it like an electronic sketchbook, a mindmap? Or is it enabling a unique digital experience that wasn’t possible before?
Would love to get your feedback!
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