High Standards or Self Righteousness
We have completed:
- 48 out of 111 scenes for storyboards,
- 42 out of 53 designs for sets/locations
- 6 out of 15 designs for vehicles
- 10 out of 52 designs for props & gadgets
Our needs as a production team are changing as we progress. The goal for the remainder of 2006 is completion of the storyboard sketches for every scene. We’ve discontinued the weekly meetings for “all hands,” and have gone to more focused sessions either one on one with myself or a small meetings with a few people depending on the task at hand.
Every participant in this project so far, is of themselves an artist of some kind. When does our sense of artistic standards cross the line to unproductive self righteousness? When somebody makes a point of letting the rest of the group know that they have standards to be met, I immediately see someone that has little experience collaborating in teams to acheive their objectives.
Expecting a lot out of yourself and the ones around you is purview of the lone artists. Expecting too much is antithetical to team work. Team work breaks down when people stand on soapboxes reciting their expectations of everyone around them.
Having a sense of your own standards artistic or otherwise is important. Its how we choose the projects to associate ourselves with. Its how we choose the people that effect our lives.
Where we become self righteous is when this assessment becomes a daily evaluation of our peers against this self affirmed standard. Choosing the best opportunity available to spend our time and resources is not self righteous… its conscious investing. Choosing to artistically sit on the bench, parking our talents under rock because our standards assess every opportunity as being unworthy… that’s self righteous.
My advice? Do your homework, be diligent in determining the worthiness of your activities. The standard of a film project is usually set in the broadest sense, by the Director. If you join a team, your standards aren’t relevant anymore, you made an informed decision to join a group, and implicit in that decision is the tacit agreement to collaborate within the group standard. Teamwork is about helping everyone succeed, its not about judging everyone against your standards.
Save link above to listen to music clip from film temp tracks.
