What skill would you like to learn?
I’m at the point in my life where I already have a set of honed skills, and adding to it seems unlikely. What’s that rule—10,000 hours of practice to master something new? I’m not sure I have that dedication, patience, or even time to invest in a new ability.
And that’s unfortunate, since I will never learn to play the guitar or keyboard. I’ll always have those regrets. And I can’t think of anything else I’d like to learn that, at this stage, I can’t just hire someone else to do (like compose music for a video).
But…one area that I would improve if I could would be, in filmmaking, to better tell a story through different shots and angles. I’m incredibly good at staging something on a stage for an audience in fixed seats; I can actually visualize what every audience member can see in a theatre. (Many directors can’t do this, which is why, especially in thrust stages, audience members on the side have blocked views because the director only sat in front of the stage and didn’t take them into account.) But creating a narrative through a moving camera lens that changes not only angles but distances—it’s just not part of my skill set. Which may explain why one of my favorite short films that I made basically had one only angle (Wash Hands, Save Lives?).
I can work on this, but likely there won’t be a great deal of change or improvement—and I’d rather work in live theatre anyway!
Programmer’s Note: I’m taking a quick break from the travelogue of the UK trip to answer this prompt, and will return to finish the trip details shortly!
MUSOFYR 