The past year I have had the privilege to help train new directors in Cedarville's video booth. While I've already shared much of my advice with the new directors, I've found it really applies to live outside the booth as well.
1) You're always learning.
Never think you're finished because that's the moment you'll truly learn how little you know. In the video booth, this lesson comes in waves. You may learn proper framing and even create some fantastic transitions, but looking back none of those awesome shots were to the pace of your music. Perhaps you've mastered the art of cutting on a speaker's pauses...but what do you do when they refuse to slow down?
This is a pretty simple translation to life; take everything in. No matter how old you are, how many books you've read on the subject or how many years you've been in the business-there is always more to learn.
2) Anyone can be a teacher.
It's not just enough to be willing to learn, you also have to be willing to learn from anyone. Don't think so highly of yourself (or lowly of others) that you find yourself dismissing their opinions. Some people are gifted with talent and just because they've only been on crew for two weeks doesn't mean they don't have good shot ideas or that they can't handle themselves on a T-bar.
Anyone who's worked in 3D can appreciate the idea of perspectives. If you only use one, you're only seeing part of the answer, but opening yourself up to all viewpoints and taking in multiple opinions is invaluable in gaining a fully detailed render. I mean where would we be without the 'marketplace of ideas'? (Shout out to those in the trenches of Media Law with me).
3) Watch the Program Monitor!!!!
I have told this to every single one of the new directors I train and it is very easy to spot those who've chosen to ignore it. I took a couple semesters to figure this lesson out myself, but once I realized it my directing grew by leaps and bounds. There are a lot of screens to watch during an event. Between 4-6 cameras, possibly a graphic, maybe a playback or two and then the big ones: Your preview and program screens. I speak from experience when I say I understand getting caught up in all the other shots to care once something goes live...but that's completely missing the point! You're job as a director is not really to call shots, but to create transitions. How is your first shot going to transition into the next and then the next and then the next. You have to position the framing and direct the movement to align so once those shots gets to the program monitor (what is actually seen by the audience) you've made magic. Don't get distracted by all the little things to miss the big picture in the end!
Life doesn't have multiple camera angles or a playback feed to worry about, but that does't mean it lacks details. Especially a time like college, when work and homework seem to never end; when professors are grading on minuscule grammar corrections and warning you about the importance of a well prepared resume-it can be difficult to see what all the hassle is for. Don't forget to take a deep breath and always glance at the program monitor.
4) Review the tape
This is my final piece of advice for anyone wanting to learn the skill of directing live video. Yes, you're directing live, but that doesn't mean your lessons stop when the event is over. Watch over your reel! Most of what I learned came from watching my own footage and seeing my own mistakes. Even watching my directing of a youth camp from last March vs. a youth camp in Aug I can see an enormous amount of improvement in my directing style. I was more on beat, I was more confident, I kept an eye on program and I didn't hesitate.
One of the best ways to learn is to make (and recognize) your mistakes. It's a scary concept, but it's very effective. Sometimes reading it in a book isn't enough to cement it in our brains. Even writing a paper on a subject may not guarantee that it sticks around after we've turned the assignment in. But somehow, making a mistake and acknowledging it seems to leave a little voice in the back of our conscious that's always there to remind us. Whether you choose to listen to that voice is a separate blog post all together!
Below is a clip my shader took of me during Lift Camp this past August. The bigger image on the left is preview, the bigger video image on the right is program- Notice where my eyes are! (When they're not trying to find a button that is) Also, I make a mistake near the end, but I recover and I paid more attention to what buttons I pressed in the future! See...always learning!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=822668749484&set=vb.141301058&type=2&theater
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