Sometimes I need to be selfish. Forget about the world and think about numero uno. I do so many projects that other people want and rarely get to do my own project. Well, last Spring/Summer I was able to make something meaningful to me- a short film about overworking.
I had virtually no crew. Just some actors and some equipment. But I had a story. A story that hopefully others can relate to. At the same time of creating the film, I was also reading the book, Tuesdays with Morrie. It’s an excellent book that everyone should read. Anyway, I learned a lot from both the book and the short film.
Here’s the film:
I think every creative professional should try to make something for themselves. There’s just something extremely satisfying about creating your own vision rather than someone else’s. Don’t get me wrong- I love working on commercial projects. I just need a break from them every once in a while. So that’s what I did.
The film’s topic means a lot to me. It questions the very reasons why we work so hard. I can’t help but think that we live in a never ending cycle. We work to build up money so we can live, but we spend all of our time working. We can’t fully enjoy the time we have.
I added a lot of fog to the house for the film.
This idea reminds me of a parable I heard. I don’t remember it well so bare with me.
There was a hardworking fisherman who finished fishing for the day with a big pile of fish. A businessman saw him and said “Wow, that’s a lot of fish. How long did it take to catch them?” The fisherman said, “not very long. Maybe an hour” The businessman proceeded to ask why he didn’t stay out longer to catch more fish. The fisherman replied that he liked spending time with his family.
The businessman was shocked. The fisherman was missing a great opportunity. So the businessman gave him some advice:
“If you spent a little more time fishing, you could use that extra money to buy a bigger boat. Then you could catch at least double the amount of fish you do now. Then after a while, you could buy a fleet of boats and hire others to work them. This could get so big that you could sell your fish to a much bigger market. Eventually you would be the CEO of a massive business.”
The fisherman asked how long it would take for all this to happen.
“20-25 years. And then you would be a multi-millionaire”, said the businessman.
“What would I do then?”
The businessman said “Oh, well then you would retire and be able to spend time with your family like you wanted”
Sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the simple things. Like sunsets! I love taking sunset time-lapses.
I love that story. It’s pretty famous, so you might have heard it before. Regardless, it still has some great meaning. How many people do you know that are like the businessman? They put off doing what they want to do until they retire. I love the quote from Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around, you just might miss it.”