I have been doing various jobs. During my studies I mostly worked as a dishwasher - probably it could be rated among the crappiest jobs in the world if there would be such a rating. The second one was in McDonalds - the burger making department, even more crappier. I was actually surprised why there is human doing this abnormally repetitive work? It could easily be a burger-robot doing this! In both cases I had no choice. I needed these jobs to sustain myself in a foreign country. I had to support my dream to travel and study. So I developed a method. As I kind of hated the whole thing, I broke my work down to few smaller things.
In dishwashing I begun to keep a small journal - the Book Of Wisdom - where I wrote a dishwashing related poems. We exchanged this journal among other students dishwashers who worked different shifts. We never saw each other at work but we had this journal that helped us to get through this. The second thing was order. At some days I thought only about the order - order of plates, order of my dishwashing station. I developed a complete efficiency around myself including my moves that became a dance like choreography around the kitchen. Steadily these few things begun to bring a joy and the work became bearable.
There are plenty of variables in filmmaking. So I break it down to just few - the most important ones. The most important ones differ from project to project but it helps to tie my head around fewer things and determine my focus. Somehow other variables begin to gravitate towards it along the way. Sometimes it's a body language, a colour, dynamics, music, sometimes those are keywords of mood, vibe, feeling. You are well prepared director if you can describe your scene in one word. It means you have broken it down properly. Then choosing a coffee cup out of ten options becomes an easier task.
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