How Competition Can Push You To Succeed In The Film Industry
There were two leaders in my high school video production department. The first leader was myself. The second was my good friend, Travis. Together, we ruled the school (or at least we thought we did) and created some of the best videos our fellow students had ever seen. We were the most creative and hard working students in the video department, not just because we were creative and hard working, but because we formed a bond that made us compete against one another and pushed us to succeed.
Working with Travis back in high school was a great time for me. We had the freedom to explore, make mistakes, and see what our audience responded to. We were extremely competitive with one another – each of us trying to outdo the other in regards to our cinematography, editing, special effects, etc.
In high school, Travis was my only competition. But once I got to college, there were hundreds of other students for me to compete against. And just like in high school, some of them didn’t realize there was a competition taking place. But many of them did!
Film school (and the film industry as a whole) can be an extremely competitive place. You are not only competing with other filmmakers to see who can create the best work, but you are also competing for the next job, the most pay, the best working conditions, the best equipment, and a whole lot more.
If you aren’t prepared for this competition, film school (and the film industry) can be a pretty scary place. But competition is a good thing and you have to keep this in mind!
Competition pushes you to do you best
One of the benefits of having someone to compete against is that by being in a competition, you are going to try your best. As with any competition, you don’t enter the race hoping to lose. You enter the race and try your best to win! The same is true with filmmaking. Get in there, find someone who pushes you, and do the best you can with everything you undertake.
Competition pushes those around you to do their best
Being in a competition not only forces you to try your best, but also pushes the people around you to try their best. This is especially important once you start working on films. When people see that you are giving it your all on set, they will be pushed to do their best as well. No one wants to be the weakest person on a film, so when they see others working hard to do the best they can, they will be pushed and motivated to do their best as well. In the end, everybody wins because you know at the end of the day that everyone has done the best that they possibly can.
Competition challenges you to think of new ideas
Finally, having someone to compete against forces you to think of new approaches to things you’ve done in the past. Being competitive is going to push you to try you hardest, but sometimes, doing your best isn’t good enough. Sometimes, if you really want to win, you’ve got to break established rules and techniques and do something completely different. Competition is what allows us to think big, try things that have never been done before, and make things happen that can only really happen in the movies. Competition forces us to come up with new ideas… and forces us to think big!
How has competition helped you in your filmmaking career? What are the benefits of competition? What are the drawbacks?
Other Articles Worth Reading
If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to you automatically!
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment