Don’t welcome bad planning

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

Creative projects take time.  On average I’m guessing it takes anywhere from 10 to 20 hours for me to complete a 3-minute video.  A lot of times those hours aren’t all connected together but spread out over the course of three to four weeks.  There may be several hours spent coming up with ideas one week and then several more hours creating a script the next.  Often I find that pre-production is the most time consuming part of the creation process because that is where there are so many variables at stake.

One of the keys to creating quality projects is making time for the pre-production process.  You have to make time to brainstorm, write, story-board, location scout, rehearse lines etc….. This is where the magic happens, not in production or in post like some would lead you to believe.

I love how sometimes people I know will come up with really great ideas the day of the event or a few days out.  There ideas aren’t bad in and of themselves, however the timing of their ideas can create problems.  When this happens I have found that the only real solution is to not execute the idea or do the bare minimum.  Sure you could kill yourself and make it happen by drinking starbucks and pulling an all-nighter, but how will that help you in the future.  Allowing for bad planning now by others means that its okay to not think ahead and they can come to you next time and the next until you are regularly running around with your head cut off.

As creatives in the church, one thing we can do to help others who are not so well-versed in how the creative process works is to educate them on the length of time it takes to produce quality products.

A word of warning is that there are a few exceptions to the rule.  Sometimes there are great ideas that come up that are worth doing last minute.  The important thing to note is to make this the exception not the rule.

Related posts:

1. Software to help creatives colloborate Why use paper, binders and Word, when you can use...
2. Why systems help creatives because organization is one of the keys to productivity...
3. Refining the creative process Do you have a system that allows you the freedom...