Reflections on Making a Film

I just piped in to a NEW POST at Mark Mayerson's blog which talks about other animators' thoughts about creating an independent short. Nice to see that I'm not alone in this.

I've often felt that this film is just taking too long, and worried about whether or not it will all be worth it in the end...looks like these are normal feelings to have about the process. I know it's basically my own fault for making it as long as it is, and not sticking to something simpler or shorter. In the amount of time it's taken me to get this far, I could have probably created 3 or 4 shorter films. But I don't think about that too much. I'm happy doing what I'm doing and totally committed to finishing it. The work itself dictates how long it will take. It calls to me when it needs feeding, and lets me know when it's time to take a break. Perhaps this is why they call them "pet projects." I'm starting to sound like Madeline L'Engle, which is not a bad thing.

I also enliken it to my wife Janet's thoughts about her cross-stitching. She has a big box full of patterns that she started years ago, even from high school (which was over a decade ago now). Every now and then she'll pull out whichever one suits her fancy and chip away at it some more. Some of them she may never finish, and that's OK too. It's better to have a big box full of unfinished projects than nothing to work on at all.