SOME YEARS AGO I gave a lecture on image editing to a class of film studies students at what was then called the Polytechnic of Central London. At the end of the talk they asked how I’d got started in my career as a freelance illustrator, so I gave them a brief biographical sketch.
‘Of course,’ I said at the end, ‘it’s a lot easier now. You’ve all got phones in your pockets that will shoot high quality video with sound, for free. You all have Macs, so you can use iMovie to edit your movies for free, and GarageBand to add music, for free. Then you can publish your movies to the entire world, instantly, for free.’
‘So,’ I concluded, ‘how many of you have put your movies on YouTube?’
They looked at each other. Not a single one of them had done so.
‘Why not?’ I asked, incredulously.
‘No one told us we had to.’
And there, right there, is the difference between those who fail and those who succeed. You can be taught filmmaking, but you can’t be taught initiative.
