The film begins, there is a person standing at a railing, overlooking the ocean. He is in the center of the frame, it’s a misty morning. You can hear the seabirds as they wake up, the light sound of small waves crashing on the shoreline. It then cuts to a close-up shot of the eyes from the side, looking out, thinking. The audience doesn’t know what yet, but it must be a meaningful moment. There are flashbacks to when he was a kid, running around and having the time of his life, not worried about anything. There are birthday cakes getting blown out, moments with the family dog, and moments of talking to the camera saying “watch this!” It cuts back to present day, a shot that shows a nostalgic smile but then pauses, wondering, “Where did it go?” He then steps back, turns around, and begins to walk away and out of the frame. This movie might be worth watching. But this is my movie, and it’s not finished.
It could be because I have always expressed myself with a camera, but I often see the world in moments, almost like frames of a movie. If I am sitting on a bus, I’m looking around and wondering what the person across the aisle could be going through. What moment of their movie are they on? The part where it’s a montage and everything is going super well? Or are they saying goodbye to somebody that they may never see again. And I visualize these movies almost everywhere that I go. I used to find it difficult because it would seem that I wasn’t paying attention, often missing details of conversations that I probably should have remembered. I would always want to have just the right music playing for the moment, the song that could reflect the emotions of an epic adventure, a cold and rainy day, or a peaceful moment next to the ocean. No doubt that this shaped me into the filmmaker that I am today. But this isn’t something that I think is just for a filmmaker, it is a perspective that allows anybody to live a more fulfilled life.
I think we all remember when we were kids when we saw a movie that we absolutely loved. We watched it over and over again, wishing that we would be as cool as the main character. Wouldn’t that be best? Well, you are. You are the cool main character that everybody wishes that they could be. We just don’t see it because it is our own reality. But when you zoom out, life is a collection of moments over many, many years. Movies are usually a peek into one section of that life. If it is a movie where it shows a lifetime, it is a snapshot of a few ups and downs along the way. I believe that we are all on a hero’s journey of some sort. We are seeking something that we are quite unsure of in the beginning, often lead down paths that may not be quite right. But as the story continues, and we go through some painful moments, there comes a point when there is no going back. It is the moment when Luke realized he had to leave Tatooine, it is the moment when a chef tries to make it in the big city, because nothing else will do. That moment can’t be forced, it must be discovered.
As with many movies, that moment happens at the moment that it is supposed to. It is the time when all of the previous experience, lessons, hardship, all come together for the main character to take on their version of Everest — to achieve what they didn’t believe they could do. The audience is cheering them on silently not knowing how the story ends. This is no different than our lives. This doesn’t mean that now is the time for you. It might be, it might not be. But it is an important time, because every moment leads to that turning point. I look back on some of the crazy things that I have experienced in my life so far, the good and the bad, and I can see how it has shaped me today.
I see the movie again. It is late at night, there is one light on at a desk in the upstairs room. A blue light glowing from a computer screen. There are clicks, a foot bouncing up and down, and a focused look on my face. I must be editing something that I deeply care about. I am in a state of flow. There is no clock in the room because it doesn’t matter. The world is asleep and I am editing, in a state of bliss. I press play as the sun is beginning to brighten the sky the next morning, it’s perfect. With eyes slightly watery from exhaustion and satisfaction, the screen darkens, the chair rolls back, and I go down the stairs to sleep. I did it.
This was a scene in my movie. In fact, it could have been many scenes in my movie because it happened so many times. And it is a scene that will happen again at some point. And as a viewer, it’s pretty cool. It’s the late night work of the hero character creating the masterpiece for the world to see. But for me, it was exhausting. The evening would always go through a rhythm of ups and downs. Laying on the floor for 15 minutes to close my eyes, hoping that I could finish it before the deadline in the morning. Waking up, wishing I could go to bed rather than intentionally lay on the wood floor to make the nap as uncomfortable as possible, but knowing that the rest was important. Those shots seemed to have been cut from the scene of the movie that was shown. And that is what most people miss when they watch movies. It’s about knowing that the in-between times are the make or break. It’s the thing that happens when nobody is watching that shapes the resiliency of the human spirit. Some movies show them, but very few. I guess it’s more exciting to show superheroes flying around and doing infinite pushups. If only it were that easy.
I encourage everybody to create their own movie. Be the main character that you always wanted to be, but don’t be fake about it. We all know the character that is faking it. Sit for a little bit and close your eyes, think about what your movie would look like. Think about how that main character would be, act, and overcome challenges. Take into account how the character got there. What was the journey that led to this scene? What is the thing that is driving the character towards the goal? WHAT REALLY MATTERS? Then, go about your day and see yourself as that character. And then try it again the next day, then the following day, and the one after that. Eat, sleep, train, work, play, laugh, cry, smile, and be the main character of the most epic movie of all time — yours.