Vlad-Constantin

Your friendly neighbourhood videographer
...and motion graphic artist / photographer / producer

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

James Cameron has written & directed 3 of the top 4 highest-grossing movies of all time (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic).

Before he made movies, Cameron was a truck driver.

He didn't go to film school.

Instead, on the weekends, he would go to the library and..

"I'd pull any thesis that [University of Southern California] graduate students had written [on] anything that related to film technology," Cameron explained.

"And for the cost of xeroxing (photocopying), I [got] all these doctoral dissertations [and] build up these big binders on how everything was done."

"So I literally gave myself a full graduate course on film technology for about $120.

I didn’t have to enroll in school because it was all there in the library. I’d set it up to go in like I was on a tactical mission, find out what I needed to know, and take it all home."

Takeaway 1:

When asked what motivated him to read those big binders full of information on filmmaking, Cameron said he was just following what excited him.

"People seek out the information and knowledge they need," he said. "It's like a divining rod."

The mythologist Joseph Campbell similarly talked about how reading is like "a divining rod," a way to find what you are uniquely attracted to and meant to do.

"You’ve got to read," Campbell said. "Find [what] excites you. And if it doesn’t excite you…It’s not yours.”

Takeaway 2:

Of course, at some point, Cameron had to put the binders down and pick up a camera.

When he eventually attempted to make his first movie, Cameron said, “It was a bit like a doctor doing his first appendectomy after having only read about it."

The bestselling author and learning expert, Scott Young, has a great article with a great title, "Do The Real Thing."

"When you examine case studies of people who have had major accomplishments," Scott writes, "you expect there to be some trick or shortcut...More often, however, the strategy used is dead simple: doing the real thing."

Takeaway 3:

Leonardo da Vinci used to sign off his letters, “Leonardo da Vinci, disscepolo della sperientia” ("disciple of experience").

He used to believe that one learns best by solely "doing the real thing."

Over time, however, he evolved out of this belief and, biographer Walter Isaacson writes, "became a disciple of both experience and received wisdom."

When you examine case studies of people who have mastered their craft, you usually find they are "disciples of both experience and received wisdom."

Like Cameron, they read the library and they do the real thing.

- - -

“Those who are in love with practice without theoretical knowledge are like the sailor who goes onto a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Vlad-Constantin @ItsVladaman]

Looking for talented TikTok editors to work on upcoming @NIP projects! Paid of course.

Drop your portfolio below :) DMs are open

[Wonder of Science @wonderofscience]

Incredible footage of Saturn rising from behind the Moon during a lunar occultation, captured from a ground based telescope by astronomer Jan Koet.

Source: https://t.co/4VqMDf8GEA

[Harald Thafvelin @motionhare]

they FINALLY DID IT!! #adobe

[Vlad-Constantin @ItsVladaman]

@vincentlutz @radimtrake99 @zenfoxCS @NIP No cap.

[Vlad-Constantin @ItsVladaman]

Couldn't be more happy contributing to this journey by putting this video together 🥷

[Ninjas In Pyjamas @NIP]

As their first match at #PGLMajor Stockholm approaches – the @NIPCS players reflect on what it means to be the home team, the legacy of what came before them, and the potential of the squad to make history.

This is our home. This is our Major. This is #StockHome.

#GONINJAS

[Ninjas In Pyjamas @NIP]

@ec1s_

[ARCHIVED - NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover @NASAPersevere]

Hello, world. My first look at my forever home. #CountdownToMars

[Ubisoft @Ubisoft]

We are excited to announce we are working with @LucasfilmGames to develop a brand-new, story-driven, open world Star Wars adventure!

[Jeff Foust @jeff_foust]

The Crew-1 “0-g indicator” is a Baby Yoda.

[Graham Hancock @Graham__Hancock]

"This discovery is not consistent with the previous Galaxy formation scenario and adds a new piece to the puzzle that is the Milky Way."
https://t.co/O7KiELAwP7