What I've Learned

Innovation, Obsession and Collaboration

Puck Litaay
Wed 12 Jul

Methaphors

As a campaign for the Willem de Kooning Academy this trilogy of mini-films is a representation of three specific qualities a student should possess when enrolling within the academy. The three scenarios serve as a metaphor for and as an abstract exaggeration of the qualities innovation, obsession and collaboration.

Team members: Puck Litaay, Ella Gerritsen, Janne van de Weijer

Credits:
DOP: Teejo Renaud
MUA: Maria Filipov

What did you learn during your this project?

If there’s one thing that I learned during this quarter and deem very valuable it is the strength that lies within collaboration. It’s a funny thing really because the way people perceive me and how I used to perceive myself collaboration isn’t necessarily a thing that would come to mind. I’m quite outspoken and a dominant factor within a group and while this certainly begs for the right kind of collaborators (from both sides) this quarter truly showed me the power and fun that one can have when collaborating with other creative minds. It shows new paths and new insights that otherwise you might not dare to take.

It is also the first project where I truly realised how much I love the production part of the creative industry. I love taking care of making things happen, finding locations and getting things done. Getting the locations to shoot these films in took quite some effort for instance but we were able to strike a deal. Find out what you’re able to offer and use it to your advantage. As a group we were a good combination, our qualities complimented each other and we were able to all focus on our own specific part of these films making the process quite efficient.

Learning how to trust other people within your projects is something very valuable.

What didn’t you expect to learn but experienced as a bonus? 

Discussing these films a few months later as we were getting ready to apply for our internships someone once said to me that companies might see it as a weakness that I wasn’t involved in every aspect of the films. We decided on using a cinematographer for example instead of filming ourselves. While I understand the confusion and the point of discussion I couldn’t agree less. Learning how to trust other people within your projects is something very valuable. It also begs for strong communication skills and a sense of professionalism that is relevant to the commercial field I want to work in. I think I speak for most of us within the academy when I say it’s scary to trust other people. As a control freak it was amazing to finally learn how to trust and be able to take a step back, understanding that loads of times other people might be better at a certain something which will make the project more whole, professional and efficient in the end. It’s not that you don’t know or care, you simply decide to let other people take care of it so you can make sure the overall image is being catered to.

What kept you awake at night?

During these projects there were quite some things that kept me but also us a as a group awake. Scouting and getting the locations we wanted took a lot of time and effort. We had to come up with a good proposal and understand how to get something we wanted without any budget. I think loads of times we tend to see ourselves as just students within the academy and we might settle for less but there is some real value within us that makes it interesting for companies to sponsor us. For us it were these amazing locations but it can be anything really. Sometimes I truly regret being too lazy to get a driver’s license because logistics always pose a bit of a challenge during these shoots. With the two locations being in very different places in Holland and shooting a few days in a row these were some real challenges. When it’s all fixed and in place however the feeling is amazing which is partly why I love production so much.

A collaboration shows new paths and new insights that otherwise you might not dare to take.

What was the greatest obstacle?

It’s really such a cliché thing to say but it holds very true every time: killing your darlings. The initial project idea had a very different approach that looking back we weren’t happy with from the start and that we tried to fit in many different moulds however the only solution in this case was recognising defeat, starting over again and daring to take on a little bit more work then we initially were planning to do.