As a film student I read many books written by film directors, who I admired but I never fully understood what film director’s job was and what do they do on and off the set. It all became clear to me once I started making my films, making mistakes, and learning from them. Below you will find my personal list of the director’s responsibilities/what film directors really do: 1. A director must protect the story and make sure it is told in the best possible way for the audience to enjoy. 2. Before walking onto the film set, the director needs to analyse the script and use that in-depth analysis to understand the story, and then use that understanding as a storytelling tool. 3. The director must know the script, the story, and the characters inside out before going into production. 4. Be prepared to work with the actors. If needed, the director should have a little reminder session of how to work with the actors to help them develop their characters. 5. The director …

This is a question many people in the creative sector will be asking themselves throughout their careers, and unfortunately, the “offers” to work for free don’t end the older you become or, the more experience you have. When I left the film school, it was believed that you needed to work for at least two years for free to break into the industry before receiving paid job offers. I graduated from the film school in 2004, and as of this writing, I do not accept job offers, which are for free. Having said that I am always more than happy to work on friends’ projects for free and help the people who helped me out. But these are people I knew and worked with; these people are not random individuals I found online and decided to approach expecting to work on my projects for many hours, and many days and weeks for free. I get lots of offers to work for free with a vague promise of a payment sometime in the very indefinite future. …

1. Make sure you record your audio correctly. People can put up with out of focus images but if the audio is off, you will have a hard time attracting viewers. 2. Make your videos short and to the point. I’m not a big fan of long-winded videos that in reality could have been cut down to a few minutes. 3. If your video is short, don’t introduce rapid, MTV cutting; it will only make your audience feel sick from too fast editing and too much movement. 4. Don’t mislead your audience with your video’s title; make sure your title accurately describes your video and what’s in it. 5. Don’t cover too much ground in one short video. If you try to cover too many subjects in a short space of time, you may find hard to hold audience’s attention. Make your videos very specific. If it is ‘how to’ video you are making, answer just one question, not gazillion at the same time. 6. Don’t use special effect excessively, especially if it doesn’t look …

I must say that without the digital media exposure, your efforts to build a sustainable career in the creative arts sector may be very limited. I believe in having choices and options, which the Internet, together with the social media, offer to everyone and anyone who is willing to take advantage of the new muse that the Internet has become. I understand that 9-5 jobs are safer and more secure, especially when you have a mortgage, family, and responsibilities but what if… the company you worked for decides to let you go, and in the time you have spent in that company, the market has changed so much that you become virtually unemployable? What if tomorrow, all of a sudden, you stop getting freelance job offers? What will happen then? What if you are over 40? Yes, agism applies to the creative industries too. Or, “even worse”, you are a mother in her late thirties or forties. Sure, it’s illegal to discriminate against mothers or age but tell this to the recruitment agents who feel …