The desire to fulfill your goals and dreams is often an arduous path to follow. Many people have often heard that the best way to be successful in the field of your choice is to copy someone who is already successful and do what they do. This idea is noble but not always as simple as it may seem. Your particular business idol may be Donald Trump; do you really think that you’re going to land a large commercial real estate deal by copying his techniques on TV? It is highly unlikely. What you can do is take on Donald Trump as a mentor. In fact, many successful people can mentor you without having to be in the same place geographically. The Internet is full of great tools to find a mentor. TED.com is one of them. Ted.com is a website dedicated to spreading ideas that are worth something. I had the pleasure of recently learning about TED.com. Ted.com is a virtual host of mentors in a number of disciplines. If you’re looking for a mentor then TED.com is the place! As an aspiring film producer and director, I wanted to see what TED.com provided in the area of film and entertainment. Upon searching a few famous film directors I know by name, the great James Cameron was among the speakers featured on TED.com.
James Cameron was featured as a speaker at a TED.com event, which can be viewed as an online video. His story is short of amazing. James attributed his natural curiosity of things as a child, his love for science, art, and science fiction which led to his success as a film director. As film directors and screenwriters creativity is our lifeblood, without it we would die. James articulates how his creativity as a child needed an outlet. This outlet came in form of drawing and painting, exploring nature, and even becoming a certified scuba diver. These outlets combined help James to create some of the most famous movies in Hollywood. Aliens, Avatar, Titanic, and Terminator 2 just to name a few.
Listening to James Cameron speak is compared to listening to an audio book that never bores you. His stories are captivating and inspiring. His calm voice is trusting and commanding at the same time. He takes you’re very being through an evaluation of where you are presently and what are you doing to get where you want to be. James Cameron teaches aspiring filmmakers to never stop being creative, never stop being curious, embrace failure, give no place to fear, and take risks. He tells the story of how he took a step back from making movies to spend time as an ocean explorer because he was “curious” about the alien life in the sea. His obsessive curiosity of the ocean taught him that there are unlimited universes that you can create in you mind as it relates to film. He used this experience in the making of the movie Avatar. While exploring on the ocean James spoke of how he learned the true meaning of leadership. Each team member depends on each other for survival while performing the dangerous job of deep ocean exploration. James said that the respect of the team is more important to the project and that was the essence of true leadership. Every story he told was apart of the whole. I understand now what makes James Cameron a great film director and my perception of the film industry is forever changed. I understand now that great films are made if you stay true to telling your own unique story in your own unique way.
1 comments:
Very good post. After reading it, it makes me want to go watch the video on TED.com because I've heard a lot of negativity about James Cameron and his way of working on set. I understand there is always a man behind the legend and blog makes me realize that. I'm sure this video is very helpful for any film student trying to make their way up to director of huge motion pictures. Also very well written
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