Re: Anyone ever try teaching?

Bill's advice is profound. If you turn it around, imagine a teacher asking you what it takes to get into doing good videos. You would tell him or her something along the lines of having to learn the fundamentals before jumping into more advanced work.

A lot of older video guys nearing retirement seize on this idea of teaching at some point as a fall-back. As professional communicators, that transition may be a little easier for them, in one sense.

But I can tell you from my own educational experiences that the amount of knowledge the instructor has on the topic is NOT the number one factor in making them a good teacher. My dad was an engineer, and used numbers like we use oxygen, but he couldn't teach me math or calculus worth a damn, and it became frustrating for both of us. He had no patience for me, and I could not keep up with him. Some players make great coaches, but not all do. tachers are unique in their ability to not only master the material, but master the very customized delvery of that material, live and in real time, a skill that takes years of dedicated effort and training to develop. They DO earn their pay.

Anyhow, not to discourage you, but these days the fundamentals we are best able to teach are not very well respected these days. Just saying that if you go ahead and try it, it requires considerable thought and planning, in ways that may be unfamiliar.


If I could teach video, I'd teach it to 8th graders, starting with giving them some vocabulary and grounding in media criticism and aesthetics, so they can actually speak about what they're trying to do. I would teach them basics of shot composition and lighting, sound recording, and a lot of time on editing, atarting with simple exercises in linear storytelling. Special Effects would be the least of what 'd teach, the dessert at the end of the meal. I'd be happy if the students could tell a decent 60 second story using only cuts and dissolves. Lord knows, not every adult can.