Lights Camera Action

Someone, then a small-time film director, once told me that I ought to someday try out helming a movie. He said that my comics work could pass for a good storyboard, that I had a knack for choosing the right camera angles among other things, and all I needed to learn were the little technicalities behind the medium. He admitted that he didn't go to film school, but he found himself directing a handful of films later in his career.

I then remembered one of my comics heroes, Katsuhiro Otomo, who had let go of comics to pursue animation with such projects as Steamboy and Memories. And for a time I wondered if I could graduate from static to moving images with some ease.

Right now, I don't think so. I don't think I ever will. Not because of the technical aspects, but more of the level of collaboration it entails. I work better alone or in small groups. Put me in a position of directing a huge number of people, and I might just throw the towel in.

Another director, this time with a higher profile, once said that he looked forward to directing something I'd write, and I'd like to believe he said that with sincerity. Maybe screenwriting is an option for me, I don't know. I still have a lot of comics work (gunning for a quota) to do before I decide to move on, and I have to put a tight rein on this whole storycrafting thing. Because, honestly, threshing out stories can jog the noggin' quite violently.