Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

When do you become a "Professional"?

T

Tim Nitsch

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
160
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I wanted to get your opinions on this topic.

At what point do you consider yourself a professional in your line of work whether your a Director, a DP, an Editor, or what ever you happen to do.

One of the many definitions of "Professional" reads: "One who engages in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood"

Im a film student and I've been hired to do many small jobs around town and have many satisfied customers but I would never call myself a Professional Film Maker. How could I? I'm always learning something new or thinking of new ideas, new ways of shooting something, or editing in a different style or what have you.

To me being a professional is mastering something, but how can you master something that never stops evolving? Theres always new equipment coming out (RED gear is a perfect example of this) that allows you to do something that could never have been done before.


Just a thought thats been growing in the back of my mind and I thought this would be a perfect place to ask.
 
The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. And it has nothing to do with new equipment, or what you do for a living, for that matter.

Technically you become a professional when you start getting paid for what it is you do. Realistically, you become a professional when you are experienced enough to stop worrying about how long it takes or what constitutes being a professional. That's really difficult to understand when you're just starting out. It's a lot easier to understand with a bit of experience and hindsight, which comes only with time. Neither I nor anyone else can teach you that. It must be learned through experience.
 
Mike is right, being a professional is something you look forward to, strive for... but then after years of effort, you realize that at some point you became a professional without noticing when it actually happened. It sort of happened when you were making a living at it and you felt you were doing good work that satisfied your clients and yourself, even as you were still always striving to improve yourself. It happened when you felt you were working at the same level as your professional peers that were competing for the same jobs as you.

You master something, but the trouble is that "something" is fairly vague, amorphous, and shape-shifting and what you master may be only a small part of a larger something... because few people actually master everything in their field.

Being a professional is a bit like being respected -- respect is something you earn, you don't demand it and you shouldn't have to ask for it, others give it to you. It's a little like being an artist -- you create a work, you invest yourself in it creatively, intellectually, physically... but whether it is called "art" is up to other people to decide; you just have to do the work, leave the labels to others. Same goes for being a professional. You don't have to worry about using the label, you just have to learn your craft and do a good job, hopefully get paid... and let others apply the label "professional" to your work or to you.
 
When do you become a "Professional"?

"It isn't magic or luck that makes the professional. It's hard won know-how carefully applied. A true professional may do things pretty easily from all appearances, but he is actually taking care with each little bit that it is just right."
 
I'd say it's not once you start getting paid for your work but when you can support yourself (and family) solely from the income produced by that work. And... if you're doing this with repeat clients then you know you're really there. Students can't really call themselves professionals, but professionals should always consider themselves as students.... if that makes any sense.
 
Putting my firefighting hat on for a moment, perhaps it would illuminate the debate if I say that 'professional' is somewhat of a loaded word in the fire service. You will occasionally hear people say of volunteer firefighters 'oh they're only volunteers, they're not professionals' - which can clearly be taken and meant in a derogatory way. But whether you get paid to do it or not, the fire is just as hot and you damn well better be well-trained and 100% committed to what you're doing - which is why you sometimes see fire trucks with 'Professionally staffed by volunteers' on the side.

To me, being professional is nothing to do with money and everything to do with competence & attitude.

Another poster made a good point: the day I stop learning, they can put me in a box.

Mike
 
All of the above comments are true. They are expressions of parts of the whole of being a professional. But it's an interesting conundrum. You do not strive to become a professional. That is not the path. Becoming a professional is not the goal. Doing your best work every day, striving to learn a better way of doing it, seeking to discover a new way of expressing images with light and composition, always growing, always learning, always improving, and being good enough that people pay you to do it, and appreciate your work, and then as David said you find that you have been a professional.
 
Tim Nitsch said:
I wanted to get your opinions on this topic. ...
One of the many definitions of "Professional" reads: "One who engages in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood"
Click to expand...
We have language in order to communicate, these languages have dictionaries to tell us the accepted meanings of words, once again so we can communicate our ideas to each other.
The Wikipedia definition of professional is ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional
I would say you fall under the definition of Professional Filmmaker.
I think what you are really asking is .... What makes a "very good filmmaker".
 
I tend to be more technical where language is concerned. Therefore I equate "Professional" as in your "profession" with monetary goals. To hijack Mike's example. I have no doubt that a volunteer can do or surpass professional quality work, but their work is not "professional" technically speaking. It's all semantics and not something to get so hung up over. Personally I would rather do strong work, important work than professional work.

Must be the money.
 
Its interesting to see the slight variations in everyone definition.
 
To me the word professional is very loaded and has shifting meaning - I use it only in the context of not letting personal feelings toward someone or about anything get in the way - to be professional is to rise above personal needs and focus only on the needs of the project you are working on. An amateur is there to serve only their own personal needs via "fun", not focus on those of their team, client, studio, etc.

That said, sometimes the best work in wilder fields like music video is done by people acting in a grossly unprofessional manner (by the above definition) so...
 
I think Jim Jannerd ones wrote on this forum (but the thread is deleted I think. I can't find it anymore) that if you think BIG you can see yourself a a professional.
 
If we had to throw a number at the day you become a "professional" it would be 10 000 hours spent doing sometime. If I spent 10 000 hours on set lighting, I would consider myself a professional.

Interesting way I've always thought of this:
"Professionals make the stuff up as they go along, experts write the book based on what the professionals have done"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top