Ignoring rabbit holes (my weekly progress report) | #42

stories, storyboarding, generative AI

Hi friends!

Here's what I've been up to the past week since I published my Plan for 2024.

In this 42nd issue:

• a recap of my goals and plan

• the issues I've ran into (proj mgmt and ignoring the temptation of rabbit holes)

  • Rabbit hole #1: tweaking the story

  • Rabbit hole #2: which storyboarding software to use, if any?

  • Rabbit hole #3: Photoshop and generative AI

Let's go!!

A recap of my goals and plan

Last Friday, in my Plan for 2024, I established that my best financial bet looked something like

1. establish myself as someone great at making content

2. partner with someone who buys and sells businesses of some kind

3. make content for them, learning "the business side" at the same time

4. use that knowledge to buy businesses

5. use my content knowledge to grow them

6. retire

I said that I'll know I'm "great at making content" when, given a business with a goal, I can create and execute a content strategy to achieve that goal.

For example, if the goal is generate more leads, then I can create content that generates more leads.

To do that, I have to know how to

1. know how to use my tools,

2. think creatively (from a content point of view), and

3. think strategically (from a business point of view)

Right now, I'm on step 1 of step 1 (learn how to use my tools).

From past experience, I learn tools best when I have a well-scoped project I'm excited about.

My first idea for a project that fit that criteria was making videos for my dance teachers. I recorded a 20 minute video explaining some ideas I had and how the ideas could benefit them.

I sent it to them and am still waiting on a response. The waiting made me realize that coordination with others shortens the feedback loop. I should have another project where I'm the only one involved.

The next idea I had was to create an animation of a story I heard recently that I liked.

It's called The Jade Merchant.

I know that I don't have the skills right now to make it how I envision it, so I decided to ship it in iterations. The idea is

1. make a bad version 1,

2. learn a new technique,

3. use it in the next version,

4. ship the next version,

5. repeat indefinitely

Over the past few days, I've been working on getting "bad version 1" out there. The challenge has been identifying which rabbit holes are worth investing in.

Here are the rabbit holes I've encountered and which ones I've decided are worth indulging:

Rabbit hole #1: tweaking the story

As I re-listened to the story, I'm realizing that a lot of the dialogue could be reworked.

Some of it doesn't move the story forward and can be deleted. Some of it can be shortened or changed.

I dove in and started changing it, because it was too tempting not to. But after spending an hour on it, I realized I should decide how much time is worth it.

There were some more changes that were easy to make. So I made those. But there were other parts I felt could be different, but it wasn't obvious what I should change them to.

So, as much as I wanted to linger on them, I ripped myself away and moved on.

Rabbit hole #2: which storyboarding software to use, if any?

At that point, I was happy(ish) with the story. The next step was to start planning. I realized I needed a way to keep track of the details for each shot, scene, etc.

I opted against pencil and paper because that sounded hard to keep organized. (And also, secretly, I hate using my hands to write things now.)

I did some research (aka looked at a reddit thread), and it seemed like the best options were:

• pencil and paper (which I already ruled out)

• Photoshop

• Storyboarder

Storyboarder intrigued me, given that it was free. So I tried it.

I liked the interface, but I realized I wanted the ability to "zoom out" and see everything at once.

I knew I could do that with artboards in Photoshop, but I also liked that Storyboarder had data for each board.

I wondered if there was a "notes" feature for each artboard on Photoshop. That way, I could see all the boards and info about each board at once.

Something like this:

I checked out Photoshop, and it does have a Notes feature, but they only display one at a time with the panel open:

At this point, I wanted to forge onward and find the Perfect Storyboarding App that would do what I wanted.

But I realized: I was in another rabbit hole. I thought to myself:

• you know, you're already going to be using Photoshop

• it interfaces well with other Adobe software

• you might as well learn to use it as well as you can and move on

Rabbit hole #3: Photoshop and generative AI

At that point, I thought: OK, Photoshop it is. Now the goal is to create storyboards.

I realized I didn't know how to use art boards, so I opened up Photoshop and YouTube to look at tutorials.

When I opened up Photoshop, it showed me a tutorial window on how to use Generative Fill.

Intrigued, I went through the series. I replaced the house with a zombie:

I immediately started imagining the possibilities. I love that I can use the lasso tool to be specific about what I want it to generate.

If I can figure out how to make it consistent, it would be VERY useful. For example, can I tell it "keep everything the same but have the subject raise its hands"?

Apparently not. At least, not with that prompt.

At this point, I wanted to keep experimenting. How far can I push this? Generative AI seems like a great skill to master.

But I realized: oops, this is another rabbit hole. What is my goal again, and how does this fit into it, if at all?

Well, the big goal was to get good at strategic content.

That had 3 sub goals: get good at tools, creative direction, and biz strategy.

I'm on sub goal 1: get good at tools. To absorb learning better and make it more enjoyable, I picked a project I'm excited about.

So I guess the questions I should be asking are:

• is this a profitable skill to learn?

• would I enjoy incorporating it into my project?

The answer to both is yes, so the next question is: where does it go on the ordered list of things to learn?

That list doesn't exist, yet. I was planning on creating it when I finished my storyboard. Whatever I needed for the first part was what I was going to learn.

Okay, I think we found the plot again.

• learn to manage artboards in photoshop (ignoring the shiny generative AI for now)

• make a storyboard, figure out roughly what I need to learn to make each scene

• start learning the things needed for the first scene

This weekend I'll be in Houston for a Salsa congress, but for next week my goal is

• to have a draft of the storyboard done

• to have a list of things to learn to create the first scene

• to have started learning the things on that list

Cya next Friday!