Admitting when you're wrong... and learning from your mistakes.

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

Sound Modulator
I had a recent shoot that went OK... not good, but OK. I hired a couple guys and both made mistakes through the day. Neither really apologized for their mistakes... but one guy sort of apologized... showing some concern about it. I will hire him again.

The other guy arrogantly made mistakes, dismissing each one as unimportant, or a choice... or flat out lying to me saying what I was seeing was NOT what I was seeing. He may have said this out of ignorance, or he may have been doing the old "fake it till you make it" and thinking a confident answer would fly, even though I have so much more experience that I knew he was obviously wrong. Of course at the time I didn't want to fully implode my shoot by having an argument with the guy... so I just told him what to do... gave him the "are we cool, bro?"... along with a smile... and got back to work. I will NOT hire him again... I won't even talk to him again... and if anybody local asks about him, I'll tell them the truth. He was cancerous to the gig.

Long story short... I humbly suggest to filmmakers... and to everybody else... admit when your wrong. Apologize... and learn from your mistake.

You'll be amazed at what this WILL do for for ALL your relationships... whether it be business, family, or spouse. People rarely apologize... and people who don't accept responsibility for their mistakes usually make the same mistakes over and over.

People respect you when you take responsibility... and respect is what good relationships are built on.

/end thought for the day.
 
you cool bro??:laugh:

(completely agree with your statement... admit if you do something.. hell I've apologized to others for people in my crews screwing something up, and even apologized to a client for a mistake they (the client themselves) made, if that makes any sense lol)
 
Last edited:
I thought I was wrong once, but it was a mistake.



Seriously, though, it is very frustrating to work with some one who cannot accept mistakes. Heaven knows I've made my fair share... but that's how I find the place to improve.
 
out of curiosity, did you tell this mantra to your folks at the end of the day or as you concluded your working relationship with them?

I don't know them, but visual impression I got while reading your post led me to believe that both might actually benefit from their employer saying this to them... The guy you will hire again b/c he will know that his honesty (and respect he offered by doing so) is what nabbed him a +1. The guy you won't, so he knows that is the reason he lost a contact. This pre-supposing my assumption that they were likely both younger-ish and/or new-ish to the circus and probably don't have much of a bed of real-world working experience in this kind of environment to go on... If that is the case, then their experience with you is likely to be one with a more lasting impact. (If it isn't... I still feel the same way :) )
 
I've been having a pretty lengthy discussion with the guy I said I would hire back again. He is actually in a pivotal position right now (with me)... I want him to explain why he didn't follow some quite simple instructions on a shot that I couldn't monitor, because I was running another cam... and each time I ask him "what happened?" he doesn't reply. When I said he "sort of" apologized... it was just that... he said he was concerned that I thought he did OK... I followed up saying "yeah, I can use this, but why didn't you stick with the plan? why all the freelancing?"

Each time I ask him this he doesn't reply... like I'm trying to pin something on him. But if you get hired as cam2 or whatever... and you're told "start on a wide shot... once the actors reach this point... move to a 4-shot... then when they turn around again... go back to wide".

How hard are those instructions?

I think one of the things that makes cam-ops and soundguys screw-up (inexperienced ones) is they over-think a job... or decide they have a better idea then what they were told... or they start taking "ownership" of the job... meaning "I'm going to do it how I would do it"... but the problem is... then you get home and you don't have a master shot... or whatever. This is what I'm facing right now.

The other guy... who was arrogant about everything. I think he's beyond communication. If you're in the heat of the moment and can't absorb and react to direct... EASY... face-to-face instructions... w/o protesting or making excuses when I look in your cam and see the settings are no longer where I had them... well... that's beyond learning. Like I said... people like that are cancerous.

I'd way rather somebody say, "sh*t... sorry man... I must have bumped something"... instead of me saying, "why are you shooting in 60i?"... "that's not 60i man... it's 24p"... when I can clearly see that is IS 60i. (could start a list of a dozen such instances from that guy)... hence... him? Nope... not even worth trying to straighten him out.

The reason I added a "general application" to my first post of advice... is because I know so many people who, in their personal lives... handle things this same way. It's entirely possible that my ex-wife wouldn't BE my EX-wife... if she could have occasionally "owned" her own mistakes. The quote about history... is the same for personal history... to paraphrase... "those who learn nothing from their past are doomed to repeat it".

The first step in learning from a mistake is admitting you made one... and if that mistake causes problems for somebody else... and you want to maintain that relationship... then the next step is apologizing to that person (by admitting your mistake not just to yourself, secretly, but to the person who's at a disadvantage because of it.)
 
Supposedly NOT green... but that's the problem... I think he probably doesn't know how green he really is. I'm almost 40... he's my age... he's worked on enough stuff to know better and to follow simple instructions.

The issue... is what I was saying before... I think most people don't learn from their mistakes... most people have too much pride and ego to admit when they make one... especially to somebody else! It's like they're afraid it means you're better then they are or something.

I honestly can't make sense of it. Pride is like anything else... it's great in the proper application. Knowing when to show pride... and when to swallow it... is way beyond 99.9% of the world.
 
It is so very hard for many, many people to accept that they made a mistake and own up to it. I try very hard NOT to be one of those folks, but sh*t, I think that there is something hardwired in our pysche that causes that. BUT, to get along, effectively on a job a person has to overcome that. Some people just can't, and those are the ones you learn not to work with again. Then again, some people are just a**holes also, so there is that.

Thanks for bringing that up Mattin, it is a good reminder to us all that we don't want to do that.
 
Last edited:
super-cool-story-bro.png
 
I notice one thing in your posts, and correct me if I'm wrong...

You haven't mentioned that perhaps your hiring process may have been flawed.

Age alone doesn't imply knowledge or a subordinate personality when hiring help.
 
Not only do I not tolerate that kind of practice but I consider it a professional obligation to ensure that no one I know hires someone with whom I've had that kind of experience. Life's too short, there are too many people trying for their shot or trying to make their living, and failing to warn people away from that kind of hire would be unconscionable.

If I catch an error that I've made myself, I usually make sure that everyone up and down the line who might get screwed by it knows to expect a revision - before it costs the shooting company days or hours, before it costs the producing company money. Notifying people of a necessary revision to some silly error is a lot less embarrassing than having it traced back to you after the damage gets done.

Production is like air-traffic control: no amount of fix-it after the fact can compensate for the smoking crater produced by poor communication between people who ought to know better.
 
Pookie said:
I notice one thing in your posts, and correct me if I'm wrong...

You haven't mentioned that perhaps your hiring process may have been flawed.

Age alone doesn't imply knowledge or a subordinate personality when hiring help.
Click to expand...

Oh... it was totally flawed. This was a last minute job and I hired for gear + coverage. The budget was low, but I accepted that I'd be virtually splitting the job with the other 2 cam ops (who are free of the edit, so I'm making less).

I knew one guy... he was the more reliable of the two... and the other guy was better equipped... and I was paying for the gear, more then the guy... but it didn't matter anyway... because he was an hour and twenty late... so I was already in plan b by that time... then after that he evolved into an "anti-bonus" for the day.

I can see where people get a mark on them and it's hard to get it off.

The reason I made the thread... is I'm mostly pissed about unapologetic incompetence... and that got me thinking about all of my life experience... and how rare it is that anybody ever "owns" their mistakes. In the first second after an apology, a bad situation is already 50% resolved.
 
"Mostly pissed about unapologetic incompetence"...

It seems to be the in thing these days....... unprofessional denial.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top