Are you a book-learner or a hands-on learner?

There are many different types of learners such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. There is no wrong way to learn. Do whatever helps you the best. In one of my previous articles Through the Wires, we talked about the complexity of the audio engineer’s job. This is a great example of why book learning and hands-on learning go hand in hand with each other. You can read a book and it won’t really be muscle memory until you’ve done it a bunch of times. That is the goal in production. To take what you read and put it into action. I am going to share with you my learning experience in Student Production. 

Why learning from the book is just as important as hands-on learning

Books nowadays for film production are full of pictures and step-by-step tutorials. The authors realized that when learning film production you need to see what equipment you will be using. Now if you don’t go to school you may not have access to the newest equipment. If you have the means to purchase the equipment then that is a plus but with schooling, you receive connections in the industry. Learning all the terms and specs is vital to this career. You could read a million books and if you haven’t touched the equipment you may not have the greatest start at your first production job but you will have no choice but to learn. My personal example of this would be Adobe After Effects. I read both of the books but until I started practicing in the program I had no idea what was going on. 

Practice makes perfect!

After finishing up my books I was assigned for my classes, I began watching hundreds of Youtube tutorials. Persistently, I followed them step by step and used them in many of my projects depending on the topic. I received freelance jobs in the music industry and decided to break down music videos. I learned so much from watching tips and tricks on Youtube. After completing them and feeling confident, I would begin to add in my own special tweaks and touches. Ultimately, I learned my basics from the books and more complex lessons from Youtube. I’m sure you have heard the saying “You can learn anything on Youtube” and you can’t deny that it is pretty accurate. Check out the video link below to see some amazing tutorials for Adobe After Effects.

AFTER EFFECTS VFX TUTORIAL

Why not use both?

In conclusion, the point of this article is to inform you that using both books and hands-on learning can benefit you enormously. Use all the resources you can get your hands on. Get creative with your learning mechanisms and most importantly, put them into action. Many jobs in production have all different types of equipment. Learn the basics and learn everything you can when interning. We have the worldwide web at our fingertips! Use it! 

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