Valentina Vee

And if I said my preferred cinema experience is 4DX 3D? What then?

I'd probably be more specific based on the type of online video, the audience, and the platform. The online video space has grown so much since then, it's impossible to give such global advice.

Yeah I should be better about that but I'm just having fun and also lazy.

6 years ago I was teaching an Online Video course in Dubai and I don't necessarily think I agree with my own advice anymore, particularly on this slide.

Apparently it’ll be around $8k, which for MOCO is insanely cheap. Interested in seeing some test footage and actual BTS videos! Or better yet - interested in testing it myself. www.newsshooter.com/2025/01/20/n...

Born to eat Wing Stop, forced to eat vegetable soup at home. Saving every single penny for a downpayment and I've never been hungrier.

Directing really is just coming up with a random idea and then like four weeks later there's a crew of 40 people just ... dressing a tiny hamster in a cowboy hat or something ... because your brain convinced them all that that would be cool.

A few of my favorite projects I shot last year!

"Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend" short film
Liquid Death commercial
TJ Maxx Commercial
"The Getaway" competition show

Lowkey pulling for movie of the year

CONCLAVE?!?!!

My favorite musician, Stromae, released his entire concert for free on YouTube. I was lucky enough to go to the LA show - fresh out of surgery & covered in bandages/tubes. I couldn’t even stand. But I couldn’t miss it because it was just that good. Goosebumps during L’enfer

youtu.be/l5WgAr4B8Vo?...

“You think you know better than every TV manufacturer?” YES DAD I DO.

And yes. I played him the Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie video and he said “I don’t understand a single word they just said.”

Trying to explain motion interpolation to my dad in Russian after I made him go through the deepest bowels of the menu on his new Samsung TV to turn off “auto clarity” is the 9th circle of hell.

We’re on this planet for a blink. Don’t spend it laboring for a measure of success that is so far off that you keep delaying your happiness.

Instead, move the goal post closer. And you can always move it back.

I just mean - don’t forget. Don’t become so entrenched in the daily minutia (sink is clogged, report is due, laundry needs folding) that you forget to LIVE.

But hey you know what? I want you to give permission to yourself to be selfish.

If you are honest with yourself about what you want, try your all to get it. Try hard. And not in a “hustle culture, get up at 5am and run three miles” kind of way. (I mean unless you want to.)

Before, I resented taking “money gigs” that were “beneath me” because I “wasn’t moving towards my goals.” Now I’m just happy to be there!

I know my metric of success is selfish. It doesn’t include “give x amount to charity,” “make art that changes lives” or “have children.”

And let me tell you. Since I re-defined my personal definition of success, my happiness went up a thousand-fold.

Every day that I am able to wake up in this city and profit off of creative ideas in my own little brain, I win.

Every day I feel successful.

Does that sometimes mean teaching at a conference? Yeah. Does that sometimes mean running around with a gimbal at an event I was hired to cover? Yeah.

The odd time it also means directing an incredible project with a decent-sized crew and a solid budget.

I decided that being a “successful filmmaker” meant that I had the ability to exist as a human living in LA, surviving entirely off of work that involved shooting or editing.

Quite literally just being able to afford shelter and food within LA County limits. A tangible goal.

This is what I thought for years. Beating myself up. Until I decided to make a change. Some might say I “lowered my standards.”

I say: I made it easier to be happy.

I threw away my old goal and decided on a new metric of success. (By the way - you can do this too, right now.)

Or even better - what if I DID reach my goal, and then still inevitably died? The world would keep spinning.

The only difference would be that I paid the salaries of my film crew for a month or two, and maybe a handful of people spent 2 hours enjoying my finished film.

First let’s consider: what if I died “unsuccessful?” In 500 years, nobody would even remember me, let alone care that I died unsuccessful. Just me. And I'm long dead.

Unfulfilled. And for what?

Because I didn’t set the right goal. I spent my whole life feeling like a failure.

This was the philosophy I had for years. “Make a film” was the goal, and I felt like shit every year that ticked away without that goal met.

I felt unsuccessful. I was unsuccessful.

I still haven't made a feature, but I'm now successful. How?

What’s important is to not let external forces dictate your personal definition of success.

Example: I’m a filmmaker. Blanket term ... haven’t made a feature yet. And so many look down on me for that.

“Can’t call yourself that if you haven’t made a film. You’re unsuccessful.”

Is your goal to marry rich? Fine! I am not judging.

But define it a little more. What’s “rich” for you? Do they have to own a condo in Ohio? Or a penthouse in NYC?

Because if you don’t define it, you’ll never be satisfied. You’ll always be looking for the next-richest person.

Your success is defined by nobody else but you. And you get to move the goal posts as often as you like.

Were you on-track for a 6-figure salary but instead lost your job? Now your new goal is just to make it through the day? Congrats! You made it to today. You are successful.

Success comes upon the completion of a goal.

Quantifiable (10 pull ups),
temporal (do laundry tomorrow),
tangible (gold medal),
immaterial (learn French), or a combination of these.

Married (immaterial) with 2 kids (quantifiable) in a house I own (tangible) by 35 (temporal).

What does it mean to be successful?

I often wonder this while contemplating my own mortality and its inevitability. And let's say I achieve success. What’s the point, if I’m going to die anyway?

I think I’ve found the answer. 🧵