Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the Two Day Intensive Film-making course at the Met Film School in London a couple of weekends ago.
There was no mucking about, we were just pitched pretty much straight into shooting scenes - first, for my group, from Kramer Versus Kramer and then, on the second day, from a short film script.
So, very practical and, with expert help on hand throughout, a good chance to learn.
And, although it was about narrative film-making I'm pretty sure I picked up stuff that will help with the short factual films I'm making (which was the reason I was on the course). For one thing, we did a lot of editing, and I realised how much more adventurous I could be even when shooting simple interviews.
But I still came away feeling a little ambivalent.
Perhaps it was the realisation of how much I have to learn. Or the sense that while (I hope) I have some talent for writing, I'm not sure that I do for directing.
The course leader, Jamie Nuttgens, was very encouraging, however and stressed that in the age of digital film-making there really are no rules when it comes to directing films; it's a case of trying things out and learning as you go.
So (deep breath) I guess that's what I should do.
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