What Is Programming?

Published on 14 September 2021.

This weekend I completed a short movie about what programming is like for me. You can watch it below. This post presents behind the scenes thoughts that I would like to record.

First of all, I’m still experimenting with the video format. I kind of enjoy the process of shooting and editing, but I am a total beginner, so that is why I would like to learn more.

I don’t have any goals with my movies right now. I just want to get better at the craft by making various movies and see where it takes me.

This movie about programming was the first one that I planned more carefully and also wrote a script for before I started recording. I found that helpful. Especially to plan the clips to use ahead of time. So for example, I shot the first clip and the last clip at the same time, but used them far apart in the final movie. My script lacked many details, so i had to improvise in the editing process. Therefore I think I would benefit from having more detailed scripts.

I was also quite hesitant to publish the movie as it was. I felt like I needed to spend more time in editing. Add more music. Get better shots illustrating my points in the voice over. Then I decided that it would cost too much in terms of time, and it would only increase the quality by a little. I had kind of set a goal to complete the movie in one day (with some planning done before that). I had already spent half an additional day to get the editing sort of cohesive. I decided that my skills are not better now. If I am to make a movie in a day, this is how good I can make it. And the fastest way to improve is to make more movies instead of striving for perfection in every single movie. So that is what I did. I just published it. And now I am free to work on the next movie bringing all experiences from this movie into the next one. I have no idea what it will be about. But I have a notebook with ideas.