Coming Up with Good Video Ideas?

[austinm]

I am wondering what advice people have out there for coming up with good video ideas. It seems to be one of the mos t difficult aspects of making videos to a lot of the people I talk to.

This article (which to be clear, comes from a website me and some friends write for) has some good thoughts, but I am searching for more advice. Any thoughts?

Austin
MakingBetterVideos.com

[zoobie]

drop acid?

[austinm]

Yea, now theres an option. Ha

[Epicurus8a]

Watch the news or read the news paper.

[austinm]

Hey, that's good. Didn't think of that one. I guess you could take a normal news story and take it some where more interesting. And then say...."based on a true story"..kidding

That's great and helpful Epicurus, thanks.

[Video Head]

What aspect of video work you are talking? ENG? EFP? Creative or script based productions?

[Richard_G]

That's the creative bit, you either have it or you haven't. You can get ideas from watching others efforts and basing it on them, but at the end of the day, if you haven't got the artistic inspiration.......

[Epicurus8a]

That's the creative bit, you either have it or you haven't. You can get ideas from watching others efforts and basing it on them, but at the end of the day, if you haven't got the artistic inspiration.......

I heard about a former child prostitute who eventually became an attorney. Now she fights for human rights.
Almost sounds like a movie deal could be in the works, huh?

[AlanHK]

I am wondering what advice people have out there for coming up with good video ideas. It seems to be one of the mos t difficult aspects of making videos to a lot of the people I talk to.

This article has some good thoughts, but I am searching for more advice. Any thoughts?

Austin
MakingXBetterXVideosXcom

"This article" on your own website/blog/forum that you've just started up and are advertising here?

Spammer.

[austinm]

What aspect of video work you are talking? ENG? EFP? Creative or script based productions?

I am mainly talking about Creative or Script Based Ideas for videos.

Thanks for asking

[austinm]

"This article" on your own website/blog/forum that you've just started up and are advertising here?

Spammer.

Ouch...that's harsh man. But I do appreciate the critique

I really just wanted to ask a question, start a little discussion, and provide what I thought so far with that article link.

Bro, if I really wanted to spam well, I could of left my signature "MakingBetterVideos.com" off the post.

Honestly, I definitely don't want to be a "Spammer", so feel free to let me know how I could do it better next time.

Thanks again for the critique.


Austin
MakingBetterVideos.com

[filmboss80]

This topic brings to the forefront the question of why people get involved in video in the first place. In one group, you have people who think video production would be a cool hobby/vocation/career. In the other group, you have people whose minds are already brimming with ideas, messages, and stories to tell. For this latter group, video is is the medium used to express these things. If you cannot easily come up with a story to tell or a message to deliver, perhaps your video work should lean toward the technical support side. I've been fortunate enough to work with many gifted videographers, editors, and graphic artists who have been an integral part of the production process, though rarely in the creative "envisioning" of a project. We all have our gifts. If it is difficult to come up with a project idea, your gift may not be in this area.

[zoobie]

ditto that
I've seen the enthusiast buy tons of equipment, go thru a "what do I want to do with it" period, then sell it all off

Bob Dylan used to use the newspaper for inspiration for songs...probably until he realized the news was all negative

[AlanHK]

Bro, if I really wanted to spam well, I could of left my signature "MakingXBetterXVideosXcom" off the post.

Since the whole point is to raise the page rank of your site by putting links to it on high trafffic sites like this, that would be unlikely.
And look, now you've got it mentioned at least six times in this thread. Well done.

True, you aren't being as unscrupulous as most SEO scumbags who swarm over unprotected sites, but such posts here would swiftly be deleted. I'm afraid I still find it parasitic.

[austinm]

If you cannot easily come up with a story to tell or a message to deliver, perhaps your video work should lean toward the technical support side. I've been fortunate enough to work with many gifted videographers, editors, and graphic artists who have been an integral part of the production process, though rarely in the creative "envisioning" of a project.

I don't know if I fully agree with you filmboss, though I appreciate your comments.

It seems to me like you being a bit too black and white.

From my experience creativity ebbs and flows, I have been both in a downpour of vision and creativity, as well as stuck in a idea rut. I don't know if you can stick someone in a box pending on how easy their ideas come to them. It just seems a little too black and white and maybe even a little arrogant. Most people it seems have the potential to be creative and visionaries, though some take longer to tap into it than others.

And from my experience those who think they that video would make a "cool" career/hobby are those would claim to be the most creative. So even if your theory is true...we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And my question to you is...if you ever read this thread again...where do the so called "creative ones" get their ideas from...Do they have no inspiration outside themselves?

[filmboss80]

You posed a question. I answered it as honestly as I could. I hate to reveal my age, but I have been at this for DECADES, and have worked with countless professionals in this field. Believe it or not, I have learned a few things about the creative process, both from my own experiences and from those of others. I was not offering you a "theory." I was sharing from years of experience. If you want to dismiss it as "black and white," that is your choice. But I doubt you have done as well as I have in this field. As for your final question on where creative ones get their ideas, the simple answer is to read all you can, learn all you can, live all you can, and be curious. If something inspires you, it may inspire others. But know this: You can teach a person how to type on a keyboard and use word processing software, but you cannot turn him into an author. You can teach a person how to mix paints and apply them to a canvas, but you cannot make him an artist. A person either has the gift, or he/she does do not. It is easy for most people to have quick bursts a creativity, but quickly run out of ideas. Sustained creativity requires a gifting that people cannot force themselves to have. I wish I could be an NFL pro quarterback, but try as I may, I cannot force myself to have that gift.

[Epicurus8a]

Listening to music gives me ideas all the time. Sometimes just a line or a phrase is all I need. I imagine poetry would be another source for ideas too.

Ideas can come from anything you see, read or hear. You just have pay attention.

[Nitemare]

"Ideas are like oxygen because they’re everywhere..." Carrie Vaughn

Start out like everyone else... learn the craft by emulating what's gone before. After that, you'll get bored and an idea will probably come to you.

Take your time and relax. Ideas are like dogs that have gotten out of the yard. If you try to chase them down, they run away, laughing at you. Stop, turn your back on them, ignore them... they end up chasing you.

[Midzuki]

"Idea Recording":

http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Idea_Recording/index.html

Epicurus8a wrote:

I heard about a former child prostitute who eventually became an attorney.
Now she fights for human rights.

If she were smart enough to fight for the rights of the children
(beginning with the right to get rid of stupid "adults"), that
would make a real great story.

[Video Head]

If you cannot easily come up with a story to tell or a message to deliver, perhaps your video work should lean toward the technical support side. I've been fortunate enough to work with many gifted videographers, editors, and graphic artists who have been an integral part of the production process, though rarely in the creative "envisioning" of a project.

I don't know if I fully agree with you filmboss, though I appreciate your comments.

It seems to me like you being a bit too black and white.

From my experience creativity ebbs and flows, I have been both in a downpour of vision and creativity, as well as stuck in a idea rut. I don't know if you can stick someone in a box pending on how easy their ideas come to them. It just seems a little too black and white and maybe even a little arrogant. Most people it seems have the potential to be creative and visionaries, though some take longer to tap into it than others.

And from my experience those who think they that video would make a "cool" career/hobby are those would claim to be the most creative. So even if your theory is true...we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And my question to you is...if you ever read this thread again...where do the so called "creative ones" get their ideas from...Do they have no inspiration outside themselves?

Most of the creative and script based material is not composed by camera operators, producers, directors, actors, set builders or grips. It is composed by writers and creative consultants. Most of them have attended film school or have a Fine Arts degree. The Canadian Showcase production Trailer Park Boys was created and directed by Mike Clattenburg, but everyone on that show had at least 2 jobs at it's outset. Study how that idea went from a short film done in film school to a Showcase TV series to a major motion picture. Study how Mike developed the characters and plot working with a meager Film Board of Canada grant and limited episode commitment from HBO. On the first series of the sitcom they could not even take the time to develop a full script, they worked from a plot outline and the actors improvised the lines. Then study how Larry David worked with comedian Jerry Seinfeld to create a sitcom that had a cult type following. How does it happen? What steps did they take, and not take on the road to success. Then again, there is always remakes...has anyone done Godzilla this year?

[DereX888]

Ask old people to tell you their life story.
Almost everyone had some interesting plots in their lifetime - and some are so unbelievable you will wonder is it true
Actually it doesn't even have to be any senile person. Last Christmas I met my very distant cousin from Eastern Europe. At age of 40 the biography could fit few people already, and if other members of family wouldn't confirm it all I would have never believe any word of it. Some people's life is much more interesting than best fiction novels.

[guns1inger]

Personal opinion : Creativity is something you have either got, or you ain't. It can't be learned. It can't be taught. You can learn different techniques for capturing and expressing your creativity, but you cannot create it out of nothing. Yes, it is transient, and even creative people hit dead ends or burn out. Sometimes for good.

This doesn't mean you can't do these thing if you aren't creative, however you may find you have to work 10 times as hard to produce one fifth of quality.

It also doesn't mean that being creative is the panacea for all creative endevours either. Anyone who has seen maximum Overdrive knows that being a great author does not make you a great director, even of your own material.

Some people will find inspiration at almost every turn, and others will trip over it, glance down and move on, not recognising what they had in their grasp.

Finally, sometimes a person may have an idea, but simple not be the most appropriate to execute that idea. I know a few people who love to pick up a camera because they believe they have "it" (whatever it may be), but who really have no idea what they are doing or why.

[RockWood610]

In all honesty, I am not sure how many 'good' ideas you can get from posting to others on a forum. Like stated above, being creative at a certain field is mostly a gift... and passion.

I would not consider myself very creative... a little maybe, but I am thrilled with computers and video. I have since I was in junior high. The idea of shooting something, editing it, and turning it into a full production just gets me pumped. I have a passion for that final product.

I am not one to be the creative one, hence why I am starting a small production team. And although we are just starting out from the family home video type things to real productions, they can be creative ones with my dash of ideas here and there. But I am a computer nut that loves the idea of editing, mixing, and mastering. I guess thats where my creative parts shine the most.

Its really all about who you are, and how hard you strive for anything in my opion... if you want it bad enough, you'll get it.