Hey all!!

Sometimes we can find ourselves in an echo chamber of sorts and it can mean we get locked into certain norms, expectations, formulas, etc. This is why we always need to, as they say, broaden our horizons, look at different things and find inspiration in unlikely places, if you will.

Let me give you an example I saw recently. I recently saw Ready Player One and it has a very strong point in that it has it's own grounded world, but it contains many worlds created by others. The creator of the Oasis had certain likes and dislikes and left the Oasis to be won by whomever would prove worthy enough to figure out the riddles and find the keys. Each key was paired with an uncommon challenge and they all incorporated different things - not unique to games per say, but it gave every challenge a different look and feel within the same virtual world. Now, how does that apply. Think of various genres and how you can draw inspiration from them and add that to your project in a way that gels.

Silly example, artists have times where they produce similar works. Picasso, for example, had a blue period, now, if you were doing a movie about medieval kings (I love that theme), how could you incorporate that into movie in a creative way? Please don't, his work is not public domain, just using it as an example, LOL.

The first thing would be a dream, because it gives you a surreal landscape to add the blue to as well as abstract figures. His work at this time was quite figurative, so it wouldn't be too far fetched for a prophetic dream. Another would be to reference the simplification in background figures at night. Another would be to include themes from those paintings and create scenes that dominate with blue, like early morning or late evening with creative references to the paintings, such as sculptures in a garden, people sitting in similar poses in similar locations.

There's lots you can do to play around with this kind of thing, but this is a very direct example where the reference would be obvious, but I want to get your mind going in a direction where you learn how to, shall I say, think like the other person would've in your position, but be you. In other words, if you had a blue period, what would you do in your current project, does it fit, does it inspire, does it move or elevate the story in a fitting way, etc. 

Now, you don't have to just think literal here. In The Prince Of Egypt, the creators mentioned wanting a very grand scale, so they looked at a specific artist who's name escapes me right now, but you definitely saw the result. Sometimes you can learn new tricks from existing works that you can apply, just like that grand cinematic scale, for example. Or how to shoot close-ups from a different genre, or visual language from say indie films vs Hollywood, vs anime. How does the medium and genre communicate movement, detail, budget even. So there are lots and lots of aspects to other mediums and genres that you can learn so much from and incorporate. Let's us scale for example: You want to make a cinematic release of your great idea. That means that everything you shoot and place on-screen is going to relate to each other on a certain scale - which will be a much wider scale contrast than with TV or straight to video productions from the 80's. Your text will be much smaller and usually centered - you'll have more people on-screen and you'd probably shoot in a much wider format, instead of, again 4:3, which is the older TV standard. How do I know that? Because I do my research. I find out what makes a cinematic release cinematic and I apply those principles.

This is often a very difficult part for people, especially in a stressful situation. I had a SEVERE block for many years. I couldn't think further than my nose, no matter how hard I tried. I don't recall how, but the LORD opened up my mind to be able to think further than what was merely in front of me. You could say in that same instant, HE also upped my standards and expectations of myself. Let me explain what that means:

Teacher: Do research on a rat

Me: Dictionary says it's a rodent and it eats your house

Teacher: That's it?! Seriously?... That's your research?

And tbh, yeah, that was my research, because I couldn't think as far as I could reach - if I could've, I'd have reached for more sources to find better info than just a dictionary definition. That was my standard and as bad as it sounds, that was honestly my best - 7th grade. Yeah, how I made it that far was probably down to having easy access to more info, lol.

I believe the LORD used this truth set me free: "Go further! There is always more to discover, more detail, more information!" - when that sunk in, WOW. Doesn't mean I didn't have crappy results since then, because we all have had some, but I was no longer blocked from research. So if you don't know how to do something, that is your cue to dig until you get it.

So, now, as you surround yourself with more than just what you think is the coolest thing in the world, you will learn that there are so many people out there doing their thing in such a huge variety of ways, you can't but love other new techniques and want to incorporate them into your work!

GOD bless you!