I need inspiration

I bought all the equipment have great ideas and yet all my videos suck.

I need something to help get me going again.
 
Isolate why your videos "suck", and let's take it from there.

There's only one direction you can go now, and that's UP!

So what do you need to improve on, on your next project?
 
I need technical advice, a decent computer, a compression genius who'll work for a dollar an hour, and some more muscles.

I've never needed inspiration:

What makes you mad? Homeless, mistreated army vetarans, Iraq, Iran, Obama, Palin, starving millions, debt???
What inspires you?

Or do you mean technical inspiration? I would just say recut and reshoot obsessively until it hits release quality.
 
What equipment do you have by the way?

As for insipation:

Film making can be a lot like writing. If you have a great idea which is not executed well, the result can be poor. If you have a mediocre idea but it is executed well, it will almost always be better than the great idea (think about all the love stories that have been made and the ones that stand out). Of course if you have a great idea and execute it will, that is the best.

While you find your great idea, i would recommend taking simple things but using your film making craft, from cinematography to directing to editing to music, to make some nice pieces (think of all the test videos you see of beaches or buildings, there are thousands of them but a handful stick out in your mind because they were carried out well). As you do this, im sure it will get your creative juices flowing and you'll find your inspiration again.

Too many people stay in their rooms thinking of ideas and they imagine when they hit it, they will go out and film it and it'll be the best. I find that when i go out to do something simple like taking a picture of a monument, through out the day as im being creative in one small aspect, it triggers my creativity and branches me out into a million more ideas.
 
Your equipment sucks! Your ideas suck! You suck! So of course your videos suck!







Okay, now that you're really ticked off and feeling defensive - and probably agreeing with it a little in the back of your mind - it's time to take a really serious look at why you feel your projects aren't coming up to your expectations.

The most common reasons are lack of patience, lack of planning (preproduction), lack of knowledge and lack of objectivity. Sit back and try to be truly objective about your work. Was it truly a workable idea? Now, be honest, was it a really solid, workable idea? It was? You're sure? Okay; did you take the time to plan the project down to every last detail? Or did you just rush in as fast as you could to get it done? Did you have the proper tools to accomplish your goals, and did you know how to use them to their best advantage?

I'm not going to continue; you get the idea. A successful project starts with an idea that is picked apart, deconstructed and reconstructed and then polished until it glistens. Then every last detail is imagined and a solution is planned, along with a Plan B, Plan C and Plan D. This takes a lot more time and effort than most people want to expend.

So sit back, have a drink or whatever helps you relax, and be totally, completely 100% honest with yourself. Go back and pick your projects apart; you should be able to figure it out. If not, post 'em here and we'll rip them to shreds for you!
 
Last edited:
This is a tough one. I'm going to make sure I go through the acid bath here before I release.

Objectivity is probably the toughest gig around. You can't fall in love with anything (except your wife and kids, of course). You have to learn to look at and listen to things from the perspective of an audience. It's extremely difficult because we already know what's coming, but, even worse, we know what we want to see/hear, so we tend to see/hear things in that way and not as they really are.
 
Why is your "location" a web-hosting site?

Equipment ain't shit. It's all about the methodology. Only way we can offer advice is if we see some of your work.

Plus, Rome wasn't built in a day. Nobody just starts out awesome. It takes work. Keep working at it.
 
find somebody else project nearby on craigslist im sure somebody is shooting this weekend.. and sign up to help crew.. you'll be excited again I promise..
 
You want inspiration? Take a vacation from your own productions and see if you can get work as a production assistant and don't worry about getting paid. Just working on set with experienced professionals will do more for you than film school. The best learning is on the job. When you get surrounded by creative professionals, you WILL get inspired.
 
Stop thinking. Get out not looking for anything, let the ideas come to you. It probably sounds stupid as hell, but I've never written a (non-shitty) script looking for it.
 
I bought all the equipment have great ideas and yet all my videos suck.

I need something to help get me going again.

Watching other films usually gets me psyched to film. I see a camera angle I really like, or an effect I want to mimic in after effects, or a film style I want to play off of. Watching my favorite movies like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars get me the most pumped and inspired to make something my own. After I prepare for a filming the night before I usually watch a good movie, it gives me ideas before.
 
Back
Top