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Where Do Ideas Come From?

Fwilly

Fwilly

Hey guys I know I just posted a thread about how I FINALLY thought of an idea. The Problem with that Idea is that it would most likely be a feature length film and would need a budget and people who are older than the people I could get. So now I still haven't made my first short yet and I honestly still can not think of an idea. So what I'm basically asking is where do you get your ideas from. What inspires you. Because it has been like 18 months sense I've had this passion and I still have not made anything of it because I honestly have no idea what to make!!!
 
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Write down your idea in your journal. Flesh it out. If it's really hot keep working on it. When you get bored/sidetracked/finished put it away and start your next one.

Part of being an artist of any kind is doing it every single day. Discipline, discipline, discipline, discipline!!!!!!!!

If you want to be a writer, write something every day. Yup, a lot of it is going to suck. A friend of mine is a songwriter. He writes four songs every week. That's 200 songs a year. 90% of them range from okay to terrible. He calls it "Taking out the trash." When the trash is gone the really good stuff is left. But that 10% that are left means 20 really solid songs every year - enough for two albums.



Just a story for you.... When I was young I wanted to be a musician (I did eventually become fairly successful). I had great teachers and I practiced A LOT. On one of those very rare occasions my father was home he heard me practicing; he usually only heard performances - school, church, etc. - and rarely those. I finished a first reading/playing of a new piece (my teacher at that time wanted me to get all the way through on first reading, no matter how bad it was) when my father says "That didn't sound very good!" To which I replied "That's why it's called practicing!"


The point is that you improve with practice.

Start at the beginning of the phone book. Give each name a complete life - how they look, what their residence is like, what job they have, who their friends are. John Varley - one of my favorite sci-fi writers - even released "The Manhattan Phone Book - Abridged" which was some of his phone book writings. It's actually rather amusing.

Sit in a bus or train station, diner, or other public place. Pick a person or group of people. Do the same thing as in the phone book exercise; construct a life for them.


You're pushing too hard. Yes, it's hard work and requires a lot of discipline, but you're actually supposed to enjoy it despite the frustrations.

Have some fun, damn it!!!!!!
 
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Everything around me inspires me. People, places, and things all trigger some sort of an idea in my head. The way people look. What this place could be. ETC. Just look around you and you'll think of something. Or go read books and watch the news.
 
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I was in the same situation as you once just tough it out because one day you'll find inspiration in something! I know it took me also like almost 2 years but just find someone on youtube or online that inspires you and go for it. For me it was Casey Neistat! Good luck in the struggle man we all have had it once!
 
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Fwilly said:
So what I'm basically asking is where do you get your ideas from.
Click to expand...

Drugs.
Alcohol.
A string of poor decisions (not always my own).

Wait you're under age so scratch that.

Vitamins.
Milk.
Smart life decisions that lead to healthy living.

All kidding aside, ideas are going to come from all over. The best way to find them is by mining your imagination. Turn off the TV, Interwebs, phone, etc. and let your imagination run wild. You ever have a conversation with a little kid? Those little bastards are full of crazy ideas and wild stories and they have almost no life experience. But they do have a tonne of imagination and no inhabitions so they will spout off whatever crazy thing is in their head.

Try this imagination exercise:
Go outside and pick up a stick.
Start to play. Pretend the stick is something else.
Maybe it is a sword, a gun, a magic wand, a staff. Maybe it is a talking stick or an alien that looks like stick. Maybe it is just a stick and you are crazed hobo who is going to go around delivering street justice with your new best friend Mr. Beat Stick.
Don't be afraid to be silly. Just don't do anything too stupid like run out in front of traffic or anything.

Once you begin to play and have ideas, let them grow. Don't think about the idea, experience the idea. When you are writing be the uninhibited little kid writing down whatever crazy idea pops into your head. Don't worry about good ideas. There won't be any. But when you are done spewing your imagination soaked ideas over your tear stained notebook, you can seperate the bad ideas from those so bad they border on brilliant. Then rewrite those until they become brilliant.

If all else fails, you are in High School, use that to your advantage. Look at how many movies and shows are about dumb ass kids in High School. Take a look at the dumb ass kids around you and write about the drama filled antics that are playing out all around you. I'm sure there are enough love triangles (or love decahedrons if you school was anything like mine...it took flow charts to keep track of had um...nevermind) to Othello look tame. But if you do write about anyone around you make sure to change the names for both legal and social resons.

So the moral of the post is: use your imagination, don't do drugs, and stay in school.

That's about all I got. Other than "you can't force an idea" and "you can't write your way past writers block, you have to live your way around it...or something like that."
 
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And you pretty much already asked this same question just the other day: http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=333057#post333057


And you need to let go of this idea of having only one or two ideas.
Think fish eggs instead of human babies.
Most of your ideas are gonna die right outta the gate. If they even get that far!
So think up of as many as you can (using the methodology I provided the other day.)
And build a file of ideas.


I have a email account exclusively dedicated to the compilation and development of film ideas.
Write a letter, save it as a draft, update it with additional ideas and details. Keep saving it over and over again.

I use google's gmail because it syncs up well with google drive which is also where I do a lot of budget analysis and other breakdown like stuff.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdEI1dGU1VUxaVDhCQmVnVFBLeUxSaWc#gid=0
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdGlCeDRmWTFCYXJRWjJ3SUphZDNzMGc#gid=0
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsyjRZagXJnadHo3UlVyeWRia0dxVng2SE56T0J6TkE#gid=0
 
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Look at a random object in a room you're in. I spot a freshly made cup of coffee.

Here's an idea: A man kills his wife, and stays up all night cleaning up blood. Once finished, he is ready to put the body in his car, and dispose of it. But he wants a cup of coffee. When his wife was alive, she would make him a cup of coffee, because he wasn't of how to use the coffee-maker. He takes the body to his car, and is going to drive down to say... a McDonalds or Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. Suddenly, a drunk driver hits him and kills him. He has now been caught dead with his murdered wife in the trunk... and without a cup of coffee :D

It's nothing brilliant, but it's an idea.

I spot a horror novel by Stephen King.

Here's an idea: A woman is reading a horror novel. As she continues reading, she realizes the story is about her. The book ends with the woman getting her throat slit from behind. The woman shuts the book, hearing the sound of breathing behind here.

Movies and books are good inspiration as well. Blue Jasmine and The Place Beyond the Pines gave me some ideas.

Pick out a movie. I just grabbed Jaws off out of one of the large piles of films I have in my room.

Here's an idea: PAWS. What seems to be a cute, cuddly puppy is really a vicious little monster who could beat the $#!t out of Cujo.

Not brillant.. but it's - actually, that's a good idea. I think I'm going to use that.

Going to check my emails now....

Wait a minute, a troll just replied to me!

Here's an idea: An internet troll begins stalking a man. It starts with youtube comments, emails, then phone calls, and finally shows up at his house.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on. But I think I've given enough ideas :D

Another exercise that works is to watch a film, and take a scene from it. Write it down on paper. Change the location, time of day, date, characters, genders, and mood. Then throw in an ending you would have liked for that scene to end with. No idea is original. When you get an idea, you thought of it because of a film, book, event, etc. If I tell you "Don't think of elephants". What are the thinking of? Actually, I don't even need to ask, I know you are thinking of elephants. I gave you that idea. See, movies can teach you stuff :yes:

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Best advice I ever read right here on this forum was pretty simple; no matter what idea for a scene or concept you have ask yourself "what happens next?"

That takes you from the "hey, here's an awesome idea for a shot" all the way to a conclusion of a story.

Neil
 
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A bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, ‘I’ll have a whisky and ……… soda.’ The bartender says, ‘Why the big pause?’ ‘Dunno,’ says the bear. ‘I’ve always had them.’

Act One: Bear walks into the bar.
Act Two: Bear orders a whiskey and soda.
Act Three: Pause/paws punchline.

...and now...

Act One: Fwilly asks question.
Act Two: Nick engages in inspirational dialogue.
Act Three: Fwilly goes off and writes a script.

or, if you want to make a short for festivals:

Act One: Tommy sees his girlfriend die in a car crash.
Act Two: Tommy starts to using drugs to numb his pain.
Act Three: His girlfriend's mum inspires him to stop using.

Just take a really simple story and break it into its parts. The story of Tommy the Drug Abuser is a bigger and deeper story than the bear walking into the bar, but it can be broken down just as concisely.

Now consider the fact that the story of the bear in the bar is told in three sentences. Don't you think you can express Tommy's story in a five minute short film?
 
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