Creative Imagination: Your Most Valuable Tool
The Creative Imagination is Your Primary Source of Inspiration
The creative imagination is Hollywood's not-so-secret weapon. Granted, the recycling of old movie ideas is a practice that goes on in the industry all the time. All you have to do is watch a few horror films and you'll quickly find out that you're actually watching the exact same movie every time, only with different settings and characters.
It's safe to assume that most people who want to write a film want to be innovative so their story will stand out from the rest. One of the most imaginative movies in Hollywood history is James Cameron's epic fantasy adventure Avatar. He created such an extensive saga, that the movie will have a total of four sequels!
Even though Cameron has credited various sources as his main inspiration for the film, one of the features that stands out the most, at least for me, is the mythology. Cameron created an entire planet from scratch, complete with never-before-seen blue aliens, bioluminescent organisms and even a religion.
God only knows what other new creatures, places and exciting plot twists will be revealed in upcoming Avatar films. Personally, I cannot wait to see the rest of the saga. Avatar is probably one of the top examples in Hollywood history of the power of one single person's creative imagination.
Other geniuses like George Lucas, Walt Disney, and Quentin Tarantino are also masters of the imagination. Their work has set the bar quite high in Hollywood, and many films have been inspired by their genius.
You, too, can design and bring to life an entire movie universe if you learn to harness the power of your creative imagination. One of the best ways to start creating your movie world as well as the characters who inhabit it is by coming up with concept art. Any picture, painting or moving image can unleash the creative flow. Just try it and you'll see.
CLICK HERE TO START CREATING CONCEPT ART FOR YOUR MOVIE
My son and I often joke about the blatant lack of originality in teen horror flicks. Lines like "What was that?" and "We're all going to die," are repeated so often in scary movies, that it's actually surprising when you watch a whole movie and you don't hear one of the characters blurt out these lines at some point.
But just because others do it and get away with it, that doesn't mean you have to be yet another lazy copycat. That's where your creative imagination comes in! Learn how to use this fantastic tool strategically, and you might just end up writing a Best Picture nominee for next Oscar season.
Okay, I'm sure an Oscar would be nice, but how about writing such a unique movie that it will inspire the birth of a new genre? It's all in the way you put your creative imagination to good use.
Take The Blair Witch Project for instance. Reality TV and the Found-Footage genre both got their start as a result of the revolution that was this low budget movie produced with the help of film students.
While everyone else was producing the same ol' kind of horror movies back in the late 1990's, two newcomers thought of a unique twist to the horror genre by creating a made-up mythology about a witch who haunted the Black Hills in Maryland, and the rest is history. Not only did their film get selected for Sundance, but it also became a smash box office hit.
Many paranormal investigation shows owe their creation at least in part to The Blair Witch Project. All you have to do is watch an episode of Ghost Adventures or Paranormal State, and the similarities become quite obvious.
The power of your creative imagination is limitless!
Many people get confused about the Hollywood Formula because they think it's supposed to work like a cookie cutter. Take any basic story line that is done to death in movies, for instance, like the one where a bunch of teenagers go on a trip and then get killed off one by one in the most grisly way possible.
Then you just add some slight variations to the story here and there, but the basic plot ends up being the same. No unexpected twists, always the same tropes. You're not even ten minutes into the film, and you've already figured out how it ends.
This gross misuse of the Hollywood Formula is the reason many aspiring movie makers are reluctant to learn it. They seem to think it will stifle their creative imagination and force them to write stuff they don't want to write. I know that's at least how I myself felt back in college when my professors were tearing apart the screenplays I wrote as a student.
Fortunately, though, as I became a more seasoned writer and spent years analyzing the heck out of my favorite TV shows and films, I started to realize that there is actually quite a bit of free play within the seemingly-rigid structure of the Hollywood Formula.
Just because the Hollywood Formula provides a structural model for your creative imagination, it doesn't mean it limits it. The Hollywood Formula is the blank canvas, and you are the artist. You can paint a unique story and still adhere to the formula's principles. As a matter of fact, your story will be better if you use the formula because it will have universal appeal.
The important thing to remember is that, when executed effectively, the Hollywood Formula will help shape the flow of your creative imagination into cohesive, compelling stories told in the visual language of the screen.
Whether you want to write a movie for Netflix or YouTube, or if you dream of watching it at an IMAX 3D theater someday, let the Hollywood Formula be your guide. Just like a musician must learn at least the basic principles of music theory in order to play an instrument, you must learn the Hollywood Formula if you want to write your own movie.
But just because others do it and get away with it, that doesn't mean you have to be yet another lazy copycat. That's where your creative imagination comes in! Learn how to use this fantastic tool strategically, and you might just end up writing a Best Picture nominee for next Oscar season.
Okay, I'm sure an Oscar would be nice, but how about writing such a unique movie that it will inspire the birth of a new genre? It's all in the way you put your creative imagination to good use.
Take The Blair Witch Project for instance. Reality TV and the Found-Footage genre both got their start as a result of the revolution that was this low budget movie produced with the help of film students.
While everyone else was producing the same ol' kind of horror movies back in the late 1990's, two newcomers thought of a unique twist to the horror genre by creating a made-up mythology about a witch who haunted the Black Hills in Maryland, and the rest is history. Not only did their film get selected for Sundance, but it also became a smash box office hit.
Many paranormal investigation shows owe their creation at least in part to The Blair Witch Project. All you have to do is watch an episode of Ghost Adventures or Paranormal State, and the similarities become quite obvious.
The power of your creative imagination is limitless!
Many people get confused about the Hollywood Formula because they think it's supposed to work like a cookie cutter. Take any basic story line that is done to death in movies, for instance, like the one where a bunch of teenagers go on a trip and then get killed off one by one in the most grisly way possible.
Then you just add some slight variations to the story here and there, but the basic plot ends up being the same. No unexpected twists, always the same tropes. You're not even ten minutes into the film, and you've already figured out how it ends.
This gross misuse of the Hollywood Formula is the reason many aspiring movie makers are reluctant to learn it. They seem to think it will stifle their creative imagination and force them to write stuff they don't want to write. I know that's at least how I myself felt back in college when my professors were tearing apart the screenplays I wrote as a student.
Fortunately, though, as I became a more seasoned writer and spent years analyzing the heck out of my favorite TV shows and films, I started to realize that there is actually quite a bit of free play within the seemingly-rigid structure of the Hollywood Formula.
Just because the Hollywood Formula provides a structural model for your creative imagination, it doesn't mean it limits it. The Hollywood Formula is the blank canvas, and you are the artist. You can paint a unique story and still adhere to the formula's principles. As a matter of fact, your story will be better if you use the formula because it will have universal appeal.
The important thing to remember is that, when executed effectively, the Hollywood Formula will help shape the flow of your creative imagination into cohesive, compelling stories told in the visual language of the screen.
Whether you want to write a movie for Netflix or YouTube, or if you dream of watching it at an IMAX 3D theater someday, let the Hollywood Formula be your guide. Just like a musician must learn at least the basic principles of music theory in order to play an instrument, you must learn the Hollywood Formula if you want to write your own movie.
The Creative Imagination is a Writer's Most Valuable Tool
It's safe to assume that most people who want to write a film want to be innovative so their story will stand out from the rest. One of the most imaginative movies in Hollywood history is James Cameron's epic fantasy adventure Avatar. He created such an extensive saga, that the movie will have a total of four sequels!
Even though Cameron has credited various sources as his main inspiration for the film, one of the features that stands out the most, at least for me, is the mythology. Cameron created an entire planet from scratch, complete with never-before-seen blue aliens, bioluminescent organisms and even a religion.
God only knows what other new creatures, places and exciting plot twists will be revealed in upcoming Avatar films. Personally, I cannot wait to see the rest of the saga. Avatar is probably one of the top examples in Hollywood history of the power of one single person's creative imagination.
Other geniuses like George Lucas, Walt Disney, and Quentin Tarantino are also masters of the imagination. Their work has set the bar quite high in Hollywood, and many films have been inspired by their genius.
You, too, can design and bring to life an entire movie universe if you learn to harness the power of your creative imagination. One of the best ways to start creating your movie world as well as the characters who inhabit it is by coming up with concept art. Any picture, painting or moving image can unleash the creative flow. Just try it and you'll see.
CLICK HERE TO START CREATING CONCEPT ART FOR YOUR MOVIE
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete