Inspiration for the Uninspirable

Even as I’m writing this, I don’t know exactly what inspires me as an artist in regard to video production.  I’ve taken a lot of time to think about it, and I’ve decided that I ultimately tend to draw inspiration from concepts more so than actual specific movies or filmmakers.  For example, my friends and I got together last summer and, after a few drinks, devised an idea for a mockumentary.  Our idea was that there was a new, utterly ridiculous drug craze (“smoking beer”) rising in teenage circles and we would “expose” users and their practices.  After shelving the idea for months, the concept was reborn in a mock PSA that we produced, entitles “A Foamy Killer”.

I also tend to draw inspiration from my personal experiences, conversations, and inside jokes when I’m trying to write believable dialogue.  I never write a character from scratch.  Every character I’ve ever created in a script has had a specific person tied to the role (even if that person may not be able to play the role in the finished product).  When I wrote the script for the largest project I’ve personally undertaken (a short comedy entitled “A Thousand Pepperonis”), I found that I wasn’t really writing the jokes.  They wrote themselves, as I only had to recall various conversations between my two friends, who were the stars of the short.

Ultimately I want to focus my video productions into more serious works.  In doing this, I want to draw more from themes and concepts dealing more with the human psyche.  I want to make people think about who they are.  I want to make people feel like I felt when I first read 1984 or The Catcher in the Rye.  In the end, my inspiration may actually the idea that I could one day inspire :-)