Unlocked Mind Media
Manage Your Creative Environment
Many experts agree that your environment, or the space you work in to bring your creative efforts into the world, plays a big part in your creativity and imagination.
In other words, if you work in a creative friendly environment, you have better chances to unlock your mind (hence our company name), and set your imagination and creativity free to come up with more and better ideas you can use in your work.
Here is a very simple to do list to help you get started:
Space. First, see about getting your own creative space, away from daily distractions. A spare bedroom, a far corner in the room, a place in the basement, or even an entire attic, are all good places to go where you can go to escape from the 'real world'.
Click here for a Creative Space image search
Next, you have to decorate your creative space with a variety of stuff to really make it your own. Remember, this is your creative space, so you are free to decorate it any way you want. It is not a living room. People won't see this space unless you show it to them. Here are some suggestions:
Comfy Chair. You will spend a lot of time sitting around and thinking in your creative space, so you will need a good comfy chair to sit in. A chaise lounge, or a regular bed allows you to really relax without leaving the space. Note: if you invite others to your creative space, as when working on collaborative projects, make sure you have comfy chairs for each person to use, or at least good quality fold-up chairs available to use.
Reading Lamp. If you plan to do a lot of reading in your creative space, chances are it will be done while using the Comfy Chair. Have a reading lamp available to make your reading experience easier on the eyeballs.
Side Table for the Comfy Chair. Having a good sized table right next to the Comfy Chair will give you a place to store reading material while you are away from your creative space. The table is also a good place to keep snacks and drinks in reach.
Music system. Music helps relax the mind and body. Have a variety of music you can listen to. Try to listen to as much new and different music as you can. Use a radio, and tune it into a different station every hour. If you find yourself being distracted by the spoken words in music, consider making a library of instrumental music you can listen to, so you are not distracted by the words. If you save music as MP3 files, simply keep instrumental music in a separate directory you can use when you wish to avoid distractions caused by hearing spoken words in your music.
TV, DVD Player. Your creative space should have its own TV and DVD Player so you can watch, or listen to movies or TV shows as you would listen to music. If you want to make content for movies or TV, you have to watch the material. Try to watch as many new TV shows and movies as much as possible, even if you can't stand them ... The only way to know what is good or bad is to see what is being made.
Computer for the space. If you get an idea, and you want to do some quick internet research, you don't want to have to leave your creative refuge to use a computer, which is why your creative space should have its own computer for you to use.
Janice Kalis from Powell, Ohio offers another idea about supplies to have on hand: "Another thing creative spaces should have are basic office supplies, like staplers, paper clips and so forth, so you don't have to search for supplies when you need them."
Furniture. Items in your creative space should be flashy, bold and unexpected. The space should be full of a variety of objects and furniture. Here are some ideas:
Click here for an Art Furniture image search
Furniture should have unexpected colors and patterns. For example, if you have an old end table, instead of tossing it out, paint it an electric blue and use other colors to paint lines, strips or circles and squares on it so it looks 'different'. Also, cut the legs down so the table slopes slightly to one side, or wobbles.
Work Table. have a large table that you can use to work on things. Keep the table clear so it is ready to use when you want to use it to mix a bucket of plaster or to take the toaster apart, or have a group conference with other people when meeting on collaborative projects. Have chairs for the table, or use the folding chairs mentioned above for this table.
Bulletin Board. Get a large bulletin board, and place it where you come in and leave, so you can see it. Use it to hang pictures and reminder notes. For example, if you are having trouble with something, make a note of it, and put it on the bulletin board.
Jon Templin of San Francisco CA offers another idea about using the bulletin board: "I have found it more useful to keep the bulletin board in my bedroom, so I can review ideas and see reminders when I wake up, and before I go to sleep at night."
Objets d' art. Try to have an assortment of sculpture on display. Move the objects around the space often so your brain does not get used to them being in the same place.
Click here for an Objets d' art image search
Lighting. Try to have an assortment of lamps and lights you can choose from to light the space. For example, you might have a separate lamp to use for each day of the week.
Click here for an Art Lamp image search
Wall art. Decorate the space with all kinds of pictures and posters. Anything that is unexpected. Change the pictures and posters around when you get bored of them. Have a storage place where old pictures and posters can 'rest' before you bring them back out again.
Click here for a Wall Art image search
Creative Journal. Have a place where you can write down ideas. Dry erase boards are not recommended, because ideas can be lost with a swipe of the eraser. Use a paper notebook instead.
Scents. Scents have a powerful effect on the brain, so have a supply of scented air freshener sprays to use, or other scented items you can use to smell up the place. Candles are not recommended because they are a fire hazard, and become a distraction in your creative space when you start worrying about them starting a fire or burning the place down.
How to use your creative space. Remember, your creative space is for creative use only. If you feel angry or upset, leave those feelings behind before you enter your creative space. If you hear bad news or anything bad, leave your creative space at once. You want your creative space to be associated with only good happy feelings to keep your imagination and creativity going strong.
A note about writing guides.
Building and expanding your imagination and creativity is an important part of being a good writer. Since writing, especially screen writing, is the expression of visual ideas translated into words printed on paper, and interpreted back into visual ideas by the film director, which is why unlocking the mind to new ideas (hence our company name), is very important.
What we don't like about most writing guides out there is that they expect you to follow some kind of cook-book plan, with some even telling writers the page number different events in the story should be on. While this is good for the writers and publishers looking to sell 'short cuts' to harried writers looking for a magical Jeannie in a lamp, it usually means more frustration for the writer when the 'recipe' turns into a disaster, and things do not turn out as expected, with the writer feeling worse about their writing.
Which is why you should let us review your script for you before you submit it.
Like most writers, you are looking for reassurance that your writing style is marketable. While we can't just open up your head and pour ideas into it, we can help you by offering to review the work you have done. See more about our script review services for more information.
This is why our philosophy is different. Since writing is a creative exercise that requires extensive use of the imagination, and not following simple templates or 'fill in the blank' writing software. These methods may be good for teaching young children the basics of writing, but not for movie script writing.
Building the Imagination - Talent Vs. Creativity
You see a movie or TV show, and think, "I can do that! What am I waiting for?" ... Until it comes time to put the words on paper -- then it is not so easy. Why is this? Writing a script or any kind of writing is not that hard. So why do people have trouble writing?
Coming up with a good idea. Think of it. Humans have been writing stories for thousands of years, and over that time, millions of people have been trying to come up with new material. The Library of Congress and other copyright offices around the globe are packed to the gills with content that has been created over the years, and with more people throwing their hats into the writing ring everyday, how many new ideas are left? In the face of all the competition for new ideas, how can new writers expect to come up with new ideas that some well paid writer, or staff of many writers at a studio or production company could not come up with already? The answer is really simple. By building your own imagination and creativity, you are better able to come up the original ideas Hollywood is looking for, and willing to pay money for.
Write for 'money'? I know, most writer guides out there say you should not write for money, but if you ignore the realities of the marketplace, chances are your writing career will amount to nothing, and you will have wasted a lot of time writing scripts that you can never hope to sell, so yes, as a writer you have to think about how you would make money from your work, which is why our script review services are so important for aspiring writers looking to break into the industry. You have to think like the studio or production company that would actually be buying your work. If they did not expect to make money on it, they would not bother buying it from you. Read trade journals like Variety. You will see how the motion picture business really is about money ... and if they are concerned about money, it is in your best interests to also be concerned about money, too.
Go where the money is. Let's say you have two story ideas. One is about a aging housewife dealing with a divorce, and the other is about a teenager trying to get out of a deadly street gang. Which idea do you choose to spend your valuable time on to write about?
Market demographics. The aging housewife story might be a good story for aging Baby Boomers and elderly Generation-X people to see, but on average, older people don't watch too many movies. Chances are, such a script will be rejected because if would have limited market potential. Divorce is also an unhappy 'dark side' of society that Hollywood tends to ignore. Movies are supposed to make audiences happy and joyful, not miserable and depressed. The story about the young teenager would have a better chance at being sold because Generation-Y people are younger, and watch more movies and thus a script for this type of story would have much larger market potential, and thus stand a better chance of making money. Also, since everyone has been a teenager at some point in their lives, this is a story many more people can relate to, and may desire to see, either at the theater as a new release, or for many years later in the rental market. For example, DVD sales and rentals of movies like Star wars have been around for many years, and will continue to be making money for many more years to come.
Now that you have a good story idea, you have to make it fit the dramatic model, or follow the basic three act story structure. I know, most writer guides say the 3 act structure is 'old' or 'outdated', but the reason they say this is so they can sell more books about writing. The basic 3 act structure has been around for thousands of years, and will continue to be around for many years to come.
Act I - This part of the story establishes the characters, and more importantly, sets up the conflict in the story that is to be resolved. No conflict, no story. If you have no conflict, you have to make conflict in the story, even if it defies expected logic. For example, one would expect a big bad star ship in Star Trek to be well built, but when something simple goes wrong, the control panels explode in flames. This is not bad writing, but a good example of using 'given circumstances' to advance the story. For example, if the weapons systems on the Enterprise did not fail, the enemy ship would be blown up, and the story would be over, and the writers would have a bigger problem of trying to fill up the rest of the story ... about what? As you can see, without conflict, the story gets boring really fast.
This is usually the first 35 minutes of most Godzilla movies.
Act II - is where a solution to a problem is done to resolve the conflict. The usual result is the 'evil' side is beaten, and the 'good' side wins.
This is usually the next 40-50 minutes of most Godzilla movies.
Act III - With the evil gone, the characters can revel in their glory of overcoming their huge struggle, and the story ends.
This is usually the last 30 seconds of most Godzilla movies.
Looking at, and analyzing pictures is another great way to build the imagination.
Restaurant Seating Example
Below is a picture of seats and chairs in a restaurant. At first glance you may see places for people to sit down and eat. But to a creative person, there is a lot more to be seen. For example, we see a booth for seating up to 4 people, a booth for 2 people, and regular tables and chairs in the outer area of the floor ...
1. What kind of people do you think would sit at the table and chairs? What about the booth for 4 people, and the table and chairs? Think about what kinds of conversations would take place in each case.
2. The location of the restaurant. What kind of restaurant would have seating like this? How would this change the types of conversations of the people using it? Why?
3. What kind of food do you think this place would serve? Why?
4. What do you see, or don't see in the picture? how does this change your answer to #2 and #3?
Trip to the Cemetery
Cemeteries are wonderful places to visit for inspiration. At first glance, you only see the headstones, but when you realize that these headstones are usually the final acts of creativity of the 'residents' who live there, or ideas put in physical form to honor a 'resident', you can get a better idea of what the people were like before they came to rest.
Below is a picture of a typical cemetery. Visualize yourself in the picture. Think about:
1. Why you are here? Are you looking for the grave of an old friend? Family member?
2. What are you doing there. Are you bringing flowers, showing someone the location of a grave?
3. Your feelings. Good writing expresses the feelings and emotions of the writer. How do you feel based on your responses to #1 and #2? Why?
What? So What? So now what?
What? - first contact with a new idea or concept. Example: a glass is used to hold water.
So what? - After some experience with the idea or concept, you start to look for new ways to use the idea. Example: You learn that drinking glasses can be used to hold not only liquids, but small solid objects as well, allowing you to carry a cup of beach sand around the house without having any of it fall on the floor.
So now what? - You discover new and more unusual ways how you can use the idea in ways you never thought of before. Example: A drinking glass can be used to plug a hole and stop a leak, like a glass decanter stopper, for example.
Come again soon for more ideas!