Welcome back!

I attended the Creativity panel last night at PAH Fest.

Christopher had a group of experts that included a filmmaker, fine artist, photographer, musician/composer, glass artist, architect and businessman. He had each member on the panel address the following components as they applied to their fields:

Resources- Where does one draw inspiration from? Family, nature, icons or people around us? Inspiration comes from all sorts of places. Some people look within for inspiration but MOST are focused on others. The aim of inspiration is not to be a carbon copy or repeat of something, someone or even ourselves. Inspiration should spark the desire to grow and/or change an idea into something original and fresh.

Score- What is the Blueprint or plan? Is there a signature way of creating a plan? I worked with my team today and discovered that my blueprint was VERY different from my director. If you’re flying solo. then your plan can be taylor made for maximum creativity and production but as part of a team, a score or blueprint has to include a certain amount of flexibility in order to accommodate the players.

Values- Core values have a tremendous effect on creativity. What are they? Being HONEST/TRUE was the value that resonated most with me. People tend to watch those who share similar values and are really ANGRY when they find they’ve been fooled. In video there’s a funny little balance between what people want to see and what is true. True, you may work from your home office and make millions BUT people may not necessarily watch. It’s up to us to make that connection and provide consistent value and entertainment.

Performance- What is the end result? Whether is great music, art, sales, food or video we all aim to communicate. In order to be considered successful we must aim to communicate to as many people as possible and it helps to be remarkable…LITERALLY. People commenting, blogging, tweeting, digging, bookmarking our work is how we fuel results.

I’m exhausted. Happy and exhausted. I’m going to bed. Who knows, what tomorrow’s adventure will bring.