We all get stuck in a creative rut every once in a while. Although it’s perfectly normal, it can still make us frustrated. In this video, Jordy Vandeput from Cinecom.net shares some advice on how not to lose your creative flow. He talks about his ways of staying inspired, but reflects on another important topic: how much does gear matter in this process?
On DIYP, there are several articles about the ways to get the creative juices flowing again. And each of us has our own ways of getting inspired all anew. Personally, I prefer reading and listening to music, or just trying to discover new places for shooting and wander around them with my camera. And what are Jordy’s methods?
Daydream
If you follow Cinecom.net, you know that they upload two videos every week. At this pace, it’s difficult to maintain high level of quality and stay inspired and creative. Because he doesn’t like to read books, take long walks or binge-watch movies in search of inspiration, Jordy daydreams instead. He likes to stare at the sky or the ceiling, focus on one thing, and later shape it into an idea. Jordy admits that, when he starts working on the idea, he doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing and how it’s going to look in the end. He likes to challenge himself in the process, which leads us to the next point.
Challenge yourself
One of the ways to stay creative is to always challenge yourself and open yourself to learning new things. If you are familiar and comfortable with everything you do, you might get stuck in what you already know. So, when you’re deep in the comfort zone and start feeling stuck – start learning something new. Learn a new shooting technique; try a new genre, a new piece of gear… You’ll gain new knowledge, feel inspired and ultimately create better work.
What about the gear?
In the video, Jordy mentions the time when he bought a gimbal in order to learn some new camera movements and techniques. Of course, it made his videos look better and more cinematic than before. But was it only because of the gimbal? Jordy believes that there was something else. His videos became better because buying a new piece of gear made him challenge himself. He had to learn how to use the gimbal and what he could do with it. This feeling of challenge helped him become curious and more creative and eventually led to creating better work. I must say I like this point of view. So, to recap: if you want to stay creative, one of the ways is to daydream, focus on your mind and the ideas that appear inside of it. When you try turning your ideas into work, you should challenge yourself and strive to learn something new. And although I mainly enjoy books, music and walks when I feel stuck in a rut, I’ll remember this next time I hit a creative wall. What are your ways to boost creativity? Does the very hunger for knowledge keep you creative and inspired? [HOW TO STAY CREATIVE | Cinecom.net]
