do you think that the place where you live dictates your creative output?

T

thegoldfi

Active member
i live in a relatively small canadian city. i find that the landscapes are generally boring, which leads me to believe that there is very little to shoot. both in terms of stills and video. whenever i go to places in europe or japan i feel like there is so much going on, and that the possibilities for creative works would be endless. or at least more scenic than what i am used to. i suspect that many larger US cities with bustling downtowns would be a similar scene.

so, do you ever think that your community dictates your creativity? is there anything in your location that you thrive off of? alternatively, is there anything that sucks the creative life out of you?

best wishes.
 
I live in scenic cornwall in the UK

I have heard that a lot of my material looks like tourism promo material

I visit my friends in rough old London and think everything looks exciting

They are bored by London and are excited when they visit me

Maybe you need to see your own location with fresh eyes - the eyes of a visitor - or maybe you need to shoot away from your own location

S
 
If you feel like you are more creative in another environment then you should consider moving and creating. It's not something new. There's a reason why many artist pack up their things and say.. "I'm heading to New York!"

Also aside from that you can also work to find the interesting things where you live. Sometimes its a matter of finding for example the darker side of life even in a small town to make an interesting or scary story. Great topic by the way.
 
Dictated? No. Influenced? Absolutely.

I've found this to be the case in many places I've lived, in both positive and negative ways. And now I live in Austin, Texas. Enough said. :D
 
Watch Badlands. Terrence Malik did a pretty good job with what could be some fairly "boring" locations. It had a very Indie/Low-budget feel to it.
 
Living in Alaska certainly has it's benefits for shooting; but there is also "not a lot" happening here.

Lately I've gotten into scenic timelapse...

http://www.mikkowilson.com/?page=videoplayer&vidfile=JuneauTimelapse_050810b_720p24.flv <--- from my bedroom window one afternoon.
http://www.mikkowilson.com/?page=videoplayer&vidfile=NightTimelapse_052410_720p24.flv <--- from my bedroom window last night.
http://www.mikkowilson.com/?page=videoplayer&vidfile=GlacierStarsTimelapse_050810_720_24p.flv <--- I had to explain to the cops what I was doing out at a local glacier at 1:30am for this one.
http://www.mikkowilson.com/?page=videoplayer&vidfile=AdmiraltyTimelapse_050810_720p24.flv <--- from the roof of my car while playing disc golf a few weeks ago.



- Mikko
 
Yes. Especially community. I've watched many projects fall apart because I live in the wrong place to actually get things done. Not to mention the constant weather, not terrible but not good enough, either. Always overcast.
 
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One word: ABSOLUTELY

I've seen so many 7D videos where the guy just got his camera and never used one before, shot something in the US e.g. New York and the clip looked amazing, like a film. Rarely, possibly never, have I seen something shot in the UK that looks amazing or like a film. This is partly due to weather conditions and sky / natural light. The UK is full of haze and clouds, whereas US and parts of europe often get very clear days with blue skys, and often some locations get what we call "magic hour" lighting, whilst other locations rarely have it, if at all.

Whilst a lot of making a coherent film is down to practise and skill, clear and warm natural light makes it a lot easier to create something awe-inspiring. Here in the UK, most of the time you need a big lighting rig to get something to look lushious. I know some countries where I can just go outside and start rolling and it often works.

In short, when it comes to shooting quick clips for vimeo, you may just be unlucky with the general weather or lighting in your location.
 
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thegoldfi said:
i live in a relatively small canadian city. i find that the landscapes are generally boring, which leads me to believe that there is very little to shoot. both in terms of stills and video. whenever i go to places in europe or japan i feel like there is so much going on, and that the possibilities for creative works would be endless. or at least more scenic than what i am used to. i suspect that many larger US cities with bustling downtowns would be a similar scene.

so, do you ever think that your community dictates your creativity? is there anything in your location that you thrive off of? alternatively, is there anything that sucks the creative life out of you?

best wishes.
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People are interesting no matter where they live, get up close and personal and tell a story that could only come from where you are.

Now don't get me wrong, living in an exciting city is great - if you can do it, why not - go for it! But don't let where you are stop you from being creative, storytelling is about people - landscapes, no matter how beautiful are pretty boring by comparison. You can be a great artist no matter where you come from - but you've got to want it, just showing up in NYC isn't going to do it - and living in a city like NYC comes with other issues too (expensive, etc.) so you're gonna be working and scraping by for a bit and you're gonna get tired - so you've got to make it happen, but it's not going to make you a *better* storyteller, in my opinion.

You will get a new perspective and new experiences which will shape and influence the way you tell a story, and you'll probably find a larger pool of people who are interested in the things that you are, so you may have a better chance with regards to collaboration - so it might work for you, it might not. I have a hard time thinking it will help your *raw* ability - unless you are so inspired by your surroundings that you find yourself working harder on your craft, but there are no magic bullets.

Really I'm just saying there's no excuse not to tell a story from where you are, boring looking surroundings or not.

re: Matt9b

Just because something "looks amazing" re: NYC doesn't mean they're telling a good story.

What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to write/produce a film or are you looking to be a DP?
 
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Sometimes living in a boring town actually forces you to be more creative. At least thats how its been for me. I've lived in the same area all my life and in doing so I have to use my wild imagination to make something interesting.

I mean look at "Clerks." They took a seemingly boring occupation and made it something you wouldn't expect.
 
I think Vilmos Zsigmond - or was it Kovacs? - talked about this. When he made his way to the United States he said that he fell in love with everything here. Just because of the newness of it all. He said that European photographers became very important for a time because they saw their settings as something unique and special and that the love or admiration for a certain place was apparent in everything they shot.

When I first came to North Carolina from the Bay Area, I couldn't believe how green everything was. People here were like, "uh, yeah...that's cause of all the bushes." But they don't see the beauty in locations dating from the mid-19th Century (or earlier) like I do. In SoCal, we'd have paved this whole place over back in 1977.

I get the same inspiration going to the low-country. Painters talk about being inspired by their surroundings - I just have to look at things as an outsider would to find that creative spark to capture it.
 
philip bloom said:
The most interesting challenge for anyone is to make what seems dull and everyday to them as they are so used to it sing!
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This is very true. One must search in order to find something—lighting, shapes, colors, juxtaposition, a story, a theme, a nuance, etc.—that will spark a compulsion to create something worthwhile.
 
There is a curtain energy to some cities which I find more creative and inspiring. I've found that I've lived in places that were absolutely gorgeous but I never really felt inspired there and I've lived in small towns and felt really creative. For me some places just click, I just moved to San Francisco from colorado simply because I wasn't feeling inspired. But I'm one of those people that has to move every 5 years because as many of you have stated the newness of a place does cultivate inspiration. One thing I've learned to do is to be able to find beauty in all sorts of places, hell I've even seen art in the slums of Los Angeles. Simply find a place you enjoy being and people you enjoying being with and the rest will come naturaly.
 
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