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Thursday, March 31, 2016

How to harness your creativity?

We artsy people are creative - have to be more creative - and keep innovating. In fact in this day and age people in every walk of life are compelled to innovate. We all do not have enough time and hence we do not have the luxury to wait longer to see the final product, completed movie, completed script, clearly through through idea etc. Every one has to - wants to - achieve more in whatever time that is available. So how do one do accomplish? The catch phrase in tech industry is to "fail sooner and often"! What this really means is that we should be willing to do whatever we want to do with say 80% of information or details available. 80% of the information could possibly be obtained in 20% of the time (Total time here is the time taken to obtain 100% of information). Waiting for the remaining 20% will take 80% of the time. So once we are comfortable with the details we go we need to set out to implement it. Since we started with 80% of data/information we are bound to fail - be prepared to accept this; in fact anticipate failure and if you don't fail review all your assumptions and collected data again... something does not seem right! So when te rubber hits the road you will see the disconnect and fix it and test it again. If you are going to write a screenplay, don't wait till you chalk out every single detail - once you are comfortable just write it. You will find disconnects and that is expected - go fix it then. Then continue until you complete the screenplay. Then read it and fix issues. Then reread it and rewrite it. After all writing is rewriting. What you will end up getting is a better screenplay because you have iterated through so many times.
Well is there any way to get all the required information fairly comprehensively? The answer is yes! You need to be innovative and harness your creativity. Creativity has been elusive and folks have tired to define it and put a structure - some are ok, others are complex and some are so so. Here is something simple that I came across which could help you in putting a structure and help you in harnessing your creativity.
This framework goes hand in hand with what is touted as "design thinking". Give it a go and let me know if it really helps you.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Character Development

I had not really paid close attention to this in a long time now.  One thing that used to stand out in south Indian movies as compared to American blockbusters are what folks refer to as the "punch" dialogue or "punch" moment. I struggled to explain it better than to say that those were moments similar to the ones in Few Dollars More when Clint Eastwood picks the fight with Lee Van Cleef and they both show off their skills in front of the motel. South Indian movies have lots of such moments to introduce the hero - however crazy/senseless they may be but they will stir up the audience. Now I know what those are better!
Read this and you will know what those are because these are oft used: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5503945/good-character-development-includes-the-all-important-f-yeah-moment#_ga=1.74140178.1447581691.1457936589

Comments any one? Have you seen latest Vijay/Suriya/Ajith/Maheshbabu/Prabas or even yesteryear's Rajnikanth or Chiranjevi movies? Would you agree?