(techno music)
- Hi guys, how you doing?
I just wanted to tell you guys
about an insane documentary I just watched.
Why don't we watch the trailer.
(techno music)
- [Man] I think that there's a certain personality type
that does this once and then realizes
that this is the thing that they wanna do,
whether it's going well or not.
- I know for a fact, like I'm doing this job I'm doing now
because I really enjoy it.
Like maybe it's something I knew I could be proud of.
- Fuck it, you know I'm proud of it.
That's a lot of stuff to show.
This wasn't about making money.
This was about just getting away with making cool shit.
You know, and then that turned into a way to make money.
- Why is it that you're doing this?
You know, you have to really question that.
- I dunno, I say I'm not in a rush.
Then sometimes I feel like, okay, but why,
why am I frustrated?
Why am I frustrated?
We've got an awesome place we live in,
it's small, but it's awesome.
I've got a kid who's like amazing.
And then I beat my head against the wall
because pitch after pitch, you're like, denied.
(energetic music)
- There is a relative suffering in that.
You're being ignored artistically for the most part
and you keep doing it year after year.
And it's like you're not making any money.
You're all working day jobs, or you're teaching,
or you're doing whatever you can do,
but you're not giving up.
(energetic music)
- Ah this doc is super good.
You guys know me, I'm a big fan of docs,
and this doc got me thinking about something.
Let me put this down.
And there we go.
One of the hardest things as a filmmaker
is just staying creative.
Sometimes it feels like I have nothing
to give and I just suck.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't know anything.
Everybody else is way better than I am.
Or I haven't gone far enough in my career yet.
I should have done more.
I should have done better things.
I should have done bigger things.
Oh and if you're wondering what that is up there,
it's a light and it has black wrap around it.
Black wrap is a film, uh, don't worry about it.
But these are things that all creatives go through
no matter what your level is.
And that's really what I was reminded of through this doc
that Musicbed made called Make.
It's a bunch of different artists, different musicians,
different filmmakers, designers,
all talking about what drives us to create
and all those different things
that come along with that process.
All the hard things.
All those really tricky things
that are really hard to push through.
And these guys aren't just some random people.
They're some of the best of the best in the industry,
like Reed Morano, she's a director and a DP.
Directed things like Handmaid's Tale,
you guys might have seen that show.
There's people like Eliot Rausch,
makes amazing commercials and short films.
Salomon Ligthelm, really amazing, super talented.
Way more talented people than I am.
And if you haven't, you should definitely look these guys up
because they really are some
of the best of the best in the industry.
It's just really refreshing hearing them talk,
these guys that are way up there,
talk about the exact same things
that I struggle with as a creative all the time.
(upbeat music)
(keys jangling)
Yep that's right, everyone struggles
with the creative process no matter how good you are.
There's no like, level, or there's no skill level
that you reach and then it's just smooth sailing,
easy going, the whole time.
But it's still enjoyable
if you understand one really, really key thing.
(leaves crunching)
Oh and if you wanna watch the doc,
I messaged Musicbed and they actually wanted
to sponsor this episode.
It's an awesome music licensing platform with,
I think, over 700 musicians and composers
and they just have really, really high-quality music.
I've used them a bunch in the past
and they're actually super nice and they actually wanted
to give you guys some free rentals of the doc.
But instead of just giving you the coupon codes
in the description,
I thought I'd just hide them around in this video.
You know, like an Easter egg hunt.
Thought it'd be more fun that way.
(upbeat music)
So for me, creativity kinda comes in waves.
There's times where I just have tons of ideas
and it feels really easy
and I'm just making films left, right and center.
And there's those other times
where it feels like I just suck.
I don't know what the heck I'm doing,
I should just quit now, quit while I'm ahead,
this is not going anywhere.
When you have those high points
where you're just really creative, it's really easy,
you should just keep making stuff
and just use that to build creative momentum,
keep going hard.
But what are you supposed to do when you hit those slumps
and you feel like, man I can't do anything?
What are you supposed to do?
(upbeat music)
One of the best ways of getting
the creative juices flowing again
is to just do a personal project.
I find that when I film a personal project
I feel like all that stress and all that, you know,
those expectations that maybe other people
or companies put on you just kind of fall away.
For example, I did that video
that I posted last week with Samuel,
(energetic music)
in Norway and there was no client.
There was nobody telling us what to do.
I didn't get paid for that video,
but man it felt so good to make that video
because there was no expectations.
Nobody was telling me there has to be this,
there has to be that, it has to include this,
and you gotta talk about that.
Nope, I could do whatever I wanted
and that really just helps creativity so much.
It's so important to take
that pressure off yourself once in awhile
and just tell a story that you're really passionate about
and do it in a way that you really wanna do.
Don't let anybody tell you how you should do it,
or what it should be like.
And don't think about,
what are other people gonna think about this project.
Just make it how you want.
Club soda, love it, not an ad.
I just like club soda.
(fizz whoosh and clicking)
Even though winter's coming, you can't beat this.
This is awesome.
I love this weather.
And the key thing about personal projects
is to actually enjoy the process
of making that personal project.
I find a lot of times when it's a personal project,
it's just really easy to enjoy the process,
like when I was with Samuel in Norway.
We just had a really fun time hanging out.
We'd go to these epic places and we'd shoot a little.
But there was no agenda.
There was no, we have to get these shots.
We just went around, found really cool spots
and we just filmed epic amazing stuff.
If you guys haven't seen the video yet,
definitely check it out.
I'll link it down below.
But I think when you learn to enjoy the process
of being a creative, that's when everything opens up
and that's because you're no longer just focusing
on that product, the finished video or photograph
or song or whatever it is that you're making.
You're no longer focusing on just the finished product.
You're just in it for the process and the things
that come out of that process are just a really sweet bonus.
You no longer have that pressure of,
I gotta do something really epic and insane
that everybody's gonna look at and be like,
oh man this guy's so good.
You're just gonna enjoy the creative process and guess what?
Eventually you'll make really epic and insane videos
because you were thinking about the process
and not the end product the whole time.
All right, so we're enjoying the process,
but how do we stay creative?
Well number one is to make personal projects.
Pick a project, any project.
Don't worry about pay, and just do something for yourself.
Tell a story that you're really passionate about.
That always helps.
And number two is to consume content.
I do this all the time.
I watch all sorts of movies.
I watch docs.
I watch feature films.
I watch TV shows.
I probably spend too much time watching shows and movies,
but you need to consume content in order to stay creative.
That always helps.
If you're in a rut, watch a really good movie.
Watch one of Fincher's movies.
Watch Mindhunter on Netflix.
It's a creepy show, but it's super good, really well-made.
Fincher is definitely one of my favorite directors by far.
And then number three I think,
is actually to make smart business choices.
And you're saying, what does
that have anything to do with creativity?
Well, if you make smart business choices,
then you're not gonna have to make choices
on which kind of projects you choose
because of financial reasons the whole time.
You're not gonna be desperate for money
and just doing corporate jobs or stuff
that you don't actually like doing,
but you need to for the money
and it's not really helping you creatively at all
and it's actually hurting you.
So make smart business choices
and help facilitate that creative process.
And yeah, there's a bunch of different ways
to stay creative.
Those aren't the only three.
Those are just three that I came up with
that really help me.
Oh man my arm is just dying.
I got the 1DX Mark II, if you guys didn't see
the Instagram story, and it does get a little tiring
on the arm after a little while.
I think I was playing it up before,
but now after vlogging for the last whatever, hour or two,
I'm definitely feeling it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again,
you need to learn to enjoy the process.
Learn, make, repeat.
It's especially that repeat that actually helps
with the creative process for me,
because it reminds me that, okay,
this is just one video out of hundreds, thousands,
of videos that I'll create.
So really it's not that big of a deal,
and that really helps to take off the pressure, for me.
There's all sorts of things that stop us from making
that perfect film or making whatever is in our mind,
but that's just part of the process.
We need to remember that it's just one video.
So on to the next one.
Me and my friend Peter, he does YouTube too,
if you don't know his channel you should go watch him now.
Every once in awhile we're messaging back and forth
and we're saying, ah this video just didn't turn out
quite how I liked it and there's a deadline,
and we gotta post it.
And really what we end up saying is,
well I'm gonna post it and on to the next one.
I really liked what one of the designers said in the doc.
He said that, "If no one ever looked,
"I'd still be making cool stuff with my buddies."
And that's really what it is.
When you find that one thing
that you would be making even if nobody else was looking
and you just enjoy what you're doing,
that's the best thing for creativity.
Creativity doesn't rely on recognition or any of that stuff.
Creativity's just making cool stuff
even if nobody else was watching.
(upbeat music)
So don't worry guys if you're not
feeling creative right now.
That wave will come again
and before you know it you're gonna be making amazing stuff.
Guys, make sure to go check out this doc.
I highly, highly recommend this doc for all creatives.
It's super good.
I linked it down below and I hid those codes
in some different spots.
Hopefully you guys found the codes so you can watch the doc.
Highly recommend this doc.
Go and check it out right now.
And of course, hit that like button.
Subscribe to the channel.
Become a part of this community where we learn about
filmmaking and traveling and all that good stuff.
And hey, on to the next one!
(upbeat techno music)