(disruptive construction work)
(quirky plucky strings)
(sighs)
(hammering and drilling)
(jackhammering) (bedsheets being thrown)
(guitar chords)
- Welcome to northern Ireland. We're in Belfast.
Today's video, we're talkin' ideas. I have none. (laughs)
(sheet being flipped back) Ahh.
You know, it got me thinkin' when I woke up this morning,
thinkin' about, what are we gonna do today?
What are we gonna shoot, what are gonna vlog?
What does Belfast have in store for me?
And then you start thinkin' about ideas.
What ideas do you have that you can
fulfill today to make an interesting vlog?
To make an interesting story, a video that's compelling,
that people are gonna like to watch, and I just had nothing.
It was just a blank slate, nothing was coming to me.
Got in the shower, was brushing my teeth, sittin' around,
eating sour patch kids, just thinking, what can I shoot?
And then I thought, what an interesting idea it would be
to make a video about not having ideas, yeah.
Thank's kinda what this is. (groans)
I think to start, we need to clarify what an idea
actually means, so let's take to Google and actually type in
what is an idea? (typing)
This is what it says.
(sighs) An idea is a thought or suggestion
as to a possible course of action.
Action is the keyword here.
Action is what I want you guys to remember.
(groans) Why did I choose to vlog under a bed?
I don't know. (groans)
(rock music)
You see, action is the one thing that
isn't often implemented when it comes to ideas.
I believe that people think ideas are hard to come by.
A good idea is hard to come by, we hear that often.
I think ideas are popping up all over the place,
all the time, we're just not acting on them because maybe
we assume they're too small, they're insignificant.
We think that we should act on ideas of massive proportions,
huge ideas, like creating a crazy TV show that's gonna
take over an entire country and generate massive fans,
and has kings and queens and castles and all sorts of crazy
visuals and cinematics. (dramatic music)
(growling)
(suspenseful music)
(breathes roughly from running)
Wildling pit, Game of Thrones.
This dude was on Game of Thrones.
- Sup, dudes. - What's this pit? Tell me.
- This is the wildling pit, this is where the wildlings were
first found in season 1, episode 1, first 15 minutes
of Game of Thrones you ever watched, this is it.
- Dude knows his stuff, and he would because
he's all over that show.
We're out here, northern Ireland, Belfast.
He's taking us to all the spots they filmed this show.
And it is beautiful! I'm out of breath.
I'm wildly out of shape but this forest
is the opening scene to the very whole show.
- This is exactly where they did it, this is
one of the many locations here.
("Game of Thrones Main Title Theme" by Ramin Djawadi)
- That first shot where they're running through the woods,
I think it's just one guy running, and it's covered in snow,
which, fun fact, is actually tissue paper and salt,
it's not even snow, mind blown.
It's kinda cool we're running through the same forest.
It kinda feels surreal, especially with the cast.
- Are you talking about me, at the cast?
- No, he's the cast. (breathes heavily)
- Oh, okay, I was just playing the cast role earlier.
(dramatic orchestral music)
- Hey Matty, little history lesson for ya, did you know
that actual Vikings parked their boats there
and took this whole area over from the monks.
That's a true story, did you know that?
- Uh, yeah, those were my ancestors, so.
(uplifting orchestral music)
(suspenseful music)
We think that we should act on ideas of massive proportions,
huge ideas, like creating a crazy TV show that's gonna take
over an entire country and generate massive fans
and has kings and queens and castles and all sorts of
crazy visuals and cinematics,
and that's the only way an idea is good.
But maybe the idea is just making a funny little joke film
about a lens cap; that's an idea, too, but those are often
more discounted because they don't feel as good.
Nah, that's silly, that's stupid.
So we don't do them, we don't follow through.
We only wanna follow through on those big ideas,
but that, to me, that's the issue here.
Alright, so just to keep things honest,
I think we should test that theory,
and put the lens cap cinematic sequence to the test.
Most people might think, dude, that's ridiculous.
You're gonna make like a whole cinematic B-roll epic thing
about a lens cap, and I would say to them, yeah,
100 percent, I'm going to do that.
(upbeat hip pop music)
(laughs)
So there you go, I just made a ridiculous, cinematic,
B-roll sequence featuring a lens cap.
Now, was it the best thing I've ever made?
No, by no means was it the best thing I've ever made,
but it was still funny, I still enjoyed it,
and I still created, and that's the point of this exercise.
Just because it's a small, little kind of passing detail,
doesn't mean it's a bad detail or a bad idea.
I think those things are just kind of
talked about and passed over.
Huh, imagine you did a whole thing on a lens cap?
Yeah, that's silly, that's funny, not even thought of,
not even regarded as an actual idea you could make
a funny video about or a funny film
about that tells this whole story,
so, just kind of like a little example for you that
don't discount those small ideas because those
turn into great ideas and fun personality
that turns into you, and that's what we wanna see. (grunts)
Okay, this is like I'm taking a little break from this video
for 2 seconds just to show you this.
I'm in northern Ireland, Belfast, and...
What? Tim Horton, what?
I have to, like, I have to.
(funky hip hop music)
(typewriter)
I thought the roof would be a good place to end this.
Okay, when it comes to ideas, what I want you to take away
from this video is the fact that it doesn't matter
if they're small ideas or big ideas.
You should execute and apply action to whatever idea
that you have, big or small.
If it's filming a lens cap on the side walk,
if it's filming Game of Thrones,
whatever idea you have, write it down, use it, film it.
Execute, apply action. It's raining up here. (groans)
Try to think of the big picture, too, a larger scope.
Maybe just making a Tweet, maybe making
a series of Instagram stories, a YouTube video,
taking a photo, anything, writing something down.
It doesn't have to be something huge.
Ideas always come across, we always think that we need the
most elaborate plan, the most elaborate
story, video, sequence, cinematic.
We think too much. Get outta your head.
Grab that list of ideas, start knockin' 'em off.
It's better to create something than nothing at all.
It's the power of an idea? Extremely powerful.
If we actually use them.
So use them.
See you later.
(funky hip hop music)