Monday, November 07, 2005

The Idea Dictates Everything


Saw David Lynch give a talk last night on his films, consciousness, creativity and the brain. Above are my notes from the talk. He was a fascinating speaker and had some really interesting insights into the act of creativity and how to help realise your maximum creative potential through meditation. Really interesting stuff.

From a filmmaking perspective, I think the best piece of knowledge I took from his talk is that "The idea dictates everything that follows." Seems obvious I realise, but I think it is something that should always be in the forefront of your mind, not just when making a film, but I think it can be applied to any artistic endeavour. The initial idea, what you are trying to say, will dictate everything that follows; it will inform every decision you make about what elements you will use to communicate that idea.

It filled my head with far too many ideas, and my head raced most of the night. It took me forever to quiet my brain so that I could sleep... where I had many insane dreams where humans would turn into cartoon versions of themselves and then return to relative normalcy. They only spoke in numbers. I guess Lynch messes with your head be it in person or with his films. If you have the chance to see him, I would do it. The evening was free and we got a dvd from another lecture he gave. I think you can watch it online at www.davidlynchfoundation.org

5 comments:

Robert Islas said...

Nice job on the sketches.
Maybe you'll do a sketch of me one day when I'm lecturing on the physical properties of peanutbutter.

Garrett Shikuma said...

Oh cool you got to see David Lynch!
Yeah I heard about his lectures going on, I wish I could have attended, thanks for posting the link...

JOHN said...

I like your notes... caught his "lecture" at ucirvine and agree, it was a delight to see and hear him talk. He said "it's money in the bank" a lot and gave a great analogy about meditation and the empire state building with "electric gold". Wrote briefly about it myself...

Mark Kardwell said...

Lovely work.

monkeyfeather said...

Thanks MArk.