Hello writingforums! I was coming back from my ski trip, and my dad slips in the album "In Rainbows" by Radiohead. The whole trip back it made me think of ideas for a short story. I was watching "The Watchmen" on saturday and it also got my creative juices flowing. I was wondering what music/film inspires you to write.
Usually anything I'm listening to, as far as music goes, tends to get the creative juices flowing. Maybe the story in a song makes me think of a relationship between some future characters. Or maybe the violin strikes a chord with me and my brain is off. One in particular that made an entire scene click for me was Comptine D'Un Autre Ete from the Amelie soundtrack. It's an amazing piano peice that really gets the emotions brewing. With movies and films it's more jealousy than creativity. HAHA. WHy didn't I think of that?!
Yeah I know! I read the Watchmen and it really inspired me, but it also kind of set me back a little because it just seems impossible to get a story that good. I've been listening to classic in the car, and it has been actually pretty good as far as inspiring me. Do you have any other favorites?
I'm currently reading The Watchmen. Okay, well I started reading it in January but got sidetracked. What I read was pretty awesome. I'm going to see the movie tomorrow and I'm pretty psyched. Apparently, despite rumours, it was pretty faithful to the source material, which is refreshing. As for any other favourites, I don't know about specifics. I don't often listen to classics, though I have made an effort to dive into it a bit more. I'm a fan of beethoven piano pieces. In fact, most any piano piece inspires me. There's just something about that instrument that really gets me. Piano and Violin. I also find that music like Imogen Heap, Snow Patrol, Death Cab etc, really gets me, too. Deep lyrics that are slower and really get into your head.
I just love the whole comics-to-film genre. It eats at the kid inside that always--and even to this day--fancied himself to be a Super Hero. I no longer hide this fantasy of mine either. My colleagues, students, wife, family members know my identity as...The Bowman with the Arrow being my symbol. LOL. Music of all kinds inspire me creatively. From Arvo Part to Stevie Wonder to Bach. Music infuses my writing, my stories.
Two albums have inspired me - Boys For Pele by Tori Amos and Flamma Flamma: The Fire Requiem by Nicholas Lens. (I don't exactly take ideas from them, more that their themes stimulate my creative 'nerve centre', so to speak). Both fire-themed albums, too... Hmmm... >_> When it comes to movies, about the only thing I've ever done is play the 'what would have happened if...' game, once from which I got an idea for something very small (still yet to be utilised properly ).
kind of related to this thread. when i watch a film and the ending bores me or i just simply dont like it, i always say "god, i could have wrote a better ending than that!". my husband always laughs at me and says "well, do it then!"
Music by ES Posthumus, Within Temptation, Adiemus/Karl Jenkins, Hans Zimmer, Globus/Immediate, Lesiem, Era, and Nightwish's "Dark Passion Play" (especially the instrumental version) I find very inspiring. They don't really give me ideas to write though, I just like to envision my scenes taking place to them, like a soundtrack. I'm not that inspired by movies; don't watch many of them. I'm mainly inspired for ideas through reading books related to my subjects of interest, e. g., Ojibwa mythology and ritual crime.
I just watched Spirited Away for the first time last week and that opened up so many new roads for my imagination. There aren't many things that surprise me anymore, but that definitely shook me up. It's so surreal and unnerving and addicting. The bird with the human head, and the witch that turned into a bird by her cloak, the No Face, and everything. Makes me want to write even more. I feel steamrolled after watching it, whatever that means.
Definetly Alizee. Also, Arsis and Opeth, lots of Opeth. I'll throw in some Dream Theater and some Stratovarius for good measure. As for movies, I don't really find them inspiring- I'd go so far as to call my favourite movie The Godfather perfect, but it still doesn't really inspire me.
Most of the time I try to avoid watching movies when I'm in deep creative writing. I tend to get jealous and try to rethink my approach. There was one film that inspired my main character, The Thin Red Line. The Star Wars series always give me inspiration for my science fiction writing. For music it just depends on the mood I want in the next scene. I like Staind, The Shore, Sparta, Hans Zimmer, John Williams. Then I can switch to some real heavy metal like Megadeth or Godsmack to get my blood flowing.
There is one film that inspires me most by reminding me where I came from. (Freddy Krueger fan-fiction) That film is A Nightmare On Elm Street 4:The Dream Master. Listening to Paramore helps a lot with my dialogue.
At the moment it's main stream Coldplay and U2. 'No line on the horizon' is the new album from U2 and this one particular song 'Moment of surrender' has my mind (and hands) working overtime.
All music I like, and I'm a music lover - anything from classical to grunge and metal. As for films, I love the movies too! But what really gets me going is Pychological Horror like Jacob's Ladder, Twin Peaks, the works of David Lynch, and Session 9.
Breaking Benjamin, Rise Against, Avenged Sevenfold, and Slipknot get my creative juices flowing. So does Watchman and Death Note (graphic novels). Also the tv shows Lost and Battlestar Galactica.
This might sound funny, but really bad movies, music, and books actually inspire me. It's not that I sit around torturing myself with these things. But when I see a bad movie or read a terrible book, I say to myself: "Gee, that got made into a movie, or that got published...so what's my excuse for not taking a chance and putting my stuff out there?"
I heard there weren't even any Trolls in the movie! Man, some films like that are so terrible that when they end, you're left wondering if you really saw them (or just had an awful dream).
I would say films are the reason I want to write. When I imagine a story in my head, it plays out as if it were a film, so it quite seamless for one to inspire the other and vice versa. As far as music goes it provides so much emotion that I can put on a song and instantly be in the mood for writing a specific passage. A few of my favourite: Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber I think that she knows Prelude (4:30 into Lovestoned) - Justin Timberlake Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional Most Snow Patrol Songs Chopin - Nocturne in G minor etc etc
Piano is the best muse for me--------but currently i m making myself music in head always, maybe side efforts from PTSD.
