Topic: animator's block
hey everyone! i have MAJOR animator's block. any ideas? cures? im open to suggestions! 
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hey everyone! i have MAJOR animator's block. any ideas? cures? im open to suggestions!
The idea of creative "block" where you can't come up with ideas is always a bit alien to me. Why do you want to make films? The reason I want to make films is because I have these stories in my head, that's the whole point. If I didn't have the ideas, I wouldn't have the need to put them out there. I'd just go do some accounting or something.
So I guess what I think is you need to figure out why you want to make a video -- what you like in a story, what gets you excited about a movie, and work from there.
The idea of creative "block" where you can't come up with ideas is always a bit alien to me. Why do you want to make films? The reason I want to make films is because I have these stories in my head, that's the whole point. If I didn't have the ideas, I wouldn't have the need to put them out there. I'd just go do some accounting or something.
I don't think it's always that simple. I have, more often than not, been struck with the overwhelming urge to create something without a good outlet to direct it towards. It's frustrating, because you want to make something, but you just don't know what.
To answer the question, slotborg, my best recommendation is to do activities that inspire you somehow. Watch movies, read books, play video games, or maybe just hike up a hill or something. There's a world of inspiration all around you, and maybe something will click with you and you'll conjure something up.
Or maybe just sit down and animate something. Just anything, really. Maybe a technique you wanted to try out, or just as sort of a warmup thing, and reverse engineer an idea around that. Like, for example, say you wanted to try animating a person swinging a baseball bat. Maybe it turns into a Western-style duel between the pitcher and batter?
In my experience, though, the best ideas I have are the ones that crop up on me when I least expect it. I can sit in front of an empty script for days slamming my head against a wall to no avail, but then suddenly have that great idea pop into my head while I'm driving to work or grocery shopping or something. Inspiration can be a fickle thing like that.
Last edited by MindGame (February 12, 2016 (02:16pm))
ok, thanks mind game! this may help! 
Keeping a notebook of ideas that pop into your head is also a good thing to do. They don't have to be full ideas, or even logical ideas, just write them down when you have an idea. It clears your head, and you consult it later if you're in a pickle.
Despite having made Ella's Tale, a film about writer's block, I don't actually have that much experience with the problem myself. But I do know some stuff about idea development, so maybe that might help.
Sometimes, an important part of an idea is to connect idea modules (I made that up, but I'll explain).
A lot of ideas for stories are more like a collection of smaller ideas put together. Often times these smaller ideas come a lot more often than more complete ideas. Rather than trying to create a complete idea from the start, try connecting two or more of these smaller idea modules together to make a complete idea.
For instance, maybe you see something with a noir detective in it, and that might make you want to make a story that has a noir detective in it. But that in itself isn't really complete idea. However, is you can find another idea module, you can try to connect that to the first and see if that works. Of course, not all idea modules fit well together, but some of them might sound nice.
If you have trouble keeping track of you modules, perhaps you might write them down on cards to easily manage them.
Another good way to get ideas is make lots of test animations. Test animations are generally a really good thing to do. Especially more experimental stuff. Sometimes you might try something in a test animation and realized that could be a good thing to have in a film and try to make a story based upon that.
I'm not really sure if any of that would really work, but maybe it might be worth a try.
I'm not too sure what you mean by animator's block. Is it finding ways to write stories like a writer's block? Or just that you don't know how to find a way to animate a certain movement like a handshake ?
Anyways, this should belong in the pre-production or the production forums.
Sorry for not being able to put any input... For now
I'm not too sure what you mean by animator's block. Is it finding ways to write stories like a writer's block? Or just that you don't know how to find a way to animate a certain movement like a handshake ?
Anyways, this should belong in the pre-production or the production forums.
Sorry for not being able to put any input... For now
it means I don't have any ideas for a film to animate
The idea of creative "block" where you can't come up with ideas is always a bit alien to me. Why do you want to make films? The reason I want to make films is because I have these stories in my head, that's the whole point. If I didn't have the ideas, I wouldn't have the need to put them out there. I'd just go do some accounting or something.
So I guess what I think is you need to figure out why you want to make a video -- what you like in a story, what gets you excited about a movie, and work from there.
I totally can imagine that some people want to animate because they like to animate, but have difficulty writeing or inventing stories. It's the same as people who can't sing but like to be songwriters, and people who like to sing but can't write music or lyrics. Personally, I love the Lego mdium, I like to write for it. But am not a skilled animator, or an efficient enough animator to portray all the stories I want to the medium. This is where collaboration works well; each person contributes in the area in which he is most skillful.
yay! i figured out an idea! it's gonna be a series. haven't figured out the name, but thanks for your help guys!
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