The other night, I got a bit obsessed with watching Face-off. As I watched the show, it
quickly became clear to me why the winning Face-off creations rose above the
rest.
The thoughts I had weren’t revolutionary. They took me back
to the creative process I used when I competed in design contests as a
professional florist. They also made it clear that I’d felt a bit stymied by my
WIP because I’d moved away from these techniques in favor of focusing on word
count and speed.
Here are the ideas/techniques I was reminded of:
Of course, good technical execution is a must. And the idea has to be something that will
function and hold together. The building blocks need to be solid.
Don’t be satisfied with first, second or even third
ideas—take the time needed to brainstorm and push the idea to a new level, make
it fresh. When I competed as a
professional florist, I spent a lot of time thinking about what the competition
might do, and then purposely took my brainstorming in the opposite direction. There
is always a new way to look at anything, a fresh take—this is creative
choice.
Stretch your abilities.
I am always more creative when I challenge myself to try something
difficult or new. Successfully doing
something challenging brings a great feeling of satisfaction.
Give the audience a new sensory experience. This might seem
impossible with Face-off being so visual, but the best designs also used the
sense of touch and hints at smell to expand their creations. Glistening slime, soft flowing lines, rough fabrics,
traces of smelly sweat and rotting guts…
Up the creep factor. It’s easy to tone something down, but
impossible to get the audiences attention once the moment has passed. Go large. Drama.
So, hours of TV was just what I needed to make me realize I
needed to step back, take time to brainstorm in more depth and outline in more
detail before moving forward again.
Guess, I better get at it J
