Ditkoff's Ways To Get Ideas...

Mitch Ditkoff's article, 14 Breakthrough Ways To Get Ideas, is a great eye opener for those who have difficulty formulating an imaginative thought, innovative concept, or in cliche terms, a bright idea. While I did like his usage of quotes and examples for each breakthrough way to get ideas, I still did not feel as if many of these methodologies were all-too breakthrough. In the article, Ditkoff listed fourteen ways to produce (or reproduce, if using Eastern philosophy) an idea. Along with each tip came a quote or example regarding the particular tip. I personally critique three out of the fourteen that he makes:

#5: Fantasize
I had a hard time believing this 'breakthrough way' was a 'breakthrough.' Many people fantasize about something, inevitably giving them an idea at some point in time. Whether it's a daydream that one decides to pursue or a premeditated plan that one decides to put into action, a person will always fantasize or imagine his or her initial idea for something before putting it into action.

#9 Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns And Trends
I agreed right off the bat with Ditkoff's statement about people challenging trends. Often, we as a people tend to follow the societal norms and submit to the typical and run-of-the-mill. However, the people who challenge and create their own patterns and trends are the ones who are creative. The best example of this is with the way people dress. Many may follow the trend, but only one will challenge the stream of monotony and be a jet-setter.

#10 Hang Out With A Diverse Group of People
This was another idea I agreed with Ditkoff about. By hanging out with a diverse group of people, you share different customs and beliefs. This means the sharing of different cultural pastimes including music, entertainment, philosophies, and other aspects of a different lifestyle. This opens people up to newer, broader ideas that can challenge the existing patterns and trends and stand out as an original entity.

I believe that much of the other ideologies that Ditkoff mentioned were not too 'breakthrough,' however, I still enjoyed reading about them and I intend on applying them in my own life. Upon my reading I decided to engage myself in one of the suggested activities after each breakthrough idea. My engagement took me back to Ditkoff's ninth belief:

What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years—and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?

The trends in music have always intrigued me, particularly in hip hop music, since that's what I grew up with the longest. In recent years, I have challenged the existing patterns of mainstream music by listening to independent and underground hip hop music. By doing this, I have avoided the monotonous trends that have occurred within the music genre including the 'snap' music of 2006 ,autotune phases of 2008, and the annoying 'jerk' hip hop of 2009 and 2010. I believe in the coming years, just as the previous years, the previous 'mainstream' will fall, due to a lack of popularity and a new trend will make its way into the commercialized music industry. My most inspired ideas would inevitably be in sync with the upcoming shift because, if I want to be involved in directing music videos, I will have to be much more involved with mainstream music than I currently am. Regardless, I still strive to fight the current of mainstream and

 strive to be original in an age where monotony is the social norm.



Dem Franchize Boyz, part of the 'snap' music of 2006 with songs such as 'Lean With It, Rock With It' and 'Oh, I Think They Like Me.'









T- Pain, despite being very talented, has become the poster child for autotune. Many hip hop artists used autotune this year including Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, and Lil Wayne.







New Boyz have become the poster children of the 'Jerk' hip hop music that was popular throughout 2009 and 2010.





Having Creative Control Like Jason Goldwatch

Growing up, I've always wanted to do something in the arts. It has varied from music to writing to drawing over the span of my nineteen years of life. However,  by high school I figured I wanted to be involved with film because it melded all three things I had involved in my life (music, artwork, and writing) together in one.

Equally, my love for hip hop and music videos has followed me from my early youth days, watching TRL on MTV, Pop Up Video on VH1, and Rap City: The Bassment on BET, to currently in all the websites, television shows, and blogs I follow.

Needless to say, music videos have made a way into my heart, and recently, my fascination with music video directors have lead me to admire the work of Jason Goldwatch.

A music video director and commercial director, Jason Goldwatch produces dozens of innovative music videos, commercials, promos, and concert footage a year. Don't take my word for it, though. One can see it in his works.

88-Keys ft. Kanye West 'Stay Up (Viagra)' is a perfect example of Goldwatch's hilariously original content in music videos. In it, hip hop artists Kanye West and 88 Keys are depicted as old and decrepit men who go on a date with two significantly younger, very attractive women. The music video shows the double date go to odd places (for old people, that is) including a sex shop, a drug store, and, inevitably, a hotel. Ironically, the old men fall asleep before anything sexual. Goldwatch's hilariously provocative video is a clear cut example of his originality. Also, it functions as a binary art form, showing the CONTRAST of the elderly men and their younger dates and the AFFINITY of all four of the people being perverted, party-loving dates.


Another example of Goldwatch's originality is in his music video 'Soundtrack2My Life,' by KiD CuDi. It is here where we see most of the director's cinematography skills from all the concert footage he takes with  charismatic hip hop artist, KiD CuDi. It is such an inspiring music video because Goldwatch humanizes a musician that, to many, may appear larger than life on the surface, without viewing the music video, but more of a best friend and guy's guy (or lady's man, depending on the case) with the viewing of it. Goldwatch once again uses binary concepts again in his music video, this time with OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE themes throughout it. We can see the objective within the video, that KiD CuDi loves being on the road, connecting with the crowd during concerts, and messing around with friends and family on the tour busses and hotels that he stays in. What we DON'T see, and must infer or formulate opinions about, is whether or not KiD CuDi really has a hard life. His song, 'Soundtrack2My Life,'  demonstrates many depressing and sad instances in his life, hence making it the soundtrack to his life. However, the visual contradicts that. Possibly, viewers may infer whether or not KiD CuDi has had a hard life, whether before or after his music career (some may believe his life may not even be nearly as bad as theirs; others may think his life is awful).


A final video in which we can dissect Goldwatch's creativity (and why I am inspired by him) is seen in his music video 'Dear God 2.0,' a song by The Roots and Monsters of Folk. It is in this music video where The Roots, Monsters of Folk, and Goldwatch (visually, of course) ask God about his presence and why He allows some of the things in the world that happen actually happen. In the video, two children forcefully rob a convenience store and run away while rapper Black Thought of The Roots drives a cab through Philadelphia picking up a mix of holy, unholy, and a mixture of unholy holy people. Goldwatch's concept is completely original, slightly darker, but absolutely genius. Towards the end of the video, Black Thought is robbed in his cab at gunpoint, and despite knowing he has a gun to protect himself from robbers, he allows the thief to take his money. Goldwatch's storytelling in this particular video is stunning, showing more serious and cinematic content in it, compared to others. Such a video can noticeably have the binary concepts of TENSION and RELEASE. We see it as one big build-up in the end, with Black Thought uncomfortably getting ready to use his gun against the armed robber, but decides to do the familiar, comfortable, and safe thing by giving the theif his hard earned money.


All in all, Jason Goldwatch is an inspiration to me because of his visual story-telling in his music videos, his collaborating roster of talented musicians, and his artistic cinematography. Goldwatch should be an inspiration to any who want to go into the music video field, and I encourage all filmmakers to at least look at a small portion of his work.

Why I Signed Up For The 8 O'Clock Lab..

... I honesly didn't initially choose to have class at eight. However, it is always my bad luck that every quarter I have a class so early. I think I'll still enjoy it, but I'm definately not looking forward to getting up early.