What is an independent art project really?

In culture, money is pretty big factor. Considering the field of art maybe it is the cheapest to be a writer, and the most expensive to be a movie maker. That's why it's important to see what is really possible to do as an independent artist.

First of all, there are professional and amateur artists. This is also a strange subject which deserves special set of blog posts, but if we focus on professional artists, independent means that they invested their own cash to make a thing they want to make. Right? Well yes, and no. If some camera rental company borrows you their camera and set of lights, they are spending their potential profit so you can have that for free. Is that really not sponsorship?

Ok, not to go into small details like this one, we believe that it is almost impossible to make a great product with no money or with your personal savings you kept for the new car. It's just not enough. Here we are mainly talking about moviemaking because it's the most expensive thing to do in art, and we are familiar with it.

Does that mean that every filmmaking project is sponsored in a way?

Yes! But that doesn't mean that it isn't independent.

For us, that means something else, doesnt matter if you are college-educated or just an ambitious artist. It means that your story is independent.

Real difference between "good" and "bad" production is in the choice of actions that are not instructed by the sponsors of the project. So even if you have a really good story in your hands that you want to shoot, it can turn into disaster if your sponsor (and by sponsors I also mean on movie studios) tells you to cut some scene because it's not appropriate or to limit the duration to just 100 minutes, or to remove violence scenes completely. Imagine your baby movie that you've dreamt about for years being massacred because you got some ammount of money. Would you rather wait a bit longer or shoot it as a no-budget movie? We would do a second one surely.

On the other hand, is it good to have a bad looking product because you didn't have enough money for that drone shot or some high-quality blood? Yes, it's sure a tough question. But, as long as the story is good, the chances of movie to succeed are greater, because deep in ourselves we are all children, just wanting to be entertained or taught. And that can be done with a simple story around a campfire, not a million dollar scenography behind the shot.

So, to conclude this part of the story: one of the main factors of independent project is the story, visual, musical, written or painted. It is important to be intact. Everything else is in the second place.

We will get more on to this subject, soon. Long posts are so passé.

Where do ideas come from?

We believe that every human experienced that "A-HA!" moment at least once in their life. The magnificent idea emerged and we were ready to give up everything at that moment and to invest 100% in it. And the feeling was good, in the split of a second we thought we figured out the meaning of life. And then we just continued with our lives in most of cases, as if nothing happened.

But where dide that thought come from? What happened?

Some would call that faith, some would call it the message from the god(s), but the truth is actually pretty borring. Our mind combined all of the previous experiences in our life and came out with the solution to some problem in it's own, unique way. You see, as we all have fingerprints that are one of a kind, in the same way we all have unique experience palette. Even if two people with the exact same background and skills, experience one thing in two different ways.

We cannot reinvent hot water, and to come up with something new is pretty hard these days. But, we can combine the things we already know and put together some cool combination out of it, which will be unique. Even if we come up to a thing that already exists in many forms, it will have our own "stamp", something that is purely ours. That is what makes it unique.

As previously said, people minds are calibrated to think in problems. We are always searching for solution to something. From colonizing Mars to faster rice-cooking, we need that one thing that will bring us sense of achivement and satisfaction. So, should we run away from problems?

No!

We should not just face our problems, but we should expose ourselves to more experiences every day. That way, our mind will have larger ammount of data to combine and create it's unique set of solutions. Who knows, maybe some day one of those ideas will change the world.

Is creativity a priviledge of the few?

I think that all would agree - the most creative period of our life was our childhood. Playing in the sand with our buddies or spending an hour or two on that new video-game was not wasting time. It was crucial for forming our brains and developing the right-side brain structure. So, if most of us did it then, does it mean that we are all creative? Well, yes… and no.

The important question is to ask ourselves: when did we grow into adults? And what does that mean anyway?

Various things have an impact on developing our creative brains. Social status, the way we were raised, cultural differences, and many more. But when we take all of that, we played in any way we could. Some kids had the most expensive toys in the world, some were playing in the dirt. Charlie Chaplin was so poor as a kid that he made a cake out of mud and pretended to eat it. And he became THE Charlie Chaplin after that.

That leads us to one conclusion: wealth is not connected to development of a child's creative brain in any way. Than what is it?

It's growing up.

To be precise, it's abandoning the creative mind and focusing on the logical, survival-base strategies which are forced upon us as adults, taking more and more responsibilities and tasks throughout the day. Life moves on with or without us and very often we are forced to leave the creative, playful mind behind and focus on the bills. Some of us snaps under that adulthood pressure and BAM! You're 30 and turned into (or not) a boring, tedious person and you don't know why. What's the cure?

Play.

JJust play, have a hobby, do those little things that you've always wanted to do. Take that old guitar and play some tunes. Write a short story. Paint a picture on a kitchen wall. Find a way to take a photo of the moon with your smartphone and binoculars. Spend some time with your inner child. If you don't do it, no one else will, and why the hell not? It can be a lots of fun!

Creativity is priviledge, but not for the rich - for the free.

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