How Playing Music Professionally Helped Me Become a Better Video Creator
And the method I use to come up with new creative ideas
When working on a new video idea, framing the next shot on a production, or polishing another cut on the edit, we always look for that “edge”, that secret sauce that would make this piece something different from the rest.
As the Creative Director at Tailor Brands, I often find myself asking, “How should we do it this time?” and I usually need to do this on a very large scale.
My stakeholders look at the successful things that I’ve done and often say: “Let’s do exactly that — but completely differently this time.”
I’m sure a lot of you have come across the same “brief” in your careers as creative professionals.
Here are a few ways I’ve learned to tackle this common challenge.
Filmmaking Vs. Music: Do I Have to Choose?
My whole life, music and filmmaking have been my two passions.
I’m using the word “filmmaking” but I don’t call myself a filmmaker; I feel like that title gets thrown around too easily these days. For the sake of this post, I’ll refer to myself as a “video creator” instead.
I’ve been working on film sets since I was really young. I started out on summer vacations being a production assistant or a water-boy, and over the years, I pretty much went through all of the different roles on a set.
I kind of always knew that this is the career path I’d pursue, and that path eventually led me to lead the whole video and creative efforts at Tailor Brands (more on this in the future).
While I was working in the film industry, I never stopped playing music (semi-professionally I would say). I’m a bass player; I’ve played with several bands over the past 10-or-so years, went on a few international tours, and performed on a bunch of records.
And for the past few years, I’ve been playing bass with a band called “Elisha Banai & the Forty Thieves”.
Before the Covid situation, we used to play big venues and take part in festivals on a regular basis. (On a side note, I have to say I miss it a lot!)
Sometimes the two things kind of collided; for example, I needed to make the hard decision whether to go on a month-long tour with the band I used to play with or to start working on an 8-week feature film production that could really take me to the next level in my career. (I went for the production.)
But I have to say that I never really chose one over the other — and I’m glad I didn’t.
I believe that the fact that I never gave up on music in order to stay focused on becoming a better video creator actually became an asset.
Let me explain how:
Getting Stuck in the Comfort Zone
When we work on a creative project, we often go to the place that feels the most comfortable in the craft. Then we do it over and over again, as we keep mastering our skills and becoming better creators.
So let’s say you’re working on a new video, and the craft that feels most natural and intuitive to you is editing; chances are that you’ll spend more time on the edit than any other thing in the creation, right? (Guilty….)
This will make you a better editor, and that process will just keep happening. Then, over the years, when thinking of a new video idea, your mind will go straight to the edit, and it could be harder to form a great new idea.
So the obvious thing to do — and what most people recommend — is to “get out of your comfort zone”, to work on the parts of creation that feel less intuitive.
For example, if you feel that editing is your strongest skill — you could just focus on shot composition or lighting.
And, sure. You should definitely do that, no doubt.
But I think there’s more to it than that.
How to Break Up Our Thinking Patterns
I look at creative projects of any kind the same way I think of new ideas. I’m not only talking about complete creations like short films, entire paintings or finished songs, but even the parts that make up the whole — like a composed shot, brush stroke, or chord change. These are all ideas themselves.
Thinking of new ideas is like a muscle we need to train; we can get better at it.
When forming a new idea, we scrape through our minds and take bits and pieces of thoughts and references and put them together in order to create something new.
The more our minds are filled with great references and polished skills, the better ideas we’ll be able to form out of them.
We want to fill up our brains with as many great references as we possibly can, and to sharpen up our skills as much as we can. It’s a sure thing that both of these will help you come up with more, and better ideas.
But we also want our ideas to be original and unique; we want our ideas to be “new ideas”. For that, we need to shake things up a bit — we need to break our thinking patterns.
In my experience, strengthening a different skill than you usually use is the best way to do so.
We are so familiar with the craft that we practice on an everyday basis that it makes it harder for us to come up with completely new things when using them.
So, my suggestion to you is: Pick another form of creation, and get better at it everyday.
Go as far away as possible from your current practice. If you’re a photographer, I think it’s better for you to get singing lessons than to start drawing; it would activate different creative muscles in your brain and therefore will help you break those thinking patterns.
(Lately, I’ve been experimenting with synthesizers and groove-boxes.)
You want to try and commit to this new form of creation, to really get better and to sharpen that new skill. This way, you’ll start coming up with new ideas, and eventually even come out with completely new creations. I believe that at this point, the dots will start to connect.
Let’s Wrap It Up
People tend to say that creative professionals always need to have some kind of a passion project — something to get their minds off work.
I feel like when I need to break out of a “creative block,” the last thing I want to do is to jump to a different project and do the same thing I’ve been struggling with for a whole day (or a whole week for that matter).
When I feel like I want to break out — creating and performing new music with my band is my gateway.
So, if you’re finding you’re in a creative block — don’t stress! Just look for another type of creativity that excites you, as far away from your “main” form of creating as possible, and let your mind do the rest!
