Excessive ideas

[PaperIsland]

If I get a lot of ideas that are at odds with each other, I wait to see which ideas I come back to. If I reinvent an idea in response to the same problem, I figure that there's a good chance it's a good idea.

I don't know about overhauling though... it seems like if you overhauled your project in the middle to add a new idea, it would ruin the overall concept you were going for. If your idea isn't going to change your overall concept, then you're probably not really overhauling.

[Knowname]

I had like a million ideas like 10 years ago and have been working on them ever since lol... it's amazing that almost none of them have been done STILL to this point!!

[Knowname]

oh... wrong question... well anyway, that one's over do mine! discuss or not I don't care.

[JaddziaDax]

actually its stuff like that that prevents me from working on a video.

[mchick101]

actually its stuff like that that prevents me from working on a video.

Same here.

I've had tons of ideas pop in my head and there are so many, I'm not sure which one to start on first.
If there was a sure fire way to eliminate ideas, innie minnie miney moe anyone, I would try it. Actually, if the idea is almost burning a hole in my head... and I truly know what I'm going to do, that's when I start working on it.

[LuluandAuron]

actually its stuff like that that prevents me from working on a video.

...and now I have 7 I'm working on.

In years before, it would work on two at a time and that was a manageable amount. This year however, all the ideas/concepts that built up over the years got thrown on the table, and I now have a mountain of work.

So the other day, I had to sit down and reason with myself to choose one video and put the next 100 hours into it, without wavering.

Out of the 7 videos, 3 are fairly straight forward editing. Three have more difficult music then I'm used to working on, and the last one has very difficult editing (for my level anyways).

So that's my plan Knowname, otherwise I'd be posting the same problem in 10 years I fear >_<

So my questions to you guys is, do you ever get an overload of ideas that conflict with your original ideas?

And in the process of making a specific video, do you find yourself giving the project a big overhaul because of all the new ideas, or maybe for some other reason? And how do you come to terms in the process with it to make your final product?

I usually have a good idea before I start what the finished product will look like. Sometimes however due to lack of skills to pull it off, I'll set it aside and work on another video that will push me towards gaining the skills to complete the first video.

But as for overhauling hmmmm. I'm not sure if this would fit with what you are saying but,....I was always taught that if you hear something in a video (eg the verse, chorus, guitar riff, ect ect) to repeat the way you edited it the last time (not clip wise of course...but editing wise). That way you give your video a nice uniform look and the audience knows what to expect.

So down the timeline of a video, I might discover some effect or way of editing that matches the music better. If so, I go back and edit those parts of the music in the same way.

To know a videos finished, I get a feeling. But the final test...and I'm not even kidding you is:
- I turn the lights off.
- sit as far back from my computer as I can
- squint my eyes
- and play the video

It sounds silly, but by doing that, you are not seeing the clips as much as you are seeing how the video changes in relationship to the music. If you've made a mistake, your brain will pick it up.

[Farlo]

i used to have that problem, write your ideas down, they come in handy when you get creators block.

[Mr Pilkington]

Yeah, I have probably 250+ ideas down on paper. Literally! Some decent, some suck. Some already done so I scrap them, some done shittly so I save them. The ones I'm really passionate about I end up story-boarding. A few of my betas have 2-3 pages worth of notes, outlines, characters, etc. But most of those go down in flames for one reason or another: Hdd crash 2 days before con deadline (never fails), comp breaks and requires expensive fix (current), work reasons, really any number of obstacles. Its the tiny little comedy videos which can be crapped out without forethought that ever make it to life.

[DriftRoot]

I don't stall out due to an overload of ideas so much as weighing the likelihood of being able to pull OFF certain ideas (given the amount of time, skills and material I have to work with) makes many of my ideas far too ambitious for any or all of these reasons to really pursue. My ideas don't get in the way so much as the time/skills/material limitations do.

Meanwhile I'm demanding I challenge myself, prove that I CAN pull off certain ideas - however farfetched or difficult they are - and so other factors arrive to force decisions upon me, like entering an AMV competition or finishing something I've started. It's mostly a matter of forcing myself to make AMVs I believe I can make. Sometimes I do have to give up, which is horrible because I have a lot of ideas that IMO are really fantastic...but I don't have what it takes to realize them, which is quite depressing. it's even more depressing when I try and fail miserably.

And in the process of making a specific video, do you find yourself giving the project a big overhaul because of all the new ideas, or maybe for some other reason? And how do you come to terms in the process with it to make your final product?

As blabbler can atest, I cannot storyboard most of my ideas. This applies to my creative process as a whole, in that I almost never create anything - in any form - starting with a clear plan. My ideas/creative projects evolve on their own (usually), which means even if I start out with one idea, if I come across another, better idea down the road I will jump the tracks and head in an entirely new direction. This is the one reason it takes me so long to make AMVs. Even if I have a certain concept in mind, the method to achieving that concept is rarely clear from the outset. I do not believe in boxing myself in - if it takes me five times as long to finish a creative project as someone else, then so be it as long as the results are the best I can manage.

[Knowname]

To know a videos finished, I get a feeling. But the final test...and I'm not even kidding you is:
- I turn the lights off.
- sit as far back from my computer as I can
- squint my eyes
- and play the video

It sounds silly, but by doing that, you are not seeing the clips as much as you are seeing how the video changes in relationship to the music. If you've made a mistake, your brain will pick it up.

sounds like the force is strong with this one. come to the dark side