Where do you get your story ideas? I get mine from watching other films.

Life. The best stories will come from your life experiences - there's a reason most good directors and screenwriters are older.

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Originally posted by Cinematical:
Life. The best stories will come from your life experiences - there's a reason most good directors and screenwriters are older.

I couldn't agree more with the above statement. You should never watch other films, solely for the purpose to getting more ideas. You'd just be recycling old ideas. Instead, like he said, write what you feel and what you are interested in. Write what makes you feel that euphoric emotion. A good film elicits emotion marvelously.

i think that for me, stories come from the way i constantly ask "why?" to myself about everything in life....when i see something that looks like a way for me to answer this question, i make a film about it.

I am currently working on a short film based on a bathroom i saw. it was covered in typical vulgar bathroom graffiti...so i ask myself "why write this?" ... "why write anything?" so i created a story about two people who help eachother overcome the isolation they have created in their lives by communicating through bathroom graffiti....because it answers my question... in a way.

I try to make myself alert to what is going on around me and mindlessly wander and rabbit-trail from (usually trivial) events or situations that happen to stick out to me. Or I'll pace around vigorously late at night talking to myself. Or I'll clear my mind and just sit still in a place where there isn't anything to distract me.

From all of these, I almost always end up developing a distinct image or a specific line of dialog in my head that I get very passionate about. What I end up with is nowhere close to being a complete story. Its just a fragment of a fragment of a scene, but its bold and its vibrant and I love it.

After I've collected all these seemingly incompatible fragments, I start realizing the greater story that already exists that connects all of these pieces into one. And then all I have to do is uncover that story.

So essentially I binge on all these striking scenes and messages that I am literally aching to tell, and then purge them all out into a cohesive and powerful string that ties them all together.

braininabox...you just described my life... that is EXACTLY how i build my stories... i guess what i forgot to say earlier is that it isn't a process of really "thinking" about the scenes, etc...they feel their way out.

I should also say that the frantic pacing in the wee hours of the morning is the most exciting feeling in the world!

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Originally posted by Evan:
braininabox...you just described my life... that is EXACTLY how i build my stories... i guess what i forgot to say earlier is that it isn't a process of really "thinking" about the scenes, etc...they feel their way out.

I should also say that the frantic pacing in the wee hours of the morning is the most exciting feeling in the world!

I definitely agree!

Asking yourself what if, and pacing around the room is the way to go. Talking to yourself isn't crazy! It's freakin liberating! XD

On a side note:

Evan, I REALLY like your film idea. (start a thread, tell us more!)

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tell us more!)

why? so you can steal my idea???

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Originally posted by Evan:

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tell us more!)

why? so you can steal my idea???

It's probably best to keep our ideas to ourselves on forums. You really never know who might really steal them. :\ I've been around some pretty crazy people in my day.

I'm filmmaker that devotes his ideas to pictures. You see I'm also an amateur photographer and I'm always finding myself creating ideas and stories from the photos I make. I love the secretness of the post-production stage; no one knows the great work you've done until BAM! I love to see peoples reactions.

All of my stories and outlines I've ever created started with a character. The character itself started with a species, then a past, then a tragic personality that sets them up for strange encounters. Then I put them in setting... give them people to talk to, and the ideas roll out.

Most of these thoughts begin during the hours I lie in my bed TRYING to fall asleep... when I'm supposed to be sleeping, the only thing I can get away with doing is thinking. Start with a character and build... that's my mission statement.

Hope I helped -
Kim