So, often as a creative you hear the same word crop up again and again.
In your briefs. In your pitches. In brainstorms and in everyday conversations…
We’d love to see something “Original”.
How can we make this feel more “Original”?
We saw this and thought it was really “Original”.
But what is “Original”? And what does the phrase even mean?!
We all strive to do something that has never been done before:
To produce an idea that no one, in the history of mankind, has ever thought of before us.
But, in reality, is there such a thing?
Can it exist?
Or, are we all just retelling one of the seven basic plots, within our own, individual creative stories?
Filmmaker Kirby Ferguson created a series of films, in which he suggested that everything (every great idea, every masterpiece in every creative category) is a remix. A derivative of something that has come before it. And (in all honesty) he makes a compelling argument!
[Watch the first episode Here]
So, if he is correct, and all the great ideas have already been discovered, where do we look in order to discover Originality?
Well, the truth is that something is only original to the person who has never seen it before.
So, if all of the great ideas have already been discovered, then it's our job to evolve them into the next generation of Game Changers.
I recently watched a TED Talk with Mark Ronson (DJ/Music Producer), where spoke of the evolution of music through sampling and reinvention.
“We live in a post-sampling era. We take the things that we love and we build on them.
And when we really add something significant, and we merge our own musical journey with it; then we have a chance to be a part of the evolution of that music that we love,
as it becomes something new again."
[Watch the complete Ted Talk Here]
WE TAKE THE THINGS THAT WE LOVE AND WE BUILD ON THEM
Picasso once said…
“Good artists copy. Great artists steal”
And he couldn’t have been any more accurate in his irony.
As, only a decade earlier T.S Eliot had been quoted as saying…
"Good poets borrow. Great poets steal"
No matter who said it first, the message can be related to all areas of creativity; whether you create with a pen, a brush, a musical instrument, a sampling desk, an edit suite or a camera… whatever!
The greatest art comes from drawing on the things you love and making them your own. And, as artists in our own fields, it comes as no surprise that a lot of the things we all love are, in fact , pieces of art themselves.
Sometimes we can do this utterly subconsciously.
Like when a songwriter composes his/her next big hit, only to realise later that they have inadvertently copied something that they had heard before.
I am reminded of Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin frontman) and his love of a band called Spirit:
"Taurus" by Spirit
Released 1968
"Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin
Released 1971
Other times, we experience something and knowingly say:
“Well, what if was done this way?”
Take Apple's "Don't Blink" commercial (2017) that captured the viewers undivided attention through the use of Kinetic Typography. Less than a year later Nike took the same attention grabbing visual and made it their own by giving it a very unexpected voice:
Apple "Don't Blink" commercial
Nike "Time is Precious" commercial
And other times, you may discover, within your materials, something that instantly resonates with you and your love of something simply brilliant:
BBC "Walk on the Wild Side" promo
(2009)
I am Alan Partridge (Series 2)
(2002)
No way is right or wrong. As long as we evolve it and add our own spin to it, we are creating something new and sharing it with the world.
One of the greatest tools you have as a creative, is your own experiences to draw upon.
Because, beneath it all; it’s the human truths, those relatable moments, that are going to build the emotional connection between your work and your audience.
Rediscover those experiences that peak your imagination, and mould them into your own new and exciting formats. Because (whether original or not) they are the creations that will draw the line between copying… and reinvention.
[DISCLAIMER - At least 50% of this blog has been borrowed/'reinvented' from Ted Talks]