Review: 14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas

14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas

             In the article we were assigned Ditkoff expanded on several ideas from some of the greatest minds in history.  Such as Einsteins quote “Not Everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted” or Edisons “I didn’t fail once. I learned 800 times what didn’t work.”  He takes these quotes and expands on them giving them a deeper meaning.  He relates Edison’s quote to tolerance of ambiguity, meaning that he was ok with not knowing and to be totally creative you can’t be overly critical of yourself.

              Ditkoff grabbed me on the first page when he started to describe the two types of thinking.  Western which he boiled down to “I think therefore I am” and Eastern that he expressed as “I am, therefore I think.”  I personally stopped after the second quote, ignoring the last sentence in the paragraph, I thought to myself which of the two do I fall under.  I then decided that this guy was full of shit, because I fell under both.  I then read the next paragraph, where he goes on to say that everyone dips into both philosophies at different times due to various circumstances, realizing this guy knew what he was talking about.

              Ditkoff also wrote in a style similar to my own.  It wasn’t a dry read he expressed opinions and humor and in my opinion that is lacking far too much in literature in general.  He even manages to slide in a Simpsons reference!  It’s as if the one place in media you can’t change the established norm is in literature, so I applaud him for taking what five years ago would have been considered a dangerous approach to it.

              I think the article can be summed up best with letting go. The majority of the 14 Ways deal with fantasizing and throwing logic out the door, a dare to dream type of recommendation.  Once you’ve done that nurture the idea and strive to bring it to fruition.

5              Ditkoff asks us to think of a current challenge of ours.  What would a fantasy solution to this challenge look like?  What clues does this fantasy solution give?  I’ve been having some issues at work there technical issues that would easily be solved with new equipment.  The owner of course doesn’t want to spend cash to fix these issues he thinks we should just repair the broken equipment not replace it.  So for the past week or two I’ve been fantasizing about killing him(not really), but this in a way shows me what I need to do.  I need to get the boss out of the way.  My fantasy of him dead shows him out of the way so I need to explore if there is a way to obtain this.  No I don’t mean kill him, but make it so that he can’t object to it convey it in a way he has no way of shooting it down.

6              Ditkoff also says we need to define the right challenge.  That we need to state our most
inspired challenge or opportunity as a question beginning with words “How can I?”  Then to write it five different ways.  Which is the real question?

How can I get the boss to purchase new equipment?

How can I get new equipment purchased?

How can I purchase the equipment?

How can I make the boss realize we need new equipment?

How can I repair the old equipment so that we don’t need new equipment?

                The real question is; How can I make the boss realize we need new equipment?  I need to make him realize the road we’re going down with constant repairs isn’t as feesable as new stuff.  Sometimes it becomes to costly to keep making the repairs.

9              Ditkoff challenges us, to challenge existing trends.  What trends in the marketplace most intrigue us?  In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years-and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?  I’m currently most intrigued by the 3D wave.  I think we’ll see a huge shift to 3D in the coming years but I don’t think it will be permanent I think that it will only be temporary and shift back.  So my idea would be to further the development of 2D or perhaps a TV that has both options of 3D and 2D.  Lets face it though I don’t have anywhere near the funding for this type of project.

                Ditkoff however suggest that’s just another idea.

How can I get the money to invent my TV.

How can I…

They're my opinions, so they're right.

Comments that I've shared with classmates about their blogs.

Steve's Soundscape


My Opinion on Jack's Piece


And Alex's

You're the Inspiration

 

Steven Spielberg is by far my largest influence visually.  Every movie he’s made has been gold sure there are some bad ones in there but even Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull was beautiful cinematically.  Take for instance the scene I chose to use as my visual representation of his work Saving Private Ryan.  He uses Contrast and Affinity through the entire piece all the soldiers match whether it is the grime on their face causing them to blend with the shadows of the boat or the green of their camo matching everyone else.  They greatly contrast everything surrounding them on the beaches which are all much brighter colors.  The entire movie is based on Tension and Release.  We obviously have much tension in the beach scene eventually they overcome the odds and take the beach releasing the tension only to have it amped up again moments later.  He only chooses films that seem to have a bigger Subtext than most, he doesn’t seem to be in it simply for the money he also wants to teach his audience something valuable usually reflecting on society as a whole. The man seems to squeeze in every possible shot in the book during this beach scene, every main cast member has a Close Up, there are multiple Wide Shots showing the massive action, and even Over The Shoulder shots of the Nazi’s shooting at the soldiers.    There is a reason that Steven Spielberg is the top grossing director of all time and it’s cause he’s simply the best.

I debated on whether or not to include George Lucas the man has only directed 6 movies.  He’s a phenomenal writer and an even better marketer .  The man is a horrible director, at least in his later years, but his ability to market himself and his product should be a desired trait for anyone in business.  In Hollywood or just the entertainment industry in general it’s all about the sell and the man can sell.  He has managed to do something’s right though his perception of Contrast and Affinity is spot on.  Take a shot of Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers facing off against Luke and Han.  He has Vader contrasting with his own men showing that he is obviously the leader but a couple of frames later you see Vader and the stormtroopers chasing down the heroes.  Now they have affinity between them they are black and white versus the heroes in color.  An effect used in a similar way in The Wizard of Oz.  But I’d love to be able to convey the stories that Lucas has in his head.   The man has made a life off of essentially one movie, maybe the most impressive thing he ever did was convince Fox to let him keep the rights to Star Wars.

P.S. Think everyone can accept a Star Wars visual so I thought I’d show a scene from his non Scifi work.

Sometimes you can be inspired by someone to do the opposite.  You think their doing such a bad job that you don’t want to be like them at all.  For me professionally, from a director’s standpoint, this person is J.J.Abrams, well in a way.  Abrams has some bad habits in his movies but he has some spectacular shots also.  He is a young director he’ll admit that in the public eye he has been “over pushed”.  He’ll admit that he uses Lens Flares far too often in the interview below at the 6:58 mark he starts talking about them and how he’s guilty of over using them.  He uses a lot of affinity and contrast and usually they coincide with the Mood and Tone.  If he’s trying to build suspense he goes to a dark color and usually the majority of the screen is dark.  When the mood has lightened up he goes to bright contrasting colors. In a way he ties it all together with tension and release also.  So aspiring to get into film in some way shape or form, I’d like to be able to claim when I’m doing something wrong.

Remember the 6:58 mark.

Soundscape Vid