Watch: Where Do Ideas Come From?: a short film on the nature of inspiration

Posted on 26th July 2017 By Billy Langsworthy

Transom, a showcase and workshop for new public radio, has launched a short film looking at the mysterious nature of inspiration.

Directed and edited by Andrew Norton and with funding from The National Endowment for the Arts, Where Do Ideas Come From? sees the likes of filmmaker David Lynch, skateboarder Ray Barbee and artist Chuck Close (as well as a couple of kids named Mason and Ursula) discuss ideas about ideas.

“I feel like inspiration is the type of thing no one wants to talk about,” creator Andrew Norton told Transom.

“When researching where creative folks find inspiration, I came across one camp that positioned the artist as a lightning rod through which ideas funnel, seemingly out of your control. Another camp believed inspiration could be generated only through elbow grease; like rubbing your socks on the carpet to create static electricity.

“This is all to say it seemed like an interesting subject to investigate and maybe bring some grey area to. Collect a bunch of people’s takes on the subject — in part to assure myself that even people more talented than me also struggle to come up with ideas, but also to perhaps figure out some techniques and demystify the idea-generating process.”

Check out Norton’s Where Do Ideas Come From? below: