Tango Strategy talks with independent filmmaker and photographer, Josh Shayne.
Josh Shayne is a bit of a renaissance man. He is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and creator of Floating Lightbulb Films, a commercial production company. Josh also is a commercial artist, photographer and web designer: http://www.joshshayne.com. Josh was also sent across the country by Stetson Hats to deliver an inaugural hat to President Barack Obama.
Tango Strategy (TS): How do you define creativity?
Josh Shayne (JS): All too often creativity is perceived as exclusive to the arts; however I believe that it can be defined as anything that involves using your imagination. There are creative conversationalists, creative astro-physicists, and if you're lucky you can find a creative accountant.
TS: Where do you find your inspiration?
JS: I don't really find inspiration to be something that comes with a whiz and a flash and a "By Golly, That's It!" moment. More than anything else, my ideas come as a result of putting in time working. When I'm developing a screenplay, for example, I will sit and write for a set number of hours every day. Some days things will move forward, other days I don't get far. Cumulatively, however, there is progress and exciting new ideas unfold in bursts. As Woody Allen brilliantly said, "80% of success is just showing up."
TS: What role does innovation play in your art form? In your specific art work?
JS: Film is such a comparatively young art form, a little over 100 years old that the directions yet unexplored are boundless. While the themes are ancient and universal, we constantly strive to find new stories to tell and to make those stories our own. You can find such innovation in technological achievement, the way a scene is shot, how the music is used with the visuals, by playing with narrative structure in the screenplay and myriad other ways. Innovation occurs as new artists bring themselves and their visions to their medium. To keep myself interested in my work, I am always looking for new ways to visually communicate my ideas and for content that feels original to me.
TS: How does your art form influence innovation in mainstream culture?
JS: We live in a visual age where film and television (among other media) have replaced print as the primary ways that we seek and discover new ideas. In this way, film is perhaps a better agent for spreading innovation rather than influencing how innovation takes place. It both sanctifies a new idea and shows how that idea can be applicable to people's lives. Fashion trends that were once regional explode internationally after a series of movies come out with similarly dressed characters; a musical style can gain wider acceptance and shoot to the top of the charts; or suddenly Vampires are in vogue again. Whether producing content for theatre screens, home television, computers or iPods, it's an exciting time to be a filmmaker.
