Home Forums The Think Tank Creativity What movies are great for artistic inspiration?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 33 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #989370
    artist111
    Default

        im keeping this fairly open ended. could be a movie about an artist, but could also just be a brilliant movie that gets the creative juices flowing.

        Ill start. Any David Lynch film especially Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr and Inland Empire

        #1155883
        Use Her Name
        Default

            I generally avoid movies about artists because they seem to dwell on mental illness, depression, alcoholism, suicide, drug addiction, abusive relationships and general stupidity. You just don’t see any good examples of artists who are happy and productive, and not insane because that is not “Hollywood.”

            I tend to like “making-of” videos that you see on the menus of various DVDs. All zillion hours of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy were pretty inspiring to an artist. I liked seeing all the various “crafts” come together. I also had no idea that the filming of all 3 movies was done consecutively, and also that it took a full 5 years of planning before filming was started. This made me learn, and think a lot about my unrealistic assumptions about planning and the creation of large artwork.

            This is probably not quite what you had in mind for this thread.

            No longer a member of WC. Bye.

            #1155885
            Horsa
            Default

                The recent documentary on Chauvet cave is very inspiring. “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” it is now available for streaming from Netflix, but try to see it in 3d on a big screen if you can.

                The first two of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser films have a lot of inspiring and beautiful imagery, if you can get past what the image is of…

                Kurosawa’s Ran has some inspiring imagery.

                Early black&white German horror films inspire me. Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu especially.

                Films that win the Oscar for cinematography tend to be inspiring.

                Interestingly I don’t often find films about art or artists to be as inspiring.

                My Painting Blog: http://adkpainter.blogspot.com/

                This is our ART: useless, boring, impotent, elitist, and very, very beautiful.

                #1155886
                Evelien1
                Default

                    Best for me was an obscure Russian movie, ‘Rubljev’ by Tarkovsky. Old black and white movie, probably not for everyone but it’s almost like a thesis on the ins and outs of artisthood. I know other artists who feel the same. On and off this film is played at the filmmuseum (Amsterdam/netherlands) and when I go there, I often see one or two colleages showing up as well.
                    American beauty – I really liked that one too. About the sweet and sour of beauty, the black and gold merged into one. That inexplicable core of – what really. It’s light and painful at the same time, heavy and still seeming to float.

                    You’re right UseHerName, even a movie about Frida Kahlo became like a list of dates and diseases. I guess out of respect for the subject… Film is a medium of its own.
                    The above two are top of my list, just a few extra came to mind –
                    There was this other movie about a psychologist entering the mind of a serial killer, which had a breathtaking underworld scene. Done by a filmmaker who usually does videoclips. Was it called The Cell?
                    I liked Alain Delon (in Rocco and his brothers) for his incredible beauty. Great if you’re into guy portraits.
                    About the true importance of art: “As is in heaven”, a touching Swedish movie about a succesful musician with health problems, who takes up the leading of a smalltown church choir, rediscovering the real (social) function of art as he focuses on the peoples’voices, falls in love with the supermarket girl etc.
                    And to tickle the visual nerves – ‘what dreams may come’, which is almost completely situated in an entire family’s afterlife. Great visuals and imagination. Makes you feel like anything is possible.

                    Evelien from Amsterdam

                    #1155879
                    Tattau
                    Default

                        The 1982 version of “The Razor’s Edge” always makes my heart want to burst from my chest.

                        Artwork does not become "Art" until someone buys it... until then, it's just an obsession... and a storage problem.
                        I welcome constructive critiques and comments from anyone and anywhere.
                        My website

                        #1155881
                        AllisonR
                        Default

                            The movie “the artist” is actually pretty inspiring I think. It has some fantastically photographic scenes.
                            Also, something that is really different than what you are used to. I just saw the movie a separation, where a lot of scenes were typical, but typical for Iran. As I have never been to Iran, and don’t have much access to Iranian films, culture, environment…. it was not “typical” for me at all. Just being different opens the brain up to other possibilities.

                            Being born places you at a greater risk of dying later in life.

                            http://www.artallison.com/
                            #1155884
                            kate252
                            Default

                                Seraphine. its a delightful film a MUST WATCH experience- with plenty of footage of her wonderful- wonderful paintings. this film isnt a bore- it isnt a chore but a delight.
                                http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1048171/

                                #1155890
                                lenday
                                Default

                                    love those ancient B/W movies too – theres a good collection of 20s 30s Arts movies like this one
                                    http://youtu.be/BAqxEq4ylb4
                                    ‘Le sang d’un poéte’ – Jean Cocteau
                                    and Fernand Léger’s – ‘Ballet Mechanique’
                                    http://youtu.be/H_bboH9p1Ys
                                    Most look amateurish, and likely to fall to bits,
                                    but theres a sense of discovery & excitement
                                    that’s infectious.

                                    #1155891
                                    bekkilyn
                                    Default

                                        The movie, Hero, with Jet Li. Beautiful movie. Lovely colors.

                                        Trailer:
                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srFhXDZhUZI

                                        Rebecca

                                        "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." - Confucius
                                        My blog: http://www.rebeccachapman.org

                                        #1155893
                                        maleaco
                                        Default

                                            Shindlers list

                                            #1155880
                                            Tattau
                                            Default

                                                I also get thrilled with the ‘blockbuster’ movie giants like “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Ben Hur,” “Moses,” “Lust for Life,” and “Cleopatra.”

                                                Artwork does not become "Art" until someone buys it... until then, it's just an obsession... and a storage problem.
                                                I welcome constructive critiques and comments from anyone and anywhere.
                                                My website

                                                #1155878
                                                robertsloan2
                                                Default

                                                    Walking With … Dinosaurs, Beasts, Cavemen, Allosaurus, Nigel Marvin… that whole series. They did the extinct animals so well between animatronics and CGI that almost all of them look true to life, plus the settings were shot in New Zealand so all the landscapes are insanely wonderful beauty as landscapes.

                                                    Any good nature documentaries set in places I’ve never been, especially the tropics. Medicine Man, Jurassic Park (any of them), any films with breathtaking scenery.

                                                    Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and I want to own it, that and The Hobbit when that’s done and it comes out on DVD.

                                                    Any undersea documentaries but especially the ones on coral reefs. Coral reefs never fail to inspire me. Someday when I’m prosperous and self supporting again I’m going to save up for a vacation in the Keys or in Australia on the Barrier Reef and go snorkeling with a white board or series of white boards and grease pencils or non toxic oil pastels. I’ll test the oil pastels in a swimming pool first, but I want to do underwater plein air sketching while snorkeling someday.

                                                    That and use various other mediums that won’t work underwater in a glass bottom boat over coral reefs with bright fish and corals and crustaceans, sit down by tide pools, basically draw sea life from life in any medium that works. From Jacques Cousteau on to the present day ones those always inspire me.

                                                    I would love to see the old Jacques Cousteau documentaries digitally remastered and re-colored. Color wasn’t too good in those days and sometimes the film’s faded but if they can restore it and use digital technology to improve the resolution it would rock.

                                                    Another movie with good landscapes and architecture was Name of the Rose, that was so atmospheric and visually gorgeous.

                                                    That sort of thing grabs me much more than present day scenery in films. I like nature. Films with long passages of animals where narration is voice over rather than on stage people are the ones I like best. Even if I’m not watching it to paint from it, I like to have them going in background – especially if I own them and I’ve seen it a thousand times. I’ll put it on and relax and pay attention to the best bits as they come up, it’s got a feeling like having a window into wilderness.

                                                    Africa. Documentaries set in Africa, Asia, Indonesia in wilderness areas always grab me. Pretty much anything tropical. Island biomes too.

                                                    Blockbuster movies with good scenery tend to dwell on the human characters more than the stuff that I want to paint someday so they fall on a B list unless as with LOTR the people are more fantasy oriented.

                                                    Oddly, one exception is pure art itself. I like Diablo I and II as art. They’re games not movies but the art is so good that I wind up studying it looking for how they simplified, how they got the lighting, what colors they use for those effects. I like old stone buildings and castles too but most documentaries with them will also have a lot of power lines and cars and people in modern dress running about, doing car chases and the like instead of dwelling on nature and ancient stone structures.

                                                    Some documentaries on ancient cultures also have good scenery, especially South American ones where they wander off into wildlife when they run into it.

                                                    I guess I’m mostly a nature nut when I want film to draw by!

                                                    Oh, and cats. Any documentary about any species of cat, I’m all over it. Raptors come next but cats always get first place.


                                                    Robert A. Sloan, proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
                                                    Site owner, artist and writer of http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com
                                                    blogs: Rob's Art Lessons and Rob's Daily Painting

                                                    #1155894
                                                    tine5
                                                    Default

                                                        The recent documentary on Chauvet cave is very inspiring. “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” it is now available for streaming from Netflix, but try to see it in 3d on a big screen if you can.

                                                        The first two of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser films have a lot of inspiring and beautiful imagery, if you can get past what the image is of…

                                                        Kurosawa’s Ran has some inspiring imagery.

                                                        Early black&white German horror films inspire me. Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu especially.

                                                        Films that win the Oscar for cinematography tend to be inspiring.

                                                        Interestingly I don’t often find films about art or artists to be as inspiring.

                                                        I agree. Anything from the Weimar cinema era is amazingly inspirational. The sets reject technology and show the inner turmoil of characters in the external world (hence them all being distorted and gloomy).
                                                        Film Noir is a good genre (which came from Weimar). Try looking at some scenes from ‘The Killers’ (based on a Hemmingway short story).

                                                        #1155897
                                                        Rose1512
                                                        Default

                                                            Hi there, I recently watched The Tree of Life and it had some spectacular images.

                                                            #1155898
                                                            Basalt
                                                            Default

                                                                You said Tree of Life, made me think of The Fountain

                                                              Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 33 total)
                                                              • The topic ‘What movies are great for artistic inspiration?’ is closed to new replies.