A Voice in the Wilderness - Blog
Creating Creativity
The first artists had a blank slate, literally and figuratively: no one had done what they were doing. The same thing goes for the first musicians, photographers and filmmakers. But how do you reinterpret something that has been seemingly done before, again and again? Mr. Elliot Logan ’10 has to ask and answer that question all the time as he films life at a School that has existed for more than 100 years.
How does one come up with new creative ideas within a space that has been photographed and filmed for more than 100 years? This has been a challenge I’ve faced as Shawnigan’s videographer since I started, and even more of a challenge when I attended Shawnigan as a student, participating in photography and film after school. Everywhere I look, every object I see is something that has been covered extensively. Whether that be the Chapel, the inter-House events or even the trees around campus – everything has been captured through someone’s creative eye. So how do I come up with unique ways of telling a story through cinematography that hasn’t been done before?
Before I answer that, let's take a look at the history of different art forms. The oldest known paintings have been dated to 40,000 years ago, found in the Franco-Cantabrian region in Western Europe. The earliest-known notion of music dates back to prehistoric cultures during the Upper Paleolithic through the modern findings of bone flutes. Theatre performances have proliferated over the past 2,500 years since classical Athens. If you look towards more recent years, photography was invented in 1822 when the first photo was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. By 1892 the world was blessed with the first kinetoscope. By peering into a box it allowed one person to view moving pictures, and thus cinema was born. By looking at these dates we can say that film and photography are incredibly young in their respective timelines. Some of these art forms have had thousands of years to explore, grow and evolve into the current creative market we see today.
So again, how do I, a modern videographer shooting in a world saturated in media, come up with something unique? The main concepts I am constantly working towards are reinterpretation, storytelling and collaboration. Instead of viewing the campus as a trampled limitation, I look at it as an opportunity to introduce my own creativity, my own artistic expression. As many great artists throughout history have reconceptualized common themes in painting, music and theatre, these same fundamentals can apply to my work in cinema. I am constantly seeking new ways to tell a story and since my main focus is students, I always try to capture them in a way that resonates with their parents or our greater community. I approach this with cinematic ambience, emotional sound design, and a timeline that tells a story from start to finish. Lastly, collaboration is a powerful tool to produce new ideas. I am lucky to work with extremely talented creatives, and by bouncing ideas off them it allows me to push artistic boundaries and expose ideas I wouldn’t otherwise think existed.
Before I answer that, let's take a look at the history of different art forms. The oldest known paintings have been dated to 40,000 years ago, found in the Franco-Cantabrian region in Western Europe. The earliest-known notion of music dates back to prehistoric cultures during the Upper Paleolithic through the modern findings of bone flutes. Theatre performances have proliferated over the past 2,500 years since classical Athens. If you look towards more recent years, photography was invented in 1822 when the first photo was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. By 1892 the world was blessed with the first kinetoscope. By peering into a box it allowed one person to view moving pictures, and thus cinema was born. By looking at these dates we can say that film and photography are incredibly young in their respective timelines. Some of these art forms have had thousands of years to explore, grow and evolve into the current creative market we see today.
So again, how do I, a modern videographer shooting in a world saturated in media, come up with something unique? The main concepts I am constantly working towards are reinterpretation, storytelling and collaboration. Instead of viewing the campus as a trampled limitation, I look at it as an opportunity to introduce my own creativity, my own artistic expression. As many great artists throughout history have reconceptualized common themes in painting, music and theatre, these same fundamentals can apply to my work in cinema. I am constantly seeking new ways to tell a story and since my main focus is students, I always try to capture them in a way that resonates with their parents or our greater community. I approach this with cinematic ambience, emotional sound design, and a timeline that tells a story from start to finish. Lastly, collaboration is a powerful tool to produce new ideas. I am lucky to work with extremely talented creatives, and by bouncing ideas off them it allows me to push artistic boundaries and expose ideas I wouldn’t otherwise think existed.
In conclusion, it's important to approach this budding industry with curiosity and confidence. By using reinterpretation, storytelling and collaboration, you too can create something in the world of cinema that has never been seen before.
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” – Albert Einstein.
Please visit youtube.com/shawnigantube to see the wide array of videos produced at Shawnigan.
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” – Albert Einstein.
Please visit youtube.com/shawnigantube to see the wide array of videos produced at Shawnigan.
After graduating from Shawnigan, Elliot Logan ’10 (Duxbury) went on to a successful career in the film industry. He currently works in the Communications department as a filmmaker and is the Broadcasting 360 instructor.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
