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Brainstorming

Brainstorming can be done independently, but it can also be effective to work with multiple brains.

This page will guide you through the concept of brainstorming and provide multiple resources for developing your best ideas. 

A Foundation

Before the production process can begin, you need a good idea. Brainstorming is a collaborative and creative process in which you should be focused on generating as many ideas as possible. 

As you begin your project, it is it is helpful to try a variety of brainstorming practices.  This exploration enables you to be flexible and adaptable with your thinking, which is the necessary foundation for creative thought. 

A collaborative approach to brainstorming will not only help you generate creative ideas, it will help each crew member visualize how their role will contribute to the film. 

Teacher only box

These are some fun tools and games that you might want to purchase for the classroom that can help the students develop ideas through play.

 The Writer's Toolbox includes a number of different idea generation tools, including spinning wheels, story sticks, and idea generation cards. 
Storycubes are simple dice with pictures.  Each picture may take on a new meanings when juxtaposed with the resulting roles of the other dice.
What the Film is a board game. Student might come up with some clever ideas by playing the game itself, but simply taking the cards and finding good combinations of location, character, and plot point. 

Where to Start 

Any project may begin with a teacher determined prompt or be more open-ended.  Either of these approaches will contain ideas that can be developed and refined through any of the brainstorming processes.  The ideas below can be used in isolation or in combination to further develop and refine ideas.  

It is also important to note that almost all of these ideas start with a central characteristic of creative though - to demonstrate flexible thinking free of judgment, and to be comfortable with ambiguity.

First Idea, Worst Idea

First Idea, Worst Idea is a great place to start for any project. By laying out the worst possible idea for a project first, it will force you to both bypass simple or typical ideas, as well as ideas that are too far outside of the box for consideration.  However, this process does allow both of those types of ideas to resurface in more intriguing and complex forms later on in the process. Learn more about this process here. 

Mind Maps

Mind maps are visual diagrams that develop from a central concept, theme, or idea.  That central point becomes the start of the map; from there the map will grow and develop  branches out into related elements, forming a web of connections. It's a technique that encourages non-linear thinking and allows you to explore multiple possibilities at once. Learn more about this process here. 

Random Idea Generation

Random Idea Generators might be a great place to start if you have no initial ideas to start with.  They won't give you a great idea - but they can set you off on a path to find one. Try some of our homemade, InThinking only idea generation machines:

The Story Machine 

Postmodern Film Generator 

Random Film Generator 

The Theme-Machine 

SCAMPER

SCAMPER is a brainstorming technique often used by designers and artists to iterate and/or develop an idea.  SCAMPER is an anagram that stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate, and Reverse. This is a useful technique to develop an idea that needs further development for filmmakers as well.  

Learn more about how you can use this process here.

Additional Resources

The following online resources could be helpful for brainstorming:

Magnetic Poetry Online:  This website will give you a bunch of random words.  Arrange them to form a sentence that describes the story arc of your film. 

Wheel of Names: Come up with your own random generators with this fully customizable randomizing spinning wheels. You can save these wheels for repeated and future use.

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