Inspiration and stuff

Movies inspire me a lot, but there's a lot of different things that inspire me in different areas, e.g. visual style and writing. I'll list a few here and I'll most likely come back to them, but really... There are way too many to count!

Music and Musicians:
Music inspires most people, and it's no different for me. I have a pretty varied taste in music, so I like to listen to everything from female rappers like Azealia Banks, to indie-folk rock bands like Tegan and Sara (my favourite band of all time), to classic hard rock like Fleetwood Mac.
Tegan and Sara are openly gay Canadian twins who have been on the music scene for more than a decade. Their style is constantly evolving and they're always trying new styles and doing off-the-wall collaborations with popular producers like David Guetta. What I mostly love is their acoustic, low-production songs that focus on the lyrics and the guitar, particularly their song 'Walking with a Ghost'. I love to interpret songs in my own way and it'll usually inspire my writing. I interpret Walking with a Ghost as a one-sided relationship that keeps on going, 'I was walking with a ghost', i.e. you're in a relationship with someone who isn't really there, the feelings aren't real.
These real-life problems bring me back to another one of my big inspirations, Diablo Cody. She writes about things that she knows, and beefs them up with dry wit and black comedy. Tegan and Sara do the same thing, but beef up the stories with powerful vocals and beautiful acoustic guitar.
The personal style of musicians is another thing that inspires me so much. In Camera and Lighting we learned about how a picture can make someone come across to the viewer, and in every picture I see of my favourite artists.

This picture of one of my favourite singers and models, Sky Ferreira, taken by Terry Richardson (a rapist pig who shouldn't be given the publicity and adoration he gets from so many people), tells a lot about her. It shows her punk-esque style, and the stark lighting gives it a glossy feel, making her contemporary and modern, a modern punk. Her personal style is very interesting, and definitely inspires me for the styling of my films. She's very androgynous and 'shabby-chic', but still staying feminine with her long blonde hair and sharp, elfen features.

I love this video from her most recent EP. I didn't catch the name of the director, but the visual style is stunning, and combined with the gorgeous cinematography and moody, punk styling, it's one of my favourite music videos of all time.

Fleetwood Mac are another of my favourite bands. Stevie Nicks remains one of the coolest women on the rock scene, a title she has held since the Mac rose to prominence in the 70s with their hit album 'Rumours'. My Mum even said that she always wanted to be Stevie Nicks, she had this look that was mysterious, but seriously cool, demonstrated in this lovely picture of her.

Her style is almost like a 70s hippie witch, with her bead chains and lacey, flowing dresses. This persona is truly awe-inspiring, I love it.

TV and Anime:
I'm really into my anime and manga, and recently I've been watching some that have really inspired me in my writing. I love the Magical Girl genre in anime, which is essentially cute girls in cute costumes fighting evil monsters to save the world, but recently one series has come along that has revolutionized the genre and done beautiful things. This series is Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Don't be fooled by the cute and colourful art-style, this series has a sharp bite. It follows the typical plot of a magical girl anime:

• Cute girl encounters cute magical creature
• Magical creature offers her magical powers so she can fight monsters
• Evil threatens to destroy the city

It has a lot of stock characters too, a term used a lot in ancient Greek theatre, but what this series does is take the basic story, and give it a dark, psychological twist by questioning the morality behind wishes and what we really want in life. Like I said before, don't be fooled, this series has no qualms about killing off your favourite character and tearing your heart out!
Another writer that enjoys genre flipping is Joss Whedon, known best for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favourite TV shows of all time. With 'Cabin in the Woods', he took the teen slasher flick, and completely turned it on it's head with some unbelievable twists and hilarious self-awareness
Joss also has a penchant for strong female characters, e.g. Buffy Summers, Echo from Dollhouse, and Black Widow of Avengers Assemble. Strong female characters are what I'm good at, and nearly all of my favourite characters are strong females.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I honestly could go on forever, but I shall continue this in a part 2 post where I will expand further on this influences!