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Category: Inspiration

Oct212011

Ciné-surfer: Inspirational Quotations

Motivating Quotes.com : Dream Quotes have some great quotations of inspiration and thought-stimulation, especially about your dreams. George Lucas and Steven Speilberg are included in the list, as is John Barrymore and Jimminy Cricket (further down the list). My fav has to be Goethe’s… surf by and look it up.

ThinkExist.com boasts it has more than 300,000 quotations, so you can spend plenty of time here looking for the right inspiration you might need today. Their home page, however, displays quotations from people who were born today. Not all quotations are inspirational and motivational, but they’re bound to get you talking or thinking.

Might any of these quotations end up on a call sheet near you?

As a challenge game, you could include, say, 3 to 5 quotations and their 3 to 5 speakers… and then have the crew try to match the quotation with the speaker throughout the shoot day.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

Sep232011

Magic Movie Moment: Once Upon A Time… This Morning

The shadow puppet show gives the kids courage to continue their journey.
(Once Upon A Time… This Morning, 1995)

As festival season is upon us, I’m reminded of films I’ve seen that have left such an impression on me that I wish I could see them again.

In this film (from Thailand) the kids are trying to trek through the city on their own to their other parent. The come across so many challenges and one night, at a low point, the eldest girl brings out and uses their dad’s shadow puppets, taking on the role of telling the story their dad usually tells them – an adventure not unlike their current one… but seen through the dance of metaphor. The telling of the tale not only transports the kids out of their worries and into the magic of the story, but also gives them hope and courage to continue their journey… bringing them all together during their crisis.

How this magical moment reminds us of how important the “bards” are of this world as we all take life’s challenging journey: theatre, music, film, dance, oral tradition, shadow puppets… We work in an essential service in this industry, even if we can’t see the results immediately or directly.

… and that’s a magical, inspiring thought, don’t you think?

Cheers & good on ya!
Deb

Aug262011

Magic Movie Moment: The Blue Brothers

A gleaming white big band plays “Minnie The Moocher”
(The Blues Brothers, 1980)

When Curtis plays the warm up number for the Blue Brothers at the end of the movie, there is a gleaming white big band behind him. The stage is impossibly clean and spacious. Their outfits are distinguished white tails. Whattaband! Whattanumber!

We are magically transported with Curtis to how the performance feels to him, not how it may actually be in reality. His dream has become real… and we are there to witness it!

Curtis’ journey reminds me that when you set a dream in real life and then realize it, the reality may not be exactly as you imagined it… but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t realize the dream. You just have recognize the dream in whatever form it comes to you.

Cheers & happy cinematic dreams to you,
Deb

Jul292011

Inspiration at the Movies: High School Musical 2

“But if along the way you act like someone you’re not, pretty soon that’s who you become.”
– Gabriella (High School Musical 2, 2007)

Painful words, but they ring true. We are defined by our actions, aren’t we? We may deny ourselves when we make certain choices we deem are out of our character (who we want to be or who we think we are), but if we keep repeating these out-of-character choices, then at some point we have to accept that these choices are us… or we have to start making the “right” choices for ourselves. And we have the power to change… and that’s a hopeful thought.

Cheers & good choices to you,
Deb

Jun102011

Inspiration at the Movies: Sahara

“We use events to find dates, not dates to find events.”
– Ya-sheikh (Sahara, 2005)

Numbers can only take you so far, ’tis true. It is the events of our life that first come to mind before dates and ages are recalled. They help to carve our linear existance into stages. How we react to those events – I believe – defines us… although our reactions may differ as we travel and grow through our various and unique stages of lives.

You’re not the same person you were 5 years ago, are you? What event shaped your journey to this place and time in your personal history? It’s the event, not the date that mattered, isn’t it?

Thanks, Ya-sheikh for starting the train of thought.

Cheers,
Deb

May202011

Inspiration at the Movies: The Sound of Music

“Activity suggests a life filled with purpose.”
– Captain Von Trapp (The Sound of Music, 1965)

But even the good Captain is not convinced as he speaks these words to the Baroness. He only hopes there is purpose somewhere inside that busy activity of his.

May we be reminded not to fill our lives with activity hoping that purpose will follow or form itself, instead look for purpose which will then help us to determine the activity necessary in life.

Cheers & may you make the right discovery for you,
Deb

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PM101 in TODo you know about Deb’s appearance in Toronto on May 27 and the “Toronto Area PM101 Facebook Challenge (for a free book)“? To learn more, click here: http://on.fb.me/hEdmNg