TED Talks: Jakob Trollback

When searching through the TED database, I was focusing on finding a talk I hadn't heard before that still had relevance to the film industry. I chose this interesting talk done by designer Jakob Trollback. Jakob took a song that contained different instruments and spoken words and tried to create a music video based more around the music, rather than having a concept or narrative story. The result is a mind-bending spectacle of lights, sounds and words that looks less like a music video and more like an acid trip.

The idea behind this is that sometimes it is best to think outside the box, and use a more experimental approach to filmmaking. Music videos have always been more of an experimental entity within the film industry, giving young filmmakers a chance to perfect their craft. I feel that music videos are also great networking opportunities for likeminded individuals to meet up and get creative together. Many famous directors have started out doing music videos for influential artists, and some continue to do music videos throughout their careers.

This talk also shows that even people who are outside the film industry have the ability to be creative and make artistic videos. Even though this had no narrative and relied on colors, sounds and images to get the emotional expressions across to the viewers, they still succeeded in creating something extremely artistic and original. I would love to see him make a music video for something more along the lines of his chosen visuals such as house music and/or electronica.

Overall, what I got out of this TED Talk was that creativity comes in many different shapes, and anyone has the ability to be creative. You don't have to play by the rules 24/7, and sometimes being strange and out of the box is not only refreshing but also influential.

-Michael