Why Music Videos Are My Biggest Source of Creative Inspiration
People ask where inspiration comes from like there's a folder somewhere labeled "ideas." Honestly, it comes from everywhere, all the time, whether I'm looking for it or not.
If I had to trace it back to a root for how I think about my main inspirations, it's music videos.
I'm into a genuinely wide range of STUFF — indie, R&B, metal, whatever else sounds good to me. Music videos hold so much creative depth beyond the music for me. They're short-form content that can tell a whole story, or lean entirely into symbolism, and still be so unique, so creative, so personal to a brand or an artist that the possibilities and the inspiration to pull from feel almost endless.
They show you what's actually possible to accomplish and convey in a short amount of time. And they're still the one place unique editing actually lives. All the cool, fun, unexpected editing choices happen in music videos. Period.
That root turned into a habit that never really left.
I pull references from things that seem to have nothing to do with whatever I'm actually working on. A texture. A transition from a video that has nothing to do with the project. A feeling a song gave me once. None of it looks related on paper, and that's kind of the point. Combining things that don't obviously belong together is usually where something actually new comes from. Creative types, am I rite?
This shows up in my client work more than people realize. Music especially says a lot about a person, more than age, gender, or location ever could on their own. What someone listens to tells you something real about who they are, what they're drawn to, what they're trying to feel. Understanding that about a client, or about the community they're trying to reach, changes what actually connects in the work versus what just looks fine on the surface.
So if you're waiting for inspiration to show up looking obviously "creative," it's probably already sitting somewhere you haven't thought to look. A playlist. A show you rewatch for no reason. A random edit you saved and forgot why. Start there, think about weird ways to combine things. You’d be surprised where it can take you.
One video that still lives rent-free in my head, a decade later, is Clams Casino's "All Nite" featuring Vince Staples (heads up, the lyrics are explicit, feel free to mute if that's not your thing).
The editor took scenes from all throughout the day and night and cycled through them in different directions, layered so it looks like one beautiful, colorful shade of a single day, until you realize the images inside that shade are actually different times of day, similar or identical scenes showing up again in a new light. The matching, the pacing, the color, all of it. It's simple but complex at the same time, and honestly, the technique alone is something I deeply admire. I still don't have an actual use for it. I'm just waiting for the right moment to finally reach for it.
Now I actually want to hear from you. What's something that inspires you that most people wouldn't guess? Drop it in the comments below.
If you want help connecting your own scattered sources of inspiration into something that actually works for your brand, come explore fromotion.com or book a chat with me. Talking through ideas with people is genuinely my favorite part of this whole thing.
If any of this has you thinking you might want to try something like the Ultimate Blog Challenge yourself, it's still open all month. Anyone can jump in and start posting daily right alongside the rest of us. You can check it out at ultimateblogchallenge.com.
