Watching Children! (But Not in The Creepy Way)

I am totally aware of how the title of this post sounds, but, hear me out.

I must admit, I, like many others, have a phone problem. I often catch myself cycling through the same three social media apps, laying my eyes on an eye-catching photo or video for no more than 30 seconds, then diverting my short-lived gaze to the next. However, in times when I know I must divert my attention to anything other than my phone to think of ideas, I go on typically the most important part of my creative process: my idea walks. 

Just as I pace from one end of my house to the other when I'm on the phone with my friend, I like to walk while having conversations with someone in real life too. Idea walks also enable me to take inspiration from my surroundings; sometimes the littlest thing can spark something in my mind that turns into a story. 

This is a picture I took on a walk I went on during my first trip to LA. Right when I looked at this picture, I imagined the two dogs had fought over who the "Beware the Dog" sign was about, and were on opposite sides of the same fence because they were angry at each other.

So, Joey and I had set off on our trek for ideas. Although it would have been practical to document this using our phones, it was essential to put technology aside and our thoughts first for a little bit. To give you a short recollection of what brought us our idea, here's a short comic below I drew trying to show how it went as best as possible.

So, with the initial thought about a child/adolescent protagonist, Joey and I reviewed the idea of a story we had talked about back in August. The story of a kid who dealt with a loss they don't even know, and tries for a meta-narrative based life that doesn't keep their struggles in mind. In fact, Joey had simply come up with part of the premise while staring out the car window when he would go to work as he was passing a small local cemetery.

Boredom could be such a useful tool sometimes, and I'm glad we got a solid foundation of a story from our walk to the neighborhood park. Once we discuss a little more, letting our mind roam free from designated distractions, I will give you a description of our story! For now, I'll be doing some genre research and case studies of films we may be inspired from.