Time for episode 5. Another episode full of ideas for making yourself more creative and having some laughs along the way.
It’s not easy is it? Or is it easy for you? Being as creative as you can be requires effort, continually working at your craft. That includes ‘reverse engineering’. For example, copying out word for word your favourite book, sitcom or movie.
You see you can watch, you can listen and you can read but as a writer you want to know how the drama or comedy came about. You only learn that from copying and seeing how the writer spent his or her words.
Who is your favourite? The person or persons you admire, the ones that inspire, find them copy the best bits and you are going to learn a lot very quickly.
Do subscribe to Jelly Trumpet for future ways of expanding your imagination. O’ and leave as a thrilling review, well, if you think Jelly Trumpet is of merit…
Why is it the 8-bit edition? You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out.
You can listen to the sample on this page or click on the ’Subscribe’ button below.
Stuff We’ll Hear in this Episode:
- How Vikings brought Hemel Hempstead to a standstill for two weeks
- Why creativity means seeing patterns and then having a cup of tea
- Kneehigh theatre, the most exciting theatre company in the UK? [UPDATE: SADLY KNEEHIGH THEATRE IS NO MORE]
- Meet Emile the Eagle Owl and his massive talons
It’s not all easy is it? Being creative comes with decisions, especially with collaborators. I lost one, a man I loved like a brother. It’s a regret you have when attempting to do your best work and I’m not proud.
You Are Your Own Medicine
‘You are Your Own Medicine’ is a diary really about your creative time, what works what doesn’t. You keep this diary up to date after every creative session. How you work becomes quicker and easier. You are being your own coach as no one else will do it for you.
As mentioned in the intro to this post, reverse engineering is a short cut to creative freedom, you release a lot of doubts by copying the best in your field.
In short, in this episode:
02:09 You Are Your Own Medicine, reverse engineer a sitcom
05:25 Challenge at Home, patterns and creativity, changing the questions when blocked
07:48 Creative Hero Time, Kneehigh Theatre*
10:20 Guest Spot, with Dave Officer, graphic designer & illustrator
Guest Spot: Dave Officer, doodlejuice
14:05 What is the proudest you’ve been of your work?
15:48 The ‘visual stamp’
16:46 Earliest memory of being creative, the power of doodling
19:17 Tons of ideas
20:08 The best thing someone has said to you that kept you going
22:00 What advice would you give a 10-year old on how to be creative?
Plus:
24:18 Challenge Jim, a poem about being excited
25:45 Hot Topic, Vanity
27:49 List of The Week, Top 10 Movies with a Twist
28:29 Further Thinking Spot, Answer the Public
30:19 Music from ‘We Paint Houses’, ‘LIfeless Angels’
32:42 Ends
Guest Spot – Dave Officer, doodlejuice
We talk to an incredibly gifted and funny graphic designer about his way of working. Dave produces very high level graphic art, illustrations and logos for a range of clients. I first met him at a networking event in St Albans and followed that meeting up with further chats.
Please leave us a review on your streaming platform of choice. Well, if you like Jelly Trumpet. If you don’t then please keep shtum and forget this every happened.
Useful Stuff from This Episode:
Our guest:
Dave Officer, graphic designer & illustrator
Linkedin: Dave Officer
Instagram: Doodle Juice Design
Website: doodlejuice.co.uk
Happy creating,
*Sadly Kneehigh Theatre is no more. A great loss to the creative world. Follow one of those that worked with the company, Emma RIce of Wise Children.
About Jelly Trumpet
We’re a podcast all about creativity. Every episode is aimed at stimulating your imagination and making you laugh with silly, surreal bits & bobs.
Sign up to the newsletter for sporadic creativity tips you can use every day, o’ and some rather silly jokes.
Sponsored by Conversion Detectives, the creative digital marketing agency
Read the Script
EPISODE 05 – THE GREAT MAPPING ADVENTURE
S/FX: JELLY TRUMPET MUSIC
WELCOME
[1 MIN]
JIM:
Welcome to Jelly Trumpet.
Making you more creative. Tips, tricks and ideas for expanding your imagination.
MR B:
A moment Jim.
JIM:
Yes Mr b. I mean we have a show to do. What could possibly be so important?
MR B:
I’ve just looked you up on Google Maps and you’re not here.
JIM:
What? Well, where am I?
MR B:
One moment.
JIM:
Mr b we have a show to do!
MR B:
O’. It would appear you are there…
JIM:
Where’s that?
MR B:
That Jim is Mordor.
JIM:
What could I possibly be doing in Mordor?
MR B:
I’ll just zoom in. O’ it looks like you’ve written yourself into Lord of the Rings with a view to giving it a happy ending and you’re now living in Bag End.
JIM:
Sounds about right.
MR B:
Did you take anyone with you?
JIM:
Not yet. I’m waiting for the right woman.
MR B:
Orc course.
JIM:
Did you say ‘orc’ course?’
MR B:
Yes. It’s a typo.
A BEAT
JIM:
Moving on. Welcome to Jelly Trumpet.
S/FX: JELLY TRUMPET MUSIC
Making you more creative. Tips, tricks and ideas for expanding your imagination.
S/FX: DRUMMING SOUND
Today we’re going to be talking about.
S/FX: CAT MEOWING
JIM:
What’s that?
MR B:
That’s a cat Jim.
JIM:
Well, why don’t you let him out?
MR B:
Because you’re sitting on him. Well, his tail.
JIM:
I do apologise.
S/FX: CAT MEOWING
Thank you Mr b. Today we’re in Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire if you know Welwyn we’re in the castle keep above the Howard Centre.
MR B:
Who’s that?
JIM:
Where? Pointing isn’t going to work on a podcast Mr b.
MR B:
I do apologise. There to the left of the giant bin and right of the lady selling parrots.
JIM:
Well, it looks like George Clooney.
MR B:
Has he been busking long?
JIM:
O’ look he’s doing the man against the wind mime.
MR B:
We really must get on with podcast Jim. I’ll just pop down and see if George would like an Americano with milk on the side?
JIM:
Very Well, But first Mr b! The button!
S/FX: BUTTON
S/FX: JELLY TRUMPET JINGLE
JIM:
In this episode
• You are your own medicine
• A challenge for you to try at home
• Silly, silly, silly things
• Challenge Jim
• Creative Heroes
• AND
• Our guest is Dave Officer talking about his creative world in…
S/FX: JELLLY TRUMPET JINGLE
YOU ARE YOUR OWN MEDICINE
[5 MINS]
JIM:
Being your own medicine means keeping a journal of what works when you are being creative. So, you write down what’s working for you, what puts you in the right frame of mind and anything that helps you.
As only you can make yourself the most creative person possible.
You, you the creative, are your own medicine. What works for you? How do you repeat that? How do you push your imagination and bring out more and more ideas?
It’s self coaching.
We’ve talked before about generating ideas.
I have a very loose idea of creativity and how it works. I record my successes so I can repeat them and my failures for learning.
Yeah! I Fail often.
So, keep a diary. A journal of your creative universe. You’ll have specific things for your discipline. Note them. Go back to them. Do those things always work?
Loosely the creative process goes through these broad stages:
Preparation, getting in the mood, and incubation, that is letting your unconscious work and it ends with verification, the editor bit.
Along the way is mapping. What do I mean by that? Well, for a writer it means mapping the world you’ve created for your characters.
It’s like creating a huge field for characters to run around in. There are boundaries, there are places to go, places you think you should avoid.
When your characters are formed you let them run loose under your direction. When your characters are fully formed you often find they do their own thing.
So, the map can take many forms. You might list your ideas. But lists are linear, 1, 2, 3. Whereas creativity is all over the place. If you are a logical person you can work that way. John Cleese when writing Fawlty Towers would list what should happen then logically list what could go wrong to build his comedy world.
Mind-Mapping by Tony Buzan is one way to map your creative world. Ideas can spill out in an organic way and you can link them with arrows, put in plot points, the story and anything you think helps create your world.
Takeaway: So, map out your world so you know where you are going. This is very useful if you find the creation of what you want daunting.
Come up with the ending. Write towards that ending. You have a destination. It really helps me a lot. When you get to the end you can always change it or you’ll find your characters have done it for you!
S/FX: INTERLUDE MUSIC
[3 – 5 SECS]
RIFF
[1 MIN]
JIM:
Mr b.. What is your headline on Linkedin? You know your one-line description?
MR B:
Analyst Developer.
JIM:
So, not a disrupter?
MR B:
No.
JIM:
Not a Developer Ninja?
MR B:
No.
JIM:
Thought Leader?
MR B:
No.
JIM:
Firestarter perhaps?
MR B:
No.
JIM:
You could be Chief Maverick?
MR B:
No. That would be silly. What does yours say?
JIM:
Lord of the dance and surveyor of the known universe.
S/FX: JELLY TRUMPET TUNE
MR B:
Jim. Have another coffee mate.
S/FX: SQUEAKY TOY OR A.N.OTHER PHYSICAL EFFECT
CHALLENGE AT HOME
[5 MIN]
This episode’s challenge for you is to create your own way of mapping a project and using combinations of tools. Creative tools that work.
I find the same tools don’t always work. That’s why I have a large collection.
So, Mapping and Combining.
Mapping
We talked about index cards in the last episode. Each card can be a scene in a play. You write up a card for each scene and add ideas as you go along.
Then you have a skeleton. You can always change it but it is like a support system for when you come to do the real writing, you have a plot and scene ideas. Takes a lot of pressure off for some of us that need direction.
Investigate Mind Mapping by Tony Buzan as another way of creating your creative project map.
Combining
“Carry on being uncommercial. There’s a lot of money in it.” Jerome Kern said to Vivian Ellis, an English composter.
What I take that to mean is do your own thing.
Make your own combinations of tools that work for you.
For instance:
If you have doubt in your ability and a lot of us do. Then try the ‘Editor’ and the ‘Sweetheart’ exercises.
As The Editor you write out all the negative thoughts then follow up writing all the good things, The Sweetheart about you and your creativity.
Follow up with a simple exercise like listing all the things that are similar to this problem or the opposite.
Then try a mind map at this point. Or whichever way works best for you.
Try another exercise like ‘What is the truth here?’
Try and define the problem better. Find the right question to ask yourself.
Set a quota for the exercise eg ten truths and a time limit for your editor and sweetheart.
Takeaway: So, build your own tool combinations. Experiment. Which are the most productive for you?
Note them in your journal.
RIFF
[1 MIN]
JIM:
Mr b, you know all those get rich with online marketing schemes you see on Facebook?
MR B:
Yes. I just block them.
JIM:
I saw a variation of the rip off scheme.
MR B:
What was it?
JIM:
Saw a course on Facebook called stoppingScams.com, signup to my course and I’ll tell you how not to be taken in by these scams. The Internet is slowly eating itself.
MR B:
Did you sign up?
JIM:
Of course I didn’t sign up. I’m too busy with by sheep farm in Saudi Arabia.
CREATIVE HEROS
[3 MINS]
S/FX” JELLY TRUMPET JINGLE/MUSIC
JIM:
My creative hero in this episode is a big one. Pixar studios.
I’m going to talk about the movie Up in a mo. But I came across this fact today:
In preparation for animating WAL-E the Pixar film’s story crew and animation crew would watch a Buster Keaton film and a Charlie Chaplin film every day for almost a year. This was to be able to convey emotions silently and effectively.
I’ve loved modern CG animation moves since seeing the first Madagascar. I say this is the creative mainstream. And it’s brilliant.
When you hear a quote like that one you realise it’s not just an accident. They DEDICATE themselves to detail.
Two other things from this quote. Visual comedy & emotion wins a lot by giving a little. A robot showing emotion? That’s right. Second is watch Buster Keaton’s movie ‘The General ‘for pure invention.
Now UP. Do see it. A whimsical delight filled with true emotion, visual invention and comedy bliss.
The core of the movie is the character combination. You have the old boy Carl, a boy scout Russell, Dug the dog and Kevin the giant South American bird, who is female.
How did they come up with that combination, o’ yes and thanks to technology Dug the dog can talk?
A lot of work. Yes. Creative stuff is about graft, learning about the detail that makes your project the very best it can be.
Takeaway: So that’s mapping out inspirations for our work and bringing those inspirations or influences into your own work.
Watch Up again and again!
S/FX: COMING UP JINGLE/MUSIC
COMING UP
JIM:
• Our guest, Xxxx Xxxx of …
• Challenge Jim, Mr b will issue me a challenge
• Interlude with Jasmine
• A Matter of Concern
• Stuff I’ve Done
• List of the week
Sponsored by Conversion Detectives, the really creative digital marketing agency. Search Conversion Detectives.
RIFF
[1 MIN]
JIM:
I do believe George Clooney is now juggling.
MR B:
O’ yes. So he is. Do you think he got those balls for Christmas?
JIM:
I think he may have had them longer than that Mr b.
MR B:
Who’s that beside him?
JIM:
Where?
MR B:
Just along the moat. The one doing being a living statue.
JIM:
Not sure.
MR B:
Could it be…
JIM:
Who Mr b?
MR B:
It can’t be…
JIM:
Go on.
MR B:
It’s Antonio Banderas.
JIM:
I think you’re wrong Mr b. I believe that is Julie Andrews.
MR B:
Dressed as the Arch Angel Gabriel?
JIM:
Who’d have thought it eh?
MR B:
Yes. In Welwyn Garden City.
S/FX: MUSIC CHOSEN BY MR B
GUEST SPOT
[10 MIN]
JIM:
Welcome to Xxxxx.
Xxxx is…
Thank you Xxxxx for sharing your imagination.
RIFF
[1 MIN]
MR B:
What are you doing Jim?
JIM:
I’m honing my miming skills Mr b. Look this is picking up a heavy suitcase.
MR B:
What’s in it that makes it so heavy?
JIM:
Nothing Mr b. It’s a mime.
MR B:
So, why don’t you get a real one?
JIM:
Because it’s a mime Mr b!
MR B:
But a real suitcase would work just as well.
JIM:
But it’s…O’ I see what you mean. I could keep my eight Victoria Sponges in a real suitcase.
MR B:
Exactly.
JIM:
Let me get this straight.
MR B:
Go on.
JIM:
There’s no real need for mime?
MR B:
Exactly.
JIM:
There goes the mime industry.
MR B:
It never really existed Jim.
JIM:
Eh.
MR B:
It was a mime all along.
CHALLENGE JIM
[1 MIN]
S/FX: CHALLENGE JIM JINGLE/MUSIC
MR B:
Time to play Challenge Jim!
Your challenge right now Mr Jim is to create a character you would encounter on a train. You have one minute starting now.
WHILE JIM STRUGGLES MR B COUNTS DOWN AT RANDOM
A Matter of Concern
[2 MIN]
JIM:
Letter writing. Why are we no longer writing letters?
MR B:
Because it’s 75p for a first class stamp that’s why.
JIM:
Now. What I would do is reduce the postage stamp to five pence so people write more letters.
Imagine picking up your post from the doormat and seeing a letter written by a human being.
You know what I think I’m going to write a letter or two this week. To people that make me laugh and to people that annoy me. Yes. I shall write to the BBC about the weather. You know, make it more convenient. Snow only on Sundays, rain only during the night and mainly sunny spring days during the week.
Who are you going to write a letter to?
Mr b. A musical burst if you please.
RIFF
[.5 MIN]
S/FX: FUN BIT OF MUSIC FROM MR B
INTERLUDE WITH JASMINE
[1 MIN]
JIM:
Now our creative interlude spot with Jasmine d’ Bomb. A ‘creative life, happy life’ Action coach and Maverick Mover and Shaker.
Over to you Jasmine.
[PUTS ON DEEP VOICE]
JIM:
Something I find almost impossible is judging people. There I am and I see someone and I make a snap judgment. Why?
One thing I have to keep saying to myself is ‘stop being an idiot. You don’t know them and what they’re going through.
I honestly believe that’s a good thing. And it also frees up more creativity.
So, judging people is good and also bad. It’s good because you make up a story for them, a character that can feed your creative. Bad when you make up a person who is really nothing like what you project.
A waste of thinking time I feel.
STUFF I’VE DONE
[3 MIN]
JIM:
Recently I finished writing three long plays and decided to take a break and write a short story for fun.
Well, 8,000 words later (after three Saturday mornings) I had ‘Story Wars.’ Three young adults meet in the woods to tell each other a story.
The first is about the Pirates that live in our present day. The second is about a time travelling hotel and the third is about a talking cat called Kevin during and after the USA’s invasion of the UK.
A friend sent me a link to a course about how to approach publishing houses.
I love the idea of getting published. It’s a short story but all three stories could become massive story worlds.
So I decided to publish it for Kindle on Amazon.
If you want to try this. Write your story. Design a book cover (canva.com is great and easy to use), then open a Kindle Direct Publishing account or KDP account.
Once you have the text and the cover it’s going to take you roughly 30 – 40 minutes to publish. You do have to make some decisions on which is the best way for you to do this as there is more than one reward scheme you can join.
So, if you are interested in a story from the Jelly Trumpet stable search Amazon for Story Wars, by Jim Kinloch. I thank you!
MR B:
The map says you’re on the move Jim.
JIM:
Really Mr b? Where am I now?
MR B:
Let me see. Aha! You’re to the left of your own ability and just beyond redemption.
JIM:
O’.
MR B:
Do you want to know how to get back to Welwyn Garden City?
JIM:
Well, that would be handy.
MR B:
Well, it will take two years of counselling.
JIM:
I’ll get my coat.
RIFF
[1 MIN]
S/FX: PHONE RINGING
JIM:
Go ahead caller.
HENK VAN MANN:
Is that you Jim?
JIM:
Yes. This is Jim.
HENK:
It’s Henk Jim! From Holland! You’re creative friend.
JIM:
I remember Henk. What pearl of creativity do you have for us today?
HENK:
I have seven, nee, eight words for you.
JIM:
Go on.
HENK:
I have a quote about creativity just for you Jim.
JIM:
Go on.
HENK:
To be the creative child one must first become an adult.
JIM:
Thank you Henk.
S’FX: PHONE CUTTING OFF
MR B:
That was eleven words.
JIM:
You counted. There really was no need.
LIST OF THE WEEK
[1 MIN]
S/FX: LIST OF THE WEEK JINGLE/MUSIC
JIM:
I love lists so much!
I quite often create lists for references when writing. This is also a part of mapping a big project.
So, when I was writing a trilogy of plays that were based on movie genres I listed things like the seven characters in The Magnificent Seven, The Seven dwarves, disaster movies etc. So I had a whole lot of references to play with.
Another unusual list was the four humors, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric and Melancholy. Each of these maps to a character type, which became the starting point for four of the main characters.
Another list was the character types of the four penguins in Madagascar, who I love and I borrowed some traits to layer on top of the four humours.
There were others but I never base characters on real people. I grow them from lists like this or ideas to try and make them unique.
S/FX: OUTRO JINGLE
OUTRO
[1 MIN]
JIM:
Further thinking spot
This episode it’s a book ‘The Secret Language of Symbols by David Fontana.
It’s a book to dip into for inspiration. You can use the book as a starting point. Pick a symbol and use it as a starting point for your imagination.
Or you can use it to cultivate symbols or motifs in your work.
It’s packed with pictures and has a thorough index.
Give it a go!
S/FX: MUSIC TO PLAY UNDER THIS
Join us in further episodes and:
• Be more creative
• Pick up tips and tricks you can put into play instantly
• Try exercises to boost your imagination
• Listen to creative guests
• And a whole lot of what we can ‘fun’
Thank you for listening
If you have any questions or ideas for Jelly Trumpet
Email us jelly@jellytrumpet.com
IDENT
That was Jelly Trumpet ‘Making you more creative’ with Jim Kinloch and MR B Critchell
Sponsored by Conversion Detectives, the creative digital agency. Search Conversion Detectives.
Now here’s Mr b playing us with Xxxxx by ‘We Paint Houses’ Find them on Facebook.
MUSIC
[1.5 MINS]
We Paint House
FADE IN
JIM:
I was wondering about sheep Mr b.
MR B:
Shouldn’t we be doing a debrief of the episode?
JIM:
Yes.
MR B:
And?
JIM:
Don’t sheep look like clouds on legs?
MR B:
The episode Jim. We’re talking about the episode.
JIM:
O yes. It went well I believe.
MR B:
I thought so too. Now I thought we should have an interlude in the next episode with…
JIM:
An interlude?
MR B:
Yes an interlude. So, as I was saying an interlude with some Marvel super heroes.
JIM:
If I was a Marvel super hero…
MR B:
Well, who would you be?
JIM:
Captain Hindsight.
MR B:
That’s not going to help Professor X or the planet.
JIM:
I know that now.
FIN