Interview with Creative Artist Dave Schwarz

If you had to describe your artistry in one word, what would it be?

Adaptation

How did you develop a love for your art? 

I can't usually come up with creative concepts out of "thin air"-very few people can.  And it took me a while to embrace the fact that if I was going to make a difference, that I'd have to be a student of what's out there and how it's done.  I'd need to emulate styles that I like . . . merge ideas together & create hybrid concepts that serve our goals. 

High-level pitches "Die Hard on a bus . . ." (Speed), "Jaws on a spaceship . . ." (Alien) aren't just ways to get people to visualize an idea or fund a movie.  For some of us, it's how creative ideas are born.  How about "Friday Night Lights with a small group . . ." or "I Am a PC with fruits of the spirit . . ." Those may not be bad starts for the rest of us!

Embracing that reality-and getting good at the execution-gave me a new level of confidence & deep-seated love for what I get to do.

What inspires you?

I get excited working with teams who know each other well enough, and have a combination of experience, trust, and relational intelligence to be able to communicate with very few words (if any).  The interactions between Danny Ocean & Rusty Ryan (Ocean's 11) or Josh Lyman & Sam Seaborn (The West Wing) isn't just great writing--it's a model for how creative or intellectual partners can communicate, debate, motivate and create.  When I get to see that (or, better yet, participate in it) it's inspiring to me.

Describe your ‘creative process'.

I try to do as little as possible all at once. 

In fact, the things that I do all at once tend to land into two categories:   1) video shoots, and 2) stuff that isn't going to be very good.  Whether I'm concepting,  designing, writing a brief or pitch, or editing a video, I need as many "air gaps" as possible-breaks AWAY from the work-between the time I get started &  the time it's due.  It breaks the work up into manageable chunks-which helps tremendously as someone who tends to procrastinate when I'm looking at a huge amount of work. 

On the plane ride home I'll transfer the footage & maybe throw together a rough cut.  The next day I'll spend another 90 minutes de-constructing everything I did & taking another run at the content.  Over the weekend maybe I'll start to add b-roll and work out transitions.  As much as I dislike like the "finishing" work of graphics & audio sweetening, I make it interesting by saving the visual treatments & effects to the end as well . . . so after one or two more short sessions I can end up with something I'm proud of.  And it actually got done because I didn't have to try to do it all at once.  And the breaks I have my brain in between sessions resulted in a great finished product. 

It's the exact same process with writing, designing & the rest of the creative functions-start right away, take small steps & right around the time it's due I can usually end up with something that doesn't look like I waited & crammed into the last minute.  The workflow allows me to experiment with a lot of different options & be confident that where I landed is the best thing I could create.

It's noteworthy that I have a friend who does some of his best work under tight deadlines.  For a long time, I thought this was the case for me, too.  (not to mention that there were always other last-minute projects that needed to be done first, right?)  Turns out that I just didn't know HOW to spread the work out and didn't know how important it would be for me to create a "tempo".  Understanding the importance of "creative destruction" and why that's not possible with a tight timeline was important for me.  But the fact that I just don't have a very long attention span might just be the biggest contributor as I developed a creative process.

What is a common mistake you notice during the creative process?

I notice this a lot these days-Creative groups tend to take an idea & "pile on" more ideas, changing it, morphing it, & frequently making it more complicated (therefore undoable).  At the end of the session it can feel like nothing got accomplished.  We need to get back to the basics of brainstorming-putting ideas on a board & letting the group connect the dots and come up with hybrids and synergies if the original ideas themselves aren't quite there.  If the process works for the creative groups of billion-dollar ad agencies, it should work for us.

What are you learning these days?

The best way to combine excellence and efficiency.  Wanting to shoot everything I do on the RED camera is tempting, but completely impractical.  I have to remind myself to keep it small, lightweight & extremely portable most of the time.  Shooting onto P2 or (better yet) SxS memory cards means that we can get more done with less effort (and allows us to creative aspects of storytelling, motivating, or inspiring, without being sucked too far into the technical.)  On-camera color monitors, auto-limiting audio features & soft, lightweight dimmable lighting has made it possible to shoot with just one or two of us on the crew.  Discovering & learning to rely on these time-saving technologies has allowed me to cover more ground.  Instead of filling crew positions, coordinating equipment, meals, transportation, & post-production schedules, all I need is some trunk space & a laptop--and none of that other work is necessary.  It frees me up to be thinking about how to make sure every project hits the mark from the perspective of the audience.

How would you encourage artists, like yourself, who serve the church?

I think that we can all benefit from the discipline of "crossing the aisle" and developing skills that we may not be drawn to or feel like we're good at.  I don't disagree with Marcus Buckingham with regards to pursuing our strengths.  But these days you don't have to be a technician to use a camera, or cut videos together.  And you don't have to be a creative thinker to come up with a good idea.  My son was using iMovie when he was six-and there isn't a writer, director, designer or producer in the ministry world who shouldn't have experience using the tools of storytelling & communication.  With prolific user-generated content & immediate access to just about any program on TV, the technical types should at least start with an "emulation" mindset and see where that can take them creatively.

And there's no downside for anyone.  Blurring the lines in this way can lead to ALL KINDS of possibilities, collaboration & mutual trust.

What are you looking forward to at this year's arts conference, Wonder?

I love re-connecting with friends.  I've worked with a lot of churches, teams & individuals over the years & I take the opportunity to stack conversation after conversation-breakfast, lunch & dinner-during the conference.  Obviously, our network isn't just inside our church or hometown anymore-sharing ideas, resources, opportunities, content-it all starts with having people to share them WITH.  One of my favorite quotes is "none of us is as good as all of us".  Indeed.

I am excited about the breakouts that Dave is teaching in the Post Video track at Wonder, check them out.