Creativity is a very…vague thing. For some people it’s the ability to think up ideas and solutions. For others it’s like daydreaming and picturing things happening like movies in your head. For others, it’s in the little percussive whispers of music and the way a singer’s vocals ride the dulcet tones of a slow saxophone number. Whatever the case, creativity is the ability to create things through imagination, inventiveness and originality.

This blog aims to add a bit of structure to how the mind thinks and the way creativity can manifest, as well as anchor down a proper definition of what it is. Now people have been asking what creativity is for centuries so surely this blog will answer that no problem. In all honesty there are many ways to define what creativity is (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2023). What we’re hoping to do here is take away the mystique of what creativity is as some strange thing some people just have, and inform you that creativity is a very human thing that anyone can do.

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1. It’s all about Originality (it’s not)

So, you’re someone who wants to get into the creative field. Whether you are a traditional artist, a photographer, a designer, a videographer/filmmaker, content creator or someone whose work is related, originality is often touted as a must. Especially if you’re part of a larger collective, people are often bemoaning the lack of original ideas or original things. The word is also used as a complement (i.e this is such an original idea! You’re so original! How original of you!). Creatives can get bogged down by this. 

They might feel that their ideas aren’t good enough because it’s too similar or it’s too derivative or it’s not ‘new’ and ‘game changing’ or ‘outside the box’. Indeed the pursuit of being original can severely hurt your ability to create. (Ovchar, 2022)

The idea of originality is a murky one. It’s true that coming up with something brand new and never thought of before is very difficult. But part of that is because most things have already been thought of. If you look online, there are truly a staggering amount of things people can think up.

Take for example music. Heavy metal is a popular genre in the modern day but it didn’t simply appear. It was inspired by rock and roll, which was inspired by blues and jazz, which were in turn inspired by gospel, boogie-woogie and country music, which were in turn inspired by folk music which were in turn inspired by a variety of cultural styles. (Gillet, 2018; Britannica, 2024)

You get the picture. Things don’t just appear. No one stood up one day, strummed a guitar and made rock music out of nowhere.

It came from listening to other forms of music. It builds on different references. (The Mercerie, 2022)

Take the Pacific. If you know anything about us you will know that many of our cultures share certain things, despite being miles apart. Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand despite being separated by distance all have different kinds of war dances; Haka in New Zealand, Siva Tau in Samoa, Cimbi in Fijian and the Tongan Sipi Tau. Our tattooing practices are also similar in art style, purpose and method. Samoa even makes reference to the fact that our tattoos were inspired by Fiji and we’re not the only ones. Tattoos are prevalent across the Pacific.

This isn’t just a cultural exchange. It’s a creative one too. This is present in any area where different cultures intermingle.

2. You don’t Steal Like an Artist

This is one of the key tenets to being creative. Creativity isn’t  a spontaneous goblin that occasionally pops into your mind to give you ideas. You have to keep it fed. 

Part of maintaining a healthy creativity is exposing yourself to other peoples’ ideas. If you’re a photographer, see how other photographers stage their shots, how they use lighting and composition. If you’re a videographer, see how people use their cameras to capture the right moment, see how people time their shots and how they direct people moving in frame. If you’re an editor, watch how professionals and amateurs edit, how they use b-roll and how they pace their works.

Find your inspirations, watch how they do it, learn and adapt. (Kleon, How to Steal Like an Artist, 2012; Akazue, 2020)

To be clear, you shouldn’t copy them exactly beat by beat with no changes. That’s not creativity, it’s plagiarism. Rather, seeing how these other people do something will summon ideas to your mind on how to do something similar. It’s not about what you see, it’s about what you discover. 

For example, you see someone has filmed an advert for a meal, say pisupo (corned beef, a favorite among Samoans) and you really like how they used camera angles to make the product look inviting and almost like you can reach out and grab it. So you ask yourself, ‘how did they do it?’, ‘what sort of effects did they use?’, ‘why didn’t they use narration?’, ‘how did they tell a story without that narration?’. And then you ask yourself, ‘how can I use that?’.

And then you use those lessons to make a video on, say, taro and you use the same techniques. It looks great, but it feels too similar to the pisupo ad. This is where the adage ‘Great artists steal from multiple places’ comes from. In essence, stealing from one source (the pisupo ad) is theft. Stealing from multiple sources on the other hand, is inspiration.

And this needs to be said again, but you’re not copying directly from the sources. Let’s say you film that ad, not for taro this time but some sports shoes with a Samoan styling to them. You use the storytelling technique from the pisupo ad, but then you change the lighting to make it moodier, and you add a little music to make it dramatic. You also decide to use quick cuts to emphasise certain aspects of your product and you decide to add someone into the video to express their love of the product.

The mood lighting was from something you saw in an old spice ad (P-P-POWER), the music is a popular Samoan song you listened to with your parents, those quick cuts are something you see in dramatic action movies and putting someone in there to show the product is a tried and tested advertising strategy. 

The most important part about this is not that you use all these aspects but you must know why they work. You can’t just throw different good parts of other things at your creation and hope it just works. Find what you love about those other ads, find out why you love it and how you can incorporate it. The why is paramount here because once you figure out why you like something, it lays the foundations of understanding how to get other people to like something.

3. You have no Idea

Another myth or fear of creatives is the belief that somehow, they will run out of ideas.

Let’s crunch some numbers. It has been determined that human brains have a storage capacity of 2 and a half Petabytes (2.5 million gigabytes), which is more than enough for the average human person. Our brains, despite forgetting things often, also have an unlimited capacity for learning and storing new information. Your brain is physiologically incapable of running out of room for ideas. Human survival through the prehistoric age was contingent on not just our community, but our inventiveness (can’t hunt, build spear, can’t move load, build wheel as said by a very smart, albeit fictional doctor).

So no, you won’t run out of ideas.

‘But what if I run out of good ideas!’ someone says.

Also, not possible. What is determined as a good idea can be both subjective, i.e liking pizza and objective, i.e do not put your hand into a fan. 

Good ideas and bad ideas are all part of the same vein. There’s no good idea and bad idea machine. Your ideas all come from your creativity (which we hope is being regularly fed) and they can be bad or good, you just have to parse out which is which. What is important is not to let yourself stagnate by fixating on one idea. If something doesn’t work, either get rid of it or bite the bullet, complete it and move on.

Ideas cannot run out but they can be stymied. They need to flow.

For example, you really like the idea of not using narration for that sport shoe ad, so you decide to make the whole thing akin to a silent film where everything is conveyed visually instead of audibly. But then you run into problems. You can’t quite get it to work.

Sure, the shoes are nice and the tatau stylings are flashy. They look good. But it’s not enough. So you add people in, but you still think the silent idea is good. But now the people are having trouble conveying what you want. So you reshoot and rethink and reshoot and rethink. You get your crossfit friend to try it out and film her running or using it to work out. You see if your Uncle is keen to try them to get some appeal with older folks.

You ask your cousins (which, in the Pacific, you’re never going to run out of) to give them a look, have them do a little skit about the shoes.

This can be healthy, but the death knell of this method begins to chime when you get frustrated, which affects the quality of what you do. It’s very much like banging your head against the wall. So you can either do the commercial that way and deal with whatever comes, or you can scrap the idea and try something new. Either way, you have to get through your bad ideas until you get to your good ideas.

Ideas are not the golden goose of creativity. They are a seed and they can either give you fruits or give you weeds. Either way, harvest what you can and keep planting so you can get more.

4. You’re stumped by the Blank Page

This is arguably the most subjective part of the blog.

One of the many walls for anyone in a creative field is when you sit down to do something and you just can’t think of anything. This is the opposite of the above where, instead of being beset by ideas, you are bereft of them. The quote, unquote blank page if you will.

It’s so common as to become cliche and is a regularly discussed issue. Such a thing is not so easily dealt with (if it was, we would’ve figured it out centuries ago). 

There are plenty of factors that contribute to the feeling that you simply can’t operate or you no longer have the ability to operate. Much of it stems from your life outside your creativity. It’s hard to be creative when you’re dealing with stress or depression. This is an idea that is pervasive in the traditional arts but it does matter in any industry. Working and creating are much more difficult when your mind and body are under duress.

Even more so since, as mentioned in other blogs, living in the Pacific is different than living in a western country. Pacific islanders have big commitments to family, village and communities. We’re part of these big communal units and often we don’t have a lot of freedom. Couple this with the good old idea among the older generation that creativity is a useless skill, and you have an environment where it can be hard, as a Pacific Islander, to feel like what you’re doing is even worth the effort.

But much of the Blank Page Problem isn’t rooted just in these extreme emotions. 

They can be, but primarily, a factor that stops people from creating is they lack motivation or inspiration (inspiration in this instance being the force that makes you act instead of what you find exciting about something). Some days you just can’t make things. Some days you just can’t be bothered. Or some days it just doesn’t feel right. This nebulous feeling is one of the reasons many people don’t feel like they are creative. It can be interpreted as a form of procrastination even.

It’s the idea that you can do it if only you had the time or if it wasn’t so hot today. It’s also the perceived idea that creativity only works, really works, when you get the boost of motivation. Also termed a flow state. 

It’s when everything just clicks. You are full focused on what you are doing, no distractions, no blocks and, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it steadily. It’s as if your mind has tuned out everything else and there’s only you and the task at hand. One of our tenets at Onelook Studio is that the mental and physical wellbeing of our employees is paramount. In truth this advice can apply to a lot of things, but we believe people work best when they are feeling 100%. It’s why Care is a major part of our business.

5. You’re in a Bad Headspace

If you’re a creative living in Samoa, or Fiji, or anywhere in the Pacific, you might feel a lot of pressure from being pulled in a lot of directions by family, friends, school and even church commitments. That’s not a good place to be if you want to go into a creative field. It’s not good for any field, but creativity is especially volatile. Imagine trying to use your creativity when you’ve got five baby cousins screaming at you. Or an elderly grandfather who needs your help.

Or aunties and uncles stopping by for a family meeting.

A lot of the time, we do have to carry on regardless of how we’re feeling. For all the great things about the Pacific, our commitment to the mental well-being of our peoples can be less than stellar. 

But we’re not going to unpack all of that. This is the creativity blog! That can of worms can wait, don’t you worry.

Outside of the external however, when you find yourself time and energy and space to be creative, it can be liberating until you get blocked. There’s an idea that the flow state just happens without any input from you. However, this is, at best, false. Flow states aren’t a magical focus button. Flow states come about as a result of you putting your effort into a task. This usually happens with things you find interesting or have a strong passion for. 

The point is, you shouldn’t wait for that burst of motivation and energy to create. 

That burst comes about more often when you sit down and push through the ennui to start creating. It’s vital as well for establishing discipline. 

Even for freelancers or independent creatives who might not be beholden to a work schedule, it’s helpful to have a set time within which you have to work. It might not be as possible for islanders since we tend to run on our own time (Island Time as we call it) and the nature of our family lives and communities means anything can happen at any time. 

Despite that, being passive when it comes to creating will severely affect your willingness to actually sit down and do the work. Being active, attentive and willing to sit down and create, even when you’re not feeling particularly up to it, will not only instill good habits, it will put you in the mindset needed to really succeed. You might need to steal some time when you can. 

If however you are struggling with depression, mental illness or any other similar ailment, it would be better for yourself and your work if it was addressed before you throw yourself into creating. 

Vincent Van Gogh was one of the foremost authors of a generation and is reliably referred to as a genius. He was also suffering from depressive episodes and mental health issues so severe, he was committed for a time. During his brief lay away, he made many works of art, the best of which were made when he wasn’t suffering so much. Mental health is an extremely important part of being creative. Ensure yours is taken care of.

It’s a sobering thought to think of all the Pacific Island Van Goghs we could’ve had, if things had been a little different. That sentiment extends to most of the world in fact.

Don’t Overthink, Just Do

Creativity isn’t as indefinable as many people think it is. Indeed, this vagueness has proven detrimental to being creative as it poses creativity as something people just have. This isn’t true. Creativity is a natural part of the human thought process that, like anything else, needs to be maintained, can be trained and subject to our mindsets. It’s something of a benefit then, that we live in a world with a near infinite amount of inspirations to draw from. 

Creativity isn’t just a means for daydreams and doodling, it’s becoming its own industry. Even if you’re not looking to monetize your ability to create, creating things from imagination is a potent form of relaxation and self care. Hopefully this blog has taken some of the intimidation factor out of it. Creativity isn’t a superpower, it is a skill to be nurtured and hopefully we’ll get to see your creativity in action at Onelook Studio.