For my first Impulse blog entry, I wanted to start with something that has always been a big part of how I see and understand the world: film. Even though I study design, I’ve always felt drawn to cinema. Not just as entertainment, but as a way of thinking. Film is a combination of so many different disciplines: image, sound, timing, emotion, storytelling, and decision-making. Watching films, and especially listening to directors talk about their process, reminds me that creative direction exists everywhere, not just in design. It makes me realise how important it is to learn from other fields, because the questions are often the same. How do you create meaning? How do you guide attention? How do you stay true to an idea while navigating uncertainty?
I recently watched a Directors Roundtable with Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Lulu Wang, Fernando Meirelles and it gave me a lot to think about. Not only about filmmaking, but about creative work in general.
One moment that stayed with me was when Martin Scorsese talked about The King of Comedy, which was called “flop of the year” when it was released. Today Scorsese is seen as one of the most important filmmakers of all time. It made me realise how success reshapes the way we look at people’s work. When someone becomes successful, we often forget the the failures and the moments where their work wasn’t understood. We see their career as something linear, even though it never was.
A story shared by the Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles stuck with me the most. When he was asked if he would consider moving to the US, he said: “I like to direct in Portuguese. I understand English, but I don’t feel English. If you say ‘mango tree’ in English, it’s just a tree. If you say ‘mangueira,’ it’s my mother, its scent, it’s so much.” This made me think about how language, context, and personal experience shape meaning. The same object can carry completely different emotional weight depending on how and where you encounter it. As someone interested in creative direction, this makes me reflect on how meaning is never fixed, it is always somehow shaped by cultural context.
Another idea that resonated with me was when they described production as an act of faith. Every day on set, you show up without knowing exactly what will happen. It might rain. Something might not work. The circumstances are rarely what you expected. You have to adapt constantly and make the best out of what is there. This feels very familiar to the creative process in general. You can prepare, research, and plan, but there will always be uncertainty. Instead of trying to control everything, you learn to respond, adjust, and trust the process.
Watching this conversation reminded me that creative direction is not about having complete control or certainty. It’s about observing closely and trusting that meaning will develop over time. It also reminded me that research is not always linear. Sometimes it starts with curiosity, with watching, listening, and collecting fragments. And only later do those fragments begin to connect.
In that sense, watching films and listening to the people who make them has become part of my research process. Not because it gives me clear answers, but because it helps me understand what it means to create something with intention.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iLtjMwkOlg&t=2471s
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/fernando-meirelles
https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/martin-scorsese-audiences-hated-king-of-comedy-1234913652/
