One person who inspires me to a great extent, is the director Quentin Tarintino. In his recent movie, Inglorious Basterds, Tarintino portrays the horrors of World War II in his own unique style. One of many elements used in his work is a masterful control of tension and release.
This scene is a good example of his use of tension. In this critically acclaimed scene, we see "The Bear Jew" brutally beat a Nazi general to death. The tension in this scene is astounding. It slowly escalates as time goes on. The tension gets extreme, then is released as the bat cracks the mans skull, only to be brought back for a brief moment for the second and third blows.
When I try to create tension for an audience, I think back to scenes such as this and think how it felt the first time I saw it. I then try to recreate these feelings in a way that works for my project.
Another scene of Tarantino I found particularly original is the scene from Kill Bill, with the character Gogo.
This character is one of my favorite uses of irony because it is so absurd. This small, Asian girl, almost a cliche of being weak, is actually a skilled fighter. This small girl commands a large flail, a weapon which would normally take a large man to operate. Its very ironic.
Another creator who I really look up to is the creator of the God of War video game, David Jaffe.
In this final scene of God of War 3, Players go into Kratos' past to fight his regrets. Jaffe decided to take a risk and explore this scene in an artistic interactive mind scape. In Kratos' mind, Jaffe uses contrast between red and blue to contrast the blood soaked mistakes of Kratos' past with the hope that he has hidden away in his subconscious.Scenes like these really stick with me, and when I try to be original or experimental in my own work I think back to scenes where creators used conventional elements in unique ways as inspiration.