James discusses how to identify the idea that won’t go away and how to harness the power of your dreams to develop a story authentically.

2. Pursuing and Developing the Idea

Pursuing and Developing the Idea

﻿[MUSIC PLAYING] JAMES CAMERON: One of the biggest questions in creativity-- any form of creativity is, when is an idea that you have that pops up like a little champagne bubble in your mind worth pursuing? The answer to that is highly subjective. What appeals to you? What are-- are you interested in as an artist or as someone aspiring to be an artist in cinema? What compels you to tell a story? Is it the visual aspects of it? 


Is it the world that you want to immerse people in? Is it a particular character? Is it a particular problem for a character that you want to explore maybe based on how it resonates with something in your life? Or maybe it's a story that you've read and say, I want to do something like that, or it's a film that you've seen and say, I want to do something like that. 


Maybe it's very unformed at first. Okay, there's this-- this woman does this. I want to tell this story, you know? Put some detail on it, you know? Who is she? What time-- what time in the world is it? What's the setting? And how does that resonate? And maybe-- maybe you put her in Cincinnati in 1962 and all of a sudden, ah, too limiting socially. Maybe it needs to be in some dystopian future, you know? 


And so just let it swirl around. And don't lock in on anything right away. I mean, I think that one of the keys to this is to be open and flexible and always-- always keep an openness. So really, it's a question of after that initial process, is the-- does the idea stand the sort of sniff test for something that you want to really devote your time to? 


And I think the answer to that is it just won't go away, you know? The idea just won't go away. It starts to resonate with things that are happening in your life or in the news or in another film that-- that you see and it starts to get more detailed, it starts to come into focus. And then there'll would be a certain point where you say, I've just got to sit down and write this. 


The imagination never stops. It's always working. And I think ideas come to any kind of artist from-- from different sources, and the subconscious is one that certainly the surrealist artists back around the turn of the last century believed in. They believed in dream imagery. They believed that it was an unmediated, unintellectualized version of their subconscious creative force or imagination, and I believe that to be true also. 


It's my zero-cost subscription to a streaming service that's all my own. Every night I get all kinds of entertaining stuff. I know I've-- I've woken up having leafed through sketchbooks or-- or paintings and thought to myself, man, I wish I could paint like that, then realized I just did. And then scramble around and try to draw it out, draw out the ideas that I've seen. 


And every once in a while something stands out. Whether it's a scene in a narrative sense that might be-- it be tragic, it might be joyful, or maybe it's just an image. To pick an example, "Terminator" start...

Teaches Filmmaking

James Cameron

James shares why he’s teaching a class, rooted in his belief that every filmmaker stands on the shoulders of those who came before.

1. Meet Your Instructor: James Cameron

Meet Your Instructor: James Cameron

James teaches you how to build and hold tension—and tells you why audiences love it.

3. Toying With the Audience: Building and Releasing Tension

Toying With the Audience: Building and Releasing Tension

James breaks down the club scene from The Terminator, walking through, shot by shot, how he built relentless tension.

4. THE TERMINATOR Club Scene Breakdown

THE TERMINATOR Club Scene Breakdown

James talks through how he captured the feeling from his dream of a room covered in wasps through a scene in Aliens.

5. ALIENS Egg Chamber Breakdown

ALIENS Egg Chamber Breakdown

With Newt’s introduction scene in Aliens, James breaks down how he elicits different physiological responses from audiences, switching from suspense to curiosity.

6. ALIENS Newt Introduction Scene Breakdown

ALIENS Newt Introduction Scene Breakdown

Learn how integral preparation and inventing tricks are to low-budget filmmaking.

7. The Art of Low-Budget Filmmaking

The Art of Low-Budget Filmmaking

James shares the low-budget tricks he developed to create realistic moments when the Terminator performs surgery on himself.

8. THE TERMINATOR Arm and Eye Repair Breakdown

THE TERMINATOR Arm and Eye Repair Breakdown

Few directors have created set pieces as memorable as James’s. Learn how he approaches the art of creating set pieces, even on a low budget.

9. From Sketch to Spectacle: Creating Set Pieces

From Sketch to Spectacle: Creating Set Pieces

James breaks down the iconic future world set piece from The Terminator, showing how he created a set piece on a limited budget.

10. THE TERMINATOR Future World Breakdown: Creating a Set Piece on a Budget

THE TERMINATOR Future World Breakdown: Creating a Set Piece on a Budget

James talks through creating the perfect sketch of your characters, making them relatable, and introducing them to audiences.

11. Crafting and Introducing Compelling Characters

Crafting and Introducing Compelling Characters

In just a few shots, Rose is almost fully revealed to us. Learn how James thought about introducing Rose and what he wanted to convey.

12. TITANIC Rose Introduction Breakdown

TITANIC Rose Introduction Breakdown

The Terminator and the Alien Queen have stuck in our psyches as some of the most dreadful adversaries ever created. Learn how James thinks about adversaries and how to create them.

13. Developing Dread Through Adversaries

Developing Dread Through Adversaries

The performance-capture technology used to create the Na’avi in Avatar changed the landscape of cinema forever. Learn how James developed the technology.

14. AVATAR Creating Technology

AVATAR Creating Technology

James discusses his “creativity law of thermodynamics,” leadership lessons that he’s learned as a director over the years, and how to live life as an artist, preparing as much as possible to see the magic.

15. Making Your Way and Leading With Passion

Making Your Way and Leading With Passion

James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking

variant_1

Enjoy 7 days free

The promo may be over, but your opportunity isn't. Dive into the full experience, worry-free, with our 7-day money-back guarantee.

The offer has ended

Amount charged now

Your 7-day free trial starts today

Proof you've trained with the world's best

Leadership and Decision Making Under Pressure

Get this certificate.

Proof you’ve learned from the best.

Brand Strategist

Ana M. Gómez Sanabria

Founder

Karl Baron

Service Design & Design Strategist

Meghan Preiss

R&D Manager

Morten Refsgaard Drost

Chief Technical Advisor

Doug Needham

Service Manager

Ólafur Már Símonarson

Get 50% off an annual membership of MasterClass

Congratulations, you purchased an annual standard membership of MasterClass. A confirmation has been sent to your email. You will now be able to access 200+ classes in addition to your Certificate course.

You're all set!

Build practical AI skills that matter. Learn how to think with AI, make better decisions, and prove you’re ready for what’s next.

AI as Your Copilot (4 min)

Prompting: Speak So AI Listens (8 min)

Step inside The Moonshot Factory to see how teams prototype new concepts in hours, pinpoint the riskiest part of any idea, and turn bold thinking into real-world breakthroughs.

This Is Where Bold Begins (12 min)

"What If" Before "What Is" (8 min)

Learn from five former SEALs, including Medal of Honor winner Command Master Britt Slabinski (Ret), and hear how they tackle issues, recognize stress early, and use quick resets to regain composure.

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

Intro to High-Stakes Leadership (10 min)

Strategic Readiness Starts With You (6 min)

Save 50% on all MasterClass Certificates. Use the summer to get ahead.

Don't fall behind this summer. Use the time to get ahead with MasterClass Certificates.

Menu

Pursuing and Developing the Idea

About the Instructor

James Cameron

Download