There's a lot to take from this wonderful TED talk by the multi-oscar winning writer and director Andrew Stanton, who was Pixar's ninth employee and whose credits include Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
It made me think about the relationship between technology and creativity. One of the many interesting stories in the Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs is the tale of Pixar's early days, which weren't without struggle. Under severe pressure from executives at Disney and after reaching a real crisis point in the making of their first feature film, Toy Story, they were brave enough to stick to the path they believed in.
A constant theme throughout Isaacson's book is Jobs' skill in recognising the value that sits at the intersection of creativity with technology. The story of Apple is the story of building 'a company where leaps of imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering'. This unique balance fitted well with Pixar, whose origins were as the computing division of Lucasfilm. As John Lasseter has said: "Technology inspires art, and art challenges the technology".
It's a theme that has broad application in the modern world, and one that is touched on by Sir Jon Hegarty in this interview. Fearlessness, he says, is fundamentally important to creativity. The big leaps are made by those who ignore the perceived limitations of technology. Those that have the big idea, and then allow technology to find a way of fulfilling it.
Hi Neil
This from Mike Arauz is another very good angle on the intersection of technology and storytelling.
http://www.mikearauz.com/2010/03/making-magic.html
Posted by: Phil Adams | April 14, 2012 at 02:53 PM
Excellent, thanks Phil.
Posted by: neilperkin | April 14, 2012 at 02:57 PM
Brilliant talk. I love the simplicity of the sentiment "make me care". And I equally like - and subscribe to - the view that you should make people work for their meal, without them noticing that they are. Wise words all round.
Posted by: Andy | April 14, 2012 at 07:28 PM
Thanks Andy. Yes, I like the whole 2+2 approach. Makes a lot of sense
Posted by: neilperkin | April 14, 2012 at 07:33 PM