Experimenting
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| image by ljeditorial.com |
…you should not be required to justify everything. We must always leave the door open for the unexpected.
Scientific research operates in this way—when you embark on an experiment, you don't know if you will achieve a breakthrough. Chances are, you won't. But nevertheless, you may stumble on a piece of the puzzle along the way—a glimpse, if you will, into the unknown. —Ed Catmull
Pixar known—in part—for their animated shorts. Everyone loves 'em and hopes there will be one at the beginning of each movie. They started this for fun, but continued it for its potential as a way to experiment with new directors and push their technology.
It turns out they were very wrong about being able to turn directors of shorts into good directors of feature-length films. They were also wrong about the technology boost because it's their feature films that really push their technology, but the experimentation has some benefits that they didn't expect.
Each short costs like $2M to make, but Ed Catmull says its worth it, but not for the reasons you might think.
- Broad experience and less specialization for employees
- Small teams == deeper relationships
- Forges a bond with moviegoers
- Sends a message to employees that Pixar values artistry
- A relatively inexpensive way to screw up
Not all of these things will apply to us if we are trying to think about being creative personally, but I still think that experimentation is useful. If nothing else, releasing an experiment to your audience, and doing it consistently, could create a better relationship and could give you a cheap way to screw up.
"Better to have train wrecks with miniature trains than with real ones," says Joe Ranft in the book.
Experimentation is so important to sustaining creativity. It's the wandering part. It let's you see the world differently and try to break out of habits and create an ugly baby.
So how do you experiment? What benefits have you seen from it? What is hard about experimenting?
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