What is the "Creative Commodity"? Summary

Up until now, we've just been ranting. Let's finish the discussion.

There is a universal law – a law, not a theory – called the Law of Entropy, which states that “the entropy of an isolated system … will tend to increase over time.” ‘Entropy’ is a measurement of disorder. ‘Isolated’ means nothing outside of the system is acting upon it. The ‘system’ could be almost anything: a mass of organic matter (like a plant or animal), a box of carefully arranged marbles on a table ... or a cartoon studio. So the law – the law, not the theory – states that disorder or chaos in any of these 'systems' will increase over time, eventually leading to complete chaos.

In the case of a plant, the living plant, over time, by itself, is just dying. Certain things outside the plant will keep it alive for a time: nutrients from the soil, sunlight, and water. If the plant does its job right, it can use these outside energy sources to reverse the Law of Entropy; that is, to keep it alive. When that process stops, the structure of the plant decays, and it ends up a chaotic mass of organic material … with no ‘system.’ Entropy will have reached its maximum capacity.

In the example of the box of marbles on a table, if you lay 16 marbles in four perfect rows of four marbles each, over time the rows will become disordered or chaotic. Part of that is due to the nature of the box itself, which will decay. And as for the nature of the table, it will be bumped. As these things happen, the marbles will roll in various directions. Over enough time it will not be apparent that the marbles were arranged in any particular order at all, and in fact the box and table – and marbles – will all eventually blend into a pile of dust. A triumph of Entropy.

With a cartoon studio, the system is the production of an animated project. Otherwise, it’s just a building with chairs, desks, animating equipment, office equipment, and people. Over time a cartoon studio, by itself, is simply a business in the process of going out of business. If the studio does its collective job right – and this is a matter of not just artists but also managers and administrators applying creativity to their respective tasks – the studio can postpone its day of closing for many years.

However, if everyone simply does what he/she is told, without adding good new ideas to it, a film project devolves significantly and rapidly into something mediocre and not at all what was intended.

The exec producer commissions a writer to write a script about a specific idea. With the writer’s creative input, you end up with a wonderful written plan for a great film. Without his creative input, the script may end up tedious, confusing, and pointless.

Next a board artist must translate this written plan into a visual blueprint. It’s not a given. Without his creative input, many of the story points will lose focus or worse. Furthermore, many entertaining possibilities will be lost.

Creativity is required all the way down the line. The animation processes differ depending on the medium (2D, 3D, Flash, or motion capture), but the goal is the same: take what was passed along to you by the previous department and add enough good new ideas to it to keep it fresh, entertaining, and focused.

And yes, all the while, the CEO is carefully monitoring the creative input of his management staff, just as the director is monitoring the creative input of the artists. The definition of ‘good idea’ must be defined by one person, not by anyone and everyone. He/she has to be sure the team understands the task and that they are capable of executing it. Otherwise you simply have a new form of Entropy. But those people in charge must not only be open to creativity (new good ideas), they must encourage it. The animation studio must – absolutely must – be an environment where creativity is readily applied to every aspect of production.

Creativity is the energy that improves the animation product. It prevents Entropy. It’s an awesome energy that only creative people can provide. Committees can’t provide it. Lawyers can’t even define it.

That is the Creative Commodity – the smart application of good new ideas that adds value to a production and postpones the shut-down of a studio. Sadly it is what’s lacking in many, many cartoon studios around America. Animation artists can supply it, and BS artists can't.