Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way Of True Inspiration (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Insights into the culture and environment at Pixar, and how to encourage a creative and collaborative work environment. The open environment we have grown accustom to with Apple was also implemented at Pixar, but the creative success of Pixar was largely attributed to the elimination of the fear of failure. Pixar eliminated hierarchy and preached the expectation of constructive dialogue. I really liked reading about the production and evolution of Toy Story, Ratatouille, Nemo, Monsters Inc, etc and how Pixar used animation to bring emotion and human quality to everyday items like the Pixar desk lamp, Woody, Buzz etc. Their goal was to have viewers sense intention, not just movement. They elicit emotion in the audience through meticulous detail and research into their subjects. "Our brains only process about 40% of what we actually see. The rest is compiled from preconceived images from past experiences. For instance, when I walk into my room I only physically see what I am looking at but my mental image knows the chair is in the corner, etc. so Pixar is very attuned to the minutest details because humans perceive them. If someone is going to reach to their left, their is a subtle movement to the right first. Twisting your hair in your finger elicits emotion. It's about getting emotion out of the audience."The epilogue was also enjoyable about Steve Jobs and how he is often misportrayed as unyielding and brash. Both of which are true, but Catmull talked about how Jobs evolved in their 30 years together into a much better communicator and collaborator than we often read about. Not what I was expecting, nice surprise - the book starts off a little lost and wanders for while with no clear purpose until the author explains his struggles to be a business trapped inside its creativity. Pixar built a creative monster that had to grow and evolve as business without loosing what made it great to start with - a struggle many creative venture suffer. Good read. I liked this review - This is not just a management book. This book offers an insight into the history of Pixar and that alone made it worth reading. As to the management ideas, they will not work for everyone in all industries but then no business rules hold across the board. I found that I could take much away of value from the examples and I also found some ideas that I would like to spread at my own job.The author uses the history of Pixar to illustrate his points but to this film buff, the history of Pixar could have sustained his writing. But then he attempted to make points with what was learned at Pixar and many of these points made sound sense.
What do You think about Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way Of True Inspiration (2014)?
a great book with a lot of insight. enjoyed it just like any pixar movie
—racheal
Never going to finish this before the library download expires.
—karly1
we must meet unexpected problems with unexpected responses...
—ereader169
A must read for anyone working in entertainment or media.
—ard055
Essential reading for anyone in the creative industries.
—angel
