One distinction in creative work that has really begun to bug me is that of Art vs Craft.
Lets think of this from a ski film perspective:
Take for example, Idea.
It was based around an original soundtrack, not using poles, and is more or less a conceptual movie that challenged how major ski film companies did things at the time. Low budget, filming done within the crew, etc.
Now think of PBP or MSP, who have basically made the same movie every year for the past 4 or 5 years.
I would consider Idea a work of art. I would NOT consider most recent PBP or MSP movies a work of art, because they are highly derivative of previous work, and don't really offer something conceptually interesting or different each year. However, both MSP and PBP are damn good at making a single type of ski movie, and they do it every year without fail. I'd consider these movies works of craft.
Here's a quote from "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland:
"In essence, art lies embedded in the conceptual leap between pieces, not in the pieces themselves. And simply put, there's a greater conceptual jump from one work of art to the next than from one work of craft to the next. The net result is that art is less polished - but more innovative - than craft. The differences between five Steinway grand pianos - demonstrably works of consummate craftsmanship - are small compared to the differences between the five Beethoven Piano concerti you might perform on those instruments.
A work of craft is typically made to fit a specific template, sometimes a painstakingly difficult template requiring years of hands-on apprenticeship to master. Its staggering to realize that nearly all the truly great violins ever produced were made in the course of a few years by a few artisans living within a few blocks of each other. All this in a remote Italian village, three centuries ago. The accomplishments of Antonio Stradivari and his fellow craftsmen point up one real difference between art and craft: with craft, perfection IS possible."
Do you consider yourself an artist? Or a craftsman? Would you prefer to have 10 perfect, formulaic edits/movies that everyone likes, or a diverse body of work that challenges your viewers? Thoughts? Am I an idiot?
Lets think of this from a ski film perspective:
Take for example, Idea.
It was based around an original soundtrack, not using poles, and is more or less a conceptual movie that challenged how major ski film companies did things at the time. Low budget, filming done within the crew, etc.
Now think of PBP or MSP, who have basically made the same movie every year for the past 4 or 5 years.
I would consider Idea a work of art. I would NOT consider most recent PBP or MSP movies a work of art, because they are highly derivative of previous work, and don't really offer something conceptually interesting or different each year. However, both MSP and PBP are damn good at making a single type of ski movie, and they do it every year without fail. I'd consider these movies works of craft.
Here's a quote from "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland:
"In essence, art lies embedded in the conceptual leap between pieces, not in the pieces themselves. And simply put, there's a greater conceptual jump from one work of art to the next than from one work of craft to the next. The net result is that art is less polished - but more innovative - than craft. The differences between five Steinway grand pianos - demonstrably works of consummate craftsmanship - are small compared to the differences between the five Beethoven Piano concerti you might perform on those instruments.
A work of craft is typically made to fit a specific template, sometimes a painstakingly difficult template requiring years of hands-on apprenticeship to master. Its staggering to realize that nearly all the truly great violins ever produced were made in the course of a few years by a few artisans living within a few blocks of each other. All this in a remote Italian village, three centuries ago. The accomplishments of Antonio Stradivari and his fellow craftsmen point up one real difference between art and craft: with craft, perfection IS possible."
Do you consider yourself an artist? Or a craftsman? Would you prefer to have 10 perfect, formulaic edits/movies that everyone likes, or a diverse body of work that challenges your viewers? Thoughts? Am I an idiot?
