Note: See followup post, Postscript: No Ideas Required?

Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew recently wrote a reply to Motionographer’s post showcasing Ghost Robot’s newest commercial for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Motionographer first posted Ghost Robot’s work and in a short quote from the design company, they acknowledge the video’s influences from a previous video Motionographer had showcased by Javan Ivey titled My Paper Mind (along with Jen Stark’s work). My Paper Mind was a video that Ivey, while studying at Pratt, created using a unique stop motion technique of cutting out silhouettes of single frames of animation into paper and then sequentially “stacking” them with each frame (see videos in the full post).

Also in the post Ivey was reached for his thoughts of Ghost Robot’s work:

“This is precisely what I mean every time I say “I’d like to see someone try.” Because I do, I love to see what someone else does with it. They’ve taken the idea and applied manpower and a budget to it, and I’m absolutely floored. It looks great. I mean, I’m kinda bummed I wasn’t invited to the party, but I really enjoy seeing what they’ve done.”

Later in the comments after some users start to question why Ivey wasn’t asked to help he responds with this:

“I wouldn’t go so far as “genuine correspondence.” Elliot shot me an e-mail showing me his work and asking if I ever worked with other directors. I was too busy moving into my crappy new apartment, mopping up raw sewage that flooded into my crappy new apartment and yelling at the crappy landlord of my crappy new apartment. Funny story really, but it ate up my entire summer. I never got a chance to reply to Elliot.”

And a little later he further explains with this on his website and in the comments the situation:

“I put it out there hoping that somebody would pick it up and run with it. If I wanted to secret it away and hide the idea from the world, I would have.

…Ghost Robot took the technique and ran with it. And proved to me that really gorgeous things can be done with it given a few extra hands.

Bottom Line: They worked hard, made a pleasing piece and clearly had a good time doing it. They don’t even need my blessing, but they have it anyway.”

A few days later Cartoon Brew published their post “No Original Ideas Required: Welcome to Advertising” that poses the question: If an artist comes up with an original technique and style and a studio decides to use it shortly after the artist puts his work online, should the original artist be offered a job, financial compensation, or creative credit on the project? Amid acknowledges the nature of design, art and advertising in that it contains a great deal of borrowing of styles or techniques but in the end his post comes across as a general damnation of Ghost Robot and the commercial/motion graphics production industry. Amid closes with these final thoughts:

“At the end of the day, Javan lost money and work because of this, but he’s gained credibility within the animation community by having the validity of his animation technique proven by an uncreative commercial studio supported by deep-pocketed clients.”

Since following this I have been thinking about Amid’s question of compensation and credit to designers or artists who have been emulated. This is an idea that I have thought about many times while in school and have yet to find an answer that I can be completely satisfied with. It is impossible to be completely sheltered from the work that came before you and not to be influenced from it (even if it is subconsciously).

I have many times come up with what I believed to be a wholly original concept and felt a great deal of excitement with what I thought to be a small discovery. Then in some phase of development I often show what I am working on to someone for feedback (as I do with all my projects) and invariably they say to me “Oh this reminds me of…”  I am sure many of you have had a similar experience happen to you and I don’t have to tell you how deflating this experience can be. Over the past few years I have come to accept that the wholly (or should it be holy?) original idea is something that can never be fully realized.

A former literature teacher once told me that for her the act of creating was to take everything that you had experienced in your life and lay it out before yourself. Then you have to decide what parts of your experiences that you share and what parts you would get rid of but at the same time try to consider it all.

Do I think that Ivey was taken advantage of? No, I don’t really. I think it would have been nice if he could have been a part of the creation process more and that the local (to him) company could have pursued his help with more earnest than the supposed single email. But I still believe that Ghost Robot’s work stands on it’s own feet and their own execution is worthy of praise for the advances that it explored.

I am interested in what you think of the situation, you can vote in the poll or leave a comment in the full post. Also you can view both Javan and Ghost Robot’s videos after the break.

 Loading ...