Keynotes and Storyboards →
Ostensibly an article about working with Jobs, and Apple's Keynote events. What caught my attention was this insight about Pixar's process:
Pixar would work tirelessly on the storyboards before any 3D graphics were ever created, essentially making the movie before making the movie. At scheduled times they would take those storyboards down to Disney for feedback. Disney was funding Toy Story, after all, and was also the gold standard in animation. So, the top brass at Disney would screen these story reels and give notes to Pixar. At that point, you would think that the Pixar team would bring the Disney notes back to their teeny company and implement the suggestions. But that was never ever the case.
What the notes told them was where the problems were in the narrative. John and his team had the confidence in their artistic vision. So they trusted that confidence in themselves to enact the fixes not just implement the Disney feedback.
They're receiving feedback from people whose advice, for some reason, they don't really respect. But instead of discarding the advice altogether, they're treating it as a signal that their intent – the effect they strive for – is not working.