My Views on Feedback
Preface
- I want you all to know that I really really believe in the mission that you are doing. I want you to succeed. This animation that you are building, I want it to exist and to thrive.
- Therefore, every thing that I am telling you is because I want you to succeed. Even the parts that feel blunt, or harsh, or uncomfortable.
- My role, right now is to give you helpful feedback.
- My role is not to be your collaborator. This means that you don't NEED my approval. You don't need me to agree or like what you're making.
- Take it or leave it. If what I say, is helpful or relevant, then use it. If what I say is not helpful or is irrelevant, then ignore it.
Before
Before you ask for and receive feedback, I think it is vital that you:
- Know precisely what kind of feedback you need right now.
- (I'm not talking about nice/mean. I'm talking about content. Do you need feedback on dialog, character design, plot pacing? What do you need, specifically?)
- Communicate what kind of feedback you are looking for so that they can best meet your needs.
- If you don't tell them, then they have to guess.
Given, the purpose of this script (a short to be used for a crowdfunding campaign), I'm assuming that the feedback you want, is to know whether this script would be compelling enough to convince me to donate to your campaign. So that's the kind of feedback I'm giving right now.
Epilogue
Be courageous! Give the story whatever it needs to be the best that it can be, even if that means disregarding with my feedback. I know that each one of you cares about story, and you care about craft. This is the most important thing. Skill, knowledge, expertise can all be taught. But there is no way to teach care. If you truly care, then you will find whatever skill, resources, or people you need in order to care for the things that matter.