Great piece! I love the observation of higher levels of mastery leading to interesting revelations based on constraints. It reminds me of the making of Jaws, and Spielberg making the decision to “imply” the shark when the animatronics malfunctioned, which led to a more compelling outcome.
Exactly! I'd say to extend my materials metaphor, Spielberg's familiarity with the idea of "implied" suspense from classics like Psycho or Rear Window gave him the building blocks to deploy when it turned out their animatronic shark didn't work. When faced with the challenge, he had an *even better* idea in his quiver from his knowledge of film — hiding the menace actually *improved* the film!
Great piece! I love the observation of higher levels of mastery leading to interesting revelations based on constraints. It reminds me of the making of Jaws, and Spielberg making the decision to “imply” the shark when the animatronics malfunctioned, which led to a more compelling outcome.
Exactly! I'd say to extend my materials metaphor, Spielberg's familiarity with the idea of "implied" suspense from classics like Psycho or Rear Window gave him the building blocks to deploy when it turned out their animatronic shark didn't work. When faced with the challenge, he had an *even better* idea in his quiver from his knowledge of film — hiding the menace actually *improved* the film!