Small Things Are Hard

I don't want to make "cheap" videos. I have lots of story ideas that could make for good movies or series, but very few that seem to lend themselves to short films. I like my entertainment complicated (hence my verbosity on this blog). I know everyone has to start small, but big things look so much more fun. And it's not that I don't believe simple things can be entertaining. I spend quite enough time on YouTube to know the truth about that. I quite enjoy things like this:

It's Not About the Nail

It's not two minutes long, but it's so profound, so clever, so creative. Here's four more videos that consist of nothing but two or three guys sitting around and talking (Well, that third one has some other stuff at the end):

A One And A Two

Bro Moment

Nose Looker

Super Cafe

And I know many of these people possess the resources to do more intricate things, but they keep pumping out these conversations-at-the-bar type videos because they know it doesn't take a huge spectacle to entertain people.

Even the Pixar shorts are very simple. No really. Most of them require only two characters doing fairly mundane things on a single set. It only takes one sentence to completely describe the plot. You could tell the same stories in half the time with a much simpler set, and it would still be good. (Although Presto and Blue Umbrella might be hard to scale down.)

So why is it that even after seeing and laughing at all these examples, I can't stop longing for the big leagues? I struggle to even come up with simple ideas. Or if I do, I immediately start adding stuff that makes them complicated. I default to envisioning everything as a feature film, or else I lose interest. I can thank of no other explanation for this than my pride. Fact is, I feel like the best thing I can ever do is make "Pixar film." That is what I want to work towards. That's the dream toward which I focus my creative energy. If I die having made nothing but 5-minute YouTube videos, I'll feel like I haven't accomplished enough. My heart thinks bigger is better.

This reminds me of a book I read not too long ago about a man who wanted to become the "Walt Disney" of Christian media. He created VeggieTales. It started out great, but then he tried to make his company too big too fast, and his business went bankrupt. DreamWorks owns it now. The man was left wondering why God let his dream die. He thought God wanted him to use his business to make an impact for Christ. He eventually made peace with the fact that God doesn't need him to do big things. He may want him to do small things, and that's be okay. He learned to let God decide what kind of impact he would have. The man now makes DVDs starring puppets that will probably never be as popular as VeggieTales. It's a cheaper production, but it's what God put on his heart to make for now. He is content to let Disney be Disney, and he'll be Phil Vischer.

I too need to ask myself, am I set on chasing after Disney, or am I content to do what God wants and allows me to do, big or small? Will I waste my energy envying the mainstream leaders, or will I devote myself to making the most of the resources I have right at this moment, and perhaps reconsider whether or not I believe there is any hierarchy in entertainment mediums?