3blue1brown

Reaching goals

Added 2017-08-05 22:45:36 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone,

As some of you may have noticed, this Patreon page recently passed one of the goals I put out several months ago. Specifically, here's how it was described.

It's around this point that I'd start considering expanding beyond just me to help create more series in more topics.

Truth be told, you all caught me off guard a bit with how quickly this happened! True to the cautious phrasing of the goal, though, it is now something I'm starting to contemplate more seriously :)

First, let me just say one more time how much this support means to me. The financial aspect of it is obviously one component. But beyond that, it's both heartwarming and reaffirming to know that a meaningful number of people out there align with the goals I have for the channel – enough to allocate some portion of their disposable income to ensure not just that it exists, but that I can take the time to make each video something we all can all feel proud of, and which best serves the channel's mission of exposing what genuinely doing math feels like. Not just in descriptions of what exists, but with deeper dives into the problem-solving process.

So getting back to the goal, I've had the vague sense that there will come a time when this mission is best achieved with more hands on the creation process. The softest form of that has already begun, with the input many of you have offered on the early release of series videos. The more hefty form, of course, would come in the form of a full-time hire.

The move from one person to multiple is definitely not to be taken lightly, so I want to take care to be sure it's done in the right way. The benefits of more man-hours can easily be outweighed by the drawbacks of communication overhead when tasks are not distributed properly. So it may still be a few months before there is another contributor on the video creation side of things, but I feel comfortable saying that it is in the plans.

If you'll indulge my musings on the topic, I'll share a few thoughts.

My instinct is that the wrong way to play this is would be to subdivide and contract out aspects of an individual video, especially the standalone ones. Creative works by individuals have a clearly different taste from those produced by teams. While neither is intrinsically better than the other, for 3blue1brown videos the video conception, writing and animations are not really distinct parts but intertwine tightly with one another, so it'll probably always be best individual videos to be primarily owned by an individual.

For example, I've talked with other creators who outsource the animation side of things, and it's clear just how inefficient that process can be, and there is always a disjointed feel between the writing and the visuals in the final outputs. For this channel, quite often the visual is the substance, so forcing that tight alignment could be very unwieldy if it rested on a back and forth between writer and animator. If that were the process, the Riemann Zeta Function video I did would never have existed.

Instead, it's probably best to give someone a fuller ownership of entire videos, where my role would be one of guidance, offering approval on the video conception and script, and narrating. Perhaps they would even have ownership for an entire series.

As I said, it might take some time to really shape the role I want, and to find the right person. Also, there are some legal aspects where I need to get all my ducks in a row. But it's exciting to me to know that this channel has a less hazy future than in did 9 months ago, and that the long list of topics I'd like to make series on may one day be fully covered.

Thanks again, and keep loving math.
-Grant