> sometimes constraints can be lenses for creativity, instead of shackles. This seems to be the case in just about every field. People who aren't very familiar

> sometimes constraints can be lenses for creativity, instead of shackles. This seems to be the case in just about every field. People who aren't very familiar with classical music hear about musical forms and highly restrictive techniques like fugue and think "Oh, classical music must be so stuffy and formulaic" or a common geek response I've heard: "Wow, Bach's music is made up of algorithms!" (cringe). But in reality those restrictions are where creativity is born, why composers are still writing fugues. Remove all restrictions from the process of composition (including self-imposed restrictions) and you have noise! Another example I wanted to share: in the documentary "The Five Obstructions" (an epic film about the creative process) Lars von Trier tasks the Jørgen Leth to re-create his short film "The Perfect Human" in five different ways, with five different sets of rules and restrictions. The one that Leth is most thrown off by at first is the task to re-make the film without any instructions from Lars. It's an awesome movie.