My time in the mountains is serving me well. Next year my main project is one large animation. By large I mean solo project large, so about 5 minutes or less. In the itinerary for this summer is the initiation of that project. I will have free reign, I can do whatever I want. All the animation paper is completely blank, all of the free space on my hard drive is still set to zeros.
So the questions is where to begin.
Any creative project will be formed by everything that comes before that project. I heard an interesting story about Mark Twain. Apparently, he got stuck while writing Tom Sawyer. He felt he was empty. Left the manuscript for a time, and when he returned later, he felt his tank was refilled, and it was easy to proceed.
This summer I feel like it started with a formatting (the computer variant). Everything was done, my ideas were cleaned out, I knew what was important to me, but beyond that I had very little to inspire me.
As the summer has progressed I can tell that my tanks, and reserves of creativity are being refilled. The scenery of the mountains is seeping into my eyes and filling me up.
In my basement apartment in Field, I found a textbook called Freedom of the Hills. It is a book which describes in great detail nearly all aspects of mountaineering. From what to where, how to find you way, how to climb and what to do in case of emergencies. I am slowly plodding my way through the entire thing. Learning about the mountains from this perspective of mountaineering makes them much more complex. A rock face is no longer just a cliff, it becomes something to climb, rappel or something to avoid.
While I do have a little interest in actually doing some mountaineering, I am more intrigued by the prospect of animating it. If your actually going to go out to a mountain, you might as well film the actual thing. But the risks are generally greater than I am willing to take at this point. Seeing if I can imagine the experience, from enough research and thought, feels like an interesting challenge.
I also find that mountaineering is a wonderful topic for animation. It isn't just walks and runs. It is walking up piles of boulders; carrying heavy packs; jumping over chasms; falling down slopes. It has avalanches, search and rescue. It has climbing. Ropes. Rockfalls. It has wind, rain, ice, snow, sun. It has teamwork, leadership. Decision making. Risk. Reward. Failure. Death. Success.
One aspect of Mountaineering that is a little out of line with how I think is the reason. I read the book Into Thin Air, about a failed guided expedition up Mount Everest. I don't find their motivation for wanting to climb Everest compelling. "Because it is there" is an interesting reason, but it doesn't quite convince me.
So I have a setting and a general idea of the topic area. I still need a story, that will come.
What I have also begun is searching for the right medium.
So I started from scratch. I found a rock outside and decided to start there. How could I represent that. I went on the computer and tried to model and texture it. And I realized that at the base level of computer graphics, the one that is popular, that is taught everywhere, just wasn't working for me. I still haven't been able to make a rock in 3d that I am satisfied with.
In another post I will describe my thoughts on the topic.
Kyler
No comments:
Post a Comment