thinking time (thoughts dump)

i figure sharing my process will help keep me motivated for my senior film, so i thought i'd post what inspires me, what i feel most connected to.
and perhaps someone can suggest a few things, too!

i think the only way i can make a successful film is by developing ideas from what i always, without fail, enjoy. there are also some things that i keep going back to that i came across relatively recently.

1. Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I read it once as a kid, once in high school for french class, and another time a couple days ago. It's still wonderful, beautiful, and reading it as an adult (I'm an adult?!), now I think it's very sad. I think I love it even more, because I'm old enough to appreciate it.

2. Ponyo and Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli.

These films just make me happy. They're not really about much...just wonderful experiences. Something joyful and something just so pure. Uninhibited artmaking.

Actually, most, if not all, Ghibli Films are just. Gah. You guys understand.

3. Classic Fairytales

Aesop....Grimm....Hans Christian Anderson.....also some lesser known ones like the one about the princess and the donkey skin?....(i forget where that one's from, haha)

I just like 'em. They're un-superficial, un-pretentious. They embrace fantastical happenings. They don't have unnecessary inserts for the sake of entertainment.

4. The Tender Game, a short film from 1958 by John and Faith Hubley

featuring the song "Tenderly" performed by Ella Fitzgerald and the Oscar Peterson Trio. Crazy, I know.

I've watched this one over and over, and I love it every time. About a lovely experience, and you can see the brush strokes! 

Joyful animated filmmaking, where the intent was not to try to impress anyone, or be super ambitious, or get attention.

                                       

5. "My Family and the Wolf" teaser trailer from the little Spanish studio, Headless Productions.

I assume they're working on the film now, but they've released a trailer for it, and I've also watched it over and over. Looks like an homage to summer childhood memories. Beautiful, fresh, and endearing.

                                       

I love the work from these guys, they're the ones that worked on Nocturna.


6. 38-39 degrees Celsius, a short by KangMin Kim.
A Vimeo link here:  https://vimeo.com/22683060
Definitely worth watching.
Not sure if the filmmaker is still in the Experimental Animation grad program at CalArts, but I think this is where the film was completed.
It just had such strong style and personality. I think the word "uninhibited" comes to mind, again.


there are so many artists/works that i love and appreciate, but sometimes this category does not overlap with work you would love to create, or artists who you somehow feel as though you've know them for a long time. sometimes i think, "how could this person make art that i wanted to make so well?"

I've been in LA area for about a month now, and I've spent enough time worrying and feeling lame, I think. Been writing and doodling in a sketchbook I bought specifically for senior film, but it's already mid-July already! so instead of thinking I have to produce something good, I think I can make an animation a day or so, no more than a few hours of work, to help establish/elaborate on some ideas I have.

Only about a month and a week til I go home!

I think this is a good plan. Sorry for the long writing, but it's my blog! Hehe.