in our most recent week several new ideas, each increasing in complexity—and possibly diminishing in feasibility—have been developed. to accompany some sketches, i will provide a thorough description in order of how i came to realize them. the images that i have been working with the most include that of an individual smoking a cigarette, fish beneath the surface of a pond, and the caressing of limbs by lovers, siblings, friends, and parents and their children. (obviously the chandelier imagery hasn't stuck quite as much, though they still appear all over shanghai.) these are all from observation: shanghai has the most smokers i've ever seen, and because they can smoke anywhere i've had plenty of opportunity to watch the act of smoking. we've come across a few pools with koi and other gorgeous pond fish, and while i'm unsure if this is distinctly chinese (as opposed to japanese, which is what i've previously associated such pools with, justifiably or not) it remains a compelling image to me. and, as i've mentioned in person, the amount and variety of touching here between pairs of people along the streets, in the subways, and in restaurants is intriguing and far more frequent and diverse than the places in the u.s. i've been.
but these images have come to me in different ways. the cigarette imagery came to me as i was resting: i suddenly saw an animated charcoal/conté drawing of a person lighting, dragging, and ultimately extinguishing a cigarette—one full life of the object. the view was within the confines of a narrow band, allowing very little of the person's face to be visible, so the focus was on the cigarette, the smoke, and the embers floating with every drag. i imagined this as an animation that would last just as long as a cigarette (a few minutes).
i imagined further about how music could fit with this animation; while i haven't come up with any solution that seems compelling (or, as i'll get to soon, relatable), i did think about amplifying the sounds of a cigarette to a degree that isn't normally possible to really experience the simple action in a new manner. another idea was to replace the sounds with a much more dramatic collage of bon fires and such, though this isn't as developed enough in my opinion.
but then i realized the possibility of producing another animation to accompany the cigarette. this is where the koi pond came in, and the main link i noticed was the incredible orange of glowing embers and the scales of some fish—which led me to wonder how two animations devoid of all color but the core, matching orange hues might interact side-by-side. therefore, a second constricted animation of swimming fish and the reflected surface of the pond became clear in my mind. because the two images are in most other ways unrelated, i felt like only these two would still come up short in terms of connection other than the color, so i attempted to come up with a third, to round out an arc of meaning. i haven't come up with anything but a similarly tight view of the arms of two individuals stroking one another (not necessarily sexual, but certainly not without potential—i'd prefer the ambiguity). the orange is the trickiest aspect of this animation; some ideas include the heat of contact (an orange glow where skin touched skin), or more basic elements like nail polish or jewelry.
as for music, a breakthrough came when i considered the idea of each of these videos not being separate, short film animations, but rather three separate loops that would each continuously play and replay; then, each would have a distinct soundtrack playing aloud, and the combined loops of sound and video would produce a full composition for the viewer. i imagine, in exhibition, three screens displaying the animations, and a speaker for each to play the three tracks; the composition would be ever unique by making each loop a different length, so they'd line up differently over time—only once every while would they line up as originally and begin the overall combined loop.
i realize the immensity of this kind of production. as an average hand-drawn animation is done in "2's"—that is, for every drawing, a duplicate frame is made to round out the frame rate—which equals 12 drawings (frames) per second; at that rate, a minute-long film requires 720 drawings, 30 seconds requires 360 drawings, and 15 seconds requires 180 drawings. it dawned on me that the likelihood of producing multiple videos over 15 seconds in length may be unlikely, with all the drawings, music composition, and film editing necessary. the time i'll have at grinnell still feels abstract in some ways, but i am fairly certain that that kind of project would be difficult to pull off unless i'd already had experience animating. if i had 10-, 12- and 15-second loops, it might be manageable, as long as i'm convinced the films would keep a viewer's attention beyond one loop.
but i've continued to be attracted to creating a number of large-scale, singular drawings, perhaps with the same imagery, but unanimated. i know that my mark-making is very different when working with different scales; as it turns out, i'm currently far fonder of my larger gestures than the miniscule ones i try to control, especially with loose, gritty mediums like charcoal and conté. working smaller (which would be crucial for three animations of 180 drawings each or less) matches my vision for near-realism far less than larger pieces. perhaps i need to do animations that look more like drawings than drawn-photographs, and use the leftover time to work on more photo-realistic, larger drawings as a third element to the project, rounding out the still, the animated, and the aural.
because the ideas for medium and imagery is becoming clearer, i will work towards understanding why they are relevant: relevant to me as a student visiting china, relevant to me as an observer and "relayer," relevant to me as a drawer, and relevant to me as a composer. i'm always insecure about trying to force meaning on images after-the-fact, but perhaps that's not how i should be approaching it.
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