Have to do a 4 minute presentation based off these prompts tomorrow. I have to each them all twice. Here be my answers!
1. Peculiarities of my life that have made me see with special eyes are ...
a.) I grew up in a pretty conservative environment: raised Catholic, went to Catholic school all the way from kindergarten through high school, and I went to an all guy school in high school. Sophomore year of high school, I met Mr. Ancar, my art teacher. The dude's nuts, in the best ways possible. From blasting the Red Hot Chili Peppers during class, teaching us how to make orange juliuses, having arguments with the seniors about the finer parts of Dadaism, or telling us stories from his days Alaska King Crab Fishing, he was the strangest and coolest guy I have ever met, and he challenged me to look beyond my strict upbringing and embrace who I am as a person.
b.) Since I was kid, I've absorbed media. I have every genre of music on my iPod, have every genre of book on my shelf, and basically watch every movie you'll throw at me. This allows me to look at everything objectively, since I don't really have a preference for one particular type of thing and thus am not biased with most things. This lets me objectively think about what is "good" and what isn't.
2. Conflicts formative in my life are ...
a.) Your first big relationship in your life usually shapes you more than most people give it credit. My first big relationship was with a girl that was art-obsessed, and while I was with her I developed a profound interest in animation and comic books. We broke up at one point because she thought I didn't have the chops to go to art school with her, and I poured the anger from that rejection into making myself better at what I do, and it made me realize that I loved creating more than anything, as it made me happy after a pretty big period of my life ended.
b.) I had to fight tooth and nail to get where I am. My parents were absolutely against me going to art school from the beginning, and wanted me to be an orthodontist, a lawyer, aka anything that made a lot of money. It took my three years to convince them that this was all I wanted to do, and that has carried over to my art. I'm not the best at what I do, but I will keep trying until I get something right.
3. Themes that I'd like to work with are ...
a.) The Quest. Every good story has a "quest" in it, be it a road trip, saving the princess from a dragon, or the metaphorical quest of love, where you search for completion. I want to explore this concept and what it means to me this semester.
b.) Another theme that has always interested me, that I explored briefly in IPC, is Artifice vs. Organic. As our world becomes more and more industrialized, I find it interesting that there has been a surge of awareness of the environment, and I imagine that a perfect world would be one where technology and the environment are completely in sync. Plus, the juxtaposition of the organic and the industrial can be very interesting aesthetically, so this is another possible theme for me to explore.
4. Types of character I empathize with are ...
a) The quirky underdogs, since I was one of 'em in high school. Nerds, people with eccentricities, whatever you want to call them, fascinate me when I watch them, and are very easy for me to feel for.
b) The hopeless romantic. Ever since 7th grade, I've been either in a relationship or have been recovering from one. I know what it feels like to hurt and to love, having gone through the process a few times, and can relate to characters on both ends of the spectrum.
5. Story topics I'd like to explore are ...
a.) This question is a recap of sorts to my answer on themes. I don't have an exact idea of what I want my story to be yet, but I do know that it will probably involve a quest of some kind, maybe a smidge of the artificial vs. the organic theme, who knows. I tend my to base my stories off of assignments, so as time goes on I will be able to better answer this question.
6. Ways I'd like to act on my audience are ...
a) I want my audience to walk away from my pieces entertained, first and foremost. As an animator, my priority is to make a piece interesting to my audience for them to walk away with the piece still resonating within them.
b) My second priority is to present concepts in a way that is my own. Animation is a tough field to be in because we are constantly drawing inspiration from media in every direction, and it's hard to come up with brand new concepts. I once heard a saying that, "Every good story has already been told," and I agree. How you take the old story and spin it in a new way is key, and is hard. I want to be able to attack a piece in a way that my audience hadn't thought of and will resonate with them.
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