CINEMATIC :: 15/08/16 - Trans-disciplinary brainstorming

Planning a project for Dane's class reminds me a lot of my earlier course in Creative Technologies at AUT as the process is very similar to the self imposed briefs I spent doing there.  The idea of focusing on the process of the journey rather than the end result is nonetheless still quite difficult to pin down, as it is far simpler to think about an end result and then take steps to gaining it over thinking about how you are going to explore something and different ways to do it and plan for the inevitable unexpected results that will crop up.

We have been tasked with combining the medium of animation with something wholly outside of the animation field and I've been thinking a lot about the kind of thing I want to explore or do.  It was suggested that we look to things that we were already interested in so we would be more familiar with the materials.  These are the following areas I've thought about the most for my medium, though I have yet to settle on a definite subject

• Theology
  Specifically looking for patterns or events in mythologies, but as most of these are narratives that exist to impart a specific teaching or lesson, I'm wondering if this is the best choice.  Other thoughts were to look into the disciplines or rules within a religion such as the ten commandments of christianity, or the path to enlightenment in buddhism.  Particulars that translate into animation could be the kind of symbolism or imagery that a culture uses, along with colors and what kind of art mediums or products are used to convey the culture's idea of holy and sacred.  Things like gold leaf for gilding, five color thread for mala, and the renaissance use of lapis lazuli come to mind.  I also like the idea of taking patterns of a specific religion/culture and finding a way to translate them into animation without using a direct narrative, but these also tend to be rooted in symbolism, and with such a delicate subject, I am rather wary of accidentally appropriating the culture in some way.
  
  
• Fashion
  Lolita, Mori-kei, and Harajuku styles have been an area of interest for me recently, and I have been wondering if I could combine ideas from these fashion movements into animated expression or kinetic sculpture.  Each style has its own set of rules, sub-cultures, themes, colors and motifs that one could carry across to animation, and I feel one could bring it further into the 3D/Mixed media element through use of fabrics and sculpture.  The silhouette of a mori-kei is far different from that of a lolita, so perhaps shapes could play into it as well.  In a way it could be a form of synesthesia on its own, blending the ideals, textures, colors etc. of a fashion movement into a form of animation.  I feel like this would perhaps work best as a sculptural piece, though how or what I would even make is still incredibly up in the air.
  
  
• Psychology
  After watching Dane's test animation a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of the idea of disassociation and the slow desynchronizing sensation that one gets under that kind of influence.  Because of this, I feel like it would be interesting to explore the idea of mental illness and abstract animation further, looking into how such a condition changes the way one feels and behaves, and replicating it in an animated medium.  It brings to mind the works of Bryan Lewis Saunders and his series of pictures he drew while under the influence of various drugs.  While I'm not prepared to go to such extreme measures, I wonder if I could isolate some aspect of conditions like anxiety, depression, disassociation or mania and apply its symptoms in a visual form.

On further inspection, I feel like fashion would be the safest choice of the three, as if I mess up or get something wrong, I'm much less likely to offend someone than accidentally making a statement on their mental illness or insulting their religion.