CINEMATIC :: 03/09/16 - Transdisciplinary breakthrough

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to take part in an animation workshop led by Japanese Animator, Mirai Mizue.  His work is highly abstract, featuring characters and shapes derived from cels, and he experiments through use of stream of consciousness drawing and by limiting what he can and cannot do with the resources he has on hand.  A lot of his work is very high-action and chaotic, which left me feeling both excited and somewhat unable to look at the screen at times.

In particular, his video JAM kickstarted an idea in my head for my own project.

JAM operates on layers, sound and timing.  Each part of the musical track corresponds to a cell-like 'character' that can only be seen when the piece in question is heard.  Put this together into a full arrangement and you get a kind of visual score to match what you're hearing.  As the music evolves, so does the image on screen.  There is no narrative, just images corresponding to sound and coming together to fill the senses.

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In particular it was the idea of layers that got me thinking about my own piece.  Animation has layers, so does clothing - just like there are layers to music and image.  Why not make the idea of the layer the unifying element for my project?

JAM also got me thinking about the idea of the canvas or workspace of the artist - for a seamstress it'd be a table and a sewing machine, but for someone like me, its the digital screen and the pixel dimensions that I define.  I would like to explore the idea that clothing can become the animator's workspace.

With those two in mind, I feel like I have a solid basis for a project now.  I would like to take the components of the lolita's dress and turn them into the layers and stages that an animation goes through.  The lolita skirt in particular functions similarly to the layers of a canvas - you have your skirt or JSK - the final product that is displayed to all, but underneath lie the petticoats, made up of layers of thin fabric that bolster the skirt and give it its signature shape - just like the basic shapes, guidelines, rough passes and cleanup that go into making the animation look picture perfect.  The petticoat also functions quite well as the idea of the onionskin, seeing as the fabric it is made from is quite transparent.

I would like to coordinate a full outfit around this concept, but as things stand I don't think I will have enough money for materials.  Because of this I would like to focus the brunt of my project onto the skirt and petticoats, taking tutorials from the internet in order to learn how to craft the right garments and repurpose them for my needs.  I would like the final piece to be something I can wear with the lolita outfits I already own, and feature lolita motifs in an animation context.