Paint the Illusion
I’ve been working on animating a music video for the past 3 days. It is taking a great deal of time and effort. But doing so I’ve noticed a few things. The first thing is that layers are important for making an animated scene. The more layers that exist and move without cluttering up the focal point of the scene the better. And when you have layers moving from left to right and another layer is moving from right to left, that is appealing to the eye. You can give the illusion of movement by simply having the background move, but the main character or focal point may be completely still. And then there is using layers in order to give the idea of depth of field. You can move behind layers to make the scene seem more real. Then of course there is the idea of using vanishing points and lines in order to give the notion of perspective.
In an animated piece sometimes having exaggerated perspective lines can give the viewer a comfortable feeling. Trying to make things less real can let the imagination of the observer relax and more completely engage with the animation.
But as I was sitting at Starbucks today, chilling outside, I looked around and the outside world seemed much more like an elaborate animation than something real. I know from Buddhist thought processes that attachment to the physical universe is not necessarily a bad or a good thing. And even thinking about things in terms of good or bad is a form of dualistic thinking which is a migraine all together.
Yet the core thought that went through my head was: With enough creative talent, processing power, and patience, this entire life could be an elaborate illusion. That being said, I’m not apathetic or depressed about that. It’s a nice illusion and I respect and appreciate it. Some days are harder than others but nonetheless I enjoy the whole process.
Then there is creation for the sake of creation. That’s an interesting subject because there is something to be said about creating something and then sharing it with others. But at the same time there is this feeling that one gets from creating something, “Good.” When you do that, it doesn’t really matter if it is shared. And when I say, “Good” it isn’t the idea of good vs bad. No. I mean when you create something and you touch it or in my recent experience look and listen to it and say, “Good.” And then after double checking things, we move on to the next section.
It is less about perfection and more about completion. This is funny because many definitions of perfection include the word complete. When I think of completion it is more of an emotional response to a reality. This is complete, because I say so.
Completion seems very subjective and is in the eye of the creator. Yet perfection has a subliminal consensus attached to it.
-Tyler