During the final semester of our BFA4 year at Calarts (Graphic Design) we’re asked to develop an independent project – a thesis of sorts. The scope can be broad, or very specific. I went through several ideas, outline them, realized I wasn’t interested in certain parts; finally, I landed on an idea in which I was intrigued by both the theoretical, and material aspects of. The hope is that I’ll end the semester with a large body of self-initiated work, I will have revitalized a personal practice and an alternative work ethic, as well as practice for the “real-world” (coming up with ideas, and executing them QUICKLY). The prompt is as follows:
For a period of 10 weeks, I will make an image a day, and a short film every friday.
By the last day of the tenth week, I will have at least 60 images, and 10 films.
THE REASONING
I went through a ton of different ideas, and finally landed on one simple enough to accomplish, but with enough potential to take away something significant. I want to make something every day for a period of 10 weeks involving image-making and film/animation.
During the first three years at this school, most projects we’ve done through class have had a hefty process aspect to them; research/planning, prototyping, making, revising, and finalizing. Because I chose a profession based on something I enjoy doing in my spare time, it has left my spare time pretty bare. Therefore, I have planned a project around many fast-paced projects (there is still a process aspect, but the project focuses more on the making, and the overall body of work).
Additionally, a favorite book of mine titled “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass (while it focuses more on a spiritual practice) preaches the idea of acting presently, letting emotions come and go, and not dwelling, never dwelling. It is a good analogy for my reasoning behind this project; I enjoy the many traditional phases of a design process, but often times I dwell on a specific stage and end up getting stuck. I am hoping to establish a personal practice that keeps me inspired and busy whenever I work on projects supporting my livelihood that place me in that aforementioned rut.
“Make something every day just keep the work coming” has kind of become a personal motto of sorts over my time spent at this school, and it’s time I begin to apply it.
One image/post a day – though the point is the still image, the elements can be prepped for animation when it comes time for that week’s film.
One film a week – The film will be based in the images/elements created that week, though not limited to that. Things can be shot/animated additionally, but again, I will be “repurposing” those original images.
All of these will be posted daily on this blog, arranged by day of the week, image vs. film, or chronological order. The journaling will be posted with the work, but not the central focus.
10 weeks: I have chosen to do this over a period of 10 weeks because a) it sets a concrete beginning and end to the project, allowing for a contained body of work; b) to have a long enough period of time where the collection of work is significant and challenging; c) to allow for a few extra weeks at the end to plan a final culmination, be it an exhibition, reel, book, web gallery, etc.
There will be more writing to this very shortly!