What I was least confident in was the visual aspect of the film. My favourite parts of animation are visually stunning scenes in animated films that I grew up with from studios like Studio Ghibli and Disney. There were certain scenes that were so comforting and beautifully created that I had felt connected to and remembered to this day. I wanted to created something that would have at least a similar effect.
In a video documenting Ghibli’s background artist Kazuo Oga, who was known for his paintings of forests and sceneries. He had observed the trees he painted in person in close detail and was able to point out the visual traits of each trees. This enabled him to capture a scenery’s essence without having to directly copy from an image to create a painting that wasn’t necessarily realistic but familiar.
Taking away from that, I figured that it would be good to have an in-depth visual knowledge of the object I’d want to portray, so I spent a day taking photographs of garlic in its many forms in order to familiarise myself with its texture, weight, shape, and colour.
I didn’t realise until later that my camera had created a process video of me taking each photo, though I found it interesting to look back at how I set up each shot (I didn’t remember being so frantic, however):
Additionally, I also filmed myself preparing garlic in a variety of ways. Though I don’t have a solid idea of what I want my film to look like visually, these videos would hopefully become useful references in the future.
This process of observation was quite enjoyable and made me take note of a lot garlic’s traits. By filming this from the top down from my point of view and only showing my hands, I found that this imagery would be quite universal. Perhaps a film that would in some way be applicable to most people’s experiences of everyday life is one where a character’s age, ethnicity, and overall appearance is not known. I think it would also be great to challenge myself in showing my identity through the objects in the background instead of my character.