I have been thinking about into for quite awhile. I began this project from the end to the start and I ended up (with the beginning) where I had to put together several unconnected pieces of cartoons together. And I came up with an idea of presenting each animation as a TV program (as well because the full name of my course is film and broadcast).
Every cartoon has an eerie view on the daily things and was inspired by the British pop art culture, however in fact, the pandemic itself.
“The number of adults experiencing some form of depression in Great Britain has doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ONS analysis based on representative survey of 3,527 adults in Great Britain, found that the proportion of people reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms increased from 9.7% between July 2019 and March 2020 to 19.2% in June 2020. 12.9% of adults said their moderate to severe depressive symptoms developed during the pandemic, 6.2% said this was a continuation of depressive symptoms from before. Almost 85% of adults who reported experiencing some form of depression said their wellbeing was being affected by feeling stressed or anxious because of the pandemic and more than 42% of adults said their relationships were being affected” (Vizard, 2020).
Isolation and uncertainty certainly make everyone feel overwhelmed, concentrated on previously not to relevant and noticeable things and generally support a more pessimistic view on the future. People realised their mortality and in fact we haven't gone too far from the 15th century. Death is still looking for us behind every corner. Everyone is thinking about global things these days, everyone is reevaluating their lives, getting rid of wasteful and exhausting elements. And this is the main focus of my animations. I wanted to summarise it in a short intro which would explain everything that will follow.
The feeling of disconnection I personally associate with tripping on drugs. Especially recreational drugs, mainly acids. They make its users feel detached from reality and at the same time build a strong connection with something deep and intangible. With the world’s true sense. It allows to reach the meaning through loosing it. Same effected can be gained through meditation. Even though those two sometimes come together, either for achieving a brighter effect, like for example during Temazcal ceremony:
“During a ceremony, participants will enter a sweat lodge (typically an igloo-shaped hut) constructed from volcanic stone, wood or cement. Once inside, hot volcanic rocks are placed in the center, and water is poured over the rocks to produce steam. Herbs, typically sage or copal, are added to aid the cleansing process. While every ritual is different, ceremonies can last around two hours which might include a shaman-led series of thanksgiving or chanting” (Murray, 2019).
Or to help with addiction. In my intro I strongly wanted to intertwine those two. I have also thought of including the essential importance of nature. Thus I went to Richmond park and was filming myself wandering around. Later I colour graded the video and added many effects to make it look horrifying and acidish. To achieve the effect of LSD trip. Something similar to what was created by Argentinian director Gaspard Noe in his film Enter The Void.
The idea for the film had been growing since Noé's adolescence, when he first became interested in matters of death and existence. In his early twenties—while under influence of psilocybin mushrooms—he saw Robert Montgomery's Lady in the Lake, a 1947 film shot entirely in a first-person perspective. He then decided that if he ever made a film about the afterlife, that was the way it would be filmed. Noé had tried various hallucinogens in his youth, and used those experiences as inspiration for the visual style. Later, when the director was already planning the film, he tried the psychoactive brew ayahuasca, in which the active substance is DMT. This was done in the Peruvian jungle, where the brew is legal due to its traditional use as an entheogen. Noé described the experience as very intense, and said he regarded it "almost like professional research." Since few on the design team ever had taken a hallucinogen, it was necessary for Noé to collect and provide visual references in the forms of paintings, photographs, music videos, and excerpts from films. One reference used was the works of biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose drawings influenced the organic patterns seen during Oscar's visions. Another important stylistic influence was the experimental oeuvre of Kenneth Anger, and in particular Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome. Noé saw Anger's films in the early 1990s, while promoting the short film Carne, and quickly became a fan. Other influences from experimental cinema included the works of Jordan Belson and Peter Tscherkassky. Noé's favourite film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was the most prominent influence among mainstream films; Noé wanted to become a filmmaker after he saw it at the age of seven. Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes and other films which feature hovering overhead shots inspired Noé to make a film largely from such a perspective.
Of course I don't do drugs, especially psychedelics, thus I was fully relied on my friend’s experiences and Enter The Void. One of them said that he “Could see what was behind”.
I was searching many different mediation practices and focused in particular on Sufi whirling. Sufi whirling is a meditative technique that involves whirling your own axis for a long time (usually from half an hour to several hours). The technique got its name from the Mevlevi Sufi order, founded by the Persian Sufi poet Jalaladdin Rumi, in which whirling was a private ritual of worshiping God and symbolised unity with them. Sufis whirled around in heavy skirts, which are necessary to stabilise the rotation and maintain its high speed. Among people who practice meditation, whirling is unofficially considered "royal meditation."
By practicing this, I have covered the ideas of feeling disconnected with the reality. Being closer to the true sense and the kings, the government, on who we all now rely more than ever.
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
jacobvanloon
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass