For Mini Project #3, I developed 3 different generative sketches using p5.js.
The motion that I choose to expand on for Project A is not really encapsulated in any of these 3 sketches. I believe I will need further practice with that type of motion. Instead, these 3 sketches explore themes I will incorporate in Project A: nature, living creatures, imaginative worlds, and emotional journeys.
3 Mini Project Sketches
Sketch I. At the Movies
Access sketch here.
Sketch II. Kinda Koi Pond
Access sketch here.
Sketch III. Moving Without Me
Access sketch here.
Project A
For Project A, I want to explore diverse changes in motion, predominantly the tumbling, floating, bursting of creatures that reflect the narrative and changes in spheres and planes of existence in Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron (lit: How Do You Live?).
Miyazaki’s film features creatures called warawara (ワラワラ).
Appearance: cute, small, white blob-shaped spirits with smiling faces
Movement: can walk, waddle, and float. Move in masses.
The warawara are “unborn human souls who reside in the Sea World. Once they mature, they fly up into the sky to be born as humans. Often, when they fly up attempting to be born, they are eaten by the Pelicans because there’s nothing else in this world for them to eat” (source). In the context of the film, the Pelicans act as intermediaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
The Boy and the Heron is set during WWII. Daleziou of EpicStream comments on this inevitable association of the Warawara with death, despite their external appearance, and opine that they could symbolize “the lost potential of children who were not born during World War II due to malnutrition, violence, and disease” (source). The author suggests that the positive, childlike design of the Warawara can point to them being “content in their plane of existence despite the sad connotations.” Furthermore, the term “warawara” in Japanese roughly translates to “bustling; shuffling; squirming; creepy crawly” (source). I hope to explore these positive-negative contradictions–as Hayao Miyazaki often does in his films–in a representation of the Warawara or similarly-inspired creature.
Further inspiration I found here.
See slides here.