Wait and See

On losing self-consciousness, attaining focus, and cherishing ignorance.

Straight-ahead is not always straightforward. I find it easy enough to start little bits of animation off in a spontaneous, improvisational way - things just seem to come out of nowhere, often suggesting interesting lines of enquiry. But then it’s far harder to extend these snippets into short films. I have made many more seeds of potential animations than I will ever be able to complete.

Sustaining an open, experimental process over an prolonged period of time can be difficult. What do you hold on to when there is no story, no character, or even no solid ‘idea’ for the film? How do you keep focused when you intentionally don’t know what you are doing? For me the answer seems to lie in making sure I really don’t know, which in itself can be quite a challenge.