☆ ★ Rough Magic ★ ☆

(( Notes from the lecture on October 7th given by Ivan Phillips. ))

"The human race is hooked on spectacle."



This was probably the best lecture I've ever attended and I particularly enjoyed watching the old films, so I thought I'd start by sharing my favourite one for those who didn't see.

What exactly do you put in a lecture blog?

We looked briefly at cave paintings and venus idols.

I like the idea of prehistoric mankind huddled up in caves with nothing but pelts and stone tools, telling stories through art; it's comforting to think that humans who lived so long ago were so similar to outselves in that way. Their art tells of the way they lived back then and the way they thought, it suggests a sentience we can connect with and transcends both a cultural barrier and a lack of language.
Art seems to be what separates us from other life-forms on earth and at the same time bonds us together as a race. It is a 6th sense that has evolved with humanity; over the ages it has grown to encorperate scale, perspective, colour theory and more recently branched out into an aray of powerful media. With this new media we can communicate with the masses.

..and things that go BANG!

With media we can communicate with people all over the world, regardless of their culture or the language they speak. (almost regardless; the amish are particularly particular about this).
We can portray our most vivid dreamscapes and share our darkest imaginings and people might even pay to see it.

☆★ ☆

Creation of the Impossible

Something I find especially enticing about animation is the way you can pull an audience into your world. Once they are in that world you can suggest any number of weird and wonderful creatures, gadgets or theories as plausable - I like the idea that someone in that audience might invent such a thing.