IS TIME AGAINST US?
I find myself in search of time. When I think about Vue 6 I want to time to play with and explore Vue 6. When I think of what I want to say, I want time to write on this blog. Even now I want time to play with ideas I have for Poser or to look at some of the new characters released on their content site. Where does all this time go?
When I look back on the days when I created Understanding Chaos, I now wonder how I ever found the hours to do such a project on my nights and weekends. Does life get more complicated? Is the issue really time at all or is it energy? There are a dozen things that I want to do right now and what's worse is I fully have access to them in terms of ability and technology. The only thing which keeps me from them is time.
Today, me and a couple of guys from work went to Guitar Center on our lunch break. We got keyboards for use with Garage Band, the music creation software which is part of the iLife suite. I got the keyboard pictured above, which is often seen advertised or set up in stores in connection with Garage Band. One of the guys hooked his keyboard up at the end of the work day and I got to see first hand what I was missing out on by not having a keyboard attached to Garage Band all this time. With this in mind, I had every intention of playing with my keyboard when I got home, but then I remembered something that I didn't have time for the day before.
I picked up a copy of a book I had heard about some time ago. It was Range Murata's Robot comic anthology which features full color high quality art from a variety of manga artists, pro and indie alike. Tonight I had the opportunity to go through it and I have to say I am amazed at the work. Of course, I expected nothing less than the best from some of the names attached to the project, but I was pleased to see such an attempt to break from the mold or the tradition of how manga is done come out so well. It also seems, from what I read, that it is quite successful and spreading across the world little by little. There was something more interesting that I found in those pages though. It went beyond the amazing drawings of femme fatales with swords, eiree science fiction worlds and beautiful artwork. I saw hints of fractured time. Like with typical manga publishing in Japan, some of the stories are of decent length and appear to be continuos, which will pick up in the next volume. Other stories, however, break from typical manga convention and are exceptionally short, 3-5 pages and they end... completely. This really made me think of how I work.
Often times there are things I want to say or show which do not require the length of a full feature film. Some do not even require the length of a short like Understanding Chaos, but I still want to say them. Usually, seeing no place for such ideas, I just drop them. Why is that? With limited time, one would think these tiny things would be ideal for self expression and to keep the skills up.
I recently read a book which liberally quoted Joseph Campbell, and it got me thinking about the whole "follow your bliss" thing again. I mean, if you already had all the money you wanted and were creating your dream project with no thought of financial reward, no thought of sales, just doing it for your enjoyment, how different would it be from what your are making right now? Would you follow the structure of a feature film? Would you make it the length of a TV show? Would you include things that you currently think might not sell well or go over with an audience? What audience? Would you care what other people say you should make? Are you truly making the show that you want to make right now?
I find these questions to be really motivational. I think Range Murata must have asked similar questions and the answer was Robot. When I get down to the many things I want to say with my work and do with my time, I find these questions make me look at what's really mine and what is little more than a holdover of thinking someone else's way.
When I look back on the days when I created Understanding Chaos, I now wonder how I ever found the hours to do such a project on my nights and weekends. Does life get more complicated? Is the issue really time at all or is it energy? There are a dozen things that I want to do right now and what's worse is I fully have access to them in terms of ability and technology. The only thing which keeps me from them is time.
Today, me and a couple of guys from work went to Guitar Center on our lunch break. We got keyboards for use with Garage Band, the music creation software which is part of the iLife suite. I got the keyboard pictured above, which is often seen advertised or set up in stores in connection with Garage Band. One of the guys hooked his keyboard up at the end of the work day and I got to see first hand what I was missing out on by not having a keyboard attached to Garage Band all this time. With this in mind, I had every intention of playing with my keyboard when I got home, but then I remembered something that I didn't have time for the day before.
I picked up a copy of a book I had heard about some time ago. It was Range Murata's Robot comic anthology which features full color high quality art from a variety of manga artists, pro and indie alike. Tonight I had the opportunity to go through it and I have to say I am amazed at the work. Of course, I expected nothing less than the best from some of the names attached to the project, but I was pleased to see such an attempt to break from the mold or the tradition of how manga is done come out so well. It also seems, from what I read, that it is quite successful and spreading across the world little by little. There was something more interesting that I found in those pages though. It went beyond the amazing drawings of femme fatales with swords, eiree science fiction worlds and beautiful artwork. I saw hints of fractured time. Like with typical manga publishing in Japan, some of the stories are of decent length and appear to be continuos, which will pick up in the next volume. Other stories, however, break from typical manga convention and are exceptionally short, 3-5 pages and they end... completely. This really made me think of how I work.Often times there are things I want to say or show which do not require the length of a full feature film. Some do not even require the length of a short like Understanding Chaos, but I still want to say them. Usually, seeing no place for such ideas, I just drop them. Why is that? With limited time, one would think these tiny things would be ideal for self expression and to keep the skills up.
I recently read a book which liberally quoted Joseph Campbell, and it got me thinking about the whole "follow your bliss" thing again. I mean, if you already had all the money you wanted and were creating your dream project with no thought of financial reward, no thought of sales, just doing it for your enjoyment, how different would it be from what your are making right now? Would you follow the structure of a feature film? Would you make it the length of a TV show? Would you include things that you currently think might not sell well or go over with an audience? What audience? Would you care what other people say you should make? Are you truly making the show that you want to make right now?
I find these questions to be really motivational. I think Range Murata must have asked similar questions and the answer was Robot. When I get down to the many things I want to say with my work and do with my time, I find these questions make me look at what's really mine and what is little more than a holdover of thinking someone else's way.
2 Comments:
Nice post, Terrence. :)
My philosophy is, never let go or forget about the ideas and concepts which you feel are important.
Some times, time is what you make it.
You have to organize your time and space. But you already know that, you completed more than 1 project. I would love to say that by the end of this year. And I will. AND yes, I want more time!!
Great post!
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