Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?
A: When I was watching a movie, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s anime, I felt trapped inside the director’s imagination. I like to immerse myself in a movie when it is playing. After watching it, if it keeps me thinking about the characters and the plot, I was “caught” by the author’s imagination. To free myself, I have to change the view angle from an audience to a character. Though this change even traps me in the author’s world deeper at first. I can develop the character and break the author’s world. Jumping out of the original imagination this way, I get the space to create my own story.
Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?
A: The principle “Less prep, more presence.” I always want to have the work ready to show pre-designed results and get the expected response. But it is impossible. Both impossible and unnecessary. After reading Brown’s article, I feel like I was putting the focus on the result, “the mass”, instead of the process, the connections. This is a mind shift. Especially using a non-native language for me now. However, it is also an opportunity to see the creative process from a different angle.
“To free myself, I have to change the view angle from an audience to a character…I can develop the character and break the author’s world” I am intrigued by this idea. I am reminded of the difference between moving images (in which characters are depicted on three levels – narrative, visual and oral) and books/unillustrated texts (where we are invited to imagine the visual and oral characteristics). What would it be like to only have the text/script? What imaginings might occur?