Studio Brief 01 - Landscapes

Following the research off Studio Ghibli's creation of dreamlike landscapes, the idea is to manipulate my own photos of landscapes into the styles of Studio Ghibli. 

The choice for a hilly landscape as a possibility for the dream landscape is to mimic some of the scenes in Princess Mononoke. These can be edited to be more gloomy and more menacing as a landscape that leans towards a bad dream. These hilly landscapes could also  be cut from these photographs and added to others for effect. 

The choice for a grand canyon as a possibility is its vast expanse. These properties create the scale that are seen in some of the landscapes in Spirited Away. Furthermore, the valleys within the canyon slightly resemble the texture of the brain. 

The crevasses in the canyon are more jagged and go everywhere, undefined by a fixed pattern. With this in mind, it would be preferable to choose the canyon landscape which has 3 valleys within to relate to the songs title. 

   
The highway photos are an option to experiment with the idea of day dreaming. The endless landscape and infinite sky draws the mind to drift off. The presence of the road could also relate to Richter's point of how the song is meant to draw us away from our frenetic lives. To create the "daydreaming" effect however, the landscapes would have to be brighter, more uplifting, rather than the slightly ominous mood as seen above.

The choice for a forest landscape is to evoke the same atmosphere as the scenes in Princess Mononoke. With this idea the landscapes aimed to produce a more nightmarish impression. Therefore to create the effect, it would require the darkening of the photo, addition of mist to amplify the feeling of eeriness and maybe even "eyes", as shown below, throughout the forest.

These sunset photos were selected because of the melancholy feel it offers which reflects the atmosphere of the song. The colour scheme of these photos and the cloud formations can be used and pasted onto the other landscapes to create the dreamscapes. 

The choice for a seascape would evoke the 'unknown' from the viewer.  This relates to much of the limited study of dreaming that reflects to how little we know of the ocean. Furthermore humans are land mammals and are naturally uneasy with the idea of being in the open ocean, feeling vulnerable. These landscapes can be edited to have more chaotic scenes with waves crashing and more dramatic cliffscapes that will add to the ominous atmosphere.