Project 2 – Forest Gump – Research

Here are some movie quotes that I’ve decided to work on for the project! Surprisingly, all my quotes came from animated movies. I really didn’t expect that, but I guess I’m just a really big fan of them ヾ(´∀｀○)ﾉ Right now there’s a lot of quotes included (it’s just too difficult to cut down!), I’ll experiment with different designs before deciding on what to go with :)

1. Wreck it Ralph: “I am bad and that is good, I will never be good and that’s not bad”

This quote really stuck after I watched the movie, most probably because of how hilariously contradicting it is and how it fits Ralph so well. A heartwarming movie, it is :’)

Spirited Away: “I finally get a bouquet of flowers and it’s a goodbye present”

My (or everyone’s) all-time favourite movie: Spirited Away. There are way too many feelings attached to this movie and the movie has been a great source of inspiration and motivation personally.

This quote is really depressing. I chose it, instead of other more famous quotes from spirited away, because of how heavy a feeling it evoked in one’e heart. Everyone experienced departures one way or another in their lives, be it moving house, changing schools, or even migrating elsewhere. We are not unfamiliar with farewells, yet we still feel as affected as the very first experience.

Finding Nemo: “Fish are friends, not food”

Finding Nemo! True-blue childhood movie that I’d watched a million times.

This quote was extremely memorable. I remember being terrified when the sharks appear, yet laughed my head off when I saw how eager the sharks were to make friends with the fishes.

Frozen: “The cold never bothered me anyway”

I love Frozen, not even kidding. And this quote is too sassy to not include it. I really enjoyed the entire movie sequence for “let it go” because I found it highly relatable, and also happy for Elsa for finally being able to release the mental distress that has been troubling her since she was a child.

Howl’s Moving Castle: “May all your bacon burn”

This quote was said by Calcifer, a fire demon is a magical contract with a wizard, Howl. He is a very powerful creature himself, with a great deal of magical ability, though cannot move beyond the confines of the hearth in which Howl keeps him without the wizard’s help. He provides power to Howl’s castle, such as heating the bath, strengthening the threshold and moving the castle from place to place.

For a demon with such a great amount of magic, Calcifer could well have said highly destructive curses. Yet he chose one that was so trivial and insignificant — to burn your bacon. This really portrayed Calcifer as a kind-hearted, innocent ‘demon’, seemingly unfitting yet ironically adorable.

So cute!!

Howl’s Moving Castle: “I see no point in living if I can’t be beautiful”

Context: Howl was taking a bath but his magic potions (which changes the colour of his hair) were mixed up by the female protagonist, Sophie, (a self-employed cleaner in his house). The unaware Howl used the wrong concoction and end up having a terrible hair colour (terrible in his opinion). Distraught by his tragic appearance, he had a literal melt down.

I literally LOLed at this quote because of how vain it is, and how the character (Howl) was saying it so earnestly while breaking down.

Look, he’s literally melting down!

Ponyo: “I’ll let a fish lick me if it’d get me out of this wheelchair”

This is a very trivial quote from the movie, said by an old lady from the elderly home. I chose it merely because of how quirky it sounds and the imagery it conjures up in one’s image.

But here’s one cute lil Ponyo:

and one ugly one:

Moana: “If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess”

I watched Moana thrice in the cinema!!! That’s how much I enjoyed the movie. This quote was said my Maui (the big guy) to Moana. It was a very astute observation, made even funnier by the fact that Disney is mocking themselves through him, since practically every Disney princess wears a dress, and has a animal sidekick.

Wow this has been a great spam of images and gifs — can’t help it when one loves the movies that much! This research has been a trip down the memory lane, and a perfectly enjoyable one for that matter. Looking forward to working on these quotes!!

To source for inspiration and ideas for the next project Forrest Gump, here is some research that I’ve done up.

Dan Hillier

Firstly, I researched on an artist, Dan Hillier, whom Mimi suggested we look up. Dan Hillier has many interesting designs that are very befitting to this project as he works with collages of found images, masterminded by his imaginings. His designs have this vintage look and victorian style that I hope to be able to emulate. It seems like he is especially fond of having humans/portraits as the subject. His designs are dark and impacting, yet visually appealing. There’s also this mystical feel that I really like.

Here are some of his works:

Accessed from https://www.danhillier.com/artwork/undreamt—screen-print

Accessed from https://www.danhillier.com/artwork/akasha—screen-print

Accessed from https://www.danhillier.com/artwork/temple-of-the-way-of-light—screen-print

Accessed from https://www.danhillier.com/artwork/midpoint-giclee

From what I have read online, Dan Hillier typically begins with a vague idea of what he wants to make, and from that idea he would scan through old books and illustrations, finding materials that can be suitably associated with his initial idea. Without a fixed image of his outcome, his exploration is quite intuitive and flexible because he allows himself to be led by what he found.

For my own project, I think I would like to follow his style of working. Instead of sketching my ideas for each quotes before hand, I would list out the main elements or moods from the quote and try to source for materials using those key words, and then play around with what I find. Hopefully this will make for an interesting and ingenious design!

John Heartfield

John Heartfield is a German pioneer of the Dada movement and an anti-fascist collage artist who used his art as a weapon to defy The Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. His works made use of the photomontage technique (defined as: a combination of several photographs joined together for artistic effect or to show more of the subject than can be shown in a single photograph), with a touch of surrealism.

Interesting fact: more than using art as a tool to express political dissent, John Heartfield actually changed his German name Helmut Herzfeld to one that is more English-sounding as a provocative move. That’s really bold of him and makes him all the more admirable.

Some of his works:

Accessed from https://ipnagogicosentire.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/john-heartfield-and-the-anti-nazi-political-artivism/

The caption here reads: “Whoever Reads Bourgeois Newspapers Becomes Blind and Deaf: Away with These Stultifying Bandages!”

This is so impactful…… but also extraordinarily simple.

Accessed from http://retroavangarda.com/john-heartfield-and-the-dawn-of-photomontage/

Deutsche Naturgeschichte translates to Natural History of Germany, and the subtitle Metamorphose means metamorphosis.

This work is alluding to Franz Kafkas’s story where the main characters evolve into insects. The heads of these insects are replaced by German politicians: Friedrich Ebert (caterpillar), Paul von Hindenburg (chrysalis) and Adolf Hitler (moth). These images are very powerful as it depicts the power dynamics that led to Hitler’s rise to power, e.g. Hindenburg, who was discreetly manipulated by Hitler, is depicted as powerless by being bounded in his cocoon.

Accessed from https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b6/07/29/b60729887cc1af29bd4e4026746be05f.jpg

Caption reads: “Hurrah, the butter is gone!”

This photomontage makes parody a speech by Nazi Party leader Hermann Göring, who demanded an increase in iron production, even at the expense of food. A quote from the speech is included below, which says: “Ore has always made an empire strong, butter and lard have made a country fat at most.”

Heartfield’s work is wrought with irony. In stark mockery, he shows a typical German family brainwashed by the Nazi ideals, celebrating the fact that they have finally finished their food and all they have now is iron.

Caption reads: “Blood and Iron” (left); “Peace and Fascism”

His works are really powerful, even if the imagery is simple. Theres only 3 elements in the image on the right: a dove, a fascist bayonet, and the League of Nations building. But just simply having the dove being impaled by the fascist bayonet right in front of the building sends a strong message about the implications of Nazi Germany and the incompetency of the League of Nations.

(I really love history by the way ヽ(´ω｀○)ﾉ.+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+ )

This research has been so enlightening and fruitful… I now realise how much significance embedded meanings can add to one work. Heartfield’s works were never straightforward and they force the viewer to really contemplate and ponder about what he is trying to convey. Now that I’ve learned about his works, maybe it’s time to go and revise some of my own designs (I’ve started on a few already), in hopes that I can deliver the quotes more powerfully.

That’s all for now!

Category: Project 2 – Forest Gump – Research

2D Project 2 Forrest Gump: Research on movie quotes