Memory Project - "Paris is Always a Good Idea"

First off, as recommended to me...



...particularly fitting for my French themed memory? As well as how we remember things differently!

For the memory project I chose to talk about my travels to Paris at different points in my life. I thought comparing these two different memories/experiences could make for an interesting narrative. Myself and a friend went to Paris a couple years ago - revisiting all the places we went to on the same trip we went on 8 years ago with our parents.

“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even -the French air clears up the brain and does good- a world of good.”
― Vincent van Gogh

Now, I don't know about 'French air', but I certainly felt that our trip to Paris a few years back was an important experience. As my first proper travel (outside the UK) independently, without parents or a school, it was a learning curve! And an interested trip in how it compared to my first experience of Paris. Overall I would like the film to include themes about traveling and exploring places as a young person - finding your own feet in a vast and fast-moving world - and what effect your memories and expectations may have on this experience. There was a quote by Terry Pratchett that I quite liked in regard these ideas: "Why do you go away? So that you can come back...Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."
I think how we saw Paris as 20-something year olds was quite different to when we were in our early teens. On our 2nd trip, it probably took us a bit longer to see that Parisian warmth and colour we remembered - as we now noticed more of those dodgy or unpleasant aspects of the busy, modern city! (Although, the experience was never not fun - that's part of the adventure...)

Anyway, that's enough rambling...



Research & Initial Ideas:

Just as I was beginning to work on this project, Google released this cute doodle to celebrate the Eiffel Tower's anniversary. Good timing; I actually found this quite inspiring as there is a lot of movement in the illustration and I really like the colours and design!

I also love this portrayal of Paris from Sylvain Chomet's film 'The Illustionist'. The city is portrayed as a dark and somewhat depressing city - much less inviting than how Paris is usually depicted. Strangely, the scene below perfectly shows how we ourselves experienced Paris on our first arrival on our 2nd trip (our hotel was near the pictured church Sacré-Cœur and it was very grey and rainy!).

(Background art by Bjorn-Erik Aschim; http://www.bjornsportfolio.com/The-illusionist-Background-Layout-artist-Django-Films)

I did make a film about Paris only last year, but it featured little the actual city, so it will be nice to revisit the visual feast that is Paris with more of an emphasis on the place itself!

At the moment I have a few ideas kicking about:

• The film title could be "In Search of Paris; I feel it refers well to how we arrived in Paris on our 2nd trip with memories and expectations planted in our minds and how we had to search for the Paris we remembered. I guess as we become more comfortable and used to the ways of the city, we began to see the awesome parts of Paris again - but not quite as we remembered it perhaps. The little things like details and patterns. Learning to look at somewhere in a different light...

• I like the aesthetics of maps and the Paris Metro. Having metamorphosing map lines is one idea for the animation - travelers can create their own maps of a place as they find their own way perhaps?

• Colour could be an important element in this film - continuing on the theme mentioned first of us getting used to Paris and seeing it's beauty again. The beginning could start of with the gentle, pastel colours of our Parisian memories, which turns to a moody and rainy greyscale as we move to our more recent adventure. As we become more comfortable in the city and discover new things about it, the palette would become more bright and colourful again - possibly ending in a warm, pastel sunset that mirrors the beginning.

Some shot ideas so far:

•   It would also be good to use animation to do something fun and different with the story. At the moment I am thinking of having Paris as a bit of a playground or maze. Inspired by the statues on Notre Dame, I had an idea of us on top of the cathedral having to take a step out and leap into the unknown and find our feet in Paris

Next...
I haven't had much time in the semester to work on this project (mainly due to the time-consuming nature of the zoo film), but I am hoping to create a finished film in the next few weeks before the summer!