Just Thinking...

I honestly think some of the messages we got today in class have been some of my favorites. They connected with me on a level that made me really think about what it means to make animation movies, especially for children.
One of the things I think that people are doing today is that many are trying too hard to aim at a certain audience. For example, Courageous to Christians, sequels of Transformers to the people who actually still go and watch them, and there's a lot of shows out there that are trying waaaay too hard to appeal to kids, or their parents. The problem with that is that it's too wide. There's too many people, even in a general category like children, to be able to appeal to every single kid. Everyone has different opinions and view points, etc. So it really struck a chord with me when C.S. Lewis & Singer explained, and Leeper pointed this out, that it's best to 'stick with your roots'. To find a connection and write to someone specifically, rather than attempt to build a message around a huge audience. It's so true though. For me, I find it much easier, and actually much more enjoyable to write to someone in particular. I love to write notes, or write little stories for people because it's personal, and thus more meaningful. I'm not overthinking anything, trying to think if a big group of people are going to understand what I'm saying. And this also ties into another point, and that's that you should trust your storytelling. Just write, just narrate, and if it's your very best, a message will come out of it. ... I just thought that was something really interesting to think about, as someone who is just starting out in the animation world, where storytelling is key. 
The films we watched today were awesome. I couldn't choose a favorite, but if it was between two I would say Leeper's Line Drawing, and Sientje. They were so simple and straight from the mind of a child. All of the parts flowed together like a little kid's mind would: every thought is put together in pieces, strung with emotion and wonder and curiosity. I envy that in kids, I do. It's a wonderful thing. And it's great to have these films and remember a time when that was what the world was like once.