Recurring Nightmares

I feel like I've looked a lot into dreaming itself, but not as much into nightmares as I would've hoped. Like I reckon I've got a good understanding, but need a tiny bit more to get the ball rolling for more ideas for my experimental animation.

I like the idea of the tidal wave. This is due to the fact that I imagine my animation to be at sea with a lighthouse making loops. The tidal wave can end the animation by 'waking the user up'.


References:
http://sleep.lovetoknow.com/reccurring-nightmare-meanings#kYDliZZiMrOfhQYm.97

Carl Jung & Sigmund Freud

1000 Dreams - David Fontana.  Jung on Dreams PG 20, 21 & 22.

-Worked closely to Freud from 1909 to 1913.
Jung departed from Freud in his realization that the common themes running through the delusions & hallucinations of his patients could not all emerge from their personal unconscious conflicts, but must stem from some common source. He found among various dreams of different patients that they echoed the themes of myths from all over the world.
"His extensive knowledge of comparative religion, mythology & symbol systems such as alchemy convinced him that similar common themes run across cultures & across the centuries, & thus was born his belief in the collective unconscious, a genetic myth-producing level of the mind common to all men & woman, & serving as the well-spring of psychological life". For Jung, he believed that 'grand/ great' dreams were gateways to a mythic world "the vast historical storehouse of the human race".

Jung criticized Freuds method as it allowed the mind to freewheel which leads away from the original image. Jungians concentrate on the dream & constantly return to the original image - preventing the mind from wandering. For Jung psychotherapy is a process of discovery & self-realization. "Jungians believe that by being in touch with the mythic themes of our collective unconsciousness, we gradually integrate the disparate & sometimes conflicting aspects of our selves, developing our full potential as we pass in turn through life's successive stages. 

1000 Dreams - David Fontana. Freud on Dreams PG 26, 27 & 28
Freud's famous technique is known as Free Association. You wake up & unpack the dream by writing down the meanings of the dream. You take each object, person & situation within that dream. The idea is to write down things about these objects & so on - With your mind running freely (What Jung was against). You write everything down, anything that comes to mind. You then chain it together to make better sense of the dream.
"The basic idea behind free association is to trick yourself into unconscious revelations. You have deliberately lowered your guard, & it is in these circumstances that you are most likely to hit upon unexpected truths".
Results of free association are associated with emotional damage caused in early childhood. He recognized that this revealed the crucial importance of the unconscious.
Freud described dreams as "the royal road to the unconscious". Freud believed that the primary process takes unconscious impulses, desires & fears, & turns them into symbols; these are linked by associations that have no regard for categories such as time & space, or right 7 wrong, as the unconscious is unaware of the logic, values & social adaptations of conscious life.



My Thoughts.
I can understand both Jung & Freuds methods for unraveling dreams. To stick with the original dream as much as possible to get a better understanding without warping the dream & turning it into something completely different. As well as brain storming & even going off on a slight tangent to understand a dream. I know that I unconsciously do both of these methods when I wake up. If it was a vivid dream, I try my hardest to replay it in my head, but by the end of the day it is completely different. The same goes for when people tell others about what they got up to last week or even what they dreamt about: They sugar coat it. They twist what happened to make it more interesting & sometimes the original content is lost. Over exaggerating, twisting, distorting, improvising. When humans tell stories, there is a beginning, middle & end. But not all dreams have this. So it is natural for us to want to find an ending to our dreams, to make sense of it, so we can't help but change the original content just a bit.
On another note, an artist would say that their work is finished, but others would say it looks incomplete or not final. Dreams can be the same, if they are not complete, it can reflect something that is happening in the users life that is incomplete. But as humans, we want a completed story, for some it is more difficult to comprehend.

Something unrelated to my findings on Jung & Freud.
I came across something very interesting which is that humans don't dream until they are around the age of 3. Before my sister turned 3 this year, she had a 'nightmare' about frogs. She is not afraid of frogs, in fact she loves them. It's the fact that she had seen images in her unconscious sleeping state for the first time that frightened her. With his, I understand why children are more affected by 'nightmares'.
One, they are still new to many things & don't experience stress the way adults do (as stress is what can trigger nightmares). Saying this, I feel like adults turn a blind eye to nightmares as they don't see them as nightmares. They accept them & simply see them as signs of stress.
My theory is that when children have nightmares, they unrealistic. e.g. the classic monster hiding under the bed or in the closet. If an adult had this same dream, they would wake up and brush it off, seeing the logic in it - like their dog being under the bed. Adults nightmares probably include things like not paying the bills on time, getting fired or being unsuccessful. I can't fully say for adults as I am just entering adulthood now. For teenagers, nightmares can be things such as not knowing what to do when they leave school, failing exams, missing the bus, messing things up etc. These are things that can trigger nightmares, or at least unpleasant dreams. I can definitely relate to the stresses of a teenager, as I am closer to that age range.

In other words, everyone has nightmares, but interpret them & accept them differently.

Whoa, my brain was on a roll.  

Dreams & Nightmares

Humans are unable to see thoughts, memories, dreams & perceptions.
I thought having a look into dreams/nightmares would be quite neat.

It's not much, but it's another step forward!
Just as I dove into psychology, a website called medicalnewstoday.com mentioned how we are unable to physically see mental processes such as thoughts, memories, dreams and perceptions. I instantly thought how neat it would be to look more into dreams and nightmares.

To me, dreaming is still a fuzzy thing. I barely have clear dreams that I can remember, but only fragments. When it comes to nightmares I remember them quite well. Recurring dreams also came into play. I had this one nightmare that would recur a few times, but small things about that nightmare would change. So it would still be scary each time as my unconscious mind wouldn't know what to expect with each change as it recurred.

Recurring dreams may be your mind’s way of telling you something. Do you have the same nightmare over and over again? Loewenberg suggests looking for underlying messages in recurring dreams so that you can rid yourself of them.

Recurring nightmares
-Repetition of an item
-Slight changes with each recurrence
-Links to experiences e.g. attack, accident, traumatic event
-Associates with fear, anxiety & distress.
-Nightmares occur more with children than adults

Notes
-Lucid Dreaming → Having control of a dream.
-Apon awakening our thoughts see our dreams as something bizarre
-First dream of the night = 5mins long. Last dream of the night = 45mins - 1hr

IDEA
A boy is at sea in a boat during the day searching for something. It changes to night time and there is a lighthouse. The lighthouse's light loops around which signifys the first nightmare. Each loop of the light represents the recurred nightmare. Something about the scene, be the lighthouse or environment would change.
The significance of this is that the little boy is scared of the dark- being the dark itself or what lurks in the dark like monsters 'monsters under the bed or in the closet'
I would take into consideration the length of dreams - the first dream is 5mins long and the last is nearly an hour long. Taking this into the animation and translating it into 1minute long, the dream part of the boy at sea in daylight would last 10secs, while the rest is a nightmare, being 50seconds. Yay for ratios.

This is just an idea, but I feel like it needs more properties of nightmares/ dreams within it. I've only just touched on nightmares, so I need to look deeper to better incorporate it into animation.

My tutor suggested looking at Carl Jung & Sir Sigmund Freud as well as surrealism to get a better understanding and hopefully more ideas!

references
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/nightmares-in-adults#1
http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/web-exclusives/determining-the-cause-of-recurring-nightmares/article/224569/
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/9-things-about-dreams?page=3

More furniture

Had a look at more furniture. I imagine the house to be messy and unorganized. The husband is lost without his wife so he doesn't clean up after himself well. He even sleeps in the lounge to stay by the vanity unit. (Originally the vanity unit would've been in their room) We were going to have him sleep out in the lounge with the mirror when he could obviously move the mirror. Also is would be weird when you think about it 'why did he move the vanity unit into the lounge?' Well let's just say that the bedroom is very damaged annnnnd he managed to save her vanity unit? yeah. yeah we'll go with that. So a sleeping bag will be on the couch, clothes everywhere, basically he's living in the lounge - it's his bedroom now.
Messy like Merlin perhaps?
















-used candles (tea tree or stick candles)
-vases|
-dirty clothes
-broken furniture
-piano
-book shelf  + books on ground
-sleeping bag + pillows

Taylor and I made a list of possible things that can be on the vanity unit.
-dead flowers (red roses)
-cracked vase
-bottles of perfumes
-hairbrush
-powder thing
-lipsticks
-eyebrow pencils
-hat
-necklaces
-magazines
-book stack
-cup (for brushes etc)
-little mirror

I had a look at some upright pianos as grand pianos are a bit much and an upright piano fits well.

Furniture Research

Thought I'd chuck some furniture research up too before the hand in on Monday, just to get a better sense of the style I imagine the apartment to be. Reading the original script, I imagined a rather vintage style to the story as a whole - such as the set up of the apartment.
I haven't talked to the team about any of these yet, but it'll be something for them to look at and talk about when we're back at course next week.
I will be 3D modelling furniture and items in the next 2 weeks anyway, so best to get an early start. Plus it contributes to concepts (not character obviously, but still research for concepts).

OK SO I JUST GOT AN ANNOYING AND LATE IDEA THAT WE PROBABLY WONT USE BUT HEAR ME OUUUUUT.
I saw a picture of a set of drawers with a mirror and I thought 'Would the wife had spent a lot of time sitting there doing her makeup etc ?? I really reckon it'd be great if we could tie the mirrors connection into the story more as well. When I was looking at general mirrors the other day, I didn't even think of mirrors and drawers together -.- But yeah if it's too late, then bummer.

References
http://www.inessa.com/
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165925484/sold-vintage-hand-painted-french-country?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share
http://www.whitelacecottage.com/2014/12/how-to-distress-furniture-with-vinegar/
https://www.etsy.com/listing/88720317/painted-cottage-shabby-white-farmhouse
http://artisanupholstery.ca/2013/04/06/antique-doors-in-the-garden/
http://sofiasrusticfurniture.com/san-antonio-rustic-hutch/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78536495@N07/?changedlayout=1
http://www.littlevictorian.com/2013/06/design-basically-style.html
http://www.roseandgrey.co.uk/shoreditch-chest
http://www.housekaboodle.com/turquoise-barbie-house/
http://palletfurniturediy.com/pallet-table/diy-pallet-potting-and-entry-way-table/
https://www.etsy.com/listing/128001124/vintage-1930s-art-deco-waterfall-bedroom?share_id=7072836&hmac=756a4bfb114112ef9d15fe1414abeb2d5ec882af&utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share
http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/24/more-unique-creative-bookcases-and-bookshelves/

Mirror Research

WE NEED MIRROR RESEARCH!
I thought that if our character has straight hair, then we'd go for a round, circular mirror. If she has curly or wavy hair we'd go for a more rectangular shaped mirror. This way, the mirror and character would contrast more and the character would pop out more, which is want we want.
plus we don't want some extravagant mirror taking the attention away from the character.
Since our character has curly hair, we'll go with a rectangular shape. I will be posting some mirrors that I reckon will work and Patrick will work off that :)

References
http://www.themirrorlady.com/shop_by_price.php?range=0
http://www.hayneedle.com/accents-and-decor/mirrors_rectangle_list_188625_4295162695
https://locari.jp/posts/16536
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chelsea-Silver-Ornate-Leaner-Antique-Floor-Mirror-36-x-72-X-Large-/261709737572
http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/photo/386680
http://www.villabarnes.com/2011/09/bleached-mirror.html
http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/top-17-surprisingly-amazing-upcycled-vintage-decorations-for-your-dream-home/
http://thedecoratedhouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/chalk-paint-blues-distressed-waxed.html

Female Style

WOOT here's another blog post for today. This is a bit all over the place and at stages..I don't know what I'm talking about...bit tired. Just rambling on. Yeah, hope it makes sense!

Style of Animation

Seeing that the woman is deceased, I thought that having her perfectly animated in terms of making the animation really crisp and clear, would make her look too real and alive. I reckon a style of animation would help show that she is deceased and a memory from the past so to speak.
In movies, ghosts tend to have an outer glow, are slightly transparent (Casper) or have slow or wispy movements (like leaving the onion skinning on) etc. Using this type of approach to animate and better show the state of the woman I feel would work really well. Also how the man doesn't have a clear image of how she looks anymore, this would further help this method.

Genre Research

Visual Research: Clothing

Visual Research