A few weeks back, we had an entire week with the legendary Luis Cook (I'll be doing a post about what inspiring words he has left us to ponder on). Honestly, this is just one of the amazing quirks about being in Falmouth University. You get tons, and I mean TONS of amazing people from around the world to come and give such inspirational talks.

ANYWAY, onto the main topic of this post. I'm not one to develop my own ideas... wow, now that that's in writing, do I even deserve to call myself a creative? Jokes. I mean, I have ideas, but they never seem to be able to morph into a 3-minute film. Maybe because I never think very in-depth to the core of my idea. But also maybe I'm not too confident of them? Or maybe because people tend to shoot them down fairly quickly. All in all... I'd prefer to work on people's ideas and bring them to life if possible.

So, my friend, Ting, pitched this idea of hers to Luis Cook when he was in Falmouth Uni for the week, and the more we talked about it, the more Luis added more flair and purpose to the idea, the clearer we saw the film and how it would seem to be with still maintaining the main core of the idea. Initially, the idea was going to emphasise on motion, with vivid colours placing on the characters and backgrounds and then it all gets stripped away– it was going to be monotonous and dull towards the end as the protagonist's ability to move gets taken away. It's also a film that teaches animators that motion is important in animation.

After all that, Luis said that every movement can be treated like a dance (wise words from a wise man). The simple swivel of a chair whilst doing work in the studios, or a kid riding a bike, or tapping fingers on the desk, etc., they can all be seen as a dance. Even when you're in the shower, it can seem like it's a dance. He said to implement the action and the sound but without the object, e.g.: a kid riding a bike– audience sees kid cycling but doesn't see the bike, which plays with their mind.

He also gave us some inspirations to look up to:

Feet of Song by Erica Russell:

The Monk and The Fish by Michaël Dudok de Wit:



Thought of You by Ryan Woodward:



Duet by Glen Keane:


We started thinking about it and Ting wanted to do a life cycle of a man, from birth to death, all in a form of a dance. And thus, 'Dance of Life' was born.