Who is the next best creative to keep an eye on? Next to our Eye Candy series we’ve put up a collaboration with the AV-platform KONKAV (founded by Kunstloc) and today we want to introduce you to our brand new series Fresh Faces. Dutch artists to watch! Playgrounds and KONKAV keep you updated! Every month, we highlight a one-of-a-kind artist that creates dazzling films and images. Today it’s up to: Jelle van Meerendonk.
In 2016 Jelle graduated from AKV St.Joost Breda with a Master of Animation. During his studies he created films that where screened in many international festivals. Around the time of making his second short film, after Erasmus semester at KASK in Ghent, he discovered the unlimited possibilities of non-realistic art. His growing interest in live drawings, human behaviour and surrounding allowed him to create untold stories on a single page.
We asked Jelle to respond to the following 3 quotes from his own experience
“Making films is a pleasure for me. Many of my friends are directors and it’s very heavy work for them, they suffer a lot. I don’t suffer.” (François Ozon)
Animation, for me is, about the kick of movement. My fascination started when doing my very first analogue line test, for which I photographed 8 drawings, one by one. I saw the frozen images cometo life on screen:a rough movement on a flickering background. Limitations disappeared and I comprehended the unlimited possibilities of movement.
The medium film also has unlimited boundaries. This allows me to create my own universe which exists due to the power of cinema. My constant urge to make movies is because I believe in an explicit story to more abstract structures, playing with feelings that are hard to put into words.
“Life is a 24/7 movie. There are billions of ideas swimming around, you just have to catch them.” (David Lynch)
You can cram different ideas together, but how do you keep an eye on the bigger picture? I see ideas as separate pieces to a puzzle. As a starting point in my process, I take off with a visual image – which can by anything. I proceed by asking questions about the image and try to find the opposite. Let’s take a cactus for example: it is prickly and hard. The opposite would be a balloon. A cactus stings, whereas a balloon is soft and fragile. The dynamics between these two extremes is interesting and offer infinite possibilities to create situations. In order to properly match the pieces of the puzzle and to create depth, I use my own interests and fascinations to make it more personal. When all the pieces fall into place, a whole universe emerges. In order to avoid any unwanted shifts, I come up with rules and laws for this universe. It is crucial to follow these: it brings a credible cohesion within the created universe.
“Research for me is part of the learning process. No one else could do it for me.” (Charlie Kaufman)
Every person is unique and has his or her own way of researching. It is important to become aware of your own process. I am a visual person. For me it helps to create a lot and to experiment continuously. Trying out short animations, trying out different techniques. Making mistakes and creating incomplete scenes. Reflect critically at what you create and only carry on with the right baggage. With No Man’s Bush I deliberately kept the story very simple in order to focus on the animation and style of drawing. The purpose of this film is to create a personal style. For every film, I want to make a new move so I don’t repeat myself.