For the practical part of the master thesis, I’m working on an animated short film. Before diving into the specific visual and technical execution, I’d like to give some insights into the thought processes and theoretical approaches to its concept.
Initially, I planned the concept based on the saying “everything you need is already inside you”. From the early beginning on, I wanted to include floral elements, their growth and bloom motions, and having all that as a visual metaphor for us humans.
When I talked to my family about the concept, my cousin (who is quite into philosophy) told be about that philosophical idea where in every seed lies the power to become the most beautiful flower. That saying is a translation of the philosophical concept coming from the nicomachean ethics by Aristotele and the broader idea of eudaimonia.
Eudaimonia as a term translates to “good spirit” and describes the highest good one can reach in life. It’s about doing and living “well”, striving for excellence and living up to one’s unique potentials. In other words: becoming the best version of yourself – or the most beautiful flower.
He gifted me two books (Nicomachean Ethics and De Anima from Aristotele), which I’m currently reading (it’s quite difficult to read even the translations to english). However I did some extensive research online where the ideas are described in an easier digestible way.
With all that new knowledge I could not only broaden my own horizon, but also the background of my animated film, and finally articulate more clearly what it’s about in the most recent synopsis:
The animation film from within pays homage to one’s own, inner strength or the belief in it. With abstract storytelling, it invites on a multifaceted, visual journey.
A journey that shows that a single seed can become the most magnificent flower. A journey that impresses with the most diverse flowers and plants. A journey that might make you wonder whether it this is still just about plants or whether the plants could be symbols of something human. A journey that reminds you once more: everything you need is already inside you.
The animation film from within can be understood in many different ways, but in one way for sure: as a call for optimism.
On a personal note: Having just very limited knowledge in philosophy myself, I was quite astonished that the concept for my animated short from within could be described with nothing less than one of the most fundamental ideas in philosophy. While I only had one sentence (“everything you need is already inside you”), I learned that I actually have a whole philosophical concept as a background for my animation project.
One final thought that surely isn’t relevant, but came across my mind at some point because it stretches the whole philosophical background across the philosophy in my film’s concept itself: Could it be that this initial sentence translates to the seed and that the philosophical background translates to the most beautiful flower?
