Manifesto (1): Initial Ideas

February 18, 2018

Manifesto (1): Initial Ideas

Initial brainstorming and ideas

We further developed the idea of the parasite from our speed dating video as an overlord in a society. Since Katie's original concept is a parasite that survives on happiness, we eventually came up with the idea of having a Queen Parasite who rules all the creatures and demands everyone to be happy. To ensure this, all creatures have baby parasites in the heads which would absorb and send happiness to the Queen (like Wifi). If the creatures are sad, the parasites would influence their thinking to become more positive. This is the initial idea of our society!

Notes taken by Olivia. We brainstormed together on large pieces of paper in the studio, now stored in one of the drawers. Then we created a share google doc and each worked on a category of our world (creating sketches, images and descriptions), such as welfare and the economy. Having developed our world in divided "formal" categories definitely inspired our manifesto to be more official, like a government document in the end.

Inspiration

We took inspiration from (somehow) many Disney and Pixar films, such as Monster Inc. (where the monsters have to gather children's laughter), Inside out (Joy as a "happiness parasite"), etc. I am particularly inspired by Lemony Snicket's "Unauthorized Autobiography", which is a fiction "non-fiction" book of fake letters, writings and collaged images hinting the life of the writer himself. I have read it since secondary school and it had a great impact on me, especially when hidden messages are scattered throughout marked pages and "official documents". It made us realize that we can do something similar with generating markings over very formal materials.