Jay Saul: Animation Meditation
I discovered the work of Jay W. Saul on YouTube while exploring ideas for the imagery I wanted at the beginning and end of FUN ON EARTH. This imagery is supposed to suggest an alien life-form that lives in a fluid, multi-colored, multi-layered state; without a body; in constant change. Jay’s animations, particularly the incredible GLASS BLOWERS DREAM, were so perfect, I immediately contacted him. Amazingly, they were created (on computers that Jay makes himself) in HD — exactly the format in which I was working — and Jay generously gave me permission to use portions of them as bookends for short.
Watching Jay’s films, more than any other visual representation I have come across, suggests to me the constant churning of the mind as (sometimes) glimpsed during meditation. As it incessantly morphs and recontextualizes, flipping and flopping — as the yogis say — “like a fish”, the mind can bring us on journeys that we can only hope are as seamless and vibrant as Jay’s. When I mentioned this to Jay he told me that he does not set out with any goal in mind when he makes his films — in fact he improvises them, as a jazz musician would (Jay is also a musician) — and that he works hard to keep them as wide open and context-free as possible.
For more information on FUN ON EARTH, click here.