Behind every revolutionary idea, there is a concept or a person worth knowing. In our case, it was the incredible work of independent filmmaker and animation professional Olli Huttunen (Finland, 1978), creator of the original short film Idea. After so many years working in the digital media field, designing art installations for several art exhibitions in Finland, Olli decided to create on his own a series of brief movies that straddle the line between wild and human, or revolve around abstract concepts like our need to reach others with our words or ideas. Recently, we had the honour of interviewing him for our dev blog.
Q. Both Idea and its game take place between gorgeous natural spots and some locations belonging to human societies, but there’s not a single hint of life in any of those places as the light bulb — a new idea — moves forward and collides with moving cars or static obstacles. What’s the meaning of this?
A. When I decided to combine the animation with the aerial image shot directly above, I looked for map-like views. It was interesting to note that from this perspective a person can no longer be distinguished from a certain height. We recognize the cars and buildings but it’s hard to see the people. It's about scale. Seen from afar, some things seem to be disappearing. Also joys and sorrows. But good ideas are the right size for this scale.
I shot the aerial videos mostly in a quiet areas with very little life and even the traffic was very light. There are some real human figures in a few pictures, you just have to look for them very closely. I like to show rugged landscapes rather than the excessively beautiful and exotic landscapes that the aerial imagery is typically full of anyway.
Q. A similar question goes for the last shot of the short film, where we can finally see a man leaving something inside a container right after the bulb finally lights up. Does it represent the end of an idea after a long way?
A. The original question in the short film was can you find the idea if you intentionally search for it?
At the beginning of the movie, we see the car leaving from the trash container. The car is driven by an idea seeker. The idea is generated after when the seeker leaves. At the end we see the same car at the new trash containers. The seeker is looking for an idea in the trash but can't find anything. He gets in the car and leaves again. The story is like in a loop. Can an idea and its seeker ever meet? And when will they meet? What could happen? That's why there is a text "Searching and finding again and again" at the beginning of the movie.
It's like the opposite story. The idea must follow a similar bumpy road to its seeker as the seeker has to go through on its own. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
This was an original story that I knew it was very difficult to understand, but there are a lot of topics in the story and it gives a space for inspiring interpretations.
Q. Why did you choose roads as the vehicle that ideas use to travel?
A. From this perspective, it seemed natural for the idea to run along the streets. Of course also for technical reasons. The physics calculations of the idea ball made sense to make it to bounce along the streets. it’s like a giant pinball game that’s interesting to follow.
Q. Are the environments that straddle the line between wild and human, like the ones you show in Idea, somehow special to you?
A. Ever since I started photographing the aerial images with my drone, I’ve been looking for interesting and different angles. I like maps a lot. The straight top to down view is very fascinating to me. Looking down from above is an atypical view that we don’t get to see that often. It also reveals the human footprint in a nature. People tend to build and draw straight lines while nature tries to breaks them down. I find it interesting to explore the entropy of nature and our place in it.
Q. What does the aerial footage add to the story you wanted to tell?
A. Looking down from the sky I find it refreshing. It puts many things on the right perspective and scale. It is important to see the entities. The aerial images shows concretely what kind of environment we live in and what our place is in it. I wanted to play around and visualize what it would look like if we could see our thoughts or ideas on this map.
Q. Idea points out the relevance of understanding failure as a phenomenon that, despite the general belief, can be more enriching than immediate success. How do you deal with disappointment in your particular creative process?
A. I have learned that failure can indeed be a resource. In general, learning essentially involves failure. in fact one of the themes inspired for this short film, was a project where we had a great idea but it went down because other people didn’t see it as such. Getting ideas through is sometimes very tricky. Poor reception or smashing ideas should not be discouraged. When you know how to handle an issue, it can lead to an even better and whole new idea. But going through disappointment is very instructive.
Q. Also, does sharing your ideas and experience with other artists, just as players are able to do in Idea The Game, help you find new creative paths to walk?
A. Absolutely! It is worth being open to suggestions and different views. And good ideas are worth sharing.