Editorial Images: 60 Thumbnails

Visual Metaphors

When starting the editorial brief I thought it was best to come up with a list of as many different motifs as possible in relation to Murakami's life and work given that, as previously discussed I feel this would give the more intangible nature of his a work some grounding.

These motifs, combined with the list of themes central to his work have formed the basis for the ideas, both visual and conceptual behind my initial 60 thumbnails.

Although I don't think they have all are my best ideas or most effective examples of communication or composition I do see the importance of producing so many rough ideas in such a small space of time. Mainly in that it forces you to make quick decision, sometimes result in good ideas that you would perhaps have over thought or second guessed as well as, on the reverse helping air out bad ideas.

Personal Thoughts and Group Feedback

-Personally my least favourite images were those that exclusively dealt with the more sterile aspects of Murakami's life such as his love of Western culture and personal rejection from Japan's literary institution.

-Although I thought the visual metaphors such as the American/Japanese flag mash up as well as the baseball player in samurai armour effectively communicated this idea I feel that the tone of voice doesn't best reflect Murakami and seems to bogged down in specific facts rather than the philosophies and themes central to his work and personal outlook.


-On the other hand I made various visual metaphors, such as the wind up robot walking towards the edge of a table or parallel running train tracks, that I felt communicated the more intangible elements of Murakami's work such as fatalism, parallel worlds etc.

-However despite communicating these themes I felt they seemed too far removed/unspecific to Murakimi due to the lack of recognisable motifs, an opinion that was was supported/reinforced in the group feedback.


-Therefore the ideas that seem most potent are the ones that combine elements of the surreal and mundane as well as containing elements of his life. For example I felt that, given how he talks about using running/swimming, both solitary activities, as a way for him to enter the 'void' and disconect completely from society/the real world I thought the idea of him running/swimming through a vast expanse of emptiness was a good way of showing this.

-In the group feedback it was unanimously agreed that the best way of showing this was through the extremely far out panned shots such as the figure swimming viewed from above. However it was suggested that a slightly surreal element could be introduced so as to unite the themes of isolation/alienation with the merging of surreal and mundane.

-With this in mind I think the desk floating through the storm is another strong concept given how Murakami discusses how personal experiences are like a storm that either drags you down or transforms you into something else.