Not all information is on the internet, a fact which I came to appreciate whilst hunting location references for my last project, set in Fiji. I was making an animated film and needed to create environments which were geographically faithful and familiar to the local viewers.
My online searches gave limited results, there was minimal written information on the specifics of the environment and many of the images I did come across were tourism related. As such, the films visuals ended up being more generic than I would have liked, with little personality for the nature of the forest, layout of villages and lifestyle of the people.
Migrating onto my second project (which I am currently working on), I continued to search for reference images online, even though the film was set where I lived, in Brisbane. There was a great deal more information concerning South East Queensland, it being a far more documented and photographed place than Vanua Levu, Fiji.
Content with the information I was receiving online, I failed to consider venturing out to explore more of the region in person. It wasn’t until I had my confirmation in which the assessing panel questioned my lack of exploration, explaining that something about the film felt a bit a bit vague and inauthentic. They were right. There was a lot more to Brisbane than the half-hearted ideas I had depicted, and it showed.
In response to this feedback I set out on 10 different research trips to various locations in and around Brisbane. As some of the locations were quite remote, I hitched rides with family, friends and other researchers. It was a bit of an undertaking but has been a very rewarding process.
Due to the number of scouted locations, I have decided to split this post into 8 parts:
1. Field Trip 1 & 2: Lockyer Valley and Stones Corner
2. Field Trip 3: Springbrook and Nerang River
3. Field Trip 4: Cedar Creek (North) and Bell Bird walking tracks, Kumbartcho Sanctuary educational centre
4. Field Trip 5: Cedar Creek (a different one), stony creek and Mt Mee
5. Field trip 6 & 7 Enoggera Reservoir and Walkabout Creek educational centre and Mangroves
6. Field trip 8 Mt Glorious
7. Field trip 9 Moreton Bay
8. Field trip 10 Botanic Gardens Mt. Coo-tha and notes from around the city
Blog 1 featuring notes on Lockyer Valley and Stones corner will be up soon!
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