Dream: In the Works of Hoffos and Gondry - Essay Example

Dream: In the Works of Hoffos and Gondry Introduction It is perfectly fine for a human being to dream when he or she is asleep. This is universally accepted as normal. Almost everyone on earth has experienced this mental phenomenon. It is purely a mental work which has the ability to stimulate physical action. In fact, in some instances, an individual may find himself or herself crying or gasping for breath while dreaming. The person of course discovers such circumstances after waking up. To dream is often unexpected. An individual may be surprised why he or she had a dream. Others may wonder about the meaning of their dreams. It seems that dream is purely a product of one's imagination. One could not even find the relation of his or her dream with his or her real circumstance in life. In such case, scientific explanations have been offered to understand dreams. Psychological theories have been formulated to unravel the hidden aspects of dreaming. Significantly, there are few who intend to widen people's comprehension about dreams by exposing their own dreams. The exposure is done through artworks. This may vary from simply painting one's dream or making use of cinematographic effects to elaborate a dream. David Hoffos and Michel Gondry are contemporary artists who use the theme of dream in their artworks. Both of them have actually tried utilizing installations to create illusions in their artworks. In examining their artworks, it is contended that Gondry's approach is substantive and psychological while Hoffo's approach is descriptive and analytical. With respect to the method used by the two artists in presenting their dream images, Gondry uses modern techniques while Hoffos utilizes archaic special effects. David Hoffos has shown his dream images in his work called Scenes from the House Dream. It is an artwork composed of five phases. Each of these phases may have two or more scenes of a dream. The work does not refer to a literal house dream. It is simply described as such since Hoffos presumed that dreams usually occur while a person sleeps inside his or her house. Nonetheless, while completing the artwork, Hoffos realized that house dream scenes are actually common in dreams (Tousley). Michel Gondry, on the other hand, has incorporated some of his dream interpretations in his film entitled The Science of Sleep. The movie is about a man named Stephane whose dreams have intermingled with reality. He meets Stephanie, his neighbor, who also have an artistic inclination like him. Basically, the story is focused on how Stephane’s dreams have affected his life. The Role of Dream in the Arts "Dream" has been a favorite subject in the field of arts. Specifically, it has been interpreted and expressed in visual, literary and performing arts. In visual arts, a dream is made known to the public by just exhibiting a painting, making a film, or displaying a picture. In all of these, the artist's ultimate aim is to attract the spectator's attention towards the artwork. To understand the meaning of a particular visual art, a person should have a critical mind. In most cases, it is difficult to understand a certain visual art by just looking at it. For one to comprehensively get the artist's point of view, he or she should look beyond the visual images. It is actually a great challenge for an artist to create an artwork which is evoking and analytical. The theme of dream in artworks is often seen by artists to produce these characteristics. Analytically, it is often difficult to express or interpret a dream. It can be stated that it is an inherent nature of a dream to be complicated to comprehend. Anyone could even have the difficulty to exactly or comprehensively draw his or her dream. Normally, one could not describe or express every detail of his or her dream. This goes to say that an artwork about a dream is perfect to be visually available as it has the normal tendency to stimulate one's critical mind. With regard to literary arts, a dream is expressed through writing. Since dreams exhibit different emotions, it is deemed fit to be subjected to literary writing. To note, literary writing has many genres. It could be narrative, expository or simply poetry. Like literature, a dream is broad. It is susceptible to various interpretations. In the performing arts, a dream is expressed through music and dance. Dreams can actually be interpreted by the execution of dance steps. A dancer could express a dream through his or her dancing movements. Emotions can also be expressed by playing a music. Music as a tool for entertainment can create sounds corresponding to a dream's mood. Hoffos Dream Images Hoffos approach in creating dream images is descriptive and analytical. It is descriptive since the artwork presents different scenes from a dream. It does not create a story. The many dream images when connected do not create a story. In other words, The Scenes from the House Dream is not a narrative. It simply describes a particular dream. Hoffos may have chosen to present his artwork in a descriptive way so as to awaken the critical mind of the spectators. He does not put a fix interpretation of the images to make the artwork more controversial. Stated otherwise, he leaves the interpretation of the images to the audience. This approach provokes critical analysis. Upon viewing the artwork, one could not actually think that antiquated special effects were used in presenting its various dream scenes. This is to say that instead of using modern techniques, Hoffos applied the basic and old ways of creating illusions. For instance, in one of the dream scenes, Hoffos utilized masked-off television monitors as well as mirrors to project moving figures and objects onto his dioramas (Balzer). This is an antiquated and complicated approach, but the special effects produced is comparably the same with those images created by using high-tech equipments. This aspect makes Hoffos unique from the other artists presenting dream images. In today’s modern world, an artist may be skeptical in going back to the basics of creating illusions but Hoffos was not afraid. He is a man who loves to experiment the different ways of making illusions. Hoffos may have thought that the old methods are still effective in producing false visual scenes. It only depends on how the artist uses the archaic techniques so as to create a deceiving picture of an event. For him, the antiquity or modernity of the special effects used does not matter. What matters for him could be the level of creativity and effort that an artist is willing to show in his or her artwork. In some of the scenes, miniature models were used by Hoffos to illustrate a dream. The utilization of such technique creates an impression that the scenes showed are somehow true. If one is not a critical observer, one would be deceived by the way Hoffos presented the scenes. The overall cinematic effect has been effective through the use of miniature objects. It has produced a multi-dimensional presentation. Gondry’s Artwork Gondry’s approach in the film The Science of Sleep is substantive and psychological. It is substantive since the movie tackles the important facts about a dream. It creates an impression that sometimes dream could happen in real life. It is not just a movie about a dream but what does it mean to dream. It highlights the possible psychological reasons why an individual dreams. The story about Stephane and Stephanie tells the audience that a person dreams while in his or her unconscious state due to his or her trapped desires. These desires are trapped or unfulfilled while an individual is still conscious or knows what he or she is doing. When one is conscious, he or she can still control his or her acts and emotions. However, when one is already unconscious like in the sleeping state, an individual loses control of his or her actions and emotions. In this context, Freud believes that an individual’s wishes and desires are fulfilled in his or her dreams. Relevantly, Gondry’s movie The Science of Sleep also illustrates modern surrealistic images. Surrealistic images can easily get one’s attention. Surrealism, a concept of the twentieth century is actually based on Freud’s interpretation of dreams (Bohn; Hubbard 25; The Columbia Encyclopedia). This aspect makes Gondry’s dream artworks different from that of Hoffos. It can be observed that the dream images in the movie are almost unbelievable and far from the truth. This is the goal of surrealists. They present dream images which are full of exaggerations. An example from the movie would be the scene wherein Stephane’s hands became big like a giant’s hands. The new ways of producing multidimensional images were used by Gondry in the movie. Some of the objects moved through digital filming. Unlike Hoffos, Gondry did not utilize miniature models to create an illusion. Instead, he mainly focused on making surrealistic images by applying digital imaging and styling (Purse 5). The dream scenes were more natural to see because of the high-tech equipments used. Computer animation made the images look more realistic. Conclusion Dream as a concept significant in the arts is well interpreted and expressed by Hoffos and Gondry in their respective artworks. The two artists differ only as to the technique used in creating illusions. Hoffos specializes archaic special effects while Gondry focuses on digital filming. Notably, the use of old techniques in creating an illusion is more complicated than the new ways of filming. It requires more effort and equipment. This is in contrast with the utilization of computer animation. Computer animation makes filming more effortless and realistic. Works Cited Balzer, David. David Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream. Eyeweekly.com, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . Bohn, Willard. Surrealism. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. . Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print. Hubbard, Guy. “Surrealism.” Arts & Activities Dec. 2001: 25. Print. Purse, Lisa. “Digital Heroes in Contemporary Hollywood: Exertion, Identification, and the Virtual Action Body.” Film Criticism 32.1 (2007): 5. Print. The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th Ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Print. Tousley, Nancy. Scenes from The House Dream: David Hoffos Presents Phase Two of a Large, Ongoing Work. Calgary Herald, 1 May 2004. [Pdf]. Read More