I conjured up my old high school (a facsimile above) and tried to remember what the students were like when sitting all together on the basketball court. I remember the boys punching each other on the arm til they were told to stop, and the general hub bub.
The pictures didn't last long, either. I found that I couldn't keep a picture up to study it. My brain has no pause button. New pictures from different angles would appear, each with less fidelity to the original event than the first.
Anyway, I believe the soupy memory was somewhat accurate, which is odd considering that the pictures were so fuzzy and ephemeral. Maybe the accuracy comes from something that was added to the pictures. Watching how the memory was constructed, I felt that a search had taken place, then a picture was put up, then a sort of emotional impression of the event was taken out of storage and combined with the picture.
Amazingly the non-visual, emotional impressions seemed to be the source for some of the movement I thought I saw. Sometimes I really didn't see that much movement in a single picture, I just strongly felt like I did.
Interesting, huh?
Whenever I have memories, I always remember them as movies complete with sound. I can even visualize full animation in my head with sound as well, especially when I'm listening to music. I'm glad you touched up on this as I thought I was the only one. I heard Bob Clampett could even visualize his cartoons too!
ReplyDeleteCan anyone reading this blog remember how things smell? (FYI, dogs are __wired__ to remember smells, often for many years.).
ReplyDeletePerhaps a lifetime interest in animation and visual FX helps me visualize memories as Roberto does.
I did learn to visualize cartoon characters speaking their with different voices (Lady Tremaine laughs like Maniac Ren, etc.). But it's hard to focus on that for more than a short time.
Sometimes at night when relaxed it's possible to visualize a new animated scene/interaction for 15 - 20 minutes (a lot easier to visualize than animate it !!).
Have others experienced "half sleep", where they can actually control how a dream progresses, or (odder) wake up at night for some reason, go back to sleep and find the same dream picks up where it left off?
Interesting post. Whenever I look at Erich Sokol's Playboy cartoons it always feels like I'm looking at a great memory.
ReplyDeleteMy strongest memories cue on tastes. I can still remember teething cookies & the taste of the screen door at the back porch.
ReplyDeleteCool post, I was intrigued with just the thought of sitting down and thinking of something a memory. You always have the funnest ideas. A great one you had that stuck with me was of schools, to make them really interesting that kids actually look forward to come in an sit to learn listen and attend. Instead of the latter of feeling forced and painful.
ReplyDeleteHa, reminds me of the memory image projection technology that everyone on the net was talking about some time ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/22/brain-movies/