Grey sea.

Part of what inspires me to make Bientôt l’été is my fondness of the seaside during grey weather. It’s a very common sight here in Belgium, yet one that is not popular. Our entire coast is a continuous sandy beach, 67 kilometers long. And whenever the sun dares to shine on a holiday or in the weekend, the highways are jammed with people from all over the country driving to the seaside. Maybe that’s why I like the seaside when the weather is bad: I don’t like crowds.

We were at the seaside today, for making motion captures of walking on the sand and in the wind. A completely overcast sky. Grey sand, grey water, grey clouds. Ideal in my mind and yet it didn’t draw me as it used to. Maybe I have ruined my taste for the real grey seaside by making an idealized version of it in a videogame. Or maybe I’m just sick of staring at it. I must admit that there’s also a shadow of a memory of our somewhat unsettling encounter with the sea in Trouville. Ever since, I’ve been somewhat afraid of the huge mass of water that just sits there making terrible growling noises all the time like a huge wet monster.

Technical issues also ruined the mood. Motion capture suits and computers don’t mix well with sand. And for no good reason someone started bulldozing at the foot of the dunes where we had left our stuff. So much for our peaceful little outing at the deserted seaside. But I’m extra motivated to make our own virtual seaside as lovely as possible. Because it may only exist in dreams.