KIT: Film Inspiration: African Tribes and Writes of passage

Hey guys! So I thought I'd do a couple of posts about my film today. I wanted to sorta talk about my inspirations and ect. Maybe not even just to share it, but to also maybe get myself some ideas!!

So for those of you that dont know, my main idea for my film is a boy going through some sort of rites of passage. If you're not familiar with a rite of passage, it's basically some sort of test that a character has to go take to become, generally, an adult. Popular rites of passages include Bat Mitzvahs in Jewish culture and Quinsineras in Hispanic culture. These rites of passage, generally have a connotation of wealth or class, which is fine, but doesn't make for a good film. I wanted to create something more raw and more earthy. So I instantly went to the idea of Africa.

I was actually inspired, initially by a band called Fever Ray. I was in a car with a bunch of friends and my friend started playing the Fever Ray album..fever ray! I had a sorta tribal feeling to it, but it wasn't necessarily distinctly tribal from here or there, which I liked. Here's one of the many songs that inpsired me.

After that, i got pretty excited.

So I decided to take my starting point from an older character that I created a LONG time ago...warning, bad art up ahead!

I had this concept of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly/moth and going through some trials within a caccon. I really liked that idea so I started trying to look up reference of moths and butterflies. After trying to incorporate them into my design, i decided to tone it all down and make it less literal, that's sorta where I'm going with right now. But, back to my inspirations.
I watched a couple of short ideos about ritses of passage.

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They really inspired me and gave me a lot to think about.

I also looked into some african tribes. I decided that I LOVED the Himba Tribe of Nambia. They have this natural elegance about them that seems somewhat, other worldy.