| Credits |
| 2003, 17 mins. (USC)
Director/Writer: Monika Hennig Producers: Monika Hennig, John Halbert Editors: Nancy Wang, Michelle Fellner Director of Photography: Ruben F. Russ Production Designer: Marcia Scheese Cast: Danny McCarthy, Donal O'Sullivan, Neil Fournier, King Stuart. |
| About |
| For Monika Hennig, the purpose of making movies may be the pleasure and wonder she finds in nature's design. The young hero of Chasing Patterns is lucky enough to have a teacher who encourages his fascination with the patterns he sees in sunflowers and pine cones, a passion that dovetails with his love of narrative, especially a book of Arthurian legends that belonged to his late mother.
Hennig, who grew up in California's Bay Area and now lives on Hawaii's Big Island with her husband, cat, and 24 chickens, was lucky enough to have a happier childhood than her protagonist, Liam. But Hennig remembers that, like him, she "grew up loving Arthurian legends, mysterious riddles, and long rambling nature walks. It was thrilling to discover little things, like how seeds were arranged on a dandelion head." Each also had an encouraging teacher. "The decision to study biology in college was inspired largely by my high-school biology teacher. He introduced me to an entire realm visible only through a microscope. Every written observation was accompanied by a detailed drawing of the specimen, be it a live planaria, sea urchin egg, or leaf cross-section. In his classroom, art and science went hand in hand. The visual beauty of form, color, and pattern first captured my interest in science and is the inspiration behind Chasing Patterns." The patterns that captivate Liam are similar to the ones featured in one of Hennig's first student films, Likeness, which she describes as "essentially a five-minute montage of natural images strung together to reveal similar patterns in unrelated objects." For example, the zig-zagging sutures on a human skull look remarkably similar to lines on marble. Wing spots on some moths closely resemble owl's eyes. Spiraling patterns on sunflowers mirror those of pine cones. Hennig intended to work in molecular biology, but she was captivated by the drama of National Geographic documentaries. In film school, she gravitated towards narrative filmmaking, which allowed her to take on scientific topics through a creative and individual approach. For Hennig, filmmaking and science are almost effortlessly compatible. They both, she says, "require meticulous attention to detail and endless patience, determination, curiosity and creativity. In telling a story, as in undertaking research, one is always open to the potential of many possibilities." |
| Online Resources |
| Mathematics in the natural world, Arizona State University Definition and history of fractals, Wikipedia Images of fractals in nature, Yale University |
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