Saturday 12 December 2009
I'M CONFUSED!!!!!!!! help me
I'm really confused here, after looking over the brief again, it seems that our scene must be in the style of 'tableau vivant'. Our backdrop will be in this scene, so this must accompany the 'tabluea vivant' theme. OK. Now our essay will investigating 'the uncanny', so as far as I know, the only relationship between 'the uncanny' and our unit, comes in the form of the written assignment. So, why is it that when I see everyone's scene ideas, they all seem to be based around 'the uncanny'. I should have asked this a long time ago, I don't get it, I'd find it difficult to create both an 'uncanny' and 'tabluea vivant' scene as 'the uncanny' represents the absence of movement and life whereas 'tableau vivant' represents the presence of movement and life. HELP MEEEEEE!!!!!!!
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I thought the same thing, i dont think our scene has to be a tableau vivant, but i think since our lecture on the uncanny, everyone decided to stitck it in some how. Im not sure either, im going to try and make mine uncanny anyway because i think it has a good effect, but if you look at Gregory Crewsdon, his work is a tableau vivant but also uncanny.
ReplyDeleteThanks alot Richard, this helps clear things up a bit for me. I'll check out Gregory Crewdson and may also add some uncanniness to my scene.
ReplyDeleteThe uncanny is what makes the Tableux tick, it is a moment frozen in time rather like Hoppers work the audience is left clues to a narrative but not the full story, the viewer is thus free to become the story teller.
ReplyDeleteThe stolen freeze frame in itself, without any associations of storytelling or narrative, provides the uncanniness.
Take the ever-popular deserted street as a prime example:
The audience views a deserted street in the film 28 Days Later and makes assumptions about what has happened to all the people such as disease, disaster, etc.
When filming 28 Days Later they filmed in thefirst hours of day when all the people where stillin bed. This is a simple solution to the scene but the human brain is always seeking the more complex solution..... maybe we are all born conspiracy theorists.
What this means is that we are able to twist the mundane to force an audience to use their imagination. That in itself is uncanny.
Crewdaon pushes the uncanny and is rather an extremist as he sometimes crosses the border and provides too much information or strays into cliche.... these are often his least succesful imges and I'm sure Phil has already pointed them out.
Hopper is far more subtle, whereas Crewdson has sometghing of the "sci-fi" about him, Hopper is more Film Noir. Pay heed to the cinematic references here.... hint hint.
oh dear - the confusion seems to spring from the fact that a few people haven't understood the term 'tableau-vivant-style photography' - which denotes a highly constructed image which is similar to a 'film still', in so much as the narrative depicted is frozen... (and it's the 'stillness' that is integral to the power of the image).
ReplyDeleteThe next bit I'm saying through a particularly severe 'tutor-frown', because, if you'd looked at the artists on the brief, you'd very quickly understand what the brief means by 'tableau-vivant STYLE' imagery, and also how it connects with ideas about 'the uncanny' - Simon Holland is absolutely right - Crewdson is the key, but there are many other artists whose work has this same quality - remember when I talked about AMBIGUITY in the very FIRST briefing - the uncanny is a species of the ambiguous...
Come on, Bharathi - your confusion rather suggests that your conceptual development is a bit 'week 1' - you MUST fight your way towards understanding and sophisticated ideas - you will NEVER be spoonfed on this degree! I suggest you take an hour to look through the online journals of your classmates - actually READ their posts, and I think you're confusion will quickly dissipate - at least it should!
So - to summarise:
1) research 'Tableau-vivant-style photography/imagery'
2) analyse and study the artists whose work is associated with the 'tableau-vivant style - consider their use of ambiguity and 'the uncanny' in relationship to their image-making and its techniques/composition etc.
3) Apply your findings to the development of your own digital set/backdrop/final render...
4) USE YOUR BRAIN :-)
wow, a great deal of information here, thanks Simon and Phil, never expected to get as much help through posting my problems on my blog. I really wasn't getting something in the brief, and true, I am used to getting spoon fed. I'll definitely use all the information provided to make sense of 'tabluea vivant-style photography', I just hope I get it soon so my scene doesn't suffer.
ReplyDeleteYou know - you can use your blog much more 'discursively' - use it as a 2-way mirror - you reflect on your own stuff, and so will others - post a problem (constructively!) and see how your peer group reacts - also, if you haven't done so already, become an author on the CG ARTs central blog/forum at http://ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete