Initial ideas 2

This is another sketch up of an initial idea I've been considering, it's located in a cafe (the actual image is based on a Pret a Manger), and in the scene I wanted the place to be trashed, chairs and tables all over the place, food on the ground, but then in the middle there's a pristine table, with an item on top of it (I've depicted this item with a laptop, however this is just for display purposes, I understand that this is not uncanny in the slightest and will use something else, maybe some more shoes) the backdrop is a city (as cafe's are commonly situated in cities), from the city a ray of light will flow into the cafe onto the pristine table.

Anna Gaskell photograph

I believe that the girl in this photograph is yawning, it is widely accepted that seeing someone yawning triggers a responsive yawn, and I can honestly say that I yawned after seeing this photograph. However, whether or not she is yawning is unknown. She is holding her hand to her mouth as if she was yawning, however her facial expression is hidden in shadow, meaning that she could be doing something else, she could holding her hand to her mouth in fright at the sight of seeing something.

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still #14

I fall into a trance everytime I look at this piece by Cindy Sherman, I end up staring into her eyes trying to make sense of what she's thinking.

The facts that she's looking off-camera is a technique that we discussed in Unit 1 - Portraiture, it is a demanding technique and we become drawn to her instead of her attempting to gain our attention.

The low-angle shot used provides the subject with superiority over us, and we 'look up' to her working in harmony her 'off-camera eyes'.

She is however, not entirely the most 'powerful' subject of this photograph, as the tall buildings in the background are well above her, I believe this helps to enclose her in this world, and may play a part in what she's looking at, and what she's thinking.

The eventual feeling that I get from her, is a hint of 'disgust' at what she's looking at as if she's seeing something happen that although she's not involved in, she feels personally, emotionally involved.

Edward Hopper - Morning Sun

I really like this piece by Edward Hopper, the first thing I thought when I saw this was "she doesn't want to get out of bed, something about the outside world threatens her, what is it?", what I realised is that there is no concrete evidence to back up my thoughts, but I still thought it regardless, it is amazing how Hopper's work has allowed me to imagine so much from so little.

Initial idea

I sketched this up in an attempt to try and portray what my initial idea is. I want to create a football stadium, that is empty, and is lit by only one of the floodlights, the rest of them will be shattered (this is not represented in my image), it will be from a fan's point of view in the stands and there will be either a pair of shoes in the centre of the pitch, or a pair hanging from the score board (both of which are represented in the image), I was initially thinking of using a stadium mower in the scene but this does not in any way help it to feel uncanny, I feel including shoes in the scene will allow the audience to create a story about how the shoes got there.

Repulsion (1965) video analysis by Bharathi and Shafi

This is the second in our series: 'Two Indians and a film', loool I'm jkn, that's not the name of our series. I found analysing Repulsion great fun, and pleasantly surprising being able to find 'amusing' scenes from this psychological thriller. These video analysis' take ages to edit, and I may have to give it a break until I catch up with the rest of the unit, I really do hope everyone enjoys them as much as we do making them, because I do want to continue doing so. NOTE: the first 10 seconds or so will only play through the left ear, sorry about this, won't happen in further uploads.

Gregory Crewdson video

This video really helped me understand how Gregory Crewdson thinks, and the process that he undergoes when creating his photographs. I really like how his work focuses on the relationship between the 'expected' and 'unexpected' which in-turn displays the ambiguity the 'uncanny' and 'tableau vivant'. Lighting plays a major part in Crewdson's work, his use of Lighting in his work serves various purposes such as isolating a subject or creating an off-camera attraction.

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!!!!!!!

Tableau Vivant Nouveau: Art Come to Life

I found this video on YouTube while trying to understand what Tableau Vivant is. From what I've seen and found, Tableau Vivant is the capture of moving theatre, in which the moving theatricals are the reanimation of Artworks. This is getting a bit confusing for me, but I think I'm starting to get it, in order to create a tableau vivant scene I will need to recreate a piece artwork or theatre that draws on it's conventions and then capture this with a photograph.

Mirror's Edge Uncanny

Mirror's Edge is a game that tells the story of a protagonist that illegally transports information using parkour in a city where all communication is policed and therefore takes the protagonist into areas that are empty, often abandoned and therefore uncanny. I really like the minimalist and clean approach to the design in Mirror's Edge and when playing through the game, some areas really do feel strange with the cold silence that comes with Faith (the protagonist) being alone in most places.

Textures: Mouldy Cheese

This is one of the textures that I created in Phil's Photoshop session, I was fairly confident that it resembled mouldy cheese but still felt the need to write it in the top left hand corner. It was made by using the cloud filter, then adjusting the curves, applying a texture above it that resembled the various tiny indents in cheese and then finally overlaying an image of desert cracks with low opacity to resemble the breaking that occurs in cheese over time. I just realised that the spelling 'moldy' is US, the UK spell it 'mouldy', I was confused as everywhere on the internet had 'mouldy', just shows how dominating the US are in the Media.

Maya Camera Rig

I think it's really useful, Alan showing us little things like this that make major changes to a scene, I really was fascinated as to what lengths animators are going to, to replicate 'real-life', I mean, this camera now moves like a real camera! I'm grateful that Alan's teaching us Maya in a way that we will become knowledgeable with it, while at the same time not scared of using it (although I never wanna hear the words Planar mapping or UV Texture Edition again after the last unit)

Maya Pirates Cove

Finished the pirates cove texturing task, I really want to have an attempt at texturing the barrel and chest but every section of our unit is as demanding as eachother so will have to postpone this.This is also my 100th post!!!!!! I'm sure everyone else is probably on their 1000th but I still wanna celebrate, I'll probably celebrate in one of mine and Shafi's video analysis'.

Alan's sheet of acetate, Invaders from Mars (1953)

This is a quick grid analysis I and Shafi did of a short clip from Invaders from Mars (1953). I plan on doing another analysis of another scene from another movie using Alan's sheet of acetate, however we just felt like doing one of Invaders from Mars at the time. Thanks to Shafi for providing in depth analysis aswell as moral support.

I Am Legend moving mannequin scene analysis by Bharathi and Shafi

When Phil done the presentation on the Uncanny valley, various movies came to mind that involved uncanny scenes, one of these was I Am Legend. Throughout, there is a relationship that Robert (Will Smith) has with the mannequins, this spurs from him being away from human contact for so long and as a result he begins to treat the mannequins almost as humans. There is one particular scene that was very well directed. Things fail to be uncanny when they begin to move or take life, Phil gave Chucky as an example, despite dolls being uncanny, the movie chooses not to portray this by animating the doll. In this particular I Am Legend scene, the mannequin DOES move, however it is done so subtly that the majority of audiences either don't realise it or believe that it was a camera trick or that their eyes were deceiving them. Thanks to Shafi for providing in depth analysis aswell as moral support.

Video review of Invaders from Mars by Bharathi and Shafi

This is a video review that I and Shafi did on Invaders from Mars, we felt that doing a video review as oppose to a written review would allow us to put across our points more effectively as we are able to display scenes on top of our speech. I have a lot of respect for this film and am not in any way mocking it as it is obviously an inspiration to the film industry, I am more providing a vision of how I saw it, having not seen classic movies like this before and having mostly seen modernised versions of similar films. When I commented on how "you're not allowed to hit a kid round the face nowadays" I understand that if anything, the BBFC has gotten less strict on film certification with people such as Sue Clark of the BBFC saying "times shift and attitudes change, but what was problematic then, is not problematic now". Try and stay awake through the whole video and remember that I'm not mocking the film in any way, if anyone believes that I am, please express your opinion so I can consider taking it down. Thanks to Shafi for helping to provide in depth analysis on the film as well as moral support.

Maya FINISHED

Noooooooo Alan!!!!! Don't give me my percentage yetttt, I've finished ittttt, it's only a few hours overdue :(

Maya Progress (Week 4 - Folder 37)

Underwater concept FINAL

Horizon concept FINAL

Volcano concept FINAL

All life drawings

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' is another movie that says alot through Art, whilst being successful with an attentive storyline. The portrayal of Albert Spica was very successful as I constantly wanted him to get pay his dues for all the bad that he had done, and the film never went short of showing us all the bad that he did do. There are various colour symbols that run through the film, this technique is one that I personally like in film, as it is not so 'in your face' whilst it's impact is massive. When Michael and Georgina are making love outside the toilets, their clothes along with the room become a red colour, red commonly symbolises passion and love, various other colour changes occur throughout the film to accompany the mood. I believe this technique was also succesfully used in House Of Flying Daggers, although this time, it was in your face, but this was because the use of colour was so beautiful it was something to be bedazzled by. 'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' lures you into the film, in a way that you become part of this world of murder, hatred and pleasure. Georgina eventually gets her way at the end, although it is far from a happy ending with the death of Michael, Albert's (played by Michael Gambon) reaction is priceless as Georgina delivers the final bullet.

Edward Scissorhands analysis

This was the first time watching Edward Scissorhands and to be honest, I feel as if I should have researched it a bit as friends were telling me that they were scared of the film when they saw it, that, accompanied by the scary front cover had me thinking this was a thriller. Then, when Phil said "if you're not feeling Christmassy, then you will now", I was confused. As soon as the film started however, it felt immediately as how Phil explained it, a Christmassy film, the bright colours and music made me feel merry. The colours used on the houses was very stylistic and provided a sense of being somewhere that doesn't exist. I had a similar feeling watching Pleasantville, however I believe this was down to the personalities, styling and script as Pleasantville was, for the most, a B&W film. Halfway through the film however, I realised what my friends were talking about, especially when you first meet Edward Scissorhands the suspense created is immense as he is at the very top floor in a dark corner of the roof. The ending of the film was a bit of a surprise as it is neither happy nor sad, it is however, realistic in the sense that if Edward Scissorhands did exist this is probably what would happen to him, he would return to where he came from after a failed attempt of fitting in with society.

Alien analysis

Having not seen Alien before, I could not help comparing it to The Matrix, it was mainly due to the spacecraft, shots used, colours and the character of Ellen (in comparison to Trinity). When Kane gets infected by the alien, I naturally believed that he was going to have some sort of reaction later on to it, as this is seen nowadays in films such as Cloverfield and I Am Legend, these two films may have been influenced by Alien. I also, never believed I would get scared by a film made in 1979 but I was genuinely scared when the Alien revealed his face after a suspenseful moment looking for the other astronauts. Building suspense and then following up with a sound-heavy sudden revealing is something that isn't done to often nowadays as I believe directors think this is an overused technique. In films such as Cloverfield, suspense is usually built then decreased, or in I Am Legend, they try to shock the viewer by avoiding suspense altogether. For me, watching Alien, was like seeing where all the more recent sci-fi films got all there scenes from, however I was still able to appreciate the various techniques used. Phil asked us what we thought about the revealing of alot of Ellen's skin towards the end of the film. I believe that this film positively represented the power of females, throughout there are sexual innuendos such as when Kane is attacked by an alien form and then used as an egg to reproduce, it shows how a man is used for reproduction without his consent. When Ellen is being approached by the Alien at the end, the Alien's head is the phalic symbol approaching Ellen, however Ellen gets rid of it again positively representing women.

The Haunting analysis

I really liked the way personalities are revealed and developed throughout this film. For me, this really drove the story, as you are constantly trying to look for the 'evil' character. At first you believe Eleanor is the target, and the victim throughout, with intimidating characters such as Theodora as possible culprits. As you get to know each character you realise that Theodora is innocent and that her intimidating personality, was just something she couldn't help, then as you get to know the characters, Eleanor's behaviour begins to change. This is a surprise, despite it happening over time, as you initially believe she is the only one that could never be blamed for any of the occurances, then as the film closes, we realise how she let the house take over her. When Phil asked "what did you notice about the camera", I was thinking hard and all I could think was "I don't know, it all seemed pretty clear to me", but what I never realised was that it was this that gave this film such a 'haunting' feeling as everything is constantly being shown to you in clarity, almost asking of you to 'solve' the plot.

Night Of The Hunter analysis

Before watching this, Phil told us that there was some relation with this to Hansel and Gretel. When the first 10 minutes of the movie passed I started to think "what was Phil on about", as the film started with the hanging of Pearl and John's father and the introduction of the character, Harry Powell. As the film progressed I began to understand what Phil was talking about, there is something 'Hansel and Gretel' about the two children as they venture through the various locations on the way to Rahel's house. Only after seeing this film, did I understand the parodying of Harry Powell in the Simpsons where Sideshow Bob has the words 'LUV' and 'HAT' tattood on his 3-knuckled hands. Overall, I really enjoyed this film and although some of the lines seemed appropriate only to that period in time '1955', lines that appeared comical to myself, (e.g. you threw a hairbrush at Daddy), I still found an interest in the film and personally believe it was a movie ahead of it's time.

Metropolis analysis

Although I can appreciate the unique art that takes place in films such as this German Expressionism film, I was a bit weary as to how good the story line would be as I believe movies cannot do much if a good story line isn't present. It reminds me of what happens when games try to be movies, where games focus heavily on cinematics but do not provide in the game play side. If you sit down to play a game, you sit down (unless you're playing Wii sports) to play a game, not to watch a movie. However, this can be done successfully, such as with Metal Gear Solid 4, in which 90 minutes worth of cutscenes are included whilst delivering the game play. The story, personally, I can compare to that of Spielberg's work, you feel like you're approaching the end of a film, but you want it continue, and it does just that. The story includes a twist at the end, which I feel sort of satisfies you as a viewer, and leaves you thinking "that was a good film". In this particular film, the effect of the story is heightened by the background content, the off-angle buildings create an unusual, strange feeling that isn't so much to throw you off the film. In fact, I unintentionally carried this on into one of my digital paintings, when I was first experimenting with the graphics tablet, I found myself creating off-angled building because I felt it suited the look, however it was only after that I realised this liking came from watching Metropolis.

vague idea of volcano concept

This is a vague idea of the whereabout of layers in my volcano concept. I have decided to opt out of doing the previous volcano concept in which Captain Nemo and Arronax are looking up at the volcano and have instead decided to show them looking down at the volcano. I believe this change has allowed me to explore new techniques such as creating lava and using lighting techniques on the inside of the volcanic rocks.

images that influenced my volcano concept

These two images have helped me progress my volcano concept. The second, allowed me to get an idea of the various details that are present on the volcanic rocks, aswell as observe lighting as the rocks slope inwards. The second allowed me see the different colours present in lava.

vague idea of volcano concept

This was another concept that I thought about pursuing, however I have decided to do the same passage that this was painting based on, but alter it instead. I will not be pursuing this any further, but will instead be working on a concept based on if Captain Nemo and Arronnax reach the summit, but instead looked down on a volcano, instead of up at it, as I believe it will create more of a visual impact and allow me to explore other digital painting techniques.

images that influenced my horizon concept

Both these images helped me create my horizon concept (approaching Mannaar Island). The second image really helped with understanding how light appears during a sunrise and how it hits the sea and the rest of the surroundings. The first imaged helped with adding light effects effects to my silhouetted Captain Nemo.