CORPSE...UNICYCLE...LABORATORY

CORPSE...UNICYCLE...LABORATORY

FINAL SCENE

Week 4 Focal Camera problem

I ran into a problem with this that I believe stemmed from the odd 'parenting' that occurred in the previous week. I could not as a result find/load the driver the the 'ShotCam_Shape' as it did not result in the long list with the 'focal' option.

Week 3 Camera rig

Maya - Week 4

Blue Velvet written review

Blue Velvet in ways, reminded me of Repulsion. Both films display how someone's mental state can change as a result of the way they are treated. A scene that I can immediately relate to 'the uncanny' is when Jeffrey finds the ear in the grass, the truth is, you could put that ear anywhere, and it would be 'uncanny' but, I think it was the angle and way it was revealed, that made you really get that 'ear-ie' (<-- joke) feeling. Another part of the film that falls within our unit, is when Dorothy is standing nude outside the detective's house, it reminds me alot of Gregory Crewdson's work. Another scene that provides this eerie feeling is when Jeffrey is getting beaten up and you see that woman dancing on top of the car, it's so out of place, that it provides you with that feeling.

Poltergeist written review

Films like this really do allow you to be creative, because as soon as you've established there are extra terrestrial forces, you can pretty much justify anything (within reason) that follows. However, Poltergeist does a good job in portraying what would happen if 'they' came. One thing, that I agree modern cinema should go back to, is spending longer establishing characters. A modern film that I can think of that doesn't do this too well, and is a shame, is Gran Torino, I did not believe Clint Eastwood was prepared to die for his neighbours like that, something I believe they should have spent longer establishing. Poltergeist on the other hands presents you with all the characters, and establishes there characteristics slowly and surely, so you are never surprised by any of their actions. I also believe, that they made their actions believable so you weren't ever asking "why would he/she do that?". Another thing that I like, and seems to happen with alot of Spielbergs work is that he takes a story all the way to the end, until you are actually satisfied with the ending, it usually results in a longer film, but whenever you're watching, you're like 'it's going to end, please don't end' and then it carries on and you're like 'good'.

Halloween written review

In terms of 'the uncanny', there were a few scenes that gave me that feeling. For example, when Jamie Lee Curtis' character was walking down the street alone and kept feeling she was being watched. At the start, during the opening credits, the camera slowly zooms into the eye of a jack-o-lanturn and then the scene that follows is from Michael's point of view, connoting that we are looking through the eyes of a monster. When Phil asked "what did the remake of Halloween do that didn't need to be done in the original", I did not answer because I did not see the remake, however I assumed that in the remake they explained why Michael has the behaviour that he has. I assumed this, because it happens alot in modern films, e.g. Jet Li's Unleashed - explains why Jet Li's character behaves and is treated like a dog. But I did not speak up, as to be honest, I don't think there's too much wrong with doing this, I believe that nowadays viewers want things to be as realistic as possible, unless it's set in a different world created by the director, but if somethings set in 1978, Illinois, you'd want to be able to relate to it, otherwise you'd feel like just saying "oh, come on, would that really happen", but I'm not sure, maybe it's things like that, that were seen differently in the 70s.

Stepford Wives written review

When this started I wasn't sure where the director would be taking it in order for the film to fall into 'the uncanny'. It started off like an American comedy, with the bright production design of the sets and the constant references to American daily life. As it progressed, one of the female wives got into an accident, and for some reason she kept repeating the things she was saying, at the time I thought "this is a problem with the script me and Shafi are gonna talk about this in our video review" (which by the way, we may still may do post-deadline, I intended on doing them for all films, but my time management isn't the best, and Shafi was absent for a week aaaand it's difficult acquiring the footage) so then I realised later that the reason this female was repeating herself, was not because of a scripting problem, it was because she was a ROBOT!!!! I was shocked that I couldn't read into the film, and find that out earlier especially because I was under the impression that as cinema has advanced, so has the audience, but I did not expect that. It became clearer and clearer as the women began to malfunction more often. The scenes involving Joanna's robots' 'alien' eyes definitely were 'eerie and frightening'.

Dead Of Night written review

When Phil showed us the excerpts from Dead Of Night, it was already a week delayed, I was still abit slow on getting to terms with 'the uncanny' however, the scenes definitely cleared alot up for me. The personification of the ventriloquist dummy really freaked me out, I actually wasn't sure if it was alive or not, and I believe that's when you know a scene is successful when the dummy's life is ambiguous. I literally had mix feelings over whether I should feel sympathy for Redgrave's character or should be accepting his descent into madness.

final scene????

Ideas for backdrop

Final Scene????

I believe this might be the final Maya model of my scene, once the backdrop is dropped, it should be complete. There was a problem that I couldn't figure out with the bump texture level always remaining the same despite deleting the map and setting the level at 0. I will also try to adjust the UV map scale of the block above the sandwich stand tomorrow as you can tell by the grain that it is too big.

Photoframe as object?

I've been considering using a turned-away photoframe as my object of focus. Here there are two screen grabs displaying two difference texture ideas, I'm seriously considering using the 'red' one in my scene.

Screen grab of my current scene

Here is a screen capture that I did of my scene after pressing 6 in Maya to apply the textures. I would of done a render of my scene but I didn't want my computer to blow up.

Bad texture comparison

Here is a comparison between two textures I wanted to use. I decided not to use the 'scratched' metal texture as it was much too 'scratched' and affected the overall look of the sandwich stand, I instead went for the cleaner brushed metal texture.

Bharathi's curry flavoured Ice Cream and Sandwiches

Everything used to create these tasty products: reference images, colour maps, textures. Plus a screen grab of them.

Sandwich stand colour, bump and spec maps

Floor and ceiling colour and bump maps

Two lighting tests

Two lighting tests carried out in Maya. Used were a combination of one directional light and several spot lights that help recreate the various reflections that occur when light bounces of several objects.

You can also see from the render, where the backdrop will go (through the big rectangular hole (window))

Sketch of scene outline

A sketch I did just to help with the positioning of objects, camera angle and perspective of my scene.

Table and Chairs for scene

These are the chairs and the newly modelled table that I will be using in my scene.

Table colour and bump maps

Chair and Table image plane and references

This is the front/side image plane that I created using the reference images, they helped to work in the correct size ratio in Maya.

Render and Screenshot of Chair for scene

This is my first render of the cafe chair I will be using in my tableau vivant scene. It looks pretty simple and straightforward but still took me like 20 years to complete, not sure why, but it did, I don't like planar mapping :(

All Bump and Colour maps used for the chair model

Realising Grain visual problem

Whilst creating the Texture maps, I realised, once applied to the model, that the wood grain ran horizontly (first image) across the chair. Through a bit of common sense, and having studied Product Design at A-level, I realised that if someone was to physically create this chair, they would cut the wood along the grain and vertically as it would be easier, so as a result I re-did the texture map applying the wood texture vertically along the grain.

I also realised whilst viewing the model, that the end of the chair would also have some sort of 'end grain' if it was cut off (unless it was veneered), so I added another texture to the map of an 'end grain' (second image).