Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
UNIT 2: THUMBNAILS: MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH 1 TO 19
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| THUMBNAILS 1 TO 10, WITH EXTRA THUMBS FROM THE SMALL BROWN DOG OF DUBIOUS ORIGIN |
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| THUMBNAILS 11-19 |
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
SKETCHES - HEAD STUDIES
I found the face/head sketches hardest to do, partly because I have absolutely no concept of what I look like. I don't recognise myself in photos and what I see in the mirror is not what I think I look like.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
PHOTOSHOP 4, AND A CHANGE OF PLAN
I've spent some time now trying to make mantis-me work, trying different poses whilst trying to keep that femme fatale edge. I'm just not happy with what I've come up with, its just not me.
Jolanta and Tom have both sugested something a bit more physically spliced, and Sammy showed me a picture and a sculpture on Deviant Art which have made me think again.
So here is Photoshop Week 4, which I am not going to use now!
Friday, 14 October 2011
MAYA WORKSHOP 2
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
@ phil
Is it possible to use the Company of Wolves as the basis for my written assignment, I want to explore around the ideas of the female/puberty/control, the victim, seduction, power, putting certain types of animals with a human female, how does this change the characteristics or behaviour etc? e.g. wolf - preditor, parying mantis - killer, black widow - killer etc is there any oppisite corrolation?
etc. Would this be ok or would you like me to find something original?
etc. Would this be ok or would you like me to find something original?
Sunday, 9 October 2011
TRYING OUT THE DRAWING STYLES OF INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS
Having researched some artists who painted/drew femme fatales, I thought I'd try out their styles and see how my Mantis could look.
The first drawing is of my shortish dumpy body, and how it could look cat-woman style with elongated limbs and a glamour figure. Much as I like this idea its not really got the femininity I'm after, and whilst its sexy its not really seductive.
The second drawing I really like, perhaps because it is so covered and leaves everything to the imagination. Ive included a mantis claw to hint at the morph, and Chinese style face on account of it being a Chinese mantis.
The third drawing, in the style of Erte, is interesting because in his original he merged peacock feathers with the arm and the model could have been spliced with the bird, its so organically drawn. I have tried to emulate this with my mantis claw and camouflaging leaf. I am quite pleased with the effect, but it only really works on 1920s model figures, which are quite androgenous and not very seductive.
CAT WOMAN'S BODY VERSUS CHRISSIE'S BODY
TIM BURTON STYLE
IN THE STYLE OF ERTE
ARTISTIC INFLUENCES ON MY DESIGN - 1
ARTISTIC INFLUENCES
There are styles of drawing and animation that I particularly like, and that influence the work I am producing. I have always been fascinated by Lotte Reiniger's paper cut animations.
Reiniger was one of very few women in the 1920s that was in total control of her own work. She scripted, created the characters, and animated and photographed them to produce her short films at the dining table. (She eventually cut a hole in the table to make a lightbox and went on to make full-length fairy tale films.)
The cutwork is brilliant, and her use of lighting and tonal shade in the early shorts is amazing.
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| Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926 |
Lotte Reiniger - Papageno - 1935
Lotte Reiniger was herself inspired by watching Chinese shadow theatre as a child.
Although both Reinigers animations and Chinese Shadow Puppetry are suitable for children there is something very gothic and macabre about the colours, scenery, and low-fi filming.
Animations are still influenced by this style – notably Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Film Review: The Company of Wolves
THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)
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| fig 1 |
Directed by Neil Jordan
Produced by Chris Brown and Stephen Woolley
Written by Angela Carter and Neil Jordan
Starring Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, Stephen Rea, David Warner
Music by George Fenton
The company of Wolves has been adapted from a mixture of stories by Angela Carter, including the short story of the same name. A mix of folklore, feminism, erotica and fairytales inspires Carter’s stories. Luke Thomson (New Times 2003) noted that “Red Riding Hood has always been a good source for nightmares, and this is one of the more compelling of those bad dreams”. The stories have been fused together by incorporating them into a dream by the main character, thus allowing the film to jump around ideas and scenes seemingly haphazardly.
The dream idea works because the viewer is always kept in suspense. At no point does the viewer know where the scene is leading, and some fragments peter out whilst some are suddenly violent; some seem to resolve themselves in a morally pleasing way and some leave a slightly bad taste.
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| fig 2 |
Mixed in with the dreams are plenty of clues that the film is about girls reaching puberty, becoming fertile and moving into womanhood. Before the dream Rosalee has tried on her sister’s lipstick, something that girls do as they become aware of boys and start puberty. There are continuous references to the lunar month, parallel to menstruation. Climbing a tall tree Rosalee reaches a nest where the eggs contain fertility dolls; there are various threads that show conflicting ideas of life as a woman: the victim with crying children & aggressive husband; the slightly senile granny, the powerful seductress. They also highlight the complexity of human relationships.
Louise Watson, in her review for ScreenOnline, suggests that despite her blossoming sexual awareness, Rosalee fears marriage and adult responsibilities. However, throughout the film Rosalee retains control of her dream. She doesn’t seem frightened by the often-violent events even when the other women (and men) are hysterical or angry. She remains assured and powerful, and chooses to identify with the wolves at the end. There is something quite chilling about this.
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| fig 3 |
In the DVD commentary, Jordan notes the difficulty of having to create the look of the film on a limited budget, “having to create a fairytale forest out of essentially "twelve trees. The visual design was an integral part of the script. It was written and imagined with a heightened sense of reality in mind.” Perhaps because of the budget, the set has an unreal quality that enhances the dreaminess.
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| fig 4 |
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Company_of_Wolves [accessed on 5/10/11]
FIG 2,3,4
http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.com/content.php?contentid=59063 [accessed on 05/10/11]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carter, A (1979) The Bloody Chamber, UK: Victor Gollanz
Neil Jordan (2005), audio commentary to The Company of Wolves DVD
Watson, L (2005) ScreenOnline Review: online at http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/515281/ [accessed on 05/10/11]
Thomson, L (2003) New Times Review online: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/company_of_wolves/ [accessed on 05/10/11]
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