Silent Hill : Revelation 3D

Silent Hill : Revelation 3D is the second film based around the game franchise and I was astounded by the visuals when I went to see it. The 3D was fantastic and came right out of the screen in front of you. An example would be when the ash is floating down at the start it feels like it is right in front of you, also when the scraper at the start murders Heather's father in her dream the sword comes right out of the screen also blood splatters on your glasses throughout the film. I also thought the digital grading was very appropriate and gave the film a grungy feeling throughout especially when they return to Silent Hill where the main colour pallet is blood red, black, white and very de-saturated browns and greens. One of my favourite scenes is the one in the clip below, I don't think I blinked during the whole sequence it was that amazing. I thought the way they decayed the walls like skin being ripped off flesh then that decaying off to reveal a cage was a very clever technique and very visually appealing.

 

Bedroom Progress (Practice Skills)

Ryan By Chris Landreth

Ryan is a short 13 minute film based around the life story of animator Ryan who's short films are famous in the world of animation but he decided to leave the animation firm he was with and live a life of begging on the streets. This short film uses recorded audio directly from Ryan and Chris talking about his life and from various people he interviewed.




 I really liked the visual style Chris used to depict the characters, it was a very interesting way of showing how fragile the characters are without resorting to dialogue. The animation is very well done and there is no motion capture used in the film at all which makes the animation even more impressive.

Throughout the film you can see that Chris has various inspirations, perticularly the surrealist movement with references to Dahli and René Magritte (the son of man can be seen directly in the film towards the end).

Anthropomorphism (Personification)

One of the major characteristics of animated films is the endowment of animals, objects and environments with human characteristics, this is called Anthropomorphism (also known as personification).  

This technique is used within animation to create new forms while still providing an empathetic or identifiable human aspect. This allows animators to create unusual objects like “dancing washing machines and villainous shrubs, and endow otherwise ordinary things with appeal, ability and abstraction. At the same time, both worlds have a relationship to humankind, despite the sense of ‘difference’ and ‘otherness’.” Referenced from Basics Animation: Scriptwriting by Paul Wells.  This sense of ‘otherness’ is corrected through the animation and imposition of human characteristics and traits that make the material or natural objects familiar to the viewer although they aren’t human.

Anthropomorphism is commonly used in films that contain talking animals such as Animal Farm (1955). There are two terms which simplify this technique into two areas: Theriomorphism, when someone or something has the form of an animal or beast and Therianthopism, when someone or something combines with elements of an animal or beast. When animals are substituted for humans many more points and issues can be raised while avoiding social, political and religious taboos, “Such stories can thus talk about forbidden ideological, sexual, moral and cultural topics under another guise, where talking animals play significant roles.” Referenced from Basics Animation: Scriptwriting by Paul Wells.

Here is an example from Animal Farm by George Orwell (1955):

 

Condensation

Condensation: The maximum degree of suggestion in the minimum of imagery. “Condensation is the animation process which uses the minimum amount of imagery to suggest the maximum of narrative and thematic information. Individual images, sometimes parts of objects and environments, are used to represent the whole of that object and environment, or operate as symbols or metaphors for more complex ideas.” Referenced from Basics Animation: Scriptwriting by Paul Wells. This technique in effect condenses the visual imagery and only focuses on the detail which will shape the narrative and enhance it. Many films will use codes and conventions to tell the narrative and in my Alevel media we had to use this as we had a complex narrative and less than ten minutes of screen time. We used props and visuals to enhance the narrative more than long character developing scenes with heavy dialogue.

Animation mostly will abandon the depth created with lengthy live action character development scenes and dialogue; animators will instead prefer the intensity of suggestion in visual composition and design. The characters created within animation are more defined by what they do than by what they say; the connotations and denotations of how they behave will define the characters rather than the actual scriptwriting.

Here is one of my favourite videos which has no dialogue and is focused entirely on the visuals: Created by mikeinel .

Metamophosis

"The animation film is a form which is ultimately defined by its use of metamorphosis, an effect in which a cinematic image, whether 2D graphic or 3 dimensional, appears to effect a transition in form over a period of time.” http://www.academia.edu/239880/_Graphic_and_Literary_Metamorphosis_Animation_Technique_and_James_Joyces_Ulysses_

Warner identified two different types of metamorphosis, first is when a character, object or environment suddenly becomes something else an example would be Peter Parker transforming into Spiderman. The second is when the character, object or environment goes through organic changes as a result of the circumstances it exists inside. An example of this would be Peter Parker having to resume his normal life.

“Any image can metamorphose into another and consequently, any story can be told through visual transitions from one pictorial element to another.” Referenced from Basics Animation: Scriptwriting by Paul Wells , this suggests that anything can ‘flow’ from one state to another and enables the writer to take short cuts and lead the audience from one perspective to another without using the traditional cutting together of images which is done in the editing process.

Here is an example of Metamorphosis animation: This is done by GhostDancer16 .

Here is another example of Metamorphosis animation: All rights reserved to Marvel Industries



This is a rough 3D version of the above video: Done by kronkhal

My 3D Teddy Bear (Practice Skills)

This was our project today to create a teddy bear to use for our assignment, I found this to be a very laborious and frustrating process (about 5-6 hrs.). I modelled my teddy using 3Ds Max using the polygon editor tool, I modelled the head and body separately then welded the vertices to make it all one solid object. This is a relatively low poly model so it would be more suited to the games industry rather than the film industry which requires much higher poly objects. This is what it looks like with a turbosmooth and realistic colour.

My First 3D Object

 This was the first 3D object I created in 3Ds Max using the line tool to outline the shape then using various other manipulators to create the 3D model. I then added a glass texture to it and made a platform for it to stand on which has a ceramic tile texture.

Reflection On My Screencast

After producing the screencast I realised the software I used called XSplit was difficult to manage and hard to edit after running through all the material. Also my sound was a bit out and grainy due to a bad quality microphone and I need to add background music to keep the screencast flowing. In future I won't use a video to fill time, instead I will use short clips and narrate over them as this is where I fell down. After watching two of my other classmates screencasts about their work and inspirations I feel like I know them a little better and some of the work they showed (by them and by others) was very inspiring and interesting.

My First Screencast

Watch live video from squirle1 on TwitchTV

Animal Farm

Animal Farm (1954) is an animated film based on George Orwell's bestselling novel. "Britain's second animated feature, which, despite the title and Disney-esque animal animation, is in fact a no-holds-barred adaptation of George Orwell's classic satire on Stalinism, with the animals taking over their farm by means of a revolutionary coup, but then discovering that although all animals are supposed to be equal, some are more equal than others." Referenced from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047834/

I thought the idea and storyline was good and an interesting concept but I disliked the animation style. I dislike animation that is done too stylized or too "cartoony" however the emotions of the characters were done very well and conveyed all the right emotions, some people will have more empathy for the animals than for people.
 

There is an interesting concept of propaganda and dictatorship woven into the storyline, the pigs end up ruling over the other animals and making them all miserable. The American cartoon tradition from the 1920’s until after the Second World War, used animals as funny distractions from the social despair of the Great Depression and the war, they sacrificed their 'animalness' and became purely comical.

 This story is based on the Cold War and uses Anthropomorphism very cleverly as if this had used live action actors or human figures it would of reduced the appeal of the film, it would of also had some of the ideas frowned upon due to them being considered taboo. "In 1954, however the Halas & Batchelor Studio released Animal Farm, making the animals far more like animals and less like humans, in order to underpin the seriousness of the political metaphor at the heart of George Orwell’s famous fable." Referenced from Basics Animation: Scriptwriting by Paul Wells.

 

 

This is a short extract from towards the end of the movie (see above).

This story contains a lot of interesting ideas and basis on real events but I still discredit it due to its unappealing animation style. I don't feel that this film has aged well due to the loud and distracting soundtrack and annoying sounds. I feel that this film can be easily understood by anyone of a mature age but the historical and political context is very important to the story, I have never studied this area of history and yet by watching this film I picked up on the hidden and interwoven messages within the film.

Flight Of The Navigator

Flight Of The Navigator the world's first 35 mm feature film to use environment mapping, creating the illusion of a chrome object occupying a live-action frame. This was a new digital innovation and worked very well within the film, personally however I find it to be tacky looking compared to todays standards. Personally I prefer films using either puppets or good cgi, this film came out the same time as Labyrinth which is one of my all-time favourite films due to its storyline and its use of puppets for alot of the characters.

One of Flight Of The Navigator's best achievements was the steps going up into the ship these were actual props with hidden supports which gave a great effect due to them reacting well with the action, for example the shadows and highlights that were shown as they are reflective and have a unique shine to them. This is a much better technique than trying to use full cgi steps as this wouldn't of had the same realism to it.

Overall I enjoyed the film as it was amusing and the cgi and use of props worked very well.

A shot of the ship in fast mode which shows the environment mapping

Snow White And The Huntsman

Snow White And The Huntsman was a very visually stunning film with a fantastic twist on the classic fairytale. I was a bit sceptical when I decided to watch this film due to my dislike for Kirsten Stewarts acting but I found that she suited the role rather well.

The visual effects were stunning and very intriguing especially when the queen (Charlize Theron) turns into a flock of ravens. I also liked the forest creatures especially the fairies and the troll, these have been pulled from various other fairytales and they fir wonderfully with the rest of the film. I especially liked the design of the troll which appears out of the bridge. The digital grading overall was amazing too very dark and grungy similar to Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton) which isn't suprising as it is made by the same producers.



Fairy



Turtle

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy: Extended Cut



Minas Tirith

Lord of the Rings is my all-time favourite trilogy of films with its stunning visual effects and amazing storyline it lives up to the books. After purchasing the extended edition DVDs I can say it was worth the money, a lot of the scenes that were cut out add a lot of depth to the story and additional small details that make the films more impacting and meaningful due to the fact that a lot of the scenes involve individual character details. Also there is a great deal more behind the scenes features which I found fascinating and I watch them over and over again as I find the amount of detail and time that went into these movies is not fully shown or appreciated on screen.  

Andy Serkis fully suited up in motion capture gear

I particularly found that the motion capture process was fascinating as they did a lot of green screen work for the films due to the large cgi demanding environments, characters and creatures.





Gollum



Gollum is perhaps one of the biggest digital achievements from Wetadigital and it is still on all their show reels which show how proud they must be of creating such a challenging and amazing character. Andy Serkis was originally not cast until it was realised they needed to use motion capture to produce a convincing character for the other actors to interact with.

Mumakil and riders of Rohan

Mumakil are the giant elephant looking creatures that the Haradrim ride into battle. The Mumakil are just one of the examples of extensive creature design that Wetadigital had to create based on the designs produced by Alan Lee and John Howe (the two lead conceptual artists).





By watching all the additional content on the extended cut I know a lot more about the techniques and tools used to create such a massive film, I think in total the digital department in Weta did over 1000 shots throughout the three films which is huge compared to any normal blockbuster action film. It was a constant design and writing process for the whole team who worked together for 6 years on the films, the sheer amount of detail cannot be fully realised until you watch all the behind the scenes content. Every single prop and set was designed and produced twice for scale (hobbit and human), all the hobbits and Gimli had scale doubles which were cleverly woven into the films, you hardly notice that it isn't the original actors. I also loved the detail that went into all the costumes, the fabric, embroidery and all the colour choices were perhaps unnecessary because on screen you cannot see all the details but it was said to help the actors get into character which in turn enhanced their performance.

                                                   http://www.lordoftherings.net/
                                                      http://www.wetafx.co.nz/

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Above is the official trailer for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, a traditional stop motion animation film. This is one of my favourite films done this way as I love the characters and how unusual the storyline is. This film like many others incorporates music into the film in a way that makes the story flow well and adds humour to the plot (see video below).                              

 

Corpse Bride has the classic Tim Burton feel to it but it also has alot of dark humour added to it to make it more appealing to children. I love the character designs as they are unique to Tim Burton's style, long and thin with large eyes and enhanced features to accentuate the characters personality. Althought the characters are unproportional and unrealistic they work very well in the film environment.

Two of the original puppets used for Victor & Emily

Short storyboard for one of my favourite scenes

Victor concept art

Coraline

 
    I watched Coraline a few months ago and I was blown away with the story and the animation. Eventhough this is a kids film I still found it very creepy, similar to much of Tim Burton's work which I love. I especailly was blown away by the intense design process and shooting process that is needed to create a film of this type. I love this type of animation due to the realism created through the use of puppets rather than heavy CGI, I fell in love with the puppets as they were all so unique and wonderfully creepy.
    It reminds me alot of films like Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas, both these films use similar techniques to aid the animation by digitally enhancing the puppets and enviroments they all also have very unique character designs with kooky features which are played with and pin pointed in the designs. An example of this would be fig1 this character has two or three features that are enhanced to create an interesting and unusual design, she is designed as a plump character which you can see especially in her facial designs, she also wears very heavy makeup and unusual headpieces. All the characters in Coraline are designed in this way and overall create a very diverse and creative film.


fig1
 



Coraline Facial Expressions

Concept Art Poster

Puppet of the "Other Mother" In her final form you see
towards the end of the movie.

Close up view of the "Other Mother" in her final form.

http://coraline.com/

Fair Use Policy

"Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work." There are four different headings that act as guidelines for this fair usage policy: purpose and character, name of the copied work, amount and substantiality & effect upon work's value.

The first factor refers to whether the use of the material is intended to enrich the general public or whether it is for personal profit (in which case the policy is enforced).  For example "When Tom Forsythe appropriated Barbie dolls for his photography project "Food Chain Barbie", Mattel lost its claims of copyright and trademark infringement against him because his work effectively parodies Barbie and the values she represents."

The second factor is concerend with who the copyright should be owned by, in this case it protects companies from claiming private rights to material that should belong to the general public. "The Zapruder film of the assassination of President Kennedy, for example, was purchased and copyrighted by Time magazine. Yet their copyright was not upheld, in the name of the public interest, when they tried to enjoin the reproduction of stills from the film in a history book on the subject in Time Inc v Bernard Geis Associates"

The third factor assesses the quantity/percentage of the original copyrighted work that has been placed into the new work. "Likewise, see Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corporation, where the Ninth Circuit held that copying an entire photo to use as a thumbnail in online search results did not weigh against fair use, "if the secondary user only copies as much as is necessary for his or her intended use"."

The fourth factor measures the effect that the infringing use has had on the copyright owner's ability to exploit their original work. "See Sony Corp v Universal City Studios,where the copyright owner, Universal, failed to provide any empirical evidence that the use of Betamax had either reduced their viewership or negatively impacted their business."

 

All quotes and information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use