Thursday, 6 December 2007
Friday, 30 November 2007
Interactive Narrative
Titled : finding a friend
The Brief:
• Produce an interactive narrative using still images positioned onto the Timeline in Flash CS3
• This interactive narrative should utilise a branching structure that forces the user to make a number of decisions as they progress through the narrative piece
• Narrative should be the primary concern
The Rules:
• You will need to have at least seven still images to complete your interactive narrative
• It is important that image, text, and audio are seriously examined in an attempt to truly consider audience engagement and interaction
• You should use ActionScript 3.0 to build interactivity and the navigation structure into your movie. (A simple ActionScript template will be provided)
• You MUST publish your final movie as both HTML and SWF
• This is an individual assignment
idea
Interactive narritive, still images of my halls, start of in my room where user clicks the left/ right button ,room moves round to the left/right, the there a choice of where to go. Freedom to rotate around the room, and around the halls, use of sound, from others rooms, as well as the kitchen, etc,using more then one image,pasted together, at slightly differnt angles you can mak the interface look like the room is rotating.
kitchen( are you hungry) i cant remember which cupboard is mine, il have to try all of them
flat rooms( i wonder who is in)
stairs, where should i go upstairs or downstairs
Progress
i been at it for one day and so far ive got a video intro which incooperates flash into it, it starts of as a dream, and the user does have any control, the when the interface it accessable by the audience ther is alot that i have tried to add to make it interesting, ive added sounds and images and i was considering adding some more video, ive used more then seven images but i fill that more were needed for my task.
The Brief:
• Produce an interactive narrative using still images positioned onto the Timeline in Flash CS3
• This interactive narrative should utilise a branching structure that forces the user to make a number of decisions as they progress through the narrative piece
• Narrative should be the primary concern
The Rules:
• You will need to have at least seven still images to complete your interactive narrative
• It is important that image, text, and audio are seriously examined in an attempt to truly consider audience engagement and interaction
• You should use ActionScript 3.0 to build interactivity and the navigation structure into your movie. (A simple ActionScript template will be provided)
• You MUST publish your final movie as both HTML and SWF
• This is an individual assignment
idea
Interactive narritive, still images of my halls, start of in my room where user clicks the left/ right button ,room moves round to the left/right, the there a choice of where to go. Freedom to rotate around the room, and around the halls, use of sound, from others rooms, as well as the kitchen, etc,using more then one image,pasted together, at slightly differnt angles you can mak the interface look like the room is rotating.
kitchen( are you hungry) i cant remember which cupboard is mine, il have to try all of them
flat rooms( i wonder who is in)
stairs, where should i go upstairs or downstairs
Progress
i been at it for one day and so far ive got a video intro which incooperates flash into it, it starts of as a dream, and the user does have any control, the when the interface it accessable by the audience ther is alot that i have tried to add to make it interesting, ive added sounds and images and i was considering adding some more video, ive used more then seven images but i fill that more were needed for my task.
Thursday, 29 November 2007
The Virtual Life Of Me
Diary Entry
29.11.07
we was given a virtual website to go onto which was http://www.secondlife.com/ and to create a virtual account so that we can interact with other people, and in a way life a alternative life,or second life as you may.
i am into designing, so i through that i would have a look around the place, see if i can find anywhere that does designing, and if i had the money buy a bit of land and create my own design studio,
06.12.07
today i finally got a email back from second life saying on how to activate my account, i have to download the client and because of the slow Internet connection at my halls, it saying it will take roughly nine hours to download 60MB. so i am going to have to get the client a different way. but hopefully i will be playing it soon and seeing what my second life is like.
13.12.07
OK finally got the client to work and install, had to do it at uni on my day off, now all i got to do is try it out when i get back to my halls
14.12.07
created a character and i haven't got a clue what the point in this is or what I'm suppose 2 be doing, i cant find any help guide or anything. so for tonight i think I'm going to give up and have another go tomorrow.
15.12.07
I finally got some cloths on my character but still ain't found the meaning of this game, i randomly teleported to a place in the middle of nowhere and now i cant get back, this is just one confusing game. it really needs a help guide.
19.12.07
well i haven't been on the game in a few days, and last time i left it i was in the middle of a field that i had randomly teleported to, and when i logged back on today, someone has built a house on top of me and i am now stuck under the floorboards, Ive tried teleporting and everything and nothing wants to work for me, this is more of a annoyance then a game. i think I'm going to give up on it and play a more interesting online game like legend of Mir or cabal
01.01.08
i through i would give second life another chance. so i through i would read the manual before i tried to have a go at the game, this still didnt help as it explained and spoke about buttons and parts in the game with no reference images, so i wasnt sure what it was going on about. im going to keep trying to understand this game as best i can.but i dont see the purpose to it yet.
29.11.07
we was given a virtual website to go onto which was http://www.secondlife.com/ and to create a virtual account so that we can interact with other people, and in a way life a alternative life,or second life as you may.
i am into designing, so i through that i would have a look around the place, see if i can find anywhere that does designing, and if i had the money buy a bit of land and create my own design studio,
06.12.07
today i finally got a email back from second life saying on how to activate my account, i have to download the client and because of the slow Internet connection at my halls, it saying it will take roughly nine hours to download 60MB. so i am going to have to get the client a different way. but hopefully i will be playing it soon and seeing what my second life is like.
13.12.07
OK finally got the client to work and install, had to do it at uni on my day off, now all i got to do is try it out when i get back to my halls
14.12.07
created a character and i haven't got a clue what the point in this is or what I'm suppose 2 be doing, i cant find any help guide or anything. so for tonight i think I'm going to give up and have another go tomorrow.
15.12.07
I finally got some cloths on my character but still ain't found the meaning of this game, i randomly teleported to a place in the middle of nowhere and now i cant get back, this is just one confusing game. it really needs a help guide.
19.12.07
well i haven't been on the game in a few days, and last time i left it i was in the middle of a field that i had randomly teleported to, and when i logged back on today, someone has built a house on top of me and i am now stuck under the floorboards, Ive tried teleporting and everything and nothing wants to work for me, this is more of a annoyance then a game. i think I'm going to give up on it and play a more interesting online game like legend of Mir or cabal
01.01.08
i through i would give second life another chance. so i through i would read the manual before i tried to have a go at the game, this still didnt help as it explained and spoke about buttons and parts in the game with no reference images, so i wasnt sure what it was going on about. im going to keep trying to understand this game as best i can.but i dont see the purpose to it yet.
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Visual Aesthetics
Visual Aesthetics can be broken down in a range of different categories, Film, Television, and Video, Two-Dimensional and Plastic Arts and the final is Digital Art.
Visual Aesthetics can also be called visual art, the term aesthetic is typically used to describe the look of feel of a product, visual aesthetic is more of the way a product looks, what is considered aesthetic varies greatly in different contexts, in visual aesthetics it is usually something that is tasteful, stylish and pleasing to the eye.
i decided to look at the one of the biggest merchandise that is on the market today, the ipod.
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the ipod first hit the markets in 2001, it was designed by apple as a portable media player, apple were trying to keep up with the consumer market who were overwhelled by the mp3 player that on memory size could hold up to 300 songs.
the ipod classic had a monochrone lcd screen and was capable on holding anything up to 10,000 songs. later versions on the ipod had colour lcd and finally video compatable lcd screens.
the ipod is a small and compact media player, first described by CEO Steve Jobs as " a mac-compatible product with a 5GB hard drive the put 1000 songs in your pocket"
the ipod user interface has a colour display uses anti-aliased graphics and text, with sliding animation.
the classic ipods had five buttons and the later versions had the buttons intergrated into the click wheel.
the click wheel is remote control of the ipod.
The iPod has been upgraded many times, and each significant revision is called a generation. Only the most recent (highest numbered) generation of the iPod is available from Apple for each model (classic, nano, shuffle, touch). Each new generation usually has more features and refinements while typically being physically smaller and lighter than its predecessor, while usually (but not always) retaining the older model's price tag.
bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#History_and_design
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/2ad87f276bb280a936d300b3b026035e.png
Visual Aesthetics can also be called visual art, the term aesthetic is typically used to describe the look of feel of a product, visual aesthetic is more of the way a product looks, what is considered aesthetic varies greatly in different contexts, in visual aesthetics it is usually something that is tasteful, stylish and pleasing to the eye.
i decided to look at the one of the biggest merchandise that is on the market today, the ipod.
.jpg)
the ipod first hit the markets in 2001, it was designed by apple as a portable media player, apple were trying to keep up with the consumer market who were overwhelled by the mp3 player that on memory size could hold up to 300 songs.
the ipod classic had a monochrone lcd screen and was capable on holding anything up to 10,000 songs. later versions on the ipod had colour lcd and finally video compatable lcd screens.
the ipod is a small and compact media player, first described by CEO Steve Jobs as " a mac-compatible product with a 5GB hard drive the put 1000 songs in your pocket"
the ipod user interface has a colour display uses anti-aliased graphics and text, with sliding animation.
the classic ipods had five buttons and the later versions had the buttons intergrated into the click wheel.
the click wheel is remote control of the ipod.
The iPod has been upgraded many times, and each significant revision is called a generation. Only the most recent (highest numbered) generation of the iPod is available from Apple for each model (classic, nano, shuffle, touch). Each new generation usually has more features and refinements while typically being physically smaller and lighter than its predecessor, while usually (but not always) retaining the older model's price tag.
bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#History_and_design
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/2ad87f276bb280a936d300b3b026035e.png
The Captive Final
After editing this film I found it was quite long and alot of the dialogue was not needed. This is why I have made two versions of the film, the first with dialogue cut out where the captive appears to pass in and out of conciousness only catching little bits of the kidnapper's conversation. I realise that some might not consider this a true one shot film which is why i decided to make a second version where i keep all the original material with no cuts.
Here is the first version...
And the second version...
Using one shot it does appear as if you are watching from the captive's eyes, as in real life we cannot cut to another scene, what we see is like a constant one shot film. I feel I have achieved what i set out to do with this film and more. I feel a sense of terror watching this film back, from the shadey lighting the chilling breathing sounds it is quite easy to feel like you are in the captive's shoes. I do how ever think the sound of the paper keyhole being pulled away does effect the overall quality and the punch at the end does not feel like it is making contact with the victim. Otherwise I am pleased with the end result.
Here is the first version...
And the second version...
Using one shot it does appear as if you are watching from the captive's eyes, as in real life we cannot cut to another scene, what we see is like a constant one shot film. I feel I have achieved what i set out to do with this film and more. I feel a sense of terror watching this film back, from the shadey lighting the chilling breathing sounds it is quite easy to feel like you are in the captive's shoes. I do how ever think the sound of the paper keyhole being pulled away does effect the overall quality and the punch at the end does not feel like it is making contact with the victim. Otherwise I am pleased with the end result.
The Making Of the Captive
The shot for this film was actually inside my cupboard, my teammate Will squeezed inside with a camera and filmed me pacing around on his phone inside his room. Unfortunatley my cupboard didn't have a keyhole. The keyhole shot was achieved by having the cupboard door open and placing a sheet of paper with a keyhole shape cut into it over the cupboard entrance. At the end I has to open the cuboard door and assault the captive within, this was achieved by danny placing his hand over the keyhole, whilst the camera was obscured the paper was removed and the door to the cuboard was shut, with the door now shut the film can carry on as normal, but to make full effect of our lighting equipment we backlight me from behind whilst the cupboard door was closed so the when the door opened it looked like the captives eyes where adjusting to the level of light.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
One Shot Film
for this assingment i wanted to try out some obscure camera angles to flm from, shots that show parts of people indicating that the scene is vastly greater then what can be seen in the show
Initial idea 1 - the Boy Racer
my idea for this shot was that the camera was down low to the ground and was facing up at a 45 degree angle, because the brief said that we couldnt move the camera, i was thinking of different ways to get around that. by puttin the camera in the car, the camera was stationary but the car could be moving i was thinking of having the camera so that it is angled so that you can see the gear box, as well as part of the driver from the back,and some of the movements outside the front screen window by putting the camera in the car, the camera was stationary but the car could be moving.
Idea 2 - the peeking tom
the peeking tom idea was a idea i got when i was looking out of a bus window and i could see someone behind me looking at me, for this idea to work i would have to get someone who was willing to get semi naked in the footage even though nothing would actually be shown, my idea was to have a women in her room doing some work on her computer or reading a book, then she realises the time, and rushes to get changed. the camera is on the outside of the window, as if someone is watching her. she takes her top off, and the undoes her bra, she just about to turn around to face the camera to get her top of the bed, when there is a knock at her door, she grabs her dressing gound from the back of the door, so she never turns back around when she doesnt have anything on her top half.
Idea 3 -The Grave-Robbers
this idea was going to be filmed at night in a graveyard, i was going to put the camera in some bushes so that some leaves were in front of the filming as if someone was in the bushes watching the people breaking into the graveyard
Idea 4 - Captive
this idea is going to be filmed within a small room, the camera lense will be shaped as a keyhole, to give the idea that someone is looking through the keyhole, on the actor. this is going to be a monologue, with the main character ( the kidnapper) talking to himself about what he has done and talking to the camera, looking at the keyhole as if he is talking to the captive person
at the start there is the sound of heavy breathing,the there is a fade from black,but with a blur on it as if someone is just waking up, the main character has a hood up through most of the talking, but then brings it down when he starts having multiply minds
Script- Monologue
this is nothing personal,its just business, as soon as we get our money you will be released, nothing will happen to you, i know you father has a lot of money and he would do anythign for his son, thats why you have nothing to fear.
he turns to the mirror and starts shaving, he cuts himself
Idea 5 - The Detective
i was watching a few films that a roommate had given me, and a couple of the films were black and white noirs, i was going to set out my room as a office, where im typing on the computer, checking the profiles of people recently arrested and doing paperwork,drinking coffee and smoking he then
recieves a call,with a tip off of a murdering that he has been searching for.
Most Favorite Idea
so far my most favorite idea has been idea number 4, it was a great piece to act out even though it took time,getin the mood and lighting and keyhole design to look good,
Synopsis – “One Shot”
Boy Racer
An interesting short one minute piece focusing on one single male character. We follow the man with close watchful eyes, he does not know we are there, he does not know that we are watching him as he drives about town hood up and drinking, should you fill sorry and anxiety towards this character or is ther more to him then meets the eye. its late at night, and his music is outstandingly loud, can he hear himself think, can he hear whats going on around him? the man stops he is waiting for something, he is nervous, biting his nails, but what is he nervious about.
Captive
this idea is going to be filmed within a small room, the camera lense will be shaped as a keyhole, to give the idea that someone is looking through the keyhole, on the actor. this is going to be a monologue, with the main character ( the kidnapper) talking to himself about what he has done and talking to the camera, looking at the keyhole as if he is talking to the captive personat the start there is the sound of heavy breathing,the there is a fade from black,but with a blur on it as if someone is just waking up, the main character has a hood up through most of the talking, but then brings it down when he starts having multiply minds
script - monologue:
camera wobbles around as if through the characters eyes, he/she does not know where they are but it is dark, they are afriad and calling out for help,
phone ringsthis is nothing personal,its just business, as soon as we get our money you will be released, nothing will happen to you, i know you father has a lot of money and he would do anythign for his son, thats why you have nothing to fear.he turns to the mirror and starts shaving, he cuts himself
new version -
phone rings:
hey
yeah i got it sorted
my place
yeah thats right
stupid son of bitch never knew what hit him
yeah thats right
tomorrow 12 o'clock
yeah if he's not there with the money... the kids finished
if you screw this up i swear to g...
alright fine
the truck should be here soon, then we can move him to the warehouse
yeah... then your boys can take good care of him (ha ha ha)
so what we talking 50/50?
sorry?
no i don't think so i need 50 grand by the end of this week or i'm a dead man
you better not screw me over you fat son of a bitch!
***guy is closet: ring tone
i'll call you back i have business to attend to, don't think i'm through talking with you
(cover keyhole, remove card,close door and turn on studio light)
if you were smart you would have kept your mouth shut... (punch)
Light
One of the most important factors of the mood in a film is light. there is little light in this shot and it is filmed blurry up close but more detail in the distance as if the audience is trying to focus in on what is happening to them Music The soundtrack of the film will consist of heavy rock music playing in the background, at the beginning a heart beat and throughout the shot it is a monologue of the kidnappered talking to the victim.
Communication
the first video is a single piece of work, with one character monologueing to the camera who is surpose to be another character and the camera is looking through there eyes. throughout the monologue the kidnapper talks directly to the victim, he makes constant eye contact through the keyhole, he does show emotions to his victim but he does sit in his own self pitty. i wanted the audience to feel as if they dont know if they should feel sorry for the main character of resent him for what he has done.
Evaluation
An interesting short one minute piece focusing on one single male character. We follow the man in a heavily restless state as time slowly counts down. Anxiety and apprehension form the predominant tone of the piece.
Initial idea 1 - the Boy Racer
my idea for this shot was that the camera was down low to the ground and was facing up at a 45 degree angle, because the brief said that we couldnt move the camera, i was thinking of different ways to get around that. by puttin the camera in the car, the camera was stationary but the car could be moving i was thinking of having the camera so that it is angled so that you can see the gear box, as well as part of the driver from the back,and some of the movements outside the front screen window by putting the camera in the car, the camera was stationary but the car could be moving.
Idea 2 - the peeking tom
the peeking tom idea was a idea i got when i was looking out of a bus window and i could see someone behind me looking at me, for this idea to work i would have to get someone who was willing to get semi naked in the footage even though nothing would actually be shown, my idea was to have a women in her room doing some work on her computer or reading a book, then she realises the time, and rushes to get changed. the camera is on the outside of the window, as if someone is watching her. she takes her top off, and the undoes her bra, she just about to turn around to face the camera to get her top of the bed, when there is a knock at her door, she grabs her dressing gound from the back of the door, so she never turns back around when she doesnt have anything on her top half.
Idea 3 -The Grave-Robbers
this idea was going to be filmed at night in a graveyard, i was going to put the camera in some bushes so that some leaves were in front of the filming as if someone was in the bushes watching the people breaking into the graveyard
Idea 4 - Captive
this idea is going to be filmed within a small room, the camera lense will be shaped as a keyhole, to give the idea that someone is looking through the keyhole, on the actor. this is going to be a monologue, with the main character ( the kidnapper) talking to himself about what he has done and talking to the camera, looking at the keyhole as if he is talking to the captive person
at the start there is the sound of heavy breathing,the there is a fade from black,but with a blur on it as if someone is just waking up, the main character has a hood up through most of the talking, but then brings it down when he starts having multiply minds
Script- Monologue
this is nothing personal,its just business, as soon as we get our money you will be released, nothing will happen to you, i know you father has a lot of money and he would do anythign for his son, thats why you have nothing to fear.
he turns to the mirror and starts shaving, he cuts himself
Idea 5 - The Detective
i was watching a few films that a roommate had given me, and a couple of the films were black and white noirs, i was going to set out my room as a office, where im typing on the computer, checking the profiles of people recently arrested and doing paperwork,drinking coffee and smoking he then
recieves a call,with a tip off of a murdering that he has been searching for.
Most Favorite Idea
so far my most favorite idea has been idea number 4, it was a great piece to act out even though it took time,getin the mood and lighting and keyhole design to look good,
Synopsis – “One Shot”
Boy Racer
An interesting short one minute piece focusing on one single male character. We follow the man with close watchful eyes, he does not know we are there, he does not know that we are watching him as he drives about town hood up and drinking, should you fill sorry and anxiety towards this character or is ther more to him then meets the eye. its late at night, and his music is outstandingly loud, can he hear himself think, can he hear whats going on around him? the man stops he is waiting for something, he is nervous, biting his nails, but what is he nervious about.
Captive
this idea is going to be filmed within a small room, the camera lense will be shaped as a keyhole, to give the idea that someone is looking through the keyhole, on the actor. this is going to be a monologue, with the main character ( the kidnapper) talking to himself about what he has done and talking to the camera, looking at the keyhole as if he is talking to the captive personat the start there is the sound of heavy breathing,the there is a fade from black,but with a blur on it as if someone is just waking up, the main character has a hood up through most of the talking, but then brings it down when he starts having multiply minds
script - monologue:
camera wobbles around as if through the characters eyes, he/she does not know where they are but it is dark, they are afriad and calling out for help,
phone ringsthis is nothing personal,its just business, as soon as we get our money you will be released, nothing will happen to you, i know you father has a lot of money and he would do anythign for his son, thats why you have nothing to fear.he turns to the mirror and starts shaving, he cuts himself
new version -
phone rings:
hey
yeah i got it sorted
my place
yeah thats right
stupid son of bitch never knew what hit him
yeah thats right
tomorrow 12 o'clock
yeah if he's not there with the money... the kids finished
if you screw this up i swear to g...
alright fine
the truck should be here soon, then we can move him to the warehouse
yeah... then your boys can take good care of him (ha ha ha)
so what we talking 50/50?
sorry?
no i don't think so i need 50 grand by the end of this week or i'm a dead man
you better not screw me over you fat son of a bitch!
***guy is closet: ring tone
i'll call you back i have business to attend to, don't think i'm through talking with you
(cover keyhole, remove card,close door and turn on studio light)
if you were smart you would have kept your mouth shut... (punch)
Light
One of the most important factors of the mood in a film is light. there is little light in this shot and it is filmed blurry up close but more detail in the distance as if the audience is trying to focus in on what is happening to them Music The soundtrack of the film will consist of heavy rock music playing in the background, at the beginning a heart beat and throughout the shot it is a monologue of the kidnappered talking to the victim.
Communication
the first video is a single piece of work, with one character monologueing to the camera who is surpose to be another character and the camera is looking through there eyes. throughout the monologue the kidnapper talks directly to the victim, he makes constant eye contact through the keyhole, he does show emotions to his victim but he does sit in his own self pitty. i wanted the audience to feel as if they dont know if they should feel sorry for the main character of resent him for what he has done.
Evaluation
An interesting short one minute piece focusing on one single male character. We follow the man in a heavily restless state as time slowly counts down. Anxiety and apprehension form the predominant tone of the piece.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Narrative Assignment
I have been given my first module, titled narratives (worth 30 points or 300 hours). This module presents me with the opportunity to communicate ideas and stories through the use of multimedia. The narratives module is divided into 3 projects, the first being pixelation where still images are combined to create a moving image (i.e stop motion), later I will be looking at films (the moving image) and inter actives.
I'm currently enjoying the pixelation project as i have used similar methods before in my free time and i am building on existing ideas.
I'm currently enjoying the pixelation project as i have used similar methods before in my free time and i am building on existing ideas.
college project
This was one of my final major projects at college.it was a group work assignment on stop motion animation. i wasnt that interested in the stop motion but i was interested in the video and audio editting, or final production of the work.so my major role was to do the editting of the video work
This was my groups animatic sequence, this was a test of what our final verion of our stop motion would look like.
This was my final version of the animatic sequence, it slightly differed from the final version of the rest of the group because it was my task to do the audio/video editing part of the assignment as well as the animating.
this was another one of my college projects, this was solo work that i had to do
This was my groups animatic sequence, this was a test of what our final verion of our stop motion would look like.
This was my final version of the animatic sequence, it slightly differed from the final version of the rest of the group because it was my task to do the audio/video editing part of the assignment as well as the animating.
this was another one of my college projects, this was solo work that i had to do
Saturday, 10 November 2007
North West Kent College Weird and 3D Maya Assignment
this was one of my final projects at college, it was entitled weird, and the assignment breif was was very wide, we was allowed to do anything our imagination could condure up as long as the movie was weird,
weird assignment:
3-D Maya assignment:
weird assignment:
3-D Maya assignment:
Thursday, 1 November 2007
A little bit of inspiration
this is a great music video.. i added it up on my blog because it has animation within the video, its a great video and a great influence to alot of my work...i love the effect that basic blakc and white images or animations have on people as you can see from this music video
the bit im talking about is from 02:08-02:21
the bit im talking about is from 02:08-02:21
Narratives Stage 1
For this assignment. we had to work in groups of about 4 people and create a short project that covered different forms of narration.
for this assignment we had to create a video footage of our choice using just still images and through these image sequences we were to make the final footage. we had to consider a lot for this pieces from the contents and narrative of each image or image sequence to the pacing, timing and even light levels.
my group consisted of three other guys and we started off our work just very simply taking stills of us walking around town,we had a lot of movement and few images and this demonstrated a jumping/ delaying effect in the footage. so we scraped that work and started fresh. we slowed down our movement and took more images in the timing. this created more of a flowing effect in our work that of which is produced in filming.
our work started as just being footage of ourselves, and showing motion and movement, we started discussing and developing ideas that each other had, we through that it would be a good idea not to just take stills of people but also inanimate objects.so as we were going around town taking pictures we was looking in shops and around at other people for inspiration. we stumbled upon the pound shop in the town square and we brought a cheap chess and domino's set and we started to animate them.we were in town for a few hours, and after all the work and having fun we had done, we found ourselves very tired and hungry. so off to the student union we when. Will got himself a burger and we through it would be funny if we filmed him while he ate. and made it look like the burger ate itself. next stop was upstairs to get a pint, yet another chance to try out our filming skills, the pints looked like they drank themselves, these two image sequences illustrated that we were studied and it let you in to a part of the student life and best of all it was great fun doing it while we was taking the image
for this assignment we had to create a video footage of our choice using just still images and through these image sequences we were to make the final footage. we had to consider a lot for this pieces from the contents and narrative of each image or image sequence to the pacing, timing and even light levels.
my group consisted of three other guys and we started off our work just very simply taking stills of us walking around town,we had a lot of movement and few images and this demonstrated a jumping/ delaying effect in the footage. so we scraped that work and started fresh. we slowed down our movement and took more images in the timing. this created more of a flowing effect in our work that of which is produced in filming.
our work started as just being footage of ourselves, and showing motion and movement, we started discussing and developing ideas that each other had, we through that it would be a good idea not to just take stills of people but also inanimate objects.so as we were going around town taking pictures we was looking in shops and around at other people for inspiration. we stumbled upon the pound shop in the town square and we brought a cheap chess and domino's set and we started to animate them.we were in town for a few hours, and after all the work and having fun we had done, we found ourselves very tired and hungry. so off to the student union we when. Will got himself a burger and we through it would be funny if we filmed him while he ate. and made it look like the burger ate itself. next stop was upstairs to get a pint, yet another chance to try out our filming skills, the pints looked like they drank themselves, these two image sequences illustrated that we were studied and it let you in to a part of the student life and best of all it was great fun doing it while we was taking the image
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
cracking animation by thames and hudson
this book starts of with a introductory and am indepth history of animation.
the history starts of with how animation came about and how techniques developed into what they are today.
this book is mainly a guird to the history and techniques of 3-D animation from Aardman animations studio. the book is designed for all ages and targets the different age groups to understand and develop their knowledge of animation techniques and special effects for making films from the most simplest to the most sophisticated animations.
Aardman was founded in 1976 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who wanted to realize their dream of producing an animated motion picture. Their first big break was providing animated sequences for the children's art series, Vision On, for which they created Morph, a simple clay character.
Aardman was founded in 1976 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who wanted to realize their dream of producing an animated motion picture. Their first big break was providing animated sequences for the children's art series, Vision On, for which they created Morph, a simple clay character.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Inspiration
there was a lot of inspiration taken from you tube, but in almost all stop motion animations that involved people, they never intergrated inanimate objects as well, so my group wanted to incooperate some inanimate objects to the animation aswel
the most ambitious stop motion ever
You've probably all seen it by now, but I had to post about it. I thought this was all CGI to begin with, but this "making of" proved me wrong. It's the new Sony Bravia advert, the third in the series. The previous ones were equally as impressive. The first being a few million bouncy balls tumbling down a street, and the third being huge cans of paint blasted all over a housing estate. You can watch the advert on their website, or check out the youtube one.
this is a great stop motion animation, it must have taken alot of hard work and dedication as well as a lot of people helping out, it features clay models of rabbits multiplying and travelling around the town at first when there numbers are small they move un-noticed by the people in the street, but as there numbers increase and gather together they are soon noticed and the people are amazed at what is happening.
this is also another stop motion movie that i feel is a great piece of animation, this was the first video that i saw to do with stop motion and it influenced my work a lot.
this is a great stop motion animation, it must have taken alot of hard work and dedication as well as a lot of people helping out, it features clay models of rabbits multiplying and travelling around the town at first when there numbers are small they move un-noticed by the people in the street, but as there numbers increase and gather together they are soon noticed and the people are amazed at what is happening.
this is also another stop motion movie that i feel is a great piece of animation, this was the first video that i saw to do with stop motion and it influenced my work a lot.
A Day Filming With Stills
Today I took 1024 stills with will and viks for the narrative pixelation project. We explored ideas that can only be made possible with stop motion,we animated still life objects such as chess pieces which appear to move themselves and dominos that seemed to stack themselves up will climbed out of a box that he could never fit into and there was a burger and a pint that ate and drank itself.
we tried old all different types of techniques, we used the human body as well as inanimate objects and animated them to create a impression on the audience
we tried old all different types of techniques, we used the human body as well as inanimate objects and animated them to create a impression on the audience
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.
The term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the era. Cinema historians and critics defined the canon of film noir in retrospect; many of those involved in the making of the classic noirs later professed to be unaware of having created a distinctive type of film.
Noir—What is it?
"We'd be oversimplifying things in calling film noir oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel...."[2] This is the first of many attempts to define film noir made by the French critics Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton in their 1955 book Panorama du film noir américain 1941–1953 (A Panorama of American Film Noir), the original and seminal extended treatment of the subject. They take pains to point out that not every film noir embodies all five attributes in equal measure—this one is more dreamlike, while this other is particularly brutal. The authors' caveats and repeated efforts at alternative definition have proved telling about noir's reliability as a label: in the five decades since, no definition has achieved anything close to general acceptance. The authors of most substantial considerations of film noir still find it necessary to add on to what are now innumerable attempts at definition. As Borde and Chaumeton suggest, however, the field of noir is very diverse and any generalization about it risks veering into oversimplification.
Film noirs embrace a variety of genres, from the gangster film to the police procedural to the so-called social problem picture, and evidence a variety of visual approaches, from meat-and-potatoes Hollywood mainstream to outré. While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. Though noir is often associated with an urban setting, for example, many classic noirs take place mainly in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road, so setting can not be its genre determinant, as with the Western. Similarly, while the private eye and the femme fatale are character types conventionally identified with noir, the majority of film noirs feature neither, so there is no character basis for genre designation as with the gangster film. Nor does it rely on anything as evident as the monstrous or supernatural elements of the horror film, the speculative leaps of the science fiction film, or the song-and-dance routines of the musical.
A more analogous case is that of the screwball comedy, widely accepted by film historians as constituting a "genre"—the screwball is defined not by a fundamental attribute, but by a general disposition and a group of elements, some (but rarely and perhaps never all) of which are found in each of the genre's films.[3] However, because of the diversity of noir (much greater than that of the screwball comedy), certain scholars in the field, such as film historian Thomas Schatz, treat it as not a genre but a "style." Alain Silver, the most widely published American critic specializing in film noir studies, refers to it as a "cycle" and a "phenomenon," even as he argues that it has—like certain genres—a consistent set of visual and thematic codes. Other critics treat film noir as a "mood," a "movement," or a "series," or simply address a chosen set of movies from the "period." There is no consensus on the matter.
The prehistory of noir
Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic media as well. The low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque. Film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners. Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era.
By 1931, Curtiz had already been in Hollywood for half a decade, making as many as six films a year. Movies of his such as 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) and Private Detective 62 (1933) are among the early Hollywood sound films arguably classifiable as noir. Giving Expressionist-affiliated moviemakers particularly free stylistic rein were Universal horror pictures such as Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932)—the former photographed and the latter directed by the Berlin-trained Karl Freund—and The Black Cat (1934), directed by Austrian émigré Edgar G. Ulmer. The Universal horror that comes closest to noir, both in story and sensibility, however, is The Invisible Man (1933), directed by Englishman James Whale and shot by American Carl Laemmle Jr.
The Vienna-born but largely American-raised Josef von Sternberg was directing in Hollywood at the same time. Films of his such as Shanghai Express (1932) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935), with their hothouse eroticism and baroque visual style, specifically anticipate central elements of classic noir. The commercial and critical success of Sternberg's silent Underworld in 1927 was largely responsible for spurring a trend of Hollywood gangster films. Popular movies in the genre such as Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932) demonstrated that there was an audience for crime dramas with morally reprehensible protagonists.
An important, and possibly influential, cinematic antecedent to classic noir was 1930s French poetic realism, with its romantic, fatalistic attitude and celebration of doomed heroes; an acknowledged influence on certain trends in noir was 1940s Italian neorealism, with its emphasis on quasi-documentary authenticity. (The Warner Bros. drama I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang [1932] presciently combines these sensibilities.) Director Jules Dassin of The Naked City (1948) pointed to the neorealists as inspiring his use of on-location photography with nonprofessional extras; three years earlier, The House on 92nd Street, directed by Henry Hathaway, demonstrated the parallel influence of the cinematic newsreel. A few movies now considered noir strove to depict comparatively ordinary protagonists with unspectacular lives in a manner occasionally evocative of neorealism—the most famous example is The Lost Weekend (1945), directed by Billy Wilder, yet another Vienna-born, Berlin-trained American auteur. (In turn, one of the primary influences on neorealism was the 1930 German film Menschen am Sonntag, codirected and cowritten by Siodmak, cowritten by Wilder, and codirected and produced by Ulmer.) Among those movies not themselves considered film noirs, perhaps none had a greater effect on the development of the genre than America's own Citizen Kane (1941), the landmark motion picture directed by Orson Welles. Its Sternbergian visual intricacy and complex, voiceover-driven narrative structure are echoed in dozens of classic film noirs.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Notorious (1946)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Wrong Man (1956).
The term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the era. Cinema historians and critics defined the canon of film noir in retrospect; many of those involved in the making of the classic noirs later professed to be unaware of having created a distinctive type of film.
Noir—What is it?
"We'd be oversimplifying things in calling film noir oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel...."[2] This is the first of many attempts to define film noir made by the French critics Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton in their 1955 book Panorama du film noir américain 1941–1953 (A Panorama of American Film Noir), the original and seminal extended treatment of the subject. They take pains to point out that not every film noir embodies all five attributes in equal measure—this one is more dreamlike, while this other is particularly brutal. The authors' caveats and repeated efforts at alternative definition have proved telling about noir's reliability as a label: in the five decades since, no definition has achieved anything close to general acceptance. The authors of most substantial considerations of film noir still find it necessary to add on to what are now innumerable attempts at definition. As Borde and Chaumeton suggest, however, the field of noir is very diverse and any generalization about it risks veering into oversimplification.
Film noirs embrace a variety of genres, from the gangster film to the police procedural to the so-called social problem picture, and evidence a variety of visual approaches, from meat-and-potatoes Hollywood mainstream to outré. While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. Though noir is often associated with an urban setting, for example, many classic noirs take place mainly in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road, so setting can not be its genre determinant, as with the Western. Similarly, while the private eye and the femme fatale are character types conventionally identified with noir, the majority of film noirs feature neither, so there is no character basis for genre designation as with the gangster film. Nor does it rely on anything as evident as the monstrous or supernatural elements of the horror film, the speculative leaps of the science fiction film, or the song-and-dance routines of the musical.
A more analogous case is that of the screwball comedy, widely accepted by film historians as constituting a "genre"—the screwball is defined not by a fundamental attribute, but by a general disposition and a group of elements, some (but rarely and perhaps never all) of which are found in each of the genre's films.[3] However, because of the diversity of noir (much greater than that of the screwball comedy), certain scholars in the field, such as film historian Thomas Schatz, treat it as not a genre but a "style." Alain Silver, the most widely published American critic specializing in film noir studies, refers to it as a "cycle" and a "phenomenon," even as he argues that it has—like certain genres—a consistent set of visual and thematic codes. Other critics treat film noir as a "mood," a "movement," or a "series," or simply address a chosen set of movies from the "period." There is no consensus on the matter.
The prehistory of noir
Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic media as well. The low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque. Film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners. Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era.
By 1931, Curtiz had already been in Hollywood for half a decade, making as many as six films a year. Movies of his such as 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) and Private Detective 62 (1933) are among the early Hollywood sound films arguably classifiable as noir. Giving Expressionist-affiliated moviemakers particularly free stylistic rein were Universal horror pictures such as Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932)—the former photographed and the latter directed by the Berlin-trained Karl Freund—and The Black Cat (1934), directed by Austrian émigré Edgar G. Ulmer. The Universal horror that comes closest to noir, both in story and sensibility, however, is The Invisible Man (1933), directed by Englishman James Whale and shot by American Carl Laemmle Jr.
The Vienna-born but largely American-raised Josef von Sternberg was directing in Hollywood at the same time. Films of his such as Shanghai Express (1932) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935), with their hothouse eroticism and baroque visual style, specifically anticipate central elements of classic noir. The commercial and critical success of Sternberg's silent Underworld in 1927 was largely responsible for spurring a trend of Hollywood gangster films. Popular movies in the genre such as Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932) demonstrated that there was an audience for crime dramas with morally reprehensible protagonists.
An important, and possibly influential, cinematic antecedent to classic noir was 1930s French poetic realism, with its romantic, fatalistic attitude and celebration of doomed heroes; an acknowledged influence on certain trends in noir was 1940s Italian neorealism, with its emphasis on quasi-documentary authenticity. (The Warner Bros. drama I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang [1932] presciently combines these sensibilities.) Director Jules Dassin of The Naked City (1948) pointed to the neorealists as inspiring his use of on-location photography with nonprofessional extras; three years earlier, The House on 92nd Street, directed by Henry Hathaway, demonstrated the parallel influence of the cinematic newsreel. A few movies now considered noir strove to depict comparatively ordinary protagonists with unspectacular lives in a manner occasionally evocative of neorealism—the most famous example is The Lost Weekend (1945), directed by Billy Wilder, yet another Vienna-born, Berlin-trained American auteur. (In turn, one of the primary influences on neorealism was the 1930 German film Menschen am Sonntag, codirected and cowritten by Siodmak, cowritten by Wilder, and codirected and produced by Ulmer.) Among those movies not themselves considered film noirs, perhaps none had a greater effect on the development of the genre than America's own Citizen Kane (1941), the landmark motion picture directed by Orson Welles. Its Sternbergian visual intricacy and complex, voiceover-driven narrative structure are echoed in dozens of classic film noirs.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Notorious (1946)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Wrong Man (1956).
Sunday, 21 October 2007
the brothers Quay
a compelling animated documentary of Svanmajer's work, the cabinet of Jan Svanmajer: Prague's alchemist of film, was made in 1984 by stephen and timothy Quay, twin brothers born in Philadelphia, USA, but working primary in Britian. the brothers Quay, as they are known, owe much to Svankmejer's inspiration and their films, which include Nocturna artificialia (1979) and the street of crocodiles (1986), present a complex vision of a dusty, decaying world where the overpowering feeling is one of claustrophobia and Kafkaesque confusion.
for all their originality, the Quay brothers' films acknowledge the eastern European heritage of puppet film-making, a tradition which itself springs from the long and distinguished heritage of the puppet threatre
(taken from wikipedia)
They reside and work in England where they moved in 1969 after studying illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art , now, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, to study at the Royal College of Art [1] There, they made their first short films, which no longer exist after the only print was irreparably damaged.[citation needed] They spent some time in the Netherlands in the 1970s and then returned to England where they teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who produced all of their films. The trio formed Koninck Studios in 1980, which is currently based in Southwark, south London.
The Quays' works (1979-present) show a wide range of often esoteric influences, starting with the Polish animators Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica and continuing with the writers Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, Robert Walser and Michel de Ghelderode, puppeteers Wladyslaw Starewicz and Richard Teschner and composers Leoš Janáček, Zdeněk Liška and Leszek Jankowski, the last of whom has created many original scores for their work. Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer), is also frequently cited as a major influence, but they actually discovered his work relatively late, in 1983, by which time their characteristic style and preoccupations had been fully formed.[citation needed]
Most of their films feature dolls, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. Perhaps their best known work is Street of Crocodiles, based on the short story of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. This short film was selected by director and animator Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time, and critic Jonathan Romney included it on his list of the ten best films in any medium (for Sight and Sound's 2002 critics' poll).[citation needed] They have made two feature-length live action films: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life and The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. They also directed an animated sequence in the film Frida.
With very few exceptions, their films have no meaningful spoken dialogue—most have no spoken content at all, while some, like The Comb (1990) include multilingual background gibberish that is not supposed to be coherently understood. Accordingly, their films are highly reliant on their music scores, many of which have been written especially for them by the Polish composer Leszek Jankowski. In 2000, they contributed a short film to the BBC's Sound On Film series in which they visualised a 20-minute piece by the avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Whenever possible, the Quays prefer to work with pre-recorded music, though Gary Tarn's score for The Phantom Museum had to be added afterwards when it proved impossible to licence music by the Czech composer Zdeněk Liška.
They have created music videos for His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You"), Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)") and 16 Horsepower ("Black Soul Choir"). Some people mistakenly believe that the Quays are responsible for several music videos for Tool, but those videos were created by Fred Stuhr and member Adam Jones, whose work is influenced by the Quays. Although they worked on Peter Gabriel's seminal video "Sledgehammer" (1986) as animators, this was directed by Stephen R. Johnson and the Quays were unhappy with their contribution, believing it to be more imitative of Švankmajer's work than truly distinctive in its own right.
Their work also includes decors for the Theatre and Opera productions of director Richard Jones: Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges; Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear"; Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa; and Molière's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.". Their set design for a revival of Ionesco's "The Chairs" was nominated for a Tony Award in 1998.
Before turning to film, they worked as professional illustrators. The first edition of Anthony Burgess' novel "The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End", features their drawings before the start of each chapter. Nearly three decades before directly collaborating with Stockhausen, they designed the cover of the book Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer (ed. Jonathan Cott, Simon & Schuster, 1973).
[edit] Filmography
Feature Films
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2006)
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (TBA)
Short Films
Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
Punch And Judy (Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy) (1980)
Ein Brudermord (1981)
The Eternal Day Of Michel de Ghelderode (1981)
Stravinsky - The Paris Years (1983)
Leoš Janáček: Intimate Excursions (1983)
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, or This Unnameable Little Broom (1985) aka Little Songs of the Chief Officer of Hunar Louse
Street of Crocodiles (1986)
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)
Ex-Voto/The Pond (1989)
The Comb (From The Museums Of Sleep) (1990)
De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)
The Calligrapher (1991) - an ident commissioned for the BBC2 television channel, but never broadcast
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1991)
Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In) (1992)
Stille Nacht III: Tales From Vienna Woods (1992)
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993)
The Summit (1995)
In Absentia (2000)
The Sandman (2000)
Duet (2000)
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection (2003)
for all their originality, the Quay brothers' films acknowledge the eastern European heritage of puppet film-making, a tradition which itself springs from the long and distinguished heritage of the puppet threatre
(taken from wikipedia)
They reside and work in England where they moved in 1969 after studying illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art , now, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, to study at the Royal College of Art [1] There, they made their first short films, which no longer exist after the only print was irreparably damaged.[citation needed] They spent some time in the Netherlands in the 1970s and then returned to England where they teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who produced all of their films. The trio formed Koninck Studios in 1980, which is currently based in Southwark, south London.
The Quays' works (1979-present) show a wide range of often esoteric influences, starting with the Polish animators Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica and continuing with the writers Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, Robert Walser and Michel de Ghelderode, puppeteers Wladyslaw Starewicz and Richard Teschner and composers Leoš Janáček, Zdeněk Liška and Leszek Jankowski, the last of whom has created many original scores for their work. Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer), is also frequently cited as a major influence, but they actually discovered his work relatively late, in 1983, by which time their characteristic style and preoccupations had been fully formed.[citation needed]
Most of their films feature dolls, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. Perhaps their best known work is Street of Crocodiles, based on the short story of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. This short film was selected by director and animator Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time, and critic Jonathan Romney included it on his list of the ten best films in any medium (for Sight and Sound's 2002 critics' poll).[citation needed] They have made two feature-length live action films: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life and The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. They also directed an animated sequence in the film Frida.
With very few exceptions, their films have no meaningful spoken dialogue—most have no spoken content at all, while some, like The Comb (1990) include multilingual background gibberish that is not supposed to be coherently understood. Accordingly, their films are highly reliant on their music scores, many of which have been written especially for them by the Polish composer Leszek Jankowski. In 2000, they contributed a short film to the BBC's Sound On Film series in which they visualised a 20-minute piece by the avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Whenever possible, the Quays prefer to work with pre-recorded music, though Gary Tarn's score for The Phantom Museum had to be added afterwards when it proved impossible to licence music by the Czech composer Zdeněk Liška.
They have created music videos for His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You"), Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)") and 16 Horsepower ("Black Soul Choir"). Some people mistakenly believe that the Quays are responsible for several music videos for Tool, but those videos were created by Fred Stuhr and member Adam Jones, whose work is influenced by the Quays. Although they worked on Peter Gabriel's seminal video "Sledgehammer" (1986) as animators, this was directed by Stephen R. Johnson and the Quays were unhappy with their contribution, believing it to be more imitative of Švankmajer's work than truly distinctive in its own right.
Their work also includes decors for the Theatre and Opera productions of director Richard Jones: Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges; Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear"; Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa; and Molière's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.". Their set design for a revival of Ionesco's "The Chairs" was nominated for a Tony Award in 1998.
Before turning to film, they worked as professional illustrators. The first edition of Anthony Burgess' novel "The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End", features their drawings before the start of each chapter. Nearly three decades before directly collaborating with Stockhausen, they designed the cover of the book Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer (ed. Jonathan Cott, Simon & Schuster, 1973).
[edit] Filmography
Feature Films
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2006)
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (TBA)
Short Films
Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
Punch And Judy (Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy) (1980)
Ein Brudermord (1981)
The Eternal Day Of Michel de Ghelderode (1981)
Stravinsky - The Paris Years (1983)
Leoš Janáček: Intimate Excursions (1983)
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, or This Unnameable Little Broom (1985) aka Little Songs of the Chief Officer of Hunar Louse
Street of Crocodiles (1986)
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)
Ex-Voto/The Pond (1989)
The Comb (From The Museums Of Sleep) (1990)
De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)
The Calligrapher (1991) - an ident commissioned for the BBC2 television channel, but never broadcast
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1991)
Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In) (1992)
Stille Nacht III: Tales From Vienna Woods (1992)
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993)
The Summit (1995)
In Absentia (2000)
The Sandman (2000)
Duet (2000)
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection (2003)
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
digital/ speed painting
the reason i put up alot of speed/digital painting is because this is something i am very fond of doing and i would love to be able to create pieces of art to these artists level of talent. each artist has he or she's own skill and technique in there type of digital painting wheather that fantasy on future realistic imagery.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
list of helpful sites
http://www.pisoga.com/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
http://www.google.com/
http://www.conceptart.org/
http://www.fengzhudesign.com/
http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/concept_art/
http://www.animationtrip.com/index.php
http://www.mattepainting.org/
http://www.seb4d.com/tutorials/Mattepainting/mattepainting_english.htm
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/cst01.html
http://www.thunig.com/
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/psbrushes/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
http://www.google.com/
http://www.conceptart.org/
http://www.fengzhudesign.com/
http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/concept_art/
http://www.animationtrip.com/index.php
http://www.mattepainting.org/
http://www.seb4d.com/tutorials/Mattepainting/mattepainting_english.htm
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/cst01.html
http://www.thunig.com/
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/psbrushes/
Tutorials
Concept art
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56806
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46462
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14035
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14119
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9873
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
Flash
Monday, 15 October 2007
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge who, in 1872, began producing a series of studies on human and animal life, photographed infront of a plain. calibrated backdrop. the photographs, shot every few seconds, revealed what the human eye can not register: the true complexity involved in the mechanics of physical locomotion.
A photographic sequence by Eadweard Muybridge, whose 19th century experiments have been of priceless help to later generations of animation.
In 1880 Muybridge conducted one of his most sophisticated experiments, when he photographed a running horse, using 24 still cameras set up alongside a race track and triggered by a series of trip wires. Muybridge photographs of horses, dogs and the naked human form would become an indispensable aid to later generations of animation.
A photographic sequence by Eadweard Muybridge, whose 19th century experiments have been of priceless help to later generations of animation.
In 1880 Muybridge conducted one of his most sophisticated experiments, when he photographed a running horse, using 24 still cameras set up alongside a race track and triggered by a series of trip wires. Muybridge photographs of horses, dogs and the naked human form would become an indispensable aid to later generations of animation.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
one of my favorite mutlimedia softwares is photoshop i spent alot of time developing my photoshop skills, and then i started getting acknowledged but my firends as being good at photoshop alot of my mates are in bands or in media, so i started getting askd to design stuff like cd sleeves for there mix tapes etc, this is one of the first cd sleeves i designed
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Friday, 5 October 2007
first post
this is the first post.just set blogger up as much first assignment strange but ok im willing to go with it. wel my names danny if you didnt know and im studying multimedia at nottingham trent. me girlfriend is about 200 miles away and im missing her like crazy...she the person who had faith in me and told me to apply for uni and what you know she was right.so i owe alot 2 her.she had faith in me that i would do well in life so this first post is dedicated to her. thank you bby...
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