Thursday, 15 January 2015
Character Design Sessions 1 and 2
Session 1
The character I brought it for the session was Edward Elric from the manga/anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. I tried to make him look more realistic and I'm fairly pleased with the result. The character I was given in the second half of the session was Gru from Dispicable Me. I had to make him look less menacing and more cute by reducing the triangles in the image and using squares and circles more. I am especially happy with the drawing I did and I think I succeeded in making him look cuter.
Session 2
For the first part of this session I was given starship trooper as my base for some experimental character design. My final result was a kind of super soldier fitted out in a similar way to those in the film Elysium and the game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The twist is that the exoskeleton and helmet control the victim instead of magnify his or her strength. These mindless drones would usually be a common enemy and would attack in vast numbers.
Like For Like Storyboard - Fifth Element
The specific scene I used from Fifth Element is when Leeloo is cornered by police on a ledge after escaping from the lab. I'm quite pleased with the overall outcome here but I struggled with the faces somewhat.
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Film Review - La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
Fig 1. La Jetee Cover.
La Jetee is a particularly unique film as it is played almost entirely as a sequence of images. This is not the only intriguing thing about it though, as it is a surprisingly short film. This however does not seem to be a downside, while its total running time sits comfortably under the 30 minute mark, the story does not seem rushed. The plot, for the most part is quite simple, despite its main premise being about time travel through thought and imagination. It would seem that half an hour is just enough time to tell this story comfortably.
Jean-Louis Schefer states in his review of the film ''The realization of the confession comes with the death of the hero himself as he relives a moment of his past, as he meets once again the girl whose image has haunted him.'' One of the most impressive plot developments in the film is at its conclusion, when the protagonist, after finally making it to the past is killed and in his final moments he realises that the event he saw as a child was his own tragic death (See Fig 2). This simple use of time-travel neatly glues the entire story together into a constant cycle. Things like this in the plot clearly show that the story was as meticulously planned and perfected as the sequence of images that dominate the film.
Fig 2. Pier Death.
Another one of the interesting points in this film is the significance of the woman whom the protagonist is obsessed with. The single use of moving image in this film is of this woman in bed moving her eyes. The film lingers in this scene of the woman in bed for a significant amount of time, this sudden change of pace could confuse the viewer somewhat and it could be said to be an unimportant and irrelevant scene. However this scene certainly has its place as it could be argued that it strengthens the viewers understanding of the relationship between the protagonist and the woman.
Overall, the film is surprisingly full and well paced considering its short running time. The story doesn't feel rushed and the characters are intriguing and mysterious throughout.
Illustration List
Marker, C (1962) Figure 1. La Jetee Cover. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/La_Jetee_Poster.jpg (Accessed on 12/01/15)
Merker, C (1962) Figure 2. Pier Death. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPJ6Acj3ILVLRLSBxxAOFcUSRVM_unh9oQKPdf89SGQxPJADWT-DdWdE6cKD3RMJQDrinHKvT572bM9jeaA8FAacP6KAJON7YVUiNEBKtpyaAtVXNitHhFw1kjCnR10AWLN6iQktvTnVw/s1600/jet%C3%A9elathejettythepier196222.jpg (Accessed on 14/01/15)
Bibliography
Schefer, J (1990) http://chrismarker.org/chris-marker-2/jean-louis-schefer-on-la-jete/ (Accessed on 14/01/15)
Monday, 12 January 2015
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