Invisible Cities - Reflective statement

These past five weeks have shown me a lot, mostly that I am absolutely terrible at time management which is something I am going to try my best to fix, which mostly means starting what I need to start and asking for clarification if I need it and not sitting around and trying to figure it out by myself.
I think I've improved with environment design, as that was something I struggled with.
I need to work harder with Maya, because I'm still struggling but that means just getting stuck in and getting everything done.
Life drawing has helped improve my figure drawing, and helped me realise a way around a common problem I always had whilst drawing people, which is making the head to big, because I had a tutor once who told us to always start with drawing the head, but when I draw the head first I make the body too small in comparison, so drawing the head last is actually better for me.

Invisible Cities - Art of

Alien - Film review

Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) is a sci-fi horror set in a future of space travel and tells the story of a space crews encounter with an alien species.

Fig.1

The film starts with the crew of the Nostromo waking and investigating a transmission on a strange planet, which leads to one of the crew inadvertently bringing the alien on board their ship, although you do not see the alien for what it truly is until later on in the film. "One of the great strengths of "Alien" is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits. It allows silences " (Ebert 2003)

Fig.2

The set design of the ship makes it far more believable than other sci-fi has, just by making it less "clean, pristine, white, machine" and more gritty and older, it gives the ship a sense of time.

And as the film progresses the set gets even grittier, seeming more and more like the alien itself. "The ship is essentially a giant oil-refinery, but Scott wanted it to look like a gothic cathedral floating in space." (Zouch Editors 2010)

The acting feels natural, with the crew members idly chatting with each other, something which can really draw you into the film. 

Fig.3

The design of the alien is rather phallic but contains effects of both sexes genitalia, which gives the film an underlying commentary on fears of reproduction. "Giger’s work abounds with sexual symbolism: human body parts are concealed in the composition and emerge to the unsuspecting eye almost like innuendos." (Zouch Editors 2010)

Alien is another of those films that age well and inspire many others, as well as containing certain scenes that are parodied by many.

Bibliography:

Images:

Figure 1, Poster (1979) [poster] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alien_movie_poster.jpg (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Figure 2, Film still (1979) [film still] At: http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/movie-day-alien-1979/ (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Figure 3, Film still (1979) [film still] At: https://machinemean.org/2016/10/10/fright-fest-alien-1979/ (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Quotes:

Roger Ebert (2003) At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Zouch Editors (2010) At: http://zouchmagazine.com/building-better-worlds-the-production-design-of-alien/# (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Invisible Cities - Progress GIFs

Here are the progress GIFs along with their final image.

King Kong - Film review

Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack's King Kong (1933) is an adventure film where Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) is captured by a large ape like monster and is rescued by Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot)

Fig.1

Acceptable at the time, King Kong is rife with sexism and racism that makes viewing it now rather uncomfortable for most people, although more modern remakes of it have removed the worst elements.

It has also managed to spawn many sequels and has had many homages paid to the ending scenes of Kong fighting against the planes atop the Empire State Building.

Fig.2

The film's success was largely due to the special effects they used, most notably the stop motion used to animate Kong and the dinosaurs, but also the painting on layers of glass to create an illusion of a deep jungle. "The movie plunders every trick in the book to create its illusions, using live action, back projection, stop-motion animation, miniatures, models, matte paintings and sleight-of-hand." (Ebert 2002) 

Fig.3

The film portrays a relationship between Darrow and Driscoll, but then shows Kong as though he is in love with Darrow which leads to people sympathising with Kong rather than vilifying him. "While we start out thinking the romance is between Darrow and Driscoll, it ultimately transfers to Kong and Darrow, even if half that relationship is scared to death. Thus, Kong is a tragic lover, who loves someone and may never feel that love in return." (Fraley 2012)

The film was the start of something new for film making, and whilst it was good at the time it was created, the stilted dialog along with the racism and sexism makes it stand rather poorly as a film to watch nowadays.

Bibliography:
Images:
Figure 1, Poster (1933) [poster] At: http://horrorfreaknews.com/king-kong-1933-review (Accessed on 22 October 2017)
Figure 2, Film still (1933) [film still] At: http://bobbyriverstv.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/race-and-king-kong-1933.html (Accessed on 22 October 2017)
Figure 3, Film still (1933) [film still] At: https://www.allmovie.com/movie/king-kong-v27391 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)
Quotes:
Jason Fraley (2012) At: http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=5407 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)
Roger Ebert (2002) At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-king-kong-1933 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

2001: A Space Odyssey - Film review

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a sci-fi film set in a future with space travel, with the pivotal points of the film being wrapped around large, black monoliths.

Fig.1

Kubrick's direction of this film is hard to follow, there are four main parts to the film; the first being apes learning to use tools after touching a monolith, the second is a group of people visiting a monolith and then being incapacitated by it, the third follows two awake men and others who are still asleep aboard a space ship with an AI called HAL 9000 which malfunctions and kills all but one of the crew, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), who then manages to shut down HAL and then leaves to investigate another of the monoliths that is in orbit, which leads to a rather trippy nine minute scene ending in various scenes of Bowman getting older and older until it ends with a fetus encased in a bubble and orbiting Earth.

Fig.2

The film may confuse people who aren't used to reading deep into films, and will leave them with more questions than answers, "What he had actually done was make a philosophical statement about man's place in the universe, using images as those before him had used words, music or prayer." (Ebert 1997)

Kubrick's desire for the film to be as authentic as possible lead the design to do meticulous research, and even getting designers of the time to try and predict what they believe designs even as small as the chairs would eventually look like. "[...] much of the set design accurately forecasted how we live with technology today. “The executive briefcase with its phone handset and dial? Look closely, and all the elements of the laptop or smartphone are there, half a century ahead of time,” Bizony tells WIRED. You could also, for example, see HAL 9000 as a proto-Siri." (Rhodes 2015)

Fig.3

The special effects of the space ships and space station were created by models, "More than a hundred modelmakers assisted him and the other members of the art crew in this task. For greater authenticity, production of many of the film’s props, such as spacesuits and instrument panels, was outsourced to various aerospace and engineering companies." (DeMet 1999) 

Although using models makes them look incredibly life like, it feels a bit off when trying to equate the scale of the station to the scenes shown inside of it.

Bibliography:

Images:

Figure 1, Poster (1968) [poster] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2001_A_Space_Odyssey_(1968)_theatrical_poster_variant.jpg (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Figure 2, Film still (1968) [Film still] At: http://www.sci-guys.com/content/2015/03/31/sci-guys-podcast-172/ (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Figure 3, Film still (1968) [film still] At: https://2001archive.org/resources/the-special-effects-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/ (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Quotes:

George DeMet (1999) At: https://2001archive.org/resources/the-special-effects-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/

Margaret Rhodes (2015) At: https://www.wired.com/2015/08/amazingly-accurate-futurism-2001-space-odyssey/ (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Roger Ebert (1997) At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Maya - Tutorial three

I finished the first alleyway tutorial video, but I forgot if I was supposed to go onto the next videos and by the time the thought crossed my mind it was a bit too late.

 I forgot to get a picture of the lamp and crate although I did finish them as well.

I went to my server to get screenshots of the scooter, and found the only Maya file I had for it was this.

Which is rather annoying as I spent a frustratingly long time going through the tutorials for it, I don't know if this is anything to do with my server going down for a while or if I just saved it elsewhere and now have no clue where it is.

Who's who - Lorin Wood

Metropolis - Film review

Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) is a silent era sci-fi film following Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) who witnesses the the world of the poor workers struggling to keep his rich and carefree lifestyle afloat.

Fig.1

Freder leaves his futuristic utopia after a woman brings a group of poor children into it, and although she is quickly ushered back out he still gains strong feelings for her and heads down into the working class's world and witnesses first hand what they go through and then becomes determined to bring together the two sides of the working class and the elite.The working class get by their day-to-day with the promises of a mediator, the promise of such being the only thing stopping them from revolting, "[...] nightmare about a city-state built on slave labour, whose prosperity depends on suppressing a mutinous underground race whose insurrectionist rage is beginning to bubble" (Bradshaw 2010) 

Fig.2

The design difference between the upper city and the lower city helps to cement the difference between the two classes, with the upper city being loud and bright and full of wonder whilst the lower city is dark and dull, full of identical buildings.There is a lot of biblical references in the film, both subtle and direct ones, such as when Maria (Brigitte Helm) tells the masses of workers the story of the Tower of Babel, "I do not want to suggest that Lang intended Metropolis as a religious allegory; that is not the point at all. Rather, Lang understood the power of symbols, especially symbols relating to subjects close to the viewer's heart, such as politics, economics. . . and religion." (Wharton 2003)

Fig.3

The film is seen as a social commentary about the power imbalance that is still rife between the working class and the elite, and shows how little the working class are cared about, "The film’s social preoccupations have been described as a commentary on the political situation that existed in Germany at the time, but also served as a warning of where Germany was heading in the future." (Filmeducation 2010)

Bibliography:

Images:

Figure 1, Poster (1927) [poster] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolisposter.jpg (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Figure 2, Film still (1927) [film still] At: https://source.wustl.edu/2011/11/cities-of-the-future-film-series-dec-6-7-and-8/ (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Figure 3, Film still (1927) [film still] At: https://www.kinolorber.com/film/view/id/1162 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Quotes: 

David Wharton (2003) At: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/crucified-to-the-machine-religious-imagery-in-fritz-langs-metropolis/ (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Filmeducation (2010) At: http://www.filmeducation.org/metropolis/pdf/Metropolis_Themes_and_context.pdf (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Peter Bradshaw (2010) At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/09/metropolis-restored-film-review (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Invisible Cities - Final Crit presentation

Maya - Lesson six

This lesson was using Photoshop to draw out a turnaround of our monster, and thankfully my lined image was on my server so I quickly threw some colour on.

 You can see that I changed the eyes a bit on the turnaround, and that's because I was basing them on toad eyes so that they would make a bit more sense.

Next I need to clean up the turnarounds so they're a bit neater.

Animation - Lesson four

This lesson was just adding extra things to our previous bouncing gifs. We had to do three variations.

@Phil - OGR

I'm sorry for the delay in getting this up, and that I don't have all 100 thumbnails (although I was so sure I had more)

Life drawing - Lesson four

Today's lesson went without incident thankfully, and I decided to use ink for it, which meant every mark was permanent the moment it went down.
I decided during this to work from the shoulders first and do the head last to combat my tendency to draw giant heads, and I think it went rather well.

Our first set was three 10 minute drawings.

 Our second set was nine 1 minute drawings and one where it wasn't timed so I'm not sure how long it went for.
I was focusing more on the shadows rather than making an outline of the model.
That bottom drawing is a head between two arms.

The last drawing was until the end of the lesson and I don't like it as much as the others as the bottom half is getting steadily smaller whilst the head is once again too big.

Life drawing - Lesson three

This is the only drawing I managed during the last weeks life drawing lesson, due to unfortunate circumstances.
I really don't like it.

Head's too big, arms and hands too small, and the torso just looks wrong.

Maya - Lesson five

Today's lesson had us colouring our designs from last week, but, my personal server where I had the image I had lined last week refused to show itself (and may be wiped, which is not fun.) 

So the colouring I did today was on a different student's design, so here is just some evidence that I did it.

I have been working on re-lining my original drawing so that I can continue with this using my own design.

Animation - Lesson three

Today's lesson was about stretch and squash, and weight. We tested stretch and squash with a cartoon ball, and then weight with real life physics of a ping pong ball, a tennis ball, and a bowling ball.

Photoshop & Digital painting - Lesson three

Today's lesson was more perspective practise in photoshop, and then working on thumbnails.

Photoshop & Digital painting - Lesson one

This is the master studies painting I did during my first lesson, the first piece was in black and white, the second was in colour and with using the eyedropper tool, and the third was again in colour but without using the eyedropper tool.

Sorry for how late this is, I just realised this was a draft rather than posted.

Maya - Lesson Four

We lined our monster drawings digitally this time, using the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator, but as we haven't finished it because it still needs to be coloured, here's the pen tool exercises we had to practise using the pen tool.

It took a few tries for me to grasp using the tool effectively, but I got there in the end.

Autodesk Maya - Tutorial two - Ray gun

Here's the second Maya tutorial. I know the tutorial wanted me to make the outline thinner, but I prefer the look of it with the thicker outline, also it was 7:30pm and I was being shooed out by security.

Autodesk Maya - Tutorial one - Egg cups

 I kept forgetting to upload this, but here's the first Maya tutorial. I did not have fun with it.