Edward Scissorhands - Film review

Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990) is a dark fantasy film about love and how society treats those who are different to the mass.

Fig.1

The story revolves around a young man called Edward (Johnny Depp) who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price) but left unfinished when the inventor died, leaving him with scissors for hands and alone in a large mansion.
He is found by a kind woman, Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), who insists that he come live with her and her family in a normal suburban neighborhood.

Fig.2

The neighbors are strangely fine with Edward and his scissor hands, they accept him readily and become even more infatuated with him as his natural talents show. "One problem is that the other people are as weird, in their ways, as he is: Everyone in this film is stylized and peculiar" (Ebert, 1990)
But the moment Edward is arrested they all turn their backs on him, leading to the ending being a mob baying for his blood.

Fig.3

Edward Scissorhands is based around Burton's own feelings of isolation growing up, but it also seems to show the social stigma around people with learning disabilities. "Burton's modern fairytale has an almost palpably personal feel: it is told gently, subtly and with infinite sympathy for an outsider who charms the locals but then inadvertently arouses their baser instincts." (Lee, 2014)

Edward is naive and easily led astray with the right words, and also is shown to have difficulty in understanding figurative speech, which means his actions are less calculated than others will be, and he takes the fall for something that he didn't fully realize the consequences of, but the only person who appears to take any of this into consideration is the police officer who arrested him and shows concern for Edward's mental health and in the end attempts to placate the neighbors hatred with the implication that he had killed Edward, even though he had allowed Edward to run away back to his mansion.

Fig.4

The surroundings of the film are beautiful, with the Gothic castle overshadowing the 1980's suburb, and the clothing and hairstyles too, but the film's writing falls into a bit of an out of character seeming cliche for an ending. ""Edward Scissorhands" also reveals Burton's willingness to occasionally dip into his barrel of cliche's in order to finish a story. " (Propes)



Bibliography:
Images:
Figure 1, Poster (1990) [poster] At: http://cafmp.com/17741/edward-scissorhands-2/
Figure 2, Film still (1990) [film still] At: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8102/ten-things-you-might-not-know-about-edward-scissorhands
Figure 3, Film still (1990) [film still] At: http://scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/style-idol-ladies-of-edward.html
Figure 4, Film still (1990) [film still] At: http://www.dkf.pwr.wroc.pl/terminy-projekcji-1/rok-2014/
Quotes:
Ebert, R. (1990) At: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990 (Accessed on 7 November 2017)
Lee, M. (2014) At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11298442/Edward-Scissorhands-review-a-true-fairytale.html (Accessed on 7 November 2017)
Propes, R. (s.d) At: http://theindependentcritic.com/edward_scissorhands (Accessed on 7 November 2017)

La Belle et la Bête - Film review

Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (1946) is a French fantasy story about love, surrounding the beautiful Belle (Josette Day) and a beast (Jean Marais).
It is based on a story written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont which has been recreated by others, most notably by Disney.

Fig.1

The story starts with Belle's father gaining a fortune and promising to buy gifts for his daughters, only for him to lose the fortune immediately, causing him to have to navigate through a forest alone at night which leads him to stumble, lost, into the Beast's castle.
The next morning he picks a rose for Belle, which enrages the Beast who asks for compensation in the form of one of the daughters living with him, of which Belle decides is her job.

Fig.2

The Beast tells Belle that he will ask her to marry him every day, who refuses, but as the time goes Belle finds herself liking the Beast more, as he turns out to be kind despite his monstrous appearance.

Fig.3

The films use of special effects along with costume help the fantasy of the story, whilst still not completely drowning it in unrealistic imagery, making it seem believable. "Henri Alekan’s subtle black and white cinematography combines with Christian Berard’s masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema" (BFI)

Whilst the film isn't inherently a children's film, it does have a dream-like and childish feeling at points. "a film that dared to be naive, asking its audience to revert to childhood, the better to accept its practical magic." (Malcolm, 1999)

Cocteau considered himself as a poet rather than a film maker, and made his films in a way that reflects that. "Cocteau wanted to make a poem, wanted to appeal through images rather than words, and although the story takes the form of the familiar fable, its surface seems to be masking deeper and more disturbing currents" (Ebert, 1999)


Bibliography:
Images:
Figure 1, Poster (1946) [poster] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La_Belle_et_la_B%C3%AAte_film.jpg
Figure 2, Film still (1946) [film still] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89SQgutc7aA
Figure 3, Film still (1946) [film still] At: https://wecanthearthemime.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/la-belle-et-la-bete-1946/
Quotes:
BFI (s.d) At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/education/gothic-classroom/la-belle-et-la-b-te-1946 (Accessed on 7 November 2017)
Ebert, R (1999) At: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946 (Accessed on 7 November 2017)
Malcolm, D (1999) At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jul/01/1 (Accessed on 7 November 2017)

What if? Metropolis - Gustav Klimt research

Some simple preliminary research into Klimt.

Maya - Lesson eight

This lesson we were adding texture to our alleyway scene.

Photoshop & digital painting - Lesson four

 This lesson we were given two slips of paper, one with an animal written on it and one with a piece of furniture written on it and our task was to combine the two. Mine were koala and wardrobe.
There's an image missing here where I drew a few koalas and wardrobes and then just tried to shove them together in a rather bad fashion, but then I got to this.

We were supposed to have turnarounds of our finished piece done, but due to bad circumstances I haven't been able to do anything like that, although I might when I have bits of free time because I do actually like my concept here.

Life drawing - Lesson five

This lesson I used ink and water again, and tried to experiment with line thickness and block shadows.

Our first set was seven minutes each.

The second drawing was 30 minutes. there are areas where I think the lines went well, and then areas where they went a bit too thick.

Our last one was another 30 minutes and we were told to focus on something we have trouble with, so I chose to try and do a close up of the face, and I like to think I did pretty well for someone who tries their hardest to not draw realistic faces.

It's not the best in the world, but I'm pretty certain that's the best nose I've ever drawn. 

Maybe next time I'll focus on hands and feet.

Maya - Lesson seven

This lesson we assigned different textures to balls.

Before rendering

Render