Animation - Lesson two

Today's lesson was about timing and space, and easing in and out in animation. We used a ball to test this.

 This first one is with equal spacing the whole way through.

 The second is easing in and easing out, with the spacing being cramped at the start and end and getting wider in the middle which makes it seem as though it is moving faster.

Next we had to create a pendulum, this one is an example of a bad pendulum, because it doesn't follow the curve and just goes along a straight axis.

 This fourth one is the pendulum with equal spacing, similar to the first one but on a curve.

 The last one is the pendulum with easing in and easing out on a curve, similar to the second one with the spacing being clumped at the start and end and wide in the middle.

Invisible cities - Thumbnails 22 - 35

Here are some digital thumbnails for Leonia, Moriana, Phyllis, Sephonia, and Tamara. I have some more unfinished Thumbnails that I will finish soon to post.

Photoshop & Digital painting - Lesson two

This lesson we were looking at a specific city and writing notes on them in groups of two. I had Leonia, which is one of the cities I don't actually like.

The references I looked at included street cleaners, and the street cleaners from the movie Robots.

Life drawing - Lesson two

With this second life drawing lesson we started with a 20 minute drawing.

Next we had the eight quick drawings, starting with 3 minutes, then 2, then two 1 minutes, then three 2 minutes, and then a 5 minute. These were supposed to be more focused on tones.

Lastly we had another 20 minute tonal drawing on black paper, I think I did okay, but the legs are too long and the arms a bit too short.

I cheated slightly by drawing lightly in charcoal first so I had the outline, and then using chalk for the tones.

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails 1 - 21

Armilla, Baucis, Diomira

Diomira, Ersilla, Esmeralda, Fedora

Fedora, Isura

Here are my first thumbnails for the cities of Armilla, Baucis, Diomira, Ersilla, Esmeralda, Fedora, and Isura.

I have some more thumbnails drawn digitally that I will post soon.

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari - Film review

Robert Wiene's Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) is a silent era horror film, based around the main character, Francis (Friedrich Feher) as he tells another person his story of Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss.)

Fig.1

The film is heralded as one of the most influential films of it's time, and it's not hard to see why they believe that as the plot and set can still hold a candle to the horror films of today.

The set was designed to give you a twisted perception whilst Francis is recounting his story, fantastical and twisting with dark shadows, "settings that squeeze and turn and adjust the eye and through the eye the mentality." (Variety Staff, 2006)

Fig.2

But at the beginning and the end of the film you see the set as a perfectly normal place, which gives it a dream like quality as well as show an insight into his mental state.

The film also shows the 'bad guy' as a gaunt and spindly man, which, partnered with his jerking movements, portrays him as a rather creepy individual.

Fig. 3

During the film you can see Francis's mental state wearing down and down through acting and set design, and eventually it is revealed that he himself is a patient at a mental asylum and the evil Dr. Caligari is his own doctor, although if he is actually evil or not is still up to debate, especially as the film has been seen as a response to WWI, "Cesare representing the innocent soldiers who were driven to murder under the instructions of an abusive authoritarian government (represented by Caligari)" (Alex Barrett, 2017) Although this can be thrown into debate, as it is unsure as to if Dr. Caligari is really bad or not, especially with it being revealed that Francis is not a reliable narrator, "the film simultaneously presents at least two viewpoints on the depicted events: 1) Francis is in fact mad and his story totally or partially delusional; 2) Francis is a reliable source, a position assumed through most of the film. From this second perspective the director of the asylum might be considered a psychotic tyrant whose power extends to include Francis' confinement. One is not, however, led directly to this conclusion. Rather, this version of the narrative causes a disruption of any stable or conclusive perception of character status and narrational authority within the film. This in turn opens the film to a range of possible readings." (M.B White)

And with this it is difficult to figure out who is right, and who is wrong, or if everything is as black and white as it seems.

Bibliography:

Images:

Figure 1, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari poster (1921) [poster] At: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Das_Cabinet_des_Dr._Caligari.JPG (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Figure 2, Film still (1920) [Film still] At: http://monovisions.com/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-vintage-images/ (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Figure 3, Film still, (1920) [Film still] At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b73343e80 (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Quotes:
Rottentomatoes (s.d) At: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_cabinet_of_dr_caligari/ (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Alex Barrett (2017) 10 great German Expressionist films At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-german-expressionist-films (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
3. M.B White (s.d) Das Kabinett Des Dr. Caligari - Film (Movie) Plot and Review At: http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Jo-Ko/Das-Kabinett-des-Dr-Caligari.html (Accessed 26th September 2017)

Animation - First lesson

Our first animation lesson had us start a small animation of a self portrait, merging into our favourite food (I chose sushi for this) and then merging into our favourite animal (mine's a cat) and then merging back into a self portrait.

I didn't count exactly but I think this took me around nine hours, which means I was doing ten frames an hour, which is a bit disappointing but I think it was mostly because of trying to figure out how things would merge into each other, and then because I don't really like using Adobe Animate, I prefer having easy access to moving and twisting the canvas.

I also cropped the canvas as a separate GIF so it can be seen easier.