Maya!

Some weeks ago, we were introduced to Maya. We were shown the basic layout and toolsets, as well as the different surface model types and their components. I had a faint idea of what vertices and edges were due to my experience with Blender but most of it was all very new to me.

We were given a task to create a Truck which proved frustrating at times, but altogether a really fun experience.

Here is my truck-

And my laser death truck-

Stop Motion Animation

After seeing the presentation of different methods of stop motion, I am now aware of how diverse it really is. I found some really interesting and weird methods such as strata cut and pinscreen.

The title sequence for the movie 'Freaked' seems to be a combination of strata cut, clay animation and model animation. This produces an effect, when combined with the music, that is quite disorientating. The constant flashes can hurt your eyes sometimes. 

Out of all of these different and unique methods of animation, I find model and puppet animation to be the most interesting. Model and puppet animation doesn't only include the animation but the buildings of sets and thousands of pieces for small models. The animation only seems to be half of the fun.

Here are some behind the scenes of the movie Coraline. I find it fascinating to see the scale to which they work. The amount of work they put into the each set and model is shown in the animation and both complement each other.

Film Theory 2 - French New Wave Cinema

- There were periods of ‘new waves’ coming from Britain and France.

- Paris being the most influential area

Significant group of French filmmakers

•       Jean-Luc Goddard

•       François Truffaut

•       Claude Chabrol

•       Jacques Rivette

•       Eric Rohmer

- All were once film critics with a background in film theory.

- The film La Pointe Courte (1954) by Agnes Varda began new wave.

- Particularly significant as the film was directed by a woman.

- Themes such as infatuation, romanticism and boredom were often revisited

French new wave post-1960

Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard

- reinvented film from the ground up

- based on American gangster films, however everything is deglamorised

- used natural light and handheld cameras

- violated continuity editing rules

- use of digressions and suspension

- try to make realistic films

- character,  ending ambiguity

- influenced by American actors, particularly Humphrey Bogart

French new wave in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s

- Against the ‘cinema of quality’, they would often work with cheap cameras and equipment rather than the industry-quality equipment that would normally be used.

- influenced by American genre films, particularly film noire as they reflected urban life

- They had cinematic rather than literary values and realised the importance of personal expression

- Often spontaneous and digressed from norms of current cinema

French new wave – existentialism

Philosopher Jean Paul Sartre stressed the:

                - individual

                - experience of free choice in cinema

                - absence of any rational understanding of the universe

                - sense of absurdity of human life

Existentialists seek to:

                - act authentically

                - use free will

                - take responsibility for their actions

                - avoid playing out roles pre-ordained by society

Batman: Arkham City Review

Batman: Arkham City lives up to and exceeds the expectations set by its predecessor, Arkham Asylum. Batman is immediately thrown into the action and chaos of Arkham City. The controls are familiar to those acquainted with the series with Rocksteady only improving upon the controls by adding gadgets and new moves in combat. Gadgets and combat moves can now be chained together to create some awesome combos while enemies surrounding you act strategically, surrounding you with new weapons and sometimes attacking you simultaneously.
The game balances the aggressive combat with stealth mode. Stealth mode provides the tactical approach to battle what the sometimes button-mashing aspect of the free-fighting doesn't.

Gliding is the main way to get around Arkham City. Players can traverse the entire area of Arkham City without ever touching the ground. It can be exhilarating and makes being Batman extremely addictive.

Paul Dini, Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprise their roles to create one of the best superhero stories in gaming history. The narrative includes a lot of major villains which complement each other as the story progresses. Each villain gets their share of the limelight as you take them down one by one.


The side missions are varied and provide a short but abrupt break from the story. I found myself starting all of the side missions after I had finished the game. With the tension that the main plot creates, you feel you have no time to stop for a break and tackle one on. But after you do finish the main story, the side missions provide extra content sometimes featuring other villains to keep things interesting.

Rocksteady spared no expense in making Arkham City beautiful in its own decrepit, gritty way. They have put a large amount of detail to make the place feel like it has been lived in and taken damage from its crazy inhabitants. Arkham Asylum used small spaces to create atmosphere whereas Arkham City develops this in its dark alley way so although you may be gliding over them, there is always the presence that something nasty is hiding in a dark corner.

Each area is specifically designed to suit the inhabiting villain providing a varied landscape while classic landmarks have been added from the Gotham universe to ground the story. This is particularly enthralling if you are already a fan of Batman. Riddler trophies provide the chance to interact with this brilliant environment. Rocksteady have made it so that you will never be bored collecting them by making these challenges so varied.

Arkham City is one of the best superhero games of all time. It provides enough to satisfy all players, from those new to veterans of the series. It possesses an immersive story and gameplay mechanics and even if it doesn't particularly enthrall you, who can pass the chance to be Batman.

I lived on the moon

Yannick Puig is the director, designer and animator of the music video 'I lived on the moon' by Kwoon.
Puig was inspired by the rythm of the music itself, animating what seems like dream sequences that reflects the music.

The world is very dark and muted in colour contrasting with the weird and wonderful creatures that carry the child throughout the animation. I think it was interesting that although the child does not have any facial expressions, his eyes are still very expressive. 

One of Puig's main source of inspiration is nature. He says he likes to play around with the properties of fauna and flaura until they are not distinct anymore. This can be seen in his earlier animation, Krapooyo.

Alfred Hitchcock interviews

learn a lot from seeing a professional talk about his own process.

The Last of Us

After the release of Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog have announced that they are already making another game, The Last of Us.

Naughty Dog have a tendency to develop one game franchise on one console, so to see another game coming out so soon should be really interesting.
The game also has a post-apocalyptic setting with infected, zombie-esque creatures. As there are so many other games that are similar to this, it should also be interesting in seeing how Naughty Dog can create something original and authentic.

Blender

Blender is an open source 3d modelling and animation program. As Blender is open source, a worldwide community has been created allowing people to share and pick up Blender any time. It can be a really powerful tool allowing users to model, animate and bring out their own games and films.
The only problem I have had with Blender is the lack of an instructional guide making it quite difficult for first time users.

These short films were produced by the Blender Foundation displaying how far you can take Blender.

Elephant Dreams

Big Buck Bunny

and their latest, Sintel

Olly Moss

Olly Moss remakes some classic movie posters by adding a modern, minimilist style to them. This work appeals to me as I am interested in reworking old concepts and putting them into different styles and mediums. Other works of his include the redesigning of video game covers such as Half Life and The Sims.

Film Theory 1 - the auteur

Auteur – a filmmaker, usually the director that produces movies which are characterised by their own creative style

Auteur (Sarris) 1962 – the technical competence of the director, the director’s distinguishable personality and interior meaning

Auteur – French for ‘author’

Audre Bazin – ‘Cahiers du Cinema’

History of film as the history of auteurs

·         like artists

·         original work

·         creative control

·         personal film language

·         start the conventions of a genre but does not follow them

Critique of the auteur

·         presents a canon made by ‘elites’, usually males

·          disguises the work of the other people in the film, (screen writer, editor, etc)

·         Offers universal view of quality

·         Used to sell a film just by using the name of the auteur

Alfred Hitchcock - The Auteur

His technical competence

·         expressionist lighting

·         story telling by using visual elements, especially in the silent era of film

·         use of the subjective camera

·         use of the ‘dolly zoom’

·         clever use of montage and cutting to create tension in spite of the production code (1939-60)

His personality shown through films

·         expressionism – evokes emotion

·         cameo appearances of the director

·         using the same actors

·         use of blondes

·         suspense

- Suspense is generated when the audience can see the danger that the characters cannot see

Themes that are often revisited

·         ordinary people caught in extraordinary events

·         mistaken identity

·         espionage

·         murder

·         madness

·         sly wit

·         macabre sense of humour

·         strong sexual themes

·         exploration of the human mind

·         ‘Hitchcockian’ suspense

Quotes

·          ‘there is no terror in the bang of a gun, only the anticipation of it’

·         ‘always make the audience suffer as much as possible’

BAF day two

The second day of the Bradford Animation Festival was mainly a demonstration of 3D scanning technology and its future and uses. Thankfully, there were only a few issues with some of the demonstrations, e.g. movie clips not playing and other minor issues.
My main interest was Brendan McNamara's talk about the face capturing technology in L.A Noire. He explained the processes it took to capture the actor's face while highlighting its difficulties and successes. It was really interesting seeing how much work went into the process

Lecture 3 – Graffiti/ Street Art

Graffiti – Latin ‘Graffiato’ – to scratch

Beginnings

- Lascaux cave drawings – scratched with animal bones with natural pigment

- Ancient Roman graffiti – political drawings, caricatures found on walls

- WWI – US Kilroy/UK Chad

- Paris May 1968 riots graffiti – Civil unrest inspiring cultural and creative material

Urban Graffiti

- In 1970’s New York, spray can graffiti evolved alongside him hop culture, became visual language of   the street, a way for artists to gain attention

- Jon Naar, photographer, 1973 – ‘Majority of graffiti comes from the low-class, neglected hispanic or African-American population’

- Jean- Michel Basquiet – SAMO

-  Jean Holzer – Times Square Show 1980 - Video game culture – a comment on lack of availability of brands and technology in Eastern bloc – Feliz 1984 – space invaders tiles resemble pictures ‘invader’