(Un)title(d) sequence

Why not do some research for the titles sequence project? I think I might be doing Jean de la Florette (I liked the movie) but of course, the list is open. Anyhow, a few links:

I like this title sequence, partly because I like to have only objects, or parts of the human body in the opening sequences...I find it more intriguing. I would say that sometimes, hands, eyes, lips, etc have a life of their own, they are "alive"  even without viewer seeing the actual character...and just maybe, sometimes, they speak more true of that character than the overall image, which often time helps diverting one`s attention. Just a personal thought really...

The scratches and the color tints go rather well with the music...it gives one the general feeling that even the lens through which the story is being captured is something that might be put under scrutiny, dissected, re-written, censored, etc. Somehow, this is not a free flowing, outside observer point of view...makes a reference to the cutting and...scratching of the editor maybe, or even to the cut-and-paste nature of one`s own reality (ok, I know I got carried away, that`s probably not what it means to say, but...it has the potential for that as well).

Well, if I were to judge animation and music separately, they would probably be nice but not particularly remarkable. But as a whole they really make a good duo, each raising the other`s quality I think. Flipping through the pages of a book is a fairly over-used idea, but the words forming up the characters and the landscape is a pretty neat counter-weight to that (although, again, not a novel idea), the (corny) detective feel of the music dissipates fairly quickly into the awkward hero`s theme song. We get introduced to the main characters of the series and the sequences pretty much speak for themselves: the wise guy, the village idiot, the femme fatale, etc.

Got to love the title sequences from Monthy Python`s Flying Circus. It looks like a dada collage: tongue-in-cheek and twisted! The idea of the gradual build-up within the animations that compose the sequence, followed by the inevitable giant foot that squashes all attempts to create a predictable pattern (titles, names of actors, beginning of the actual show and a chronological/ structural logic to it) are rendered futile.

That`s it for today. Links to have a look at: http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Simply put: just a mild case of cartesian anxiety! part 3

BBC Documetaries - The Power of Nightmares

...talk about constructing through discourse an image new realities...myth creation in action!

I got the BLUES(creen)!

Ohohohoho!....I got myself some new guinea pigs...I mean, part-time actors and volunteers and hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day...for experimentation! What I would like to try out is the blue/green screen effect, and, possibly, the split screen effect too.

À la recherche du temps perdu

As I was browsing through some animation videos on Youtube I came across this documentary on Romanian animation, from the beginnings up until 1990. I remember it being shown at TIFF (Transylvania International Film Festival) in 2007, but unfortunately I didn`t get to see it. Nevertheless, here it is now, and I`m looking forward to it, if for no other reason, than to at least have a moment of nostalgia and remember the names of those cartoons I can still recall by their characters` features, yet can`t remember their names to save my life!

Simply put: just a mild case of cartesian anxiety! part 2

Browsing through P. Adams Sitney`s Visionary Film, I came across the title of a 40s American avant-garde movie: Maya Deren`s Meshes of the Afternoon. The author drew several parallels with Dali and Bunuel`s Un chien andalou, and the description of the imagery employed seemed interesting enough to gave it a go. Heil YouTube again!

Using Teiji Ito`s music was a surprising addition, as the review in the book didn`t say much about the sound used. After a quick, it seems that Ito has written the scores of several other productions of Maya Deren, the producer of Meshes of the Afternoon. Seeing that there is a definite theme of repetition and accelaration that leads to the build-up of the dramatic sense, using this sort of music seems just perfect, as the drums seem to express the angst and all the ambivalence of feelings that are not revealed to us through the characters (who often seem expressionless, bedazzled and slightly hypnotic). In terms of visual metaphors, the mirror replacing the face of the nun is really inspiring...for think of all the things you can do with or about a mirror (break, distort, reflect, attract, trick).

Bookingham

Now that the deadlines are history, I can finally go back to reading some of the books I set my sight on. The one that is currently come to my attention is Michael Rabiger`s Directing.

I find I can open it at pretty much any page I want and just start reading. It draws you in, although it is supposed to be one of those rather aridly written `technical` books. I found some interesting techniques for motif and theme exploration, basics of script writing and of course lighting (which is becoming slowly but surely a little obssession of mine).

Rock me Amadeus!!!

Ah, yes! Remember the somewhat trashy song of Falco? I did and also remembered Amadeus, the movie by Milos Forman and seeing that I liked it very very much...I couldn`t resist the temptation to read the play of Peter Shaffer that has inspired the film.

Funny how you see some of the references when reading the play...most strikingly, the venticelli`s whispering in the trailer.

Come to think of it...I should start looking for tickets to the play itself...hmmmmm....

Film and Architecture

Browsing through Dietrich Neumann`s Film Architecture I seemed like a good idea to investigate further upon the issue of set design and general architecture in films. Even more so, as the influence of these two elements is reciprocal in its nature: that is to say, besides the obvious influence that the choices made for set design and location on the overall ambience that the viewer is likely to perceive, not to mention the added value in terms of symbolism and discourse, there is also the influence the medium of the seventh art exerts over architecture, its evolution and its perception by the public.

Some interesting bits of information I`ve found on this site are concerned with Michelangelo Antonioni`s use of architecture as an indirect means by which to express the characters` state of mind (the example that is most often given is that of the final scene of his 1960 film, L`Avventura)

Another thing that caught my attention and seems worthy of further reading is Sergei Eisenstein`s theory of space constructions, that presents architecture as `frozen music` (sounds really exciting!)

Finally, Saul Metzstein`s article discusses the possibilites that are open to film-makers when it comes to sets...creating them from scratch, a la Fritz Lang, having total control over the outcome, but also considering the costs and, most importantly, making the resulting architecture live and breath the air of the time and place it strives to be an illustration and logical outcome of; shooting on location, trying to find buildings that have a visual impact, but are not too familiar as to ruin the idea of the future vision. And, we also have another film to look at: Menzies`1936 film, Things to Come

Pret-a-Port...rait

So, my dear guests, if you`ll take a look down the corridor, you will notice two ouvres, both part of the precious `Design Research Task` collection of the Gran Maestro Machi Ticredi! ...

Ah, let`s get back to earth for a second. These are two ideas I`ve had for the portraits made by juxtaposition of symbolic objects for ourselves. While choosing the objects, we had to keep in mind we had to think of our environment, our beliefs, our way of viewing the world and our experiences, as we have convened on a previous seminar that these are essential parameters to define our identity. The objects I have included in the final work are slightly different than the initial seminar material. In the seminar, the package contained: a lightbulb (experience), a book (beliefs), lots of papers with notes, sketches or cup marks on it, sweets wrapers (environment)and a camera (way of seeing the world). The collages have all of these except the camera (although, you could argue that the eye is a reference to the camera) and the sweets.

I guess the next thing to do is expand a bit on the symbolism part. Now, probably the most puzzling one for an outside observer would be the association of the lightbulb with experience. Most of the times, the idea of the lightbulb as the cartoonish representation of the spark, the Eureka! moment. So, in this respect, it is connected with that still unknown territory called imagination and creation. Still, as the day-to-day object we use in our lamps, it also has the technological conotation, and through it, the link to rationality. The way it is included in the first portrait, floating in water (should I remind anyone the whole mumbo-jumbo about water and dreams and the subconscious and all that Fraud...sorry, I mean...Freud stuff?) it emphasises the two ideas that can be associated with it and their contrasting nature.


Books are NOT meant to offer a coherent system of beliefs (sorry for those who thinks so), but propose directions in which one could advance his/her ideas. I don`t have a fetish for books but I know some people who do, so I will try and be as diplomatic as possible. Despite their apparently neutral appearance, books can be condemning, self-righteous and blind to the obvious for the simple fact that they not only shape our beliefs, but are shaped by our beliefs (not just by that of the author). Should I give an example to illustrate my point? Works that have been given hideous interpretations to motivate prejudice (the hand reaching out, as in a gesture of mercy or desperation in the second portrait), hatred and genocide against the other (no, I`m not talking solely about religious texts, I also mean Mein Kamp and Malleus Maleficarum). So, again, a word of caution...and don`t I just love ambivalence?

Using the papers to represent environment, I went for the very thing that my mum has always been made at me for: having piles and piles of scribbled papers, sketches, notes scattered all over my desk. It happens whenever I settle into a new space and create a working environment. I don`t usually take specific things with me if I move (dolls, boxes, pictures, etc), but I re-create this sort of paper-notes-sketches habitat. I used a veil-like material with sparkles on it while taking a photo of some of these papers. I liked the idea because I could use it to give the impression of relief, of `mountains` of paper, but also a sort of fluidity and motion. As they are capturing thoughts, they are a bit like them...fleeting, chaotic, veiled for an outside observer and sometimes...well....brilliant (sic!).

cREA(C)T!ivity

SPP Journal Task on creativity and research...

I remember having my interview previous to being accepted for the course...and more vividly, the fact that at one point I said that irrespective of whether or not I get to be a Multimedia student and make a career of it, I`m still going to experiment and try to give a form to some of my ideas, one way or another. Maybe I`m an incurable starry-eyed dreamer with little if any notion of financial responsibility, but I refuse to objectify my passion, my curiosity and my imagination for stability. Not that I deny its use, I just think it is one of those natural perks of focusing on what I have always felt as important: knowledge and vision.

Knowledge is about questions, riddles, controversial things, taboos and all the things that can cause anxiety and make us want to escape the challenges they pose by retreating into `bonus levels`. Yet, straying from the main storyline usually makes one change from a protagonist (of his own quest) to a Non-Playable Character. Talking about anxiety, this must be my biggest one, for sure.

For the second aspect, vision, I think one has to take a look beyond the rational. For knowledge is consciousness and the world of words, the way our understanding is built up by the power of this form of expression. Still, who can deny the (often) subliminal force of images, sounds and that dazzling melange of sensory perceptions that tell a story of their own. Perhaps the thing I find most fascinating is that as knowledge examines and tames visions, so visions are able to cast a cloud of doubt over the righteousness of our rational selves. None can slay the other without fataly injuring itself, yet they can and should always point a questioning mirror in front of the other. I think I could say that this is my credo, in whatever field of activity, and as long as I won`t find a better guideline for my future, I`ll go by it.

So, how does one follow the...```yellow brick road`` ? Maybe by never being too sure of what one knows: perpetually looking for that extra bit of information or insight, to give depth. Of course, how far down the rabbit hole one decides to go is a whole different issue (or is it?).

Thought bubble of the day (Introduction)

`People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. They will practise Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict regimen of diet, learn theosophy by heart, or mechanically repeat mystic texts from the literature of the whole world- all because they cannot get on with themselves and have not the slightest faith that anything useful could come out of their own souls [...] Ethically, of course, it is infinitely more convenient to leave God the sole responsibility for such a Home for Idiot Children...`

Excerpts from Carl Gustav Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980

Since I am reading quite a lot besides what would be considered directly linked to the area of multimedia, I was thinking of trying to somehow record the process through which I draw some of my ideas by highlighting things that make sense to me. The important thing is that issues raised in this excerpts are interconnected in a more or less apparent fashion with other ideas, that are part of different fields of activity. Yet, what I always found strange is how obstinent specialists in these areas are to a more interdisciplinary approach (even if it is nowadays a notion that gets more attention). People still discover the wheel in some areas, while in others, the same wheel has become a square because of isolation or over-specialisation.

What is the purpose of all this? Well, since my showcase is going to focus a lot on ideas and I will most likely have to throw in some symbolical representation mojo, I might as well try to consciously (as much as one can) follow the trail that leads me down the rabbit hole...here we go!

More episodes to come...

Chiaroscuro Back...

...although, it was never gone. This technique, applied in painting to produce some of the most `hip` works in the history of art has been picked up by movie makers and photographers faster than you can say `I want to bring sexy back in my composition`. Let`s face it, Murnau`s Faust (1926) or Nosferatu (1922) would be bedtime, clean, boring, family-fun stories without the magic of chiaroscuro (or, if you think that`s not fancy enough, some call it Rembrandt lighting). So, I had read a few things about it a few years ago with regards painting, and now, since I will most probably use it for the Identities project, I have done some looked up Youtube for some advice on how the technique is applied to more recent media (photos, films).

These are probably the most useful, as they demonstrate ways in which one can use the lighting in 3D modelling programs, or while taking a photo, so that you save a lot of time and energy by creating the feel you want right from the process of shooting, instead of massive editing.

Now, for some examples of chiaroscuro in painting...



...and in Kubrick`s Barry Lindon (1975)...

And, I thought I should try and mess around with the concept in Photoshop too. Ideally, of course, using adecquate lighting while taking the picture would give the best results, but I still managed to come up with what I think are some interesting results.

And the modeller said...let there be...

...a humanoid figure. I guess that`s what the end result of our trials and tribulations on this week`s Identities seminar is. Well, he/she/it is very friendly, even in this `ready-to-be-pat-down` position, reminescent of the jolly times we have at the airport security check-in.

So, having enjoyed the making of Sweetie (that`s ...its name), I set myself to work on what seems a rather ambitious task, for today at least. I wanted to make a figure in this posture :

Well, it seems I have a hard time with the bent arm and leg. I think using bones would solve the problem, but, although I`ve been experimenting with the bones in 3D Studio Max, I haven`t got round to adding `flesh` to them. So, it`s back to the tutorials...

Mr Freud...analyse this site part 4

Bishonen Info : http://www.bishoneninfo.curvedspaces.com/

The reason why I wanted to have another look at this site and included it in my site analysis is because it stuck in my mind for its peculiar look. It is by no means a glitzy website, shiny and smart...instead, if you look at some of the sections, they strike me as a way of thinking about web design that is more illustration oriented...it is a simulation of a manuscript or print layout. The way information is laid out, it plays a lot with the idea of a dictionary, in case you didn`t get the point about the informative and quite possibly educational nature and value of the site from its domain name.

Another thing that is worth noticing is the eclectic nature of the imagery. It graciously combines photos with black and white, duochrome or coloured drawings or prints, web-friendly fonts with fancy capitals and manages to have several types of fonts on the same page without giving the user a sense of...unease.

Also, maybe it is just me...but identity wise, the authors of the site, whether consciously or not, made the place exude a sort of dandyish arrogance, eclectism and slight contempt for the presumably uninformed or ill-informed visitor, who is ` kindly` taken for a `devil-may-care`, ` we`re-here-we`re-queer` informative ride. Then again, that might just be me...

Me, myself and....avatar

This Friday`s Identities seminar was all about moodboards and talking about how they can be used to gather the necessary ideas for creating a representative avatar for ourselves. So, this is what I came up with, at least for now. I keep getting new ideas and I`m not yet sure whether I`m going to drop some of them and just choose a specific path to go along or whether I`m going to try and find a thread that joins up all of these apparently different concepts and make it all up into some sort of story...a coherent whole anyhow.

As I was discussing my moodboard it struck me that using the head in the hand combo might work pretty well for the avatar, as it can be used for some really expressive and theatrical poses and to convey some rather....here come the keywords of the project...ambiguous and ambivalent ideas. In this case I was thinking of control as a keyword. What I mean by that is that when it comes to control, the head (mind) uses the hands (oh, it sounds Metropolis...ish) as a mere tool to execute commands. Yet, here, the roles are inverted, the head being vulnerable in the hands of the....hand. The idea is connected to the picture in the foreground. If you are what you become and what you experience, and if we think of experience as a journey...hence, the path...and still the character is in a sleep-like position...the end result is...you are only partially in charge of your journey (still, it`s worth making the best of it).

What Roma suggested was that it would be a pity to loose the aetheral aspect of the character (I used a lot of clarobscuro-like image manipulation, partly because of the recent exposure to German Expressionist movies, partly because as I`ve mentioned in my earlier posts, the effect that this technique can generate simply intrigue me). So, apparently, a good idea would be to use a sort of projection surface...that is, the face would not be completly modelled in 3D Studio Max; instead, I should create a mask-like object unto which I can project the image of the avatar (or images...hmmmm).

Talk about projection...I remember seeing something similar on Susan Sensemann`s site. She projects different images using her face as a canvas. Now, if I could only remember the name of the other artist Roma has told me to look up,it would be great.

Lights and shadows

I was playing around in Photoshop for the last 2-3 days and I came up with a set of pictures that have a similar, underlining idea and feel about them: faces coming out of the depths of darkness in a pool of light (or a poddle, if you will). I`m seriously thinking of including these into my moodboard and start constructing the whole look of the Identity package around this interplay of lights and shadow. I`m not only thinking of contrast and of opposites when I say light and shadow...what I observed as I was editing the pictures is how altered the general expression of the character or the whole mood that came across from the initial picture was as I moved through the process. From creating the image of the temptress, to that of the girl next door...they are all a push of a button away (unless you have a tempting girl next door...and then they are not far apart in the first place). So, ambivalence, ambiguity...they were words that I chose during last week`s seminar to define myself...and graphically, this style could serve that purpose.

A Bit of Everything

Yesssss....I know! I really should continue my 3D Studio Max tutorials because I don`t seem ti be making any particular progress outside semniars on this. But, but....I just had an idea and I can`t stand to let it fly away without having a go at it. So, I spent some hours this afternoon doing a collage. I am not sure what for should I use it...it could be a moodboard for next Friday`s Identity seminar...but I`m not sure, because even though it fits some adjectives I came up with while talking to Roma, it doesn`t reflect the sort of visuals I had in mind for the project. Oh, well...I`ll see about this. I could maybe included in the SPP presentation for Tuesday...but that`s just another definite....maybe! Irrespective of whether or not is going to make it into the materials for any of the seminars, I still found it a good exercise for lighting, brushes, burns, layer properties and transparencies, overlays, etc.

The initial idea was to have feel-slates...that is...separate slates with different segments (crops) of the body and face to suggest differing, contradicting emotions and to create a sort of dynamic composition. I don`t know about the dynamic part...though I think the hotspot created by the convergence of objects in the left gives a feel of ....woooosh! to the picture. At the same time, the upper right corner is the `cool spot`: the lifeless eyes and the mocking (cockish) stare together with the colours used develop into an opposite pole (I hope!).

Well...I guess that`s it! I should run to do some tutorials now and maybe a bit of reading...

Mr Freud, analyse this.....website! part 3

La Antena: www.laantenafilm.com.ar/

This is an Argentine film that is really putting the silent back into film. A city has lost its voice, and there is a villain (there always seems to be one, right?) keeping a close eye on the few remaining inhabitants that still have the voice, and trying to channel their abilities so as to gain more control (typical, bloody typical!).

I found this site even more austere than the film, with its suspended subtitles. The choice of the book as a layout and the lack of any background music is in tune with the idea of a world dominated by written words, by the logos yet flat because of its lack of sound (or, I`m just completely making that up).

I....guess I should be as austere with my comments as the site is...that would make for a good analysis...my silence should speak more than anything else...right? Or should I say I`m looking for the voice as well? Ok, I think I need to stop browsing this site...not very good for my communication skills.

Mr Freud, analyse this.....website! part 2

YO MANGO! http://www.sindominio.net/fiambrera/007/ymng/index.htm

I came across this site last year, while doing some research for an essay on New Social Movements. The general pattern I was trying to outline was that there was an ongoing competition between these protest groups and capitalism; for every attempt of these movements to escape consumerism would be, after a while, exploited by the market to express a new `lifestyle choice` and thus, become, yet again, a commercial product.

YoMango, a Catalan shoplifting movement uses intense self-irony to try and counter this. The lesson that new social movements have taught in the 60s and 70s has been that of art and difference as essential components of the self and of self-expression. Yet, these ideas have been internalised and neutralised by capitalism and translated into the concept of the `lifestyle choice` , which is only to say, express yourself through what you buy. So, because it is about buying, and also because protest groups are still associated with artistic movements and happenings, YoMango plays the card of irony by describing `mangar` (shoplifting) as more than an act of sabotage: in a wonderfully ironic twist of art de-sublimation it associates it with the excitement of a creative endeavour.

The look of the site seems to poke fun of yet another clichè: the DIY. Again, the idea of self-management, of manufacturing, of doing it yourself in order to feel both liberated from the clutches of big business and empowered by being involved in the whole process of creating something has been used to open up a new market niche.

YoMango are taking the irony a step further, presenting their manifesto as a Communist Red Book with the insides of a DIY book.

Mr Freud, analyse this.....website!

INGO MAURER : http://www.ingo-maurer.com/frameset.html

I first stumbbled upon Maurer`s name while reading an article of Victor Margolin, an author I have used for my Design Method essay. After a quick search on Google I was....well....impressed and eager to see more. His site didn`t fail to surprise me yet again. The intro is this sketchy animation of two angel-like characters, combining (I mean that in a purely abstract way) to form a new entity with...a light-bulb as its head. OK, so if you`re thinking to yourself `what is going on here?` , don`t worry...I`ll explain in a minute.

Ingo Maurer is a German enfant terrible of lighting...it doesn`t feel right for a German to be terrible...eh? Ok, so that would partly explain the lightbulb in the intro....right? But what about the rest of it? And why can`t it be neat and clean and refined and German looking like the rest of the site? Because, it would seem that the intro animation is an illustration of Maurer`s perception of the lightbulb, that apparently insignificant and mundane medium through which he is able to manipulate his art: light!

"It was like a flash. I fell in love. The light bulb is in everyone's heart. Cartoonists use it when a character has an idea - a bulb lights up above their heads. It has tremendous poetry."

-The International Herald Tribune-

The rest of the site, is generally what one would expect from a designer`s or a company`s website, catalogues, best items, team membres, a brief history, etc. What I found most...illustrative of the sort of relation Maurer has to his craft as revealed in interviews or reports about him, is that the individual items are presented not as mere enlarged pictures. Instead, they just basically take over the background, creating a sort of momentary environment of the whole site, because they are not just shape, but mood and colour and texture...all the things they bring-out in the environment that they are made to be part of.

Another interesting thing to look at is this little video on Youtube that seems to have been made to promote Ingo MAurer`s exhibition at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York: