Monday 29 November 2010

More Quotes for Moulin Rouge

Just some more quotes found to include in my essay.

'…A mostly Australian production team and crew, American and British pop songs, a Parisian backdrop, the Bollywood-inspired show-within-a-show, numerous anachronisms that refuse to stay confined within the specified time setting of the late nineteenth century – disrupt the Classical ideals of artistic unity and integrity and suggest new postmodern geographies and temporalities.' (Yang, 2010)

'Moulin Rouge, a film that itself is a delirious ode to spectacle, from cabaret and the brothel, to can-can dancing, opera, musical, comedy, dance, theatre, popular music, and film. A postmodern pastiche of popular music styles and hits.' (Kellner, 2003, 6)

Saturday 27 November 2010

The Making of Anthropomorphic Robtos

The Making of Anthropomorphic Robots

Last post for Character Design. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I'm pleased to say I feel this is the first piece of work I've done which I'm really proud off. I'm glad about some of the comments made in my feedback. Especially about the confidence issue. I aim to be more confident in my work and try and push myself to really create something amazing. I'm also glad that it was pointed out that my style is cute and is my own.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Character Colours

Bible Cover and Page Layout



I designed the front cover for my character bible. I looked up Native American journals to see what they looked like and found this one which I rather liked.



Also I tried to find a font which looked more Native American but the results would have been inappropriate in terms of reading. All the fonts I found were put together with symbols or images rather than letters.



The page layout for the bible. I've tried to keep it simple but also have an old fashioned feel to it without drawing too much attention.

Villain Finle Edit



Removed some of his highlights from the left side. I feel he looks much more convincing.

Size Comparison Edit



Just removed some of the highlights from the villain. He was too shiny but now I feel he looks a lot more convincing.

Poses



The pose on the right was inspired by



Her arms are slightly in the wrong pose so I changed it to make it more of a 'showing off pose'.



An attack pose. Hope he gets her off or she's going to cause some serious damage to some of his wiring.



This I imagined was Snowdrop's first view of the city. Somethings caught her eye.



Mamma Felora steps in during the battle and uses one of her 'Ivy seeds'. Plus I visualized her giving Iron Claw a talking to. Telling him how he should behave.

Hero and Sidekick Weapons Coloured



Snowdrop's weapons finally coloured. I tried to keep with her colour scheme. Blues browns and yellows to match her outfit.



The same goes with Mamma Felora. Also a simple flap for her bag because as it was pointed out she doesn't have fingers but feathers so opening anything with knots in would be rather difficult.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Size Comparison Finle



I went back and adjusted the characters height a little. The Villain was too tall and the Sidekick too short. Hopefully they work a lot better now.

Sidekick Coloured



And last of all, the sidekick fully coloured.

Villain- Finle Colour



Finally finished this guy. I'm feeling 50:50 about the highlights. Should I try and 'blur' them in more? Or are they ok? Also added some base colour to the turnarounds. Starting to get sick of this guy. My Hero won't be the one to kill him, I fear I shall by the end of this project XD.

Monday 22 November 2010

Sidekick Expressions



For some reason I found her expressions harder to do than the hero's.
However top row: Happy, Angry
Middle row: Crazy, Sad
Bottom row: Serious, Sarcastic

Hero Turnarounds with Base Colour

Hero- Fully Coloured





Finished colouring in my Hero. I changed the colour of her dress from green to blue because Justin suggested making it different from the sidekick. I chose blue because of her same, Snowdrop and blue is used to represent water or in this case snow. I'm also pleased with her eyes as well. I was planning on having them with a honey colour iris, but they looked too creepy. In the end it was recommended that I keep them plain like they are. I'm rather pleased with how she's turned out.

Hero and Sidekick Weapons

A water bottle as well as a backpack for my Hero. I aimed to make it half and half. She could either use it to carry water or she ca simply put things into it as well as have room to carry an arrow with her. I imagined that she wouldn't have a lot of arrows as she wouldn't really have much use for them where she lived. However she will be given more when she finally sets out to not only find her parents, but to defeat Iron Claw. I'm leaning towards the design in the bottom right hand corner.



A water bottle as well as a backpack for my Hero. I aimed to make it half and half. She could either use it to carry water or she ca simply put things into it as well as have room to carry an arrow with her. I imagined that she wouldn't have a lot of arrows as she wouldn't really have much use for them where she lived. However she will be given more when she finally sets out to not only find her parents, but to defeat Iron Claw. I'm leaning towards the design in the bottom right hand corner.



The same would go with her bow. Whilst living in the village she would have no use for it. So I've tried to come up with some simple designs, yet make them appears as if they belonged to a young teenager. I rather like the top right hand corner. Simple and yet follows her design by having the same shaped charm hanging from it.



I've also tried to keep the sidekick's bag and weapons simple as well. For the sidekick's weapon, being a wise woman I imagined she'd use elements from the earth rather than something constructive. So she carries around seeds and beans. The first an ivy seed which when thrown produces ivy to shoot out and wrap around the target, trapping it. The second would be a bean which when it hits a hard surface, explodes.

Hero and Villain Expressions



Along the top: Happy, Sad and Tired
Along the bottom: Angry, Surprised, Pouty



My Villain only has three expressions as I imagined him being the type who wouldn't show anything other than anger. However he does have a slight smirk to show something akin to happiness.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Villain Turnarounds





This didn't take me as long as I thought it would to outline. Maybe it was because last time I did a 3/4 view and coloured it in. I also added in both sides of him because he's not symmetrical.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Sidekick Turnaround





Outlining the sidekick was a lot easier than outlining the hero. Thankfully I made her simple in design so I didn't have as much to edit. Next will be the bad guy.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Hero Turnarounds





Finished outlining the Hero turnaround. This took a little longer than I thought it would because every time I thought I was finished, I found something else which needed cleaning up. Next up the Sidekick.

Character Design Class 9

This weeks character design class we looked at how we could include one or two background images into our character bible. We looked at how a person's home is very similar to their clothes. A person who lives in a swamp would be considered bad as a swamp is a deadly and uncertain place.

The task we were assigned involved drawing an environment with a certain personality. I was given a 'restless forest'. I found this a little difficult as it wasn't easy to make a tree and other inanimate objects seem like they have 'energy'.

Adaptation 2002



Adaptation is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The plot line of the film consists of a selection of characters. It is due to this that the film fits into a post-modern aspect.
It was written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze and was released in. The film is post modernism due to the fact that the plot of the film is about the author writing the book, which is being turned into a film and the script for that film is also being wrote. It is based along the theme of the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is an image of a snake or reptile eating its own tail and represents eternity.



For the first ¾ of the film, very little happens. The storyline follows Charlie, a self loathing script writer who is trying to write a script of the book 'The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean ' into a film.



Alongside his attempts, the film cuts back to the past of Susan on her adventures to write the article on John Laroche and the orchid. Facing writer's block and realizing that whilst writing he had included himself in the script, Charlie eventually accepts the help of his twin brother.



This is the turning point in the film where it changes. The film then takes on a traditional Hollywood blockbuster by having Charlie and his twin brother in a car chase, after discovering that Susan is having an affair with Laroche and also using drugs. The twins are then forced to hide from Laroche and Susan in the swamp. Events happen pretty quickly after this point as Laroche is then killed by an alligator, Charlie's twin is shot and Susan is arrested. The film ends with Charlie driving, knowing now how to finish his scrip and thinking of Gérard Depardieu to play his character.

Overall I rather enjoyed the film. Although the begging didn't have a lot of action, I still found I enjoyed watching it. I also found the way evens in the film occurred to be very intriguing, having never seen a film constructed in such a way.

Sunday 14 November 2010

Height Chart



Here is a chart to show how tall each character is. I will upload a better quality version once I've finished colouring all of my character's properly.

The Villain- Outline and Colour



The coloured version is a little blotchy as there is still some white seeping through small gaps. however I'll be tidying that up when it comes to adding on shading and lighting.

The Sidekick- Outline and Base Colour



The cleaned up version of my sidekick as well as the base colours. I was trying to go for earthly colours in both her and the hero without treading into villain territory, which is why both their dresses are a pale green rather than a vivid one. Also added in the silhouette of the sidekick to make sure she is easily recognizable without all the details.

The Hero- Outline and Base Colour



Cleaned up my Hero and added in some base colour ready for me to add in more detail. I know she hasn't got any proper eyes yet but I will add them in later when I colour her in properly. I've been looking at some tutorials on Deviantart on how to colour fur and eyes in.

Fur colouring tutorial

Eye colouring tutorial

Both looks very simple to follow and seem to have a feel for how I wish my character to look. Also the artist who created them also draws a lot of wolf images and colours them in, this is also helpful as it would be a wolf I am colouring in.

Friday 12 November 2010

Moulin Rouge- Quotes

Postmodernism is hard to define, because it is a concept that appears in a wide variety of disciplines or areas of study, including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion and technology. It’s hard to locate it temporally and historically, because it’s not clear exactly when postmodernism begins.
(Klages, 2006, 163).

Klages, M., (2006). Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed, London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

'Combining old-style Hollywood glamour, Orphean myth and boulevard farce, "Moulin Rouge" tells the story of … a doomed romance.' (Smith, 2001).
Smith, N., (2001). Review of Moulin Rouge, for the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/06/22/moulin_rouge_2001_review.shtml Accessed 5/11/10

The story of Moulin Rouge stems from Orphean myth of a young poet-musician who descended to the underworld in search of ideal love. Nicole Kidman plays Satine, the Sparkling Diamond, star of the Moulin Rouge and the city's famous courtesan. She is caught between the love of a young writer and another man's obsession. Ewan McGregor is the writer, Christian, who finds himself plunged into this decadent world where anything goes -- except falling in love.
(Urban, 2001)

'The main plot of Moulin Rouge is pure cliché…'
(Booker, 2007, 59).

'The film takes its own editing style largely from music videos, epitomizing the use of postmodern editing techniques.'
(Booker, 2007, 58).

Booker, M., (2006). Postmodernism Hollywood: What's New in Film and why it Makes Us Feel So Strange, Westport: Praeger Publishers

Death of the Author was theorized in 1967 by a man named Barthes. He proclaimed that 'anything in culture can be decoded'. (Appignanesi & Garratt 1995 74).

'Postmodernism is fundamentally the eclectic mixture of any traditions with that of the immediate past.' (Jencks 1989 p7)
Jencks, C., (1989). What is Post-Modernism, London: Academy Editions.

Just some quotes I've found which I can use to write my essay.

Thursday 11 November 2010

The Horror of Dracula 1958



The Horror of Dracula was made in 1958 and is a British Horror company production. It was directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster. The original title for the film was 'Dracula', but it was changed to 'The Horror of Dracula' to avoid any confusion with the original film, made in 1931. The film is the first of the Dracula films to be shot in colour and is also the reboot to horror. It is also the first of the films to include eroticism in the storyline. Along the lines of eroticism the scene in which Mina is waiting for Dracula to enter her room caused a great stir at the time. It was seen as far too erotic and suggestive to be allowed.



The film starts off with Jonathan Harker starting a new job as librarian at Dracula's castle. There he is bothered by a beautiful woman claiming to be held prisoner by Dracula and begging him to help her. Later, after being bitten he realizes she is actually Dracula's bride and that he must act fast to fulfil his true mission, to destroy Dracula for good. Upon entering Dracula's tomb he stakes the woman to death. Dracula upon hearing the screams of the woman wakes up and advances upon Jonathan.
Van Helsing arrives at Dracula's castle, looking for his friend Jonathan. Upon reading Jonathan's diary he goes into Dracula's tomb and with reluctance stakes his friend to free him. Helsing then returns to the house of Jonathan's fiancé to inform them of Jonathan's 'death'. Upon visiting he discovers that Dracula has started seeing Lucy, Harker's fiancée, later turning her into a vampire. As Helsing quotes 'most likely to get back at Harker for killing the previous woman'. A race against time then ensues as Helsing and Author (Lucy's brother) try to find Dracula in order to save Author's wife, Mina.

I wasn't too sure about this film. The plot was pretty good, but I found it hard to keep up where everyone was and when. There appears to be a time jump as well as a location one halfway through the film. It felt like there was hardly any distance between where Dracula's castle was and where Helsing lived. It was also noted in IMDB that this was an actual error in the film 'Errors in geography: In the climactic chase, which takes place over a single night, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. Van Helsing pursue Dracula by coach, back to his castle in Transylvania, as if it were a trip no longer than Cleveland to Columbus - never mind the English Channel.' (IMDB Goofs). Other than the confusion I felt this film was pretty good for its time.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Character Design Class 8

This weeks character design lesson was a mixture of all we have learnt the past 8 weeks. We were given 6 different characters to manufacture into toys. We worked in groups of three and each of member of the group took on 2 of the 6 characters each. I chose to do Tessa, a side kick who has a crush on the hero. She's a tomboy and is a mechanic. I based her design on Audrey from the Disney film Atlantis


(starting from 0:20)

and Akima from Titain AE



Her design and progress.



Auriana is supposed to be a princess with a mysterious past. Tess hates her and distrusts her completely, whereas the hero is more than happy for her to accompany him. what the hero doesn't realize is that she works for the bad guy and is a spy. To help with her design I looked at fem fatale, trying to get a pose to also help me convey a temptress.



About 45 minutes before we had to present our designs,certain additions were then mentioned to be added to the characters. For Auriana it was that she was of aquatic background. I tried to give her enough aquatic features without loosing her teasing appearance.

Monday 8 November 2010

Character Profile- The Sidekick



I looked at more websites to help me come up with a name for the sidekick. I wanted something which sounded slightly odd and yet was familliar.

Chicken Names
Love of Birds
Finle Name and Meaning