Sunday 14 August 2011

Confession of an Ugly Stepsister The Film (2002)



Well this was a pleasant find and a most welcomed one. I'm using 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' by Gregory Maguie in my Dissertation to answer why people write Fanfiction. What I didn't realize was that his book was made into a film in 2002. After watching it, I've realized I was very disappointed. The plot of Confessions is to show that both Iris (one of Clara's step sisters) and Clara herself were both forced into something they didn't want to do. The book shows that the only reason Clara (the Cinderella character of the book) goes to the ball is because Iris asks her to. Where as in the film they have reverted back to the original Cinderella story. They even involved magic (though thankfully very little) of a rat being turned into a pair of shoes.

I could go on about the differences between the book and the film (of which has rather annoyed me). Either way the film, although starts of like the book doesn't follow true to it.

Saturday 13 August 2011

@ Phil: Dissertation Book Help

Phil, are there any books on hyper reality you could recommend for me (that I can buy from Amazon) for my dissertation?

So far I've looked at these

Faith In Fakes
How To Travel With A Salmon
Travels in Hyper Reality

But any recommendations would be good, thanks :-)

Thursday 4 August 2011

Map Exhibition and Ideas

As suggested by Phil, I went to Hereford with Tom for the day to go and see the Mappa Mundi. I'd arranged, upon arriving at the Cathedral to meet up with a Hereford Map expert, Rosalind. She showed us around the Mappa Mundi exhibition and explained what certain parts of the map were. Rosalind also showed us the English translation of the map as well as a new digital restoration of how the map would have been coloured. To also help me understand more about the map she took Tom and I up into the Cathedral's private library.

The library was full of what looked like old books as well as information on all the ancient artefacts found around the Cathedral. Rosalind showed us a books called 'Mappa Mundi: The Hereford World Map' as well as a book containing a list of all the text from the map which had been translated. The Mappa Mundi book I was able t purchase from the shop as well as a poster of the English translation of the map to help with my work. I also need to email Rosalind back to let her know what parts of the map I would like enlarged.

Tom said I needed to come up with an angle in which to base my animation. He pointed out that the Mappa Mundi looks like it could be a board game of some sorts. With this in mind I looked at different sorts of games. The main one which spring to mind was an interaction DVD board game called Khufu the Mummy





I had the idea of designing some environments for such a game to put into an advert of some sorts. I would also aim to add in one or two of the creatures as the pieces used for the players to move around.

Another idea I had was similar to a Harry Potter game I have. In the game, the player is given 3 locations they must reach on the board before racing back to their common room.

'As a student you will visit famous destinations in and around Hogwarts collecting House Points as you go whilst trying to avoid the hazards along the way. The object of the game is to be the student who earns the most House Points.

From the Start position you must plan your route around Hogwarts without losing all your House Points or getting expelled. But watch other players' moves carefully: if they land on one of your Destinations you can knock them back to the Start and relieve them of their House Points.
' More info here

With this I would again create some 3D environments to be shown as well as add in characters for game pieces.