This one is to help me get some ideas for gaining height, depth and drama to my images. It's mostly focused on sculpture for my first scene but there's a lot that can benefit my other images too
There's a mix of photos and concept art from various artists, some I chose for their colour and others just for the way they present their environment. As I've mentioned previously, I'm struggling to create enough depth and height in my caverns so I'll now jump on Photoshop and see what I can do to improve on that.
Interim Online Review 09/11/10
ReplyDeleteHey Molly
Okay, you've got a number of specific feedback requests, so I'll deal with them first.
Re. the table in the hall of the dead. There's something a bit dull about the (non)spectacle of a group of stiffs sitting around a table together. I'd suggest some artistic license may be required. Does it really alter the meaning of the scene if the table, for example was round? Does it interfere with the story - does it break Haggard's world? Probably not. Also, I think there's something ineffectual about the 'hovering' point-of-view in most of your thumbnails, only because that pov reduces the scene and gives it a domestic scale - which, even though they're dead people - makes it very difficult to instill shock and awe. You do have one thumbnail in which you drop the 'camera' to the floor level, looking up at the chairs. This is better, and I'd suggest that immersing your viewer in this scene is better than floating them above it. Personally, I would consider f**king with the table for more filmic appeal. It happens all the time; at the end of JAWS, Spielberg has the marauding shark blown up via a bullet-in-an-oxygen-tank... In Peter Benchley's original novel, he just had the shark sink and drown... hmmm
Re. Silent Hill - the answer is very simple. If lots has been written about its production design, this rather suggests that it is influential. When something is influential it gets written about/critiqued/discussed - which creates content, debate and enquiry - which is the job you need to do. If it's out there, go find it. I'm going to post a list of links at the end of this IOR to further assist you in structuring, writing and referencing a kick-arse essay - so don't disappoint!
More generally, I just wanted to encourage you to keep-on-trucking. I like the way you push your own work, reflect on its strengths and weaknesses - and then move on. This characteristic is absolutely key to longterm success. But - something more for you to ponder - at the crit I'm going to be specifically interested in hearing about students' visual concepts - the production design rulebook that has governed the design and execution of the 3 scenes. WHY does your environment look that way? What is the system of meaning behind the use of colour? What is your psychological purpose behind those textures, that colour palette. Make no mistake, yes, you're concept artists for five weeks, but, perhaps more importantly, you are a production designer and cinematographer. You are NOT illustrating descriptions in a book - you're shaping an entire world. Things you might want to think about then; who is the audience for your cg adaptation? What is the style and where does it come from? If you haven't done so already, I suggest you return to the source novel and hunt out a 'system of metaphor' that can drive the design of your scenes... You've demonstrated you've got a keen idea for the 'systems-of-metaphor' in the films of others with your increasingly sophisticated reviews - you now need one of your own...
ReplyDeleteStyle, Molly - it's all about style...