Reflective Statement

Reflective Statement

In the time that I had, I feel that I did well in fulfilling the brief. Although I didn’t finish everything entirely, I completed most of the requirements, including the three digital paintings and supporting thumbnails. I have learned so much during this process already, however I am still learning so I think my digital paintings reflect that. I have never created anything like this before, so I think that it is just a case of practice. After finishing this brief, I realised that there are many things that I could have done differently, for example, time management, practicing more often in photoshop and accurate perspective. I also feel that I was overthinking when thumbnailing which made me struggle to create enough to reach the requirement.

I think that in hindsight, if I were to do this project again, I would plan my time out better and practice on my drawing style. I would also like to develop a looser drawing style when it comes to thumbnailing to get more ideas down on the page.

Overall, I am happy with what I have produced at this stage and I know I will improve in the future.

Invisible Cities - Research Material

Research Material by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - Presentation

Presentation by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - 'Art Of'

art of by Alex on Scribd

Perspective Practice

1, 2 & 3 point perspective

Invisible Cities - Exterior Low Angle Shot

Invisible Cities - Exterior Establishing Shot

Invisible Cities - Interior Establishing Shot

Toolkit 1: Lego Car - Final Render

During this session I added a pre textured wood layer as well as animating, lighting and fixing other minor areas. The images below show the car rendering. 

Life Drawing

In today's life drawing session we looked at movement and more expressive poses.

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails

I have produced three main thumbnails that I plan to use as a guide when creating my final three paintings.

Concept Artist's - Who's Who

Dermot Power by Alex on Scribd

Animation

Lotte Reiniger

Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (born 1899) was a German film director. She pioneered silhouette animation in which she created the oldest surviving feature-length animated film (The Adventures of Prince Achmed - 1926). To create her films she pain painstakingly cut card, which she then animated by hand. Although her work was revolutionary, rather than fighting for her place in the studio she instead worked around the limitations of being a women in the film industry at the time. 

There is a clear influence from the Chinese art of shadow puppetry. She then developed this into her signature style. The silhouettes are often backed with jewel tones which creates a visually appealing picture. Reiniger's films have influenced the world of animation into the modern age. 





Don Hertzfeldt 

Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator who proved that it doesn't take a big budget to created a meaningful film. His work often includes stick figures, including existential and philosophical themes, as well as tragicomedy and slapstick humour. Hertzfeldt often work with minimal digital aid, opting for a more hand drawn route. 

Hertzfeldt used 16mm or 35mm-film cameras to photography his drawing, as well as using old special effect techniques multiple exposure and in-camera mattes. He has also worked on television shows such as The Simpsons. 

Space Oddities Film Reviews - Metropolis

Fig. 1. Metropolis poster. 

Metropolis, (1927) is an incredibly influential German silent film by director Fritz Lang. Both the original story and screen play was written by Lang's wife at the time Thea von Harbou. The film itself is about a young man Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), who discovers that the people living under the city are overworked and treated like slaves so that those above may live a privileged life. Freder falls in love with a teacher from below, Maria (Brigitte Helm) and the pair aim to help the workers, much to the dismay of his father. This results in a strange turn of events that ultimately leads to a happy ending for both sides. The film introduces many common tropes that we now expect to see in cinema, such as, a fight between good and evil, a damsel in distress, an evil scientist, and the climax of the film in which good triumphs over evil. Ideas like this influenced and changed the course of cinema as a result of Metropolis being so ahead of it's time. 

Fig. 2. Illustration of Director Fritz Lang. 

 Metropolis was created at the pinnacle of German Expressionism, a movement which saw the artist's emotions influencing the end product, focusing on the artists reality rather than what the artist really saw. This movement had an interesting affect on cinema, for example, long shadows, artificial sets and unusual angles which gave the audience a new perspective. These principals are clear in Metropolis. All the buildings are structured with lots of contrast to emphasise the feeling that the characters that live below are almost in a prison like space, where as Freder's home is open and light with lots of soft edges. There is use of unusual camera angles and long shadows. Alongside the fact that it was part of the German Expressionist movement, it was also widely considered as the first science fiction film, influencing films such as Blade Runner. Lang was working with and developing brand new concepts never seen before on film. The set design directly relates to the art style of the time. "They are controlled like hands on a clock. And when the machinery explodes, Freder has a vision in which the machinery turns into an obscene devouring monster." (Ebert, 1998). Roger Ebert explains the first moment in the film when reality becomes twisted. Freder sees a vision, the structured machinery before him morphs into a monster, linking back to the idea of German Expressionism and the break in reality. There is a focus on time, the every day monotony of the working class against the repetition of the bells chiming. The imagery produced in these scenes was futuristic looking at the time whilst still keeping different elements that the audience would recognise. The buildings are heavily influenced by the architecture in New York.

Fig. 3. Cityscape in Metropolis. 

Metropolis was made during the time of the Weimar Republic and the hyper inflation in Germany as a result of the First World War. The population was extremely poor, the government  essentially printed more money in a bid to resolve this, which then lead to the devalue of their currency. This had an impact on cinema in a number of ways, one being that when people were going to the cinema they wanted to escape their everyday lives, which film makers then responded to by making films with a heavily driven story with a happy ending. The film has key themes such as; Capitalism, role of religion in modern cities, utopia and dystopia, and motherhood. I this case the theme of motherhood stems from the character Maria, who acts as a mother like character to the working class children. She is also responsible for the element of religion, she is depicted like a saint standing in front of a cross preaching down to the workers. 
There are many subtle religious references throughout the picture. This includes the stories the Maria tells, and the reference to the seven deadly sins. As well as this symbols like the upside down pentagram can be scene through the scientists home and work space suggesting the things he has created are unholy. When the scientist Rotwang is transferring Maria's likeness to the robotic man, the star represents ideas of satanism. Once created, the robot like creation represents the duality in human nature. The scenes showing the people working a ten hour day would have been relatable to the audience of the time. During the time Lang was creating this film there was a rise in fascism as well as the country being between two world wars. The director, Lang also had Jewish heritage which made him a target for the Nazi regime, a group who had heavy control over propaganda and film being produced at the time. "Fredersen’s city is designed to malnourish its inhabitants. The workers’ city is strictly utilitarian, its streets completely deserted with no signs of life save for when the grunts trudge home from work." (Abrams, 2010). Simon Abrams explains the imagery in the film which is arguably not that far from the reality of the audience that would have watched it. All of these contextual elements had an affect on the creation of Metropolis. The picture shows class divide and a 'Mediator' otherwise known as 'Mittler' finding the middle ground between the two groups. The more you read into the film, the more you realise these elements of propaganda creeping in. 

Fig. 4. Maria's double. 

Fig. 5. Rotwang creating Maria's double. 

                       

Fig. 6. The Seven Deadly Sins (Death).

The scale of the production was unbelievable for it's time. All of the sets were built slightly bigger than the actors to create the realistic effect portrayed through the screens. The use of special effects in a time where technology was limited. Metropolis uses various different techniques to achieve these realistic effects, such as the layering of film to create a double exposure like effect. This film has created a captivating visual experience for audiences of it's time as well as the modern age. The processes and style of Metropolis has influenced modern science fiction cinema continuously, making directors think about the effects of science on society and the idea of robots living around us. It also introduced ideas of dystopian societies. Johnathan Romney goes in to detail about how revolutionary the pictures concepts were. "The film's futurism is still breathtaking, from its Art Deco titles to the neon spiral in Rotwang's lab: this is surely must the first film to imagine people communicating by video screen." (Romney, 2010). 







  
Illustration List:
- Lang, F. (1927). Figure 1. Metropolis poster. https://davinciemporium.com/metropolis-1927-3-sheet-
movie-poster-lithograph/
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 3. Cityscape in Metropolis. https://www.the-philosophy.com/metropolis-fritz-lang-review
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 4. Maria's double. https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2017/12/unified-theory/
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 5. Rotwang creating Maria's double. https://imgur.com/gallery/kkVP6/comment/1113470439
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 6. The Seven Deadly Sins (Death). http://www.scifiwright.com/2011/01/metropolis/

-Marszalek, A. Figure 2. Illustration of Director Fritz Lang. https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/222-the-sprawling-obsessive-career-of-fritz-lang/?page=all

Bibliography:
-Abrams, S. (2010). slantmagazine.com. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/metropolis/
-Ebert, R. (1998). rogerebert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927
-Romney, J. (2010). independent.co.uk. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/metropolis-fritz-lang-145-mins-pg-2076981.html

Life Drawing

In today's life drawing session we started with different tasks to get us to think about mark making. In the first drawings I started with using ten lines to create the figure, then a one line drawing, only using rectangles to make up the body, only drawing the shadows and finally using one colour to create the basic shapes and another colour to draw the detail.

(30 minute drawing)

(30 minute drawing)

(5 minute drawing) focusing on shadows and light

Invisible Cities - Photoshop Exercise

Colour study from Photoshop Lesson. We looked at the importance of colour theory and other techniques that would better my digital painting. The Painting I used for reference was painted by Caspar David Friedrich. 

Bouncing Ball - Animation

To get a good idea about timing I have produced different variations of objects falling and bouncing.

Cartoon Bouncing Ball

Ping Pong Ball, Tennis Ball, Bowling Ball. 

Invisible Cities OGR

Invisible Cities by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails

Leonia 

Moriana 

Phyllis 

Sophronia 

Tamara 

Thekla 

Zenobia 

Toolkit 1: Lego Car

Today we carried on with the Lego car, mainly focusing on the texturing as well as working on colouring, shadows. rendering and getting the wheels to move. I did find the last part of the lesson more difficult so I plan to go over my notes and watch the video to understand it better. 

This is the car after rigging the car so that the wheels all move at the same time in relation to the car.

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails

Here are some more thumbnails for Invisible Cities.

Fedora 

Isaura 

Ersilia 

Life Drawing

Had my first life drawing lesson with a live model today. I did various different tasks to get me thinking about focusing on drawing what I see and not what I know. I also focused on the shapes and lines throughout that stood out to me on the subjects body.

Using coloured and graphite pencils. 

Using one colour to block out shapes and another to go into more detail.

Drawing from memory (not looking at the subject at all).

Looking at the subject and not the paper. 

Experimenting with colour and shape.