Things that could be categorized as art

Update ya

2010-04-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

Only the coolest mouse you will ever see. Ever. You wish you were as cool as this mouse.

Things I be doing:

*Storyboard finished
*Filming finished...for now
*Keying out the green screen
*Creating an environment in AE
*Being more amazing than you.

I forgot to take pictures of things :/ Will update with more pics soon.

MY AWESOME NEW ASSIGNMENT

2010-04-08T02:13:00.000-07:00

Documentation- Escape a la luna

2009-06-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

My work was inspired by George Melies' Trip to the Moon. I was intrigued by his story of scientists who go to the moon and discover mushrooms that grow from umbrellas, and a colony of Selenites. One of the main reasons I found the story so intriguing was that the extent of any of my thoughts about the moon were that it was a big rock in space. I had never thought of it as a place where I can fantasize about strange creatures. I wanted to create a narrative that would allow viewers to explore in their own minds the possibilities of what could be experienced on the moon.

The Process:

Drawing of scene background

Finished scene

Image after filters have been applied and background removed

Same image sequence after background and props are introduced

Poster edges filter applied

Cut out filter applied

Future direction:

As far as my future direction as an artist goes, I'm positive that I want to stick with animation. For me, this was the first step to see if I could succesfully express a narrative, and an actual animation. The next step for me to take is to see how I can push this a little bit further, and how I want to experiment with this. During the showing of my final, I had the class make sound effects for my project, a last minute addition that I actually found to be really intriguing. I might explore more making an interactive animation. For this project one way I might expand on it is to put it on Youtube, and open it for people to add their own "fantasy" sequence within the moon sequence.

In another direction I'm really interested in creating an animated sculpture, or at least creating the illusion of an animated sculpture. It's something I haven't thought too much about yet, but it seems like something I would like to focus on in the future.

Update

2009-05-19T17:13:00.001-07:00

So I haven't updated much because I've been busy working on this project (6 hours a day is crazy!). I'm very sad that because I'm running behind schedule my idea of using non-diegetic noises might have to be sacrifised to the diegetic. Because it is easier, and because I would rather have something that sounds good, than something I couldn't put as much effort into as I wanted to. Usually when I work with film I like to have the video completed before I work on the audio. However, I'm not sure that by the time I'm done with the video I'll have enough time to really focus on what kind of sound I want, and the feeling I'm trying to create in each scene. If I get the video completely done and edited within a week, then perhaps I'll have enough time. Otherwise it's something I'm going to have to work on later. Which saddens me. If only there were more hours in a day.

I think I will continue with this project after this quarter is over. There are a lot of nuances within the animation that I would like, like racking focus and other little technical details.

I've completed all my research for what I want on the moon. I don't feel like I have any time right now to put it on the blog, but once I'm nearer completion of the entire project, I'll make sure to put it up. Back to work!

Genius who doesn't know how to work blogspot

2009-05-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

I have to be the only person in dxarts who can't figure out a blogging website correctly. I've been deleting all my updates somehow. Thats what I get for not double checking/saving. Have learned lesson.

Summary of updates/actual update:

My project is going rather slowly, but surely going. I've been a little bit too caught up with the details of every scene (lighting, dimensions, texture, etc), but I've realized I can't be too much of a perfectionist if I want to actually finish the short film. I've also found that everything goes much faster if you work on the action of several different scenes first, then come back and finish the details later. I've been working a bit with aftereffects (thanks to Gaelien) as well to speed up the process, but as I'm not very familiar with it and don't have the time to try to figure it out, I can use it for only a few sequences with repetitive actions. I will learn more about aftereffects when I have the time, as I'm sure it will greatly expand what I can do. I'm almost half-way done with my project, which might sound like I'm behind, but the majority of what I have left to do is figure out exactly what I want on the moon.

I've done some research about different cultural myths about the moon, but feel like I want to do just a little bit more before I begin working on those scenes. I've been focusing more on stories that involve an actual creatures believed to be living on the moon and their habits, rather than stories about how the moon came about. However, as I'm thinking about making the moon an actual creature within my film, I should probably look into that.

I've decided to have no dialogue in my film, not for the reason that it would make my film easier (which I believe is to the contrary), but I'd like to try to tell a story through purely visual elements. There will be sound, but I'd like the sound in my film to be mostly nondiegetic. I'm debating on whether I should have any diegetic sound in my animation at all. The main reason I've decided to have no dialogue, is that I want my animation to feel like a daydream. Typically in a daydream people do not create whole dialogues, but the format mostly resembles, "this happens, then this happens, then i meet so-and-so and we talk, and after that this happens." I'm hoping that doing so well allow an audience to realize that this is a fantasy, and to feel like its their own fantasy by creating their own dialgoue of what the characters would say through my visual cues.

Back to animating!

Final Project Progress

2009-04-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Nineth Assignment

2009-04-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Write a short description of your final project idea

For my final project I'm going to create an animated short involving drawing, Photoshop, and FinalCutpro. The narrative involves a person from our time and age going back in time (1902). This narrative is inspired by George Melies' Le Voyage Dans la Lune, where a group of scientists travel to the moon and discover monsters called "cellenites," and mushrooms that grow as tall as men. In my short a person goes back in time, encounters the fantasies of what people believe the moon to be like in the early 20th century, and tries to debunk those fantasies by explaining to everyone that the moon is just a giant rock, and creates a rocketship to bring civilians along with him so he can prove that what he says is true. When he arrives to the moon, he soon discovers that his interpretations were incorrect, and that the real characteristics of the moon are closer to what those in 1902 had imagined. The story trys to bring fantasy and imagination back to a situation or location that all fantasy has been wrung out of because our knowledge of it is too extensive. Back in 1902 people were free to imagine about cellenite monsters on the moon because we had no clear knowledge of what the moon was actually like. It's an attempt to bring mystery back to a place where almost all questions have been answered.

I plan to experiment with the process and techniques of animation during this project. Exactly what I'll be experimenting with, I'd rather not say as I'd like to figure out what I want to experiment on as I'm actually working on the project, rather than ahead of time. This isn't because of lack of thought or time put into my final project idea, but has more to do with my creative process. It's a lot easier for me to figure out what I want to experiment with while I'm in the process of creating something, rather than coming up with an experimental idea and then realizing I'd rather go in a different direction and having to recreate a whole narrative to go along with it.

Eighth Assignment

2009-04-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Interests:

Film
Moulin Rouge
Lord of the Rings
Big Fish
Little Miss Sunshine
Finding Nemo/Wall-e
The Royal Tenenbaums
There Will Be Blood

Literature
Shakespeare
1984
Alice in Wonderland
The Count of Monte Cristo
Peter Pan

Music
The Beatles
Bright Eyes
Arctic Monkeys

Pop Culture
Internet
Celebrity culture
Spoofs

History (in eras)
1960s
1920s
1860s
1940s

Paintings
Dadaism
Cubism
J.M.W Turner
Southern Italian Baroque
Surrealism
Frida
Pop Art

Science
Oceanography

Seventh Assignment

2009-04-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

Research about your favorite artwork including its historical/cultural background and production methods/processes

Moulin Rouge!

Historical/Cultural Background

Moulin Rouge is a 2001 musical directed by Baz Luhrmann. It's based loosely off of Guisseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata, Bollywood movies, an ancient Sanskrit play The Little Gray Cart, and the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. The setting is based on a real historical cabaret building in Paris in the red-light district. One of the characters in the movie, Toulouse-Lautrec, was a famous painter who often resided and painted in the Moulin Rouge.

Guisseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata is about a tragic love story between a courtesan and a nobleman. They fall in love and live together for a while, until the nobleman's father confronts the courtesan about his difficulty marrying off his younger daughter because of her reputation and connection to the family. The courtesan, Violetta, leaves the nobleman for the good of his family, and returns to her lifestyle. The nobleman goes after Violetta, and believes that she has left him because she fell in love with another man, and renounces her. Violetta, about to die from tuberculosis, recieves a letter from her father-in-law informing her that he has told the nobleman what she has done for their family, and that he is on his way to beg for forgiveness. The courtesan and nobleman are reunited, with the courtesan soon after dying in his arms.

When asked about the inspiration for Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann mentions his trip to India and how the Bollywood movies influenced him,

"Catherine Martin (production designer and Luhrmann's wife) and I went to India to work on "Midsummer Night’s Dream." We went out one night and there was a big poster up for a Bollywood movie. I said, "Let's go see that." We did - 2,000 audience members, high comedy, high tragedy, brother kills brother, [they] break out in some musical numbers, all jumbled up together in 4 hours of Hindi. We thought that was amazing. So our question was, "Could we create a cinematic form like that? Could a musical work?" A musical must be able to work in western culture again, and could it be comic-tragic? So then began this commitment of moving toward "Moulin Rouge." I decided I'd do "Romeo + Juliet" and then a musical film."

Baz Luhrmann's choice to use songs from the 20th century was influenced by the story of Orpheus who, "was a musical genius far surpassing anyone in his world." As the film's setting is in 1899, the songwriter, Christian, would appear to be an innovative musical genius. Some of the famous 20th century songs used within the film include: Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" (David Bowie's rendition," La belle's "Lady marmalade," Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Elton John's "Your song," Queen's "The Show Must Go On," The Police's "Roxanne," and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter who often resided within the Moulin Rouge. At the age of thirteen, Toulouse broke his legs, which ceased to grow after that, leaving him with child-sized legs. He was commissioned to produce posters for the Moulin Rouge when it opened, and after that was reserved a seat within the cabaret. He was attracted to the night-life of Paris, and the bohemian style that flourished. He loved to paint prostitutes and the "low-life" of Paris, because although he was a nobleman, Toulouse felt a kinship to them because of his deformity.

Production Methods/Processes

During production, Baz Luhrmann tried to re-create the thrill of Moulin Rouge of the audience of 1899 and create that same thrill within contemporary movie-goers. This also influenced the use of 20th century music in a 19th century setting. Taking much influence from MTV, the film at times was almost shot and edited like a music video. Some characteristics of the filming included swirling camera motion, loud music, dancing, and frentic, short cuts. To fully understand how 19th century Paris was to it's audience, Baz Luhrmann researched everything from the can-can to first-hand accounts by journalists depicting their encounters with Paris nightclubs. He tried to capture the excitement of what the nightlife in the 19th century felt like through his research, and then re-create that excitement for today. In creating the film, they made references to classical hairstyles and costumes of the women of the '40s and '50s. Costuming tried to balance between a nod to the 19th century style, while still appealing to an audience of today. Hair and makeup was based off of Tolouse-Lautrec's bright, jarring colors used in his paintings. In trying to create an excitement on film, Luhrmann had his actors sing live on camera. Electricity was new in the 19th century, which must have caused much excitement when used in the nightclubs. Instead of creating a realistic depiction of the lighting in the 19th century, Luhrmann went to the effect of what would amaze an audience of today, and would seem outrageous and over-the-top. The use of visual effects was used to create an "imperfection" with the film, and to create an almost hand made look. This was used to reflect the imperfections of film in the 19th century, which they hoped would help the audience become more accepting that this film was set in 1889. In approaching the musical score, Luhrmann wanted somethin that would encompass opera, pop, rock, and techno. Luhrmann's use of contemporary music in a period musical isn't something entirely new to film. In Meet Me in St. Louis, a musical set in 1900, the song "The Trolley Song," sung by Judy Garland, was a contemporary song in the 1940s. Luhrmann often takes traditional approaches to film and re-creates it to fit an audience of today.

Sixth Assignment

2009-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Describe your experience (and inspirations) in the Butoh workshop

In the Butoh workshop we were told to “connect” to a tree and to become one with it. I chose a tree and the end of a row, with a straight trunk and branches too far to reach. It wasn’t a very accessible tree to “connect” to. I couldn’t climb it, or sit on one of it’s branches. The closest I could get to the tree physically was to press my back against a small niche in the trunk. I wasn’t really sure how to connect to my tree, so I looked at what everyone else was doing around me. Some were sitting next to their trees, like me, others were able to climb into the branches of their tree, and some others tried to dance with their tree. I realized that if I tried to experience this exercise as I was told to experience it, or if I went about it how I thought I was supposed to go about it, it would be a complete waste of my time. So I stopped worrying about what I was supposed to do, and sat there with my tree. Together we remained motionless, while peopled passed by holding conversations, completely oblivious to the fact that my tree (who I decided had it’s own conscious) and I were eavesdropping. My tree made me feel comfortable in the fact that I wasn’t “moving” with it as I was told to do. In fact my tree seemed almost to discourage it, because if it’s inaccessibility. We “moved” in our own ways, it’s branches moved with the wind, and I breathed and readjusted myself to stay warm. For the exercise I felt almost forced to move, “how your inner ball is moving.” But my inner ball wasn’t moving, and any twirls or jigs would be a complete lie. My tree’s immobility helped me realize that I didn’t have to worry about what I felt like I was supposed to be doing or what others wanted me to do, and that it was all about doing it my own way.

Fifth Assignment

2009-04-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Make a small project showing complexity in simplicity

My project Distortions involved creating a distorted mirror image through water ripples. The idea was to play with something simple, such as reflection and ripples to create an image that skewed an object, making it almost unrecognizable. Photoshop was used to accentuate the ripple effect and further create distortions. The idea came through the failure of my other ideas for this project. The majority of my failed ideas for this assignment involved the use of my small point-and-shoot camera. Everything I had recorded on my camera was of very poor quality, which extremely frustrated me because an aesetheically pleasing project is important to me. While looking at my out-of-focus pictures I realized they almost resembled a JMW Turner painting. I decided to try to work with the poor equipment that I had, and turn something distorted and out of focus into something aesthetically pleasing (and could at the same time express my frustration with technology).

Fourth Assignment

2009-04-14T23:35:00.001-07:00

Describe your motivation for making art in less than five sentences

My motivation for creating art is to communicate with people. I feel like when I try to communicate with people verbally, they understand what I’m saying, but I feel like my message isn’t getting fully across. I don’t feel like I can come up with the right combination of words to make someone else truly understand and think/feel what I’m thinking/feeling. I sometimes feel like art is the only way we can really communicate and really understand how another person feels, and so I find it as the best form of expression.

Third Assignment

2009-04-14T23:34:00.001-07:00

Find an artwork showing complexity in simplicity or the other way around

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1788/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1788-1960.jpg

I chose Nile Mosaic (Hippo Hunt detail) from Primigenia 100 bc. It’s a floor pebble mosaic, obviously simple because the medium is pebbles. However it’s complexity comes from the creation of depth and shadowing by placing different colored pebbles together.

Second Assignment

2009-04-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Find a reference representing current time and culture where we are living in

I chose this because it represents not only how we sensationalize things in our culture, but how we often make “spoofs” of what is popular. Twilight is an obvious example of how we often sensationalize things, often times things that are ridiculous and have no artistic merit. There seems to be two kinds of reactions to phenomena like this in our culture, the first is to be sucked into the trend, and the other is to poke holes and make fun of the ridiculous event.

First Assignment

2009-04-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Find an artwork or artist (in your definition of an artwork or artist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemesia_Gentileschi

I chose Artemisia Genteileschi as my artist because of her skill as a painter. She was very controversial in her use of the human body as a model for her paintings, mostly because she was a woman and it was improper for a woman to stare at a naked male body for hours on end. She was one of the first female artists to receive commissions for historical and religious paintings, and was renowned for her heroic, biblical paintings of women.