Life Drawing Catch Up

Due to the chaoticiness that is moving house, I had sadly missed Life Drawing at University. So, I decided to do some at home using artmodeltips.com. I seem to draw very faintly, the is something to change. 

Hand Study

King Kong (1933) Review

Space Oddities Film Review 3

King Kong (1933)

By Kimberley Davis

    The mother of all monster movies, King Kong is deemed the be the first major “blockbuster”, raising the expectation of Hollywood films. Yielding a highly generous budget for its time, Kong was the only film to have had two directors, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Cooper’s inspiration for this feature came from reading about gorillas as a child and studying baboons in Africa. Willis O’Brian was employed to help in the construction of Kong itself, creating 4 scale size models. Three of his designs incorporated the use of a metal armature, allowing the flexibility needed in the gorilla’s movements. Its body was filled with foam and skinned with latex, a suit of rabbit pelt was placed over the form to give a realist appearance for the fur. The forth version was just a stuffed suit, used only for the scene where Kong falls off the Empire State Building. A wonder in special effects and stop-frame animation, Kong also has its own specially produced film score, which many movies have since followed suit.  

In the 1930’s, American cinema was slowly dying due to the increase in poverty. The dismemberment of the slave trade caused an influx of individuals moving from the plantations to the cities, increasing the already dire unemployment crisis. Families where often left starving and homeless, blaming the African American population and causing a proliferation in racism. Newspapers, along with the Ku Klux Klan fed the population racist propaganda. King Kong came at a desperate time, giving individuals the chance to escape the harsh realities of life, and become fully immersed in a world they have never seen before. At this period, Kong was perceived as a work of art worthy of praise. In more recent, times there is underlay questions about this picture’s true intent, and influences in its creation.

As a plot, it is not overly adventurous. Our 2 main male protagonists Carl and Jack embark on a voyage to create a new film. Running into the beauty Ann, Carl woos her into coming along with their tirade, completely unaware of the possible danger and falling in love. A local tribe spot out our heroine and kidnaps her, placing her in the ritual so that Ann becomes chosen by Kong. But, instead of devouring her, our beast treats her gently and protects her. Carl then rushes in to save our damsel, in the process capturing our supposed antagonist and transporting him to become a show for money in New York. This proceeds to go horribly wrong. Kong breaks free and snatching Ann from the stage, he then escapes with her by climbing the Empire State building. Unable to free her from the beast’s clutches, our hero summons a bright idea, bringing about our antagonist’s demise and saving the day.

When thinking about the development of Kong’s storyline, it comes across as boring and mundane. It holds the liner principle of man meets girl, falls in love, she succumbs to danger, the hero then shows a brave act and saves the day. Except in this one, they shoved in some apparent monsters (ones they haven’t really stretched their imaginations on). It contains sexism, light hints of racism, elements of stereotyping and factual flaws in their supposed dinosaurs. However, in considering this, King Kong paves the way for future creature movies to thrive. This plot line is often used as a base. When expanded on, some to the Alien instalments it holds a similarity in capturing a monster for a purpose.

“Ultimately, the mystique of the film lies not so much in what it offers today, but what it has contributed during the course of the last six decades.”

James Berardinelli – Reelviews

http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/king-kong_172

Our main Protagonist, Carl, represents the symbolic posturing of a hero – Handsome, tall and suave. However, his personality comes across Misogynist. He shows resentment to women, often belittling Ann and reprimanding her. As the only female lead, Ann is made out to be fragile, having a ditzy and waifish persona. Often, she is screaming and fainting, signifying that she needs a hero to save her at every turn. This trait becomes very bothersome. As a movie star, Ann would have held great influences over viewers, especially young female audiences who aspire to be like many divas. At this period in time, this may have been the director’s interpretation of what women should be like. Carl’s friend Jack comes across as scheming, he is uncaring if someone gets hurt as long as he can reach his aspirations. On arrival to Skull Island, our tribe holds the stereotypical imagery of deity worshiping and chanting. They have an ominous witch doctor adorned in feathers and bones casting rituals, which typically involves a human sacrifice and drums. As for the cast, there is an obvious ethnological divide. The crew and main stars all seem to be caucasian, visa versa being islanders are of an African descent. However, a noted scene on the boat is when Ann is talking to the cook. She stands above him and talks down, he himself is performing mundane duties as she swans about wistfully. Even among the hubbub when Ann is snatched form the boat, he is turned away from helping because of his stature. This behaviour would reflect the psycho-social element of America in the 1930’s, casting Ku Klux Klan ideals and superiority.  

“Modern viewers will shift uneasily in their seats during the stereotyping of the islanders in a scene where a bride is to be sacrificed to Kong (it is rare to see a coconut brassiere in a non-comedy)”

Roger Eburt – Febuary 2002.

www.RogerEburt.com 

Kong himself holds a range of emotions, one of them being the of the obvious is curiosity about our siren (who does nothing but scream). Even just being a puppet, he is able to show a deeper, more caring nature, enticing the audience.  He chooses to protect Ann, cradling her in his grip and portrays jealousy when he is bound up in chains. His mix of persona makes you want to focus more on Kong, the main characters almost becomes irrelevant.  His animations are techy, there is some symbolism of primate behaviours, but the limitations come down to the equipment of the times. Although dispite this, he is a specular creation. His production to life involved hours of masterful craftsmanship and graft, which should be celebrated as these skills are expanded on in the future.

“King Kong is an animated miniature imbued with character by a craftsman. He is not a man in a suit, just as Godzilla is a man in a suit and not a CGI creation.”

Kim Newman – January 2000

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/empire-essay-king-kong-review/

The set designs are incredibly detailed, environments are bursting with a luscious green jungle, large enough to hold towering creature. The costume designs add to the characters role, our main stars are clad in white, giving us an intention who they are. Perspective is questionable as times. There a period when Ann seems much too big in Kong’s grasp. The mountainsides seem a little small for Kong’s large frame, the opposite being the Empire state building that seems to swamp him completely.

As a feature, Kong gave the impression that it would be mind blowing. This was not the case. The submissive shrieking starlet and the arrogant protagonist are incredibly off putting, and the over bearing stereotyping makes you want to cringe. On another point, Kong was such an advancement in film SFX and animation, it makes these sub-par character almost bearable, just enough so to watch these new wonders in action. It seemed the directors was unable to stretch their imagination to create monsters more unique for this feature, so they just went with dinosaurs. Although, their information on dinosaur’s is sketchy, they decided to have lumped every one of them as crazy carnivores. As a first watch, it was a mix of emotions. Disappointment in the characters personas and supposed storyline, but elevation in the movies technological advancements. If I was asked to watch it again, I would properly decline. 

Bibliography:

- Berardinelli, J. (2019). King Kong | Reelviews Movie Reviews. [online] Reelviews Movie Reviews. Available at: http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/king-kong_172 [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

-  Ebert, R. (2019). King Kong movie review & film summary (1933) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-king-kong-1933 [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

- Empire. (2019). EMPIRE ESSAY: King Kong. [online] Available at: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/empire-essay-king-kong-review/ [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Image Bibliograghy:

-  Fr.wikipedia.org. (n.d). King Kong 1933 French poster.jpg. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:King_Kong_1933_French_poster.jpg [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

- Inverse. (n.d). How 'King Kong' Movies Changed VFX History, Over and Over Again. [online] Available at: https://www.inverse.com/article/28410-king-kong-visual-effects-hist [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

- Zeppy.io. (n.d). King kong 1933 poster - Zeppy.io. [online] Available at: http://www.zeppy.io/discover/gb/king-kong-1933-poster [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

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Maya Practise - Lego Car Rigging

Following yesterdays lesson in Maya, we now have a fully rendered Lego Car and have applied rigging. The code applied to the rigging allows for the wheels turn when moving forward or backwards in the Translate X plane, giving us that movement needed. 

Rendered

Rendered darker lighting

Rear view.

Rigged for the wheels to move in translate X.

Invisible Cities Online Greenlight Review

Invisible Cities Online Gre... by Kimberley Davis on Scribd

Animation Practise - Spacing

    Timing is essential in animation, this means having good understanding of the basics will allow for better practise. Using timing via lines (25 in total), we created a 2 second animation (48 frames). The ball and pendulum have the same timing, but because of the spacing it makes the speed look faster or slower, this is called Easing in and Easing out. There are two extreme points on these timelines, these are when both the ball and pendulum change directions. After completion, this was made into a GIF using Adobe Animate. 

I'm still struggling to understand the controls of Adobe Animate, this will be a program I'll have to sit down and really study. I had received some help with the first two (the ball pacings), but managed the pendulum on my own. Although the timing are not perfect, its a good start and an area to continue improving on.

Influence Maps

  So these are the three cities I enjoyed making thumbnails of the most, all will have their own personalities and purpose. After Choosing the one I like the most, creating more thumbnails will allow me to flesh out details and perspective.

Dormira is a dome city with Chinese style influences. Central of the city is a twisted crystal tower, many statues of goddess/goddesses adorn the streets and a busy food market.

I want to make Fedora enclosed, its more future based with buildings lining the wall. The main Tower holds globes, and Gargoyles will stand on building roofs. 

Going back to the eastern style, Phyllis is inspired by Indian culture and is a trading water city between Islands. Boats travel the cannels in the stilted city and many control bridges on their sails to allow travel between the streets,    

Maya Practise - Lego Plane

    

     Following making the Lego car, next week we are moving on to animation. Therefore we where given the oppertunity to experiment with Maya and make another object with wheels, allowing us more modelling practise. Keeping to the Lego theme, a plane seemed like a good idea. This meant I could expand my knowlege on snapping, vertex manipulaton, pivot points and hypershade.

Finished Plane

Metropolis Review

Space Oddities Film Review 2

Metropolis

By Kimberley Davis

Metropolis. Written 9 years post world war one, this film carries heavy symbolisms of political concerns and the psychosocial environment of Germany in the 1920’s. Under heavy oppression by other nations, Germany was heavily cast into poverty. Encountering the loss of their identity as a nation, this caused an increase of anger towards the German government. Hyper-Inflation was creating a collapse in economy, meaning the Deutche mark was worth nothing, so was often given to Children to play with. These awful circumstances, as well as the poor conditions of war, influenced the Germany expressionist movements in art and media This bold style incorporated powerful and brutal gestures, detouring away from natural and soft approaches.

Originally, Metropolis was written by Thea Von Harbou. A revered film writer, she married the budding director Fritz Lang in 1922. Together they collaborated and made Metropolis, and a number of other films. Set in an Urban Dystopian era, critics had mixed views on the film at release. Some loved it, calling it bold and innovative, while other believed it to be to have been foolish and filled with propaganda. Fritz and Harbou divorced during the rise of the Nazi leadership. Harbou was a Nazi enthusiast, whilst Fritz being of was Jewish decent meant their relationship would cause more harm then good. After the completion of Metropolis, Fritz was approached by Goebbels to help create propagandas films. Refusing, Fritz fled to Paris and then Hollywood for safety and to continue his film career.

As a story, Metropolis seems standard. Our Hero falls for the main female protagonist and ends up following her to a new world. Whilst discovering this new city, realisation dawns that something much darker is a foot, processing to save the damsel in distress and unifying the divide. However, what makes this feature different is not just the settings, but the political and religious relevance behind it. Maria holds two significance, the role of a messiah and seductress. Her appearance becomes replicated onto the machine, who is then easily manipulated to cause the downfall and destruction of both cities. Her double brings a powerful uprising, causing chaos and violence. This ability to manipulate Maria may be a reference made against political leaders using oppression and propaganda against their own people. In the end, this powerful upheaval allowed communications to open between the dictator and the repressed, considering a better future.

“Metropolis advances the provocative thesis that revolutionary violence actually serves the self-interest of the ruling class, since it allows them to respond by crushing dissident elements”

SDG Reviews, Decent Films.

Set in early revolution period of film, this black and white feature uses powerful acting gestures and wording prompts for communication. Metropolis is a that holds two faces city. The dark, gloomy, depressive aura of the under city, and the luminous atmosphere of the Metropolis itself. In the Undercity, the atmosphere is thick with smog. Workers walk in formation, stooped and sluggish. They cling to the machines they work as if they are the masters they serve, too anxious to stop working and cause a disruption despite exhaustion. When the machines explode, new workers replace those that had died in seconds, creating this constant working cycle and giving this sense of low self-worth. All the workers hone the same appearance, dismissing any form of individuality. Even those of higher authority (such a Grot) wears the same clothing, this disassociation is relevant to Germany at this period. In the bright atmosphere of the upper world, everything has a sense of carelessness. Those of higher society frolic in the sunlight, woman take on the role of being objects of desire to chase around.  The appearance of buildings throughout have sharp edges, mixed with powerful and bold tones, perspective seem to become irrelevant when the city is in shot. Looking closely, some scenes contains religious symbols and artefacts. Rotwangs’s laboratory holds the satanic star above the creation of the android, giving this a sinister complexion. Underground, the cathedral adorns many crosses and hold a bright light over Maria when she preaches. These crude set designs add more detail and captive the atmosphere perfectly, working in perfect harmony with the actor’s facade.

“I found that its effects, primitive by modern standards, gained a certain weird effectiveness. Because they looked strange and unworldly compared to the slick, utterly convincing effects that are now possible, they were more evocative”

 Roger Eburt

Rogereburt.com 1998.

Our protagonist, Freder seems to be quite naïve and flamboyant. Like all original heroes’ characteristics, he has a good heart and a strong sense of righteousness. Freder’s maintains an almost feminine appearance, his blond hair and light clothing gives a perception of innocence. He is a stark opposite to his father Joh, who’s cold and calm persona encompasses the feeling of a villain. In fact, our true villain is the scientist Rotwang. A manipulator, Rotwang has oppressed the dictator himself.  Scenes where both characters are close, Joh would often look down and slump, blindly accepting the orders. Together, they are not only entwined though power, but though the love of Joh dead wife. As the story of Metropolis unfolds, the once emotionless Joh becomes catatonic at the thought of losing his only son. This allows us to see that he is not as emotionless we first perceive, there is even evidence of panic when the lights of Metropolis disappear. Rotwang’s persona moves further into insanity, a lustrous man who wants to bring Metropolis to its knees, he has a underlaying plan from the start. Rotwang hold the typical appearance of a mad scientist, his wild white hair and crazy eyes (with dark make up) is an aspect that is used in many modern-day media. In the sense of Maria, as previously stated, she holds two roles. Firstly, a beloved visage of the undercity men, and her double being the embodiment of lust and depravity. Maria’s presence in the cathedral a Mother Mary presence, she is surround in white clothing, and makes soft open gestures in her preaching. Her robotic double emulates these disturbing jagged movements, her face contains darker make up and contorts into wild expressions. When it comes to Maria, there is evident references to Christianity and Shakespeare. The seductress being snake in the story of Adam and Eve, the guise of Juliette when our protagonists embrace (two star-crossed lovers), and the horrors of the witch hunts when she is burnt at the stake.

“Metropolis” does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world”

Roger Eburt

Rogereburt.com 1998

As a story, we become immersed in this futuristic world. A domain where tyranny and corruption are overpowering, bringing the horrifying thought that this could become a reality. The characters acting and the artistry of the sets carry us away in this fantasy, making us want to watch the journey though. Although I am not a fan of over acting, this was quite enjoyable. The politic and religious aspects help us to see the film for the deeper meanings it holds. The are references of this film in many recent Sci -fi’s, although design has moved more into clean circular shapes, you can still see the undertones of German impressionism.

Bibliography:

- Greydanus, S. (2019). Metropolis (1927) | Decent Films - SDG Reviews. [online] Decent Films. Available at: http://decentfilms.com/reviews/metropolis1927 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].

- Ebert, R. (2019). Metropolis movie review & film summary (1927) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-2010-restoration-1927 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].


Image Bibliography:

- Flickr. (n.d). 1927 ... METROPOLIS--030. [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/4268174464/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].

- Flickr. (n.d.). Metropolis. [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/116153022@N02/15513621209 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].

- Flickr. (n.d.). 1927 ... METROPOLIS--028. [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/4268174198 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019].

Maya Practise - Lego Car

 Created some Lego bricks in our Maya class today,and used them to create a red Lego car. Although I had already made them before, it was nice to go back over thier creation, I also applied Blinn colours aplication that I had previously learnt.

Starting point, creating more sections.

Learnt how to mirror and create another range of lego.

A mix of Lego pieces, including flat style.

Completion of car using snappi g and pivot points.

Car front view

Car after applying Blin.

Invisible Cities Thumbnails 6

Thumbnail sets number ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelveth of the Invisible Cities Project. I have chosen to stick to line drawing, this gives me the chance to explore more ideas. After choosing the the city to design, I will push more into tone, colour and perspective.

Baucis - the City in the Sky. I wanted to play with the written insert of the city being on "flamingo legs", so I experimented with the idea of a city on a flamingo. Also, the "legs" are only be for stability, propellers may be holding the city up. 

Ersilia - A city of bonds. This city was quite difficult to design.

Fedora - a city of many designs. The globs in the museum show how the city would like for each person who gazes at them. there was a more futurist feel to this insert, a city kept behind high walls.  I wasnt looking forward to drawing this one, but once I started, I found this one quite easy.

Phyllis - The city of water. I wanted this to be seen as a trading city, where boats travel the cannels with goods and for transport. However, the city is built high, so boats complete the bridges as they go round, aloowing people to cross for a price.  

Invisible Cities Thumbnails 5

  The Sixth, Seventh and Eigtht set of thumbnails of the Invisible Cities project, I've gone back to using line drawing for quickness and capturing detail.

Esmeralda - The zigzagging city. In this city, there are hundreds of routes, wether it be by land or water. Also, you can choose to take the routes that lead higher into the rooftops and over the cannels.

Diomira - A city of 60 domes and paved with lead.

Morianna - The city with two faces. Half a city of perfection, the other half is decay.