Mise en Scène

1.A. The arrangement of performers and properties on a stage for a theatrical production or before the camera in a film.
B. A stage setting.
2. Physical environment; surroundings.

Having done a course at college simmilar to this one, I've came across the term Mise en Scène before. however it was at least a year and a half since I last heard it and decided to look up the defenition.

Sandy Skoglund

During the lecture, Phil showed us a selection of different artists who create images based on the theme of Tableau Vivant. This images is known as 'Revenge of the Goldfish'. I really like the fact that it has a dream feel to it. It plays on hidden fears of what feels safe and familiar to us can be turned into a nightmare. Thanks Phil for pointing out the mix up between artists as well.

Gregory Crewdson

Phil was right. Gregory Crewdson's work is amazing.

As much as I love the feel of the image above, I can't help but be reminded of the film 'The Mist' when I see it. Apart from that its a very well created image, The fact that the car has one door open and is stationary in the middle of a cross roads could mean anything. The eye wants to try and find some answers by following the road but there's a mist towards the top of the image, removing any information that might have answered any questions. The time of day also helps to attain the eerie affect. If the image had been taken when the sun was up, the atmosphere would have been completely different. The fact that the car is also the only one there also helps to create the atmosphere. The mind wants to know what sinister event happened.

The lighting in this image is cleverly placed. The mind instantly comes to one assumption. That whatever is creating the light is out of this world. A godly being with superior intelligence to ours. However because of the positioning of the telephone pole and greenery, answers to questions the brain composes can not be answered.

The two images above are another technique used to create a tableau vivant. The people are staring out into the distance and the viewer wants to know what their looking at. I really like the one with Sissy Speck. In some ways it reminds me of something I would do. The view outside my room is a mixture of nature and the rest of the estate and sometimes I find myself just staring out the window. Also, it wasn't untill Phil pointed out the circle on the glass that I actualy noticed it. It makes one wonder what it means.

I really love this image. Being a Ranger and an ex Girl Guide, nature has always been a big part of my life. I also like the fact that this image is contradicting. As Alison said 'The fact that nothing and yet anything could be happening'. The image is called 'The Difference Between Dog and Wolf 9'. I was having a discusion with Alison about why the photographer gave it this name. One of the reasons I came up with was the fact that, although this scene appears to be very wild and in the middle of nowhere, nobody knows whats on the other side of the trees in the distance. For all one could know on the other side there could be cicilisation. In a different light or even season what appears to be an endlwess plane of trees and wildlife could just be a local woodland area where one would walk the dog. A place where wild canines such as wolves would not populate.

Saw this image and instantly, I was reminded of this one. Although by a different artist the idea is simmilar.

http://distorted-time.deviantart.com/art/float-down-strangers-122628040

The mind instantly jumps the one conclusion. Suicide jumper. But are they really?

Bernard Faucon

The image above is cropped just above the fire and to the side of it. The viewer wants to know what's behind the fire and the tree but there's only the blurry outline of what could be a near by town. It actually took me a couple of seconds to realize that the people in this image weren't real but manikins. I really don't like puppets such as manikins at all due to their strong resemblance to living people. The manikins also play on the fear of what appears as a harmles object can actual be quite sinister. The fact that a disaster of some sorts also leans towards this as well.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I rather enjoyed the film 'The Body Snatchers'. Although in black and white, the pace of the film is a good speed. It gets straight to the point in good timing and doesn't suddenly just stop at the end. I noticed that the music of the film. It was the classical piano played in the background with the sound increasing and becoming more staccato when danger or suspense is needed. The film also plays on peoples' fears to. It plays on the fear of what if what one knows is safe and tranquil should suddenly change. What if those around us were a part of the evil. What would we do?

The film was released on 5th February 1956. During this time, the Cold War lasting from 1945- 1991 was still raging. America had just came out of the Second World War 10- 15 years befor hand and the continant was becoming affluent. At the time the second period for Red Scare was at large. People were scared that communism would overpower the capitalist order of the USA. The second part of the Red Scare fear was based more on foreign communists and that they would penetrate the government. The film plays upon the deep fear of anything alien influtrating what we know.

My main thought after the film was that, even though I'm tired I don't want to sleep for fear of being replaced.

Enviroments- Tableau Vivant

Seeing as I don't recal ever hearing the term Tableau Vivant before, I decided to look up the meaning as a starting point. It doesn't suprise me to find that it's a french saying.

Tableau Vivant- A scene presented on stage by costumed actors who remain silent and motionless as if in a picture.

[French : tableau, picture + vivant, living.]

The definition is from here

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tableau+vivant

Maya

For Maya, I wasn't planning on hitting so many difficulties. Because of this my timing was thrown out completely. The main problem I had was when I was following tutorial 16. It seemed that anything I did lead to a mistake. The majority of the mistakes were due to the UV's. Whatever I mapped, somehow something was either added into the projector's view or I missed something out.

Although I haven't completed the work, I am pleased in as much as I was able to work through the difficulties and resolve the problems no matter how tough they got. This is a learning experience for me and in future I will start work sooner so that I can then build in contingency to cater for any problems.

The Village- Final

Final image for the Village.

Village Huts

To help with my final piece, the 3rd concept image. I also looked at a few different African villages to get an idea what the huts look like.

Trees

One or two of my pictures contains trees and I know other people who also have trees in their images. So I decided to upload these. They're two different trees, but they were still amazing. The one which is bent right over the path I could literally see coming to life and trying to grab us as we stood under it. The bottom one was also the tree I was telling Alison and Matt about, but whenever I went to show them, i could never find the image. Soon found out I was looking in my official DoE hike. I didn't have my practise hike folder on my memory stick at the time. These were taken on my practise Silver Duke of Edinburgh Hike. Just a tip for the future (and ok not relevant to the project) but if you plan on going hiking, never walk straight through a cornfield with shorts on. Although we had no choice for the path was blocked by weeds.

Elephant Man Facts

Was talking to Alison in the afternoon, for she was helping me with my essay. Once again (yes I tend to find any excuse to bring in this guy into conversation) she suggested I post some of what we were talking about on the blogg. It started really when I said I was reading 'The Elephant Man' book, based on the film. The book goes into a lot more detail about the characters and what they thought etc. It gave quite an insight to a fair few things. The first one being that Mrs Mothershead, the Matron who assisted Treves in caring for Joseph Merrick was actually influenced by Florence Nightingale. According to the book, nurses before Florence had been noting but drunks and prostitutes. The second is that Mrs Kendal was actually afraid, like many other women of Joseph because of his appearance. But because she was an actress, she was able to hide her true emotions and put on a false smile.


The conversation then led onto how I saw the scenery in this image above. I was saying that the pillars, roof and steps even remind me of machinery. That ties in with the era of the film because it was at the beginning of the 1800's that the industrial revolution came into action. The pillars to me look like pistons and the roof like on you'd find in a warehouse.

Valley Path

Once again, I'm really pleased with this. So far its my favourite piece.

The Mining Pit

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. However, that pit and the edge of the path around it still bugs me. I've done painting with Photoshop before, but I always felt that my final results weren't all that great. But painting in this rough way really makes me feel as if I've achieved something worth looking at.

Perceptions Essay

Finally, perception essay deadline has passed. No more. If anyone is curious I did my essay based on a dreamcatcher I have in my room.

Photshoped Sketches

Two of the scenes I chose to draw, now coloured. Used a brush I got off of Deviantart to achieve the pattern.

The Palace of Death

Inside the Palace of Death. A fair few details missing. This was just to get the perspective right.

The Mining Pit- Final

Some last attempts for the mining pit. I'll be using the second one as my final image.

The Silent Ones 2

A rough outline of how 'The Silen Ones' would be positioned.



Simon also recomdned looking at these. I prefer the second image to the first.

The Village

Just some rough sketches of what I thought the village might look like. In the beginning of the extracts of King Solomon's Mines I was given,the narrator states that the group stayed in a hut. The hut was part of a village which was built at the start of the path which lead up to 'The Three Witches'. I was thinking of using the bottom sketch as my 3rd image for my concept art.

Edward Scissoryhands

So I've finally I have watched Edward Scissorhands. A few people in the past have recommended I watch it, even if I never got to do so in the end. I rather enjoyed the film although I think I was one of the few who didn't sniffle at the end. However that didn't mean I wasn't moved by the ending. Edward reminded me greatly of Joseph Merrick- the Elephant Man. Both were people who were deformed and were rejected by society.

Burton I notice loves to mix up his time lines a bit. The majority of the film has technology which would have been popular in the 1960's or there abuts. But there is also the machinery in the mansion Edward lives which has a futuristic look about them. The same sort of clash occurs in the clothing. Whereas Edward is dressed in dark leather clothing, has messy black hair and a pale complexion- the rest of the characters have plain pastel colours. This sort of mix can be seen in the majority of his films, such as Mars Attacks, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.

The Silent Ones

I almost typed 'The Cold Ones'....been talking to Alison too much about Twilight ^^;. Well she said that the Silent ones, large colossi would be Arabian. The text also said that they were sitting down. The two males were dressed but the woman was naked. I sketched out some ways in which she could be sitting. Because it said she was sitting but not how.


Out of all of the poses, I prefer the ones in the top corners to the large one in the middle. The one in the middle looks as if she is dancing rather than sitting. The sketch in the bottom right hand corner was what I scribbled down during the lecture last Thursday. A picture of an Arab woman on a camel came up. The headdress she was wearing seemed like a good thing to remember for although the female Silent One is unclothed, it mentioned nothing about wearing head gear.

The Pit- Photoshop Tryout

Started colouring in the picture of the pit in the photoshop lesson on Friday. At first I coloured only what was in the picture.


Phil then looked over it and suggested I made the scene bigger to get more information in.

The Path and the Pit

Just a few sketches of what the pathway through the mountains would loook like as wel as the deep mining pit.Re drew the steps for the first attempt wasn't working. The perspective is out and the angle wasn't quite what I was after.

Alien- HR Giger

Watched Alien on Monday and was rather surprised that I found it more enjoyable than I thought I would. I've seen Alien before as well as Alien 2 and Alien vs Predator so I wasn't surprised at all to find that the rest of the crew had been turned into a nest for the creature. The imagery is rather dark and dirty, giving it the feel of a horror film. Having borrowed a book on HR Giger the creator of alien, it's easy to see where the dark strange illustrations come from. His work is very dark and very disturbing. What appears to be something pretty innocent, after gazing at the image for a couple of seconds you then start to see that they suggest something completely different. The majority of his drawings consist of different body parts at different angles, all jumbled up together.

First Idea Sketches

Rough sketches of what I imagined the outside and the inner of the Palace of Death to look like. I used a book Alison recomended I looked through called 'Wild Things' by Britta Jaschnski