Film Review

MaMa

Yesterday I went to watch the 2013 horror film 'Mama' directed by Andres Muschiette. I thought the film was overall okay. Some parts could have been cut down or even cut out as it dragged on for too long. I thought the main actress and even the child actors were the best part of the film with their performances and the spooky way the director portrayed the scary women, showing us glimpses of what her to keep us peeking behind our pillows, then keeping us un-aware as to what may happen next with the use of sound and the directions of the camera. The use of lighting was a major factor and is a recurring theme with this genre, we don't know what lurks in the shadows that will jump out at us at any minute

The reason I wanted to review this film is because I thought it tied in with CPR project about the 'Uncanny'. Much of the horror scenes depicted the 'monsters' or 'apparitions' to have broken bendy limbs and they all moved jerkily and strange. 

The film also depicted parts where moths protrude out of a woman's body. The moths also fly out of a  blood infested wall making a sickly squelching, runny sound. 

Much of it was interesting to see and I like how they have reused the idea of broken limbs and twisting bodies as it is very un-familiar and creepy to watch. 

Article Homework

Our tutor gaves us an article to read. The article was an interview piece, interviewing Richard Taylor a Special Effects supervisor for the company Weta Studios. Richard worked on 'The Lord Of The Rings' (Jackson,P 2001) and the interview was primarily about the first film. The interview discusses some of the ways that himself and his team constructed many of the effects, such as the size of the hobbits and the amount of miniature sets and props used, "Weta manufactured a total of 48,000 props, including 1,000 pieces of armour, 2,000 weapons, 1,800 costumes and body prosthetics, 10,000 facial prosthetics, 1,800 pairs of Hobbits feet, 10,000 bows and 18 scanned miniature monsters!", Taylor states. The part of the article that I found interesting was when the interviewer asked him, 'How was the makeup for the Orcs devised?'.

Most films, especially horror, sci-fi and Fantasy have characters dressed up in artificial costumes made up of various materials, I often like watching 'extras' on some films to find out how they make up a character. For instance I watched the extras for the TV hit 'Walking Dead' (Darabont, F 2010) to find out what they use and how long it takes them to create a person in to a zombie using various equipment, its also a good way to find out whether it is possible to create wound effects or blood effects with easy to get hold of materials for future projects.

I also looked at another article by Ed French who created the make up and cloned Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator 2 themed ride at Universal studios. He says that to create this effect he took moulds of Arnold's face to get a positive reference. He then moulded the stunt mans head and compared the facial structure to the one of Arnold's. He then took 3-D scanning of Arnold's face as this was an easier way than creating moulds that take up to 45minutes.  

There is another artist that our tutor wanted us to look in to.

Joel Peter Witkin is a photographer who creates images dealing with death, dismemberment, deformity and dwarfism. He is known to distort photos usually scratching the negatives, bleaching and printing on  tissue to create pieces that shock and intrigue.

Joel creates his work to promote a response from his audience. He uses shock tactics which can repulse the audience or create negative feedback, but it is precisely these motifs that have excelled him. 

I dont like Joel's work because it scares me. Some may say it is very imaginative and very visual, but this is something I don't want to see. When I looked up this artist I immediately shut down the webpage because some of his photos shocked me and made me sick. I can watch a lot of horror films that contain dismemberment and blood, but I have a fear of Dysmorphobia.  

Thus I wont be putting up any pictures.

CPR Mood Board Tutorial

I was tasked to create a Mood board for my 300 word proposal on the Uncanny. This will be the first time that I will have created a Mood Board on 'Photoshop'. Mood Boards are a brilliant way of visually describing the mood of a film. It is possibly the easiest way to pitch an idea for a moderator to understand what your trying to perceive. It is integral to the industry.

This is my mood board for the uncanny proposal. Its very amateur and basic but it conveys my story.
I've included all the elements within the story, such as the twisting, gruesome torso and the unfamiliar room for the background.

I took various images from the internet. With the torso on the right I added a large tongue to mirror lust. The blood on the walls show something happened in this room and it is now tainted and haunted. The bookcase is there because the books begin to fly out from the wall (this is something I haven't added).

This is a quick mood board that I created. It represents my 300 word proposal, I chose images of abandoned, ruined rooms that look quite claustrophobic. The images of the monster are alien like and pale, I also envisaged that the monster had no face and just indentations. It has a twisted body that crawls along the floor. The images of books mirror the ones that are in my story apart from they fly off of the wall. 

Uncanny Continued

 In lesson we looked at furniture that represented the un-canny. I think a lot of artists are tying to achieve this just for their work to be eye-catchy and 'un-familiar, (a much repeated word) it definitely works because it makes us think 'how' and 'why' did they think of this and where did this inspiration come from.

I often think about things I could make, for example, in my college years I drew up plans to create a chair that was very far from a normal traditional chair. It was drawn so someone was able to sit in it comfortably but it was to be made out of found tree branches so the legs were elongated and swept across the floor the back rest part was quite high with branches and leafs sprouting out.                                                      

(Unfortunately my work was kept at the college to show future beginning graphic designers the work).

Starting Ideas

Rough Idea

In lesson we were split up in to three groups. Each group had a Producer, a Director and an Art Director. We were then sent off to think of a scene featuring un-canny events that were in each of our proposals, for example, it would contain dripping/splattering blood coming from a book or a wall, Hannah's proposal contained a fly buzzing around and once squashed produces smoke, Alex's idea was a persons hand that was on fire and they seemed oblivious to this.                                                      

With what ever idea we came up with we had to interpret this in to the other groups ideas (there is three groups overall), thus carrying on one big story all containing un-canny elements.

As we would be making a set, we had to think about special effects, designing a set, decoration, green screen, costume, props and actor/actress, to make our story come alive.

There are three groups of about 4 or 5 people.

Group 1 came up with this idea.
A man is sat on a bookcase, this man starts to itch his arm and pulls at his skin irritated by something. A fly or object begins to emerge and come out of the arm. From a different angle we then see that the man is tiny stood upon a bookcase.

Group 2- Part 2 (My Group)
We only wrote down in rough what should happen in the entire scene. With a few ideas given to us by our tutor our story would start with the main actor/actress waking up. We wanted to try and interpret this waking up scene by having the bed up-right on the wall so the main character kind of floats off of it all dream like. We will be using a dolly so as the character floats off of the bed the camera will move back with the character coming forward. The only example of this from a film I have seen is in 'The Grey' (Carnahan, J. 2012)

The example is between (1:00-1:05) The character is in a safe dream world and then he is plunged back in to reality. This is the only example from a film I can find (and I've done a lot of research). However I have can envision what I want to create so I will attempt this and see if we succeed or fail.

Once the character has woken up they will look at a bookcase from where the source of noise which has woken them is coming from.

Another idea I came up with is if we had the character on a dolly and where ever they travel to it seems like they are floating, this is uncanny and I have seen this in some films and want to interpret this. The only problem we would have is the availability of dollies and the amount of room we will have on set.

Once the character approaches the bookcase they see the tiny person which is actually them self, the taller character creeped out knocks the tiny man on to the floor and drops a book on to him. The taller character looks to the floor and sees a blood splat and a tiny arm twitching.  

The character then looks up at the door signifying to the audience a sound has been made. (the whole 'short story' wont contain sound). The character proceeds to the door where smoke is rising from a key hole, the character looks through the eye piece on the door and sees a horrific sequence.

Sequence 3-Group 3
Through the eye piece we see an older women chopping vegetables. We switch back to the main character still looking through the eye piece. The older women is then blood splattered and chopping up body parts and children's dolls. On the floor nearer the women a grey creature crawls and shuffles up to the door its body twisting abnormally.

I dont know yet if the other two groups will be adding to their pieces but from what we discussed these are the initial ideas.  

Un-canny art

Modern Art can be a perfect way to express the un-canny. Artists such as, Ron Mueck who created larger than reality, perfectly precise models of children, women, men and babies. Rons sculptures link reality to the world of myth and magic. He also created tiny models of humans as well, his art has given him world wide recognition. I admire Ron's work of art and I think he extremely talented and has put a lot of hard work in to these. Some of the work is quite frightening just by the enormous scale, he also tries to perceive his masterpieces conveying various emotions such as, embarrassment (exposure), vulnerability, awkwardness, etc.

Photomontage
Another form of art that links with the uncanny in my opinion is Photomontage.
John Heartfield is a photomontage artist who during the Hitler era opposed of him and went about creating images satirising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He used his art work to protest about greed, violence and the government control Hitler had. He coined various images of machinery, animals and weapons with images of Hitler or the Nazi army.



 This may seem funny to some but John created something that had a subliminal message. He witnessed a country of hunger and desolation in the midst of chaos during the second world war, and through his art protested their suffering. These sorts of images capture peoples attention and they can tell straight away with whats being represented in them what they are about.

Homework 2

I was tasked to evaluate two artists and their work. The first artist is Chiharu Shiota. Shiota was born in Osaka in 1972 and now lives and works in Berlin. She is an internationally recognised artist, much of her work she uses old, worn out items that have an interesting existence and history. 

A piece of her work I will be evaluate is, 'Breath of the spirit', this art includes red yarn that is tied to 600 pairs of worn out shoes, and placed on a building as if they are walking down it. In each shoe is a little message about the person who wore them and where they came from.

"Through the use of these everyday, mundane items, Shiota is able to generate a certain connection between her viewers and the people who once wore the old shoes."- Katie Hosmer (1)

I think this work is very ambiguous and this makes it stand out and become enthralling. I respect her art and think it is very creative and un-usual. It is quite a simple idea but it captivating at the amount of creativity and work she has put in to this. The shoes also tell a story so its a simple visual piece that has a deep meaning for the viewer to delve in to. The use of red yarn is also provocative and eye catching. It gives off a warning, as red is insinuated as danger. I don't exactly know why she has chosen red, maybe it is for the simple fact to catch the audiences attention and reel them in.

Another artist I will look at is Tomoko Shioyasu. Shioyasu was born in Japan and had a fascination with nature. Shioyasu began experimenting with tiny leafs cutting them finely and this begun her idea of cut paper pieces.
She had three methods in creating her work and that was, cutting, burning and drawing. Each tiny cut on her work is built up in a complicated pattern, each piece is so fine and delicate. A projector hung to the ceiling projects light through the piece exploring each each of the fine cuts on a wall behind.

"The massive lace-like paper tapestries are created by using meticulous and repetitive cuts." - Blog post (2)

“The little cuts accumulate to create works on a very large scale, producing installations which take in the flow of air and light of their location, becoming one with it so that the exhibition space becomes an abstraction of nature itself, and the installation becomes a sign of nature with presence and depth….In the installation space, the spirit of nature flows through her work, giving the impression of a vivid dance by the air and the particles of light. In a sense, in cutting pieces out of two-dimensional paper, Shioyasu is using thin air as a material and chiseling a new form of sculpture out of the space itself, gaining insights into what things are really like.” — Scai The Bathhouse (3)

This is another piece of work that I respect and find very captivating. I can see that a lot of hard work and time would have been put in to this. It inspires me as to how this kind of work came to be, and shows that anything can be created with hard work and determination.I wouldn't be able to have he patience or attention span to create a master piece.

References
(1) HOSMER, K, 2012, 600 Pairs Of Old Shoes Walking Down A Building.,[online] Available at Accessed: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chiharu-shiota-breath-of-the-spirit (Accessed: 25th April 2013)

(2) ZIMMER, L 2011,  Tomoko Shioyasu's Lace-Like Tapestries Made from Delicate Cut Paper, [Blog] 4th February, Available at: http://inhabitat.com/tomoko-shioyasus-lace-like-tapestries-made-from-delicate-cut-paper/ (Accessed: 25th April 2013) 

(3) Jasmine, 2011, Incredible Paper Cut Tapestries by Tomoko Shioyasu, [Blog] 30th March, Available at: http://strictlypaper.com/blog/2011/03/incredible-paper-cut-tapestries-by-tomoko-shioyasu/ (Accessed: 25th April 2013)

Un-canny Revealed

In the next session I attended, some students proposals were read out to see if key parts of their work could be interpreted using VFX or SFX (Special effects) for the project.

With my proposal the use of blood dripping down the walls is quite vivid, the tutor liked the visualisation of this effect and it could be done by either injecting the walls or tipping paint from above.

If I was to try and do this effect in editing using Visual effects, I don't think it would have the same feel, I don't think it would look real and it could come across as quite laughable to some. This video show the technique;

Another part of my Proposal that the tutor liked was the movement of the grey body that lies on the floor. Many films I have seen try and interpret the movement of bendy limbs and abnormal ways it (what ever it maybe) moves. What I visualised was something that crawls spider like but also drags it body, I did get inspiration for this from many horror films,

This video scared the hell out of me because of the strange movements that simply aren't supposed to happen.
Even though I have already mentioned the Ring (japanese version) I think it is brilliant way to describe the uncanny. The un-familiarity of the movements from this film I think may have inspired quite an array of horror films.

Proposal

Lucille appears in a hallway. The hallway is  long, grey and cold. It leads in to a room the room that’s being haunting Lucille for so long. It's a dream, it’s always the same dream.

Lucille is in the room. The room is perfectly square but the lighting is dim. To her left on the wall thousand of books are stacked neatly each and every one of them a different colour, everything else is bland, dusty and very grey. 

The door she entered closes then disappear, Lucille panics banging on the bare dusty wall. On the floor in the middle of the room a grey body lays, a mannequin with brown hair and bendy limbs and no face. She sees that the mannequin has facial indentations, but that is all.                         
Splodges on the walls appear, trickles of red, drip down spouting from the clammy walls running down on to the ground, drip,drip, drip. It then begins to trickle down faster and faster.  The mannequin moves, grey arms reach out, fluttering, twisting, clutching. Its faceless face looks up, it hums angrily, it crawls towards Lucille, each movement an awful crackling noise, and the humming intensifies. 
She backs up against the wall in shock, too stiff to move or speak. The monstrosity slithers and grinds, the sound of a cement bag being dragged, it edges closer, a long slimy forked tongue protrudes from its mouth flicking at her. The books begin fly out hitting the other side of the room. The monster moves closer and closer towards her clasping, twitching, spitting, flicking. The humming is loud and deafening, the blood still spurts from the walls saturating the floor. Lucille closes her eyes and punches her arm trying to wake up. The freak clasps her leg and pulls her down. 

Inspiration for this piece derived from a mixture of films, games and music videos. I wanted to create something that I find un-familiar and absurd. Blood coming out the walls is quite weird and questionable, why would blood be running out of the wall?, who's is it? and whats the story behind it?. This idea came from 'Hellraiser' (Barker, C, 1987) when one of the 'Cenobites' (bad demons) drags a knife against a wall and blood appears. Mannequins are also scary objects because they are made to obviously seem so real, it would be very creepy if these things decided to move. 

Un-canny in Architecture

Philip Johnson was an american architect, in 1930 he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the museum of Modern Art in New York City. Something that inspired me in to looking at Philip Johnson was his design of the 'Glass house', a see through pavillion for viewing the surrounding landscape. This design is something directly opposite to a normal house which is used for privacy. The glass house opens up for anyone to see in, nothing is hidden. It is a design that I have never seen before and I would never have thought something like this would have built because peoples take on privacy.

There are hundreds of other buildings that are not quite normal to the eye, these are a few;

I am very interested in buildings with unusual shape. I often enjoy looking at old houses and old buildings within Sheffield and then finding out about their past, what they were used for and what they are now. It's also the same for old abandoned railway stations, I like to educate myself on the history of these abandoned stations and even dig deeper and look at archive photos and comments on these. Its fascinating but haunting to find out why most of them suddenly closed down and why some are just left the way they were back 50/60 years ago. What also fascinates me is how some places just die off. An example would be Attercliffe is a suburb Northeast of Sheffield, many years ago Attercliffe was thriving and had many inquisitive shops, a market and a theatre. In the early 90's Attercliffe's popularity began to wear off and now all that stands are empty shops and buildings, the once popular suburb is now dead. There is a lot of history behind Sheffield and there are a lot of buildings that tell this. 

One building that is also fascinating is the old town hall which now stands disused, grubby and forgotten. This building is said to be the first town hall in Sheffield, built in 1807. It is said that the town hall was built without room for extension and so this caused it's demise in the 1980's. No-one would recognise that this was once an important building. It stands dirty and full of graffiti in the not so nice area of Sheffield. I find it sad that the building has been left to become a trash for people to doodle and disrespect it. Hopefully one day with the new renovations to Sheffield that this building will be restored to its former glory.

                                    The Building then.                                              And now.

JOHNSON, P (1949) 'The Glass House' [online] Available at:
http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/history/buildings/glasshouse/(Accessed 4th February 2013)

VIDLER, A (1992) The Architectural Uncanny [online] Available at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Architectural-Uncanny-Essays-Modern-Unhomely/dp/0262720183 (Accessed 4th February 2013)