Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Rushes
I have created several rushes (or practises) of my animation so far, including a scene between the Ancient Mariner and the Wedding Guest, a scene between Death and Life-In-Death and several short videos depicting each character walking (as a method of checking the fluidity of the movement). However, despite doing this, I am unwilling to post them just yet, as I don't want to ruin the suprise of the complete project! I will post them, but after the final piece is up.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
My Behind the Scenes video
This video gives some information of each of the characters, how I created them and the difficulties I faced in designing them.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Research: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a mariner who has returned from a torturous sea voyage.
The Mariner stops a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The Wedding-Guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience and fear to fascination as the Mariner's story progresses.
The Mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south off course by a storm and eventually reaches Antarctica. An albatross (symbolizing the Christian soul) appears and leads them out of the Antarctic; despite the ship's crew praising the albatross, the Mariner shoots it. The crew is angry with the Mariner, believing the albatross had brought the south wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears, thus making themselves accomplices in the Mariner's crime. However, the death of the albatross arouses the wrath of spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind that had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed.
The sailors change their minds again, this time blaming the Mariner for the torment of their thirst. They force the Mariner to wear the dead albatross about his neck as a symbol of his guilt.
Eventually, in an eerie passage, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the Life-in-Death (a beautiful but deathly-pale woman) who play dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members, while Life-in-Death wins the life of the Mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the Mariner's fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross.
One by one, all of the crew members are killed, but the Mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the dead crew. The Mariner's curse is temporarily lifted when he sees sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite his cursing them as "slimy things" earlier in the poem he suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them. As he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially absolved. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and steer the ship back home, where it sinks in a whirlpool, leaving only the Mariner behind. A hermit on the mainland, having seen the approaching ship, come to meet it with a pilot and the pilot's boy in a dinghy. When they pull the Mariner from the water, they think he is dead, but when he opens his mouth, the pilot has a fit. The hermit prays, and the Mariner picks up the oars to row. The pilot's boy goes insane and laughs, thinking the Mariner is the devil. As penance for shooting the albatross, the Mariner, driven by guilt, is forced to wander the earth and tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets.
After relating the story, the Mariner leaves, and the Wedding Guest returns home, and wakes the next morning "a sadder and a wiser man".
The Mariner stops a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The Wedding-Guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience and fear to fascination as the Mariner's story progresses.
The Mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south off course by a storm and eventually reaches Antarctica. An albatross (symbolizing the Christian soul) appears and leads them out of the Antarctic; despite the ship's crew praising the albatross, the Mariner shoots it. The crew is angry with the Mariner, believing the albatross had brought the south wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears, thus making themselves accomplices in the Mariner's crime. However, the death of the albatross arouses the wrath of spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind that had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed.
The sailors change their minds again, this time blaming the Mariner for the torment of their thirst. They force the Mariner to wear the dead albatross about his neck as a symbol of his guilt.
Eventually, in an eerie passage, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the Life-in-Death (a beautiful but deathly-pale woman) who play dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members, while Life-in-Death wins the life of the Mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the Mariner's fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross.
One by one, all of the crew members are killed, but the Mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the dead crew. The Mariner's curse is temporarily lifted when he sees sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite his cursing them as "slimy things" earlier in the poem he suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them. As he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially absolved. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and steer the ship back home, where it sinks in a whirlpool, leaving only the Mariner behind. A hermit on the mainland, having seen the approaching ship, come to meet it with a pilot and the pilot's boy in a dinghy. When they pull the Mariner from the water, they think he is dead, but when he opens his mouth, the pilot has a fit. The hermit prays, and the Mariner picks up the oars to row. The pilot's boy goes insane and laughs, thinking the Mariner is the devil. As penance for shooting the albatross, the Mariner, driven by guilt, is forced to wander the earth and tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets.
After relating the story, the Mariner leaves, and the Wedding Guest returns home, and wakes the next morning "a sadder and a wiser man".
Research: Tim Burton's Animations
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion-animation fantasy musical film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional village in Europe, during the Victorian era. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specially created) voiced Emily, the title character. Corpse Bride is the third stop-motion feature-film produced by Tim Burton (not including his short film Vincent), the first two being The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.
James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. The film is a combination of live action and stop-motion animation. The film begins with normal live-action for the first twenty minutes, but becomes stop-motion animation after James enters the peach, and then live-action when James enters New York City (although the mutated insect characters remained in stop-motion form). Selick had originally planned for James to be a real actor through the entire film, then later considered doing the whole film in stop-motion, but ultimately settled on doing entirely live-action and entirely stop-motion sequences due to costs.
James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. The film is a combination of live action and stop-motion animation. The film begins with normal live-action for the first twenty minutes, but becomes stop-motion animation after James enters the peach, and then live-action when James enters New York City (although the mutated insect characters remained in stop-motion form). Selick had originally planned for James to be a real actor through the entire film, then later considered doing the whole film in stop-motion, but ultimately settled on doing entirely live-action and entirely stop-motion sequences due to costs.
Research: My Ghost Ship
I intend to have the Ghost ship belonging to Death and Life-In-Death leap out of the sea and approach the Mariner's ship; this is COMPLETELY inaccurate to the poem, however, I do feel that an effect like this would improve the cinematic feel of my animation, and make it more exciting! After all, a ship leaping from the waves is far more intimidating than having it drift slowly towards you on the tide!
This is one film scene which inspired my decision: The Flying Dutchman Attack from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Another scene which inspired me was, oddly enough, not about a ship, but a shark! The way robo-shark jumps out of the water to attack the peach really adds to the excitement of the scene! Unfortunately, the actual footage of the shark jumping out of the sea is not available on youtube, so instead, I have found a picture depicting the scene in question; a brief glimse of the jump is also in the trailer (0.51 onwards) which I have uploaded in an earlier post.
This is one film scene which inspired my decision: The Flying Dutchman Attack from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Another scene which inspired me was, oddly enough, not about a ship, but a shark! The way robo-shark jumps out of the water to attack the peach really adds to the excitement of the scene! Unfortunately, the actual footage of the shark jumping out of the sea is not available on youtube, so instead, I have found a picture depicting the scene in question; a brief glimse of the jump is also in the trailer (0.51 onwards) which I have uploaded in an earlier post.
Research: Films Which Inspired My Animation
The AMAZING James and the Giant Peach (1996)
The brilliant Corpse Bride (2005)
The 1992 short film The Sandman, which youtube has refused to allow me to embed! Finally, the 2006 stop-motion animation "Peter and the Wolf" which uses only musical soundtrack - much like I intend to do!
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