Revolutionary Romero

So according to my electives tutor Kim, we're not required to write a blog in semester B, hence I've barely posted anything in months. I quite enjoyed having the blog last semester though and so I was thinking I could keep it going for a bit just as a means of commenting on the different sources which are inspiring my study.

At the moment I am undergoing the research stage of my essay for the Death, Diners and Dancing module. I've decided to answer essay question 5 - the representation of women in horror films (not much surprise in that choice is there really!).
Each lecture we have on the DDD module relates to one of the essay questions and the other week we had a lecture on the representation of women in George Romero's zombie films. I absolutely love Romero and his films are the reason I wanted to get into the SFX industry in the first place. Tom Savini who created all the (then) ground-breaking effects in Romero's zombie films, is an absolute genius and Savini and Romero are, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the business.

The legendary George Romero and Tom Savini

Kim's lecture on the topic was great and she brought to light some really interesting analysis on Romero's movies which made me understand his work on another, deeper level. I was able to see that his movies are more than entertainment. They have an underlying social commentary, addressing the likes of black & female rights which were of particular relevance during the '70s when his movies were first released.
Characters like Fran (Dawn of the Dead) and Sarah (Day of the Dead) are independent, determined women who disregard convention by surviving. These strong female characters who out-live the men and fight the plague of zombies are a reflection upon women during the era who were rebelling housewife conventions to enter the working world and pave their own way, often in male dominated industries.

Fran - Dawn of the Dead

Sarah - Day of the Dead

It could be argues that the female characters within Romero's films were an inspiration for the strong female protagonists that came to follow in cinema, such as Ripley (Alien) and Clarice (Silence of the Lambs).
The characteristics of the female protagonist have become conventional in themselves as in contemporary cinema we more frequently see the strong, self-dependent woman than we do the helpless damsel in distress.
The latter is now considered inappropriate and somewhat offensive in a society where women, although not quite equal to, are certainly striving to exist on a parallel with men.
This therefore must raise the question of the influence which cinema and other media forms has upon its audience and whether the depiction of inspirational women in film has helped with the women's rights movement to any extent? I'm not claiming that Romero and other film makers of the era caused such change, but I certainly believe that female audiences would have been empowered by his female characters and perhaps this may have strengthened their views on society and its response to gender.

Death, diners & dancing, sounds like the ideal choice of elective for a girl like me

So the arrival of Semester B marks the beginning of a new MH&C module. Its hard t believe we're over halfway through the first year...did I really lose that much of Semester A to drink, or is the year truly passing at tremendous speed?

Either way I can say with great conviction that the contextual lectures we received last semester were fantastic and in my opinion a great influence on our developing practise. I know some fellow SFX-ers may say otherwise as the task of essays and research was enough to induce a nosebleed. But then I guess I'm abnormal amongst the masses in the sense that I enjoy the written aspects of our degree in equal measures to the practical projects.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to secure a place onto the elective which was in fact my top choice - hooray!
'Death, Dancing and Diners' is the full title and the basic structure of the module is to explore the role of death, sex and food within cinema (sounds pretty awesome already, right?).

Kicking off after the introductory lecture was a session exploring the death of the gangster. We considered the development of the gangster genre since its early establishment in the 1930s, through to more recent examples from the '90s. To support the discussion we looked at a diversity of case studies including the original Sarface (1932), The Godfather (1972), Goodfellas (1990) and Pulp Fiction (1994).
I could speak extensively about these case studies alone, but instead I would like to comment on some other points raised in the lecture which I found particularly interesting.

an genuine example of the media hype surrounding criminal activity from The Herald Examiner, dated 24/1/1935

The first of which relates to the earliest examples of gangster cinema, and how the genre came to being in the first place. Circa 1930 there was a developing public curiosity for publicised crime and as a result of media hype many criminals were granted an almost celebrity status. An example of this is shown in the image above which depicts a genuine newspaper headline about the notorious Al Capone.
The character of Tony Camonte in the original Scarface (1932) was in fact losely based on Capone, thus further evidence of the influence that criminal activity had upon cinema during that era. The film was such a success that it spurred the development and popularity of the gangster genre within the film industry.

To progress onto another interesting topic of the lecture, we explored the idea of 'blaxploitation' which is a concept I was not previously familiar with. 'Blaxploitation' was apparent within cinema during the 1970s and referrs to the influx of films featuring an African-American protagonist who was commonly hostile towards the 'white majority' and rebelled against convention. Films of this nature were a social response to the development of black rights and black culture within western societies during the '70s.
Although the genre hails some decent movies such as Shaft (1971), there were some terrible attempts at 'black adaptations' of existing movies, such as Blacula (1972).

(left) Movie poster for Blacula 1972

(right) Movie Poster for Shaft 1971

PIXAR GLOBAL DOMINATION! (Japan not included)

So Pixar began its existence as a hardware company, who knew. Whilst I was doing my A2 year of Media Studies I'd done some pretty thorough contextual research into the history of animation and also the leading industry figures in contemporary animation such as Pixar; yet I had no clue that the Pixar company was established in such a way.

Their first production as an animation company was Andre and Wally Bee 1984. Although it now appears somewhat outdated in style, at the time it was revolutionary. Creator and forefather of Pixar, John Lasseter established several new techniques for the production of Andre and Wally Bee. These include motion blur and spherical, teardrop bodies which allow for greater fluidity and dynamism of the characters.

Despite their great skill as animators, Pixar have never been able to master the human form. Their attempt in the short film Tin Toy (see clip below) did not produce the most realistic results. The baby appears almost demonic as its eyes are lifeless and its face appears aged, not youthful. Nevertheless, the company did win an Oscar for the production.
Since Tin Toy, Pixar have seemingly adopted a more stylised approach towards the presentation of people within their films. For example, The Incredibles has an entire cast of humans, each of which has a distinct appearance and characterised form. This is exemplified through the character of Jack Jack (see image below), whose appearance contrasts greatly to that of the baby in Tin Toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkztOI5wdgg 

Jack Jack, the baby from The Incredibles

On the other hand, the company must be praised for their fantastic ability to bring life to even the most inanimate object. This level of anthropomorphism is best exemplified by the lamp which features in the Pixar credits. The character is faceless, yet the animators convey emotion through the positioning of the lamp's shade and the beam from the light bulb. I think that this ability is one which makes Pixar such skilled animators. The attention to detail in their productions is fantastic and the significance of humour in their film narratives make the movies all the more enjoyable.

Towards the end of the lecture we looked briefly at Japanese animation, or anime as its known. Its a style of film which I really find difficult to enjoy. I know it has a cult following, even here in Britain, but I'm just not one of the crowd who find it so fascinating.

I can appreciate the imaginative quality it has and as a character student I can also appreciate the character design of many of the monsters and fantasy beings. However, I feel that the overall anime style is quite repetitive and characters all appear quite similar. We saw a clip from My Neighbour Totoro and I found it relatively enjoyable.

Like Pixar, there is an ongoing humour throughout the narrative, which I like. But my favourite scene from the extract we saw was when the character of Totoro and the young female protagonists use their minds to magically cause seeds to germinate and grow suddenly into a huge tree. Its a really lovely sequence as the characters all mimick the thrusting action of the tree growing skywards.

still from My Neighbour Totoro

After we had seen the clip Bill made an interesting analysis of the above scene by comparing the sprouting tree to the mushroom cloud from the Hiroshima bomb. It was something which hadn't even crossed my mind, and yet it was an extremely strong reference, which one could consider somewhat controversial from a Japanese artist.

Famous image of the mushroom cloud created by the bomb on Hiroshima

Introducing Animation

Bill opened the lecture with the following quote from Norman McClaren and I think its a great opener for this blog post too...

Animation is not the art of drawings that move, but rather the art of movements that are drawn. What happens between each frame is more important than what happens on each frame.

I think that this is a great analysis of animation as it emphasises the significance of the animation process itself. Many people overlook the complexity of animation as an art form; great effort goes into creating even a few seconds of film.

Within the lecture there was reference to Emile Cohl's 1908 animation Fantasmagorie, which is regarded the first ever cartoon. I think that its a really beautifully made animation and the character has great fluidity, despite the fact that you may expect movements to be somewhat rigid.

Emile Cohl's Fantansmagorie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFAhCxN0T0&feature=related

Bill went onto introduce the work of the Fleischer Brothers - Betty Boop, Popeye, Felix the cat etc. We saw a clip from their version of Snow White, which was actually produced five years prior to the Disney version.

A still from the Fleischer Brothers 1933 production of Snow White

I'd never seen the Fleischer Brothers version, but I really liked it. Its has a totally different mood from the Disney version which I was most familiar with. Although there are dark elements to the Disney adaptation, such as the transformation of the stepmother into an ugly witch, it is generally lighthearted. There is an underlying atmosphere to the Fleischer Brother's production which I felt was slightly brooding. Snow White, represented by Betty Boop, is an extremely naive character and you feel as though she's continually being chased by danger.

Lastly, we were shown some more recent animation in the form of stop motion. The clip we were shown was from Street of Crocodiles (1986) by The Brothers Quay. I absolutely love the work of the Brothers Quay. Its rather dark in mood and probably unsuitable for children, but their attention to detail and the stylised nature of their productions is extremely appealing.

Street of Crocodiles isn't their best piece in my opinion, but its nevertheless a brilliantly made animation.
The absence of dialogue within the film adds to the mysterious undertones. There is a fantastic soundtrack which works beautifully with the action on screen and further heightens the feeling of suspense and discomfort.
Overall their work has a certain darkness which is conveyed through mise-en-scene. The dark setting is created using subtle lighting which either casts strong shadows, or creates a soft glow to the entire scene.
Furthermore, the setting is dusty and dirty which makes you feel as though some old,abandoned artifacts are being revealed to you. This style is something which I feel works superbly as it creates a macabre atmosphere.
I couldn't find the full version of Street of Crocodiles, but the following clip shows the opening 10 minutes of the film, so you can get a feel for their work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gIb0bTWj6w

Screen Violence...the downfall of our youth apparently.

Today's lecture, though interesting, was definitely more structured towards gaming. This annoyed me a wee bit, as I feel there's so many examples of violence in film that could have been shown, yet were overlooked. Nonetheless we did see the following seriously disturbing sequence from Todd Solondz's 1998 movie Happiness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Q6Ls1Eb0g
Its not disturbing in the sense that its gory or graphic, but the inappropriate music and the complete lack of expression on the killer's face creates an unsettling atmosphere.

Bill put a lot of emphasis on the significance of violence within first person shooter games. These games put you in the position of the character through the use of first person perspective. You are placed within the action, seeing it as it occurs, thus there is a heightened sense of realism.
This raises morality issues as games of this nature are often so graphic in content that they are deemed inappropriate for a child audience. Many of these style games, Grand Theft Auto being the prime example, have an 18 certificate due to their content.

GTA has caused great controversy in the past due to its moral disregard - bedding prostitutes, murdering them and then stealing their earnings is obviously not a key feature of the game's main narrative and yet it is an ability that one is granted within game play.

These concerns regarding violence within gaming are made all the more serious with the rising popularity of consoles such as the Wii which make the gamer feel even greater involved in the actions being performed by the characters on screen. Pressing a button which makes a character throw a punch is violent, but swinging a controller forcefully at the screen to literally throw the punch seems a little to far.

To relate gaming and film Bill referenced the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers directed by Oliver Stone. The influence of gaming with regards to cinematography is obvious in the diner scene where there's extensive use of first person perspective as seen in gaming.

In the seminar  we discussed our own limitations where violence is concerned. Some class members were entirely against mindless violence, either because they found it too graphic or they felt no emotional response due to their knowledge of it being pure trickery.
I on the other hand am one of the the sick buggers who loves a bit of gore in movies! Ivan showed a scene from Chien Andalou, a silent, surrealist film by Salvador Dali. In one of the opening scenes you see a woman's eyeball being sliced into with a scalpel. Its an unbelievably graphic image and I was even shocked by it. Especially when you consider how convincingly realistic it appears. You just don't expect such advanced SFX from early cinema.

With regards to my own opinions of violence and graphic imagery, I actually find the less horrific scenes of pain more disturbing because breaking bones or deep flesh wounds are something I can actually relate to. I understand the pain such injuries cause and so I find it harder to watch.

The prime example of this is in George Romero's Land of the Dead were a woman is tackled by a zombie who then rips out her navel ring. In the same movie there is a scene where the zombies are attempting to ambush a vehicle and as they claw at the car doors you see their fingernails bend backwards and break off. These sequences make me far more queasy than some of the more graphic scenes where people are literally torn apart.

Once again to link gaming and movies, as well as the film Land of the Dead there was a video game which followed. Notably this is not a new concept, before the series of Resident Evil films there was the game franchise and then there's the character of Lara Croft who made the transition from game to film.

STEAMPUNK VESPA!

After writing my last post I had a browse at 'steampunk' creations on Google images and came across this beauty. As someone interested in the mod subculture I found it rather amusing :)

Sci-fi Steam Punks?

This week's lecture was all about genre, with particular attention to the science fiction genre. Whilst introducing the lecture Bill raised a really valid point regarding industry expectations of potential employees.

An industry contact of his revealed that even applicants for a job position in digital effects, should have extensive skills and knowledge of physical methods.

I think this raised a few eyebrows amongst the gamers and digital arts students who have deliberately avoided the use of pencils, since leaving school. He's undoubtedly right in what he's saying, but does that mean that as a modeller I should have an awareness of digital techniques also? Because that definitely evokes fear within me, I've not the faintest idea of how to create digital effects!

That's not to say I've no interest whatsoever in learning. I think it's somewhat ignorant for modellers to shun the digital age, because after all, it is as much a factor of modern cinema as the skills we're learning as physical modellers.

Anyway, I'm straying from the topic of sci-fi and so to continue, in the seminar we discussed the idea of repetition and predictability within the science fiction genre. We also devised a list of stereotypical concepts within the genre such as robots, aliens and evolution.

The idea of evolution through the ages is something that I found particularly intriguing. We discussed the idea that the original depiction of the future is one lacking organic content. Manufactured materials such as metal, plastic and glass dominate and the colour pallet is generally limited to greys, whites and blacks. Suggesting sterility.

However, Ivan then presented the idea of 'steam punk' which is a term that I was familiar with, but never fully understood prior to the seminar.
The idea is that a future world will be compiled of existing or past artifacts rather than new and unusual inventions. Evidence of 'steam punk' can be seen through the interpretation of the Tardis in the most recent Dr Who television series (see image below).

Throughout previous series, the interior of the Tardis was presented in a stereotypically futuristic manner - lots of chrome fixtures and geometric clean lines to the design (see image below). In the latest series we are presented with a distinctly different looking machine. There is extensive use of traditional materials such as wood and the fixtures of the machine replicate furniture of the post war period. Overall it has a 'vintage' or 'retro' feel.

The underlying idea is that the future is actually more reminiscent of the past, being a compilation of previous fashions, styles and traditions. Therefore juxtaposing the fantastical idea that society will establish an entirely new and unique culture through technological advancement.

Lastly, Ivan introduced to us the website B.O.B - Box of Broadcast. Which is a database where you can access any recorded content from previous television series/ programmes. This includes films also, so I'll most definitely be signing up to the site and making the most of free viewing!