Okay - re. the written assignment, yes, I like the clear focus, but neither 'concept art' or 'production design' need capital letters. I think you should lose 'concept art' anyway, and just use 'production design' as the encompassing term. You'll need to give a definition of production design (its role and remit) in general, before discussing Spirited Away specifically, as your reader needs to be treated as if they are unfamiliar with the idea and need it defined before reading further.
In regard to your thumbnails: the establishing shot of the castle is composed a bit counter-intuitively, as the strong directional perspective means that our eye is actually encouraged to move away from the castle and toward the horizon - so that the structure itself feels very subordinate - as if it's not the point of the image. I encourage you to reverse this relationship, so that we're guided towards the castle. I also suggest that you drop the point-of-view. The whole point of that description of the castle is that we are made to feel its height, the way it almost punctures the sky, and your current view shrinks the whole structure too much, and makes us hover above it, when the dramatic thing would be to make us look up at it and feel loomed over. For maybe some ideas on 'looming-ness' (!?) watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIjWthwWwI
Your attic needs more artistic licence - yes you've got the description in the book, but this is concept art for a proposed animation, so don't be afraid of elaborating on the text and making this space work filmically. Once again, you've got an odd 'hovering' POV, where if you were to put us 'inside' the attic, amongst the stuff, your ability to produce dynamic compositions is going to increase immediately; consider these from the Harry Potter franchise:
The Dept. of Mysteries http://www.mugglenet.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10041/dadom.jpg
The Room of Requirements http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IYEqnQ4cMGE/TVNgs4ZesuI/AAAAAAAAACE/UasEW9gNfrk/s1600/room+of+requirement.jpg
Basically - attics/storerooms/warehouses writ-large! And put your audience 'inside' of the space.
The Room of roots suffers from the same 'up above' far-off POV - when the appeal of that room would surely be to be amongst those roots. By putting us within your spaces, yes, you complicate your perspectives, but you'll create a more satisfying experience of depth and space. Give it a go!
hey Anthony - you're blog has stalled. You're storing up problems when you go silent - it might be because you're in a frenzy of production, but my experience suggests otherwise... get your blog updated asap, Anthony - I don't want to be seeing your work for the 'first time' on crit friday...
OGR 10/11/2011
ReplyDeleteHey Anthony,
Apologies for the delay!
Okay - re. the written assignment, yes, I like the clear focus, but neither 'concept art' or 'production design' need capital letters. I think you should lose 'concept art' anyway, and just use 'production design' as the encompassing term. You'll need to give a definition of production design (its role and remit) in general, before discussing Spirited Away specifically, as your reader needs to be treated as if they are unfamiliar with the idea and need it defined before reading further.
In regard to your thumbnails: the establishing shot of the castle is composed a bit counter-intuitively, as the strong directional perspective means that our eye is actually encouraged to move away from the castle and toward the horizon - so that the structure itself feels very subordinate - as if it's not the point of the image. I encourage you to reverse this relationship, so that we're guided towards the castle. I also suggest that you drop the point-of-view. The whole point of that description of the castle is that we are made to feel its height, the way it almost punctures the sky, and your current view shrinks the whole structure too much, and makes us hover above it, when the dramatic thing would be to make us look up at it and feel loomed over. For maybe some ideas on 'looming-ness' (!?) watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIjWthwWwI
Your attic needs more artistic licence - yes you've got the description in the book, but this is concept art for a proposed animation, so don't be afraid of elaborating on the text and making this space work filmically. Once again, you've got an odd 'hovering' POV, where if you were to put us 'inside' the attic, amongst the stuff, your ability to produce dynamic compositions is going to increase immediately; consider these from the Harry Potter franchise:
The Dept. of Mysteries
http://www.mugglenet.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10041/dadom.jpg
The Room of Requirements
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IYEqnQ4cMGE/TVNgs4ZesuI/AAAAAAAAACE/UasEW9gNfrk/s1600/room+of+requirement.jpg
Basically - attics/storerooms/warehouses writ-large! And put your audience 'inside' of the space.
The Room of roots suffers from the same 'up above' far-off POV - when the appeal of that room would surely be to be amongst those roots. By putting us within your spaces, yes, you complicate your perspectives, but you'll create a more satisfying experience of depth and space. Give it a go!
hey Anthony - you're blog has stalled. You're storing up problems when you go silent - it might be because you're in a frenzy of production, but my experience suggests otherwise... get your blog updated asap, Anthony - I don't want to be seeing your work for the 'first time' on crit friday...
ReplyDeletehttp://ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.com/2011/11/fao-cgaa-year-1-space-201112-submission.html