Illustration and Visual Narrative/ Lecture Report
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Lecture Report 1- Character Design Basics ( Week 2 )
Dumbo
Dumbo is my choice of character. It is an animation movie produced by Walt Disney Productions. Dumbo is a small Asian elephant and has the personality of a small child. He is playful, innocent, fun-loving, loves being around his mother and hates being alone.
Shapes can tell a story, show personality, and illicit an emotional response in the viewer without using any words. The form of Dumbo is mainly made up of ovals and circles. Circles are organic and natural shapes. Round out edges and add curves to evoke a warm and welcoming feeling, displaying a soft, harmless and approachable image, just as Dumbo does. Colours add life to a visual, and deciding upon a character's colour scheme will indirectly determine the mood of the nature and the scene. Dumbo's skin is grey, and grey is a balanced, neutral colour representing Dumbo's moody and reserved personality.
Exaggerated features assist viewers in identifying the character's key characteristics and emphasising certain personality traits. Dumbo is well known for his giant floppy ears, which allow him to fly through the air. His ears are huge in comparison to his body (which the other elephants don't like) and are the character's most remarkable distinctive characteristic. Dumbo also wears a small yellow conical hat and a yellow ruffled collar that fits snugly under his head, which contrasts with the general grey tone. When we look at a character, the first thing we notice is its eyes. Human and animal eyes are full of expression and a great way to figure out what someone is thinking or feeling in real life. So naturally, we look to the eyes in an illustration. Dumbo has blue eyes with two eyelashes, and his expression is always innocent, joyous, and curious, expressing his thoughts and disposition.
Even though Dumbo has a very little tail, a small proboscis with two huge nostrils at the end of it, two large ears, blue eyes, and so on, all of the design components of Dumbo fit together wonderfully and complement each other perfectly and show harmony. This is exactly what makes me love this character so much.
Lecture Report 2- Chiaroscuro ( Week 3)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
“I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky.”
Alice in Wonderland
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2010)
For decades, filmmakers have been updating and iterating on creative lighting and cinematography techniques. Nevertheless, some of the best lighting techniques, such as the chiaroscuro method, continue to have a lasting impact on today's films. When I initially learned about Chiaroscuro, the first film that came to me was Alice in Wonderland. The film Alice in Wonderland (2010) was directed by Tim Burton and released from production studio Walt Disney, stars Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway.
In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, a nineteen-year-old Alice returns to Wonderland. She re-acquaints herself with the characters she knew as a child and learns of the prophecy she is destined to fulfil in order to bring the Red Queen's reign to an end. The "time-travel" setting is not new, but the director uses various techniques supported by 3D technology to make the narrative scenes not only appealing but also suspenseful. The director's unique perspective on deeper philosophical and human dilemmas is reflected in the story's magical setting, and it is mirrored by reality. The director employs a wide range of lighting techniques to produce emotional and affective rendering, exhibiting a diversified artistic character. This fantasy movie uses different lighting methods throughout the film to enhance the feel of the scene, features a combination of low and high-key lighting, and uses the traditional three-point lighting technique portrayed in most films.
Low-key lighting is defined by the elevated use of deep shadows, and has a high contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene. This type of lighting is evident throughout the film, with deep shadows in nearly every scene, giving the film an overall gloomy feel. This also helps characters, such as the Mad Hatter with his vivid colouring, pop out in the scenes. This contrast contributes to the fantasy of the film. Like Alice in the image above, we can sense from the images that the plot of the film is intended to depict Alice's courageous and fearless attitude, which enables her to break through her own psychological defences, break through the shackles of social propriety, face reality, and confront the unknown. Shadows and lighting contribute to the overall impression of mystery and atmosphere.
As this is a fantasy film, remade as a sequel to the original Alice in Wonderland film (1951), collaborative lighting techniques (along with ultra-realistic animation) really help the viewer to experience the situations Alice encounters that go beyond the limitations of the real world. The plot of the film is seamless, with the director employing a variety of technical means and expressions to render emotional expressions, allowing the audience to be immersed in the magical world and feel the emotional shifts, thus resonating with themselves and achieving a unity between the ideal and the real. If this film were to have featured a different type of lighting, or simply a different collaboration, viewers may have found themselves not able to immerse themselves in the escapism that fantasy films normally allow. Fortunately for us, this film featured precisely the perfect lighting techniques to make us feel as if we'd fallen down the rabbit hole ourselves.
Lecture Report 3- Visual Types and Shots (Week 4)
2. Bird's Eyeview
5. Close-up
6. Worm's Eyeview
Lecture Report 4- Fore, Middle and Background (Week 5)
Tangled (2010)
This scene is from the movie “Tangled” where there is a reluctant Alliance between Flynn and Maximus (the super-cop horse). A soft light filter was used in the scene to create a dreamy feel and the contrast was reduced in the scene.
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This is the scene in which Rapunzel finds her crown. This sequence focuses on Rapunzel's long hair, allowing the audience to see it at first glance and later in the mirror. As this scene is set indoors (the tower) , the overall tone and lighting are both warm.
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This is the scene in which Rapunzel is born. The scene utilises lanterns as the main lighting and is supported by the light from the sunset to create a warm and comfortable scene for the family. The scene is shaded in several areas, giving the whole scene a layered and three-dimensional look.
Lecture Report 5- Perspectives (Week 6)
Webtoon- Nevertheless, (2021)
One-Point Perspective
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