Monday

Observations during chosen animated movies

The Incredibles;

  • Realistic lighting + environments; urban city, domestic home, suburbs, cubicle office - develop place where Bob works?
  • Very obvious/effective shadow
  • Jungle is 'typical' of movie jungles - almost totally green in colour and lighting, palm trees, bushes, shrubs etc. Isn't overly detailed in this... Large open spaces. Canyons, mountains, cliffs, echo animal sounds.
  • Misty/foggy
  • Gets more radical closer to Syndrome's lair, volcanoes, underwater cave, train systems
  • Syndrome's lair; futuristic, minimal decor, lots of metal/stone (grey), dark, neon/artificial lighting where there is any - other than when surrounded by lava, red light, romantic.
  • Edna's house; huge, airy, light, modern, futuristic, minimal

Monsters Inc;

  • Sully + Mike's apartment; quite regular actually. All American apartment. Small monsterly touches; monster soft toy, large arm chair for Sully, small egg chair for Mike.
  • Mostly natural light; inside is artificial lamps, restaurant lights, very bright in factory.
  • Monstropolis; again quite regular looking American city. The characters are what bring it out of the ordinary. Although it also has subtle details, small doors in walls for small monsters etc. Monster shops, monster newspapers.
  • The factory. Introduction to; reception desk, entrance chamber large, echo-ey and busy. Mostly natural light in the entrance chamber from skylights. Outside of building looks like observatory/science lab. Lockers are dark, feel a bit seedy. Artificial light again, but not very strong. Deeper into the factory the light gets more harsh (not necessarily brighter) and feels quite office-y.
  • 'Scaring floor' - natural light, mechanical system for door ordering and distribution. Large screen, reminiscent of sporting score board, displaying scarers and number of scares. 'Cafe'/staff room/coffee area, dark, covered, warm.
  • Harry Hausens - dark, romantic lighting, Japanese decor. Large, modern, almost looks like a museum on the exterior. Spotlights at front door.
  • Boo's room - dark, girly, moon light, toy-strewn.
  • Downstairs scream chamber. Dark, sickly artificial light, mechanical. Feels cold, eerie, sterile.
  • Scare simulator - theater lighting, warm, large, cinema-like.
  • Cave Mike and Sully are banished to. Cold, icy, full of supplies - Abominable Snowman's home. Little village nearby looks cozy, picturesque.
  • Door storage chamber; HUGE. Enormous cavern, naturally lit, busy, maze-like, reminiscent of a library. Deeper = darker.

Alice in Wonderland;

  • Dim lighting in 'real' world; looks cold, damp, dreary.
  • Family-in-law's property - large fields, trees + bushes, large classical home, wealthy. Feels open, airy, but cold; bluish tint/photo filter.
  • Tunnel + room w/ table + key to wonderland. Warm, dark, quiet. Old royal.
  • Intro to Wo/Underland - dark, quiet, busy, cold; forest like. Twisted fairytale, toadstools + flowers etc. Cross between garden/forest/jungle.
  • Wasteland; dark, dreary, dead trees, dry, canyons, cloudy; colour mostly washed out red/brown - outside of the forest, where it is blue/green, dark + misty.
  • Red Queen's castle; LARGE. Like her head, likes large things. Colour mostly red, black and white. Heart patterns as decoration. Stone. Sky is red/smoky.
  • Mad Tea Party; shabby, cluttered, misty, careless. Dark, dirty.
  • Forest path; orange and blue. Almost straight split. Sun + shadow. Autumn. Cold. Dead trees.
  • Old Wonderland; green and merry.
  • River; dark + eerie.
  • Dusty, almost desert like.
  • Moat around castle full of dead bodies; very morbid, threatening, creepy. Gag inducing.
  • White Queen's castle - all big airy chambers, echoes, white + grey colouring. Waterfalls. Open balconies.
  • Execution court - Romanesque. Stone.

First Thoughts

Introduction of Assignment 2: Modeling - A Sense of Place

I'm interested in the films 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Nightmare Before Christmas', 'Horton Hears A Who' and 'Monsters Inc'.
I'm immediately drawn to these films because I think they have a lot of potential in terms of crazy and interesting scenes. The scenery in these films is already quite creative and dynamic, so I immediately feel inclined to create one which (while keeping with the style of the rest of the movie of course) is quite 'out there' so to speak.

In terms of which scenes to add, I'm thinking...
Alice in Wonderland- either Alice's arrival in wonderland or the Mad Tea Party. Either can be taken quite close to the extreme, I think, and have a lot of space for creativity/personalisation.
Nightmare Before Christmas- I like Oogie Boogie's lair; the lighting and colours are quite cool, and I think there is also space to make it very different.
Horton Hears A Who- I love Dr Seuss, and the scene where Whoville is introduced is very cool. Very Dr Seuss inspired (in terms of visual style) and I think also has a very cohesive style, so would be fun to develop yet also easy (ish) to stay consistent.
Monsters Inc- The concept of Monsters Inc and the travelling through wardrobe doors in itself gives quite a bit of space for creativity. However I would probably choose the scene where Sully and Mike are banished to a mountain top; room for development/change while keeping with the concept.