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Thursday 1 December 2011

@Phil: Postmodern Essay Stucture

Phil, I was hoping you could have a look at the essay structure of my postmodernism essay and see if I am on the right track before I begin writing the essay itself ?

Essay Title: A discussion of which the postmodernity theory of Metafiction is used to analysis and interpret  the Scream Franchise?

Essay Structure
  • Introduce and defining postmodernism in general terms.
  • Defining the postmodernity  theory of Metafiction in detail
  • With an additional paragraph about 'meta-film' and general history of slasher films that came prior to Scream
  • Introduce the Scream franchise
  • Introduce what came before and influenced the Scream films  (Using screen shots to help with comparing elements of the films with other films that come before e.g Halloween).
  • Further looking at the additional theories that Scream are  connect to such as Parody and Pastiche.
  • Introduce the fact that Parody and Pastiche are part of Metafiction
  • Look at how parody and pastiche are used in the scream films.


Sunday 27 November 2011

Postmodernism: Research (work in progress post)

This post is just so that have a place to put all the information and quotes that I find usefull for my essay on the Scream franchise and also metafiction.

Notes
Scream, is a slasher-horror movie based on the tradition Horror films before such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Wes Craven’s own A Nightmare on Elm Street. Scream is actually much more than that, it transcending the limits of the genre by having the characters be aware and comment freely upon them. This way, the film becomes a work of “meta-fiction”. But also these movies have an increasingly Ourobouros like tendency towards self-awareness while never abandoning an actual narrative
The film purpose is to prey upon the audience’s knowledge of the horror film genre. Once the characters explicitly state that they know “the rules” for surviving in a horror movie, either those rules must be fulfilled resulting in the characters dying, or broken. It is this tension that sustains the movie. One of the things that made Scream stand out from its numerous successors and spin-offs, was its success as a film that utilized multiple genres and styles. For example, Scream is at once both funny and scary, and the film is aware that it is so.
Beneath all the gore and violence, there's a  sense of wit and intelligence which viewers are likely to appreciate, this is what makes this much more than a common slasher flick.
Scream is also one of the examples of metafiction in a horror film, in that Scream is self-referential and aware of its status as a film in the horror genre. One example form the franchise is that of Randy Meeks, a character in Scream and Scream 2 (with a cameo in Scream 3), that outlines the horror film survival rules that he has learned from working in a video store. It is rare to see a horror film, much less a horror film that can be so silly, comment on techniques employed in its own genre, as well as on the nature of the genre and medium itself.


Scream the horror film survival rules

With Scream 4, Craven decided that there was one key area that needed to be updated, with the earlier films having relied heavily on the telephone as a menacing plot device. But with a new era of communication technology, “Scream 4” had to reflects that, Craven stated in an interview about his recent scream film  that with "The growth of social networking, video cameras and recorders has a big presence in every nook and cranny of our life, and we’re very much in that world, I can’t imagine doing a film set in today’s world without those things being important to plot and character.” says Craven
Whereas the original three Scream films used iconic slasher’s from the 70′s and 80′s such as classic as Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. As the basses for the genre rules that where used as cliches within these films.  But Scream 4 was targeted at films such as the Saw franchise and of course the endless re-makes of such slasher films that have appeared in recent years. This was because Scream 4 was made 10 years after the other films, and since then there have been many other horror film some would say have had the effect. Doing this is making Scream 4 up-to-date but at the same time uses the method that the other three Scream movies used.
When research into the Scream franchise I stumble across a documentary that the Bio channel showed a while back called Scream: The Inside Story. Basically the documentary explains the backstory and all the work that went into the first Scream movie. The documentary itself is very interesting and there are a few quotes I have written down that could be helpfully for my essay.


Scream: The Inside Story Trailer


Scream: The Inside Story Part 1

As well as this documentry, I came across a book which at the moment I am trying to find a copy of called Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized Analysis. Which analysis all four Scream movies examine the meaning, themes and philosophy of the movie series that brought horror back from the dead by breaking all the rules. If I can find this book, this could be a great source I could use for my essay.

Quotes
"Scream is rare in that it functions as a horror movie and as a defence of horror movies, as both a criticism of the weaknesses of them and as an embracing of the same weaknesses as tropes that, more often than not, work. It deserves more respect." (Jensen,2010)
"In the ‘Scream' series, whenever rules are stated, it's us as filmmakers saying these are the cliches, and we immediately break the rules, send up the cliches," Craven says.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Character Bible Front Cover and Background


Character Design: All Character Poses

Here are all threee final poses for my three chracters

Villian
Sidekick
 Hero


Group Shot


Overall I am really pleased with my characters, the only thing I think I need to do is work on my hero a little more, then I can start with but the character bible together.

Monday 21 November 2011

Character Design: Sidekick Final Pose

My sidekick is 95% finished, I will just have to go back and re-touch up the concept for the character bible, but this is the character that  I am happiest with out of the three.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Character Design: All Character Turnarounds

All the character turnaronds have been completed, next I am going to scan them into phtoshop and then edit them so that the quailty is suitable for the character bible.



Tuesday 15 November 2011

Character Design: Sidekick Development

The sidekicks progress is getting there and I think this is the character I like the best. The concept is a work in progress, still need some work. At the moment I am unsure whether puts his arms in another position, that would express nervousness a bit more. My sidekick is the exact opposite to my hero and hopefully this is expressed in the concept. The next step is to go back and refine all three of my concepts.

Original Sketch

Monday 14 November 2011

Character Design: Villain Progress

I finally think that my villain is finally getting somewhere, it still needs alot of work in terms of refinement. But at the moment I am happy with where my character is going :)

Sunday 13 November 2011

Character Design: More Villain Design Development

I thought that I would give it one last try for today at trying to re-drawing my villain and I think that I might have just got it (fingers-crossed). Next I am gonna put it into to photoshop and start adding colour.

Character Design: Villain Development

The progress of my villain is slowly getting there, I finally found the rite face shape that would be best for my villain. Next I think that i will have to work on the steam punk body parts as I think I have lost the effect from my original drawings. Maybe adding more colour detail might fix the problem or I might have to think about changing the shape. But it is getting there slowly......

Friday 11 November 2011

Character Design: Hero Development

My hero character is still a work in progress but one thing I like about this character is how it has developed from my initial sketch. I think that is getting there but alot more work needs to go into the face and shoes and then some touch up on  the colours. But I am happy with where this character is going at the moment.




Character Design: Villain Development

After talking with Justin, he say that my villains steam punk body parts could be a bit more exaggerated, so that in the silhouette you will be able to see straight away this is the villain. So I just quickly come up with this concept but at the moment I am not too sure if  it looks better the my original sketch. I think that I might start adding colour to it and see where it goes from there. 

Original Sketch


New Sketch


Sunday 6 November 2011

Character Design: Villian Development

The Development of my villain is going well and I think that this is the character that I am most pleased with. I decided that with this character I was going to express the steampunk style alot more than my other characters. So I decided that instead of my who villain being made out of machine parts, he has several parts of his body made out of machines. I think doing this makes the character seem more interesting than my original idea of just having a old scientist.






Final Idea


The only thing that I want to change is the face shape as I think that it still does not express much evil and the face still looks too young. But hopefully it is going in the right direction.

Saturday 5 November 2011

Character Design: Hero Further Development

My hero's design is finally getting somewhere and I think that I have got the right shape and position to express confidence. Now I am going to take it into Photoshop and start adding colour and work on getting the right face shape.





 

Final Sketch  

Sunday 30 October 2011

Maya Tutorial: Modelling Part 3 (Shoes)

Character Design: Hero Progress..

The progress on my hero character is getting there, I have got the body shape, just working on the body language so that my character expresses confidence and strength. Here some of the sketches I have been working on.





I think this is going to be the sketch that I am going to take forward.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Character Design: Development of Hero Character

After find the right body shape for my hero, I been experimenting really quickly with finding a pose that express confidence and strength. Here are just a few that I think worked the best out of the bunch.






Now that I have found some poses that I think suit my characters personality, I gonna experiement with different face shapes for this character next.

Monday 17 October 2011

Character Design: Some Rough Body Shapes.

Just some rough drawings of some body shapes I was thinking about for each of my three characters.  They are really quick drawings, but there are a few body shapes in there that I would like to develop further.

Hero





Side Kick



Villain