Using Film and Television to inform my work. learning about camera angles and how this can influence the composition and make my work better informed:
EDWARD KITSIS AND ADAM HORROWITZ CREATORS OF ABC'S 'ONCE UPON A TIME' (ref for page film/media 6)
'ONCE UPON A TIME' is a new series that has started in America that deals with fairy tales or 'cautionary tales' in the 'real world'. It takes artistic licence with the well known stories and plays with their moral codes turning them into one big interlinking story. These stories were meant to be 'cautionary' and this programme reminds us that what we have seen in 'Disney' is a far 'fluffier' version of the truth. These stories ARE NOT pink and fluffy....snow white it poisoned and put on show in a glass coffin, a beauty falls in love with a hideous beast, Cinderella is bullied and mistreated by her family and Rumpelstiltskin is a baby-stealing maniac! See...this is not normal!
Trailer: this pretty much sums it up. I plan on drawing some stills from this so I can build up a catalogue of ideas and images relating to costume, character, scenery and set.
SKIN DEEP: my favourite episode so far. I have always been fascinated by the concept of 'beauty and the beast'. There has been so much concept art done over the years but I believe we can still push the boundaries with the idea of what 'is beauty' and 'who is the beast.' Once Upon A Time has taken a whole new outlook on by making the beast and Rumpelstiltskin the same character this so I have done some concept art of my own. Please see below this video.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Once's creators) seem to take a very similar outlook on Fairy Tales. I take a lot of ideas and inspiration from this show for that reason, it helps me to channel what I already know my objectives are.
My Version of Beauty and the Beast. Inspired by the Gothic with a sinister twist. This is the first time I have properly used ink to create a whole picture and I am pleased with the atmosphere it creates. Below is clips of the modern version of 'Belle and the Beast' From OUAT. It shows how an artist can exploit stereotypes and despite History still be valid as the same characters.
Beauty and the Beast is my favourite story because there are so many underlying concepts. The 'skin deep' theory is by far my favourite idea out there and always inspires my work. The idea of 'vanity' is there in lots of fairy tales-snow white/sleeping beauty/ snow white and rose red/ Thumbelina.
A Take on the scene from Snow White. In Fairy-Tale Land
A take on true loves kiss in the real world. I can take stock from how they de-glamorise the ridiculous theory, putting it into a modern setting makes it more scary, closer to home. This is a theory I could explore.
Below: Building a scene, creating character concentrating on detail and costume and trying to be correct. A figurative exerciser, looking at expression, stance, proportion etc.
Below: Quick sketch whilst watching OUAT. I wanted to capture movement and expression. The colours didn't work because they blended together and detail was lost but I think the expressive marks capture the feel of the scene and this is all I wished to accomplish. I like how the box overlaps at the bottom like an afterthought I will remember this composition for my graphic novel.
BELOW: COLOUR AND FRAMING. This was drawn from memory after watching the scene. The layout is fun, not in keeping with traditional graphic novel values but it is an interesting form of storyboarding I will play around with more in the future. The harsh colours enhance the imps evil grin, it was a little experiment to see if I could use colour to enhance a character and it worked in this case. It might be fun to try the seven deadly sins and use colours to represent them, as a technique ad colour experiment.
BELOW: CREATING MOOD. IF I WERE TO CLEAN UP THE PANELS OF THE IMAGE BELOW IT COULD WORK VERY WELL AS A SHORT STORY. IT IT, TO ME, A MODERN FAIRY-TALE AND ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT SPECIFIC TO MY PROJECT IT IS A PIECE THAT HAS INFORMED IT GREATLY. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A LITTLE BOOK ABOUT THIS FOR MY RESEARCH PROJECT AS I LOVE THIS CHARACTER.
Gainsborough Pictures: 'Real Life doesn't always have a happy ending'
'The Man in Grey 1943' At the end his ship sails away and we never see him again. In these films we see an influence from the fairy-tales, especially in costume, it is not quite period and not quite imaginary, it seems artistic licence was taken.
'Fanny By Gaslight 1945' has an ambiguous ending. We have the usual battle between good and bad, dramatic build up towards what we think will be a 'fairy-tale' ending but then the lead is shot and we don't know if he lives or dies.
