Unit X: Initial Research 'Dislocation'

Unit X Research

Giselle: Dislocation

Introduction

As part of Unit X, we are required to complete research into the chosen theme. As our group did not clearly choose a theme before the holidays, this allowed us to freely research what we wanted to then share later our findings as a group. This would allow us to then share a range of diverse ideas which could potentially be combined into a inspirational original concept. 

Research

After initial mind-mapping and research into both themes of 'Love, Betrayal and Forgivness' and 'Dislocation' . I started with research into the definitions of all of these words to gain and understanding of what they mean. 

I chose to continue research into dislocation because after the viewing of the ballet, I found that I gained the most inspiration for the theme from the end of act one when Giselle descends into madness, more details can be found on the post 'Giselle Live ballet screening'. 

Definition

·         Dislocation (Dislocate)

verb (used with object), dislocated, dislocating

1.to put out of place; put out of proper relative position; displace:

The glacier dislocated great stones. The earthquake dislocated several buildings.

2. to put out of joint or out of position, as a limb or an organ.

3. to throw out of order; upset; disorder

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dislocate [20/3/16]

to disrupt or shift out of place or position

to displace (an organ or part) from its normal position, esp a bone from its joint

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/dislocate [20/3/16]

To research a theme I always begin with the definition because it is important to understand the meaning of the word. This is to ensure to not be confused with other words and to further examine deeper meanings and interpretations of the word. The word ‘dislocate’ is often referred to the injury where a joint is displaced from a socket. However, with the same principle in mind, I intend to explore the idea that Giselle had a place that she was, and then she has been displaced to cause her to be emotionally dislocated.

During Ballet

Refer to post ‘Giselle Live Screening’ [7/4/16].

Moment during end of act one when Giselle is betrayed by her lover, she finds out that he has already committed to another woman. Giselle begins a decent into madness portrayed by her begin let down and how the moment she takes the sword, the sword begins to control her. This escalates to the point where she stabs herself in the stomach which will later kill her. This is significant because of the discovery that person she loves has betrayed her, she ‘snaps’ and becomes a totally different character, whereas before she was the happiest girl in the world to suddenly be willing to take her own life.

Ideas- apply to display

The moment Giselle is betrayed is a significant moment during the ballet that stood out to me, because of this I’ve chosen to pursue the theme of dislocation. This is because I want to focus on the emotions and thoughts of Giselle during that moment and relate that back to the idea of how dislocated Giselle must have felt during that moment.

During the end of the act, Giselle re-enacts the moments with her lover to reveal they were all just a lie in front of both families of Giselle and the higher class. Despite being surrounded by family and loved ones, they do not recognise who she is and she feels alone as she has been betrayed.

Installations

I had a number of ideas involving installations to meet the Unit X brief. Previous ideas can be seen as part of the initial ideas stage where I had not completed any significant research.

I have had ideas involving mannequins that would make up an installation which would make up a scene or scenario relating to the theme I had selected. One idea based upon the idea of dislocation, the mannequins would be placed in a circle within a dark area that would surround the viewer. This would engage the viewer in the position of Giselle where the blank mannequins represent Giselle’s family and lover as she felt disconnected through the world. These mannequins would be accompanied by hanging shattered mirrors with strands that hold up the shattered pieces. This would represent the shattered reality that Giselle once inhabited before she was betrayed. This could be expanded upon where the viewer can upload photos of their friends and families which will then be projected on the faces of the mannequins to make the installation personal. 

Giselle (Live) 2016 Screening Manchester Odeon

Giselle Live Screening Manchester Odeon

Introduction

I watched the live broadcast of the Giselle ballet at the Odeon cinema in Manchester from the Royal Opera House in London. The show was performed by the Royal Ballet and this was a great opportunity for research with the Unit X project, as I have seen the Giselle ballet before.

Rather than trailers we had a speaker live from the Royal Opera House who spoke about the performance and showed us some ‘behind the scenes’ footage of the dancers practicing and talking about their characters. I found this useful because there is not dialogue within the ballet however there is some great acting through the body language, but the description given by the dancers adds that depth to the characters. 

Screening

The ballet is split into two acts, one where Giselle is alive and the world has a very positive atmosphere, then act two takes a very dark turn where it takes place in the ‘underworld’ with the ghosts of dead woman who dance men to death. Despite not being at the Royal Opera House to watch the ballet there, I still found it enjoyable.

There were moments within the ballet that really stood out to me, be it the dancers or the narrative. The first moment was during the first act when Giselle discovers than she is betrayed as her lover is married to another woman she begins to descend into madness to the point of her even stabbing herself in the stomach. In my opinion this moment within the ballet should have an entire act itself as this is the turn in act one which transitions into act two. However this moment is so striking and so sudden that it no longer feels like it should be part of act one or two. This moment was very interesting and would like to look into this further, an opportunity to explore this as part of Unit X.

One moment within the second act, the dancers would stand on the ends of their toes and then move them quickly to glide from one side of the stage to the other. I found that this was a fantastic effect to create the illusion of the dancers almost gliding across the stage, which made them appear supernatural. This is supported with the contrast of the movements of the dancers in the first act where they do walk expressively and it appears very natural, then during act two when these dancers would walk on their ends, they appear to glide like the ghost characters.

Act two also had an effect on me which was interesting. There were parts within act two where there would be around twenty dancers all dancing in sync which was amazing, however the colours of the contrasting dark colours of the background to the striking white of the dancers caused me to fade away into my own thoughts at times. As they danced they would just become blurs and shapes which made me think about the story of Giselle and about Unit X, which felt more like a trance as I was startled by the applause of the audience and the dance was over without me realising. This bizarre effect did not occur during act one, which leads me to believe the theme of the underworld during act two also had a similar effect on me as I fell into a trance as the dancers slowly turned into shapes and I was lost in my own thoughts. This would not have been achieved in had one of the dancers been out of sync or fell over, but due to their professionalism and there stunning dancing it had that effect on me.

Continuing discussing these thoughts I had, I began to think about the theme of dislocation. As discussed before with the end of act one where Giselle is betrayed, this was a very striking moment within the ballet. I started to relate this moment to one of the themes for the Unit X brief; Dislocation. This is because I stared to have a wave of thoughts about the emotions of Giselle and how she must have felt at that moment of betrayal, I started to think about how dislocated she must have felt from her loved ones and her reality. I started to think about I how I would express this and how this could meet the Unit X brief. 

Conclusion

Overall I found the Giselle very impressive and striking with the contrast of the two acts. The narrative of Giselle is a simple yet noble one as Giselle grows as a character and forgives the one who betrayed her. It was a different experience watching a live ballet within a cinema rather than a theatre, I would have preferred the theatre watching the dancers on stage. I will continue my research into Giselle and specifically the theme of dislocation. 

Tim Yip’s New Orientalism

Tim Yip at Whitworth Art Gallery

Wednesday 23rd March 2016

Tim Yip is an award winning designer who will be designing the set and costumes for the Giselle ballet. This talk introduced the brief for the fashion students by Tim Yip and offered the opportunity for the winning to collaborate with Tim Yip to produce the designs for the Giselle Ballet.

More details: http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/akram-khan-giselle/

The talk took place at the Whitworth Art Gallery from 6pm till 8pm, but he talk did finish an hour early. It was compulsory for Animation to attend this talk because Tim Yip is highly regarded designer and it was important for us to attend. Only three animation students attended including myself whereas the rest of the audience were fashion students and other people.

Tim Yip went on to talk about his work and projects, I was not able to hear most of the talk as he spoke very quietly. I found his answers rather short and limited when people offered complicated and engaging questions. Tim Yip did have his work playing on a PowerPoint on the stage, which I did not particularly like but can appreciate the work. 

I found this talk very disappointing and a waste of time as I felt that I had not taken anything away from this despite Tim Yip being highly regarded and that only a few of our course attended. This is not to say I do not enjoy speakers and listening to them, but it does depend if the speaker and present effectively. 

Orc Double Take Test

Orc Double Take: Test

Introduction

Over the Easter holidays I felt that this would be an opportunity to practice some animation. I will do this through small tests and exercises, I have already started this in a previous post with the help of Tom Bancroft’s book ‘Character Mentor’.

Within this test I wanted to practice a double take on a character.  I have created a double take before as part of the 2D workshops during term 1, which can be seen my previous post. I was pleased with the result of the reaction of the character however it is incomplete because the character does not react to anything. The space which should have had a scary thing was left empty because I focused on the reaction rather than the trigger. Therefore I wanted to revisit this task as a test and an improvement.

Initial 

I chose an orc as the character because I am looking forward to the release of ‘Total War: Warhmmer’ later this year and have recently been motivated by the fantasy genre including: Warhammer, Warcraft as well as others. I chose a simple double take where the orc is minding his own business, sees something and then reacts.

I started with research on what an orc looks like with mood boards, I particularly like the design of orcs from Warcraft large jaws and teeth which look more like tusks. This similar design is also shared by Warhammer which was also a source of inspiration.

I then moved onto the key poses of the double take and tried to add squash and stretch to the positions to represent the extreme positions.

Tests

I then produced some tests to adjust the timing of the positions.

I added a snort to this test because I intend to add life to the orc as he 'minds his own business' rather than just be doing nothing. In a way I wanted to add a scenario where the orc is keeping watch, smells something and then notices the danger. 

After further reading from Richard William's Animation Survival guide I revised the animation principles and started to remember the process again. 

I then downloaded the trial version of Toon Boom to continue my tests and develop my understanding of animation.

I started with keys, then extremes and then breakdowns. I felt that I had not done some animation in a  while I lost track of the process and felt overwhelmed, once I found control again I could focus on the test and progress through it rather swiftly. 

I started with a rough blue pencil to quickly sketch the main poses and quickly test the movements of the head to ensure they are what I wanted as well as adjust timing etc. 

As I worked through the different positions of the head I found that I was taking positions further and adding additional details and movements. I started to take notes as I worked to ensure I added these to later positions and details. 

One detail i noted was that I wanted a delay on the jaw as he moved his head, the head would turn first and then because of the weight of his jaw, it would follow and swing behind. 

I intended to create this as a looped GIF, however Toon Boom does not offer this option; I exported the frames as images and created the GIF in Photoshop instead. 

• I would twist the face on the 'sniff' to make the facial expression more dynamic. 
• I would probably reduce the exaggeration of the delay of the jaw on the turns because they seem too exaggerated as they are at the moment. 
• I would smooth the drawings to make the movements smoother because they seem rather 'sketchy' and rough as they are.  

This has definitely helped with revisiting the animation principles and now I can clearly see I have much more work to do with revising. 

Character Mentor: Assignment 1

Character Mentor: Assignment 1

Introduction 

Over the Easter holidays I decided to catch up on some reading and keep practicing my animation and drawing. I was recommended this book by our visual narrative tutor: Les called ‘Character Mentor’ by Tom Bancroft. This book is focuses on how to give a character through their poses and acting. He goes on to explain that book assumes you already have designed a character, and this is supposed to guide you on how to present that character. One way to describe this book is that it focuses on the principles of solid drawing and staging. 

It has great tips and pointers and I feel that it has really helped me. There are also assignments for the reader as well as examples from other people who have tried the same assignment. Moreover these entries have feedback from Tom Bancroft which have also been improved. Therefore I decided to try these assignments myself to improve my own work. 

Assignment

Assignment 1 involved creating a character from the description given and pose them in such a way which reflects his personality. You can see the description in the image below:

 

This is my design of ‘Elroy’ and ‘Kirby’ from the description.

 

I felt that the word ‘inseparable’ stood out to me and I wanted to pose them in such a way that reflects this. Because I felt that Elroy is lonely in his new school as he has no friends, but Kirby is always there for him even though he may eat his clothes.

I tried to add depth by turning Elroy as well as adding weight to his clothes by having him lean forward and for the necklace to hang and show this. As I sketched Elroy I felt that I had to enlarge his: head, hands and feet to make him appear younger because he is only 15 years old. I have always found it a challenge to reflect youth but I feel that I have had a good attempt with this assignment. 

Conclusion

This is why I particularly like these assignments because they challenge you to try and do something different which you wouldn’t normally do. I would improve this design by: spending more time on the hamster design because I felt that I rushed him because I was focused on Elroy. I feel that the face of Elroy may appear too old or fat because I feel that his face may not be part of his body (if that makes sense). I’d revisit the hat because to make the hat ‘unique’ I wanted a hat inspired by Fivel’s the mouse in ‘An American Tale’. However I had already drawn the hat and finished the design before I thought of this. I would also spend more time on the tiki mask necklace design.

I will revisit this assignment in the future amending the improvements given to myself and see if I have improved. I will also continue by completing the other assignments within the book in the near future. 

Live Video Performance Workshop

Live Video Performance Workshop

Wednesday 16th March 2016

Introduction

This is one of the workshops which are currently on offer as part of Unit X. These workshops offer a range of different skills and knowledge which weren’t easily as accessible to other students from different mediums. Therefore it is important to attend these sessions are try something different that you are new to and learn something from it.

This workshop is called ‘Live Video Performance’ which is what it sounds like; this is where still and moving imagery are edited together which would then be projected and presented live.

Session

Within this session we used software called ‘Resolume’ which was a free demo for us to use and experiment with. At first I wasn’t completely clear what VJ meant and what the session was really about until we were shown examples of the tutor’s own work.  I found that these videos would be performed live and found it confusing that there was not timeline for these images or videos, as I am used to programmed such as: Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Flash etc. However because these videos are performed live, we had to apply the effects to our chosen images/ videos and then click them in order we chose in front of the rest of the class.

Because this workshop is a part of Unit X, I chose to relate my performance to the Ballet ‘Giselle’ in relation to the ENB brief. Within the session we were expected to produce a one minute performance using images and video to perform for everyone else. We can also have music if we chose to. I collected a range of ballet images and paint droplets which were layered on each other with the addition of fluid effects. I added effects to make the dancers move slightly in the direction the image suggested and a fluid effect to the paint droplets. I chose these images because time was limited and thought it would be interesting to portray these dancers with different ‘splashes’ of colour.

Image of Resolume interface

[http://articles.triplewidemedia.com/app/uploads/2014/01/Resolume_Avenue_4_930.jpg] 

Conclusion

I found this session challenging with understanding the concept and the software, but once I had spent some time working I gained a clearer understanding what was happening. Overall, this session was different and may not be used at all in the future, however I still find it useful to attend because it is a different experience which is available to animation students which wouldn’t normally be. 

Inspirational Talks: AL & AL Talk

AL & AL: Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse

Introduction

These inspirational talks are a series of different speakers which will be running for the next few weeks as part of Unit X and are recommended for us to attend. As these speakers have a range of different experiences and knowledge they can offer this and more to help us build our own projects for Unit X.

Talk

AL and AL are a couple of visual artists and filmmakers who have an exhibition at HOME called ‘Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse’.

http://homemcr.org/exhibition/al-al-incidents-of-travel-in-the-multiverse/

They talked about their experience after university and how they got to the point they are today with their exhibition. As you can see the notes I’ve taken I focussed on the life lessons they gave us from their own experiences. Such as the feeling of being completely alone once leaving university, which is significant because I realised how much support and guidance is offered by the university and that it will suddenly disappear once you leave.

Another point that stood out to me was that you’ll be learning all of your life and that once you leave university, is when the real challenge begins; I never thought of leaving that way.

[These notes are by Siobhan Gilmore, thank you!]

[These notes are by Siobhan Gilmore, thank you!]

Conclusion

Overall I found the talk was not completely relevant to animation or Unit X; however it didn’t need to be because I feel that I have learnt a lot about the experience after university. I intend to attend future inspirational talks when I can. 

Life Drawing 3/3/16

Thursday 3rd March 2016

Introduction

We had our first clothed model, this was significant because this gave us the opportunity to observe and capture fabrics which had not done before. There is a significant different between the form and shape of skin, and fabric. This was a challenge because while drawing these abstract shapes that the model's poncho was creating, we had the challenge of portraying a model underneath those shapes. 

Session

Initial Sketches

This a collection of initial sketches which we always do to start a session. I do feel that i am improving though on the initial sketches even though they are very rough and incomplete. I feel that I observe the model much more and in turn make my sketches effective. 

[Initial Sketches: Pencil]

Tone

 Using charcoal we observed the tone of the models clothe's because we had not done this before. I found this a great challenge because I was observing the difference between the fabric and the model's flesh. This is definitely an area I must study and practice further. 

[Tone: Charcoal] 

Memory Challenge

 In this challenge we had to observe the model for a full five minutes, then the model would sit down and we would sketch the pose we had to remember for four minutes. I observed the line of action of the model as well as the direction of the hips and shoulders. I believed that if I remember the core position and body language of the model, it would create the pose effectively and the details would follow. I had trouble remembering the position of the hand because it was an awkward position from a difficult perspective; to save time I didn't draw the hand but will have to develop my understanding of the structure of the hand. this should allow me to observe and capture hands from any perspective effectively. 

[Memory Sketch: Pencil]

Seated Positions

 We then moved onto seated positions as requested. This faces the challenge of perspective and scale because of the position of the drawer and the model which would foreshorten the model. 

I am particularly pleased with these drawings as I feel this demonstrates that i have developed compared to my previous drawings in the past. I still take notes for improvement but feel motivated to continue to develop and become better in my drawings and observation. 

 [Seated 1: Pencil] 

 [Seated 2: Pencil] 

 [Seated 3: Pencil] 

 [Seated 4: Pencil] 

 [Seated 5: Pencil] 

 [Seated 6: Pencil] 

Weight

Like the previous session we returned to a pose portraying weight as requested by a student.

[Weight: Pencil]

Expressive 

 The final drawing we had to capture the emotion that the model was expressing. 

I chose to add the additional charcoal above the model because I felt this was an appropriate way to portray the negative feeling the model was expressing. 

Conclusion

In conclusion despite this session being new and challenging due to the model being clothed, I can see that I have developed my life drawing and wish to continue to practice and learn more. As I always focus on the structure of the model to capture her in full, I need to challenge myself further by focusing on form and torn of the model instead. This way I can apply what i already know and learn new skills at the same time. 

Ballet Drawings Display

Ballet Drawings Display

Village Green

As I have discussed in a previous post, I attended a life drawing session where I was challenged with capturing the movement of the ballet dancers as they practiced and warmed-up for their performance later that day. These ballet dancers are part of the English National Ballet and we were allowed to watch them practice at the Palace theater. The drawings were then collected by Andy which were then enlarged and displayed in the Village Green. The Village Green is a large work space where work is displayed created by students. 

My work was one of the chosen few to be displayed in this space alongside our show reels which were also being shown. Furthermore this was displayed for an important visitor who was visiting the university and viewing the work of the students. 

The Cornerhouse

70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH

My drawings were also displayed at the Manchester Cornerhouse during the Unit X introductory presentation. This was displayed with a gathering which had snacks and free wine. These drawings were displayed for the English National Ballet who introduced the additional projects for Unit X where we would create a product for the English National Ballet.