Computer Animation Arts

Compiling them here for anyone who is interested. If you're still struggling to find something to write about for your essay then the 'Related films' and 'Analysis' sections could come in handy. Not all the films listed in the 'Related films' section are suitable but if you cast a critical eye and don't rush in blind, you will be able to find plenty of solid essay material. The Fly (1958) The Fly (1986) La Belle et la Bete The Company of Wolves The Elephant Man Splice Black Swan

Summary: Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan revolves around a New York production of the Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake that finds two ballerinas’, Nina and Lily competing to play the role of both the White and Black Swan. As Nina begins to lose herself to role she unlocks her darker side to metamorphose into the Black Swan itself. Analysis: “...there was this doppelganger, there was a black swan and a white swan, there was this werewolf story of this metamorphosis, the story of a woman who is by day a swan but at night is a half-swan/half-human—that always got me excited because I got to turn Natalie Portman into some weird creature. And all of the characters in the movie are sort of related to their counterparts in the ballet.” (Aronofsky, 2010) “...ultimately there’s a story here of a woman-child, a child trapped in a woman’s body trying to become a woman, and her sexual liberation is a big part of becoming a woman.” (Aronofsky, 2010) Aronofsky, Darren (2010) [Interview by Drew Taylor, ...

Summary: A Frankenstein-like tale of Oedipal and Electra complexes. Two genetic scientists secretly splice together the genes of a human and those of a number of animals in an attempt to uncover a protein they believe will be the key treating the world’s illnesses. Their experiment works but the quickly aging, locked up Dren becomes uncontrollable. Analysis: “The characters in Splice are named after actors in James Whale’s Bride Of Frankenstein; an indication of the approach writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Cypher) took to the subject of artificial life. Like Mary Shelley, Natali is concerned with scientific ethics — intensified in the 21st century by corporate sponsorship and demand for profitable products from expensive research — but equally troubled by the unique relationship Frankenstein and the monster may have. Signalled by a mid-film location shift from antiseptic corporate lab to run-down Gothic farm, sci-fi turns to horror as the personal failings of the creators and t...

Summary: Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick. Dr Frederick Treeves discovers a severely disfigured man at a 19th Century London freak show. He rescues ‘The Elephant Man’ from his brutal captor and begins his rehabilitation. Discovering that beneath his horrible disfigurements lies an articulate and sensitive human being. Analysis: “..in The Elephant Man (1980) and The Straight Story, the mask-faces worn by John Merrick and Rose are not disguises, but disabilities to be borne and overcome...Beginning as ruins, the triumphant emergence of these extraordinary faces as ordinary marks their entrance into the world of competent, meaningful and often highly sentimental communication.” (Sheen, 2004:22) Sheen, E. (2004) The cinema of David Lynch: American dreams, nightmare visions. London:Wallflower Press Release: 1980 Director: David Lynch Screenplay by: Christopher De Vore, Eric Bregren, David Lynch Produced by: Mel Brooks, Jonathan Sanger, Stuart Cornfeld Genre/subgenre: Drama Coun...

“American sculptor John Chamberlain is internationally known for his long career of creating vibrantly colored, dynamic sculptures from crushed, twisted and bent automobile parts. Inspired by the scale, color and impulsive creation of Abstract Expressionist work, Chamberlain was a pioneering force through his use of found materials and diverse colors. While also experimenting with a variety of sculptural media, as well as with film and painting, he greatly impacted many generations of artistic movements, including Minimalism and Pop Art, and continues to create inventive work today.” http://www.theartstory.org/artist-chamberlain-john.htm Though it perhaps it may seems odd that I’m featuring this artist in relation to Unit 1, surprisingly the organic sculptures of John Chamberlain share much in common with what the First Years are trying to achieve with their digital paintings by hybridizing with an animal at the genetic level. Here though, the hybridization exists and follows the rules...

Summary: A warped retelling of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. Co-written by novelist Angela Carter and Irish director Neil Jordan, the film takes place within the dreams of a young girl. Told through a number of individual stories, the various characters and creatures create a mystical landscape full of symbolic meaning. The film tackles the theme of burgeoning female sexuality - the onset of adolescence, the end of childhood and the loss of innocence. Analysis: “Carter’s original stories, “The Werewolf,” “The Company of Wolves,” and, to a lesser extent, “Wolf-Alice,” are patched together in the script to explore issues of female sexuality and desire within a patriarchal universe, using images of the wolf and werewolf to represent the power, seduction, and threat of sexuality. Both tales and film thus infuse Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” with psychological depth, Freudian significance, and a heighted sense of erotic menace.” (Haase, 2008:228) Haase, D. (2008) The ...

Summary: A haunting retelling of the fairytale ‘Beauty and the Beast’ directed by French poet and novelist Jean Cocteau. Lost in a forest, a Merchant comes across a mysterious castle. He discovers the owner is a Monster-half-human, half-beast. The Merchants daughter – Belle, gives herself to the Beast in order to save her father’s life. While the literal interpretation of the ‘beauty within’ perhaps stands as the films forefront message. The films imagery and story is open to numerous interpretations. Analysis: “Psychologists have suggested that the motifs of horror in the early part of “Beauty and the Beast” reflect a maiden’s anxiety about heterosexual intimacy, and the tale’s termination of these motifs suggest a re-evaluation of those attitudes when an intimacy that had first seemed disgusting is now desirable. Cocteau’s prolongation of these ghastly motifs in his film precludes such a rapid and easy revision of these attitudes; heterosexual intimacy remains horrific, repulsive,...

Summary: Not so much a remake of Kurt Neumann's 1958 film of the same name but rather a re-telling of George Langalaan’s original short story. Horror master David Cronenberg strips away the murder-mystery aspect of the original, instead choosing to create an intense character study of scientist Seth Brundle – who, after an experiment goes drastically wrong, is slowly and gruesomely transforming into a fly, both in mind and body. Though Cronenberg considers the film an analogy for disease in general, upon its release it was latched onto as a metaphor for the heightened paranoia and cultural acknowledgement of the AIDs epidemic. Analysis: “...the masochistic regression to nature, unconsciousness, and fusion with the maternal body – the image of the doctor-god with the spectre of the womb over which he will preside floating mid-belly neatly summarizes the common theme of Cronenberg’s last two films of the 1980s.” (Cohan, 2002:134) “The protagonists of Dead Ringers and...

Summary: Brilliant scientist Andre Delambre becomes unwittingly fused with a house fly while testing his Matter Teleportation device. Based on a short story written by George Langelaan and drawing comparisons with Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis. The Fly is one of the earliest examples of the Body Horror genre, where degeneration or transformation of the human body forms the basis of the film's shocks. The film has been parodied continuously and is widely considered a classic of the Science Fiction genre - spawning two sequels and an infamous retelling in 1986. Analysis: “... After Andre’s transformation into the monstrosity he types a message to Helene, in which these words appear. “There are things man should never experiment with.” The film explicitly links Andre’s assumption of the god/scientist role with atomic-age fears...” (Hendershot, 2001:31) “The Fly operates routinely within a sf/horror framework of condemning radical scientific experimentation as transgressive while s...

Some high-octane, hyper-slick and sexed-up CG from Charlex . Yep - it's one long car commercial, but Shapeshifter will leave you a little open-mouthed. ShapeShifter from Charlex on Vimeo .