Computer Animation Arts

Summary: James Cameron spent 15 years developing and perfecting his vision of Avatar and subsequently Pandora – the lush, vegative planet that is home to the Na’vi, a native tribe under threat from humans mining the planet for the precious mineral unobtanium. Employing state of the art technology, Pandora’s tropical rainforests and stunning vistas are brought to life in spectacular and unmatched detail. Analysis: Release: 2009 Director: James Cameron Screenplay by: James Cameron Produced by: James Cameron, Jon Landau Genre/subgenre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction, Country: United States Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephan Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi Selected Director Filmography: The Terminator , Aliens , The Abyss , Terminator 2: Judgement Day , True Lies , Titanic , Avatar Related Films: The Dark Crystal , Lord of the Rings series, Excalibur , Labyrinth , The Neverending Story , Barbarella , The Brothers Grimm...

Summary: Answering a distress call from a far off planet, the crew of the mining ship Nostromo come across the egg of a bizarre alien species. Director Ridely Scott enlisted Swiss artist H.R Giger to design all aspects associated with the Alien and its environment while Ron Cobb and Chris Foss were hired to design the human side of the film. Though equally striking, it was Giger’s gruesome surrealist vision which reverberated the most with audiences, influencing Science Fiction design for years to come. Analysis: “From the outset, it was Giger’s unique vision, a blend of nightmare surrealism with industrial design, that seemed to lift Alien out of the conventional, his creations shaping and challenging its production values. Alien is a perfect example of an image-driven film. (Raw, 2009:78) Raw, L. (2009) The Ridley Scott encyclopedia . USA:Scarecrow Press Inc. Release: 1979 Director: Ridley Scott Screenplay by: Dan O’Bannon Produced by: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill Genr...

Summary Pioneering special effects and production design are used to create the mysterious Skull Island’s lush jungles and vistas reminiscent of the ones described in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World . King Kong astounded a 1930’s audiences with it’s incredibly lifelike animation of the giant ape, Kong, rampaging - with Fay Wray in-hand - through dense jungles pursued by dinosaurs and later smashing apart the streets of Manhattan. The films iconic final encounter atop the Empire State building is one of cinema’s defining moments. Analysis: Note: O’Brien refers to the films Special effects artists Willis O’Brien “King Kong was a milestone in visual effects history. In this amazing film O’Brien established brilliant methods of combining stop motion animation with live photography. O’Brien’s technical achievements laid the groundwork for furthering of the art of stop motion visuals by his protégé Ray Harryhausen” (Sawicki, 2011:78) Sawicki, M. (2011) Filming the fantastic: A Guid...

Summary: Fritz Lang’s 1927 epic Metropolis established the benchmark or originality, design and scale for science fiction sets which has perhaps yet to be bettered. Met with a negative reception upon release, subsequent restorations and critical re-evaluations have led it to be reclaimed as a masterpiece. With its fusion of grand modernist cityscapes and oppressive industrial working class machinery, Metropolis triumphantly heralded the ability for filmmakers to create entire new worlds. Its influence can still be seen in almost every science fiction film released since. Analysis: “The set design, for instance, runs the gamut from cavernous Christian catacombs to abstract cityscapes in the tradition of the futurist architect Antonio Sant’Elia, from the mystical Tower of Babel to art deco interiors, from abstract moving machine parts at the beginning of the film to the Gothic cathedral at the end” (Isenberg, 2009: 175) “The film reaches back into the mythical past and forward into ...