Computer Animation Arts

Did you know... "Nearly half of the UK's video game players are women, and now they are designing and writing them too, including top sellers Gears of War 3, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution..." Read the full article here.

The Avery Index , Arts Bibliographic Modern , British Humanities Index , and the Design and Applied Arts Index are key resources for finding art-centric information in journal and newspaper articles.  See below for a reminder/refresher re. accessing the resource.

Art Full Text is a database where you can search for journal articles - see below for a reminder/refresher on how to access and use the database etc.   

JSTOR is a database where you can search for journal articles - an invaluable resource for your written assignments and dissertation.  See below for a refresher/reminder re. accessing the database.

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: Edward Scissorhands tells the story of a young man with scissors for hands who is discovered living alone in a large Gothic castle after his creator suddenly dies of a heart attack. Production designer Bo Welch uses a German Expressionist style for mysterious castle that sits above the clinical, undisturbed 1960’s styled suburban American town below. By doing so, Welch achieves a unique look for the film that defines it as both a very contemporary fable and magical fairytale at the same time. Analysis: “The psychological effects of colour can be harnessed in film design to suggest mood, plot developments and character. Key colours can be attributed to people or places. Edward Scissorhands (1990), for example, gave us a sugared-almond, pastel world of conformity and surface in contrast to the dramatic black environs that the key character had come from.“ (Barnwell, 2004:54) Barnwell, J. (2004) Production Design: architects of the screen . Great Britain:Wallflower Press Rele...

A short documentary about video games and storytelling. Off Book: Video Games from PBS Arts on Vimeo .

Summary: From birth to adulthood, Truman Burbank has been starring in his own 24 hour television programme. Though the eyes of the world are upon him, he has no idea about the true reality of his existence. Strange occurrences, without any explanation, make Truman begin to suspect his friends, family and the world which he has lived in his entire life, may not be as real as it’s always seemed. Analysis: “The eruption of the Real within the symbolic order creates a destabilisation of our frameworks of understanding...Peter Weir’s film, The Truman Show provides a beautiful illustration of this process. Truman’s life (unknown to Truman) is totally constructed by a media mogul, Christo. All the people in Truman’s world are actors who play his friends, business colleagues, even his wife. His entire life is lived within a gigantic film set. However during the film incidents occur, like the crashing to earth of a large spotlight, which Truman finds totally bewildering, they puncture his under...

Summary: “A magical adventure which features elves, demons and other mythical creatures. Darkness, the personification of evil, plans to disperse eternal night in the land where this story takes place, by killing every unicorn in the world. Although he looks unbeatable, Jack and his friends are disposed to do everything to save the world and princess Lili (who Darkness intends to make his wife) from the hands of this evil monster.” Written by Chris Makrozahopoulos (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089469/plotsummary) Analysis: “ The finished version of the film draws on diverse sources, combining elements of classical European fairytales and Judeo-Christian Myth...However there is a thread of evil running throughout the film which sets it apart from other fairy tales of princesses and heroes and culminates in the final battle between good and evil. The film establishes a balance between the sinister and the sentimental by means of cinematic resources – lighting, sound, set design, montage...

Analysis: “Within Scream 4, the ever-diminishing quality of the “Stab” franchise allows the characters to muse on the quality of horror film making. This allows Wes Craven to take clever jabs at himself, the overrated “Saw” franchise, and most importantly remakes. Hollywood has had very few original horror films in the past 10 years. Instead they have chosen to massacre (pun very intended) beloved classics like “Dawn of the Dead,” “The Fog,” “Halloween,” etc.” (BU Culture Shock, 2011) BU Culture Shock (2011) Scream 4: Postmodern Masterpiece http://bucultureshock.com/?p=9589 (Accessed 01/11/2011) Release: 2011 Director: Wes Craven Screenplay by: Kevin Williamson Produced By: Kevin Williamson, Wes Craven, Iya Labunka Genre/subgenre: Horror, Slasher Country: United States Cast: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettierre Selected Director Filmography: The Last House of the Left , The Hills Have Eyes , Nightmare of Elm Street , Scream series, Red Eye , N...

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: A shot for shot remake of Haneke’s own 1997 film of the same name. Two young men hold a family hostage and use them to play sadistic games. Using postmodern techniques to subvert and distort audience expectation of genre conventions- the film can be viewed as deconstruction of how violence is portrayed on screen. Analysis: Note: this quote refers to the 1997 version of Funny Games but is equally relevant to the 2007 remake. “...He establishes Funny Games as part of the suspense thriller genre in order to lull the spectator into a false feeling sense of security, stating that: ‘Elements from the history of the suspense thriller appear as quotes – the classic opening, the scene where the boy escapes to the villa – very classical, like Hitchcock. And the audience only engages with the film when they don’t know whats going to happen, when they allow themselves hope’...while the use of generic conventions within a film indicates to the audience the course that they can expect its n...

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 ...

Summary: Hugely influential silent horror film. Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari pioneered the use of expressionist sets in cinema, where deformed, wholly artificial and non-realistic sets were used to express the often delirious themes of the film. Analysis: “In Caligari, an evil psychiatrist compels a young man, through hypnosis, to kill people... His skewed perspective is depicted visually in the skewed and surreal set design: crooked houses, windows, and roads; outdoor scenes that are obviously shot indoors, misshapen and disproportionately-sized furniture that looks to be designed by Dr Seuss. Painted Shadows.” (Sipod, 2010:44) “Caligari’s expressionist mise-en-scéne supports both story and theme. Dramatically the set décor and acting help to render a tale told from a lunatic’s perspective. But these elements also work thematically. Caligari has been interpreted as a metaphor for the then recently concluded First World War...” (Sipos, 2010:44) Sipos, Thomas M. (2010) ...

Summary: An extravagant visual and musical spectacle. Moulin Rouge! is an ode to Broadway and the grand musical era of Hollywood. Featuring unconventional mash-ups of modern pop songs and culture, which embody the key postmodern concept of Death of the Author. Analysis: “It's been called 'postmodernist' in the way it compacts numerous contrasting styles and disparate strands, in the manner of a garbage machine crushing everything it receives into a neat package.” (French, 2001) “Everything about Moulin Rouge!, is in fact avowedly pointless except for spectacle itself. But the spectacle is dazzling... Still Moulin Rouge! Is a quintessential postmodernist film, epitomizing both Guy Debord’s notion of the “society of the spectacle” and Jameson’s view of postmodern culture as flat and superficial.” (Booker, 2007:60) Booker, M. Keith. (2007) Postmodern Hollywood: what’s new in film and why it makes us feel strange Conneticut: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. French, P. (2001)...

All written assignments submitted for assessment by CGAA students need to go through Turnitin - the plagiarism-detection software accessed by students & lecturers through myUCA .   When you submit a written assignment to Turnitin , you are issued with a Turnitin reference number , which must be included as part of your plagiarism disclaimer form at time of submission.  You'll find your brief-specific Turnitin  facility on myUCA under the  Unit Assessment tab of your unit.   Turnitin generates an 'originality report' that cross-references your submission with other published material.   The originality report is made available to tutors only .   Your tutors may choose to view the originality report should they suspect an instance of plagiarism.  You may only submit your written assignment to Turnitin once , so you should only submit your assignment  to Turnitin when the assignment is finished, properly r...

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: American director David Lynch weaves multiple narratives within multiple realities for his tale of two women seeking to unravel the mysteries of a late night car crash. Mulholland Drive drive plays off noir classic Sunset Boulevard with its tale of a murder and intrigue set within the Hollywood film industry. Analysis: “I arrive at the conclusion that Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive offer two different narrations of one and the same story: the story of love facing desire what leads to psychological border crossings. Moreover they show the uncertainty of dream and reality or fact and fiction and the uncovering of contingency. Everything has two sides. The question is not which one is real, but how they belong together.” (Brauckhoff, 2008:13) Brauckhoff, I. (2008) Indentity construction in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive . GRIN Verlag Release: 2001 Director: David Lynch Screenplay by: David Lynch Produced by: Neal Edelstein, Tony Krantz, Michael Polaire, Alain Sa...

A venn diagram illustrates shared attributes between different topics or groups.  Improbable though it may seem, the now-notorious sequel, The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (2011) lurks in the intersection between CGAA Unit 1 Anatomy and CGAA Year 2's current Postmodernism  unit.  I haven't seen the original The Human Centipede   (Dir. Tom Six, 2009) - not yet, anyway -  but I know enough about its good-taste baiting premise to slot its scatalogical shenanigans into the compartment marked 'body horror' and sub-genre 'torture porn'.  Of course, in a departure from the CGAA Anatomy project, these titular centipedes are not an inter-species hybrid created accidentally by teleportation like poor CGAA student, Andy McDowe , but rather luckless humans co-joined surgically by psychos. As some of you will know, The Human Centipede 2, again directed by Tom Six,  has achieved the sort of infamy no amount of marketing dol...