Computer Animation Arts

The BBC has a nice article on the set design in the long running Poirot TV series with David Suchet, in particular focussing on the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne elements. Read the article here

 The opening of Written on the Wind is one of my favourites, even if relatively new to me. Directed by Douglas Sirk in 1956, the film depicts an unraveling web of unrequited love and desperation. In recent times, Sirk has been reclaimed as a director whose seemingly one-dimensional films have been debunked as the films they were once assumed to be. Look beyond the surface and you find scathing indictments of American conformity and family values. Whether or not this true is up for debate, but there's no denying he was a master of control. Visually, his films demonstrate an outstanding eye for detail and style. Though entirely constructed, it's a world designed to appear realer than real.  The opening hits like you a speeding car, because that's what it is.  In the evening light, Robert Stack speeds towards an unknown destination - roof down, pissed off and bottle of booze in hand. In the background, The   Four Aces g...

Summary: An American ballet dancer transfers to a prestigious ballet academy. Disturbed by the schools uncomfortable atmosphere and strange occurrences, she gradually realises the staff are a coven of witches. Dario Argento’s Suspiria is a delirious and surreal Horror film that eschews typical Italian Giallo conventions to a meld film that is quite remarkable. Plot and characters become embroiled in the films hallucinogenic use of warped set design, complex aural design and fantastical Technicolor. Analysis: “Suspiria is like a high concept Madchen in Uniform meets The Cabinet of Dr Caligari...Few Horror films have made such bravura use of colored lights (bright blues, oranges, greens) or of such deliriously geometric set design that itself suggests madness and promotes sensory overload” (Derry, 207:2009) Derry, C. (2009) Dark Dreams 2.0: a psychological history of the modern horror film from the 1950s to the 21st Century USA: MacFarland and Company Inc. Release: 1977 Director: Dari...

Summary: An adaptation of Henry James’ famed novella The Turn of the Screw. A hedonistic and wealthy bachelor hires Miss Giddens as governess to look after his adopted niece and nephew at his enormous countryside mansion house. Enamoured with their charm at first - she is later unsettled by the strange behaviour of the children and mysterious figures she see’s on the mansion grounds, Miss Giddens is convinced the spirits of two dead workers have possessed the bodies of the children. Analysis: “Just as Hitchcock had gone back to black and white for Psycho, director Jack Clayton shot The Innocents in black and white, which, by 1961, had the curious effect of intensifying drama while creating distance between audience and characters...Cinematographer Freddie Francis reported that he devised special filters to blur the sides of the frame to make the film more claustrophobic and an element of mystery as to what was lurking in the corners...the result was an enduring gem of a ghost movie. It...

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...

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...

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: 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) ...