Zack Snyder

Snyder’s one of my favorite directors, as I find his unique film style very interesting. Due to his use of conventions such as slow motion scenes during combat, vivid colours, and highly stylised visuals. He also successfully makes use of green screen regularly in his movies, allowing him to easily place his characters into any setting that he wants. This method of filming really interests me, because it allows the writer to easily transport the character into worlds that otherwise would be impossible to create in the real world.

The way he creates his film worlds is clearly unrealistic, but they are made with such detail that still makes them believable. This is the thing I love about films. They can take you to places that do not exist; they’re an escape from the world you’re in now, and this is what Snyder’s films do.

He even mocks his films with how over the top they are when he says: “It’s kind of fun that the most realistic movie I probably will make is a movie called “Superman.” Which shows how crazy my other movies are.” (Roth Cornet, 2011)

Reference List:

Roth Cornet (2011) Available at: http://screenrant.com/zack-snyder-superman-interview-rothc-106951/ (Accessed at 23^rd April 2012)

Peter Lord and David Sproxton

http://thegeekshow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/pirate-captain.jpg

Peter and David are the founders of the British animation studio “Aardman Animations”.

They produced animated classics including, but not limited to, “Wallace & Gromit”, “Creature Comforts”, “Morph”, “Chicken Run”, and their newest addition “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists”. With their unique style of models, high quality production and entertaining stories, they have become a household name with many of their series.

Peter Lord has said that “The concept of Englishness is very important to Aardman” (David Jenkins, 2012), making the films in keeping with the English culture, such as our silly sensibility. Speaking about the main character in their newest film “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists”, Peter Lord goes on to mention how “he approaches it all with a rather charming optimism -- a totally unfounded optimism, which is delightful to watch, I think. I think it's very British. We kind of like characters at a disadvantage. It makes us laugh.” (David Jenkins, 2012)

Reference List:
David Jenkins (2012) Peter Lord. Available at: http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/interviews/peter-lord-18391 (Accessed 23rd April 2012)

Run Wrake

Run Wrake is a very talented and award winning animator and illustrator. Probably most famous for his animation “Rabbit” which won a length of awards across the world as well as being BAFTA nominated.

Run states that the Rabbit is “a very simple morality tale about greed - the dangers of greed and exploring nature” (Pingmag, 2006). And it is pretty similar to a child’s fairy tale, however, it deals with more gruesome themes and so it is clearly aimed at a more mature audience.

The visual style that he uses is also very unique, as in Rabbit, he got the idea when he rediscovered some 1950’s educational stickers for kids that he had picked up from a junk store years ago (Pingmag, 2006).

His themes and style in all his animation work tends to be slightly dark and surreal, such as his character “meat head” who Run says represents how “Underneath of the skin we all are meat. Whatever the color of the skin is, we all the same. One heart, two lungs and veins” (Pingmag, 2006).

Reference list:
Pingmag (2006) Run Wrake: Involuntary Darkness. Available at: http://pingmag.jp/2006/09/19/run-wrake-involuntary-darkness/ (Accessed 23^rd April 2012)

Alan Becker

Alan Becker is a young artist, who is most famous for the animated "Animation v.s Animator" series, which he has created using the program Adobe Flash. It’s famous throughout the internet, to the point where other users have ripped his video of the animation and uploaded it under their account just so they can milk views from it, with the videos reaching millions of views on each of the videos on sites like YouTube.

It was seeing this seemingly simply (yet very detailed) stickman animation, when I was younger, that really inspired me to move into animation. After seeing this animation online, I looked into other ones that other people had made, and then began experimenting with making my own.

Since then, I have progressed and improved my skills, moving from stickman animations to more detailed typical 2D animations, but still sticking with Adobe Flash. So in a way, regardless of all the animations and cartoons that I watched as a kid, it was this animation that made me believe I could do something like this, and made me pursue this path.

He is not just an animator though; he is an extremely talented and versatile artist, with a portfolio boasting many different high quality pieces of work.

Terry Border

Terry Border runs “Bent Objects”, and has a very unique style. He gives everyday objects anthropomorphic characteristics and positions them in witty and humorous ways. I have yet to see anything else like it, and he does them very well. He uses wires to build these objects into things that resemble real creatures/people, and varies between giving them small props to make it look like they’re in their own little world:

http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bent-objects-main.jpg

Or situates them within a real life setting, giving them a life-like appearance similar to Toy Story:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfkZ8V9COYFlHyEXhPhxvxIdxBj5mLuSsq1fpqBK5pLFpS93xVPfPgIjBEBp1ziQW4oxuml_Qto5erUHnuxmQXCAPzTqv1OdJKfhk2Eyi4a0i9YTT_EiYI75JSWeohdWjEGodBqmY34-o/s1600/bachelor's+nightstand.jpg

He has even created an animation using a similar style to his photographs made before.

It is this sort of simple creativeness that inspires me in my work, because if this is what can be done with some small simple things, then imagine what can be done with a lot more.

Lotte Reiniger

 

Lotte is seen as the mother of silhouette animation, as she was the person who took the style and developed it and brought it to the cinema and to the masses.

This method of animation requires a lot of intricate work and a ton of patience, and I admire her for this. The idea itself is simple, you cut out your shapes, and shine a light from underneath them to create a silhouette and then move it gradually, taking pictures each time and then assembling them together to give the illusion of movement. However it is far from that easy.

The level of quality of her work is outstanding, and perhaps the most intriguing thing is that it can be done by anybody, as no specialist tools are required at all in the process of making these types of animation.

In fact, she is one of the most important people in any aspect of animation, as she created the first length animated film to the cinema, “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”. Her work is often overlooked, and I think it is a shame that she is not as well-known as she should be.

Martha Rosler

Martha is an American artist, famous for her “cut and paste” photomontages.

Her works consist of compositions made from bits of multiple images placed together in a contrast, to highlight some issue.
She used to work with paint, but she says that she moved onto her photomontages after looking at newspapers and magazines and how “on the one page you could have a picture of some terrible atrocity of war and on the next page there would be an ad for a sofa, and I got the idea to put them together” (NYTimes, 2008).

Her works highlight how we try to block out the bad things with advertisements and other trivial rubbish.

http://hapstancedepart.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/martha-rosler-bringing-the-war-home-ladiators-2004.jpg?w=614

Such as this image, which brings together an idealised living room that looks like it could be bought straight out of a catalogue with scenes from war, in an attempt to bring these horrific happenings into the home where people lock themselves in and try to forget that we ever do anything like this. But ignoring it and forgetting it wont solve the problem

Reference list:
NYTimes, (2008) Cut and Past: Martha Rosler. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/05/arts/rosler-audioss/index.html (Accessed 23rd April 2012)

Barbara Kruger

Barbara is an American feminist, who is most famous for her slogan artwork. Her works usually involve taking a found image (generally black and white) from somewhere like a magazine, and then placing bold and bright text over it. This text is usually fairly aggressive/straight to the point and clearly delivers the message she intends.

This is one of the main reasons why I like her work, because unlike a lot of artists who try to represent their meaning through such an obscure method that it rarely gets received the way they intended, Barbara’s work is very clear and straight to the point. She sends a message, and we receive it, thanks to her clear use of words. As she said “Words are powerful, and we speak them every moment, so why not exercise that medium.” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/217/kruger/interview_content_1.html, no date)
There’s an argument about whether her work is actually art, or just graphic design, but the real questions is why can’t graphic design be art?

Reference list:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/217/kruger/interview_content_1.html (no date) (Accessed 23^rd April 2012)

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a contemporary American photographer who looks at the representation of women in society. She is the model in her photographs, and in each photo she assumes a new identity, through the use of heavy makeup and elaborate costumes.

Her images vary greatly, some being very elegant while others are a lot more disturbing. And they are some of the highest selling photos ever made.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/lib/uploads/G01A11Untitled-479.1975_large-850x475.jpg

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/lib/uploads/G01A07Untitled-264.1992_large-702x475.jpg

 

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/lib/uploads/G03A06Untitled-276.1993_large-357x475.jpg

Semiotics

In its most basic sense, semiotics is the study of signs. But to most people a sign is a specific thing such as a road sign, which is correct, but it isn’t limited to just things like that, in fact, even tastes and smells can be signs. It is essentially anything which we tag meaning to.

A sign is composed of two things; the signifier and the signified.

The signifier is the form which the sign takes (e.g. a large X)
And the signified is the concept it represents (e.g. incorrect)

http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/vol5/graphics/Portier01/Portier01-006.png

Because signs are only signs if we tag a meaning to them, and different people interpret things differently, signs are not universal. They vary depending on social, historical and demographical context. For example, the word “car” is a sign, and as English speaking people we know what that is a sign for. But if we were to show the same word to someone who knows nothing about English, they would not be able to tell what it is a sign for. They might have their own sign for it.

Identity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcDMJvO6aHU&list=WLC46958266C7D3328&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Our identity is made up of several things, and it changes drastically depending on our situation. Right from birth, we are trained to fit the expectations of certain identities, such as the identity of a man or woman, or a “good citizen”. But we do not just have one Identity. We do not act the same when at work as we do when we are out with friends, do we? This is because our identity changes to fit the situation.
In my opinion, the problem with this is that we are constantly fighting to fit in with a specific identity, or we are constantly fighting to reject a specific way and form a rebellious identity to go against the norm. People worry about such trivial things far too much, and instead should just be themselves, and not bow to the pressure of expectations. As Douglas Harding said, “nobody is in a position what you are - who you are - but you.” (headexchange, 2010)

Reference list:

headexchange. (2010) You are not what you look like! Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcDMJvO6aHU&list=WLC46958266C7D3328&index=1&feature=plpp_video (Accessed 23^rd April 2012)

Modernism/Postmodernism

Although there is no set dates as to when the start an end of modernism was, it is generally regarded as the period from the late 19^th to early 20^th century, where the arts went under a big change. It was a period where people looked towards a utopian society, with the help of technology. This change impacted the visual arts as well as literature and music.

This movement abandoned the Victorian ways, seeing things such as ornament as unnecessary, and moved away from realism in paintings and such. The latter could be said due to photography coming in, giving much more accurate and realistic images of the real world. And with this aspect of art gone, a new one had to be found. It was as Oscar Wilde wrote, “Indeed, the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman. He has no further claim to be considered as an artist.” (Oscar Wilde, 1891)

Postmodernism, which appeared after WW2 where people’s hopes of a “utopian society” were smashed, and they were exposed to such horrors of man killing man with the aid of technology. It rejected everything modernism stood for, and brought with it a new found scepticism compared to the hopefulness of the modernist movement.

Reference list:

Oscar Wilde. (1891) The Soul of Man Under Socialism