Firstly, please excuse the poor quality of these thumbs, as i had to photograph them in the end, i'd rather have something up than nothing.
anyway, this piece is from behind a perched raven in a sort of cctv position, it keeps the viewer outside of the picture almost, this was an early idea so i don't think i will e using this one.
this one was a favourite of mine, when in 3d i can see it being extremely atmospheric, i know it's difficult to see here, but it's going to be the dark empty corridor that the student looks down to find nothing but an empty space, broken up by dirty windows letting small pieces of light in. this is a big possibility.
this one is of the open door to the empty corridor. personally it seemed like a good idea before i put it down, and done well it could work out very nicely, it gives a sense of urgency with the books all over the floor and the dense foggy air. i like it personally. however, i think there's a lot going on in terms of a 3d set, and realistically, me and maya don't get on well so probably wouldn't be the best one to do. I'd rather finish a piece well than not at all.
i've knocked out a few thumbnails which I'm going to upload shortly, but I'm really excited as there are a number that i feel very positively about. I'll upload by tonight hopefully, scanners are shits, but I'll talk a bit more in detail then. feeling a lot of positive energy about this project
EDIT: i'll have to scan these at uni tomorrow, i genuinely hate printers, scanners and any other form of temperamental tech.
In the words of Simon Cowell ''that is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life''. I Don't say this, because I'm a special effects guy, because anyone who knows me knows that I'm old school, heck, Tom Savini changed my life, but this was far too, well, linear for me.
it starts, and then just goes through, theres very little side story, or very little peril aside from the main theme. even at is time of release, critical reception received was average at best.
the film when released in Britain had an alternative ending shot several months after, and Jimmy Hunt, who played young David, had gained a substantial amount of weight. that's just ridiculous, careless film making. if movies before this can stand up stronger, it cannot blame its downfall on lack of technology, because it does have some very elaborate scenes for its time. i think the film, as a whole does not succeed, as it bites off more than it can chew. the ending was far too strung out, the pacing rapidly changes, which is often very difficult to sit through.
despite all of this, and i know I'm sorry if some of you really enjoyed it, it do see why we watched this. again, the feeling of knowing that someone close to you could change into something so malign, is chilling. there is a constant sense of paranoia, the feeling of broken trust and we get this when young David asks the female doctor ''can i see the back of your neck?''.
I'll admit, when the story ended as a dream, it really was the icing on the cake, it was a new idea? it's still a shit one. HOWEVER, when the ship began to land again and the story began to retell, i was quite intrigued, the whole dream in a dream nightmare scenario made me think.
to be honest, i don't have much to say about this film, a lot of my opinion is negative unfortunately, i would love to have enjoyed it, but compared to something like the original 'the thing', it doesn't stand a chance.
this is what I'm talking about, this is how you take over someones body!
I'm sure we're all familiar with this poem in some sort of way, whether it be the Simpson's parody or the poem itself, it is a very successful, eerie piece by Poe, and undoubtedly his most famous.
for those of you who aren't familiar with the poem, it is a narrative piece following a supposedly 'talking' raven, who follows a distraught lover who has come to part with his other half, and it is this raven that further intensifies the 'students' slow decent into madness by supposedly saying nothing more than: nevermore.
it begins with the man reading an item to help ease his suffering, when he hears rattling at the window, upon opening it a raven flys in and perches in his room. the man asks the raven his name only to be told 'nevermore'. upon many a question the bird answers the same, and the student eventually comes to the conclusion that the bird was taught this word by an unhappy master. as the poem progresses, the air seems to become denser, and the student feels the presence of angels. he becomes confused as to what the bird is doing there, what is his connection with the angels and mist, and this angers him into yelling at the raven only to be told 'nevermore'.
an interesting accusation he makes is calling the raven a prophet. to me, this crucial, as it lets the reader think that the bird could be bringing some kind of 'energy' or 'force' or 'message' with it, without being to precise. the student tries to get the raven to move, but nevermore shall it. it is in the end that he admits his soul is that of the ravens, it's cast under its shadow and his soul shall move nevermore.
now, i', not here to explain a million and one meanings, but what i will say, is that illustratively, the poem has a lot of moments that in still, could be caught as tableaux vivant. there are several moments, such as the denser air, the 'presence' of angels and so on that could be caught beautifully, as they suggest something could occur, or has. I'll draw up some thumbnails and upload tonight with any luck. Phil...if I've totally missed the box with this one, let me know. i thought, it would be a nice carry on from the last project almost.
OK, this one is either a very straight forward definition, or so discreet that i missed it. when trying to discover what it means and its relevance to my Tableaux vivant, i came across the word 'paradox' several times. it came up as a synonym on one site. a paradox is a self contradictory statement, Abraham wolfs example being a man that admits to being a liar, is not, therefore this his statement is a paradox, it can only be true if it is false, vice versa.
what i could get from aporia was that it is something that 'seems' to be unsolvable, unable to be grasped or conquered, yet can be.
Socrates, through elenctic testing, the testing between subjects via debate with opposing viewpoints of an examined concept, had his his subject, after many failed attempts, admit he had no idea what he was talking about, admitting aporia.
...i'm going to sleep on this one before i cap it off, i think looking at it with fresh eyes could be the trick. i really hope i'm doing myself a favour with these brain teasers.
first off, I'd just like to say, i thought i had the project sussed when this word came up, and mild visions of me choking on food as a child were brought back to me. i guess i was wrong.
anyway
what does it mean? i could easily copy and paste some jargon form wikipedia, but how is that going to help any of us? I've been doing some reading this evening, and i've even asked a few people who i thought may have an idea, however, I'm afraid to report, this still seems like a hazy subject.
ambiguity, i get, its the feeling of pre-completion, its not sparse, its not empty, its there but finding it is the task, its not given directly to you. i can understand the definition, and i can find an ambiguous source i.e. Andy Warhol's transgender images, seem to have an obvious sense of ambiguity to them, they have several different meanings, the subject itself goes both ways in a sense. however, studying the meaning of uncanny is a lot more perplexing to me. when Phil shot down Chucky as not being uncanny, i became confused. he is a familiar item, that has changed? how is that not uncanny?
there's a lot of talk about Ridley Scott's Alien holding a similar theme known as 'ABJECTION' . The almost blatant driving force of a 'female' the Phallic alien creatures, mothers laying eggs and the face huggers distinct graphic look all add to the reason why many reviewers look into this. when the first male is impregnated by the face hugger, we are shown someone, with no child baring capabilities all of a sudden taking on this role (albeit unknowingly) and is then gruesomely killed due to it, this is one of the most obvious abjectifications of women in the movie.
i feel looking into this, could lead me to clearer understanding of uncanny. I'll update with more
Firstly, please excuse the poor quality of these thumbs, as i had to photograph them in the end, i'd rather have something up than nothing. 
