Concept Artwork

The Captain of the Merchant Ship (charcoal)

The Captain's pocket watch (pastels) that i envision starting and ending the piece, that will be a visual metaphor for hypnotism which Carl Jung suggests the mind of psychics and mediums can do to itself under trauma or stress, hence the hallucinations and visions or premonitions

A plasma ball (pastels), an inspiration for maybe the set and hooking up the psychic to the ship

Visual Perception Concepts

Originally i was thinking down the line of photo-realistic but have been recently convinced that it isn't my natural way of working.  as much as i love the beautiful realistic work of others it takes years to perfect and right now i'm not at that stage and being a critic of my own work i wouldn't be happy with imperfections that i would see and so would everyone else.  it's also been pointed out my previous animation work has been verging on abstract, which would be the comfortable route to go as it would alleviate the work load and giving more time to concentrate on the semiotics (subliminal messaging)

As the story is based around ghosts and psychology i'm looking into the visuals and what makes us question or perceive from what is not quite right

In Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl i like the idea that the realm of the dead is seen in the living just by using the the light of the moon and the two exist visually together

This picture shows the idea that things can be perceived differently just by a certain angle

This image show that we can see extra perceptions from something we didn't expect or what we thought was chaos

we can also change scale to play and amuse

these also remind me of what horror and spooky films play on, the power of suggestion and our individual perception.  we naturally feel uncomfortable by things we can't or can only partially see or cannot rationally explain.  our minds try to fill in the gaps.

Subliminal Messages - Narrative and Homage

As in an earlier post i mentioned the scene in Sin City of Kevin on the porch was paying homage to the original comics, this can be regarded as subliminal messaging.  This is one of the areas i'm interested in as it directly links to an original narrative that causes an emotional response even if previously known or in this case one that i hadn't until after i checked it out.

Having recently watched the final episode in this series of Doctor Who - The Wedding of River Song i can see now the whole of Doctor Who has been paying homage and also using subliminal messaging to propel the stories and the whole series.  Like a detective show, the clues are actually in the visuals.  whether it's part of the set, the audio (the cloister bell especially) or characters, they are all interwoven and gradually become clear at the very end or when you look back.  The "question" that has been unanswered during this story and was supposedly taboo has been there right from the start in 1963 right under our noses "Doctor who?" this not only pays homage but also opens up to another series of stories, such as finding the answer or actually understanding the question (as in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
guardian.co.uk-doctor-who-wedding-of-river-song

subliminal messages can also be see in links to spin offs such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood

Subliminal Messages - Lady Gaga Videos

ok, so what have i been doing for several days?  well apart from reading, reading and reading i've been trying to define my project aim and one objective.  for me semiotics is just too vague, not really explaining my concept well enough and not honing down on what i want to convey in my animation.  i looked again at subliminal messaging, perception and stimuli.  i'd sort of brushed it aside earlier because the first thing that came to mind was the ethics and conspiracy theories, which i wanted to steer clear of.  then thinking about it again and looking deeper into it, everything we do is steered by subliminal messaging, body language being a natural culprit.

so i went to look for this within the entertainment industry, i'm trying to ignore advertising because i'm not trying to sell anything, only entertain.
the first port of call was a random google search and the first thing that took my eye was the theories behind lady gaga's video for "Telephone"
The first thing i read was this: vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/the-hidden-meaning-of-lady-gagas-telephone/
ignoring the conspiracy theory part i was impressed if these were hidden messages that Gaga and Jonas Akerlund were implying throughout.  I started understanding where Lady Gaga was coming from as well.  i have completely blanked her because i assumed she was just another mainstream pop act that is manufactured no matter what these "icons" say to the press and their fans.  with gaga also, as people would say "trying too hard", being outrageous in all she does, is she trying to communicate around the pigeon hole that pop has put her into?  is she screaming for her own identity?  and are most of us just putting her into the "mad" section because we haven't deciphered what she's trying to say because she's not conforming to the standard pop that we have been told to accept?  hence the messages in her videos
eonline.com/news/lady_gaga_on_telephone_its_hidden

Audio - Soundtrack Ideas

Been thinking about the music for a while.  To start with i was thinking of a mixture of Holst and Pink Floyd influences.  The link with Holst being The Planets and Pink Floyd giving it a spaced out twist.

Now scrapping that idea after reading more about Victorian seances.  Majority would start and end on hymns and prayers and would use several musical instruments.  I was also listening to Dead Can Dance just randomly the other day and forgot how powerful Lisa Gerrard's voice was.  They are also able to create a huge spiritual sound using simple organ voices.  Enigma springs to mind with their Gregorian chants as well.

Also looking into Victorian music halls and seeing what instruments were popular at the time and tying the two ideas together to create a piece for my Victorian Ship Captain.  The audio to me is extremely important for my animation as i'm hoping it will create a strong emotional piece when coupled with the visual

Psychology in Films

ok throwing these down as samples of psychology used in film that have stuck in my mind.  the first two are Sin City and The Others.

Watching Sin City a few months back for the first time sparked this thought off.  Near the end of the film, the character Kevin (Elijah Wood) is seen on the porch reading his bible.  Having previously been killed earlier in the film, i was first confused but then apprehensive as to what was to come next seeing as i knew what he was capable of.  Found out since it was homage to the original comics that the image of Kevin on the porch was flashed up to determine the location.  But still it still had the spooky horror reaction in me that i liked.

The Others is another film that stuck in my mind due to the fact that i only got the twist right at the second before it was revealed.  i won't say anymore for spoiler reasons apart from... genius!

the film that let me down was The Bone Collector.  I was looking forward to a good "Whodunnit" but one camera shot told me half way through.  When all the police were around Denzil Washington's character discussing the next move, the camera went to the doctor treating him.  at this point where all the focus should have been on the investigation i wondered why the shot was on the doctor, unless he was part of it all.  it was too obvious and i lost interest in the majority of the film after that. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Received a copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's book "The History of Spiritualism".  It intrigues me that a man of medicine and creator of Sherlock Holmes who was all about science and physical solutions should turn strongly to Spiritualism in the later days of his life.  Is this something that most people do?  Is it a panic reaction to the fear of death as the time gets closer?  I'm running with this idea at the moment as it makes the idea of my Captain turning from physical to spirit throughout the animation.  As his impending doom gets closer he himself becomes a believer from fear, a last minute resort