Unit 3: Review

Unit 3: The Wicker Man review.

The Wicker Man (1973) directed by Robin Hardy  is a film well known for its paganism  occult atmosphere, this classic film has blended psychological horror and mystery in to a well-crafted film hybrid. The look of the film is potently vintage this compliments the story and general mood of the production, in more recent versions of the this film, footage that had been lost for decades have been edited into the movie. It is clear to see when and where these parts of the movie come as the visual and audio quality drop dramatically. But again this strengthens the vintage feel of the film and in doing so makes the production feel more like an experience.(fig1)

The plot follows a policeman investigating the disappearance of a young girl on Summer isle near England this remote place is famed for its unique fruit produce. As he arrives by plane it soon becomes clear to him that the island is has an underlying secret which all the residents are a part of. Many aspects of the pagan religion are portrayed throughout out this film some may argue that this film stained the people of this religion and may have made certain people hostile to this specific religion, as the narrative does focus on much more taboo subjects as sex and animal or human sacrifice. From a Christian point of view it is very easily misread as evil and sadistic. What this film does well is almost convince the viewers that what the people of this island do is perfectly normal as they don’t portray any of the characters as insane instead it a drastically different way of life. However it is Sergeant Neil Howie who is subjected to mental torment and anxiety. (fig2)

This film can be seen as a tragedy, the hero does die this for me was very unsatisfying, being accustomed to films where   the hero makes a daring escape at the last minute. I was slightly confused as to why the sergeant didn’t even try to break the wicker, which is not the strongest wood around. This submission to his fate  at the end shows a dramatic change in his attitude toward survival, as earlier in the film he risk his safety by disguising himself as “punch” to infiltrate the pagan ritual to save the girl. If he was so willing to do this, why not even attempt to escape? Instead he decides to sing a gospel and accept his destiny.

Fig2http://www.anthonyshaffer.co.uk/Pics/Screenplays/Wm19.JPG

Fig 1http://www.film4.com/images/the-wicker-man-1973-02_601x256.jpg

fig 3 http://billsmovieemporium.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/wickermanorig1b.jpg?w=500

Unit 2: Review.

The Cabinet of Dr

Unit 2:space Essay.

I apologize for any spelling and grammatical errors!! and photos will be up later!


Unit 2 space:  Writing assignment.


Introduction.

This essay will analyse critically the production design and conceptual art of  Frits Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The role and importance of production design will be defined with reference from the book The art of production design by Christopher Frayling. The conceptual art of Metropolis will be explained using Fritz Lang’s Metropolis cinematic visions of technology and fear edited by Michael Minden and Holger Bachmann. Set design of the city conveyed in Metropolis will be assessed in relation to German expressionism using the website www.GreenCine.com . further information about the architecture of metropolis will be extracted from Francois Penz and Maureen Thomas’s Cinema and Architecture. Finally key architects from the early 1900’s futurism art movement such as Antonio Sant’ Elia will be studied using www.artyfacts.info to gain a better understanding of what may have influenced Lang and his set design team.

Main essay.

The film Metropolis depicts a monumental imposing  city buzzing with life, the founder and master of the city is Joh Frederson played by Alfred Abel the narrative revolves around his son a young man called  “Freder” played by Gustav Frohlich, he  rebels against his  father as he discovers the under city where the poor work to keep the city on top alive.  Lang’s depiction of  the “Under city” is a contrast to the vibrant modernistic city above, the city below is made up of a network of  deep caverns and caves, also a gothic styled cathedral. This idea of contrasting the light with the dark helps the audience to understand that there can be no light without dark, in terms of metropolis, Lang wanted to put across the idea that the city couldn’t survive with out the dark under city, ironically, the worker’s who in habit the dark under city are characterized as the innocent. Whereas the rich careless people of the city above are portrayed as evil and sinful. This notion is symbolic of the yin yang symbol of ancient china, the basic principle of this was that good can not live without evil. (fig1 :photo of upper class men being seduced)

Lang’s vision of  the  city was helped realised by producer Erich Pommer, and the lead art director Erich Kettlehut. Lang’s original Idea came to him when he and Erich Pommer visited Manhattan. In an anecdote written by Lang he states “  As I look into the streets, the glaring lights and tall buildings, there I conceived metropolis”(Minden and Bachmann 2002:4). What Lang didn’t mention in his travel log was that as he  explored the streets of Manhattan he  noticed a dark “undercurrent”(Minden and Bachman 2002:5) of the city that scared but intrigued him  at the same time. It was the idea of a covered-up, repressed, uglier city that fuelled his imagination for his masterpiece.

Before era of German expressionism came the futurist art movement,  originating in Italy and  pioneered by Thomas  Marinetti. It was based on the principle’s of looking to the future both politically and artistically, a noted futurist architect called Antonio Sant Elia  encapsulated the contemporary metropolitan ideology in his work during the early 1900’s his ability to in vision magnificent modernistic structures is reflective in Lang and his production teams work. The futurist art movement as a whole helped the world to conceive the possibilities of  future urban societies. “Architecture should be impermanent” (Nehrain Khalifa 2008) allowing it to constantly grow and change this idea is reflective of the production design of metropolis as we see an new city that has evolved from the old.

Lang like a lot of film makers at the time was heavily influenced by German expressionist art work. This movement introduced the style of sharp strait lines and dark contrasting tones especially on canvas. We see this style of art  in full effect in Robert Weine’s The cabinet of Dr. Calligari . Metropolis was shot 7 year after this. Lang  wanted  a similar effect for his film so he hired Erich Pommer who produced Caligari and Metropolis  he played a key role in in overseeing the process of creating the city from conceptual drawings to actual scaled models.

In the mid 1920’s at the time of the films production America had  saturated Europe with Hollywood blockbusters fuelling the publics need for escapism with suspense, comic relief and the inevitable happy ending. This put Germany and other Euro countries “under severe pressure  to produce better, bigger and more spectacular pictures”(Minden and Bachmann 2000:5) luckily producer Pommer Had the necessary funds to back such a big dream of langs. As the media was becoming such a powerfull force at this time, it was vital that “war torn”  Germany exploited that and used it to regaun status in the I of the world

A production designers job is to create the illusion of architectural space, a world in which the characters from the script come to life and are able to communicate with the audience effectively,
“ ideally the designer works from inside the script outward”(Diana Charnely 1997:154) to create a more believable world staying true to the vision of the director while being in coherence with the art directors craftsmanship. In order to create Lang’s metropolis, art directors and set designer would have had to have worked closely with each other to create a scaled model of the city, the designers would only create certain parts of the fiction world giving the audience a taste of the foreground, mid-space, and background.

The set design for movies that depict large cities such as Metropolis all follow a similar production process, firstly initial ideas are hand drawn to give the director an idea of the final product. For Lang’s production, art director Erich Kettlehut was given this responsibility he drew out the first conceptual art work for the film most depicting the tower of Babel that is the centre point of the city,(Tower of Babel fig2)


Using perspective Kettlehut gives us the sense of height and depth. Staying true to the expressionistic style of the film, most building are drawn with sharp straight lines  this gives us the sense of each building being a solid structure.  Kettlehut reinforces the vibrancy and bustle of the upper city by prevalently drawing futuristic infrastructure in the form of bridges leading from building to building or sky railway systems to facilitate public transport. all these elements that Kettlehut envisioned had logic and meaning behind them, As these plans were the blue prints to what the set design team would physically create the scaled model of the city.
(photo fig 4)
 .

The under city followed similar design principle. The difference was some part of it were built on a much large-scale  to facilitate the flooding scene where crowds of people were shown. The main Set design objective of the under city was to create an “undercurrent threatening the second layer”(Minden an Bachmann 2000:5) to accomplish this, the design team had to create a almost desolate place void of life and vibrancy. This almost dead entity known as the under city had to fell plain but at the same time able to capture the audiences imagination. One of the clever ways Lang did this was to include a centre piece in the under city. This small monument in acted as the epicentre of the town, it is the place where every under city dweller rushed to as the flood water rose. (photo) 
Fig 5


It closely mirrors the tower of Babel at the centre point of the above metropolis. Stylistically this this approach of depicting both cities works as both places resemble and contrast each other, one of the strongest ideas presented in this production is the personification of the under city. The main city engine is seen to be the heart of the city both upper and below,  when this is destroyed and  the two places collide, both societies come close to death. Through this smart production design Lang portrays a strong motif throughout the film that implying that all the components that makeup the world of the Metropolis  all have their part to play in keep the world at balance.

To finalize this analysis, Fritz Lang, Erich Pommer and Erich Kettlehut have all played integral role’s in producing one of the most iconic film of the 20th century. Combining  master craftsmanship and a captivating vision this production set the bench mark for the modern day urban jungle film. The visionary expression can be seen throughout the production.



Bibliography

Quote 1:  Michael Minden and Holger Bachman (2000) Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: cinematic visions of the future.

Quote 2:  Michael Minden and Holger Bachman (2000) Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: cinematic visions of the future.

Quote 3: Nehrain Khalifa (2008) Artyfacts.com accessed 23/11/2011

Quote 4: Michael Minden and Holger Bachman (2000) Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: cinematic visions of the future.

Quote 5: Diana Charnely  (1997) Cinema and Architecture.

Quote 6: Michael Minden and Holger Bachman (2000) Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: cinematic visions of the future.



Illustration list


Fig 1:  Upper class men being seduced (1927) Metropolis http://mondo70.blogspot.com

Fig2:  Erich kettle hut (1926) tower of Babel  http://www.uow.edu.au

Fig 3: designers modelling city (1926) Metropolis www.flickr.photos/kraftgenie/5765370426/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Fig 4:   monument in under city (1927) Metropolis www.coveringmedia.com/movie/1927/03/metropolis.html

Unit 2: Essay research.

I have decided to write my essay on Frits Langs 's Metropolis, I chose this film as it has one of the most iconic and influential   sets of all time. i was interested by the set design as it closely emulates one of my final concepts : the Silver city described inThe Never Ending Story.

 Upon researching the artist's and special effects for the film I learned about the Schufftan Process, at the time it was a genius way to place actors in shots with miniature scale modeled buildings without the use of a shrink ray. Eugen schufftan was the inventor of this process he refined the method while creating the set for Metropolis. 

 I have also looked closely at what may have influenced Director Frit's Lang, and special effects expert Eugen Schufftan. as this is a german exspresionist film i thought that Lang may have been influenced by an earlier artistic movement called futurism, an itallian  futurist architect called Antonio sant ' Elia stood out to me as his design's were far beyond his time just like the city constucted in Metropolis.

Unit 1: Written assignment start.

Anatomy unit 1             

Introduction.

This assignment will discuss  Hybrid animal deities  in culture and religion and why animals play such an important roll in some faiths. Based upon resources  from www.egyptian-gods.info , The Bible and www.bbc.co.uk/religion/hinduism. Playing close attention  to  genesis chapter 3 of the bible. Also Gods in ancient Egyptian times said to be half animal. Finally deities in in the Hindu religion.

Main essay.

Many religions often depict their  deities with human characteristics spliced with animals, research into this subject shows that there is a vast number  of animal Hybrids  in religions such as Hinduism. Specifically the deity Garuda or the King of Birds first mentioned in the first book of the Great Epic Mahabharata ,this creature is not the most worshiped but a strong example of a Hybrid creature in  religion. Garuda is the mount of a more prevalent Hindu God  Vishnu, this creature is described as having a strong male body and face, red wings and an eagles beak. The eagle is strong predatory animals  with  pride and prowess in terms of hunting for prey. It is important to note that some countries utilize the eagle as a national symbol as  it co notates to power, authority. So in many ways the ancient God Garuda reflects modern day mans lust dominants over the rest of the world.

Fig1.

Another symbolic animal Hybrid in the Hindu religion  is the “Naga” or snake people also mentioned in the Mahabharata, this race of para human resembles the formidable snake, it is written that they are the sworn enemy of Garuda, The Bird King, who would often prey upon them. Eagles do in fact in real life hunt snakes especially the short toed eagles of India. The Naga are often depicted in the Mahabharata as a vile and pitiful race.  The snake in in the Hindu religion represents not only poisoning of the body but also of the soul. This is why many Hindu worshipers wear Garuda as an amulet to protect them selves from snake bites.



The “serpent was more subtle than any beast of field”(God, bible, genesis chapter 3)in the bible god describes Satan as being very sly one of the most common accounts of this is the story of “Adam and Eve, the Devil appears in the form of a snake in front of eve and persuades her to eat the forbidden fruit.
(fig2.Michelangelo’s original sin)



Figure2. Shows Michelangelo Buonarroti’s interpretation Satan as a hybrid serpent creature seducing Eve into eating the “forbidden fruit”. upon successfully persuading Eve, God step and  curses Satan “upon thy belly thou shall go” like a snake forever on the ground. This part in the bible is why many believe snakes to be a bad omen and a sign of evil.

Fig.3
In Greek culture and mythology another story tells the tale of gods using their powers to curse, one in particular is the story of  Arachne who bragged that her skill as a weaver were second to none not even the Goddess of wisdom and crafts. Her metamorphosis was much the one described in the bible, but much more painful as this curse was placed upon a mortal. Publius Ovidius Naso aka Ovid described the transformation as though she had been “touch’d with the poisonous drug”( Ovid, Metamorphoses, 8AD)

Ovid describes Arachne’s transformation as a painful torture to emphasize the fear ancient Greek people had for the Gods.