Let the experimenting begin!

I have the mood and feel for my project down. I know what I am aiming for and have a large selection of inspiration. I need to now push forward and start looking into the processes I want to try and use to create the final product. My project is very processes based and so I need to start practicing and experimenting.  To start of I've looked up a number of set designers and looking at their processes and ways of working. This research has injected me with a heightened fascination in the production side of photography/film. 

I brought in some play doh to try and experiment creating things with. I made a little zombie face, a zombie hand, and a grave stone. I took these little models to the scanner and scanned frames of the hand and face coming out of the grave. I took these scans and put them into a gif maker to make a small animation. I like it for a first try but it can be improved in many ways. I would like to try and make more detail and imd the face and hand to move in unison better. I also think it would look better if i had the face be more prominent and zombie like. I think it would also be interesting to make the eyes move.  I really do like the background and the way it moves this was not intentional rather a happy accident. What I really like about the background is it looks rather haunting and also looks as if it was filmed on 35mm. 

I am thinking about this style of animation being used for the introduction or credits of the film. 

Week 2!!

My goal for this week is to have planned a sufficient amount of my actual film. I am still putting all my research together but I want to be able to finish that tonight and tomorrow. The exciting bit is coming! I plan on planning the props/set, costumes, and the actual plot. Those are the most important aspects for me to prepare. If I can visually plan and prepare these things I think it will help me a lot when it actually comes to doing it. I think I should make it my goal to have all those things almost done by next tuesday maybe going into wednesday and thursday.

I think my biggest challenge is going to be solidifying my aesthetic and not aiming to high. I guess having high expectations is both a good and bad thing. If I do achieve it all then it will be awesome, but if I don't at least I tried and experimented. Experimentation is the key to growth and learning so this shall be interesting.

Today I had plan to experiment with making little sets with play doh but I left it at home so I could not do this. So instead I continued pursuing my reattach which was probably a good thing. I put together a little Zine called how to be spooky. It sort of reflects my approach and style and shows some of my research into the classic Scooby Doo monsters.

Films, Videos, and art inspiring me right now

These cardboard vehicles from the film 'The Science of sleep' by Michel Gondry 

These spooky Mini Instax photos I took. The one on the left has nice lens flares that I think add some drama and interest. The one in the middle was a complete mistake that turned out looking like a space ship was coming towards me. The last one is an over exposure that makes my Mother look like a ghost in a misty land. 

And lastly everything about Adam Green....

The Prince's Bed by Adam Green

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciX8l5KEBfE

Castles and Tassels By Adam Green 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLVVlFod4h8

Screen shot from the section of Adam Greens website titled Artwork.

All of the above pieces of inspiration I am going to pull certain aspects from to build up my aesthetic and processes for my final film. I think my next step would be to experiment. I want to try experiment with clay or play dough making models. Also I want to experiment with cardboard, tin foil and cling film to try and make different props and sets. The last way I would also like to experiment is with my filming style, I want to really think about transitions and ways of recording and visually getting across messages. 

Quick Mood Boards

I gathered some images and took some screen shots and quickly put them together on my desk top and screen shot that to make mini mood boards. I did this just to have a quick and easy way of capturing where I am right now. Usually it takes me a long time to make a mood board because I print the images out and lay them out nicely and add other mediums and my own drawings and such. So by the time I'm half way  done my mind is on to the next thing already and I don't complete everything to its potential or forget certain things. This type of mood board satisfies my need for instant gratification and documents everything visually in a nice way. I feel like they also show my thought process.

This was a mood board I did a few weeks ago when I was first thinking about the idea of spooky and the feel and aesthetic of the word. I looked at characters who I thought were spooky and also just kind of dark. And also falling water a building by Frank Llyod Wright. I wouldn't say these things are spooky necessarily in a classic way besides Norman Bates. The other images are more spooky in an interesting or cool way. I also really like these tame colours all together they make a real realized haunted mood. However this relaxed colour scheme is very different from my usual colour scheme, I doubt that it will continue on through the project...But...you never know. 

Classic scooby monsters 

Ghoulies, Scooby and shaggy with their food, Michel Gondry, Y control by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs music video, The word neurotic, I'm with the band - Pamela Des Barres 

Roger Voudouris Music video from 1979, Short film by Michel Gondry and a scooby comic clip 

  Scooby and Jughead collage Ft Adam Green card board car 

Night of the living dead, Be Kind Rewind, Disco//very- Keeping it healthy By Warpaint music video (Not really for the visuals but for the characters of the girls and the sound, John Metoyers

(Collages authors own, actual images from various places) 

High Fashion Monsters

Inspired by the latest collections for A/W15 and classic Scooby Doo monsters I decided to make these weird little collages. I got images of some classic monsters from Scooby Doo and images of garments from A/w 15 collections and photoshopped them together. I thought this would be a fun visual start to my project by exploring my theme and combining it with the world of fashion. One of them main thing I have to do in this project is keep fashion involved.  So to do this I have begun my research into the latest collections, looking at the trends and recurring themes. I have also been looking at classic scooby doo monsters as that will be a key feature potentially in my film and is also something I find really interesting. There were a countless number of monsters throughout all of the Scooby series. I also began thinking about different features of the Scooby Doo shows, some of these features include things such as their phrases they always say and things that happen every time, for example the monster always ends up being a real human. I love these recurring themes as they are what give Scooby Doo its iconic status. 

                                                                  (Image authors own) 

First day of FMP (RESEARCH WEEK)

My first step towards research was to look at scooby doo, considering this is the main influence and theme of my project it only seemed logical.  I am mostly intrigued by the monsters and creatures  each episode.  Also the gang are a very important part of the show and a major influence. I want to create my own gang for my final film.  I was originally not sure how exactly I would do this because I did not want to make an exact replica of the characters from Scooby Doo because I thought this would be super obvious and not allow room for me to really create. Before deciding that I wanted to have my final major project be spooky I wanted to look at something to do with music. I find musicians to be very interesting characters they generally have a look or confidence about them that I am drawn too. So a good compromise would be to make my mystery gang become a band! 

My next step Is to compile a solid amount of research to use as inspiration and reference points. I want to make mood boards and get research for the monsters, the girl band, directors and filmmakers, photographers, scenery, landscapes, DIY film sets, processes, creature features, shaggy and scoobys snacks.

The following images are pages from my journal done on the first day of FMP. 

(all images authors own) 

Project Proposal

My project is inspired by the cartoon Scooby Doo. This classic children's mystery show is full of ghosts and monsters. The gang always get caught up in spooky situations and have to wonder round dark, mysterious, strange places solving mysteries. This is the premise for my project. I want to explore the layers of the show, for example the characters, the locations, the costumes, the plot, and of course the monsters. I will reflect my research through zines. I want to create a film with similar aesthetics to the short fashion film Wes Anderson made for Prada and the concept of scooby doo. The visuals and aesthetic of the film will be more important than a plot but I will have some dialogue. I want to carefully plan my film so it is executed nicely. I want to scout good locations so that it looks genuine and has a real spooky feel. The styling will of course be one of the most important aspects. I think it will be interesting to combine a range of vintage and modern clothes. I do not want to identically  copy the characters in the shows outfits rather create my own interpretation, potentially create new characters who are based loosely on the ones from the show. I plan to create props and sets for the film because I think this will be an interesting experiment as it is something I’ve not attempted. Some ideas I have for this so far include painting back drops and building miniatures. Besides having a fashion film for my final outcome I would also like to have a poster to accompany it. 

Project proposal

My project is inspired by the cartoon Scooby Doo. This classic children's mystery show is full of ghosts and monsters. The gang always get caught up in spooky situations and have to wonder round dark, mysterious, strange places solving mysteries. This is the premise for my project. I want to explore the layers of the show, for example the characters, the locations, the costumes, the plot, and of course the monsters. I want to create a film with similar aesthetics to low-fi, low budget horror films. The visuals and aesthetic of these films will be more important than a plot but I will have some dialogue and a basic story line. I want to carefully plan my film so it is executed nicely. I want to scout good locations so that it looks genuine and has a real spooky feel. The styling will of course be one of the most important aspects. I think it will be interesting to combine a range of vintage and modern clothes. I do not want to identically  copy the characters in the shows outfits rather create my own interpretation, potentially create new characters who are based loosely on the ones from the show. I plan to create props and sets for the film because I think this will be an interesting experiment as it is something I’ve not attempted. Some ideas I have for this so far include painting back drops and building miniatures. Besides having a fashion film for my final outcome I would also like to have a poster to accompany it.