FMP Research Proposal

Intent

"Whence did the wond'rous mystic art arise,
Of painting SPEECH, and speaking to the eye?
That we by tracing magic lines are taught,
How to embody, and to colour THOUGHT?" Marshall McLuhan 1967

For my Final Major Project I am writing, illustrating and animating a narrative about fear of the dark. 

My intent for this research and practice is to discover and use to my advantage the ability to convey powerful mood and emotion. I would like to be able to take my viewer on a journey from immense fear and anxiety to relief, understanding, joy and hope. I will look at works which I feel have created these mood swings for me. I will also interview other people, artists, friends and relatives to determine their responses to the works that I am going to research and also ask them to view my own experiments and gauge their responses. This evaluation will be an ongoing element of my research so that I can fine tune as I proceed in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Notes from Keiren Phelps - Module Tutor 2015

How are you going to achieve this?

In order to fully understand the visual language used by the artists and works I will be dissecting and examining, I'll consider this "shopping list" of ingredients to kick-start my investigations:

Composition

Colour

Metaphor

Perception

Disruptors

Constraints
Sequential flow
Stop motion

I will be researching the work of:

Shaun Tan is a multi-award winning artist and author- analysing how he represents moods, particularly depression, fear & hope. His use of metaphor, character facial expression and gesture and his sequential art methods. Tan's working practice interests me particularly the evolutionary process from sketchbook to final artwork. It will be interesting to try this out for myself.

Nobody Understands, from The Red Tree - Shaun Tan 2000

David McKean - McKean puts to use all of his creative skills in combination, illustration, graphic design, sequential art, film making, sculpture, found objects and digital art.  He communicates fear, horror, distortion skillfully, and makes good use of constraints & disruptors. McKean has many different styles of working, although darkness is consistent throughout his oeuvre. Although I am not currently a fan of his work, I think that his ability to communicate visually is undeniable, as his flourishing career suggests. I am looking forward to exploring his work in more detail, I think there is a lot that I can learn from his practice.

Catalogue for the British Library - Dave McKean

Octopus from Crazy Hair - Dave McKean 2010

Charles Keeping - beauty of varied line thickness & horror, dark narrative. I am determined to breakdown Keepings images and fully understand how on earth (!!!) he painted those beautiful varied lines and mixed the colours throughout the lines at the same time...this will take much trial, and undoubtably, error on my part to discover his secrets once and for all or maybe not, but the journey will be invaluable I am certain. I will be going to visit his home, which is kept as a gallery by his family, so that I can view the original illustrations.

From Beowulf - Charles Keeping

From the Highwayman - Charles Keeping

Wayne Anderson - Surrealism, sinister, dark, shadowy beauty. Ratsmagic was one of my first favourite books as a child. I was always drawn to the darkly, weird and bizarre stories; Sendak's The Night Kitchen was another one...anyway, I digress, back to Anderson. My love of his work has never subsided and I am delighted that he still, although laboriously, produces his images in the exact same way he always did, with crayons and colouring pencils. It is Anderson's compositions, particularly in his earlier works, that interest me along with his gentle distortion of proportion of his human-esque and anthropomorphic characters. Again an exciting experiment to be had here!

Wayne Anderson

From Ratsmagic - Wayne Anderson

Chris Ware - layout, time passing, colour planning, tackling everyday subjects, sequential art
This for me will be the most challenging experiment. I adore Ware's work, I think the man is a genius. And I have attempted his portrayal of time passing with my own narrative before. It is NOT easy...I think a great deal of planning will be required here. I will also be mapping out his colour palettes as I do find these appealing in his work. The analysis of his sensitivity to everyday subject matter will be especially useful to apply to my final project too, as I will be tackling an everyday fear in my story.

Jimmy Corrigan Back Jacket - Chris Ware

Quimby Mouse - Chris Ware

Shirley Jackson/Robert Wise: The Haunting (1963)- power of the imagination, psychological, horror, fear, despair. I saw this film in my teens and it terrified me. I do intend to watch it again, this time with an analytical eye (the other one will be tightly shut!!). Why was it so frightening? How did they do it? Shockingly, the film is rated certificate 12??!! The thing I remember that was so disturbing about it was how it plays on the imagination, the actors' fear portrayal, lightning/shadows and sound effects. How can I convey this essence in my work? I am currently reading Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House (1959), at the beginning it is light hearted and comical, as the guests begin arriving there are hints of distress which are brushed aside...the first night is drawing in...the tension is emerging...

The Haunting (1963) - Robert Wise (Director)

The Haunting (1963) - Robert Wise (Director)

I have just made an awesome discovery!! The house from the movie, is in Alderminster, Warwickshire. I am so going to visit, could even be a possible setting for my narrative...? It is supposedly the most haunted house in Britain. The mansion is now a 60-room luxury hotel. And yes I am scared...

Stop Motion Animation Techniques - I have already made a short stop motion animation using a 3D wire armatured puppet. I have been exploring the other methods of stop motion animation and enjoy immensely the whole process, from writing and storyboarding to shooting and editing. There are several methods that I am aware of namely, oil on glass, sand, charcoal, silhouette, wax on glass and puppets/models. Lotte Reiniger is the name that is synonymous with silhouette animation. William Kentridge for charcoal. I hope to find the technique that will best suit my film and one which I can associate closely with the illustrations for my book. Although I have decided that the styles for the book and film may indeed be different i.e. charcoal drawings for the book and silhouette puppetry for the film.

John and Michael by Shira Avni, National Film Board of Canada - Wax on Glass

Felix in Exile - William Kentridge - Charcoal

Hansel and Gretal - Lotte Reiniger - Silhouette

My experiments

To emulate the working practices of the aforementioned artists and in turn solve the mystery of mood projection in my own work. This will directly feed into my Final Major Project. I am hoping that by breaking down their images, secrets will reveal themselves to me and I will be able to create my own formula for visual communication, specifically mood and emotion. At this stage (the beginning) of my exploration, I imagine I would like to produce my Final Major Project book and film in black and white, however, I am willing to accept the fact that my opinion may change during the course of my journey.

My own work tends to be pretty and jolly and clean cut. I would like to achieve something dark, dirty and disturbing as a contrast to my usual way of creating. The narrative that I will be illustrating requires both dark and light moods. As I will be making an animated film of my story, I think it will be invaluable to study closely the sequential techniques employed by McKean, Ware & Tan and the lighting and sound in The Haunting.

Week Four: Level 5 theory Major project and EP planning

1. What are you going to investigate?

The influence of visual language and devices on narrative

2. What is the test content you are going to use for your experiment?

A narrative situation informed by my own sketchbook observational notes - university mouse & hotel mouse narratives

3. What are your communication objectives for the test content? What do you want people to think or feel when they see it?

Initially I want the viewer to be intrigued a little afraid, uneasy, curious, to see abstract shapes, shadows, close ups,

Then they ought to be charmed when the reason for the movement in the shadows is revealed,

Followed by concern for the mouse, will she make it safely?

4. Starting reference point:

North by Northwest storyboard/film

What is it? Identify and define your reference/starting point/example of work

A storyboard for a film, a spy thriller, mistaken identity, Alfred Hitchcock

What does it make you think?

I am intrigued, it's odd, a man waiting in the middle of nowhere, why is he there? What will happen next? He appears fairly relaxed, how long has he been there already? There is an air of mystery.

What does it make you understand?

Something's not right, the stranger mentions that the crop dusting aeroplane is dusting where there are no crops, why!? When the plane chases the hero there is fear, panic, the need to escape, the only place to hide is a corn field, but this is feeble protection.

What does it make you feel?

Anxious, tense, perplexed, concerned for the hero who appears nonchalant, rather than confused & scared. What is he thinking?

What is the general intent? E.g. To amuse/entertain/record and understand/intrigue, mystify, puzzle, fascinate/inform/educate/question, explore, challenge/satirise/investigate/horrify, frighten, disgust/thrill, excite/distract, transport, transcend

The general intent is to entertain, intrigue, interest & thrill.

How does it work?

You will investigate this visually.

Languages – Mechanisms of communication./Surrealism/ Humour/ nonsense/ Abstraction, decorative, pattern./ metaphor/conceptual/symbolic/ montage/juxtaposition/ emulation /documentary, reportage/ interactivity/ realism/ anthropomorphism

The hero is on a road running through rural farmland, he is wearing a suit, shirt and tie. He has an air of confidence about him, his body language suggests he is waiting, hands in pockets, facial expression. He is out of place, it is surreal. Another man appears apparently directly from a cornfield, also suited, he comments on a bi-plane crop dusting where there are no crops, before getting on a bus which stops 

Aspects of production / Composition/ Viewpoint / people/gesture/expression/performance Character/ / Simplification/stylisation / Scale . Narrative structure/sequence/ Time colour / place/context/background / 3d elements, made objects / platform- – Layout.

My intent: To create a sense of intrigue and fear, anticipation of an impending danger, followed by relief, joy, hope with realisation. Using this narrative:

The Early Morning Mouse

Early in the morning, blink and you will miss her

Is the early morning mouse, scampering through the tiniest shadowy corners of the university corridors, before the cleaning ladies come and vacuum up the crumbs

The all nighters on their way home do not see her in their sleepy haze although they sense that they are being watched.

And they are...she watches tentatively, hopefully, that any morsel might tumble from their laps, a speck of the midnight snacks long forgotten fuelling words on the page. Crumbs that will feed a mouse's family for another day, another night until the next early morning...blink and you will miss her.

Evaluation

I think I achieved a certain level of curiosity at the beginning with the use of abstract long shots and close-ups. Fear and anxiety...mmm...no...concern for the protagonist, yes. Perhaps a sense of worry when the cleaning lady arrives too. North by Northwest has a man out of place - I have not addressed this in my experiment, mainly as I did not fully understand the task at first. More simple than I thought (which is often the case!). However, I have learned from this and will endeavour to emulate more accurately when commencing the practice as research for my Final Major Project.