Film Review: Picnic at Hanging Rock

(Poster)

'Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1975) is definitely a mysterious film that leaves its audiences guessing. The mystery of the story comes in different forms, through lack of information and the use of music. Set in Australia, the story revolves around school girls that go on a picnic trip on Valentines day. However, three of the students disappear as well as a teacher only to find one of the missing girls a week after disappearing with no memory of what happened. 

(Movie Still)

Throughout the film there is a lot of details that are withheld from the audience, this opens up the film to theories and guesses as to what happened. "lacking any final explanation, it exists as an experience." (Ebert,1998) The film seems to leave little hints as to what happened to the missing students and teacher. When the one student is found she then comes back to the school to say her goodbyes to the other girls. She is wearing a red dress and looks a lot more mature than she does at the beginning of the film. it can be inferred that there is sexual connotations and that she gained "experience" while being gone on the rock and has become a woman. As well as red being referred to in a sexual way in film her dress makes her stand out from the rest of the girls who are in white which usually symbolises purity. This doesn't explain what happened to the other two missing girls and the teacher but it's a possibility.  Other parts of the film also link to sexuality, which considering the school is teaching these girls to be ladylike is shunned upon. The teacher that goes up the rock is said to be walking without underwear on which as mentioned is unusual for a school teaching young girls to be ladylike. These scenes in the film add to the mystery surrounding the rock and how it seems to effect its surroundings. 

(Movie Still)

The film presents shots with soft lighting, double exposure and different angles. This is pointed out by Buckmaster too, "some of its most memorable moments involve dreams and dream-like imagery." (Buckmaster, 2014) The film also includes this dreamlike element into the plot too. For example a line from Micheal the boy who sees the girls go up to the rock the day that they disappear.  "It keeps coming back to me in my dreams." The rock is seems to put people into a trance, the way in which the three girls walk up the rock is like they no longer know what they are doing. It's also this point is emphasised by the way the girls ignore the fourth one yelling for them to come back. Lastly, the music also further adds to this idea of a dream like state. 

The score in the film is good at adding to the atmosphere, helping point out specific things (the rock) creating an unsettling feeling. Whenever the rock is on screen it further hints at there being something wrong with the rock. Ebert references director Weir saying, "creating an hallucinatory, mesmeric rhythm, so that you lost awareness of facts" (Ebert, 1998) As mentioned before the score adds to the dreamlike feeling that is created in the film. Although, the music is unsettling it has a whimsical element to it, this is briefly mentioned by Jen, "eerily magical with a sinister underlining.".

Bibliography 

Buckmaster, L. (2014). Picnic at Hanging Rock: Rewatching classic Australian films. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/jan/23/picnic-hanging-rock-rewatching-australian-films [Accessed 7 May 2018].

Ebert, R. (1998). Picnic at Hanging Rock Movie Review (1975) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975 [Accessed 7 May 2018].

Letterboxd.com. (2011). A ★★★★½ review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). [online] Available at: https://letterboxd.com/petersquills/film/picnic-at-hanging-rock/ [Accessed 7 May 2018].

Fig 1 & 2: http://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2013/12/picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975-hcf-rewind/

Fig 3: https://www.dreamtheend.com/?attachment_id=9889

Film Review: The Wicker Man

                                                               (Fig 1. Movie Poster)

Robin Hardy's 'The Wicker Man' is definitely a strange film, filled ominous folk music, odd residents and mystery. The film gets described as a  ""The Wicker Man" is a puzzle of a film" (Calhoun, 2013) The film does leave little clues for the viewer leading up to the climax of the film. which come to together neatly later on, but a second viewing would make these clues clearer. For example, the beetle that is in the desk, is like the Sargent being lead on a wild goose chase until it's too late. However, although now it is considered a cult classic and one of Britain's best horror films was not well received when first released. "EMI disliked it so much that they wrote it off as a tax loss" (Russell, 2001)


Throughout the film the policeman is out of his comfort zone, he seems baffled and enraged by the communities religion. He can't comprehend that no one is a christian and is constantly questioning their faith. As mentioned in the Guardian, "he finds his solid Christian beliefs confronted by a community dabbling in all manner of dubious pagan practices" (Billson, 2010) The scene where the teacher is talking about phallic symbolism gets to the policeman. As well as, the fertility ritual and sun worshipping, none of these things make sense to him which is why he also refers to them as heathens. However, this element of the film can be a message about a crisis in faith. Up until the very end the policeman continued to pray and sing hymns in the hopes his god would aid him. But this ending doesn't happen and a much more grittier ending is presented. 


According to other viewers and reviewers the 10 or more minutes cut from the film actually provide further detail. There is a deeper look into the policeman, focusing more on his backstory such as his relationship with his soon to be wife. which details that he is saving himself for his wedding night, which is important later on in the story. As well as that the other scene cut out involved a conversation about Summerisle apples, which is important to the harvest. According to Calhoun "but the confrontation between Sgt. Howie and Lord Summerisle (Lee) is plenty tense in the version that I have" This could have added to the tension when it comes to the conflict between the policeman and lord Summerisle.

Bibliography

Bbc.co.uk. (2001). BBC - Movies - review - The Wicker Man. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/12/17/the_wicker_man_1973_review.shtml [Accessed 19 Apr. 2018].

Billson, A. (2010). The Wicker Man: No 4 best horror film of all time. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/22/wicker-man-hardy-horror [Accessed 19 Apr. 2018].

Calhoun, B. (2013). [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/the-wicker-man-the-cut-may-be-final-but-the-film-is-still-incomplete [Accessed 19 Apr. 2018].

Illustration:

Fig 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man

Film Review: The Sixth Sense

                                                             (Fig 1: Movie Poster)


 M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 film 'The Sixth Sense' uses elements of misdirection, storytelling and good camera work to create such an engaging film that you can't take your eyes off it. The film follows child psychologist Dr. Malcolm who in order to help a young boy named Cole must know the boys secret: he can see the dead.  

The film feels like it should be a horror movie with the way in which the ghosts are scarred from the ways they died, but also heartwarming in a weird way with the build up to the climax. The Guardian Illustrates this well, "The Sixth Sense isn’t a bloodfest or a whodunnit thriller: some may make the case it isn’t even a horror movie. But the quiet dialogue, the doe-eyed Osment and the sporadic yelp of violins create a tangible sense of dread that makes watching it an overwhelmingly freaky experience." (Cain, 2014) As mentioned in the Guardian review, the violins used create a freaky atmosphere, when the violins come in or sound in general you can feel an eeriness building which then adds to the suspense. 


The ghosts in this film are sort of a subplot, up until Cole says he sees dead people the ghosts are mainly suggested rather than shown. For example, the scene where Cole's mum is looking at pictures of him she sees  "When the ghosts appear, they whisk past the camera, [..] building to full scale revelations of seemingly normal apparitions — with the exception of their fatal wounds" (Nathan, 2000)



"The solution to many of the film's puzzlements is right there in plain view" (Ebert, 1999) this quote sums up the film quite nicely. Throughout the film Shyamalan drops subtle hints to the ending. In the whole film Crowe can only talk to Cole, Shyamalan uses the clever idea of a decaying marriage to hide the truth about Crowe. The scene where the couple are in a restaurant, Crowe's wife looks straight through him but made to look as if she had acknowledged him and takes the bill before him even though he wouldn't have been able to  anyway. Also, the whole coin trick scene demonstrates how Shyamalan keeps trying to distract us from working out the truth about Crowe. 

Bibliography 

Cain, S. (2014). The Sixth Sense: the film that frightened me most. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/oct/22/the-sixth-sense-film-frightened-me-most-sian-cain [Accessed 20 Mar. 2018].

Ebert, R. (1999). The Sixth Sense Movie Review & Film Summary (1999) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sixth-sense-1999 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2018].

Nathan, I. (2000). EMPIRE ESSAY: The Sixth Sense. [online] Empire. Available at: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/empire-essay-sixth-sense/review/ [Accessed 20 Mar. 2018].

Illustration:

Fig 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk5SccTB7gU

Reflective Statements for Toolkit 1

Life Drawing

The most noticeable change in my life drawings was the use of different materials, each lesson trying out something new and seeing whether it works for me or not. As well as being supported and encouraged to explore and not to stick strictly to what I know. I think that I have slowly been improving on my proportions although they still need a bit of work. I think that I need to add more tone to a lot of my drawings to prevent them from being just outlines. Having done life drawing before it is always good to be doing something like this each week, helping me understand human anatomy and how I can position characters in the future. I would like to carry on life drawing once home in London, but if not I would definitely like to take the poses I have drawn over this year and apply them to my own personal drawings.

      Maya 

Coming into Maya with no previous knowledge was a big struggle, constantly having to ask questions or thinking I know something then being told I was completely wrong. However, over the course of this year doing this toolkit as well as seeing the work of others, Maya really is amazing. The possibilities astonish me thinking that a simple idea on paper can then be made in 3D. As advised I will try my best to do small projects in Maya using what I know and referring back to the tutorials. I feel like I know a lot more about Maya having finished the last project, things such as UV texturing are a lot clearer and also animating in Maya. Overall, I am glad to have learnt this software and look forward to furthering my skills in it next year. 

     Animation  

Out of all the toolkit lessons, animation was the one I struggled with the most. Unfortunately I let animation become an after thought at times and not managing my time well enough so that I can get all of them done. Besides my time management I found points where I could not comprehend how a movement could be animated and even taking on the advise given such as physically acting out the animation I still struggled. These two factors were my down fall, but the times where I did finish an animation or could understand made me want to continue. Hope that at some point over the summer I actually set aside some time and give myself a small animation to do and try to incorporate what I have learnt in lesson to do so. 

Toolkit 1 - Animation Showreel

Animation List 

Animation - Flour Sack

Animation - Abstract Music animation

Animation - Walk Cycle

Toolkit 1 - Maya Submission

Introduction to Maya

1. 3D Modelling in Autodesk Maya

2. Block Modelling

3. Common Shaders

4. Animation Part 1: Using Rigs

5. Animation Part 2: Using Motion Paths

6. Animation Part 3: Using MEL

7. Animation Part 4: Dynamics

Lighting and Rendering

1. Arnold part 2: Sampling & Noise Reduction

2. Arnold Part 3: Ray Depth

3. Arnold Part 5: Maya Lights

4. Arnold Part 6: Light Filters

5. Arnold Part 11: Standard Surface Shader

Pre-Visualisation 1

1. Camera Part 2 - Pan Shot

2. Camera Part 3 - Roll Shot

3. Camera Part 4 - Pitch Shot

4. Camera Part 5 - Dolly Shot

5. Camera Part 6 -Crane Shot

6. Camera Part 7 - Distance Shots

7. Camera Part 8 - Coverage

8. Camera Part 9 - Camera shake

9. Camera Part 10 - Contra-Zoom

Modeling 1: Digital Sets

1. Part 1: Modelling

2. Part 2: UV Layout & Texture Preparation

3. Part 3: Lighting

4. Part 4: Texturing

5.Part 5: Bump, Specular Maps, & Final Composite

3D Animation 1: Principles

1. Key frames & Curves: Bouncing Ball On The Spot

2. Key Frames & Curves: Creating Settle & Rest

3. Key Frames & Curves: Creating Secondary Action

4. Key Frames & Curves: Creating Squash & Stretch

5. Key Frames & Curves: Installing & Using 'Felix Jnr' Character Rig

Rigging & Skinning 1

1. Biped Rigging Part 1: Feet & Legs

2. Biped Rigging Part 2: Spine

3. Biped Rigging Part 3: Arms

4. Biped Rigging Part 4: Head, Neck, & Final Grouping

5. Skinning Method 1: Interactive Weighting, Component Editor, & Paint Weights

Modelling 2: HS & Organic

1. Hard Surface Modelling Part 1

2. Hard Surface Modelling Part 2

3. Hard Surface Modelling Part 3

4.Organic Modelling Part 1

5. Organic Modelling Part 2

4 .Organic Modelling Part 3

3D Animation 1: Class Activities

1. Max for Maya Character Rig

Maya - Skinning

Maya - Walk Cycle Felix Jnr

Maya - Standard Surface Shader

Maya - Organic Modelling Pt 1 & 2

Maya - Rigging

Maya - Pose to Pose

Maya - Distance Shots and Coverage

Maya - Roll Shot

Maya - Pitch Shot

Maya - Panning Shot

Maya - Light Filters

Maya - Ray Depth and Maya Lights

Toolkit 1 - Life Drawing Submission

New Presentation by Alfie Gunter on Scribd

Fantastic Voyage - Art of

Ran into some issues with PowerPoint squashing my slides, so I'll fix this soon but for now here is my art of. 

Alfie's Art of by Alfie Gunter on Scribd

Fantastic Voyage - Final Film

@Phil FV - Art of Title Page

I made a start on my Art Of now that I have started rendering. This is going to be my title, but I wanted to also get some opinions before making a final decision.

FV - Bush and Bag Modelled AND Texture

FV - Carbon Structure Modelled and Textured

FV - Factory Modelled and Textured

FV - Leaf Cell Modelled and Textured