1. The character(Mei) was in an advanced Antarctic Research Station, which is comfortable.
2. Missing the supply and not having enough power require the group to hibernate.
3. When Mei woke up she found that she was the only survivor. Now she entered an unfamiliar situation.
4. Mei began to look for available resources. Which means she adapts to the new situation.
5. Mei discovered that a large amount of data accumulated in nine years， which can benefit countless people. So she hopes to pass the data out。
6. Mei used up all the electricity to build the tools to repair the signal tower. Her best friend, Snowball, used his battery to provide her with the final power.
7. Mei repaired the signal tower and successfully transmitted the data.
8. Mei stopped fearing the ice field and embarked on a journey away from Antarctica. Snowball was also charged by the solar charging panel and returned to her.
Mei is a typical dynamic round protagonist.
TIMELINE
1. Do research at the advanced Antarctic scientific research station.
2. She went into hibernation with the team members because she missed supplies
3. When Mei was awakened, she didn’t know her situation.
4. Mei found that the system collected far more data than expected.
5. Mei realized that he had hibernated for 9 years.
6. Mei tried to wake up his companions but they all had no vital signs.
7. Mei was very sad for a while.
8. But Mei hopes to pass on the data collected in 9 years.
9. Mei inspected various available supplies but found that the vehicles were all broken.
10. Mei hopes to repair the signal tower to receive outside information.
11. Mei began to build tools.
12. Mei’s experiment consumed the last power reserve of the base.
13. Mei’s partner ‘snowball’ provided him with the necessary power and completed the production.
14. Mei repaired the signal tower and received information from her organization.
15. Mei bid farewell to his dead teammates and left the base.
Before reading Gail Lathrop and David O. Sutton’s lecture, I have already watched the video about MISE-EN-SCENE on youtube, which has given me a basic understanding of MISE-EN-SCENE. And I also had a blog on the video(Click link for the blog).
Now that I have talked about it before, I will add the content that was not mentioned last time this time. Start form setting.
Setting
One method of setting control lies in the selection of natural or artificial locale. Lush green countryside or snowy forest suggest a storyline as well as the conflict that is very different from the Gothic cathedral, inner-city ghetto or sterile institution.
The set might represent exactly a particular place, or it might be deliberately constructed to include the possible, improbable or even impossible locale.
Whether selected or constructed, real or surreal, the setting functions variously to orient viewers, to contribute dramatic impact, and to add meaning to the film’s narrative.
Costume
The costume is an indispensable means of establishing authenticity.
The costume can serve to enhance the narrative, or story, for instance, by suggesting the social position of characters.
The costume can imply, too, the psychological disposition of characters.
The costume also can hint at character development in the film.
In addition to informing narrative through contribution to setting, character, and plot, clothing—as an aspect of mise-en-scene—functions also as a prop upon which the film’s unity may rest. For example, one of my favourite < Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them >.
Any portion of a costume may become a prop.
Figure Behavior
Like setting and costume, figure expression and movement are important elements of mise-en-scene used by the director to support the narrative as well as help develop the thematic unity of a film.
Figure expression refers to the facial expressions and the posture of an actor, whereas figure movement refers to all other actions of the actor, including gestures.
Two of the most important aspects of film study are the appropriateness of the expression of the actors and the control the director exhibits over the actor’s movements.
The viewer should always remember that the appropriateness or inappropriateness of a character’s behaviour should be judged in relation to the setting of the particular scene and the overall make-up of that particular character.
Lighting
To the film director, lighting is more than illumination that enables the viewer to see the action. Lighting, like the other aspects of mise-en-scene, is a tool used by the director to convey special meaning about a character or the narrative to the viewer.
Lighting can help define the setting of a scene or accentuate the behaviour of the figures in the film.
The quality of lighting in a scene can be achieved by manipulating the quality and the direction of the light. When the director manipulates the quality of the lighting or the relative intensity of the illumination, he can control the impact of the setting or the figure behaviour has on the viewer and can emphasize the intended central focus of the frame.
1. The setting contains a definite area of shadow. It would be easy for the director to create a feeling of suspense by having one of the figures in the film move into the shadows.
2. Two characters, one good and one evil, are portrayed in a scene in which the director has chosen to use soft lighting. In this scene, the director can send the viewer two messages about the relationship between good and evil in his film. By eliminating the crisp edges of shadow and light, the director may suggest that distinguishing between good and evil people is not an easy task in the view of the world presented in his film.
It is important to keep in mind that hard and soft are relative terms that designate two extreme conditions of illumination. Actually, most lighting arrangements are variations of hard or soft lighting.
There are five primary types of directional lighting and I have talked about them before in my blogs.
Summary
Though each element of mise-en-scene is combined with other elements to create a specific atmosphere in every film, studying elements of mise-en-scene separately helps the viewer understand the function of each particular element.
By focusing on the setting of a scene, the viewer can identify the exact importance of the time and place that he is shown so that he can think about the scene in relation to the proper historical or cultural context.
Costume, like setting, helps the viewer understand the action of a scene in relation to a larger context.
Concentrating on the behaviour of the figures helps the viewer to understand the personal motivation of the individual characters.
Lighting can intensify or subdue a setting, but regardless of its effect lighting is one more tool that the director uses to complete his cinematic statement.
By studying these elements as separate entities, the student of the film can begin to appreciate the artistry required in filmmaking.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1
Settings & Props: Lab equipment, Goggles, Fire extinguisher
Costume, Hair & Makeup: Students dress, Dusty hair, Dusty face
Facial Expressions & Body Language: No excessive expressions but shows characters well, Snap fingers，Reach out a hand, Vivid gestures during a conversation
Lighting and Colour: warm light, frontal lighting from the fire, backlighting for characters’ edges.
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame: Medium shots
What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene?: Explain the relationship between people and tell the stories.
Research Activity 2
A couple lying in bed desperately.
The different colours of the costumes of the characters express the different personalities of the characters.
Two characters side by side in the centre of the screen.
Research Activity 3
Rebecca (1940)
MR. De Winter
Mrs De Winter
Mrs Van Hopper
Mrs Danvers
Black and white costume
Cramped Mrs. De Winter
I watched <Rebecca> (1940) for 50 minutes from the beginning.
The story starts with Mrs De Winter and MR. De Winter’s first meeting in front of the sea. And Mrs De Winter moved to Manderley.
relationship between the characters?
MR. De Winter and Mrs De Winter are husband and wife. (Figure Behavior: The behaviour of the two shows that they are very close.)
Mrs Van Hopper and Mrs De Winter were an employment relationship. (Mrs De Winter has been following Mrs Van Hopper to show their employment relationship.)
Mrs Danvers and Mrs De Winter are a hostile relationship. (The black and white costumes of the two highlight the opposition of the two characters.)
By the way my favourite lines: He travels fastest who travels alone.
Research Activity 2
Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture?
A girl wearing a red headscarf is in the centre of the crowd and the picture.
What type of shot is it?
Medium shot
What is the camera angle?
Low angle shot
Where is the character located in the frame?
Mid
What is she wearing?
High saturation costume
What is the depth-of-field?
The focus is on the little girl.
Describe the colour palette?
The whole picture is low saturation except for the girl’s headscarf.
Especially in Disney’s animation, hands play a critical role when expressing actors’ characters. The big white groves are the unplaceable secondary action.
Stance and body language
Body language is one of the primary methods for natives. When the character feels confident, they will raise their chest exaggeratedly. Like pets in people’s houses, they do not judge people’s order by people’s words but people’s body language and tone.
Spine and fluidity
The streamlined Spine and fluidity make the character look not strange and make actions look more smooth.
Animation and Documentary
It is my first time to hear an animated documentary.
Neighbors (1952 film)
The first time I saw this animation, I thought about the First World War. The development of capitalism caused competition for resources.
Q: What do you consider to constitute an animated documentary? What do the words ‘animated’ and ‘documentary’ conjure up for you?
A: The most critical thing in a documentary is the facts and the objective statement that the accurate information of reality does not favour any party.
TAXONOMY OF ANIMATED DOCUMENTARY
It has been recorded or created frame by frame.
It is about the world rather than a world wholly imagined by its creator.
It has been presented as a documentary by its producers and received by audiences, festivals, or critics.
The Sinking of the Lusitania (Winsor McCay 1918)
The sinking of the Lusitania was a shocking event, but there was a lack of recorded footage of the incident. This makes people wonder whether the future animated documentary is credible.
More and more animations are used to present scenes that do not exist.
Q: What are the implications of the use of animation as a representational strategy in documentary
A: Realize or convey information more vividly.
Q: What and how is the animation representing?
A: Compared with traditional documentaries, an animated documentary can expand the viewing and interestingness of the film.
Q: How and why is animation being used instead of the conventional alternative?
A: Missing image data or expanding the audience.
‘Animation, in part through its material differences from the live-action film, shifts and broadens the limits of what and how we can show about reality by offering new or alternative ways of seeing the world. It can present the conventional subject matter of documentary (the ‘world out there’ of observable events) in non-conventional subjective, conscious experience – subject matters traditionally outside of the documentary purview’ (Annabelle Honess Roe, 2013: 1)
Q: Do you think that animation is an acceptable mode of representation for a documentary? Why?
A: Of course, An animated documentary can be a form of documentary. In this incredible era of VFX, any video material can be fake. Yesterday, I also saw a dance video of Cai Ing-wen, the mayor of Taiwan City in Fujian Province, China. So it is useless or no need to worry about the authenticity of an animated documentary.
Q: Do you think that all non-fiction work that contains animation can be considered to be an animated documentary? Why/Why not?
A: Not all moving image texts that use animation can be considered to be animated documentaries, even if they are ostensibly documentaries. The animation and documentary should cohere into a single form ‘in which the animation works to enhance our knowledge of an aspect of the world and to the extent that the separation of the animation from the documentary is either impossible or would render the inherent meaning; of the film incomprehensible.’
Q: Could an animated documentary potentially detract from the seriousness of the situation?
A: Even the bloodiest movie scenes cannot restore the cruelty of war. Animated documentaries will undoubtedly be less severe in content.
Q: There is a historical attitude that animation is for children and is not suited to grow up material? How far do you agree/disagree with this?
A: Compared with traditional film and television works, the animation only has a broader audience.
POLITICS AND PERSUASION IN ENTERTAINMENT
Broadly we can influence or persuade audiences in the following areas:
SOCIAL MEDIA
BROADCAST NEWS AND EVENTS
FILM AND ANIMATION
TELEVISION
Media platforms that have the potential to influence or persuade an audience
BROADCASTS
PRINT MEDIA
MAINSTREAM FILM AND ANIMATION
INDEPENDENT FILM AND ANIMATION
GAMES
PODCASTS
SOCIAL MEDIA/INTERNET PROFILE
How are messages in moving images used?
Subliminal or masked content
Overt/Propagandist intentions
Persuasive/commercial targets
Documentary/Investigative
Independent/Personal struggle, observation or experience
Under the topic of politics in film and media, the key areas include.
Hanzo noticed the assassin and frowned clearly before opening my eyes. It is not only anticipation for the coming dialogue, but also show he has already predicted the assassin coming.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji emerged from the darkness
Green lights light up at first, then looked up. Here is a staging that makes audiences’ focus from Genji’s prosthetic to his face.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji landed from the air
Genji’s landing does not follow the principles that Squash and Stretch, which shows his strengthened body’s difference and his strong combat skills.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
A Medium shot on Genji’s action
What an excellent understanding and applying for Arcs! Genjiji’s whole body seems to be drawing circles. Pay attention to Genji’s left hand which is relaxing. This is a Secondary Action which is telling the character’s condition.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Switch focus
Changing the focus from Genji to Hanzo, which can be the anticipation for Hanzo’s next action. [Tips form Design for animation, narrative structure and film language]
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Hanzo start attacking
Great timing! The different speeds between reaching the bow and arching show Hanzo’s anger and the same superb fighting skills. What is more, reaching the bow is also anticipation for the coming fighting.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji take out darts
Genji’s hand shook before taking out darts. One more anticipation!
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji is dodging Hanzo’s attack
This series of dodges is wonderful. The contract between Genji’s arcuate arks and the arrows’ straight arks make Genji’s move with skill and ease.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji is putting the sword back into the scabbard
Genji put back the sword after he landed on the ground instead of putting back the sword and landing at the same time. Well done on staging.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji’s movement
Slow In and Out. Although Genji moves really fast, his movement still follows the Principles.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Hanzo is arching
Hanzo raised his arm and breathed to build energy for arching. This shows how much power he put on this shot. After releasing the arrow his arm was dragged by the power he used for arching.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Genji’s rush
Genji’s scarf was dragged by his movement. The scarf was almost straight, which shows Genji’s speed was incredibly fast.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Comparison of the speed of the Henzo and Genji
Obviously, Genji has fewer frames than Hanzo, which means Genji is faster than Hanzo.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
Stretch
Stretch can also be used even in a realistic animation.
—————–split line (ง •_•)ง—————–
This short animation is one of my favourites. It carries the memories and passion in the summer of 2016. The first time I watched this animation, I was completely attracted by the actions of Genji and Hanzo. But after finishing and understanding the 12 Principles of Animation, I discovered that the animators used countless details to build such a fantastic animation.
Since the animation “Steamboat Willie” was created and became a big success, Disney gradually completed its aesthetic, industrially, technologically, and commercial rule of the animation industry. Until today, Disney seems to have become the creator of the animation specification, sought after and imitated by countless animators. But just like filming, the film should not be bound by rules.
Compared with films, animation is much less innovative. Disney animated film pushes the 12 rules of animation to the pinnacle. But the 12 rules are just 12 guidelines for animation production. Although the rule of 12 still applies to 3D animation, 12 rules came from 2D animation.
The early 2D animations were all hand-drawn frame by frame animations by animators, which made it impossible for animated characters to have details such as beautiful clothes or accessories because every additional detail meant a lot of work. Animators often have to repeat the same props tens of thousands of times. Talented Disney animation designers used Exaggeration, Secondary Action, Anticipation and other methods to enrich the characters lacking details and proved their effectiveness.
The emergence of CGI seems to have turned the animation industry into a turning point. However, it is a pity that early computers still could not carry too many complicated props, so animators used the same method to enrich characters that lacked details. But while Moore’s Law is driving the development of computers, the animation style dominated by Disney seems to have never seen a significant change. Although Disney’s animation has made great progress in the character’s skin, hair, and textures, after more than 20 years, Disney’s animation works still inherit the same character design style. Countless princesses from Disney animated movies seem to inherit similar facial features but skin colour. Compared with Disney’s effort on the plot, their changes to the scene and character design appear too conservative.
ALBERT MIELGO is one of the animators I like and admire. He directed and produced the promotional videos watchdog London, <witness> in Love, Death & Robots (2019), and served as art director and special effects director in <harry potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1> (2010) and <Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse> (2018).
Albert does not follow Disney’s aesthetically, industrially, technologically, and commercially. He rarely uses Anticipation in “witness” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”. The extent of Exaggeration is also far less than Disney. Each character has a rich, detailed appearance, even deliberately adding invalid details to balance the picture. Secondary Action is also very unobvious. People’s actions are closer to reality.
Advanced computers allow Albert to use exquisite props, gorgeous costumes, and magnificent scenes to enrich frames without sticking to the characters’ Exaggeration, Secondary Action, Anticipation, and other rules.
The epic picture can also earn the audience’s appreciation and applause.
One of Albert’s tricks is to insert exaggerated 2D hand-drawn frames between the original consecutive frames (these hand-drawn frames may even from the storyboard) to express the character’s personality or emphasize the character’s state.
The animations are close to reality but have their styles.
The scene uses a lot of 2d hand-drawn instead of 3d models.
The character uses simple materials to highlight the hand-painted texture of the actors and actresses. (No strong Hight and Normal textures)
Albert also likes to play some tricks on the edges of characters or set dressing. For example, use different lines to outline these edges to protruding the role or set dressing.
In addition to Albert, many other animators or studios are walking in a different way from Disney. In fact, Disney only dominates the big screen. Excellent commercial animation studios such as Axis Studio in the United Kingdom, Unlisted Studio in Australia, and Elastic Studio in the United States have not imitated by Disney and paid more attention to the picture.
From 1891 to 2021, the changes in the frame of the film are surprisingly massive, and here is only a short period of 130 years.
Changes between the crowds (less than 24fps) and the rain of bullets (120fps). The evolution from 720p to 4K or 8K. These are enough to make me lament the growth of the film.
The first objective element that drives the progress of movies is the rapid development of science and technology, just like the shock to the audience when the film first appeared.
What is more, the colour film shocking the audience and brought more vitality to the film industry. VFX came into being, bringing unlimited possibilities for film and television.
Thanks to Moore’s Law, the iteration of computers is far beyond human imagination. Compare the first 75-second fluid special effects to the enormous waves in the science fiction movies being played in theatres today. There is a billion times the number of polygons between the two films. Computers can carry more and more polygons and textures, and the gradual popularization of devices such as VR and AR makes modern graphics technology gradually approach reality. The visual effects of high-budget movies are approaching the limit that the human senses can accept.
Before there is another breakthrough in sensing technology, another factor that promotes the film industry-people will play a role. Imagine the era when all photographers used cameras to record crowds and trains, but some people thought of using close-ups to record a winkle! Words such as genius, artist, fantasy, drama, etc., belong to a human, not AI created by data and algorithms. Because AI works can never jump out of existing databases, humans are creating all the time. More than 3 million films, either beautiful or simple, have been made in just over a hundred years. Various film types are gradually taking shape, and film has become an enormous industry, which people have talked about for a hundred years.
Like many literary forms, movies are no longer popular and fashionable but are a culture every country attaches importance to. The predecessors of the film industry summarized and demonstrated numerous shooting tricks. These experiences in lens, scene, editing cannot be obtained by digesting the records in two nights. I may use my future career to apply and experience.
The difference between animation and VFX is not that big. I think animation is much more than the Disney movies shown on the big screen in cinema. You can see the application of animation and VFX in commercials, games, and applications. The essence of animation and VFX are movable polygons or particles. Excellent materials and the work of animators have made the boundaries of film, animation, and VFX more and more blurred. (But I did not consider stylized animation and experimental animation.)
But the film seems to be just entertainment, but a film is also a form of art. The film gives people inspiration and inspiration. Just like the hammer in the hands of Michelangelo and the paintbrush in the hands of Leonardo in the Renaissance, it releases and enhances people’s thoughts. Therefore, whether it is film or animation, it is one of the members that promote the progress of civilization.
These superficial understandings were written at the beginning of my MA.
