Coraline

I rewatched Coraline for about the 50th time on the plane to Japan last month. I love this film because I am a big fan of spooky things and I think its such a good example of this and how animation doesn't just have to be really childish and light hearted themes. There's no other animation like it that creates such a suspenseful and creepy atmosphere and that has such an interesting storyline. I also love that the film is stop motion, I think it really backs up the stories ominous story line because it can look so creepy, especially the way the characters move and I think the film would have lost alot of its charm if they had done it in 2D or 3D. I am a fan of Neil Gaiman's books because of the amount of imagination and creativity that goes into his stories and this depiction of this story suited it perfectly. I think its a perfect example of how both adults and children can enjoy animation. I love stories with hidden mysteries and different dimensions so Coraline is really one of my favourites. I also think the moral in the story is great, and I love how they presented Coralines desires when she gets to her 'perfect' dimension but how things slowly start to take a darker turn.

Tokyo- Day 3

On our third day in Tokyo we got to visit the Studio Ghibli museum. I am a big fan of Ghibli, and was really excited to see what the museum would be like inside. When we got there, it certainly didnt let us down. The museum was so magical, it was almost like you were in a Ghibli film. It was bright and colourful and had such a charm to it, with little arched doorways and spiral stair cases, every bit of interior design had been elaborately thought out and it made the experience so magical. Although photographs werent allowed, i managed to get a few sneaky ones.

A Sneaky photo of one of the windows in the bathroom

A photo i found online of the zoetrope

My favourite room in the studio ghibli museum, that i WISH I could have taken photos in, was one were they tried to replicate a ghibli animators work space. The room was covered in sketches, concept art and designs for various Ghibli titles, and it was so inspiring and beautiful to look at. I could have stayed in that room for hours. There was also a big open plan room that had an amazing zoetrope device that spun mega fast so that the figurines spinning looked like they were moving. We must havee sat and watched this for about half an hour, it was so enchanting to look at. Another favourite room of mine was one that had a life size version of the catbus, covered in fluff and it was SO squishy. 

After we left the Studio Ghibli museum, we made our way on the metro to Harajuku. This was one of the places i was most excited about visiting, and it didnt disappoint. It was filled with cute fashion and food and had such a buzzing atmosphere. We did most of our shopping here, and also got a glimpse into what its like to be a japanese teenager, seeing a Jpop boy band perform in a shoppig centre to their adoring fans. It was so different to anything we have here it was quite a culture shock. 

I think I would have needed at least a fortnight in Japan to truely do all the things i wanted to do, but in the three days we were there we managed to do so much stuff it felt like longer than it was. I definitely want to visit Japan again, its probably my favourite place ive ever been to. Who knows, maybe one day I could have the chance to live there. 

Tokyo 2017- Day 2

On day two of our trip to Tokyo, we visited the Tokyo Metropolitan government building, which was right beside our hotel, and gave an amazing view over all of Tokyo. It was such a clear day you could see all the way to Mount Fuji. I was totally amazed at how massive Tokyo actually was, coming from a tiny town in Ireland. After this we visited the park that was joined to the building, and sat on some blobs. Then we visited a little flea market thing, and bought many cheap and cute plushies.

Tokyo is big

Later in the day,we visited Tokyo Disneyland. Once more, Ally came to our rescue to navigate our way through the metro, and a few stops later we were there. We only had a few hours in the park, but it was long enough to go on a few rides. I was reminded of how creepy 'Its a Small World' was and also got to go on Space Mountain for the first time, whcih I loved. The atmosphere at Disneyland is always so amazing, and you go there with nothing to do but have fun, so it really does feel like the happiest place on earth. I don't think my happiness level will ever rise above the level it was that day again.

Tokyo 2017- Day 1

A photo of me with my beloved vending machines

Visiting Japan has always been a dream of mine since my weeaboo stage, where i would literally submerge myself in japanese culture and try to read and watch everything i could get my hands on to learn more about the country. Obviously when I heard there was going to be a trip to Japan, I swore it would be my christmas present for the next 5 years if my parents would let me go. I could hardly believe I was actually going until we landed at Narita airport, nearly 24 hours after we first set off from Leeds. The thing that I was really excited about first (sadly), were the vending machines. They were amazing. They had cold AND hot drinks. I want to move to Japan just for the vending machines. I already loved Japan and I'd only seen the airport.

The Golden Gai 

After we got to the hotel, we roamed around Shinjuku for a bit. At this point I think I was in a dream like state due to lack of sleep. Evertyhing was so...Japanese...and cute. We visited the Golden Gai, a series of tiny little streets filled with bars that could fit only about 7 people in total, and decided to come back here later for a 'sesh.'
Later in the evening, after a much needed shower, 4 of us had booked a slot at a hedgehog cafe in Roppongi, which involved navigating the (terrifying) metro. Fortunately we had Ally on our side, who is from London and therefore good with train stuff. Once we got to the hedgehod cafe and I had been given my hedgehog, I wasnt really sure what to do.Then my hedgehog bit me and I wished I'd gone to the bunny cafe upstairs instead. I'll never trust a hedgehog again.

The Bokey Bits

We returned to Shinjuku after my traumatising hedgehog experience, and decided it was time for the sesh to begin. We found a bar that didn't require a cover charge to sit in, because we are cheap, and had a few sake, talking to our new friend and bar tender, Abe- Chan. He let us draw ourselves and sign his wall, and then recommended us a few clubs  we could go to in Shinjuku. The rest of the night was....interesting....we made a few new Japanese friends, and Australian friends....and then got a wee bit lost on the way home. But it was still probably the best night out of my life, and we got to bed eventually, where I passed out immediately.

Moana

I wasn't too excited about Moana being released, especially because i was just expecting another fad like Frozen, which I wasn't a fan of at all. When I actually got around to watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. My favourite aspect of the film was definitely the visuals, particularly the backgrounds. After watching the Making of Moana on youtube and seeing how much work went into the tiny details like clay modelling the mountains in the backgrounds and then scanning them and colouring them. One of the most beautiful visuals in the film has to be the water, and as it was such an intrinsic part of the story the animation team at Disney came up with a new water solver technology called APIC, combining naturalistic effects with performance in which data sets were allocated more efficiently. They dubbed the toolset Splash. You can really see how much better Moana looks than Frozen, Tangled etc. 



Another thing I loved about Moana was the musical side of the film. Disney always seems to manage to produce great songs regardless of the story. One of the things that annoyed me in the film was that Moana has the exact same personality as every other Disney princess; I can barely differentiate between her, Rapunzel, and Anna from frozen. This is more of a 'Disney flaw rather than the story but I would like to see a heroine with a bit of a variation in personality.

Inside Out

I finally got around to watching Inside Out last night. I was actually really pleasantly surprised by this movie because I thought it was going to be alot more childish than it actually was. I loved how creative the story was, especially all the different parts of the mind and how Pixar chose to represent it, like how there was a literal train of thought, or an imagination land, and how each memory was either stored or forgotten. The film also made a great use of humour while at the same time being quite poignant, for example the Sadness character and the way she was used as a metaphor to explain that in order to find Joy there needs to be some sadness. The movie was obviously really carefully thought out as to how the different emotions affected the main character, Riley, as she went through a difficult time in her life, and I loved the two different perspectives in the film, jumping between the real world and Riley's mind, so you can see exactly how different things in life affected her emotionally. I also loved how they showed that everyone has the same emotions and how they humanised the emotions....by giving them emotions....and that not every one is perfect. For example, Riley got angry, scared and disgusted, all the most negative emotions, alot in the film, and you could see her act on these emotions in a way that was much more human than a lot of other characters in Disney films; Disney princesses are rarely presented with any human flaws and generally always have the same 'perfect' and lovable characters.

Disseminate presentations

On friday we carried out our disseminate presentations for personal professional practice. I have been fretting about this presentation basically since we first were briefed on it as I find presentations really daunting to do. I decided to do my presentation on the Bioshock games. This series is one of my favourites and I thought it was a really good example of how environmental storytelling can be used in order to make an imaginary place have so much depth and atmosphere that it begins to feel real. I also have an interest in concept art and this game is a great example of that too.
Bioshock Infinite, the third game in the series, is set in an alternate dimension in a floating city in the sky called Columbia, based around 1912 and inspired by the 1893 Chicago's World Fairs 'White City.' I love this environment because it is so vibrant and immersive and the attention to detail is immense. You get a real feeling that there was life in the city before you arrived here and that it actually functioned, which makes the story even richer and more immersive. However, there is also a sense of uneasiness in the city; everything is so perfect it almost becomes uncanny and uncomfortable. It is meant to be a city of American religious and political ideals, but as time goes on you begin to realise things are far from perfect, with the main themes being racial segregation, elitism and patriotism. All of this is reflected really cleverly by the environments in the game.

I also talked about Columbias sister city, Rapture, from Bioshock 1 and 2 in my presentation. The polar opposite to Columbia, Rapture is set in the depths of the ocean and has architecture based on the Art Deco style of the 1940s. The city is both retro and futuristic at the same time as well as opulent, but run down. This combines to make you feel very isolated when you play the game and can even get a bit claustrophobic because the environment is so well planned. It is intimidating and makes us feel vulnerable. 

I love how both Columbia and Rapture were meant to be utopian cities but have become corrupt and how that is reflected in the games environments.

Rapture's design was inspired by Hugh Ferris's perspective drawings of New York. You can see buildings in the game inspired by the Chrysler building, the Empire State and the Rockefeller Centre. 

 Overall I am really pleased with how my presentation went, usually I would have been visibly alot more nervous but I think the preparation I took this time and how much I like these games made it alot more manageable. 

Fraser Mclean talk

Today we had a presentation from a professional who has worked on lots of great films such as Wh Framed Roger Rabbit, Tarzan and Space Jam. He explained how he got into such prestigious companies and I found the talk really inspiring. He told us how drawings he had done when he was younger which were almost hyper realistic helped him get into Disney. I found this inspiring and it made me really want to draw more, because I have quite a realistic style and have never been very good at drawing from my memory, which I thought would be essential to be good at drawing in a cartoon-like style. I also was amazed at how much effort he described that went into these films; for example, he told us how he and a team of others were in charge of the shading on a single background character in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, who was on screen for about 4 seconds in total.
 He also explained how 3D was used in Tarzan which was so hard to get my head around because I didnt think there was a way to merge 3D and 2D. However, I watched Tarzan shortly after the talk and I really noticed all the times 3D was used to enhance the film and how much depth it added. There are many times in the film where you can see the effect 3D has on the movie but I think one of my favourites is at the end of the 'Son of Man' song where Tarzan is sliding and swinging through the trees. The camera moves to get the perfect angles and it looks really special.