How does "Alice" influence "Snow?"

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

 

One of my academic sources that I am using for research on my Capstone is Broadview Press's second edition of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is one of my favorite children’s stories of all time. This timeless classic has inspired many fantasy tales for both children and adults. I am using this particular copy of “Alice” not only because of the fantasy elements in the story and how they might inspire me, but because there is a very interesting introduction that explains of the themes and subtext in the story, as well as the history of the book. In these passages, we also learn more about the structure and characters of "Alice" in both a Victorian and modern context.

I am thinking of how this story and characters is influencing my own story. As I read through the introduction, I take note of things and how they might apply to my characters.

One point mentioned is that Alice is interesting for both fitting into the orphan ingénue stereotype (a popular type of a character in Victorian children’s literature, and even today’s children literature, I would say) while simulateously defying it. Alice had parents, but in Wonderland she was alone.

I thought about this myself with the main character of my story, Snow. I wanted Snow to face many challenges in her life alone, forcing her to be courageous and strong, but I did not want to her to be cliché. “Alice” inspired me to make a compromise.

Snow, like Alice, is alone through a good portion of the book, overcoming a great many obstacles by herself, thus learning more about herself and summoning strength, courage and patience that help her grow and mature.

Snow’s parents are both mentioned in the book, but neither is interested in raising her. Her mother was a raging monster, her father is a disinterested, spoiled God-like character. Both exist in the story, but neither wants to take responsibility for her. She is raised by an adoptive father and friends throughout the story. However, through her adventures, there are periods where she is alone and must use her wits and good sense to guide her.

I also am interested in the descriptions of “Wonderland,” in how it may help me shape the world that I am creating. “Wonderland” is curious because…well, actually, it’s just curious period, but it’s curious because truly anything is possible and it does not follow a lot of the same structure common for books set in fantastical lands. It is not like many fantasy stories where there are certain races like elves, dwarves, etc. There are no big cities and towns like in Narnia or Oz. You have humans and animals interacting in a bizarre setting.  

I think perhaps my setting may be a bit more traditional. I have a world map drawn. There are cities and world conflicts. There are wars, depressions, people reference other parts of the world. There are races in my world. In Wonderland, generally a type of a character is seen only once (only one March Hare, only one Cheshire Cat, etc), but I am interested in playing with themes of racism in my story, so I have humans, beasts, Gods, wood-creatures, and “halfways” (in the story this is a derogatory term for anthropomorphic type creatures.)

A rough sketch of the world of "Snowfall"

Though I have already developed much of my story, it’s very interesting to read and learn more about this book that I have always adored and has helped shape how I write my children’s stories. It inspires me and this source has been helpful in influencing where my story goes.

The Virtual Revolution: Episode One

The first episode of "The Virtual Revolution" focuses on the history and impact of the Internet and the Web (which I learned are technically two different things; the Web is apparently the connections on the Internet.) The internet has become such an essential and important tool in our lives and there is only a small chunk of time in my life where I do not remember having it at all. I would say that I check the internet more than fifty times throughout the course of a day.

I think just examining the power of the internet in general is fascinating, so that is something I found interesting about this episode. Here you have something that is not run or own by any one person, has limitless possibilities and anyone, nearly anywhere can contribute or be a part of it in some way. From online shops to social media to Wikipedia, the internet has changed the way that the world connects, learns and communicates. Information is being shared like never before. It's really interesting to learn more about where this revolutionary thing came from and who is behind it. 

I was interested to learn that the internet had it's roots even farther back than I realized. I knew the computers had existed prior to the sixties, but it was really amazing to see the progression towards it's invention examined in this video and interviews people who had a hand in the creation of such a massive, world-changing invention. One of my favorite interview subjects was Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with creating the internet. There was a bit where he says that written onto his basic proposal for the idea of the internet by his boss was: "vague but exciting" just cracks me up. What a hilarious understatement in hindsight, considering what this little acorn of an idea would grow into.

The possibilities of the internet are just limitless and it's really something special that this man really threw this idea out there. He helped create it, but he doesn't own it. I think Stephen Fry said it best when he said that this sort of "idealism" should be "celebrated."

"Snowfall" - My Statement of Intent

Statement of Intent: Capstone Graphic Novel Project

For my Capstone, I will be creating a graphic novel. Monica Larson will be my director on this project. I am very interested in graphic novel to big screen adaptation (either live action or animation), so I would like to make a video of my illustrations with the character’s voices, sound effects and music added.

My graphic novel is “Snowfall.” The story centers around the fantastical and frightening adventures of a girl named Snow, the abandoned daughter of a fierce ice monster whose reign of terror has nearly brought the world they live in to its knees. When a powerful, but desperate politician learns of Snow’s existence, he sets after her to exploit powers he believes her to have. Snow is on the run now, encountering Gods, creatures, and new friends. Joined by Rigby, her goldfish, Strongheart, her guard dog and a rare bird named Bertie, Snow must overcome her fears, control her strengths and face her mother in a final battle that threatens to destroy them all.

"Snowfall" Character Concept Sketches

“Snowfall” has been taking shape over the last few years. The story deals with themes of family (particularly adoptive family), sacrifice, power/corruption and courage. I’m planning to work with Comic Life and draw the illustrations myself. In my final presentation of my work, I would like to also include concept sketches and a small “making of” type video elaborating more on the story, characters and how I put together the graphic novel, as well as a video featuring illustrations with voice, sound effects and music. I would edit the film in iMovie or After Effects.

This story is influenced strongly by dark fantasy films, such as “Return to Oz,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Never-Ending Story,” “The Fall,” and “Spirited Away” as well as classic fantasy tales like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Wizard of Oz” and Greek mythology. The story is also influenced by memories from my own childhood and life experiences. Though this story features a child as the main character and has elements of magic and whimsy, the story also has some very scary/adult elements in it. This book would probably be best suited young adults. Once I finish with this project, I would like to look into sending this off to be published (my fantasy would be for it to be adapted as an animated or live action movie.)  

Graveyard Analysis

I find After Effects to be a complex program and, as newcomer to this branch of film-making, I have found it challenging when working on of our projects so far. So when it comes to working on this project, I realistically see all aspects of this film (masking, rotoscoping, day to night, etc.) as being potentially difficult for me, but if there is going to be one thing that I think will be the most difficult, it will be the adding the green-screened zombie to the graveyard footage. 

I think that this scene would not only be technically difficult, but I am worried about getting the zombie footage to look natural against the graveyard footage, so it synchs up well together and giving the zombie enough room to move around in. I don’t want there to be a lack of space and my zombie’s arm just disappears off frame or goes through where a tree or a headstone is.   

When it came to storyboarding my project, I tried not to make the scene with the actual zombie too complex for me to work with, but there is a enough there to give it some visual interest.

One problem that I noticed with some of the footage and my storyboarding is that there is a lack of space for the character to move in. I will have to really work around that to make the footage of a character moving within the space seem natural. I will probably have to tinker around a bit and work on panning and zooming in on certain areas to make it seem as if there is more space.

However, if this is a problem that I really can’t work around, my storyboards can always be re-worked to accommodate my work. No reason to make it more difficult in this project.

All things considered, though, I am really interested in the horror genre so this type of project is right of my alley and with Halloween coming up, I look forward to working on this project.

Ray Harryhausen

Often artists, animators and filmmakers will reference their own body language and facial features when creating a character to make the movements more realistic, sophisticated and something that the audience will be more willing to buy into. Adding even small gestures and expressions can convey character and personality, which is especially vital to a character that has no dialogue, like, say, a dinosaur or a skeleton warrior or a six-armed octopus.

Ray Harryhausen, one of the greatest visual effects creators in film history, built his entire career (and legacy) on the understanding of what would bring fantasy and imagination to life on the big screen in the way that was real for the viewer.

Ray would throw himself into his work, often acting alongside actors and directing on set though the sequences he had already storyboarded and would be animating later. Directors often would disapprove of Ray working on set, unsure of why exactly he was there. Ray would work in place of where the monster would be and provide direction to the actors, who would be working with little more than a drawing and Ray’s direction.

Caroline Munro remembers working with Ray on the set of “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.”

“Working with Ray Harryhausen was the most amazing experience for me. I was a very unknown actress and had never worked with his stop motion animation. There was nothing to work with. Ray used to us these wonderful drawings that he’d done. He’d say, ‘Now this is what you’re going to be reacting to, but it’s not a drawing. It’s a real life huge, enormous creature.’”

Munro continued by adding that during one sequence where her character faced one of his fiecersome creatures, “His eye-line was a stick so he’d have this stick and on the end of this stick, he’d drawn this eye, which for me was the centaur’s eye and Ray would wield the eye.”

Martine Beswick, actress in "One Million Years BC" recalls an instance with Ray on set. “I remember one scene when these pterodactyls were coming over us, and we didn’t know this, we didn’t see this, but Ray got onto a flat bed truck and drove in front of us while we in our little wet, skimpy pieces of leather brandished our spears at these things.”

Harryhausen’s dedication to bringing his vision to life shows through not only in his work on his many models and drawings, but in his directing and acting. Ray’s gift for breathing life and character into creatures built his career and his legacy.

Week Two

As the last day of my second week at Motion Masters comes to a close, I want to reflect on the projects that I have been working on so far.

Monday was mostly office work. I worked on writing up the distances of possible shooting locations from each other so that I could map out which locations were closest together. This will make it easier to map out shooting days based on how close everything is. 

Tuesday was very busy. Motion Masters is working on an educational video about communication “”do’s and don’ts.” One of the segments involves what to do in a professional video chat. The location we traveled and filmed at was our talent’s house.

My coworkers, my fellow intern and I set up in the kitchen and filmed for several hours. On this shot, I got a chance to work primarily with the lighting equipment, which is something I don’t have as much experience with, so it was really a very rewarding feeling to feel that I knew what I was doing. 

On Wednesday, I pitched my idea for a company promo to promote Motion Masters. My idea takes a quote from the company’s website front page as inspiration. The website is very clear on the importance of story-telling to get your idea across. I connected the idea of clients telling stories to fairytale characters (stories of their own) coming in to “tell their stories” by pitching ideas to Diana Walko, our CEO. 

I sketched out several little storyboards the day before so that my coworkers could see what I meant when I described certain shots. While I wrote up a script, I know that visualization is very important and I like to draw out what I am thinking. Getting all of the ideas on paper in a sketched out form is just as important to me as writing it all down in script-form. 

Today’s shoot was at the Capitol Market in Charleston. I got a chance to work with the company’s Red camera today. This camera produces footage with a cinematic quality to it. We are shooting for a documentary about the state and some of the most beautiful places to visit here. The Capitol Market sells all sorts of flowers, trees and other greenery you could want as well as fruits and vegetables.

My coworkers and I set up the camera on the dolly and did quite a few tracking shots of the long rows of flowers and food. My fellow intern, Jillian, and I got to take turns pushing the dolly and focusing the camera. At one point, Jillian even climbed onto the dolly (which is not very large) and was focusing while our coworker pushed it.

I also handed out release forms to the people that were on camera, put away the camera and tripod, and helped set up the van.

This has been a very busy week at Motion Masters and I look forward to the projects that I will be working on in the coming weeks. 

A link to the Capitol City Market website: http://www.capitolmarket.net/

Motion Masters: Back Again!

“MotionMasters is your creative partner in telling tales in print and on film, video, the web, CD-ROM or DVD, and you’re in good company when you work with us. Hospitals, advertising agencies, tourism, higher education, financial institutions, government agencies and manufacturers…we’ve been showcasing our clients’ stories since our founding on Groundhog Day in 1987. See more at: http://motionmasters.com/#sthash.siB2WPWi.dpuf” 

On Monday I began my second summer of interning with Motion Masters, a video production firm in my home town of Charleston, WV. Because last summer was such a fun and educational experience, I was happy to return to work with them!

Motion Masters specializes in conceptualizing, creating and filming advertisments, documentaries, educational films and much more. I really enjoyed interacting with my coworkers and the assignments that I was given to work on.

I was taken on many shoots to film. Motion Masters creates commercials for the local theme park, Camden Park, and I was taken along to help in the production of a new commercial. The crew and I drove to the park and filmed our hired “family” to run around the park. We needed footage of the new attraction, “The Rattler,” and I was happy to take our new GoPro camera onto the ride and get POV shots of people riding the ride. I ended up in the final edit of the commercial, as well as on their facebook page with my fellow intern, Bennet: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152147442449022&set=vb.56846824021&type=2&theater

I also was on camera a few other times, when an extra was needed in an educational film. I was filmed typing and in other scene I was being “interviewed.” When I wasn’t on camera, I was behind the scenes, sitting in on editing, picking music tracks and sound effects for videos and helping out on more video shoots.

My favorite thing about working with Motion Masters last summer was that I was given my own big project and a lot of creative freedom! I was assigned to create a promo video for the firm. I spent weeks storyboarding, looking up props and costumes and auditioning dogs. Seriously! Here is the final product: http://motionmasters.com/unleash-your-creativity/

I was also director, writer, location scout for that project, as well sitting in on the editing process. It was such an exciting experience to work as a director. Working with the actors (human AND canine) was my favorite part and something I hope to do again.  

I am really looking forward to the projectst that I will be a part of this summer and I will write about my experiences this first week in my next blog post.

Check out the Motion Masters website here: http://motionmasters.com/

Motion Masters Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MotionMasters/56846824021