Friday 28 April 2017

@Phil: Fantastic Voyage: Pre-Viz Current Progress


A lot of this isn't exactly where I want it yet, but I think I have pre-vized everything I want in 3D. Just thought I would see what you thought. 

Sunday 16 April 2017

Fantastic Voyage: DNA Pre-Viz

Fantastic Voyage: Red Cell - Flat Planes - Pre-Viz

Fantastic Voyage: Voiceover - UN EDITED

Review: E.T by Stephen Spielburg (1982)

Figure 1
E.T is a sci-fi/thriller directed by Stephen Spielburg in 1982. The film is quite a personal one, relating to Spielburg's own upbringing and his parent's divorce. The film follows a boy named Elliot, who is a child from a family of divorce, who ends up caring for an alien named E.T after discovering it in his garden. E.T gets stranded on Earth and is desperate to find his way back home. It follows two characters that seem to be missing the comfort of family and support, therefore helping each other throughout many different obstacles.

''With its small cast and domestic setting, “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” practically seems like an independent feature, particularly in comparison to Steven Spielberg’s two previous films'' (Gibson, undated). Its use of special effects is in no way similar to his other film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' as it is not as sophisticated for its time as that film was. E.T focuses more on the use of puppets and costume more than special effects as the puppet used for E.T was extremely well made for its time. Furthermore, the film never leaves the suburban location in which it begins, focusing most of the action within Elliot's small bedroom.

The use of camera angles allows the audience to see things not only from the children's perspective but also E.T's. ''Elliot and E.T.’s flight through the air on Elliot’s bicycle, which would go on to become one of the most iconic film sequences of the last forty years, possess a sense of innocent wonder'' (Gibson, undated). This use of the children's POV could be a way of getting the audience to connect once again with their own childhood, and by doing this it allows the audience to feel nostalgia and to connect further with the characters. Furthermore, throughout the film, most of the adults are only presented from the waist down or masked with protective suits, creating a sense of mystery and unease as these characters feel like a threat to the younger characters withing the film. Whereas, later in the film, we are finally allowed to see these characters in full, allowing Spielberg to then show hints to the audience that these adults are not actually 'the bad guys'. 

Figure 2
This presentation of characters throughout E.T is one that is very much connected to the directors own childhood experience.“The latter film was inspired by the night Spielberg's father showed him a meteor shower; E.T.-by contrast, is informed by the desolation felt when his parents divorced and his dad exited the family home. He was 17 at the time, yet there is the occasional inference that, when dad left, he took the last vestiges of childhood wonder with him.'' (John Harris, 2016). Furthermore, subtle imagery within the film is used to create feelings to the audience, as his uncomfortable experience is projected onto the early dinner scene, where the table is traingular and everything seems a little off. Therefore, creating a sense of unease. 

There is even further connections to the directors own childhood, even in the final stages of the film when we witness the death of E.T. ''The ordeal sequence usually has 'the image of death' and here we see E.T's death literally on screen. When Elliot says ''you must be dead because I don't know how to feel,'' it shows how he now has to learn to stand on his own feet. This very realisation signals Elliot's transformation and thus we have the end of Act 2. At this point a story ALWAYS turns from hopeless to hopeful. In a way this story is a coming of age for Elliot; he has to cope with the abandonment of a friend.'' (Trendall, 2011). 

Figure 3
E.T builds a bridge between what the audience would consider aliens to be and our imaginations, bringing a huge re-imagining of a subject touched on many times before. The film brings together the audiences emotions and their connections with some subjects throughout the film and has gone on to influence many other productions, such as Stranger Things. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gibson, D. (2017). E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. 1st ed. [ebook] pp.1-2. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/ET.pdf [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].

Harris, John (2016), ‘EMPIRE ESSAY: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial Review’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/empire-essay-et-extra-terrestrial-2/review/ [Accessed Date: 13/04/2017]

Segers, K. and Trundell, D. (2017). Structure: E.T. - The Story Department. [online] The Story Department. Available at: https://thestorydepartment.com/screenwriting-structure-e-t/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].

ILLUSTRATIONS:

Patches, M. (2017). 'E.T.' 30th Anniversary: The Sequel That Never Was and Three Decades of Cameos. [online] Hollywood.com. Available at: http://www.hollywood.com/movies/e-t-30th-anniversary-the-sequel-that-never-was-and-three-decades-of-cameos-57235884/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].


Tobias, S. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Vulture.com. Available at: http://www.vulture.com/2016/07/stranger-things-film-reference-glossary.html [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].
Users.wfu.edu. (2017). E.T.. [online] Available at: http://users.wfu.edu/huanj13/bio.html [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].

Tuesday 4 April 2017

Fantastic Voyage: Chemotherapy - Pre-Viz Model

Fantastic Voyage: Chromosome - Pre Viz Model


Fantastic Voyage: Red Cell - Pre-Viz with Text

Fantastic Voyage: Red Cell - Playbast

Red Cell Pre-Viz from Polly Gwinnett on Vimeo.

Fantastic Voyage: Pre-Viz Model - The Green Section




Fantastic Voyage: Pre-Viz Environments - The Red Section (WIP)




Fantastic Voyage: Pre-Viz Model - Human