Final project

Research

Illustrate a novel

The novel I decided to research is “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray –interpretation of the book

 The story takes place in England, in 1890, in an environment of local high society. Young Dorian, who is just entering the world of social gatherings, is portrayed by the artist Basil Hallward, who is infatuated with an incredibly handsome and perfect face of a young man. The entire elite, in which the boy begins to surrounded yourself is fascinated by emanating from him innocence, purity and almost angelic kindness. He, who brings Dorian on the path of evil and perdition is Lord Henry Wotton. It is a very popular figure among the elite of London, known for its sharp tongue, pointy and blunt cynicism and defeatism. The charismatic and strong Henry’s personality, have a huge influence on the inexperienced young man. Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of youth and beauty. Worried about what Lord Henry said , Dorian unconsciously curses his portrait to bear the burden of age, allowing him to stay forever young. However he finds that the work of Basil brush has other “magic properties”  as well. He notes that the portrait is also a reflection of his emotions and behaviour, that became his conscience. When, he meets a young actress, Sibyl Vane in a theatre in London slums, he falls in love with her, and she with him. However, once he and Sybil are engaged, her passionate love for Dorian makes her talent disappear as none of her roles on stage seem important to her anymore. This destroys Dorian's love for her, as it turns out  that when he promised her undying affection he, saw it only in an expression of perfection of art so he brutally dumps her. When she is rejected, she commits suicide and Dorian’s portrait revels first changes. From that point, Dorian becomes gradually under the influence of slogans proclaimed by Harry and books that he recommends, more and more spoiled, but this is only visible in the image, which had been hidden by him, as great changes have taken place on it. Begins to lead a nightlife premises with the worst scum of London's margin. People are starting to avoid him, because even though the facade remained intact, his behaviour and aura were very repulsive. Finally, Dorian, who lived for many years with the appearance of 20-year-old, falls first murdering his friend Basil - stubbing him with a knife, and then shooting the brother of Sibyl. Attempting to live with the good girl in the countryside and doing good, he fails. Tired with ugliness of his own soul, he pierces the portrait with a knife. The painting restores the beauty, and Dorian himself becomes a ugly, rotten corpse.

Different pathways, themes in the book:

Dorian Gray:

- At the beginning Dorian is a sensitive, handsome and open hearted young man, but with time he changes into a pleasure-seeker and becomes vain. I think it happens like this not only because of the bad influence, but Dorian himself, as he quickly and thoughtlessly gave up his soul and even after he knew that he changes to the worst, still kept doing bad things as it was easier then facing the truth, facing the life. 
- His spiritual figure illustrates the portrait, which imprint traces of his behaviour and feelings. At the end, his face is turned into a sneer, smiling old man.
- Throughout the book it seems Dorian doesn't have a conscience, but I believe his conscience was the portrait. That is why he kept the painting in a locked room not only to hide it from people but to hide it from himself as well, so it would not remind him of the person he became and the bad things he did. 
- At the end of the book he breaks anyway as he realizes that beautiful things looks nicely only from the outside, and although his faced looked young his soul was tired, bruised and ugly. 

Lord Henry

- He is selfish and hedonistic aristocrat who cares only about his own pleasure
- In a seductive and confident way he leads conversations and feed Dorian's brain with his theories and life guidelines 
- He creates and developed Dorian's personality, their friendship is like a science experiment for him
- Rather, he does not practice his own philosophy in his life. He is more of a talker then a doer.
- He uses other people to test his theories 
- He doesn't evolve throughout the book, his character doesn't change


Youth and Beauty

- youth and physical attractiveness as highly valuable
- escaping from your conscious and emotional attachments by devoting yourself to the study of beautiful things
- loosing connection with people and the word, and becoming soulless 
- referring to today's world: devoting a lot of money and time to stay young and attractive (plastic surgery, make-up, jewellery, clothing), spending too much time on the Internet and "online" rather than in a real word, makes people less empathic and not able to connect with others, which makes people less compassionate and more soulless

The purpose of Art

"The purpose of art is to have no purpose." In Oscar Wilde's time people believed that art could be used as a tool for moral enlightenment and educational purposes, but Wilde believed the art should be free from that responsibility. That is why in his book, one of the characters, Lord Henry shares his philosophy about art being only display for its beauty not for any other reason.  Also, throughout the book we learn that art is not only good and educational but also brutal and destructive. 

Basil Hallward

- He is a painter, author of the portrait of Dorian. He loves Dorian and his love for him changes the way he sees art. He sees the evil that takes his young friend and tries to protect Dorian from the influence of Lord Henry and explain him the risk he takes. He discovers a secret about the portrait he created, for which he is murdered by Gray.
- He is a sensitive person and he is infatuated in Dorian, he tries to see the best in him, but his love to him also let him see the things, Dorian couldn't see and be able to recognize the evil. 

Influence

In the book we can also see Lord Henry's profound influence on Dorian. He awakens in him the fear of passing. He also seduces him in a way that let him control Dorian's mind. Already, at the beginning Lord Henry senses sensitive and susceptible to changes soul of Dorian and he use it for his own purposes. The Yellow book given by Lord Henry also influences him a lot as he use it as a life guide and bases his life on it. I believe the book is a symbol of a kind of art that represents damaging influence and it also warn you to not surrender yourself to such an influence. 
In today's world we are surrounded by many objects and mediums that can easily influence us and it is important to always research stuff on your own, not being credulous and believe in yourself.

Metaphors, Allusions:

-          “What the worm was to the corpse,

          His sins would be to the painted

           Image on the canvas”           - worms slowly degrade corpses, with each Dorian’s sin we can see his visual appearance and expression slowly  get worst so the metaphor is portraying the slowly perishing beauty of the portrait.

-         “..crushing the flower in his hand...:  - flower symbolize Dorian’s internal beauty, it has been crushed because of degradation of his soul and it means the end of his internal beauty

-         “What the invention of the oil-painting

Was to the Venetians, the face of Antinous was to late Greek sculpture,

And the face of Dorian Gray will

Someday be to me”   -  In Greek mythology, Antinous was favoured by the Roman emperor, the sculpture of him was made to represent his extreme beauty. Basil compares Dorian to Antinous because he want to demonstrate Dorian’s beauty and importance to him.

-          Doppelganger – it is Dorian’s  second, hidden self that serves as a metaphor for the state of his conscience.

-          Polished leaves” ; “The sky above was like a faded rose”; “The curves of her throat were the curves of a while lily. “; “The sky hollowed itself into a perfect pearl”; “ a white-smocked carter offered him some cherries” ; “ a long line of boys carrying crates of striped tulips, and of yellow and red roses  - provides people with the features and qualities of nature, for example trees or flowers.

-          The Yellow Book – represent the poisonous influence, evil guide book

Famous quotes from the book:

-          “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” 
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

-          “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” 

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

-          “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

-          “Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.” 
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

-          “You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.”  ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

-          “Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed.” 
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Art and Music References from the book

• Michaelangelo Buonarotti (3.5, X.7)
• Claude Michel Clodion (4.1)
• Richard Wagner, Lohengrin (4.4)
• Adelina Patti (8.16)
• Johann Joachim Winckelmann (10.7)
• Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser (11.16)
• Fréderic Chopin (19.9)

Famous adaptations

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film).

-          Directed by Albert Lewin

-          Differences from the book:

·         Relationship to Sybil Vane – in the book she is an actress, in the movie music-hall singer; he breaks up with her not because of her bad acting like in the book, but because she fails test create by Lord Henry

·         Dorian’s marriage – in the book he is with a village girl, in the film with Basil niece

·         Dorian’s body is found by Dorian’s servants in the novel, but in the film is found by Lord Henry and Gladys (Basil niece)

·         Music – piano piece played by Dorian to Sybil is Frederic Chopin’s – Preludes, Op.28:24.

·         The painting in the movie was specially painted during the making of the film by Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, who was known as a painter of the macabre. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray (2009)

-          Directed by Oliver Parker

-          Differences:

·         In the book Dorian breaks up with Sibyl because she cannot act as good as before, in the film he arrives late on her performance because of  the “sexual” activities organised by Lord Henry and that is why they split

·         In the novel the body of Basil is burned in acid, in the film his body is thrown into the river

·         In the book he dates a village girl and in the film he dates Lord Wotton daughter

·         In the film Lord Wotton discovers his portrait, Dorian enters the room, they fight and after a struggle Lord Henry throws lamp at the painting. Lord Wotton daughter tries to save him, but he chose to die in a fire. The picture returns to its original appearance and Lord Henry decides to keep it in his loft. In the book Dorian stubs the painting and he becomes old, stinky corpse and the painting backs to previous form.

·         In the book Dorian has blond hair and in the movie dark hair.

Penny Dreadful (TV series)

-           created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan

-          The series draws upon characters from 19th-century Irish and British fiction, including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Mina Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, and Victor Frankenstein and his monster.

-          Dorian’s character is played by Reeve Carney. In TV series he is a confident, wealthy, young, handsome yet lonely, self-isolating man that cannot die. And heals quickly.

-          Famous quote:   " Photographs are so ironically impermanent . They capture one moment in time to perfection. A painting can capture eternity . "

Theatre adaptation

Synetic Theater's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

-          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFZABPKB_k

-          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov3rmmDLl2w

-          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk8pSS5p0M#t=141

-          adapted to the stage by Nathan Weinberger

-          The difference to the novel is that Dorian’s portrait plays the actual person that comes out of the portrait’s frame each time and dances with him and other characters.

-          they use  techno music and multimedia elements that are projected on screens to form the play set’s. Also to show Dorian’s madness and to complement lost of his soul they used a mix of visual patterns, images, backlit actors and faces

-          very modern type of performance and definitely moves the boundaries because of the enhancement of the eroticism and violence in the scenes. To enhance the scenes they used bright-coloured paints that were poured, smeared and splattered on almost completely naked actors.

Illustrated though the use of lines - The picture of Dorian Gray

Example of a book cover- paper shaped into Dorian portrait, different way of presenting Dorian portrait

Butterfly as a symbol of transformation, good into evil. One side is distorted, which means it represents  degraded soul.

Simplistic use of black and white background (good, evil) and great use of typography (nice and clear on one side and on the other broken into pieces)

The Picture of Dorian Gray Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark

Motion Graphics

Motion graphics

For this project I have to develop a storyboard for an animated Motion graphic, based on the summer project assignment. We have got five kinds of projects and we have been asked to choose one of them. The one I chose was to Illustrate a Novel by interpreting the text visually. The novel I decided to illustrate is “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray –interpretation of the book

 The story takes place in England, in 1890, in an environment of local high society. Young Dorian, who is just entering the world of social gatherings, is portrayed by the artist Basil Hallward, who is infatuated with an incredibly handsome and perfect face of a young man. The entire elite, in which the boy begins to surrounded yourself is fascinated by emanating from him innocence, purity and almost angelic kindness. He, who brings Dorian on the path of evil and perdition is Lord Henry Wotton. It is a very popular figure among the elite of London, known for its sharp tongue, pointy and blunt cynicism and defeatism. The charismatic and strong Henry’s personality, have a huge influence on the inexperienced young man. Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of youth and beauty. Worried about what Lord Henry said , Dorian unconsciously curses his portrait to bear the burden of age, allowing him to stay forever young. However he finds that the work of Basil brush has other “magic properties”  as well. He notes that the portrait is also a reflection of his emotions and behaviour, that became his conscience. When, he meets a young actress, Sibyl Vane in a theatre in London slums, he falls in love with her, and she with him. However, once he and Sybil are engaged, her passionate love for Dorian makes her talent disappear as none of her roles on stage seem important to her anymore. This destroys Dorian's love for her, as it turns out  that when he promised her undying affection he, saw it only in an expression of perfection of art so he brutally dumps her. When she is rejected, she commits suicide and Dorian’s portrait revels first changes. From that point, Dorian becomes gradually under the influence of slogans proclaimed by Harry and books that he recommends, more and more spoiled, but this is only visible in the image, which had been hidden by him, as great changes have taken place on it. Begins to lead a nightlife premises with the worst scum of London's margin. People are starting to avoid him, because even though the facade remained intact, his behaviour and aura were very repulsive. Finally, Dorian, who lived for many years with the appearance of 20-year-old, falls first murdering his friend Basil - stubbing him with a knife, and then shooting the brother of Sibyl. Attempting to live with the good girl in the countryside and doing good, he fails. Tired with ugliness of his own soul, he pierces the portrait with a knife. The painting restores the beauty, and Dorian himself becomes a ugly, rotten corpse.

I divided this book into themes to make it easier for me to decide on which part I would like to focus on. Here is a link to a presentation that presents the themes I looked at and my final decision about the theme I am mainly interested to develop into a motion graphic video.

http://prezi.com/xkx27xhmywnf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Research into Motion Graphics

Motion graphics is a digital technique that consist of words, illustrations, pictures, sound and video. It help engage your audience with your content, make them understand complex topics and make it more professional, and unforgettable.

-          Used in commercial, music trailers, title designs, TV

-          Kinds of Motion Design: 2D animation, stop motion, 3D animation

The Basics of Motion Design

Different types of narrative design:

-          Linear: the beginning, middle and end

Example: http://vimeo.com/105788896

-          Nonlinear: is where the past, present and future are all mixed up. The stories told in this case are reveling only what you need to know at that certain point in time

Example:  http://motionographer.com/2014/10/20/digital-district-new-showreel/

-          Cyclical: The story repeats itself over and over again 

-          Thematic: an in-depth exploration of a subject that is not concerned with forward

Technical basics

-          - Know the format of the medium

-          - Frame rate: 1FPS (slow) 25FPS (fast)

-          - 24 frames per second will look smooth

-          - First and last frame in most cases should be in a neutral colour because it will help to clearly define the beginning and the end of your work

-          - Try to keep things in motion: scale, move, switch, rotate

-          - Action is the subject of the scene

-          - Activity borrows life to a scene

-          - Reaction roots the action in the environment

Sound

- the use of sound effects assists to appreciate the visuals

- you can express different moods in a scene through the use of different background sounds

- Diegetic sound - sound whose source is visible on the screen for example voices of character or whose source is limited to be present by the action of the film like music represented as coming from instruments in the story space

   - Non-diegetic - sound whose source is neither visible on the screen for example narrator's commentary or has been implied to be present in the action like sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect.  

Transitions – used to switch from one scene to another

Dissolving to black – means a long amount of time passes between scenes

Cut transition- scenes are continued without time gaps

Cross transition – means that the time of the second scene is the end of the current action

Keyframes

-          The time between the keyframes determines the speed of the movement

-          You can add any number of keyframes in between to clarify the movement

-          To make the movements more dynamic just let them “easy in” and “easy out”

Cartooning – used to achieve more dynamic movements

-          Emphasize the different steps of an animation, squashing, stretching, rotating

Type

-          With the support of images and sound type can take the leading part, for example you can make type look funny and happy or scary and dangerous

-          Movements lets the words appear in a way that amplifies the emotions and may create a clear message

Motion blur

-          Creates the illusion of smooth motion by connecting two frames into one single blurred frame

Negative space

-          The space which surrounds an object in a picture

-          It gives enhancement to shape

Principles 

Examples of Motion Graphics

Dexter Morning Routine

-          - It presents the main character morning routine

-          - Hidden meanings of the presented segments for example squishing the mosquito – suggest the joy from killing as the mosquito and blood are centred and in close up. 

-      - Also we can see smirk on his face after killing it

-          - All shots are a metaphor for murder

-          - Extreme close ups and Close-ups shots of different aspects of morning routine

-          - Less important things are blurred, important things in focus

-          - The title is filled with blood and is little blurry, written in capital letters, creates a disturbing feeling

-          - Switch from horizontal to vertical compositions

-          - The music is light-hearted and joyful, makes you focus on what is going on, on the screen and is adjusted to the morning atmosphere  

-          - Edited into montage

I like this video because of the metaphors used in it.  It gives me an idea on how to effectively make people understand the content and the main character through the use of metaphors and how to create an effective montage.

Portraits: Dracula- Penny Dreadful

-          - Voiceover

-          - Use of illustrations and archival footage

-          - Cut transitions

-          - Non-diegetic sounds; signal sounds, sounds of owl, quiver

-          -starts and ends with the black screen and the main title of the TV series

-          - Gothic fonts

-          - Use of motion blur

I like this motion graphics because of nicely made illustrations and transitions. It also creates a mysterious and dark atmosphere throughout the use of black and grey shades. This is similar to what I am planning to do with my motion graphic idea.

Modern Love – Beyond Age

-         -  Next example of an illustrative motion graphic

-          - Voiceover tells the story and the illustrations are illustrating what he says

-         -  Use of non-diegetic sounds; emergency call, beeping

-          - Use of scale, move, rotation to keep you interested and entertain

-          - Use of simple drawings

-          - Basic palette of colours; dark and light blue, white, grey and black

-          - Calm music, use of guitar and piano

-         -  Use of different kinds of transitions

I like this motion graphics because of its simplicity. They presented a love story in a clear way. Also despite the drawing are simplified they still look effectively and that is what I want to do in my project, create a simple but effective story.

Lorn – ‘Ghosst(s)’

http://motiongraphics.nu/experimental/lorn-ghossts/

-         -  Presents the passage from life to death through the use of illustrations

-          - Use of basic colour scheme

-          - Use of disturbing sound

-          - Creates a creepy feel

-          - Use of transitions

I like this motion graphics because the concept is presented in a simple way but effectively and it similar to what I want to do. This video present passage from life to death, my video will present degradation of a soul. I thought it was worth looking at this video as it made me realize the idea doesn’t have to be complicated but memorable. It also should cause a stir in you that will last for a longer amount of time.

Animatics

It is an animated storyboard, that is brought together in an editing program. It include basic dialogue recording and sound effects. Animatics let you see what the film might look like and is the idea understandable and good. The most common software for creating animatics are Adobe After Effects.

Types of animatics:

-         Simple – contain still frames, may key frames, zooms, sketched background or a still photography

Example:

-         Modern – animated, complex and detailed, correct length of time with the content, different types of transitions, motion

Example:

More examples:

-         

-         

-         

-         

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I chose to do a simple type of animatic. I used drawings I made for my storyboard and I brought them together in Adobe After Effects.

Then I looked at different types of fonts and chose the background colour for my first and last frame. I decided to go with the black because most of the animatics I looked at start and end with neutral colours.

Afterwards I listened to different soundtracks and decided which will work the best for my story. I decided to go with a bit disturbing and dark kind of sound as it brings to the whole storyboard creepy mood.

The soundtracks I looked at:

-       Lorde - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
-  Orchestral sounds
 -  Orchestral sounds
-       -  Disturbing sound effects
-       -  Thief: The Dark Project Soundtrack     

                                 Kinetic typography

    Creation of moving type through the use of different animation techniques like, shrinking, flying, moving in slow motion, growing and changing. This technique is used to add emphasis to certain content and help to convey tone or emotion. It also helps to make the whole design look unique and interesting for the audience.

   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqdVEZuTZtg

     The video presents a conversation between advisor and sexually abused child. It is created with the use of kinetic typography and abstract art. I think it was a great idea to use kinetic typography for such a heavy subject as typography make it less uncomfortable and lighter to watch.

An amazing gold kinetic typography made of abstract and geometrical shapes.

Wonderful animation spells all the letter, where each character is the initial letter of a font name. The animation is really smooth and together with the music creates a lovely feeling.