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Category: movie

Akira1988

"Akira" serves as another example of body horror, where the body uncontrollably expands to its limits. As Tetsuo Shima loses control, his body retains fewer and fewer human features, resembling more of a formless mass pouring outwards like human magma.

Otomo, Katsuhiro , director. Akira. Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988.

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The Tingler.1959

Category: Horror Movies

The Tingler in the movie is an example of what can be created by referencing real creatures and re-creating them.In the movie The Tingler, the titular creature is depicted as an arthropod-like monster with long antennae used for clamping down on human necks, and centipede-like feet for attaching to human spines.

Castle, William , director. The Tingler. William Castle Productions, 1957.

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The Thing1982

Category: Horror Movies

One of the masterpieces of body horror, the 1982 film The Thing, takes the horror of the unknown to its extreme. Director John Carpenter twisted, distorted, and exaggerated monster-possessed humans and pet dogs using limited special effects. This imaginative and unconventional approach, combined with the wet, sticky texture of the transformed skin, left me with extraordinarily vivid memories of terror.

Carpenter, John , director. The Thing. The Turman-Foster Company, 1982.

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Tomie1987

Category: Comics/Animation

Junji Ito's manga is full of physical horror, and basically all the horror plots are derived from ‘human body’ mutations, which are a more physical type of horror than animal mutations. Junji Ito's use of dense, repetitive short lines all over a character's torso accentuates the touch of the character's limbs and skin penetration.

The Long Night Anime Version Long Night Manga Version

In contrast to many manga artists who leave the backgrounds white or omit them in their manga works, it is Junji Ito's almost obsessive insistence on filling them in. In ‘The Long Dream’, which compares the same scene in the anime and the manga, the threads in the background for deeper contrast are replaced by ordinary curtains in the anime, which weakens the expressive power of the whole scene.

Ito, Junji . 1987. Tomie.

Ito, Junji . 1999.Long Night

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Movie screenshot, labelled by Kevin

Movie ：UP

Category: Movie/Director Interviews

After watching an interview with Pixar director Pete Docter, I learned that one of the first things he grasped after leaving design school was the importance of being flexible with contrast. He skillfully incorporates contrast into animation by combining elements such as graphics, color, light, and shadow. In the movie Up, the main character Carl and his wife Ellie exhibit a striking contrast in their image design. This insight highlighted for me the importance of designing character images in conjunction with the plot during the early stages of project development.

Movie screenshot，The sun shines on Ellie's chair.

In the use of light and shadow, the director also hints at the inner world of Carl, the protagonist. For Carl, his wife Ellie is the sunshine in his life, so Ellie is always found in well-lit places. Even after her death, the sunlight still shines on the place where she used to sit.

Docter, P. (Director). (2009). UP [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios.

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Screenshots of the Hidden Man

Round table interview

In this interview, director Jiang Wen talks about the process of preparing for his film Hidden Man. While people in the war era were generally smaller in stature, the current actors are generally taller, making it impossible to recreate the aura and impression he wanted, and his solution to this was to make the buttons on the costumes bigger to achieve the strangeness he needed. The subjective impression of the creator overrides reality, giving a new look to something that is commonplace.

[Youku]. (2018, August 21). Roundtable EP01 Jiang Wen reveals himself as a preacher in his films. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIVeMRT1lj0

Jiang, W. (Director). (2018). Hidden Man [Film]. Wuxi Zizai Film.

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Money ball

In "Moneyball," the costume changes symbolize the gradual process of lead actor Brad Pitt integrating with the players and letting his guard down. The scene of driving alone appears three times in the film. The first time, Pitt is wearing a hat and sunglasses, wrapped up as much as possible. The second time, the hat is missing, and the third time, both the hat and sunglasses disappear. In my project, I could potentially utilize some repetitive scenes and combine them with a changing plot to achieve the effect I want to convey.

Miller, B. (Director). (2011). Moneyball [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

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Category: Video/Online Lecture

Discussion with Costume Designer Deborah Landis

As Deborah Landis, a film costume designer, said in the class: nothing is random in a movie, everything in the frame is to tell a story. Before this, I had a one-dimensional view of movies, thinking that film costumes were just chosen to fit the era of the film and the character's personality, without much deeper consideration, Deborah Landis's admiration for Sidney Lumet's quote, "Good style to me is unseen style. It is a style that is felt,"and Miss Deborah Landis inspired me to look at it from the perspective of a behind-the-scenes worker in a more subjective way.

[New York Film Academy]. (2016, April 1). Discussion with Costume Designer Deborah Landis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK0aNhx3jdY&t=443s

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The Spot, the film's villain, transforms from a character unfamiliar with his superpowers into a formidable enemy of Spider-Man. As his hatred for Spider-Man deepens, his inner darkness spirals out of control, like living ink splashing across the screen. The gloomy colors and shaky lines evoke Munch's expressionist paintings, brimming with uncontrollable pain.

Edvard Munch Madonna. Edvard Munch "Vampire"

Munch, E. (1995). Edvard Munch Madonna

Edvard Munch "Vampire" 1895

Santos, J. D., & Powers, K. (Directors). (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

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Movie Screenshots

When Gwen becomes estranged from her father, the white comic drawing grid divides the near and far views, creating a spatial divide. As the tension between them eases, Gwen rushes from one side of the drawing grid to the other. The colors of the two figures blend like watercolors, and eventually, the picture transitions from a cold blue-violet tone to a warmer one.

The presentation of the film resonated with me. The director's use of color and comic book compartmentalization effectively conveyed the characters' mental states and emotions, allowing me to deeply empathize with them.

Santos, J. D., & Powers, K. (Directors). (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

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Jeff Koons .String of Puppies . Art Rogers.Puppies

Movie Screenshots

Some of the 'eggs' in the film also caught my attention. After teleporting out of the portal, a vulture from the Renaissance shrieks at the sight of American artist Jeff Koons' sculpture "String of Puppies" (1988). The vulture was clearly skeptical of Koons' artistic mastery.

When Vulture saw Koons' giant balloon dog sculpture in the Guggenheim foyer, he couldn't help but exclaim, “You call that art?” Without hesitation, he cut off the head of the gleaming stainless steel sculpture, only to reveal hundreds of miniature balloon dogs. It struck me as very interesting how the collision of Renaissance art and contemporary art can often produce unexpected contrasts and contrasts.

Rogers, A. (1985). Puppies [Photograph].

Koons, J. (1986). String of Puppies [statue].

Santos, J. D., & Powers, K. (Directors). (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 

Category: Movies/Stylistic analysis

For my project, comics were a key focus of my research this semester. I found the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse particularly fascinating because it employs a variety of visual styles to create distinct settings for the different Spider-Men across the multiverse, which I can easily differentiate.

Miles' primary universe is alive with the classic elements that have enchanted me in comic books from the last century. Here, onomatopoeia fills the air during intense battles, while comic grids seamlessly blend with exaggerated manga-style lines, creating a visually distinct atmosphere.

Absolutely, upon my third viewing of the film, I became keenly aware of the pervasive use of 'Halftone' technology, which has emerged as a defining characteristic of the Miles universe. Through repeated pauses, I discerned the subtle incorporation of the Halftone printing effect in the backgrounds, creating a nuanced interplay between reality and illusion. This meticulous attention to detail not only distinguishes the foreground from the background but also bestows upon the imagery a distinctive and captivating visual allure.

Punk Spider-Man is as recognizable as punk music, with its rough, newspaper hand-tearing feel, Sans-serif fonts, and modern screen printing. Combined with the lower frame rate, he emerges as one of the most 2D-feeling characters in the film.

Universe 928 light fixtures Screenshot of the fight scene

Unlike the rebellion of punk Spider-Man, Miguel O'Hara in Universe 928 embodies a style of rationality and self-control. The reference lines from the works of conceptual artist Syd Mead also appear in Universe 928, adorning Miguel's shoulders, face, and even the light fixtures of the universe. These meticulously drawn lines evoke a sense of serious rationality at first glance.

Santos, J. D., & Powers, K. (Directors). (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [Film]. Columbia Pictures.

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Category: Film /movie setting

I recently watched the second part of the film Dune, and I was impressed by its distinct and self-contained style. Upon delving deeper into the creative concepts behind the film, I discovered that director Denis Villeneuve excels at conveying the textual information and the complex relationships between the novel's characters through his masterful use of audio-visual language.

The film Sisterhood is a good example of this. Through the black veil, one can glimpse the outlines of the characters but cannot see their faces clearly. Costume designer Jacqueline West drew inspiration from medieval monastic dress and the traditional national costume of the Azores, creating cheongsam-like garments to evoke a mysterious and understated feel.

In the second part of the film, the Harkonnen family is given more focus in the plot. The bald character design creates a strong distinction between the Harkonnen camp and the rest of the characters. To emphasize their savage and brutal qualities, there are numerous animal-related elements. For instance, the machine used to extract the spice is inspired by the image of a squid. Villeneuve has mentioned that he wants the machine to inhale the spice as greedily as a squid.

Villeneuve, D. (Director). (2024). Dune: Part Two [Film]. Legendary Pictures.

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Tanizaki, Jun'ichirō---In Praise of Shadows

阴翳礼赞

Category: Books/Japanese Aesthetics

The phrase "in praise of shadows" is translated as "in praise of shadows under the covering of bird feathers" in Chinese.

"We don't find beauty in the things themselves, but in the shadows, the patterns of light and darkness, which are opposites." I don't particularly like very dimly lit areas, but I find that the beauty that arises between light and the shadows of various objects attracts me more. The author has also given me a completely new viewpoint on the beauty in the shadows.

"The same white colour," the book says, "but the white of Western paper is not the same as the white of Bongshu paper or white Tang paper." While Western paper's surface reflects light, hongshu and tangshu paper's surfaces are like a layer of soft snow, softly sucking in light. It is also soft to the touch and makes no noise when folded repeatedly. It's as quiet and serene as if you were touching a leaf."

Tanizaki, Jun'ichirō. 2001. In Praise of Shadows. VINTAGE ARROW - MASS MARKET.

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wabi-sabi

Category: traditional Japanese aesthetics/book

Traditional Japanese aesthetics rejects the wealthy, extravagant, vividly coloured, and fussy, much as the petunias placed on a vase by the tea ceremony master, Chirikyu. It offers a primal and quiet ambience away from the city's rush and bustle. At the same time, all of this reminds me of the Chinese ink drawing "leaving white space"; the sound of running water, birds chirping, a cup of green tea, and the delightful contemplation of ancient things are what I understand by wabi-sabi.

In Wabi-sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, Andrew Juniper defines wabi-sabi as "an intuitive appreciation of the ephemeral beauty of the material world that reflects the irreversible flow of life in the spiritual world."

Juniper, Andrew. 2003. Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence. Tuttle Publishing.

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Gosho Aoyama--Case Closed

Category: Children's Memories

Detective Comics / Detective Animation

Conan, a detective manga series, began serialisation in 1994. It was then made into an anime and a theatrical film. It evokes both wonderful and terrifying memories of my childhood. I liked following the main character Conan, whose body was converted into that of an elementary school-age child while investigating a secret organisation, because it made me feel like I was solving crimes with my peers. It also inspired me to create a monster that was constantly about "childhood shadows" because of the countless horrific situations, such as the bandage monster and the guy in black.

Gosho Aoyama，Case Closed，2000，Changchun Publishing Company.

Gosho Aoyama，Case Closed，2004，The Bandage Freak Murders.Episode 34.

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Costume settings in Bleach

Traditional Japanese Samurai Clothing

Tite Kubo--Bleach (TV series)--2004

In the same way that Demon Slayer uses and recreates traditional patterns, Bleach is full of various ancient Japanese costume designs. Tite Kubo uses his knowledge of Japanese clothing to invent fresh ways to make traditional Japanese clothing fit the slender bodies of the anime characters, including short-sleeved, torn, and layered outfits that incorporate traditional clothing that serves the characters themselves and infuse the anime with a samurai ethos.

Yohji Yamamoto SPRING 2012 MENSWEAR

Category: Artwork / Fashion Design

Yohji Yamamoto's spring runway show quietly combined aspects of the Japanese samurai outfit, Hakama, with loosened forms and brighter fabrics. This blend of creative impulses exemplifies where tradition and contemporary collide. This distinct fashion expression has given me a new perspective and inspiration to better understand and explore how to incorporate parts of traditional Chinese wear into my creations.

Yohji Yamamoto. "SPRING MENSWEAR 2012 Collection."Retrieved 25/09/2023

Tite Kubo--Bleach (TV series)--2004