#also taylor keeps wearing the mask for The Aesthetic which like. good for her

[trans-queen-administrator]

Ok so I saw this post and I don't want to derail it (check it out tho cool analysis). Masks in Worm are so so interesting to me, because they're something the top echelon of villains completely forgo. Slaughterhouse Nine, Birdcage Capes, Nilbog, Echidna, Moord Nag, all of them are unmasked, their identities are complete public knowledge. Masks are a privilege afforded to the Villains who play nice and don't try to blow up the moon, or kill millions, or spawn two thousand goblins, their identities are allowed to stay hidden as an incentive to Not Blow Up The Moon Please. And when the mask comes off, it means there's so much less reason for the villain to hold back because their little Not Blowing Up The Moon prize is gone so what's the fucking point of not doing anything to that smug rock? So when Taylor does get unmasked, there's two major things that signified. She has no reason to hold back anymore, which is why she's so brutal afterwards. She puts maggots in valefors eyes, she manages to kill the Butcher by trapping Cherish in an even worse hell, she ruins the chili, she kills Alexandria and Tagg in the most brutal way possible. Her restraints are gone, she has no reason to temper herself and every reason to lash out. The second thing it signifies is why her lashing out is so terrifying. By being unmasked, she's up there with the nine, nilbog, all the impossibly strong villains we know don't get the privilege of a mask. It tells the reader that Taylor is a villain on par with them, she's that terrifying and enough of a monster that she's not allowed to play the cops and robbers game Lisa tells her about.

[chrismalcolmhnd2c]

White shirts

©Alex Franco

©The cloth project

“What lies behind appearance is usually another appearance” Mason Cooley

Research the Narrative

Within your blog/workbook – research Social Portraiture. There will be more task and support within the Contextual Studies Class.

Tell the Story

This brief will form your introduction to the new Covid 19 rules within the studios and the store at COGC and will help you get to know your research/studio group.

Re - familiarise yourself with the equipment available to you in the studio and store. Take note of any new procedures required to keep you and your group safe whilst in the studio.

Make a portrait of one or more of your group.

Demonstrate your understanding of metering within the studio.

The theme for this shoot is very simple. Your sitter/s should wear plain white shirt/s.  

Make sure all equipment is cleaned down as per requirements from the store.

Edit and refine: Complete worksheet

Professional practice – Health and safety considerations when working with others.

market awareness – workflow – presentation options.

Colour correction and image optimisation.

Maintaining clean white through white balance.

Submission: 1 Final A3 300ppi jpeg folio ready image. Upload to my city.

Social Portraiture Research

The term “social portraiture”, references the art of capturing a social moment, with careful attention paid to elements such as emotion, personality, as well as a possible representation of the events that led up to that particular moment.

Portraits are effective when they speak to both the informational and the social—showing, telling and inviting the imagination.

A posed or contrived portrait inevitably results in conceptual shallowness. To understand social portraiture, one also has to understand the context (personal, social, political) which led to a particular moment being captured.

Inspirational photographers are largely the ones who mastered the careful balancing act of emotion and information to create portraits which strike a chord with the viewer: Richard Avedon, William Eggleston, Nadav Kander, Milton Rogovin, and Les Krims as examples.

Source: http://jeffemtman.com/jeff-emtman-concentration.pdf

The word “portrait” comes from the Latin “portrahere,” translated as “to drag out, reveal, expose.” (Walker, 16). Wikipedia provides a good example of the common understanding to which these roots have developed. “A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even mood of the person.” The more rigorous Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives several distinct definitions for “Portrait,” each with its own variants. The first, and most common, echoes Wikipedia: “A drawing or painting of a person, often mounted and framed for display, esp. one of the face or head and shoulders. Also, an engraving, photograph, etc., in a similar style.” A variant for sculpture also appears: “A statue (full size or as a bust), an effigy.

Source: https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/portrait/

An important area of "contact" between photography and sociological research, in terms of subject matter, and to some degree, intent (e.g. charting societal change and raising social issues) is "social documentary photography". Current researchers in visual anthropology/sociology are well aware of social documentary photography and the use of the combination of photographs and text in the "documentary photo book”. There is growing interest, at least in Britain, in the history and recent development of forms of social documentary photography, by photographers, cultural critics and galleries, as indicated by publication of both newer and older work. Prominent recent photographic issues have been focused around the connections between photography, surveillance and voyeurism, etc. and the possibilities of street photography in current socio-political contexts. This tradition of social investigation and documentary reportage (PRICE, 2004) can be traced back to RIIS's photographs of the poor in New York in the late 19th century; HINE's images of work people and social conditions (c.f. with the Pittsburgh Survey) in the early 20th century; and the famous work of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the US and other documentary in the 1930s, depicting the lives of farm workers and others.

A related documentary form is the "photo-essay" found in the photo-magazine in the inter-war years up to the early 1950s. The "pinnacle" of the "photo-book", which also broke "beyond" the "genre", was AGEE and EVANS's "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" (originally to be an article for Fortune) based on the lives of three farming families. It is a poetical, biblical, factual, descriptive, radically auto-ethnographic script which veers from the smallest aspects of the life of poor tenant farmers to profound questions of human existence. One very striking feature of the work requires comment: EVANS's photographs (including individual and group portraits) are displayed uncaptioned at the very start of the book. Another "tradition" of the "photo-book" can be identified, leading back (in particular) to the work of BRASSAI on Paris, and BRANDT on the "English", in the 1930s (BROOKMAN, 2007; CAMPANY, 2006; DELANY, 2004; POIRIER, 2005) and surrounded by a broader current of "humanistic realism". This was followed during the mid 1950s, when an ambivalent, alienated, or ironic view of social life (often transgressing photographic conventions) was offered in Robert FRANK's "travelogue" across the U.S. and William KLEIN's view of New York. This work not only pointed to social division and the gap between reality and illusion, it was also a personal account of creativity and experience. It was influential on the growth of "street photography" (with its mix of the "quirky" and "mundane") depicting urban lives, during the 1960s and 1970s. Roy E. STRYKER, who directed the photographic work of the FSA (Farm Security Administration) from 1935, was an economist who had previously made extensive use of photographs.

The work and life of Dorothea LANGE, in particular, is undergoing renewed attention and reassessment—in terms of the "aesthetics" of her photographs (i.e. according to her "realism" and "humanism"), and the "politics" of her photographs and photographic practice. Her "classic" photo-book, "An American Exodus" (1939) (with Paul TAYLOR), and her "reports from the field" are still of interest for social documentarians (e.g. the relation between photographs, and also between photographs and types of text, including quotes, description, and background or "found" materials).

The above areas of photography (social documentary, photo book, street photography, and related areas) are important sources of portraiture since they show people situated within their everyday social situations. To these "genres" can be added, for research purposes, "found" sources such as professional portraiture (in the studio and elsewhere) and informal picture-taking (by friends, families, etc). Finally, at least some mention should be made regarding the "documentary" work oral historians who have long used portrait and other photographs in the study of working lives, communities, health, migration and other areas and more recently have pioneered Web based resources.

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277219754_Photographic_Portraits_Narrative_and_Memory#pf8

Editing workbook: WHITE SHIRT. 

STUDIO CHECKLIST: Health and safety in the studio due to covid 19

Please refer to this before and after all shoots

Activity: White Shirts

Does this activity require the use of a photographic studio?

Y

Lighting, backdrop and flags req.

Are you free of all symptoms attributed to covid – 19?

Y

Are you wearing a face mask? (unless exempt)

Y

Apart from when being the model.

Are you able to maintain a safe social distance of 2m?

Y

Have you made sure it is only you and your studio partner that are in your studio space?

Y

Our group is 3.

Have you access to hand sanitizer?

Y

Is your equipment clean?

Y

If borrowing or lending equipment have you used hand sanitizer before and after use?

Y

PC cord.

If working with studio equipment have you cleaned the work area and kit before and after use?

Y

Have you read the most recent government and college guidelines on social distancing?

Y

Have you effectively pre planned your shoot?

Y

Have you effectively planned your time in the studio, to make the most of your studio day?

Y

NB: If you come across a studio that has been left untidy or see other students not following guidelines, please report immediately and confidentially to your lecturer or guidance tutor.

The “white” part of this brief is vital in the success of the image, consider the ways in which control the white balance of the image, both in shooting and editing to obtain the crispest white you can for the shoot.

White balance

Find a diagram that explains colour temperature, in relation to photography

Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/color-temperature-3-point-lighting-basics

Explain or show diagram of how you correct white balance using your camera.

The best way to obtain the correct white balance is through the “Preset (PRE)” setting. Simply hold a white card in front of the camera lens and press the shutter button. The camera will then read the correct colour temperature of the light that gets reflected from the white card and will use it instead.

The process of changing white balance in a digital camera varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. For example, most Nikon professional cameras such as Nikon D300s/D700/D3s have a dedicated “WB” button on the top dial, while cameras such as Nikon D90 have a “WB” button on the back of the camera close to the LCD screen. So, in order to change it, all I need to do is hold the WB button with one hand, then rotate the rear dial counter-clockwise. All current Nikon DSLRs also allow you to change white balance through a menu setting.

Source: https://photographylife.com/what-is-white-balance

Explain the difference between colour correction and colour grading.

Colour correction is a technical process that fixes colour issues and makes images appear as natural as possible. The idea is for colours to look clean and real, as human eyes would see them in the real world.

Colour grading is also technical, but it's more of a creative process. The colour grading process adds atmosphere and emotion to shots by colouring images in new, often unnatural ways.

Source: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/color-grading-vs-color-correction-process/

Explain your editing workflow to correct colour casts.

Method 1

The “Levels Adjustment Layer” tool in Photoshop that can be used to remove and neutralise colour cast.

Method 2

When a colour cast is dominant, the “Match Colour” technique will make the biggest difference and it requires only one click.

·       Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Match Colour

·       In the window that appears, check the box for Neutralise

·       Click OK

Method 3

Use the “Temp” and “Tint” sliders

To remove a colour cast manually, drag the “Temp” slider to the left to cool your photo or drag it to the right to warm it.

If you have a green or magenta tint, use the “Tint” slider to offset it. Drag the tint slider to the left to add green or drag it to the right to add magenta.

Method 4

Use the “White Balance Selector”

·       The White Balance Selector, often called the eyedropper tool, can remove a colour cast with one click. Click the eyedropper icon to select the tool. Then click an area in your photo that you think should be neutral grey.

Your own shoot.

Lighting diagram: showing how you set up your studio for the shoot.

For these shots, we first set up a black backdrop with strobes set up as per the diagram above and used an LED ring light positioned first centre and straight on to the model. We also used flags to reduce the light spill from the strobes onto our subject.

For the second half of our shoot, we used a white backdrop and swapped the ring light for a soft box, positioned centre, then left then right.

Four best images

What do you like about this image?

I think this image works well as it has good catchlights (we used a ring light) and I like the defining shadows on the right-hand side of the models face.

What do you like about this image?

I like the viewpoint of this image as it portrays the model in a position of dominance and power. I also think the low-key lighting on the left of the subject’s face works well and adds drama to the shot.

What do you like about this image?

I like the natural pose and composition of this shot. I also think the catchlights work well to engage the viewer.

What do you like about this image?

This shot works well as the focus is sharp on the model’s face, while sightly soft on her hair which helps convey the motion in the image.

BEST IMAGE EDIT: Before

What edits would best optimise this image?

This image would benefit from being colour corrected in Photoshop (I feel it is slightly warm and has too much red, so would reduce the colour temperature to make the image cooler) I would also crop the shot to cut out the small section of hand showing on the right, along with using the “Spot Heal” tool to smooth out some areas around the face and “Dodge” and “Burn” tools to lighten the teeth to make them more white and reduce some of the slightly blown out highlights on the model’s nose and chin. I also plan on adding a very small amount of “Clarity” and increasing the contrast slightly.

BEST IMAGE EDIT: After.

How have your edits improved the whiteness of your shirt?

Yes, I feel the colour of the shirt is a lot more natural looking now and closer to how it appears to the naked eye. I think the other edits, as described above, also enhance and improve the image.

[galadrieljones]

11 questions

tagged by @thevikingwoman. thank you!!

1. The most beautiful place you have been 

Ah, a tough one. To me, there is nothing more sublime than the big, wide open empty of the American West. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Utah, and the weird hellscapes of northern Nevada. BUT, on our honeymoon, we went to France: flew into Bergerac and slowly drove north to Paris over the course of several days. The sunflower fields were in full bloom and it was really something else. I also have to say that, while I don’t always love where I live in Orange County, the sunsets in Laguna Beach really are the prettiest sunsets in the whole world.

2. Pick a super power. Why that one? 

Not no sleep, but just less sleep. I’d love it if I could subsist on just like four hours a night. I’d get so much more done that way!! Lol.

3. Do you have a comfort movie or show? What is it? 

Yes, I have several comfort shows. My most frequented are probably Gilmore Girls, Buffy, and Dawson’s Creek. Right now, on maternity leave, I’m also taking a GREAT deal of comfort in Beat Bobby Flay lol. Idk, I just really like him!!

4. A creation you’re really proud of?

All of my fanfic I’m very proud of. I feel it keeps getting better with every work. I’m very proud of having finished The Dead Season, but I feel like, in terms of writing and storytelling skill, A Funeral feels like my most honed creation so far. 

5. Something you are looking forward to in the next year or two?

Well, I just had a baby eight days ago, so I’m looking forward to getting back to normal!!

6. Top 5 video games?

The order here can tend to fluctuate based on where my emotional attachment lies on any given day, but I’ll be as “objective” as possible. Also I have six because the first two I consider to be a tie:

The Last of Us - This is one of my favorite games because it’s so tightly woven, as a story. The characters and their relationships, in combination with the setting and high stakes horrific atmosphere makes it feel both terrifying and desperate in almost EVERY moment. There is ALWAYS something to lose, and Joel’s longterm character development is both very unique and also extremely realistic, nuanced, and heartbreaking.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - This game, for me, succeeds on the strength of its protagonist. The game itself is beautiful, meandering, dynamic, and the story, while sprawling, is multi-faceted and really advanced in its usage of POV, symbolism, and ambiguity. It’s impossible for me to choose between RDR2 and TLoU because they’re such different games. There really is nothing like RDR2, and there is no protagonist like Arthur Morgan, but the narrative of TLoU is just so...perfect. Overall, I think protagonists like Joel and Arthur are sort of paving the way for games that are much more “adult” in scope. These are the first two games I’ve ever really played that feel exclusively BY adults and FOR adults. 

Skyrim - I can’t even really qualify my love for this game at this point in my life. It’s like comfort food. It’s like coming home.

Dragon Age: Inquisition - It’s an imperfect game, but it’s big and the characters are wonderful. I get lost in the banter, the background dynamics, the politics, and the wealth of opportunity for OC creation and fan works.

Horizon: Zero Dawn - Aloy is such a unique female protagonist, in that she is almost a Byronic Hero. Female Byronic heroes are really rare, and I think I love her for her secret romance, masked with a hefty layer of sarcasm, bitterness, and self-preservation. I love Aloy’s journey, because it begins with one quest (find the men who attacked the Proving and killed Rost) and then becomes a much more existential quest (Aloy’s discovery of her own origin story). The game itself is good, but I think if a sequel is made, it’s going to be fucking REALLY GOOD.

Bloodbourne - I’ve never actually played Bloodbourne lol but I’ve watched my husband play it twice. It is by far the weirdest game, aesthetically, I’ve ever encountered. The bizarre menstrual symbolism and hidden zones are entirely gnarly and beautiful. And I love the storytelling style of Hidetaka Miyazaki, how it’s all shown, or implied. There are no quest markers, no obvious objectives. Entire worlds can be missed through happenstance, or failing to fully investigate one small mystery to its painstaking conclusion. 

7. A recent favorite anything (food/entertainment/clothing/??)

As previously stated, I’m very into Beat Bobby Flay lately lol. Dude, Bobby Flay is entirely 100% the man. He is both calmly confident and entirely accomplished as a chef, but also extremely gracious toward his challengers and always willing to concede the loss (though he usually wins lol). That kind of humble confidence is...rare. He reminds me of that thing Solas says in DAI: “No real god need prove himself.”

8. Favorite board game?

I know it’s old school, but I really love Risk. I like playing with my husband, because he’s VERY good, but I learn a lot from him, and though I have only beat him maybe one time ever lol I usually take him by surprise a few times during the game, and that’s very fun lol.

9. Stealing this one: I know that lots of people have “dinosaur” or “ancient Egypt” interests as a child; what was something that you were super interested in as a child? I’d love to learn a new fact about that subject if you’re willing!

When I was a CHILD, I had a definite elves and fairies phase, as well as a metaphysical time travel/scifi phase. My favorite books, which I would read constantly over and over again were Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle (which has no *actual* elves in it--the elves are like metaphors, honestly explains a lot about my tendency toward fabulism rather than actual fantasy) and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Looking back, I still see these books and how they manifest in my preferences today. They really blur genre boundaries--between fantasy, science, and domestic realism. They’re about kids having regular kid problems and often experiencing catharsis via “fantasy” worlds. 

10. A strange thing you googled recently, if you’re willing to share. 

Well, I’ve googled a lot of strange things lately. When you have a new baby, you’re always googling strange things lol. But I’d say, in the past few months, the strangest thing I’ve had to google was basically male and female underwear from the late 1800s. What the fuck does Arthur wear under his pants?? What the fuck is Mary Beth hiding under that skirt?? The most alarming thing I discovered was that women typically wore crotchless drawers around this time. This way they could pee without having to completely remove their myriad of skirts lol 

11. You only put ten questions, so I’ll steal a simple one from the previous batch, ie: Five favorite books! I’ve been thinking about some of them lately, so I wanna share:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Airships: Stories by Barry Hannah

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

I’ll tag @buttsonthebeach @morgan-arthur @ladylike-foxes @bearly-tolerable @wrenbee @lyrium-lovesong @ma-sulevin @a-shakespearean-in-paris @hidinginthehinterlands and @idrelle-miocovani

Questions:

Five favorite books?

Five favorite video games?

Favorite visual artist(s) (fan artists and/or traditional)?

Favorite video game protagonist (non-OC) and why?

What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten?

What’s your dream road trip? Or, if you don’t like road trips, what’s your dream vacation?

Do you like old movies? I’m talking OLD movies, like golden era, from the 1930s-1950s. Why or why not? Do you have a favorite?

What’s something unique and interesting about the place where you live and/or grew up?

If you were going to be transported into the setting of any video game, which would it be and why?

Regardless of where you actually live, would you prefer urban, suburban, small town, or rural living?

What is the most emotional you’ve ever gotten over a video game?

[filmsbyme-blog]

Ran is the 1985 Japanese masterpiece by award winning screen writer and director Akira Kurosawa. Ran is based on Shakespeare’s King Lear and the history of Mōri Motonari (1497–1571), a sixteenth-century Japanese feudal lord with three sons. Ran’s story of the three arrows – unbreakable in their unity, but easily snapped one by one – comes from a lesson Motonari imparted to his three sons in order to keep them from fighting each other and dissolving his empire. The film also indirectly addresses Kurosawa’s fears that the three superpowers – the US, the Soviet Union, and China – would destroy the world without unifying behind the idea of nuclear disarmament. Kurosawa created a powerful hybrid by mixing an adaptation of Shakespeare with his classic samurai epic and modern strife. 

The movie begins by introducing Ichimonji Hidetora and his three sons Tarō, Jirō, and Saburō. Hidetora, who is now 70 years old, decides to retire and chooses Tarō as his successor with his brother Jirō's support. However, the youngest Saburo objects to his plans and consequently, is banished. “Ran” in Japanese means “chaos” “revolt” and “madness”.  The story of ran is a story of bloody betrayals and treachery between the father, the brothers, their advisors, and their wives.  

The driving force behind Kurosawa writing Ran was his dissatisfaction with how King Lear suffered despite doing little wrong. Unlike Lear, Ran is heavy with Buddhist influence and shows human suffering is determined by how one has behaved previously. The godlike detachment of Ran shows human folly, barbarity, and war in order to analyze the foolish games of men. As Kyoami says, “Man is born crying. When he has cried enough, he dies.” The law of Karma is very present. Kurosawa suggests that violent environment and behavior will only breed future violence in the generations to come. “You have spilled so much human blood you cannot measure it. You have lived without mercy or pity. But father, we, too, are children of this degraded age of strife,” Saburo says, implying that a father who as demonstrated the laws of power and the practice of cruelty could not expect his sons to live any other way.   “I am lost,” Hidetora says. “Such is the is human condition,” Kyoami reponds. Hidetora continues, "This path I remember; we came this way before.” “Men always travel the same road,” Kyoami explains. Kurosawa shows that the history of the world is foolish and crazed mankind repeating its mistakes and never learning. In narration, he also demonstrates how mankind has nothing to blame except itself. Tango exclaims, “Do not slander God or the Buddha! They are the ones who are crying! The evil of human beings... the stupidity of the sinful creatures, who believe their survival depends on killing others, repeated and again throughout all the time.” 

Another example of Buddhist influence in the film comes when the oldest son Taro and his wife Lady Kaede seize authority from Hidetora. They sit side by side, with a scroll hung above them and the three figures form a triangle. The scroll reads “Bodhisattva” which represents compassion, mercy, and wisdom. This imagery is ironic when compared to the anarchy of the story.  

Despite the film’s critical acclaim Kurosawa could not gain financing for the epic and spent years creating gouache and watercolor-based concept art of the characters and sets for the film. In this film, Kurosawa strived for the austere Japanese aesthetic ideal of wabi: the minimum is expressed and the maximum left for the beholder to supply. The elaborate and ornate was to be avoided. A hint, a suggestion should suffice.

Ran features one of Japan’s most distinguished living actors, Tatsuya Nakadai, who has made well over 100 movies. Still, he is best known to American audiences as a role in which he is nearly unrecognizable- Hidetora, the 70-something feudal patriarch of the Ichimonji clan. Nakadai, then in his early 50s, wore heavy makeup intended not only to age him but also to resemble a Noh mask. He said, ''They had to draw in every single wrinkle; the only parts of that face that were actually mine were the eyes.'' They are, however, no ordinary eyes. They're large and expressive. No one who has seen Hidetora will soon forget what they look like, huge with horror, as the mad lord descends the steps of his burning castle. This detail helped Ran win a BAFTA award for hair and makeup.  

Costuming is an important aspect for the mis-en-scene and characterization in Ran. Japanese costume design emerged from a fabric history involving high-toned color and ornate weaves and embroideries, and films have capitalized on this tradition. Ran was costumed to enormous acclaim by Emi Wada winning an Oscar and Academy Award for Costume Design. Since their introduction, Taro wears yellow; Jiro, red; and Saburo, blue. This color coordination heightens the sense of chaos in the battle scenes. This battle is a melee of red and yellow banners blowing freely, falling out of sight as troops fall, and finally the yellow is simply engulfed by the red. Additionally, Lady Kaede is based on two important Leitmotifs in Japanese cultural. Emi Wada noted the influence of noh (nō) costumes and masks. The glassy, immobile white face, and uplifted eyebrows resembles the mask of serpent-women in noh theater. The snake is an important leitmotif as the transformation of woman’s jealous nature. The manipulation of a fox leitmotif is also present. For example, when Lady Kaede demands the head of Jiro’s wife Lady Sue, Kurogane brings the fox statue head from the Inari shrine and warns Jiro about her.  Kurogane claims to have been tricked by the fox. He then tells the most famous tale of fox impersonation in Japanese drama, the story of Tamamo-no-Mae. He warns Jirō, “There are a lot of foxes in this area, and according to hearsay they often cheat men... It is said that at last she turned into a white fox with nine tails... Well, after that the traces of the nine-tailed fox were lost. It is possible that the fox has settled down in this vicinity (1:49).” Kaede wears a white uchikake (long outer white kimono) symbolically indicating the white nine tailed fox, which conceals an inner kimono bearing serpent image. The fox has traditional seductive sexual characteristics embodied in female transformation and is a symbol of false love. The white also represent her position as a widow after the death of the oldest brother Taro. Her true self revealed where she admits she was trying to destroy the family. When Kaede is killed, she wears a kimono worn by demonic woman such as the costume in the nō play Dōjōji, the story of a women who takes revenge when the priest will not marry her, she turns into a serpent. The gold, black, and white triangles resemble serpent scales. The creation of each character in Ran is complimented by the detailed costuming.

Samurai have become one of the most recognizable aspect of Japanese culture, even though they were effectively banned in the 19th century. Kurosawa’s father was proud of his samurai heritage. The samurai genre remains popular. The themes of honor still resonate with Japanese and international audiences today. However, the Ichimonji family breaks this idea of honor with their backstabbing and ignoble treachery. Another theme is inheritance, a tradition taken very seriously in Japan and is strictly regulated. The Ichimonji also breaks this tradition, demonstrating the greed that disrupts society.  The story of Ran is a warning for those who do not uphold the tradition’s of society. 

The end of Ran summarizes Kurosawa’s view of the human condition. A blind youth- Tsurumaru- wanders to the edge of a precipice, oblivious of being poised unseeing between life and death. Ignorant of the tragedies (the many deaths), alone, blind, and unaware of his perilous state. This signifies the human race, who acts blindly and recklessly. However, the Buddha watches over Tsurumaru and humanity- the opportunity for goodness to prevail.  

Works Cited

Jan, Feei-Ching. Buddhism in Kurosawa's Films: A Critical Analysis, California State University, Fresno, Ann Arbor, 1989. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/303805650?accountid=14882. 

Joseph McLellan, “Oscar-Nominated Kurosawa Stands Tall Among Directors,” The Frenso Bee, 9 Feb. 1986: 14. 

Winning, Rob. "Ran." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, edited by Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, 4th ed., vol. 1: Films, St. James Press, 2000, pp. 995-997. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3406800729/GVRL?u=vic_wlu&sid=GVRL&xid=b85760af. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018. 

"Costume." Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant, vol. 1, Schirmer Reference, 2007, pp. 375-382. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2587600053/GVRL?u=vic_wlu&sid=GVRL&xid=69de0231. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018. 

Krasilovsky, Alexis. Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling. Routledge, 2018. 

Muchnik, Federico. The Strategic Producer: on the Art and Craft of Making Your First Feature. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. 

Rafferty, Terrence. "The Actor with Stardom in His Eyes." New York Times (1923-Current file), Jun 15, 2008, pp. 1. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/897789484?accountid=14882. 

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