Star Wars - research

In 1977 George Lucas released Star wars a new hope, the first in his space sage.  When George pitched his space sage,  FOX  and most people wondered how he would pull it off, considering nothing to this scale had been done at this point.

With all the effects George wanted he was having problems with finding a special effects company to help work on star wars. In the end George Lucas formed his own special effects company called "Industrial Light and Magic" This company was formed in 1975. ILM has since gone on to working on over 300 films, but it all started with Star wars. This had the most special effect for its time and had a lot of practical effects. In modern times would be a lot easier but this is where it all started. The sets would be built for everything scaled down to create these huge scenes.  For space battles the ships would of been made scaled down and filmed against a green screen or black background depending on its use. Original the imperial star destroyer in the opening scene was going to be 40 foot long but due to budgeting issue was scaled to around 4 foot. Stop motion was also used for stuff things as the AT AT walkers from the empire strikes back. For that scene they would have created a scaled down landscape and by hand made and moved the models. Not to mention the shots with cast members in cock pits and some scene would of been to scale. but these shots would of most likely been blended together. This trick is still used to this day but these days its CGI. But trick is to film the foreground and the background separately then overlay them.

L'age D'or- Research

L'age D'or another film written and directed by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.

Compared to un Chien Andalou this film has more meaning but keeps to that surrealist style. the film is one hour long and had sound. In the sense of the film has non diegetic and diegetic sound, as it includes speaking and other sounds happening on shot but also has a soundtrack with it.

With the use of music and juxtaposition , it controls what people think and how you understand what your being shown. As what you see and hear must be important if it was shown in the first place. one scene i found used this to break the audience's proception was were a man is be dragged away but cuts to a small white dog barking before cutting back to the man. The man seems hopefully and the music reflects this, the man escapes and runs to the dog. Oh how lovely, but no he runs up and kicks it.

This kind of this is what I want to achieve in my own work, being able to trick the audience down a path and flip it on its head.

They also mess with proception of non diegetic and diegetic sound. one cent you hear a violin and then see a violin being kicked down a street.

When it come to me making my FMP i hope to achieve that what this did. a disjointed film that makes you think and feel.

Alien Contextual

I'm going to be looking at Ridley Scotts' Alien(1979). When it comes to films there are more that one persons artistic licence at work. To list a few the Script writer, Director, Concept artist, Costume Designer and Editors, The list goes on.

I choose to look at Alien because it first links to my Being Human project, secondly its a great example of story coming to life thanks to the directer ( Ridley Scott) and concept artist (H.R. Giger).

Thanks to Giger for designing the iconic Alien we know and love today. Giger is the person that came up with the original concept art for the alien and sets.

 

The screen writer's O'Bannon and Giger shared a common influence in HP Lovecraft. Due to the timescale of production and the budget, Giger would get upset due to the limitations he had, for example he wanted to make separate pieces for inside the Alien spacecraft but sadly due to the budget, they had to reuse pieces in different angles to create different areas. Giger's Alien manifested from his own nightmares. Giger may be not with us but his legacy life on with Giger's Alien still as scary as it was when it was first shown and still seen a lot of in present day. For example Alien isolation and Mortal Kombat X. 

Ridley Scott Directed Alien and I believe he recreated Horror as a genre, with the way it was filmed. The Alien not being shown till much later in the film with only showing parts of alien and only for spilt seconds. Keeping the mystery and tension, The film keeps to the horror setting by having mostly dark scenes, using these scenes to their advantage.  

But with the use of close ups and cuts done to give us slow terrifying scenes and jumpscares. But Ridley Scott Delieves on both and to this day yes its aged but still great by today standards. But the mistakes you see today were over looked due to the horror on screen, back before you could pause. 

 For example you can see the blood pipe in the chest burster scene. the pipe would of been used to pump al the blood out. 

When it comes to film making I am wanting to follow some of the techniques of story telling Ridley Scott does. Like the way he doesn't show the alien fully to later. In my project I am wanted to keep the mutantions hidden till later.