Patrick Watts @johnsmith-watson-skywalker - Tumblr Blog

My hand model for Kyrstie

The Process of Making The Hand

I forgot to take pictures of me making my model and so don’t have many, so instead I am going to write what I did here.

I started out with two bits of wire that I twisted together at the ends so that I had a sort of V shape, I then put another piece of wire half way up the model so that it looked like a triangle resting on a point. After that I put three more bits of wire and twisted them to the bottom of the triangle and angled them so that they hand the rough layout of a hands bone structure. I then bent them so that the wire had the shape a position of a hand.

The next step was to cover the wires in tin foil to bulk out the body of the hand, in some places I think I used too much tin foil but that’s okay because although I based it on a human hand, it isn’t one so I can make it look as different as I like.

After I had bulked it out with tin foil I used super sculpey to make the actual skin of the hand, the main two bone that would have connected it to an arm and the claws at the tips of the fingers, then I used some tools to add in detail on the hand such as wrinkle lines some lines on the claws to make them look like bone and a lot of scpting on the main bones to give them a bone like appearance rather than the super sculpey tube it was before.

Next I baked the hand for between 10 and 15 minutes and then let it cool for a little while, after that I used watercolour paints to stain the hand a dark brown colour and then I used acrylic paints to paint the skin a dark red and brown colour, then the bone a yellow and white colour and the nails purple because it was a good contrast with the rest of the hand.

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths

Frances Glessner Lee made these small models to help police officers to get better at detective work instead of their previous method which was to assume who did it and not fully look at all possibilities before coming to a conclusion, that’s why all of the models she made have lots of small details that were all meticulously added by hand, the models she made were all 1:12 scale and she made them from 1896 to 1949, her work fits in quite nicely with what we’ve been doing this year with Kyrstie as we have been making small scenes where detail is everything and one little thing can change the entire way you look at the work.

#Kyrstie

Scales

This picture helps to visualise how big each scale is.

This is 1:1200 which is the scale that most Airfix ship models are produced at.

This is 1:285 scale which is the size most tabletop wargame models are made.

This is 1:148 scale, also known as N gauge

This is 1:96 scale, it is most used for historically accurate ships and spacecraft models.

This is 1:76.2 scale, also known as OO gauge, it’s mainly used for model railways.

This is 1:18 scale, mostly used for model cars, dollhouses and GI Joe action figures.

The scale I have used for my hand is a little smaller than 1:1 scale.

#Kyrstie

Film Logo

My film logo was heavily inspired by angle wings, I also took some inspiration from Mercy who is a character from the game Overwatch.

I wanted it to have a very angelic feel to it while at the same time looking more modern than the traditional pure white wings.

#Chris

Saul Bass

Saul Bass works on title sequences and has done a lot of work including, Archer (2009), Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009), Dial M for Murder (1954) and Ocean’s Eleven (1960), this is just some of the work that he has done.

My favourite piece of work that he has done is Archer, from the first time I watched the show I’ve loved the intro, it’s very reminiscent of the late 90′s and the early 20th century, it makes me think of Bond film title sequences which I’m sure was the intention.

#Chris

Pablo Ferro

Pablo Ferro’s work is very similar to Kyle Cooper’s except that he started much earlier and would have used different methods to make them.

He has worked on numerous shows and films including, Stranger Things (2016), Men in Black (1997), The Addam’s Family (1991), Beetlejuice (1988) and Psycho (1998) to name a few.

My favourite piece of his is probably Stranger Things because it’s so simple and yet gives a distinct sense of mystery and fear, at first you can’t see what the letters make up and it slowly reveals itself as the title of the show, I haven’t yet seen the show but from descriptions I’ve been given this feel is echoed in the show.

#Chris

Kyle cooper

Kyle cooper is a very famous creator of title sequences and has worked on many films and T.V shows including, Godzilla (2014), Iron man (2008), Flubber (1997), X-Men: First Class (2011) and American Horror Story (2011, 2012 and 2014).

My favourite piece of his work is definitely his work on the first Iron man film, his use of the song “Iron man” by Black Sabbath and the technical drawing of the Iron man suit’s used in the film make for a really cool looking summary, the addition of the film grain and the change of colours make for a slightly trippy look which I think works amazingly.

#Chris

Text research

I didn’t use any text in my trailer aside for the “Thank you for watching” at the very end, the font I chose was meant to have a very friendly feel to it and represent nature so I chose one that had a sort of leafy quality to it.

#Chris

Choice of shots

All of the footage I used was B-roll footage from other people so I sorted through all of it and picked out all the footage that appealed to the kind of style I was going for.

Most of the footage I picked out was mainly forest footage and had no one in it, I was going for a very natural look and using the lighting and camera movement to give a happy and peaceful atmosphere to dark and mysterious the other way I used to give this atmosphere was by using the music to heighten the the the feeling of mystery and peace.

These are screenshots of footage from my trailer

#Chris

Sound Research

Lord of the Rings Medley - Lindsey Stirling

I chose this song because it has a great balance between uplifting adventurous sound to a dark and foreboding side. The violin is a great instrument to play this, I think that the fact the song is based from very popular and well known tracks from the Lord of the Rings it gives a sense of nostalgia to anyone who has watched them which I think helps. When I made my trailer I started with the music and laid footage over the top to make the footage run as smoothly as possible with the music.

#Chris

Film Trailers Research

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I took quite a bit of inspiration from this trailer, it has a sense of wonder and excitement about it, the mix of music and amazing film footage made this to be one of the best trailers i’ve ever seen. This is why I copied the music from this and used it in my trailer because it fitted with the theme I was going for in mine.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This trailer is a great example of how to do a film trailer well, it has a great mix of comedy and action in it and gives the audience exactly what they want from a guardians of the galaxy trailer.

The Martian

This trailer is amazing, when it first came out I was incredibly excited, it is very gripping and has a great balance between science and survival.

#Chris

Pixel games research

Papers please is a pixel art game in which you play as a border control officer and have to grant or deny entry to all who with to enter the country, the game reminds me a lot of soviet countries, I think the way the did the art matches the games feel very well they use a lot of dark and bland colours, keeping all who wish to enter has faceless silhouettes I think is also a really interesting.

Hotline Miami is a top-down shooter in which you play as a gang of people and go around killing people, it’s a very colourful game and makes me think of the 80′s, the game is well known for being quite difficult and quite often involves you dying a lot before completing the level, I think that the pixel art style works very well, although some pixel art games can have very little going on in this one there’s always something interesting happening.

Super meat boy is a platformer in which you play a small cube of meat trying to save his girlfriend you have to jump past saws spikes and all manner of pointy objects, it’s a very gory game and it works really well with the pixel art style because of all the blood.

#Chris

Pixel art research

I really like Gustavo’s work because he takes scenes from popular films and makes them into really detailed pixel art while at the same time keeping it very recognisable as to what film it’s from and what scene.

I really like Paul’s work because It’s so complicated and there’s so much going on but even though it’s so chaotic all of it is still really well drawn and detailed.

Waneella has a wonderful way of portraying light to make it seem incredibly real, I especially love the detail he put into the Christmas tree.

#Chris

Pixel games screenshots and reviews.

Pokemon - Diamond

I have been playing Pokemon diamond for quite a while in my spare time and have been in love with the pixel art style since I first launched the game, the game plays exactly like every other Pokemon game but with different types of Pokemon, different story lines and a different setting, as well as updated graphics. The only Pokemon game I had played before this was Pokemon Sapphire which had significantly worse graphics, but that made sense as it was made for the gameboy. Personally I think this is a really good game, the story is engaging and although at times it can get a little frustrating to be beaten by people that just makes me play more to get better and beat them, overall I would recommend this game to anyone who likes to play games casually.

Starbound

This is Starbound, it’s a 2D pixel based adventure game set in the future, there are 5 different characters you can play and each has it’s own ship. the game is very similar to Terraria but it’s set mainly in space, although you can go down to planets and build things such as houses and buildings of other types. the main draw to the game is unlike Terraria you can travel between planets using your ship, I really like this game as it combines two of my favourite things in games, survival and exploration.

Terraria

Terraria and Starbound are both very similar games, both are survival exploration games, however Terraria is far more limited compared to Starbound and far less graphically impressive, it is however still a good game, it has many many different enemies to fight, including bosses ranging from giant skeletons to walls of flesh that slowly devour the world. The game also has a vast amount of different materials and so building is really fun and you can make some truly amazing things. This is the main reason I play Terraria now.

#Chris

Jason and the Argonauts Film Review

The Hydra, the skeleton army, Talos, the Kraken, the Harpies… which monster/creature was most effective and why?

The skeleton army was the most effective because the choreography involved in the action was very smooth and fast paced in my opinion. This scene in comparison to most other films with this capacity of drama during that era was far more advanced.

Have a look at the Greek myths this film was derived from and write about how accurate or not it is.

The most obvious inaccuracy in the film is that the Harpies were not caught in nets, in traditional Greek mythology, they were chased off. I preferred the original tale because it showed the Argonauts in general to be more heroic characters than how they are portrayed in the film.

What do you think of the special effects? They are dated by today’s standards, but are they effective for 1963? Do they have a unique charm and character?

Technology wise there isn’t must difference between them. However, Ray Harryhausen was the first to produce a film such as this with the monster being fully shown. Others of its kind merely hinted at the idea that monsters could be captured on film or only showed glimpses of them.

Was the story told in an entertaining way?

I thought the film strung each encounter with a monster together well. It didn’t have too many monster scenes to detract from the original story yet had enough to engage the viewer in each battle.

Look at what the other movies Ray Harryhausen did effects for and compare them to the effects done here.

Films such as Clash of the Titans (1981) were more advanced in their use of special effects.

#Craig

Cloverfield Film Review

How effective is it compared to other monster movies? (Jurassic Park, King Kong, etc.)

It is less about the monster and more about the relationships between the characters that’s why it’s hard to compare it. In my opinion, the combination of the film being mainly about the characters and less about the monster and the shaky camera made the film very painful for me to watch.

Are the humans or the creatures better characters?

Personally I think that the despite the creatures having less camera time than the people they were the better characters, at the start the people were tolerable but as the film moved on and they made mistake after mistake and it made me dislike them more and more to the point where during the middle of the film when they were put in danger I was actually wanting them to die to the creatures.

Where do you think the Cloverfield monster came from?

After watching the film through in its entirety I believe the creature came from space, because at the very end of the film where it cuts to a part on the recorded over tape they show the two main characters on a Ferris wheel and if you look closely at the background you can see a meteor fall from the sky and into the sea.

Does the handheld camera footage help or hinder the movie overall?

I can understand why the director wanted to go with that approach as it, in theory, makes the film more believable and would help the audience to out themselves in the characters shoes, however in practice it made for a terrible viewing experience, the camera was never looking at what I wanted to see and most of the time was pointed at the ground, while I understand the choice I do not agree that it was the correct way to film it.

Were the effects good?

I personally quite liked the effects and that they achieved what they set out to do.

#Craig

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