LAUAN501-Shadows

Shadows 

After drawing basic perspective drawings, I realised that shadows played an important role within a background set for a scene. For example, if the scene was set at night time then the spotlight would need to come from what looked like the moon. To do this you would need to change the colours of the background to make it look darker; but would also need to cast shadows on certain objects to create the realistic light coming from the moon. This came to mind when exploring colour scripts. As I came across the Pixar film, 'UP'. On the Pixar website it has images of the same background however, at different times of the day. I was able to put this into my visual journal and explore the use of shadows on objects when the light hits in different directions. I got these directions from the book: 'Studo Binder: ‘How to Use Color in Film-50 Examples of Movie Color Palettes’  (Accessed 20th December 2018).'

LAUAN501-Inside Out

Inside Out 

After brainstorming in the triangulation triangle I decided to look at character designs to see if the designer used the same colour theory to create the final design of the character. I came across the Pixar film, 'Inside Out'. The characters in this movie interested me as it played on the theory of colour and getting the audience to relate to the character by the use of colour that the characters held. The 'Inside Out' story is based on a young girl named Riley. In the movie, her emotions are living as people inside of her head. So the five main emotions that control her life are: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and fear. Each character was a different colour and I later on realised that the colours of the characters matched the colour theory. For instance: 

• The character Anger is red. Red is associated with danger and anger. 

• The character fear is purple. Purple is associated with sensitivity.

• The character Joy is yellow. Yellow is associated with happiness.

• The character Disgust is green. The colour green is associated with immaturity. 

• The character Sadness is blue. The colour blue can be associated with coldness. 

Images found from the Pixar website: https://www.pixar.com/feature-films/inside-out (Accessed on the 19th December 2018)

LAUAN501-Questionnaire

Questionnaire

The questionnaire opened up many questions for me. However, the questionnaire could have been pulled together in a more professional manner. I set the questionnaire up to show an image of a background. The next question would simply give the chosen options in which the viewer can pick the mood they felt towards this image. The results I got back was that most individuals picked the same mood on the same image. This made me question if colour theory was reliable and if the colours do have an effect on human emotion. If I was to re-do this questionnaire, I would have asked what colours made the individual feel what emotion based on solid colours instead of what the final background design made the. viewer feel. I would chose to do this again in this manner because I never fully answered my question to see if it was the colours within the background causing this emotion or the aesthetic design of the background; for example, the layout or lightening.

LAUAN501-Study Task 8

Study Task Eight 

On my A4 piece of paper I started this task by drawing the 'you' diagram. I started with that representation of the diagram because the diagram is what gave me the idea of my main question for the essay. The chain diagram then lead on to simple faces with different emotions as I wanted this to show my thoughts about emotions. After the the faces with emotion, I then went on to draw a line with 'VP' written at the end of it, to demonstrate my practice I had been doing with perspective drawing. The drawing that comes next is a picture of boxes lined up next to each other to mirror what a colour script looks like. This demonstrates my interest in colour scripts and the process of how they are used to chose the right colours within a background. Next comes the drawing of ticked boxes to show the use of a questionnaire to get answers to my thoughts about colour being associated with emotions. Lastly, the last imagine shows a piece of paper with a pencil to explain how I took all of my research from my blog and visual journal to answer my question through my essay. 

LAUAN501-Study Task 6

Study Task Six 

In my visual journal so far I have completed a number of perspective drawings to follow my plan written out in my introduction for my essay. Now the perspective drawings have been completed I need to start thinking about the colour theory and how I can put my research into my visual journal. I plan to do this by using photos of characters that have already been designed for a purpose. By using the colour theory I should be able to move on to creating a questionnaire to question if certain colours do strike a certain emotion to the viewer looking at the backgrounds. I need to start exploring more mediums and how this can effect colour. Does using different mediums change how colour theory works? 

Name ➜ Jessica Carter

I intend to visually and practically investigate ➜ Can a background design drive the mood of the scene?

In order to do this I will:

LAUAN501-Study Task 4

Study Task Four 

I used the image above to help me to write my overview of my proposed research topic. After I was happy with my short overview I started to write a rough copy of my introduction to my essay. This is what I came up with: 

"The topic that will be investigated in this essay is aesthetic backgrounds. Mainly looking at how the aesthetic design could be used to set the tone for a scene before the character conveys an emotion. A character will show emotions to the audience by their facial expressions and body movement. However, is it important for the background to set the tone for a scene before the characters convey their emotions? Answering this question by investigating topics such as, colour, light, and locations. The use of colour in backgrounds to convey a mood or an emotion could be explained through colour symbolism.  Emotions such as, sad, angry, or happy. This could lead to one of the reasons that the background sets the tone for a scene."

I could improve this by explaining where I am getting my research from and why I have chosen these topics to answer my chosen question. By explaining why I have chosen to explore these topics will help to explain my development in my visual journal and the journey the visual journal will take the viewer on. I want to be able to explain why each topic relates to my question and how I intend to answer my question through these topics.

LAUAN501-Study Task 3

Study Task Three 

1. Select and define important terms / concepts you have discovered through your reading. 

My question that I will be basing my research around is, 'Can background design drive the mood of a scene'. I will be looking at topics such as, perspective drawing, colour scripts, and colour theory. Throughout this research I came along the online book, 'How to Use Color in Film' by Studio Binder. The book explains how colour is used in films to portray an emotion to the viewer watching. This concept was interesting to me because I was able to look at backgrounds in animated films and pick out some of the points made in the online book. I was able to research what colour theories background designers use. 

2. Collect and analyse examples / images / phenomena that could be interpreted as following these concepts.

3. How could they be used to interpret your theme / question? Triangulate with theorists and critics.

LAUAN501-Study Task 2

Study Task 2 

‘How to Use Colour in Film’- Store Binder 2016

“When telling a story, colors can...

1. Elicit psychological reactions with the audience 
2. Draw focus to significant details
   
3. Set the tone of the movie
   
4. Represent character traits and more
   
5. Show changes or arcs in the story” 

Monochromatic colour schemes- 

•                 red, dark red, pink.
•                 Create a feeling of harmony and soothing

Complementary- 

•               orange and blue are commonly used. 
•               Duelling colours are associated with conflict. 

Analogous

•               These colours neighbour each other. 
•               Colours such as, red/ violet or yellow/ lime green. 
•               Soothing and harmonious viewing experience     

Triadic 

•               One colour should be dominant and other colours accented.
•               Three colours spaced around the colour wheel. 
•               For example, Red, Blue, and yellow. 

• 'Discordance is used to deviate from the colour schemes to refocus the attention somewhere else.'  
  
• “Color theory norms should be understood by filmmakers, but never seen as a limitation.” 

• 'A recurring colour palette or colour shifts can represent a transformation in the character, story, or theme. This is to show a change visually instead of spoken or written. -TCIF'

• “When chosen carefully, a well-placed movie color palette evokes mood and sets the tone for the film.” -acif

• 'When a color or scheme is recurrently associated with a specific character, object, place or theme, it becomes a symbol. This is seen throughout many iconic films. -acif'

This is the information I got from the online book. 

What I need to ask myself: 

• What CONCEPTS is the author trying to communicate? 

The author of this book is trying to communicate to the reader that the colour scheme of a film or a background is important as colour can make or tell the viewer what emotion to feel. As well as emotion, if a colour script is used correctly it can be used to direct the film from scene to scene visually.

• What are the KEY QUOTES and/or KEY POINTS?
  

The key points this book makes throughout to the viewer,  is using the correct colour scripts and keys in a particular scene is important as it is mainly used by filmmakers to set the tone for the character, action or object. 

Some of the quotes I pulled from the text were: 

• “Color theory norms should be understood by filmmakers, but never seen as a limitation.” 
• “When chosen carefully, a well-placed movie color palette evokes mood and sets the tone for the film.” 

These quotes stood out for me because after explaining the definition of different colour wheels, this quote gets straight to the point as to why putting these colour wheels into practice. These quotes explains why all these explanations are important to consider when making the scenes come to life. 

• What EXAMPLES are used by the author?

To prove the information the author was giving to the reader, he used screenshots from different movies to show the different colour palettes in the film. The Colour palettes changed based on the mood of the scene taking place. The films used as an example were,  The Matrix (1999), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Amelie (2001), X-Men Apocalypse, The island, Mad Max: Fury Road, Transformers, Traffic (2000), Children of Men (2006), Tokyo Drifter (1966), Superman (1978), A Woman is a Woman (1961), Pleasantville, (1998), Sin City (2005), Schindler’s List (1993), We Need to Talk to Kevin, The Sixth Sense, The Shining, Kill Bill (2003), Vertigo (1958), The Godfather (1972), Star Wars (1980), The Dark Knight (2008), Inside Out (2015), and UP (2009). 

• How can this theory be related to animation or your theme?

This theory can relate to my chosen animation theme because the definition of the word aesthetics is when it is “concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.”  I want to mainly look at backgrounds within animation films as I am interested in being a background/concept artist. I want to study why colour scripts are important when designing a background and if colour wheels are a effective tool to use when setting the tone for a viewer. 

LAUAN501-Study Task 5

Study Task Five 

This blog post is about my practical response to the question.

• What you intend to investigate and why?

I intend to investigate how backgrounds can create a mood or tone for a scene. I will investigate this by using my resources that I have throughly researched and testing each theory out. I will start my visual journal by following the steps of perspective drawing to learn how to build a foundation for my backgrounds so they are in proportion . After the perspective drawings I will start to look at colour theories within backgrounds from well-known animations. After looking at the colour theories and what emotions the colours are portraying to the viewer, I will look at colour scripts designed by productions and compare them to the finished background.  

• How the research / reading can be used is to be used as a starting point (theorists / writers / phenomena / case studies / quotes).
  What activities do you  intend on undertaking? Questionnaires / focus groups / experiments / visits / use of materials and media. (is it highly experimental or more formal sketchbook activities?)

I plan to build a questionnaire to question what people feel when they look at certain backgrounds and the colours used within them. The results will tell me if the colour theories used in the film industry work and if people are feeling the emotions the director wanted them to feel from this image or animation. 

• What do you envisage the end product being? A short animation, GIF, Rushes, A sketchbook? An artefact? A record of activities or event?

I want the end product to be my own colour script book. I want to take already completed animation backgrounds and change the colour, tone and medium of the piece. As a result, this will visually show the effect these tools have on backgrounds and their relationships to emotions towards the viewer.