Task 2

Case Study: Success and flop

Sleeping beauty (1959) & Maleficent (2014)

The two films I will be writing about is Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Maleficent’. The 2014 movie, Maleficent is a dark fantasy film directed by Robert Stomberg. It is based off of the 1959 animated film ‘Sleeping beauty’, portraying the story in the perspective of the antagonist, Maleficent. I will be discussing the ratings given to the film by parents as well as the differences in animation and CGI compared to the older 1959’s Sleeping Beauty.

There has been quite a bit of a discussion between parents about what ages this film is appropriate for. There are scary moments however its the trailer which has crammed all of the scary scenes into one, which may have influenced the rating discussion, the trailer itself makes the movie look like a horror flick. There are violent battles and a dragon, spooky green smoke and a wound or two. If your child has seen other PG films then I think you wouldn’t mind letting him or her crawl into your lap when a menacing wolf appears. Older children who are familiar with the original ”Sleeping Beauty” would absolutely love how this film twists the story they know.

The Dragons in Maleficent and Sleeping beauty have many differences. Yet they tried to keep the same design in the face such as the large horns and pikes down the spine. In Sleeping Beauty it was Maleficent who transformed into the dragon, who later was killed by the prince from a sword into the heart. While in the movie Maleficent, it was Maleficent’s Raven-friend, Diaval, who was the dragon. It was a rather interesting twist to the new film, I was expecting Maleficent to turn into the giant reptile herself. The movie did surprise me with all these interesting twists to the original.

Here are the three fairies from Sleeping beauty (Top) and Maleficent (Bottom). in the 2014 film I was happy to see that they kept the colours of the fairies, and changed up their costume design a bit, it was very interesting. I was happy to see that the fairies are actually computerised with the new technology that 1959’s Sleeping beauty did not have. The fairies did not change their personalities and they still fought with each other, which made me fall into a pit of nostalgia. I loved the take on how the movie Maleficent incorporated old scenes and characters from the original movie but also added a few twists to keep you interested and surprised.

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 Commercial Value, Merchandising, advertising using celebrities and singers etc is very important for a movie to gain interest and box office hits. Maleficent’s film trailer was overall a fantastic piece to advertise the new film to be released, it gained the interest of people of all ages Lana Del Rey singing the original song for ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is quite haunting yet luminous in a way that enchants you. For this music video featured above I love the use of using the old clips from the original movie and the new ones from 2014’s Maleficent.

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Sources

https://jaelwriting.wordpress.com/tag/maleficent/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/maleficent/review/706491

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/maleficent_2014/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1019187-sleeping_beauty/

Portfolio

Here is a link to my portfolio http://laurenrouse.studentartfolio.com/

Task 1

Case study 1: Working in the industry

The Art of Aaron Blaise

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Aaron Blaise is an illustrator and animator from the USA. He graduated from the Ringling College of Art & Design in the year 1989 from the illustration program that they offered. He was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation and he spent 21 years creating some of the best animated films of all time. While working for Disney he worked as an animator and supervising animator on “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Rescuers Down Under”, “The Lion King”, “Aladdin”, “Mulan” and “Pocahontas”. In 2003 he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film for the movie, “Brother Bear” that he co-directed.

After finishing “Brother Bear” he helped to develop several other projects but eventually left Disney to pursue an opportunity back in Florida. Aaron Blaise recently served as an Animation supervisor and character designer for the “Bear and the Hare” Animation for a John Lewis christmas advert in collaboration with Lily Allen.

In his spare time he creates wildlife paintings, he enjoys visiting Africa and volunteering with the Elephants and other animals who inspire him to create his works. He Enjoys being outdoors and around nature.

“I’m 45 years old now and I find myself back in the head of a twelve year old running through the woods. I still like to get dirty. I still like to get sweaty. And I still occasionally pull a tick or even a leach from my skin…but I also still like to carry my sketchbooks, paints, and camera. Creating images of the amazing creatures that we share our Earth with is for me the greatest pleasure I could ever hope for in a career.”

 – Aaron Blaise – creatureartteacher.com/

His favourite things to draw are bears. I love his style when he draws bears, I was a huge fan of “Brother Bear” that he co-directed and animated

Aaron Blaise also offers Animation and art courses for aspiring people who hope to learn and hone their skills in both illustration and animation. He is an incredibly successful artist who has inspired many in the past 20 years or so. What he uses to create his beautiful work is a Macbook Pro, Wacom Cintiq Companion, TVPaint and Photoshop. As for his traditional works he loves to use Oil paints and watercolour, usually branded as Winsor & Newton. He refers to his workload as “constant” as he is usually seen doodling and working on many projects at the same time. When we does get a break, he is seen his phone while doodling in a notebook. Aaron has influenced so many people these past couple of decades and he hopes to inspire many more in the up coming years.

Sources:

http://lifehacker.com/im-aaron-blaise-animator-and-illustrator-and-this-is-1671950347

https://twitter.com/aaronblaiseart

https://creatureartteacher.com/

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Music Video Production

STORYBOARDS This storyboard was my first initial idea when I thought of a music video, it was going to be a weird dance video of teachers in horse masks. At first it was a funny thought, though later on in …

Music video analysis

Lindsey Stirling – Master of Tides

Type of Video – Performance

Concepts – Pirates, theatrical

Effects – Slow motion, water goes with beats, camera

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David Guetta – She wolf (Falling to pieces) ft. Sia (Official Video)

Type of video:  Narrative/Story

Concepts: Hunting

Effects: Particles explosion, manipulation

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Beck – Deadweight

Type of Video:

Concepts:

Effects:

Music Video Content

• Performance based - Focusing on the band and/or singer performing ie. Playing drums, guitar, vocals.

• Narrative/Story - Story being told within the video.

• (Animation/Life action)

• Dancing

• Concepts

• Cameo - Appearance of a celebrity

• Notion of looking -

Task 1

Research

Quantitative: What are the most popular music videos in the past 3 years?

Qualitative: Why have these music videos been so popular?

2012

1.

PSY – Gangnam Style (15th July 2012)

 

In the year 2012 a fantastic music video was released. A very catchy and amusing K-pop song called ‘Gangnam Style’ by PSY. The song became viral in the matter of days, Psy is a very popular singer in South Korea, though he didn’t expect this song to be such a hit globally. The song is catchy, visuals fit the music’s rhythm and the characters interact well with the music. I remember being shown the video because it was silly and I absolutely loved it.

2013

1.

PSY – Gentlemen m/v

Another song by PSY has made the top charts for the second time in a row following Gangnam Style’s viral reaction. Psy’s popularity through Gangnam style may have attracted new fans and curious viewers thinking ”What is he going to release next?”. In South Korea, Psy is a well known singer, the music video features popular celebrities in the music video of ‘Gentleman’ such as “Ga In” of K-pop group “Brown Eyed Girls” and the cast of a popular South Korean show, “Infinity Challenge”. Both of which are very popular as well. Over the years, K-pop has become increasingly popular throughout countries like the USA, Europe and Australia. Their catchy songs and interesting music videos has captured the attention of millions of viewers.

2014

1.

Katy Perry – Dark Horse ft Juicy J

Katy’s music videos have always been sort of unique and silly in their style. In 2014 ‘Dark Horse’ was one of her fan’s all time favourites, gaining popularity from become viral over the web on youtube when it was released. The music combines the genres of trap and hip-hop. When released, music critics praised the songs experimentation of both Katy’s voice and urban music, however they were not impressed by Juicy J’s part. Perry originally wanted the song to be Egyptian in style, including witches and black magic-y stuff.  She wrote it in the perspective of a witch warning a man not to fall in love with her, if he does, then she will be his last. Jiff, a famous little 4 year old pomeranian also stars in her music video.

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My Top 3 Music videos

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David Guetta – She wolf (Falling to pieces) ft Sia

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Love Again – Pentatonix

This is my favourite original song by the group ‘Pentatonix’. This American a cappella group of five vocalists create fantastic songs as well as music videos. They mostly do covers of already existing songs though they also make original songs, for example, ‘Love again’. I always loved the costume designs in this video as well as editing effects

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Moonlight – Electric Cello – ThePianoGuys

  

I’ve always loved classical/orchestral music. ThePianoGuys are my favourite when it comes to Cello and Piano collaborations.

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Understanding your audience

Genre 1: Pop

Genre 2: Rock

Genre 3: Classical

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3 Music videos with interesting concept

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Music videos that combine animation and live action

In your arms – Kina Grannis

What type of animation was used? Stop motion (Jelly beans)

How effective is the combination? Very effective. When I first saw this music I thought she was behind a green screen, and the animation behind her was done digitally. After watching the behind the scenes here, I realised the entire thing is made with jelly beans, a stop motion animation which took a lot of time to create and produce. The production took a total of two years to create a 3 minutes worth of video.

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