CMS: Mood Boards

I honestly feel like this article speaks the truth on mood boards: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/why-mood-boards-matter/

I enjoy creating mood boards because, as I’ve posted before, I really love experimenting with colour in design. Even though it can be a tedious process (especially when you make one as a collage in Photoshop) it really is worth it in the end. I have 2 upcoming mood boards to create for CMS – one about our film concept and one about the characters.

Below is a mood board collage template I designed to make life easier when time constraints exist 🙂 

Attempting To Make Fake Blood Using Bananas

Corn syrup for who! 🙂

Reinvention of a Fairytale

“…For this assignment the student must reinvent a fairytale of their choice to conceptually fit within contemporary society.”

I have chosen to use the evil queen, and her magic mirror, from Snow White. I feel that this is a relevant issue in contemporary society, as we are surrounded by objectification of the human body in advertising and in the media. Our constant exposure to female-oriented advertisements may influence girls to become self-conscious about their bodies and to measure their self-worth based on their physical appearance (HealthyPlace, 2015). This may lead to eating disorders or plastic surgery. Therefore, the recurring themes that contrast with this image are body image and self acceptance (including the acceptance of others).

This image does not portray the drastic effects of ‘society’ on a person, but it does show how it could all begin. The image pertains specifically to females ages 18-30, who may be able to relate to an immense pressure from society, even sub-consciously. The image is therefore meaningful in this way.

I attempted to get the message across effectively by using colour and symbolism. The left side of the image is an icy blue colour, gradually fading into a warm orange colour (these are complementary colours). These colours reinforce each other and bring the image to life in an interesting way, because they also represent the subtext within the image, which I will touch on below.

The image deals with a present-day lady who has just settled into her career and faces the harsh realities of society on a daily basis. As a ‘professional’ lady in the working world, she tries to appear presentable and formal constantly. Sometimes she just wishes she could wipe her makeup off and be herself.

There is symbolism that links to the original fairytale, including the red lips on the lady and the masked face (‘magic mirror’) that represents society. The mask also has a secondary meaning to it, which links to makeup being almost a ‘mask’ in her world. The blue colour that fades into the orange colour reveals how she tries to focus on the positive things in her life, rather than the negative. Also, the close proximity of these colours show how easy it is for her to ‘turn off’ the effects of society, although this is just a temporary solution. The cold mirror frame and the warm light juxtapose heavily in the image. The Rule of Thirds effect has also been used.

Society is represented through a white mask, as it closely resembles the ‘magic mirror’ face and also because the word ‘society’ refers to all of us. I chose to keep her reflection in the mirror as the fade effect with the white mask gives the viewer a sense of intrigue and insecurity. The mask is looking down at her reflection, showing how she feels pressured, yet suppressed, by society. Since the lady’s character is based on the evil queen, it may also imply that she feels as though she needs to be the best or to appear the best in order to further herself in her career. It is up to the viewer to decide whether she is arrogant and selfish or if she is under immense pressure from society.

Reference:
HealthyPlace, (2015). Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising – HealthyPlace. [online] Available at: http:// http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/articles/eating-disorders-body-image-and-advertising/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2015].

Bibliography
Bouwman, R. (2011). A physiological look at complementary colours « Van Gogh’s studio practice. [online] Vangoghsstudiopractice.com. Available at: http://www.vangoghsstudiopractice.com/2011/09/a-physiological-look-at-complementary-colours/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2015].

Production Design: Fifth Class

This class was all about relevance in film.

Relevance refers to ‘being connected with the matter at hand’. We were shown an irrelevant clip and a relevant clip, which helped put this notion into perspective. Relevance is so true in everyday life as well. It made me think of my thought processes when scrolling through YouTube and wondering which video to choose.

We did an exercise called ‘The Wheel of Life’. It was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. We had to do one for ourselves and 3 for the protagonist in our term films – one for each act in the 3 act structure, to see how the character develops throughout the narrative. This is so imperative in set design (and makeup/styling) to show how the psychological development of the character. The audience needs to be affected in an effective manner.

Production Design Colour Theory: My Moodboard

“…To create a narrative world that will transcend to you viewing audience the understanding of colour is vital. For this assignment you will create a fictional world that could be based on your narrative film or on a world you want to create only for this project. The world needs to be supportive of a character…”

For this assignment, I have chosen to use the narrative story from my serial killer project for CMS. For that project, my protagonist is a trained female assassin. I chose to use an assassin instead of a serial killer because the psychological development of this character is fascinating. The motivation behind this concept was to explore the psychology surrounding an organised, premeditated murder – especially when the protagonist refuses to see it as murder, but rather, as justice.

Explanation of Mood Board

The mood board attempts to represent Vivian psychologically through use of colour schemes and semiotics. The eye is naturally drawn to the blood splatter and it holds a certain shock factor to it, ultimately keeping one’s attention to delve in further. The many uses of a circular shape reveal how whatever Vivian and Jim discuss is between them only – enclosed to never be passed on.

The numbers are symbolic of Vivian’s victims, as she only sees them as numbers. The butterfly that has a skull on its wings and the wolf are both symbolic of the same thing: innocence and appearance versus reality. Vivian, someone so young and beautiful is a killer. This is why both images are the same taupe and chocolate brown colour scheme.

The grey circle with a black background is representation of Vivian’s enclosed turmoil of emotions, in order to maintain her sanity and block off any sense of self. It is the only way she can save herself from feeling anything about what she does. The twisted clock shows the passage of time between the killings and also planning of killings. The black and white handwriting also shows how the murders are premeditated and the crumpled up newspaper shows how Vivian refuses to know how her killings could affect anyone or anything.

Vivian’s reaction of shock, above the blood, is her reaction upon discovering that Jim killed her mother. She has just stepped out the shower, when an anonymous person had sent her a clip of the incident. She almost does not want to believe that it was Jim. The shattered glass image reflects this feeling.

The rose covering Vivian’s mouth shows how she’ll never tell anyone who she really is and what she really does. Only ‘good’ things will come out her mouth when speaking to others. The lace covering Vivian’s eyes is symbolic of the moment she secures Jim, as well as how she refuses to notice the reality of her murderous acts. The burgundy blood colour in between these two images is like a stream of blood and it creates this effect for the rest of the mood board as well.

The colours of focus are presented on the mood board: black, burgundy blood red, taupe, chocolate brown and steel grey. These colours are repetitive throughout the narrative, but are most prominent when Vivian’s psychology changes when certain events occur near the end of the story. In this way, these colours effectively enhance the emotional relevance of the protagonist throughout the narrative.

Assassin Project: Storyline and Victims

Victim 1: JERRY JENKINS

Character Inspiration: Mayor from The Taking of Pelham 123 portrayed by James Gandolfini.

Reason For Kill: Fraud

Time: 23:00 pm

This character is found with a bullet wound to his head. He had been taking a shower in his penthouse, when Vivian used a sniper to kill him. She had been sitting on a ledge on a building opposite his penthouse.

After each kill, Jim Washington sends a group of his agents to come and dispose of the body and make the crime seem staged. For this particular crime, the body had to be taken to the lab for an autopsy, as this man was in a position of power and his death would obviously be questioned.

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Victim 2: DERRIL SMITH

Character Inspiration: Sonny from A Bronx Tale (1993) portrayed by Chazz Palminteri.

Reason For Kill: He is the founder of ‘The Silk Road’, an online black market that is known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. It operates as a hidden service through the deep web.

Time: 2:00 am

Vivian sneaks into his warehouse, which is where he stores all of his illegal drugs. She find him in his informal ‘office’ and uses one of his own needles to overdose him with heroin. The agents on standby enter the warehouse and begin arresting employees and guards and seize the illegal narcotics.

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Victim 3: SIMON EDWARDS

Character Inspiration: George Harvey from The Lovely Bones (2009) portrayed by Stanley Tucci.

Reason For Kill: Human Trafficking

Time: 15:00 pm

Vivian discovers this man walking down an alley way as he had been stalking two young girls to be his next victims. She beats him up horrendously then proceeds to strangle him, as she allows her emotions (anger) to interfere with her mind.

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Victim 4: JIM WASHINGTON

Character Inspiration: Robert McCall from The Equalizer (2014) portrayed by Denzel Washington.

Reason For Kill: He killed her mother.

Time: 23:30 pm

Vivian and Jim are working late at night on their next assignment. They are eating take away food, when Vivian suddenly makes a flirtatious move on him. She gives him a glass of wine which she had previously drugged. Jim assumes they are about to get intimate. Once he feels dizzy, she proceeds to confront him angrily about the death of her mother. He tries to reason with her, but she doesn’t believe him so she stabs him once in the chest and once in the neck.

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VICTIMOLOGY:

All the victims are men who have who pose as a threat to the country or the exposure of confidential information and secrets in the government. Vivian attempts to kill the men without linking any emotion to the killing, but she does feel emotion in the third and fourth murders. This means that the first two murders are more clean-cut and better prepared, whereas the last two burn with anger and hint at the underlying theme of betrayal.

This is not the concrete version of events, but it is an outline for the storyline of this project.

Assassin Project: Vivian Mallory

PROFILE OF PROTAGONIST:

Name: Vivian Qistina Mallory

Name Meanings: life (ironic), justice, war counsellor
Age: 27
Height: 160cm
Weight: 57kg

Style of ‘elimination’: Organised and premeditated, she follows a set of rules in order to maintain her sanity. For example, she refuses to know any information about the victim’s family.

Character Inspirations: Assassin’s Creed (Fiora Cavazza), Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Catwoman (Selina Kyle).

BACKGROUND:

She is a trained female assassin who kills certain men in positions of high power, as they pose a threat to the country and the government. Her mother was murdered when she was only 3 years of age. She did not have the best relationship with her father, as he was absent in her life due to the fact that he was busy as an assassin as well. Her father did not realise that she knew what he really does. As a teenager she would often follow him and witness some of his ‘work’.

Her traits include; stubborn, patient, assertive, solitary, pragmatic, organised, meticulous and brave. Audience members who possess the same traits as Vivian will be able to relate to her.

Vivian typically has a serious attitude and a bold nature, creating many boundaries for herself in order to maintain her mind. She attempts to remain preoccupied and detached from society. She is distant from others because she is worried that if she lets her guard down, people will take advantage of her or somehow discover who she really is.

Her relationship with Jim, her mentor, is inspired by two films. Firstly, the father-daughter relationship in Hanna (2011) between Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) and Erik (Eric Bana). They have a deep trust in each other and we see how he trains his daughter to be an assassin. Secondly, the character portrayed by Kurt Russell in Furious 7 (2015) who provides weapons for the team. He refers to himself as “Mr. Nobody”.

Assassin Project: Research

Each character/victim is inspired by characters from other film and television products. This is in order to ensure three dimensional characters, as it is the best way to pour meaning into the narrative and to stay true to the ideal concept of justice. The inspiration behind each character/victim will be explored in their profile descriptions (a blog coming soon).

The binary code that exists within the concept is death versus peace and the irony behind it. In the protagonist’s mind, the only way to achieve peace in the country is through death. This is a character-driven story because the protagonist initiates the events of the story and causes them to happen (Schmidt, 2005: 5).

The character psychology is inspired by the series, ‘Dexter’, as it portrays a protagonist in a similar mindset to that of this story. The mood of the photoshoot is inspired by Taylor Swift’s music video, ‘Bad Blood’, because it has an underlying theme of betrayal, which is relatable to this story.

Schmidt, V. (2005). Story Structure Architect. 1st ed. [ebook] Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, p.5. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/storystructurearchitect [Accessed 18 May 2015].

Assassin Project: Introduction

OBJECTIVE:

To research, design and envision characters for a CSI Drama film product in order to pitch to the Fox Crime Network on DSTV. The crime scene investigative drama will air on DSTV at 22:00 pm every Friday. The research intends to identify characterisation that seeks to be effective in affecting a target audience.

For the purposes of this project, my protagonist will be a trained female assassin. The concept behind this approach is justice, which will be further explored below, through research and character exploration. This project serves as a basis for learning and developing new, practical skills.

Target Audience: The key ‘specimen’ are single females, ages 18-30, who attend university or have a full-time job, a middle-high income and are attracted to television series that involve suspense.

The story is established through the eyes of Vivian Mallory. We see that she is an ordinary 27-year-old female complying to her everyday routine and job. Or so we think.

We follow her through a series of compromising events. We learn that she is one way by day and another by night. She works an arbitrary job as an assistant printing helper at a crime investigation agency. The agency is located in a tall business building in the Cape Town City Centre. This is due to the fact that she secretly works for the government as a trained assassin, ready to eliminate any person who poses as a threat to the country or (actually) the exposure of confidential information and secrets in government.

Her mentor, Jim Washington (and boss) gives her all the information she requires for the next ‘elimination’, as well as providing her with gear, weapons and further training. These two characters share an unbreakable trust.

The motivation behind this concept was to explore the psychology behind an organised, premeditated murder – especially when the protagonist refuses to see it as murder, but rather, as justice.

My thoughts exactly — ‘The Lie We Live’

This video pretty much sums up my view on the world we live in.