Side running cycle

I have done the Running side view cycle

Now I will draw the front view. I find the front view harder to archive, but I will finish it.

I finished the base for the front view. I draw this by myself, no base. :) I feel proud of it. It's a really sketchy version but it clearly shows the movement well.

Now to clean this up and draw the character.

Essay question planning

Essay Questions 'Women Without Men'

Today, I am starting to plan my essay for my assignment. I have chosen to use the film, 'Women Without Men'. The following information about the film is a review by Peter Bradshaw, Thursday 10th of June, 2010;

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"The Anglo-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi recently revealed that Jon Snow had told her about a conversation he had once had some years ago with the then prime minister, Tony Blair. The premier had asked Snow, plaintively, why Iran hated the British so much. Snow replied hesitantly: "Well, you know, because of Mossadeq …" – that is, the left-leaning Iranian leader, toppled in 1953 by a coup instigated by the British and American governments because of his determination to nationalise oil. Blair replied blankly: "Who?" Perhaps watching this excellent movie would be a way for Blair, and the rest of us, to brush up on British and Iranian history.

With this debut feature, the photographer-turned-director Shirin Neshat has made a picture with vision, poetry, sexual frankness and historical sinew. It brings together, on screen, the personal and the political in the story of four women and the way their lives are affected by the turbulence of the anti-Mossadeq coup, and revives the memory of a lost generation of Iranian politics and culture: the westernised liberal intelligentsia, a white-collar class exiled and effaced by the Shah's regime, but also fiercely repudiated by the theocracy installed by the Islamic revolution of 1979. In some ways, Neshat's film addresses the same issues as Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and further underlines the fact that it is Iran which, in the 21st century, has repeatedly offered the world a vivid, unapologetically feminist cinema.

Neshat's movie-making style owes something to Mohsen Makhmalbaf, but has absorbed other influences, too – her camera movements are distinctly Tarkovskian. And for the magic-realist tropes of the literary original, Neshat has found a visual manner with something of Buñuel: this surfaces in the disquieting vision of Zarin's client having an eyeless, mouthless face and also, I think, in the grand dinner-party-cum-soirée that Fahkhri throws in her new orchard estate. The army turn up, intending to search the property for seditious materials, but the troops end up staying for dinner, and their commanding officer exchanges flirtatious badinage with the guests.World Without Men is based on a 1989 novel by Shahrnush Parsipur, and weaves together the women's lives in complex and enigmatic ways. Munis (Shabnam Touloueh) is serious, cerebral, obsessed with listening to the radio for the news of the Mossadeq situation, and bullied by her brother for neglecting her demure womanly duties. Munis's friend Faeseh (Pegah Ferydoni) is in love with this same brother who makes Munis's life a misery. Fakhri (Arita Shahrzad) is a stylish, elegant married woman in her 40s, in love with an old flame. Finally there is Zarin, a prostitute, played with characteristic intensity by Orsi Tóth, the Hungarian actor who has appeared in Kornél Mundruczó's films Delta and Johanna.

Everything is imagined by Neshat with clear-eyed compassion and narrative drive, and she shows a bold candour about sexuality and women's bodies. The film is shot by cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, who recently worked with Joanna Hausner on Lourdes. He creates tremendous images using painterly, washed-out colour tones, framing dream-like tableaux, but also creating plausible action sequences. Neshat has directed a quietly tremendous film which ensnares both the heart and the mind." (1)                                                                                      ______________________________________________________________________________

This is a basic overview of 'Women Without Men' from the website, The Guardian. I will now look at different topics that I could write about, although I do not like any of the themes that were shown in the film.

Possible Topic Ideas

• Women's rights * compare to NZ
• Effects of rape
• Iran's society in 1950s *
• Religions 
• A sanctuary from society
• Iran's governmental power
• Sex work/jobs
• What 'true' family is/are **
• True happiness **
• Meaning of living and right to live **
• The sexualizing of women and women's bodies
• Politics in 1950s Iran *
• History repeating itself *

With these topics I saw from the film, I can now create research questions based upon these themes.

I researched more themes I could use, and found a shorter review on the film 'Women Without Men' from the website Huffpost by Angella Nazarian on the 6th of December of 2017.

Although Neshat has made changes to the storyline, the major theme is unchanged.Women Without Men describes the lives and fates of four women who belong to different social classes: a prostitute, an upper-class married woman, an activist, and a devout woman whose only dream is to get married and have children. All four live an exiled life in their own country, where they struggle for an identity in 1950’s deeply patriarchal Iran. It was an era in which growing up female meant deference to authority and power, and being trapped in limited gender roles. These women form their own utopia in a garden, where they try to reconstruct their lives. As Neshat keenly remarks, “these women go into a second self-imposed exile to get a new start.” (3)

Possible Research questions

Example - How does the concept of the Islamic Garden/Garden of Eden relate to the experiences of _________Zarrin in Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men?

• Is a Utopian Garden, as seen in the film by Shirin Neshat, 'Women Without Men' possible to achieve in today's society?

• How has Iranian society and women's rights changed/progressed in the last 60 years?

• Was the happiness experienced at the diner party in the film by Shirin Neshat, 'Women Without Men' real happiness? How?

• Can society take away the happiness in being with family, as seen in the film by Shirin Neshat, 'Women Without Men'?

• Is life on a set path, destined to repeat itself, as seen in the film by Shirin Neshat, 'Women Without Men'?

*   Could the characters in the film by Shirin Neshat, 'Women Without Men', have changed the

outcome by making different choices?

References

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/10/women-without-men-review 

(2) https://magic-realism-books.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/women-without-men-by-shahrnush-parsipur.html 
(3) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/angella-nazarian/emwomen-without-menem-ira_b_217206.html 

Art work

Artwork I have drawn this week

Run cycle basic's side view

I have drawn a base run cycle I will use to make a character I select to run

This running cycle has 12 drawn images. I could draw 24, but I won't. The walking cycle is a huge part of my grade, whereas the running cycle is not. So I will stick with 12 drawn images.

I can now draw a character on top of this base I drew, referenced from; 

BSA Code-Balance

BSA Code - Balance

There are many different codes with the BSA (Broadcasting Standards Authority).

From the bsa.govt.nz Website. I found two stories were balance was upheld and not upheld.

Upheld

Institute of Environmental Science & Research Ltd and CanWest TVWorks Ltd - 2007-015

Let Us Spray. Special TV3 investigation into the effects of the chemical 2,4,5-T in New Zealand interviewed residents of Paritutu who believed that various illnesses and birth defects in their families were a result of exposure to the chemical. Balance, fairness, upheld. Accuracy, one point not upheld, all other aspects subsumed. Orders (broadcast of statement, $11,250 costs to complainant).

Not upheld

Prime Minister (Rt Hon Helen Clark) and 4 Others and TV3 Network Services Ltd - 2003-077–081

3 News Special. Interviews with Nicky Hager and Prime Minister about issues raised in Hager’s book "Seeds of Distrust". Upheld: balance (government accountability); accuracy (approach to interview with Prime Minister in comparison with the interview with Mr Hager); fairness (presentation of programme, as Prime Minister not advised of source of allegations and the accuser was interviewed in an earlier section of the programme). Not upheld: balance (science aspect); accuracy (statement that Prime Minister declined her earlier offer to do another interview); fairness (preparation of programme, conduct and style of interview). 
Orders: Broadcast of statement; contribution of $11,000 towards legal costs; payment of costs to the Crown of $14,000.

Classical Hollywood

Classical Hollywood

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The classical Hollywood period was within the 1920's to the 1950's. Some say that this is the Golden age of Hollywood. During that time, there were many different studios producing films. The major studios were 'Warner Bros. Pictures', '20th Century FOX', 'A Paramount Picture', 'An RKO Radio Picture' and 'Metro Goldwyn Mayer'. 

 

There were some studios other than the major studios. These were 'Universal Pictures', 'Columbia' and 'United Artists'. They were the minor studios. 

What these studios did was use a system called the 'Studio System'. The studio system allowed the biggest studios in Hollywood to have total control of the movies that were made and how they were distributed. The major studios created (with their power within the US) created a body of trade called the Motion Picture Producers and Distribution Association (MPPDA) in 1922. The MPPDA's main functions were to encourage the co-operation between the major studios and to work with the US State Department to look out for overseas governments who threaten the Hollywood import restrictions.

The studios also controlled the supply chain of films from the beginning with production to the end with exhibition. One major part in controlling the movies exhibition was called 'block booking'. The studio would sell an entire years worth of films to theaters as one unit. The film range was from the one film really desired, A-budget film, to lower, less desired, B-budget and lower films. Block booking is just one of many techniques used to control the film industry in the classical Hollywood period.

The major studios soon found that films around the world were getting very popular, but were still not respected. Social and religious groups argued that films were degrading moral standards. To control this issue, the MPPDA hired Will Hays to place a self-regulatory code of practice. This created the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, nick named the 'Hays Code'. It handed most of the taboos like sex and criminal behavior. This code was disregarded in the late 1960's.

The studios were also infamous for 'owning' the stars that were on film, a system known as the 'Star System'. The system basic had the stars as employees of the certain studio they worked for and bounded them in contracts. An image would be created around the star that usually didn't have anything with how the person was in real life. The stars image was very important to the studios. Actors often felt owned they the studios. Sometimes the studios would 'lent' the star to other studios.

Finally, the studios created a 'Narrative structure' that they followed when making films. It was structured with discernible beginning, middle, and end. Their was linear chains of cause and effect events. Also, their was also a resolution at the end of film.

References

Information based upon the section in class.

Images

• annyas.com/screenshots/warner-bros-logo/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-_bsAKgL2k
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKO_Pictures
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_the_Lion_(MGM)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLx4ucZ8v4Y
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_TriStar_Television
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Artists

Art work

I have forgotten to upload my drawing art stuff

So here it is in a big post. Some good. Some, not good :)

Maya Software

Maya is a good program to make 3D Scenes and backgrounds/objects

This is the starting screen with I box I placed there. There are many different view points.

Technically three different view points, and one is just a new added tool bar. Next is the tool bar is the main tool bar to shape, move and rotate an object. The short cuts to do this on the keyboard is movement being 'w', rotating being 'e' and scale being 'r'. The selection tool shortcut is 'q'.

This is what I can do to the cube if I hold the right button on the mouse and select 'faces'. I made a strange, abstract art look piece. Wow. It looks weird.

Mudbox software

I was using Mudbox to make 3D face shapes

This is my first face. I called this the villain

Next I learned how to stamp a picture on the face. I called this human monster

This is the last face I did. I learned how to change the lighting and putting the face into Photoshop to paint on it. I also learned how to add objects to the face. I called this the fancy man in the hat.

Walk cycle's base

I have all the basic forms of the walk cycles

Now I can draw a nice cleaner lines piece of work. I will also add a face to my character and add the secondary motion to the hair, and add more movement to the necklace. The best walk cycle view (in my opinion) is the front view. This is because the head and hair doesn't look ridged like the other heads. Every walk cycle could use some sort of improvement. I'll finish the newer, better walk cycles

Walk cycle's 3/4 view

The final walk cycle, the 3/4 view

I have drawn a walking cycle a lot of times now, so I have lots more experience with using the software, Toon Boom Harmony.

8 drawn images walk cycle

12 drawn images walk cycle

24 drawn images walk cycle

I can see that the more drawn images I have, the more ridged the head of the character seems/looks. Also with the more drawn images, the less jumpy the movement appears. If I alter the way the hair flows on the character, it would look less 'robotic'. A note to myself when animating the hair, the foot that is on the ground, that is the direction of the hair as it flicks (secondary motion).