Portrait and Place Project : The Regeneration of Lewisham

My idea for the portrait and place project is the “Regeneration of Lewisham”. I discovered that areas around Lewisham were changing. I had taken pictures before the regeneration began and have recently taken more pictures showing the progress. Phase one and two are now completed. Phase three is now being discussed. There appears to be some resistance towards the demolition of the primary school replacing it with a combined primary and a secondary school. The logo used by Lewisham is “Making Lewisham the best place to live, work and learn”.

I researched a few artists who gave me ideas to develop my project. Masayashi Nakano gave me some insight into using the different sites undergoing regeneration in Lewisham. e.g houses, restaurants, train station. Researching Maira Kalman gave me the idea to use mix media of photographs and drawings to enable me to finish within the time frame.

It went very well because I planned which software to use early in the project and which media to use to animate the scenes. I used the pictures of areas around Lewisham from years ago with the recent pictures I took. I decided to choose a few pictures of the new road called Silver Road, the new site of Burger King and Lewisham Train Station.

I used Photoshop and After Effects. I used Photoshop to animate using layers and overlapping the pictures with a mix of drawing and photographs. To animate the scenes I used Photoshop and made many layers to create a character walking into the Burger King and a Taxi Cab driver travelling along the road near the train station. I decided to add in an extra scene of the Gypsy Site before the changes.

I have recorded many sounds around Lewisham. The sound device was small so I needed to get a closer range to obtain the sounds I needed and then I mixed them with other sounds using Soundtrack Pro. I decided to use text and the DVD menu to display the title and to play the animation film. The title screen is “Regeneration of Lewisham” and it ends with a text “Making Lewisham the best place to work, live and learn”.

I experienced difficulty using Flash. When I was importing my drawings and photographs I used the wrong settings. I used Photoshop instead because I realized it was better for film and TV and Flash is for web design. I used After Effects because I was able to import files from Photoshop as JEPG, PNG to put them together.

I forgot the number of frames per second to animate and the instructions. To remember the frames per second and instructions I then decided to type the notes to remind me. I was thinking of using Dragon (I Stop Motion) but it was not possible to use Dragon (I Stop Motion) because I decided that I wanted to use more photographs and drawings to develop my project. I enjoyed this project because it made me more aware of my surroundings.

My Final Animation

Essay about Anime and Manga are reflective of Japanese Culture

In this essay It's about how Manga and Anime are reflective of Japanese culture or whether they are completely imaginary not relating to reality. My essay is too long for my blog. So I'll put in the main parts of what I've analyzed and written.

Manga and Anime originated in Japan and have been very popular within the country and worldwide. “All ages can be seen reading Manga during the course of the day in Japan. Therefore reading Manga and watching Anime have become a significant part of daily life for millions of Japanese” (Mark W Mac Williams 1984 page 3) He continues that Manga and Anime attract fans, both Japanese and Western because they are appealing as pleasure commodities inexpensive forms of entertainment to be enjoyed. (Mark W Mac Williams 1984 page 5).

History of Manga

“Manga is described by the Japanese language dictionary called the ‘Kojien’ as- simple, humorous and exaggerated drawing, caricature or social satire, a series of pictures telling a story, comic. The term manga was first coined by Houkusai who was a Japanese artist and print maker of the Edo period. (1603-1867) Edo is today’s Tokyo. He used manga to refer to a collection of drawings intended for art lovers generally and to serve as models for his pupils. In the 20th century it was then used in reference to comics.” (Koyoma Richard 2007 page 6-7). “It is considered to be the Japanese version of comic art. Manga has become a form of expression for the Japanese and has been considered as a popular form of entertainment for a large audience with stories aimed at a wide age range and taste e.g. action, romance, comedy, horror even hardcore erotica. This diversity has been a factor in the success in western countries.” Bill Sherman http:// technorati.com/r/top/manga.

Manga-Reflective of Japanese Culture

Ancient Scrolls

Fig 1


Fig 2

Fig 1-The depiction of animals replacing humans and reading from left to right are apparent. Also depicts animals having fun. Fig 2 show the animals with rosaries in a religious ceremony a monkey in a monastic habit praying to frog instead of Buddha.

Manga is aimed at every type of audience. Children as well as adults show a vibrant interest in them. It reflects the Japanese culture and way of life in that manga generally uses Japanese clothing, painting, cuisine, sports, calligraphy, landscape, religion, beliefs and myths.



Discovering Dinosaurs Fujiko Fujio Shogakukan

Fig 5

The educational aspect is demonstrated in this series wherein the historical and scientific information is provided with a fun element and is suitable for children. Calligraphy and the large eyes and animals are again evident


Brief History of Anime

Anime is the Japanese version of animation and is therefore known worldwide as Japanese animation. “Anime can be hand-drawn or computer animated. It is used in television series, films, video, video games, commercial, and internet-based releases, and represents most, if not all, genres of fiction.” “Anime began at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in France, Germany, United States and Russia.” The oldest known anime in existence was screened in 1917- is a two minute clip of a samurai trying to test a sword on his target only to suffer defeat. http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anime. The source for the stories used in the majority of anime is manga. Manga’s wide diversity and respectable status in Japan is a very fertile source of stories that can be adapted into anime. The distinctive ‘Large eyes’ style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka who was considered as the Hero of Manga. His work can be seen in Astro Boy and Buddha.


Anime-Reflective of Japanese Culture


Astro Boy- Osamu Tezuka


Fig 8


Buddha- Osamu Tezuka


Fig 9

Fig 8 - This shows the style of the Japanese drawings. This involves fantasy.

Fig 9-This series depicts the live of Buddha (A holy man’s life). The Japanese style with large eyes and calligraphy are shown.

Orphen- Hiroshi Watanabe

Fig 11

Another manga which was developed into anime was ‘Orphen’ by the Series director Hiroshi Watanabe. It involves fantasy and dragons that are representative of the Japanese folklore and magic. This again shows Japanese culture in the eyes, the dress, the landscape resembling the Fuji Mountains, the sword, the calligraphy towards the end of the picture.

Shin Chan- Usui Yoshito

Fig 12

Another manga into anime was Shin Chan- Usui Yoshito. Manga has been able to present the images to attract both children and adults. Though some of the images have been produced with the influence of the West. The Japanese style and characteristics are apparent. This is a very humorous series.

Ani Maidstone Trailer

My idea for the Ani Maidstone trailer is to have an artificial jungle invading the college. I’ve watched a DVD “One Dot Zero” ,“Tyger” by Guilherme Marcondes as my inspiration. “Taiga” is a trailer concerning a tiger that was walking around the city turning it into an artificial jungle and turning people into animals.

I’ve been researching using the Internet, DVD and Library books. I’ve taken pictures of areas inside and outside the college, I have loaded these pictures into my computer and printed them I have also done experimental drawings. The photographs from my camera were not used because of the poor quality. I used pictures from another camera which was of a better quality I drew a storyboard of what my animation would look like. I realized I made a long storyboard which would have used too much time to animate therefore I decided to make a shorter and simpler one from start to finish.

This is a video preview of the UCA logo. It appears in the form of mixed materials as modeling clay and cut outs.

My Mini Comic "School Buliies

I was in another lesson called "Image and Text'". I met a new teacher named Marc Ellerby. I had fun drawing and I did a very good work. I worked on my mini comic called " School Bullies" It's about how things would be different if I had magical powers. I made my mini comic with the theme "Hybird".

Hybird is a thing made by combining two different elements ,a mixture of fantasy and real life.

My Mini Comic School Bullies

Image and Text

In electives I chose the 'Image and Text' lesson. It's all about illustration involves drawing and media. On Monday it started out as an introduction to the unit and presentation of Marc's work. Marc showed me his comic book. In the afternoon I started drawing pictures. I then followed commands to draw a 'Dinosuar and dancing out for a party'.

On Tuesday I brought comic books for a presentation and to discuss a theme. I drew a mini comic with four panels and drew pictures relating to a story about what happens in life. I did a mini comic about my friend. She was cycling down the road and an old lady accidentally walked in front of her.

Analysis of an Animation Film.

I chose an interesting animation film ‘Wallace and Gromit - “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” to analyze. I’ll examine the shots one by one and frame by frame. I’ll look at different shots - like long shots, close ups, point of view shots. I need to look at sequences that stand out to me and what makes it more interested than others and why I like them.

I’ve watched the DVD of ‘Wallace and Gromit the Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ and I liked it because it’s funny, enjoyable and entertaining. It also stimulates the imagination.

 

My Final Animation- The Naming Game

Last year I was working on an animation project called ‘The Naming Game’. It’s about names of people, things and others. I obtained information from a website called ‘ Baby Names World’ and several books. I realized many names have meanings but some don’t. I decided to use a person's name to develop my game I made a game that is interactive mixed with Flash and I Stop Motion. I realized it was complicated and I needed help to finish this work. My tutor assisted me.

I created my character which was formed into letters of my name as the main character.

In this game the character showed that names come from different countries and it shows the meaning of the name. It was a guessing game that enabled the viewer to guess the correct name.