Monday 27 February 2012

Making Tylosaurus with Animal Parts: Pectoral Fin

Accurate Skeleton Found

Pectoral Fin

Building the pectoral fin with parts from these animals

Salt Water Crocodile

Hawksbill Turtle

Reticulated Python

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Review of Paprika

Review of Paprika (2006)

Paprika

This strange film is based on the novel Paprika and emits a symbolism about the misuse of technology and just how dangerous it can be in the wrong hands which tends to theme and point towards the Hiroshima attacks, as Robert Roten mentions in a review. 'The Japanese animated film, written and directed by Satoshi Kon ("Tokyo Godfathers") is based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. The film's theme is common to many science fiction stories. It is about the misuse of technology, a subject very close to the Japanese soul (think Hiroshima and Nagasaki).' (Roten, 2007) 

Frogs on Parade

Its a complex film to watch and even portrays a Freudian connection with reality and dreams merging making it hard to tell them apart, which is quoted by David Denby. 'Set in a business world of long white corridors and glass walls and research labs,it's a Freudian-Jungian-Felliniesque sci-fi thriller, and an outright challenge to American viewers, who may, in the face of its whirligig complexity, feel almost pea-brained.' (Denby, 2011) With its bright colours the film gives out a message that we have an alternate and unaware life hidden within dreams, described by Dennis Schwartz in a review. 'If you can believe, in this film, the villains fight to preserve the sanctity of dreams. The filmmaker relates psychological terrorism to the blindness of living an unaware life of one's inner being.' (Schwartz, 2007)

Paprika
Rating;

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Kon, Satoshi (2006) Paprika [Poster] At: http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/8a4da281 (Accessed on: 21.02.12)

Figure 2. Kon, Satoshi (2006) Frogs on Parade [Screen cap] At: http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/archives/2007/06/aurora_colorado_2.html (Accessed on: 21.02.12)

Figure 3. Kon, Satoshi (2006) Paprika [Screen cap] At: http://staticmass.net/world/paprika-movie-2006-review/ (Accessed on: 21.02.12)

Bibliography

Denby, David (2011) Not Kids' Stuff http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2007/05/28/070528crci_cinema_denby?currentPage=2 (Accessed on: 21.02.12)

Roten, Robert (2007) Laramie Movie Scope: Paprika http://www.lariat.org/AtTheMovies/new/paprika.html (Accessed on: 21.02.12)

Schwartz, Dennis (2007) Paprika http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/paprika.htm (Accessed on: 21.02.12)



Monday 20 February 2012

Review of Akira

Review of Akira (1988)

Akira

Before Akira became a film it was first a series of Manga comics and due to its popularity it eventually became available to the rest of the world then later was turned into a film, which Howard Anderson expresses in a review. 'The Manga "Akira", written by Katsuhiro Otomo, was first published in 1982 in Young Magazine, and due to its enormous popularity, it was later reprinted in 6 large volumes for the insatiable populace of not only Japan, but the rest of the world.' (Anderson, 2001) 

Keneda

The comic had many thousands of pages which had to be made into a 124 minute film, which used double the amount of cells normally used for an animated feature film, making Akira's attention to detail stunning an intricate such as there is always something happening in the background at any given moment. Dan Price agrees in a review. 'The original comic consisted of over 2000 pages of artwork. And the film itself used over 450,000 cells in the animation, adopting a brand new method where double the normal amount of cells are used, giving the amazing crisp look to it.' (Price, 2009) At no point did the film use any computer generated images,  it was all hand drawn, as explained by Kim Newman. 'It's all wrapped up in director Katsuhiro Otomois scintillating animated visuals, with not one -not one- computer-assisted shot in sight.' (Newman, 2007)

Neo Tokyo
Rating;

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Otomo, Katsuhiro (1988) Akira [Poster] At: http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/833290ed (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Figure 2. Otomo, Katsuhiro (1988) Keneda [Screen cap] http://mutantreviewers.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/akira-retro-review/ (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Figure 3. Otomo, Katsuhiro (1988) Neo Tokyo http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/1980-1989/akira/ (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Bibliography

Anderson, Howard (2001) Akira http://www.movie-page.com/dvd/reviews/akira.htm (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Newman, Kim (2007) Akira http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=7729 (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Price, Dan (2009) Making of Akira http://www.fast-rewind.com/making_akira.htm (Accessed on: 20.02.12)

Saturday 18 February 2012

Tail Designs

Tylosaurus Tail Designs

Tail Bones

Basic Tail Shapes



Testing out different scales

Refining Tail Scales

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Fin Designs

Skeleton fin


Basic fleshed out fin


Pectoral Fin Shapes


Pelvic Fin Shapes


Fin Textures



Experimenting with Head Scales




Basic Tylosaurus Body Shape

Research Tails and Flippers used for Swimming

Looking at aquatic animal tails and flippers will help with creating the paddle like tail and flippers for Tylosaurus.

Sea Snake Tails 




Other Aquatic Animals

Royal Clown Knife Fish

Salt Water Crocodile

Zebra Shark

For an extinct reptile that swims the nearest living example that has flippers are sea turtles


Loggerhead Turtle


Leather back Turtle

Study of Snakes

Tylosaurus was related to modem day snakes so having a look at their patterns and scales will help with making the extinct reptile.

 Green Anaconda

African Rock Python

Pattern less Rock Python

Red Tailed Boa

Reticulated Python

Tiger Snake

Yellow Anaconda

Researching sea snakes has helped as they are perfectly adapted for swimming just like Tylosaurus

Banded Sea Snake

Olive Sea Snake

Yellow Bellied Sea Snake