Theme:
Discussions of place.
Context:
Place can be a physical environment (space), a way for admission or transit, atmosphere through physical surroundings or a 3-Dimensional compass of a material object (Merriam-Webster, 2019). It can be evoked by different elements such as objects, sounds, vignettes, details (MAGI, 2019)
My response to this topic was, asking how do we author a sense of place without using an existing environment that already depicts the story? And how does light play a role in helping us to create a sense of place and narrative.
Lighting is one of the most significant tools in animation and film. It is a tool that helps us to provide the audience with context and narrative through creating mood and atmosphere with different colours, tone, instensity, depth and gobo textures. It can help create a figure/ground relationship between space, objects
or characters and provide depth with emotion and add personality to a scene. It helps us to reinforce the space.
https://www.ecgprod.com/why-light/
Method:
I will create a scene in an empty space, utilising one object and explore the different emotions that can be evoked through lighting, in order to make and create place.
Response:
As I am on the road in the west, rather than exploring this idea through software, I decided to take a more practical approach, utilising the concept of tinkering and challenge myself to create something through the use of an empty box, torches and a single character, whilst keeping within the usual allocated 2hr time frame we would generally have in class time.
I found 3-4 torches with different features and size and attached different coloured cellophane to them with elastic bands. I wanted to create a place that had no pre-existing features or background so found a large plain packing box to use as an empty container, allowing the lighting to do the work.
I thought about using a plain object or toy, however I wanted to relate this back to my studio practice a little more closely. Although not using software – I decided to craft a quick little monster out of air dry clay within 20 mins, to use as my subject.
For the next stage of the process, I explored through taking photos and video, spending an hour adjusting the positioning of light, cellophane colours and torch effects to create different senses of “place” using the same space and character.
This exploration of light, shadow and colour provided a variety of outcomes, open to various interpretations. It provided many different scenarios of who this character potentially is or where he might be.
Attached:
Attached is a range of outcomes from the box environment, along with some behind the scenes pics of the light setup and making of creature.
To watch a video using strobe light from torch and moving lights please click here:
https://youtu.be/DBg34rNrqZE
References:
Pianoni, Max. "Lecture 4 - Discussion of Place" (Melbourne, RMIT University, August 21, 2019).
Powerpoint presentation.
https://rmit.instructure.com/courses/58412/files/8485909?module_item_id=1837573
Merriam-Webster. 2019. "Definition of Place". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Viewed 21st August.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/place
About This Work
By Amber Stacey
Email Amber Stacey
Published On: 23/08/2019