Flatssss

The flats for our sets consisted of two 8 foot long planks of wood, along with four shorter 1/2/4 foot planks to go along the width. Screws were drilled into the joins to attach the frame all together. After this rectangle structure was secured together, the skin was then taken and carefully glued along the planks. Next you needed to put the skin over the frame and using either a nail gun or nails and a hammer, nail the skin to the frame in spaces of about 6 inches to make sure it is fully secure. some of the flats needed routing because some of the skins overhanged the frames. this would have made it difficult during construction so we had to ensure everything was even so that it would fit together nicely. I used the nail gun after being scared of it for quite a while and completed a fair few flats for our set. Here are some photos of the flats during construction:

Autocad

Before we start building anything, we need to plan out how large we are having our set, the dimensions, the angles etc. this is why we use autocad, it creates a realistic scaled images and this is what we came up with!

For the living room, we wanted to keep it nice and square, and as large as possible as it is supposed to be a family room. As for Gregor's room, we wanted to have a clear sense of claustrophobia so have made one end less wide than the other, aswell as shortening the walls gradually to give a skewed perspective.

 

First rough design of our set!

AutoCad depiction of what our set should look like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The measurements for the rooms and some of the furniture are as follows :

 

Living room: w = 10ft l =12ft

Bedroom: WD = 10ft WB=7ft l=12ft

Windows W=2.16ft (27") l=4ft (48")

Doors: W=2.416 (29")

Fire place: W=3.5ft (42") D=12"

arm Chairs: W=3.4ft D=2.9ft (35")

Dining Table: W=3.5ft(42") L=4.5ft (54")

Chairs: W=1.75ft(21") D=1.75ft(21")

Sofa: W=46ft(56") D=2.6ft(32")

Writing Desk: W=5.5ft(44") D=2.416(29")

Bed = L=6.66ft(80inch) W=3.33ft(40")

 

using these we were able to produce a working model of our final set, obviously on a much smaller scale. the point of this maquette is to see how realistic the rooms will look, whether it will physically fit together and whether all the furniture and stuff will fit in. after a few alterations we decided on a fonal design that most people were happy with.

simon also did a few experimental camera shots using different hued lights etc to create different moods. although this model is tiny, the lighting still made it look awesome!

final working model!

Visual Effects...

Chiaroscuro literally means “bright” (Chiaro) and “dark” (Oscuro) in Italian. It is an art movement that began in the renaissance, it is where the artist uses dark colours to create shadows and bright light colours to create highlights, therefore creating an image consisting of purely these contrasting tones. It is used a lot in painting, just like this one by Giovanni Baglione, “Sacred and Profane Love” (1602-1603):

 http://filmmakeriq.com/2010/08/ultimate-filmmakers-guide-to-film-noir/sacred-love-versus-profane-love-giovanni-baglione-1602/

The light colours on the skin of the central character and the man on the floor represent a lightness or goodness of character. The same colour has been used to pick out the wings of the angel, commonly symbolising holiness or religion. Then with the dark shadows and tones, you can see a demon creature in the bottom corner, clearly supposed to be looking a bit evil as he has no highlights or anything really to connect him with the other characters. Chiaroscuro is very representative of good an evil, and I think this is important to consider when lighting our set to a certain extent.
here are a few other images which show how lighting can really change the mood of a room, giving it either a pure and innocent vibe or a more sinister one, depending on the levels of contrast are used.



http://www.rhythmvision.com/Part_1.html



http://www.rhythmvision.com/Page019-Light_at_the_end_of_the_Tunnel.jpg

These two pictures use chiaroscuro really well. Because the highlights are so bright, the contrast with the shadows makes it look incredibly sinister; as if there is a lot more of the picture which is out of view, a part  that maybe you dont want to see. the images possess an 'Elephant in the room' feeling, which I think is incredibly relevant to how Gregor's family must be feeling. Not wanting to look into the shadows in case they see something they dont want to know about.

Psychological Disquiet in Art

I didnt really know where to begin looking for psychological disquite in paintings and art, my first thought was Vincent Van Gough. He is famous for having incredibly emotional and intense art; i think "The Scream" shows this perfectly; with its contrasting colour scheme and the figure in the centre morphing into something not really human during that scream. it has been the inspiration for many things nowadays, the posture being used in cartoons and cheesy films to represent fear or anguish, and even the film enterprise "Scream" is heavily influenced by that centra screaming character. The mask used in the film looks very similar to the painting, and the character wearing that mask is clearly undergoing severe mental trauma, being all murderous and obsessive. For this reason I think van gough is a prime starting place for this investigation into horror in art.



http://www.onmytoes.co.uk/munch.php

I then looked at Rembrandt and some of his work, particularly "Philosopher". He uses chiaroscuro to an extent here to represent the inner turmoil of the character, the highlights focus on him; perhaps showing that nothing else in that room really matter, the Philosopher is the only important thing there. this in turn makes the painting take on a verly lonesome vibe, which is what reminded me of Gregor and his room in many ways. he is raging at his own mind and what has happened to him, only having himself to communicate with; along with the primal instincts of a bug; the overall feeling of him is egotistical and self involved. i think the two settings are quite similar in that respect.

http://www.onmytoes.co.uk/rembrandt.php

another artist of course, who I feel embodies Psychological disquiet, is Dali. His art is really relevant to our story, not because of any hidden sinister element to them, but the topsy turvy nature of them. i think it represents the goings-on of gregors mind, too much to think about, too little time to think it, he's changed from a man into a bug; his whole world has been turned upside down. this is what i think a pianting like this one below is supposed to represent, a disquiet of the mind.

http://www.onmytoes.co.uk/dali.php

Initial sketches

I am in charge of designing and making the window and curtains for Gregor’s room.
Because we are looking at art nouveau inspired decor, I have come up with a few designs that I found in a book from the library – ****put in author etc***



The top design I like because it looks a little bit like a moth, or
at least a winged insect. this would be cool to do but maybe a little too
intricate for a tie back, it will depend on time constraints I expect.




This is just a quick sketch of what I think the window will look like when its finished. the curtains will be tatty and hanging off of the railing, as though he has clawed them off to try and see out.



Here are a couple of examples of the tie backs i will be making for gregor's
room. the largest one in the middle is probably my favourite, it has a clear look
of art nouveau about it and also look a bit like a larvae, again continuing the bug theme.

This window design was one of my favourites, I designed this after seeing something similar in my book,
it looks decidedly buglike, which is what we decided to translate onto the set, give things a bug-like quality. However, the angles will be complex to create, and it will be very time consuming.