The Wizard of Oz (1933) directed by Victor Fleming is a classic family movie based on the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum. The plot revolves around a girl called Dorothy who is board with her dull (literally) sepia toned life. When a tornado strikes her families farm in
The movie is made with a very cheerful, artificial and dreamlike style. This is true of both the Land of Oz and the “real world” in Kansas
Dorothy in Kansas
Dorothy in The Land of Oz
All of the sets in the movie look very intentionally artificial. It looks almost like Dorothy and co are walking through a hand painted landscape. In fact its like a collection of paintings, the sweet shop like Munchkin Land, the glowing green Emerald City and the dark gothic Dracula (1931) style witches castle all have a distinctive look to them.
Munchkin Land
The Emerald City
The Witches Castel
The music also adds to the whimsical tone of the movie it’s all very upbeat. The fact that this movie is a musical in combination with the artificial looking sets gives the move a theatrical feel.
The charectures in the movie are all very cartoonish and a littel 2dimentional which makes sence in the context of this movie, because it is very cartoonish in nature.
Overall I enjoyed this movie; it’s a lot of fun.
Interim Online Review 09/11/10
ReplyDeleteHey Sam,
Not as much thumbnail action on here as I might expect at this stage... that said, what I find encouraging is your stylisation; whereas some students appear to painting themselves into genericism at this stage, you're very clearly imposing a particular style onto your underwater world - there is something cartoonish about your coral plant for example. I like too the clear relationship between your influence map (the Indian architecture) and the design of the Nautilus. That said, I wonder if you might be standing still in terms of technique? I suggest this because you appear to be resisting the painterly element of pen and tablet work - preferring to use a very 'fine line and colour in' approach? I encourage you to slacken your grip a little on the stuff you're already good at, and allow new visual strategies to seep in. I want to see much more from you in terms of those Photoshop classes, Sam - and, put bluntly, I want to see much more creative activity from you in the coming days.
Also - don't get too caught up with Nautilus - remember the title of the unit - however much you might enjoy the prospect of getting into the nitty-gritty of the vehicle design itself... just a note of caution.
Re. your reviews; in terms of content and quotes, all is good, but I want students to use these mini-assignments to refine and develop their academic 'voice' - for this reason, I'd like you to watch the tone of your reviews a little and swerve the first person; keep them content rich and impartial and use them to get good at linking films etc. to their social and cultural context - it's the technique from which all academic assignments spring forth! Also - watch your spelling; if necessary, write in Word - spellcheck - then copy/paste, but don't include any formating of text in the word document, 'cos blogger gets confused!
oh - and I loved the description : 'sweetshop-like Munchkin Land' - very true and nicely observed.
ReplyDelete