Worker ghost character research #7
After deciding that we wanted to include an underworld in the film, we were thinking about how we could make it really contrasted to the empty, quite world above. We already knew that we wanted the buildings to be designed differently and hold a more corrupted industrial feel; worn and torn. We wanted the underworld to evoke chaos, so my thoughts went away from the architecture and began to focus on characters. We thought it would be interesting to fill the underworld with some other ghosts to bring that chaos and make it seem more regimented. These ghosts will act as workers, tending to the machines and keeping the underworld going.
As Kaitlan's character design for the main ghost is a very tall, slender figure, I thought it would be effective to have the worker ghosts to be designed as rather fat and plum. I imagined these ghosts to cover the underworld and fill it will odd little grunts and strange, otherworldly noises just to add more atmosphere and make the place seem alien to the audience.
Maury Van Loon- 'Fall~'
Maury Van Loon created a conceptual project called 'Fall~', in which she has been exploring the fine line between reality and surreality. Kaitlan and I were both really inspired by her art work and this image in particular (above) is how i imagined the ghost to be contrasted with the worker ghosts. It's a perfect composition because our ghost is crossing that line between reality and surreality when he travels through both worlds and ultimately, he longs to return to the world above. However, he can't as he's no longer a living being and the world above is now empty and deserted. He now has no choice but to live amongst the worker ghosts, whom he bears no resemblance with, in the hope that he can stop the underworld from burning out like the above world did.
I think that the worker ghost's, like the main ghost, shouldn't have any facial features. The most they should have is two empty eyes, like in the image above, to make them seem brainwashed and as empty as the world above. They all need to bear resemblance to each other, maybe even all be exactly the same, as to make the main ghost really stand out.
The trouble I'm having with designing them is how to make them stand out from every other plump, creepy animated character that's ever been designed. I thought about maybe taking a more abstract approach and looked at the work of Henry Moore.
Henry Moore
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This sculpture (above) caught my attention immediately and sparked inspiration, as i can almost imagine these two shapes becoming little worker ghosts. These featureless and smoothly rounded shapes evoke the structure of people that haven't formed limbs yet and the bold curves personify them. It's interesting to look at them in two ways: One, as completely abstract shapes that bear no resemblance to anything we know, or Two, shapes that resemble the subtle outline of two little characters. The way their curves relate them to one another as if they're in conversation. I can see myself designing a collection of little characters that all share similar qualities but, like these two sculptures, it'll be obvious that they derive from the same kind. This allows me to add a little quirk to each worker ghost while being able to keep to a structure/theme.
Henry Moore (30th July 1898- 31st August 1986) was an English artist, best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art.
Moore's signature form is a reclining figure. His exploration of this form was to lead him to increasing abstraction as he turned his thoughts towards experimentation with the elements of design. Earlier figures are pierced in a conventional manner, in which bent limbs seperate from and rejoin the body. The later, more abstract figures are often penetrated by spaces directly through the body, by which he explores and alternates concave and convex shapes.
Other options:
Or rather than having actual ghosts, we just see shadows bouncing across walls to give a sense that the ghosts are there, we just can't actually see them. Adds more mystery and ambiguity. Revert back to puppetry, silhouette figures and how usually in horror films, things are more scary when you can't see them, like in a quiet place for example. Make sure that sound design for the worker ghosts is effective enough to create that unnerving atmosphere.
Jockum Nordstrom
Swedish Artist, Jockum Nordstrom's collages, watercolours, illustrations and architectural sculptures feel improvisational and spontaneous. Rich in detail, his works particularly on paper, read like storyboards and he often refers to them as "stills". He creates imaginative tableaux environments that appear as fantastical settings populated with unique figures, animals, architecture, furniture, instruments and other props, all varying in size and composition. His works feature an assorted cast of characters, seemingly pulled from different eras. Nordtrom is currently installing an exhibition at the Sketch Museum in Lund, Sweden. However, it's had to be postponed due to current circumstances. The central work 'The Anchor Hits the Sand', is a powerfully evocative and meditative shadow play with music. Nordstrom's paper figures- buildings, trees, animals and people- are projected on a screen of semi-transparent paper. The cut-out figures, which are mounted on a wire behind the screen, are illuminated through rotating filters and exposed in a never-repeated play of light and shadows.
The use of silhouette puppetry is something we could explore further for the development of the worker ghosts. Kaitlan already begun experimenting with silhouette projection for the main character but we can apply it in a slightly different way to the worker ghosts, making them more ambiguous. The audience will therefore get a strong sense of these workers being present but will never actually see their true form. Rather like Plato's metaphor for reality "The allegory of the Cave"- Prisoners have lived in a cave all their life. It's all they know and they rely on shadows cast onto the cave wall by the light of a fire and the passing of people behind them that they cannot see. These shadows are their reality and, for all they know, all that exists. The shadows of the worker ghosts filling the underworld could be our ghost's reality. Something to definitely explore further when we are back together.
For designs to really come to light, we need to experiment with all possibilities. I want to explore the idea of shadow puppetry a lot deeper, however, there's only so much i can do at home. I will draft up some rough designs of characters inspired by Henry Moore's style but go deeper in experimentation and designing possibilities when Kaitlan and I are back together at University.
As Kaitlan's character design for the main ghost is a very tall, slender figure, I thought it would be effective to have the worker ghosts to be designed as rather fat and plum. I imagined these ghosts to cover the underworld and fill it will odd little grunts and strange, otherworldly noises just to add more atmosphere and make the place seem alien to the audience.
Maury Van Loon- 'Fall~'
Maury Van Loon created a conceptual project called 'Fall~', in which she has been exploring the fine line between reality and surreality. Kaitlan and I were both really inspired by her art work and this image in particular (above) is how i imagined the ghost to be contrasted with the worker ghosts. It's a perfect composition because our ghost is crossing that line between reality and surreality when he travels through both worlds and ultimately, he longs to return to the world above. However, he can't as he's no longer a living being and the world above is now empty and deserted. He now has no choice but to live amongst the worker ghosts, whom he bears no resemblance with, in the hope that he can stop the underworld from burning out like the above world did.
I think that the worker ghost's, like the main ghost, shouldn't have any facial features. The most they should have is two empty eyes, like in the image above, to make them seem brainwashed and as empty as the world above. They all need to bear resemblance to each other, maybe even all be exactly the same, as to make the main ghost really stand out.
The trouble I'm having with designing them is how to make them stand out from every other plump, creepy animated character that's ever been designed. I thought about maybe taking a more abstract approach and looked at the work of Henry Moore.
Henry Moore
This sculpture (above) caught my attention immediately and sparked inspiration, as i can almost imagine these two shapes becoming little worker ghosts. These featureless and smoothly rounded shapes evoke the structure of people that haven't formed limbs yet and the bold curves personify them. It's interesting to look at them in two ways: One, as completely abstract shapes that bear no resemblance to anything we know, or Two, shapes that resemble the subtle outline of two little characters. The way their curves relate them to one another as if they're in conversation. I can see myself designing a collection of little characters that all share similar qualities but, like these two sculptures, it'll be obvious that they derive from the same kind. This allows me to add a little quirk to each worker ghost while being able to keep to a structure/theme.
Henry Moore (30th July 1898- 31st August 1986) was an English artist, best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art.
Moore's signature form is a reclining figure. His exploration of this form was to lead him to increasing abstraction as he turned his thoughts towards experimentation with the elements of design. Earlier figures are pierced in a conventional manner, in which bent limbs seperate from and rejoin the body. The later, more abstract figures are often penetrated by spaces directly through the body, by which he explores and alternates concave and convex shapes.
Other options:
Or rather than having actual ghosts, we just see shadows bouncing across walls to give a sense that the ghosts are there, we just can't actually see them. Adds more mystery and ambiguity. Revert back to puppetry, silhouette figures and how usually in horror films, things are more scary when you can't see them, like in a quiet place for example. Make sure that sound design for the worker ghosts is effective enough to create that unnerving atmosphere.
Jockum Nordstrom
Swedish Artist, Jockum Nordstrom's collages, watercolours, illustrations and architectural sculptures feel improvisational and spontaneous. Rich in detail, his works particularly on paper, read like storyboards and he often refers to them as "stills". He creates imaginative tableaux environments that appear as fantastical settings populated with unique figures, animals, architecture, furniture, instruments and other props, all varying in size and composition. His works feature an assorted cast of characters, seemingly pulled from different eras. Nordtrom is currently installing an exhibition at the Sketch Museum in Lund, Sweden. However, it's had to be postponed due to current circumstances. The central work 'The Anchor Hits the Sand', is a powerfully evocative and meditative shadow play with music. Nordstrom's paper figures- buildings, trees, animals and people- are projected on a screen of semi-transparent paper. The cut-out figures, which are mounted on a wire behind the screen, are illuminated through rotating filters and exposed in a never-repeated play of light and shadows.
The use of silhouette puppetry is something we could explore further for the development of the worker ghosts. Kaitlan already begun experimenting with silhouette projection for the main character but we can apply it in a slightly different way to the worker ghosts, making them more ambiguous. The audience will therefore get a strong sense of these workers being present but will never actually see their true form. Rather like Plato's metaphor for reality "The allegory of the Cave"- Prisoners have lived in a cave all their life. It's all they know and they rely on shadows cast onto the cave wall by the light of a fire and the passing of people behind them that they cannot see. These shadows are their reality and, for all they know, all that exists. The shadows of the worker ghosts filling the underworld could be our ghost's reality. Something to definitely explore further when we are back together.
For designs to really come to light, we need to experiment with all possibilities. I want to explore the idea of shadow puppetry a lot deeper, however, there's only so much i can do at home. I will draft up some rough designs of characters inspired by Henry Moore's style but go deeper in experimentation and designing possibilities when Kaitlan and I are back together at University.
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