Tutorial 31/3/2011

Today we had a tutorial with simon and andy. We looked at out maquette of the 2 rooms and we all came up with some better ideas by expanding on what we already have. Simon and andy had used lighting on our maquette to photograph it in different ways to show how the light would seep in to create a certain effect, so this is something we will  further think about. We decided to scrap the idea of adding suttle hints of bugs into the furniture but instead we decided to add other bug hints in the living room such as scratches, slime and any other substance that the beetle could produce. We also decided that living room should have the kind of pristine look about it, like the mother has been constantly cleaning to try and get rid of any of gregors presence from the room. So we will make all the furniture worn out yet it will be extremely clean and even shiny on certain pieces of furniture such as the dining table to show that it has been cleaned constantly. Furniture in gregors room will have elements of the beetler being round, such as the chair under the window could have bent legs and shaped to fit the bug like it has buckled under his weight, we will make sure that the furniture is all crooked and moved about to show it has been lived in by a bug. Our ideas are finally coming together and we will all be creating a concept idea of how we want the rooms to look that we can show the rest of the group for monday.

AutoCAD coffee table design

This is the coffee table design i did on autocad. The deisign is very simple but many art noveau pieces involved alot of curves. I wanted to incorporate the bug legs so i have decided that to make this piece i will buy a table top and cut the legs off and create my own legs using metal that i can bend and shape to create the stands. I would like to incorporate smaller pieces of wire that also stick out from the legs to represent bug legs. Im really looking forward to making this piece!

Beetle Symbolism

Looking at other peoples drwings today i noticed that they had been included smalle elements that symbolise grgor as a beetle, so i thought i could incorporate this in to my coffee table. I thought i could either inscribe the outline of a beetle on to the top or to have the table legds look like the bugs legs are holding up the table. I think this would work really well as the living room is a more normal, familiar setting for gregors family but certain elements of him have creeped into the walls, fireplace, coffee table, dining table etc.

29/3/2011

Today we met Henry who has worked with scenery before. He told us the best ways of creating the flats and certin pieces of furniture to make it a much simpler process. We sat and decided on the measurements for all the individual pieces were to create, we decided to use inches and foot as that is whats mainly used in the film industry. We measured them accurately on to paper using 1 inch = 1 foot so we were working to scale. My coffee table ended up being drawn rather small but this was because the piece isnt very big any way. I worked with laura as she was creating the arm chairs for the living room and the coffee table would be going in front of it so i made sure it was an appropriate height for the chairs. The small images we drew were then to be cut out of foam card to create a small replicar set so we can work out the elevation. me and laura put our pieces together and they worked well with height and size etc.

Measurements

Today we worked out the final measurements for the 2 rooms and the pieces of furniture that go in it.
they 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 ft D=12"

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

Coffee Table W= 1ft  H= 1ft

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.ft  W=3 ft

Coffe Tables

I found this image of an antique art noveau coffee table and i love it. I really like the way the paintwork is flaking off the top of the table leaving slightly shiny bits and some much more dull. The design off it with the large round top and small 4 point stand would work extremely well in the living room. The mahogany finish on it adds to the darkness of the story and the way the room is being portrayed.

Art Noveau Style

I came across these 2 images of art noveau style picture frames. I like the small detail on the gilded frame but i particularly like the pewter effect on the wood frame to the right. The picture of a man in the army adds to the look of the frame as this frame will be containing and image of Gregor when he was in the army. It needs to be quite old looking and rusty, but as though it has been the only picture the family wanted to keep on show to keep Gregors real self alive. The gilded frame needs to be quite pretty and detailed, yet has a dark element to it to add to the eerieness in the bedroom

Autocad

I have downloaded autocad for my computer so i can create the design for the coffee table.It will be alot easier to spend more time working on it and getting to know my way around autcad alot more. I have decided to leave the picture frames to free hand drawing as it requires alot more free flowing creative styles to the frames that i can create later

Ideas. Refurbishment and re creation of old furniture

I have been out and about recently and come acorss alot of old photo frames, especially gided ones that i could refurbish myself to give it the right look. I havent started looking for coffee tables yet but looking at my groups list of things they discussed last thrursday, i did like the idea of incorporating small bug elements into each piece. I would like to do this on the top of the coffee table.

Health and Safety Induction on power tools 22/3/2011

Today we had a health and safety induction on different power tools that we would be using throughtout this unit. Simon led the demonstaration and i found it very useful. We learnt how to use

• Electric saw
• handheld jigsaws
• cordless drills
• different drill bits
• screw drivers
• gages
• nail guns

Rear Window

On Mondays screening we watched the film 'Rear Window' directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The main story line of the film is about a man who has broken his leg so he is confined to his apartment where he has a large back window where he can see what his neighbours get up to. As time progresses he starts to get more and more distracted by his neighbours activities that he spots what he thinks a man who murders his wife but the he is unable to convince the police of this. He has a beautiful girlfriend who will do anything for him but to begin with his un sure of whether she is right for him. At this point in the film i notice that the 'man gaze' occurs quite frequently. The camera focuses quite closely on the women as she comes in to the apartment and prepares dinner for her man. The camera appears at different angles like the camera is the mans own eyes. The film doesnt go to any other scenes apart from in his apartment and into the windows and back gardens of neighbours houses through the windows. The man soon learns a valuable lesson towards the end of the film, not to mess with other peoples business as the man who is suspected of murdering his wife finally sees that he is being watched and throws the man out the window before falling and breaking both legs again,. It turns out that at the end the man did kill his wife, she was buried underneath the flowers in his garden which the neighbours dog kept trying to dig up. Although the film didnt venture outside of four walls the film manages to keep your attention just so you can witness the final outcome.

Designs

I drew up the designs for the coffee table and the 2 photo frames. One frame is gilded so will be alot more fancy, where as the other is just a normal picture frame but will be quite old, worn and distressed as though it has been there for quite a long time. I look forward to achieving the desired effect.

Gilded frame for image of the lady in a fur hat

I came across this image of a gilded photo frame that would work really well as the frame for the women in a fur hat! i thought i could fine a frame similar to this but distress in some way so it looked like it had been hanging on the wall for a long time

Coffe Tables

http://www.architecturalartifacts.com/store/furniture/0707540191/

Art Noveau style coffee table

I started to look at art noveau style coffee tables from the 1900's. I really like the style of this, the legs are a very nice slender shape and i like the glass tops
http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/483711

Meeting today 22/03/2011

Today we had another meeting to decide who was going to do what. we were all assigned a piece of furniture to create for the 2 rooms. The items i have to create is a coffee table for the living room that sits in between the 2 arm chairs, as well as the gilded frame that contains the picture of the women in a fur hat and boa and also the frame in the living room that contains the photo of gregor in the army. I will look into art noveau style in the ealry 1900's in the czech republic to get the right idea for the design of this objects. I look forward to creating these

Colour scheme ideas and textures

I was looking through a book about Tim Burtons film 'Alice in Wonderland' and came across a few images that i really liked and thought could be useful for the rest of the group. I like the texture of the wood on the walls, and the dark eerieness of the room that alice is in works really well.



Summary of the Book

This is a summary of the book that i found on a website. it puts the book in to perspective and makes easier to understand each section. it also asks some very interesting questions like what bug does gregor actually turn in to?

 

Summary                   

Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find that he has been inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. He is not dreaming; he is clearly still in his own bedroom in his family's apartment, in his own bed. He is lying on his back and can see his numerous legs squirming uselessly in the air. Initially, he is unable to get out of bed.


Gregor's thoughts turn to his strenuous and thankless job as a traveling salesman for a company that is suspicious and over-vigilant toward its sales force. Gregor would have quit long ago, but his parents are in deep financial debt to his boss, so for the family's sake he continues. A quick glance at the alarm clock tells Gregor that he has slept late and missed his train. If he rushes he might still be able to catch the 7 a.m. train, but even this won't spare him a tongue-lashing from his boss. He considers calling in sick, which he has never done, but suspects that his boss would then send a health-insurance doctor to check on him.
Concerned, Gregor's parents and his sister Grete soon begin to knock on his door. In an altered voice, with brief and deliberate phrases, he tries to reassure them. He expends a quarter of an hour struggling with his air-beating limbs and unfamiliar body in an attempt to get out of bed. When Gregor, rocking back and forth, is on the verge of teetering off the bed and landing on his sturdy (he hopes) back, the doorbell rings. It is the chief clerk of the company come to see why he didn't leave by the early train. Gregor swings off the bed and onto the floor, banging his head in the process.
Gregor's parents detain the chief clerk while imploring Gregor to open the locked door to his room. Gregor is still able to manage simple stalling phrases. At last, the chief clerk becomes impatient. In front of Gregor's parents, the functionary sets into a critical and demoralizing speech, even maliciously insinuating that perhaps Gregor is hiding in his room because of some unethical activity involving cash receipts. Gregor excitedly replies with a stream of words, pleading illness, offering assurances that he will make the eight o'clock train, and asking the man to spare his parents. While he speaks he maneuvers himself up against his wardrobe and is able, with considerable difficulty, to draw himself upright. He wants to open the door and then gauge the seriousness of his situation from the reaction of those outside.
His family and the chief clerk become alarmed. They have not understood a word of his fevered reply. In fact, they do not recognize it as human speech. His mother sends Grete for the doctor; his father sends the maid for a locksmith. Gregor remains calm. He feels reassured by the efforts being made on his behalf. Leaning against the door, his jaws struggle with the key. He manages at last to open the door and peer out. Gregor's mother faints, his father begins to weep, and the chief clerk can only muster a startled "Oh!"
From his room's threshold, Gregor tries to placate the clerk and defend himself against earlier accusations. But the man is slowly making his way to the door. Thinking the chief clerk still angry with him, Gregor makes a move to intercept the man and further plead his case. His movement frightens his mother and sends the chief clerk fleeing down the stairwell, screaming at full volume. Gregor's father springs into action, grabbing a stick and a newspaper and herding Gregor back into his bedroom with prods and fierce hisses. Gregor injures himself badly trying to fit back through the doorway. The door is slammed shut behind him, and all goes quiet.       
                                
One reason this novella has become so well-known and inspired so many interpretations is that it does not show its hand. It begins with a ridiculous but resonant proclamation--that a man is now a large insect--and does not look back, with no nods or winks or unambiguous signs as to how we should proceed. The narrative itself is clear and straightforward. The descriptions of the insect are somewhat hazy with regard to true entomology, but the descriptions of Gregor's physical tribulations as an insect are detailed and realistic--if such a thing can be said of a two- or three-foot-long bug. What are we to make of this? The transformation is a fait accompli and, within the context of the story, there is no going back to question its cause.
Although Gregor wakes up as an insect in outward, physical form, some of his more internal elements undergo a more gradual metamorphosis. But soon, his human voice disappears and his preferences grow more insect-like. With time he masters the coordination of his new body. He thinks less and crawls on walls and ceilings. But his consideration for his family's feelings seldom wavers.
A note on the insect: It has been variously translated as a cockroach, a stag beetle, a dung beetle, and a centipede. The latter, of course, is not an insect at all. But does a cockroach have the "numerous legs" that "flicker" before Gregor's eyes? Only if "numerous" means six. Does a cockroach have a neck that it can turn to give one last look behind it, as Gregor does later? It's more likely that the bug is not a specific bug, and its exact identity is immaterial to the tale. Kafka himself asked that the insect not be depicted on the cover of the book in 1915; this, he felt sure, would spoil the story.

Sparknotes LLC, 2011, http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/section1.rhtml, accessed 20/3/2011

Living Room

The idea for the living room is that there was alot more furniture involved in this area compared to gregors room. It will be alot easier for our budget as more furnitue will need to be purchased or refurbished for the living room area.I will bring up in tomorrows discussion about my idea for the joining of the 2 spaces and see what the group think.

Presentation and discussions

Today we had our presentation, expressing our ideas and imagery to Andy and Simon so they know what we are going to make. We had a few previous discussions about how the rooms should look. We decided to slpit the group in half so that one half had responsibilty of the living room, and the other half had responsibility of Gregors room. We picked them randomly and i chose the living room. I did want to be a part of creating Gregors room but i think we can make something quite extraordinary in the living room. We decided firstly that the door way should be in the centre of the room, we thougth about incorporating a fire place into it somehow. The doorway will act as the main piece of the living room that has the existence of gregor on it so decaying walls and cracks will be created around the door to show that creepiness inside his room is starting to spread. I thought about having the living room at the front and gregors room joining on the back so that the only way you can see his room is by walking through the living room and through the door. I started to look at Czech architecture as the story was set in Prague so i have been looking at how the house may have been designed. I will also look into the furniture at the time so that it will work well in the room. The colours that will be used in the living room will look quite deteroriated, like it is peeling away, like an eggshell look or mixtures of greens, blues and reds that will look faded due to time. The living room will look lived in like a normal family home but will have elements of the weird and strange that would have seeped in from gregors room. Im looking forward to getting started.

Czech Architecture

Looking in to the era of the story we decided to focus on what country it may have been set in. I have started by looking at Czech architecture then moving on to Russian architecture then german to see what fits best for our concept for the 2 rooms.

Architecture
Stone architecture in the Czech lands dates from the second half of the 9th century (rotundas). By the 13th century, the Romanesque style was replaced by the Gothic, which reached its peak during the reigns of Charles IV (1346–1378) and his son Wenceslas IV (1378–1419). Prague has thousands of architectural and artistic monuments of every style, attesting to its long history. Foreign visitors consider Prague one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

 

Czech architecture is influenced by major European trends, yet it still represents Czech identity. At the end of the 19th century, the decorative and stylized Art Nouveau architecture ushered new concepts with the beautiful Municipal House in Prague and the Theatre in Prostejov as prime examples. In the early 1900s, Czech architecture saw the emergence of a unique form of Cubism, with round and crystalline derivation of geometric shapes. For the first time in the world, Cubist forms were applied to architecture, which were implemented during the pre-war years of 1913-14 in Prague to building designs, statues and furniture. Josef Gocár is one of the leading Czech architects who designed many buildings in the Cubist style, of which the most distinguished are the spa pavilion in Lazne Bohdanec and the House of the Black Madonna in Prague. Other outstanding Cubists include Josef Chochol, who designed an impressive building on Neklanova Street in Prague, and Emil Kralicek, who designed the Diamant House in the centre of Prague. The next age of modern architectural construction completely broke away from monumentality and decoration, and found artistic expression in the practicality of space and simplicity. That style has been vividly represented by some of the brilliant architects including Jan Kotěra, Pavel Janák and Josef Gocár.
When talking about the history and culture of Czechia, especially its arts and architecture, one cannot disregard the significant contribution made by its national minorities, in particular its Jewish population. The Jewish Quarter of Prague is a treasury of Jewish art and architecture and is one of the most outstanding Jewish sites in Europe. Known as Josefov, the area incorporates the Jewish Cemetery, a number of synagogues including the Old New Synagogue (XIIIc.), Pinkas (XVc.), Maisel (XVIc.), Klaus (XVIIc.) Synagogues, museums and residencies, and the Old Town Hall (XVIc.).



aquarius international, daredstudio, 2010, http://www.aquariusinternational.cz/en/culture/, accessed 17/03/2011

Ideas based on todays discussions

I designed another ideas for the conjoining of the 2 rooms and sketched down a few ideas.
The living room will look like a normal everyday room. The door to gregors room will be in the middle, and when you walk in to it the perspective of the room will make it look extremely small and claustrophobic, giving it a weird eerie feel, with the presence of gregor the beetle living in it. The room will be one behind the other so you wont see gregors room until you walk through the door in the living room. i think this will give a better effect and will relate to the idea of expressionism.

Constructivism

  Constructivism was first created in Russia in 1913 when the Russian sculptor Vladimir Tatlin, during his journey to Paris, discovered the works of Braque and Picasso. When Tatlin was back in Russia, he began producing sculptured out of assemblages, but he abandoned any reference to precise subjects or themes. Those works marked the appearance of Constructivism. The name Constructivism did not describe a specific movement but rather a trend within the fields of painting, sculpture and especially closely conjoined artists and their art with machine production, architecture and the applied arts.

   Constructivism art refers to the optimistic, non-representational relief construction, sculpture, kinetics and painting. The artists did not believe in abstract ideas, rather they tried to link art with concrete and tangible ideas. Early modern movements around WWI were idealistic, seeking a new order in art and architecture that dealt with social and economic problems. They wanted to renew the idea that the apex of artwork does not revolve around "fine art", but rather emphasized that the most priceless artwork can often be discovered in the nuances of "practical art" and through portraying man and mechanization into one aesthetic program.

   Constructivism was an invention of the Russian avant-garde that found adherents across the continent. The artists mainly consisted of young Russians trying to engage the full ideas of modern art on their own terms. They depicted art that was mostly three dimensional, and they also often portrayed art that could be connected to their Proletarian beliefs. Theory of constructivism is derived from Russian Suprematism, Dutch Neo Plasticism De Stijl and the German Bauhaus. Germany was the site of the most Constructivist activity outside of the Soviet Union to Walter Gropius's Bauhaus, a progressive art and design school sympathetic to the movement, same as other art centers, like Paris, London, and eventually the United States.

huntfor, http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/constructivism.htm, accessed 16/03/2011

Interesting idea

Gregors room on top
Living room at the bottom

Juxtaposition, in gregors room the first wall is actually the floor and the ceiling is the wall with the window on so all furniture will be on its side.
Th living room is downstairs as though the family are looking up towards gregor.
Cracks in the walls, peeling wallpaper and a hole in the floor that has been made by gregor, the bug to try and get out instead of having a door
The door in the living room shows the hospital on the outside which is symbolic for help being so near yet so far away for gregor.
tables, chairs, decorated in victorian style

Expressionism is involved in the fact that it is meerly an expression of emotion than being something real.

Expressionism

In the north of Europe, the Fauves' celebration of color was pushed to new emotional and psychological depths. Expressionism, as it was generally known, developed almost simultaneously in different countries from about 1905. Characterized by heightened, symbolic colors and exaggerated imagery, it was German Expressionism in particular that tended to dwell on the darker, sinister aspects of the human psyche.
The term ``Expressionism'' can be used to describe various art forms but, in its broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations. The paintings aim to reflect the artists's state of mind rather than the reality of the external world. The German Expressionist movement began in 1905 with artists such as Kirchner and Nolde, who favored the Fauvist style of bright colors but also added stronger linear effects and harsher outlines.
Although Expressionism developed a distinctly German character, the Frenchman, Georges Rouault (1871-1958), links the decorative effects of Fauvism in France with the symbolic color of German Expressionism. Rouault trained with Matisse at Moreau's academy and exhibited with the Fauves, but his palette of colors and profound subject matter place him as an early, if isolated Expressionist. His work has been described as ``Fauvism with dark glasses''.
Rouault was a deeply religious man and some consider him the greatest religious artist of the 20th century. He began his career apprenticed to a stained-glass worker, and his love of harsh, binding outlines containing a radiance of color gives poignancy to his paintings of whores and fools. He himself does not judge them, though the terrible compassion with which he shows his wretched figures makes a powerful impression: Prostitute at Her Mirror (1906; 70 x 60 cm (27 1/2 x 23 1/2 in)) is a savage indictment of human cruelty. She is a travesty of feminity, although poverty drives her still to prink miserably before her mirror in the hope of work. Yet the picture does not depress, but holds out hope of redemption. Strangely enough, this work is for Rouault-- if not exactly a religious picture-- at least a profoundly moral one. She is a sad female version of his tortured Christs, a figure mocked and scorned, held in disrepute.

The bridge to the future

Die Brücke (The Bridge) was the first of two Expressionist movements that emerged in Germany in the early decades of the 20th century. In 1905 a group of German Expressionist artists came together in Dresden and took that name chosen by Schmidt-Rottluff to indicate their faith in the art of the future, towards which their work would serve as a bridge. In practice they were not a cohesive group, and their art became an angst-ridden type of Expressionism. The achievement that had the most lasting value was their revival of graphic arts, in particular, the woodcut using bold and simplified forms.
The artists of Die Brücke drew inspiration from van Gogh, Gauguin and primitive art. Munch was also a strong influence, having exhibited his art in Berlin from 1892. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), the leading spirit of Die Brücke, wanted German art to be a bridge to the future. He insisted that the group, which included Erich Heckel (1883-1970) and Karl Schmidt-Rottluf (1884-1976), ``express inner convictions... with sincerity and spontaneity''.
Even at their wildest, the Fauves had retained a sense of harmony and design, but Die Brücke abandoned such restraint. They used images of the modern city to convey a hostile, alienating world, with distorted figures and colors. Kirchner does just this in Berlin Street Scene (1913; 121 x 95 cm (47 1/2 x 37 1/2 in)), where the shrill colors and jagged hysteria of his own vision flash forth uneasily. There is a powerful sense of violence, contained with difficulty, in much of their art. Emil Nolde (1867-1956), briefly associated with Die Brücke, was a more profound Expressionist who worked in isolation for much of his career. His interest in primitive art and sensual color led him to paint some remarkable pictures with dynamic energy, simple rhythms, and visual tension. He could even illuminate the marshes of his native Germany with dramatic clashes of stunning color. Yet Early Evening (1916; 74 x 101 cm (29 x 39 1/2 in)) is not mere drama: light glimmers over the distance with an exhilarating sense of space.
Die Brücke collapsed as the inner convictions of each artist began to differ, but arguably the greatest German artist of the time was Max Beckmann (1884-1950). Working independently, he constructed his own bridge, to link the objective truthfulness of great artists of the past with his own subjective emotions. Like some other Expressionists, he served in World War I and suffered unbearable depression and hallucinations as a result. His work reflects his stress through its sheer intensity: cruel, brutal images are held still by solid colors and flat, heavy shapes to give an almost timeless quality. Such an unshakeable certainty of vision meant that he was hated by the Nazis, and he ended his days in the United States, a lonely force for good. He is perhaps just discernible as a descendant of Dürer in his love of self-portraits and blend of the clumsy and suave with which he imagines himself: in Self-Portrait (1944; 95 x 60 cm (37 1/2 x 23 1/2 in)), he looks out, not at himself, but at us, with a prophetic urgency.

ibiblio, http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/20th/expressionism.html, date accessed 16/03/2011

Stage Play of Kafkas The Metamorphosis

I found a website that had reviews on a London stage play of The Metamorphosism. They explain how the stage is set out to creat a very eerie, juxtaposed position of gregors room, with his room upstairs and the living room on the lower level being able to look up at Gregors room. i think this is a fascinating idea and could be something to consider for our own set design.

"How do you stage Kafka’s Metamorphosis? Extremely athletically in the case of this co-production between the Lyric and the Icelandic company, Vesturport, who have already astonished us with their Romeo and Juliet and Woyzeck. But the triumph of the production is that it uses physical ingenuity to get to the tragic heart of Kafka’s fable.

The premise is familiar: Gregor Samsa, a Czech commercial traveller, awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. But Kafka’s mix of realism and fantasy is instantly caught in Born Jonsson’s split-level set. The lower level is a drably furnished Prague sitting-room. On the upper storey, we get a ceiling-eye view of Gregor’s room, reminiscent of a weirdly-angled Anthony Green Royal Academy painting. The contrasting viewpoints immediately usher us into Kafka’s world of strange juxtapositions.
You can, of course, interpret the story in many ways: autobiographically, Freudianly, symbolically. But David Farr and Gisli Orn Gardarsson, as joint adaptor-directors, see it as domestic tragedy and political metaphor. Gregor becomes an image of marginalised people everywhere. His father, here christened Hermann after Kafka’s dad, is inseparable from his quasi-military, bank-messenger’s uniform. And the family’s lodger turns on Gregor vehemently to proclaim “the time will come when we will clear the vermin from our society”.
Kafka wrote his story in 1912; but in this version it becomes a prophetic vision of the European nightmares to come.
The one thing it is not is a simple story of an insect. Gardarsson, who plays Gregor in a business suit, brilliantly expresses his physical transformation by hanging from the ceiling and leaping from one precarious toehold to another. But, under the acrobatic daring, he constantly reminds us of Gregor’s residual humanity. He creeps up on the family to eavesdrop on a discussion of their financial future and, with unbearable poignancy, is destroyed by his urge to listen to his sister’s violin-playing.
Quite rightly, it is the family who are the real grotesques. Ingvar E Sigurdsson’s father is a domestic bully who hurls a chair, on which Gregor has sat, out of the window. Nina Dogg Filippusdottir also captures immaculately the sister’s terrifying translation from Gregor’s helpmate into his tormentor.
But the final moment when the family go for a spring walk to an exultant tune from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, captures perfectly what Nabokov once called the “ironic simplicity” of Kafka’s climax."

wordpress.com, http://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/metamorphosis/, date accesssed 16/03/2011

Mood Board

I will be creating a mood board for the presentation tomorrow involving all the ideas and research that i have explored. I will include my own drawing aswell as researched images that express what i would like and i will write about them.

Research

It was discussed that the story may have been said in the Victorian era so i will look into victorian furniture and interiors that would have been around at that time.

Ths Shining

I watched the Shining for the first time, I found it fascinating as though looking at it through creative eyes but i did not like the story. There were certain scenes that i really liked and thought could work well for our set design involving psychological horror. there was a scene at the beginning there was a flood of blood into the hallway and i found this quite effective. We spoke about the shining in a theory lecture and spoke about the ID, EGO and SUPEREGO that is present in this film aswell as others and i found this extremely interesting. I started to think more about other psychological horrors that could help towards the process of deciding what sets to make.

ideas

This is an image i found on google of one of the many versions of Kafkas book.  The bug is hanging from the ceiling ina very dark and damp room with the family peering in through the door towards him.

Summary of The story and meanings.

The Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka
 
Main Characters
Gregor Samsa - Man who supported his family but mysteriously turned into a roach one day.
Grete Samsa - The sister of the roach man who fed and took care of the roach.
Herr Samsa - The father of the roach who had to return to work when his son couldn’t.
Frau Samsa - The mother of the roach who had to return to work when her son couldn’t.
 
Minor Characters
lodgers - Disrespectful people that rented rooms in the Samsa flat.
charwoman - Cleaning lady who first found Gregor dead.
 
Settings
Gregor’s room - Gregor is locked up here and not allowed to roam about around the other rooms of the house.
Dining room - The rest of the family spends most of its time here talking and eating.
 
Plot
The story begins with Gregor waking up in bed and finding out that he’s just turned into a vermin, probably a roach.  Despite his state, Gregor feels that he can still go to work.  However, he proves unable to do this when he finds he has so much trouble getting out of bed and opening the door.  Furthermore, no one can understand him. Gregor’s employer who had come to Gregor’s house to fetch him to work, leaves in a very nervous state and Gregor worries about losing his job.  His family, however, cannot believe that the bug is Gregor and shoves him back into his room when Gregor tries to step out badly bruising Gregor.  Gregor returns to his room and goes to sleep.  The family is now faced with the problem of the lack of money since Gregor was the only member of the family that worked.  Luckily, the father had saved some money which the family would be able to live off of for about a year.  Also each member of the family got a job.  Herr got a job at the bank, Frau got a job knitting lingerie, and Grete got a job as a store clerk.  In the meantime, the only person who enters the room is Grete who comes by and feeds Gregor twice a day.  After time, the maid was fired and a charwoman was hired to do the cleaning.  Also, the Samsa’s took up three lodgers to help pay the rent on the flat.  These lodgers, however, did not know about Gregor.  One night after dinner, Grete began playing the violin which lured Gregor out into the dining room.  The lodgers caught sight of him and Herr pushed them into their room out of sight of Gregor.  The lodgers threatened to leave without paying.  Gregor was pushed back into his own room.  Early next morning, the charwoman came to clean and found Gregor dead in his room.  She told the rest of the family.  Herr ordered the lodgers out of his house.  The entire family then wrote letters to their employers requesting a day off to relax.  They then took a train trip where the Samsa’s realized that it was about time that Grete got married.
 
Symbols
hospital - This symbolizes help which was so near for Gregor and yet so far.
music - This symbolizes the universal communication that Gregor could have had with his sister.
lodgers - This symbolizes the lack of control that the Samsa family had over their situation.
 
Style
 Kafka’s style is simple and matter of factly.  The fact that Gregor turned into a bug did not seem to shock Gregor very much making this an interesting contrast to the families reaction.  The omnipotent third person leaves some things out such how Gregor turned into a bug in order to keep the matter of fact style of the story.
 
Dominant Philosophy
 Gregor’s state before he turned into a bug contrasts with the family’s state after the got jobs and began working.  This suggests the Kafka is trying to say that we shouldn’t work like bugs for others leaving out time for ourselves as Gregor had but instead work for ourselves with pride and dignity as the family did at the end of the story.
 
Quotes
Page 538 “As Gregor Samsa awake one morning from a troubled dream, he found himself changed in his bed to some monstrous kind of vermin.”  The narrator says this about how Gregor found out he was a bug.
Page 539 “The next train went at seven; to catch it he must hurry madly, and his collection of samples was not packed;”  The narrator says this describing how Gregor, despite being a bug, still wants to go to work.”
Page 577 “He’s lying there, absolutely dead as a doornail.”  The charwoman says this to the rest of the family announcing Gregor’s death.
Page 577 “We can thank God for that!”  Herr Samsa says this in response to the news that his son just died.


summary central, http://summarycentral.tripod.com/themetamorphosis.htm, accessed 16/3/2011

Gregor Samsas Nightmare

I came across this video on youtube aswell as on the Frank kafka website of Grgor Samsas nightmre. It shows what happens in his nightmare and that he then turns into a bug. It is quite a weird and disturbing video but i think if the rest of my group watch it, it could generate some good ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMFKhJkd3lM&playnext=1&list=PLEA742DA4EC4409EA

Quick sketch of idea for living room

I did a quick sketch of an idea for the living room, i incorporated some of the ideas that we spoke about on monday.

• pressure points underneath the floorboards that triggers squirming under the floor like bugs are crawling.
• spider hole in the wall that takes you through to the next room, no actual door
• attic and a living room?
• weird paintings in gilded frames?
• spider eyes appearing from cracks and holes in the walls
• spider webs
• spider legs coming through the wall and can be controlled so they move

Visual Narrative

Set Building

• To support the story

• To put the story into an appropriate

arena

• To create a environment for the

audience: one that is believable

(mis en scene).

Mis en scene – everything is supportive of the world that is being created

to ensure credibility and believability

Why Choose a Studio?

• Controllable environment.

• Location work is impractical

• What you want to film doesn’t exist.

On location…

• The location may not be appropriate - difficulties with access

• Locations may not provide everything you need.

• Set construction may be needed to hide unwanted details

• Area may be historically or contemporarily correct

Creating the Illusion

The Trades

Carpenters,

Riggers,

Plasterers,

Painters

Part of the whole…

• Production department will supply

drawings for consultation.

• These drawings are passed onto

relevant departments for costing.

• Once approved, construction can begin

Time is Money.

• Studios are expensive to hire.

• The crew are expensive to hire.

• The equipment is expensive to hire.

Deadlines.

• Very important to know the deadline

and to complete before the deadline.

• Set -building may involve work in a

controlled environment or in an

uncontrolled environment.

Visual Narrative.

• Your project will involve you

constructing - from plans - a set.

• You will complete the task and erect the

set in a studio environment where it will

be dressed, lit, filmed or photographed.

Tutorial

I did not attend the tutorial today but i was aware of what was said and what ideas had been said. We need to create a presentation for thursday involving our ideas that will be shown to andy and simon so we are ready to start!
 It seems that the group had come up with some great ideas that we could consider

• where was it set?
• what era? 1900's?
• how old is gregor?
• what colours to use? dark and depressing? dull?
• what insect does he turn into? spider? cockroach?

The Metamorphism By Frank Kafka

Reading through this book I decided to pick out the key words or sentences that would be relevant to our set design. I didnt find the book very good but all the same I read it and thought up of some very interesting interior ideas.

Key Words:

• Four walls, normal room for a human being
• Table with an unpacked collection of sample cloth goods
• picture of a women with a fur hat, fur boa and fur muff out of an illustrated magazine in a gilded frame on the wall
• window, dreary weather, raining
• alarm clock
• carpet
• brown fluid seeping out the mouth
• coffee pouring onto carpet
• rotten food

 These are all different elements of props and scenery that we could include into our set.

First meeting 14/3/2011

Today was the first meeting of group 1. Not everyone was there but we decided to come up with a few ideas ready for the tutorial tomorrow. The book we were given was The Metamorphism by frank Kafka. At this point, only a few of us had read the book but we all knew the basis of the story. We decided to look in to the main idea of the 2 rooms that we are going to make. We thought of:

• peeling wallpaper revealing bugs behind the walls
• pressure points in the floors or in certain objects that will cause other objects to move or certain things to appear to the audience
• normal everyday room with eerie features and sounds of children singing 'incy wincy spider'
• giant spider with the interior inside the spiders stomach
• bugs crawling under the skin
• bullet holes in the wall with light seeping through it
• spider legs coming through the wall

these are just initial ideas that we will develop on further