Dismaland

Just before we started again at Uni for our second year, a group of us independently decided to travel down to Weston-Super-Mare to visit Banksy's 'Dismaland' Bemusement Park. Focused in Weston-Super-Mare, a place Banksy visited as a young child, he hired out a courtyard where a variety of artist's works were shown, all with a deep political meaning.
There was a mixture of animators, photographers, and artists who contributed to Dismaland and overall I found it an inspirational and effective collaboration. All the pieces had their own political or social agenda, such issues as the Horsemeat Scandal were introduced and shown within the work and add a more sinister edge to the original escapism sense that the real theme park Disneyland possesses.
 The actual setting of the park itself is dismal, with the old concrete and overgrown surroundings, the many signs for queueing etc. All of which contributed to the impact the park had on the visitors.
Alongside such installations and Banksy's own graffiti pieces that as per usual also celebrate political values and sinister morals, there were certain pieces that really appealed to me, the aspect of the 'Riot' piece in particular as this was a small scale set that was so intricate and shocking, trying to mock up the idea of a police riot with tiny figurines.

'Burton on Burton' - Summer Reading

Over the Summer I made sure to allow some time for some sort of reading in connection with my degree. I chose the autobiography of 'one of the great modern-day visionaries of cinema' Tim Burton. I have always been a fan of Tim Burton's directed films and sketches, and thought this would be a nice insight into his own history and background and how such things would effect his own work.

Important points are explored throughout the film, such as the explorations of Tim Burton's failures and how he overcame bad feedback and critics slandering his work, such failures included the pressures that were put upon him to produce the Batman films as he wanted to establish a whole new perspective of the darker side of all the characters. Throughout the book I found Burton's personality interesting, how he spoke about the fact that he personally can connect more the the villains than the heroes, he finds they're more complex and misunderstood characters that inherit more interest than the mediocre hero protagonist.
This book also reminded me of the colour palette project we had in first year, as Burton speaks about his important use of dull tones and colours to enhance a particular mood. This includes his use of colour in 'The Corpse Bride' a film he directed and animated amongst others, with the land of the dead being represented as the most colourful whilst the living dull and lifeless looking, an ironic twist to the theme.

Pinot Vine Animations

In previous group discussions it has been made clear that 'Vines' are a hit with young people and users of social media due to the small amount of attention it requires but is short and intricate. The vines constrict the amount of time between the attention of the viewer as these days due to technology and social media, video lengths are better preferred to be short and sweet. The animations Pinot makes is to elaborate small ideas into animations such as this spinning coin into the animation.

Eurovision Song Contest- Winner's Performance 2015

A particularly interesting performance came this year from the Eurovision Song Contest with this interactively animated entry from Sweden's singer Mans Zelmerlow. The singer not only performed vocally, but produced a unique interactive dance with projected animations during the performance, which wowed the audience and viewers due to the intricate thought and setting up that had taken place for success. The effectiveness of such a chosen way to display the song proved very successful with Sweden winning this year's contest.
During the animation, there were some characters made to look as if they were high fiving the performer and interacting with him, as well as including parts where it appeared he himself had super powers, with bursts of light coming out of his hands etc.
The animation itself was supposed to relate to the overall theme of the song titled "Heroes" Zelmerlow wanted the animation and the theme to shine through the performance.

 "We all are heroes no matter who we are, what we love or what we believe in"