Research Task 2

In this project, 'Characters', we have been given the theme of recycling to use that we are then going to incorporate into our characters throughout the weeks. In this task, I have been asked to reference a film, literature, illustration, Artist or a designer, game and an animation that uses features of recycling/junk in it. 

Film

Most films that use the theme of recycling are based around the theme of the world coming to an end, a post Apocalypse era, even though that these are the main types of films that show that, it does show what you can make from recycling certain materials and what unique things that can be made.

Mad Max

One of the most recognizable films to use the theme of recycling has to the be the "Mad Max" Series. Throughout the films you start to see the beginning of the apocalypse  and each film get more and more into to the recycling theme. I the films they start really using anything they can to use on their bodies to protect them selves, some of the stuff ranges from american football gear to just scraps of leather to cover certain areas. 

Another use in this film that uses the theme of recycling is they way that they use to build their castles and their vehicles  The vehicles are made from anything that they can make it deference and make it look mean this would be made from pipes, wires, tubing and so on, anything that could be recycled and used again.

Book Of Eli

Another film that also used the recycling genre and is once again a post apocalyptic era is the film called "The Book Of Eli" all though it does have some of the same aspects as in the film as mad max the main thing that is shown in this film is the way that certain items are used, since the world has become corrupted the value of money is nothing, so when they have the chance the people take unwanted items to shops and trade them for other items and I think this is a good example of recycle and really shows the value of certain items in the world that we think of nothing but then this film really starts to put a value to these items we once thought of as useless.

Game

Fallout

One good example of recycling in a game is from the game of fall out, on this bases the game is quite a lot like the film of mad max, as in the use that they will recycle anything that they can just to make themselves more defensive and more powerful. This recycling theme has also been used to make buildings more defensive by boarding up windows and barading the front of places.

 

Warhammer 40K

Now this game is quite different from the others and isnt quite a post apocoliptic game as in the sense the game is more about nations fighting one another to gain supreme command over one another but one of the main things that I noticed in this game is the way that the orcs a represents in this game, if you look at the orc characters you can see that anything that they have is recycled from scrap metal, one of the best examples of recycling is the towers that are used by the orcs, they have been completely made from scrap metal that has just been thrown on and nailed down, and this showns that if it can be nailed then it will do technique and I think this is a really good idea to show the nature of these orcs.

Animation

The Maker

It was quite difficult to find anything on the recycling of materials for an animation but I did think of the idea of the short animation called "The Maker". It is where a strange rabbit like creature has to make a repuclar of himself using the resources that are provided, and I think this fitted in quite well because the character uses different materials to build another one, which consists of cloth, wool, clay and one of the weirdest items used teeth. But the main reason that I choose this is because at the very end of the animation when the character turns it dust, all his parts are returned to where they were and will be used again by a another creature and this is where the theme of the recycling come into the stop animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXOioU_OKM

Recycling Animation

Another recycling animation, is this one, where a person starts to change the forms of items such as pens and clay, this gives a nice in site into how thing can be recycled and what they can be recycled into, the good point in this short stop animation is that is shows what they can be used for, such as a recycled pen and be used to draw a building which could be contructed, and this really gets across to the viewer that anything can make something and really shows the true highlights of what recycling can actually do for the planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV3-2pC5hU8

Artists/Illustrations

Derek Gores

This artist has attract world wide attention for the art work that he had produced in college and when you see it you understand why, one of his best piece was number 07 this is because of the way that he used simple pieces of newspapers and magazines to create such a details piece, and you can really notice the detail in everything, the way that the head light had its texture, and the extraordinary detail in the engine of the chopper, every little detail stands out. 

Another great piece is number 09, just because of the detail he has put into the face of the child, but not only the face of the child but also the detail that is obtained with the bubbles, and you think to yourself that this artist has really shown the true meaning of recycling and what potentials are out there for it. Not only that, but he has cut out certain works such as "Sweet", "Love" and "Sparkle" and has placed them around the childs head to show the true nature of a child.

Zac Freeman

Now this artist has taken a completely different approcach to the way that he has created his art with recycling and this is what really makes me really appeal to his, you have your average little bits and pieces that our throw away such as buttons, bottle caps, odd pieces of lego, but this man decided not to do that and created art out of these little pieces that we would call junk and from this he has created the most fantastic pieces of art, the thing that I really like about this artist is unlike others he has tried to keep the colour of the items to what they oringinal were, and not paint them to what he liked unless he needed to, and from just keeping the colour of the items the way they originally were he can create vast amounts of detail in the faces of his subjects, and just by looking at it you think what kind of art you could have created if you kept these little bits and pieces.

Other

One other thing that is really starting to make a change in the fashion industry is the use of recycling materials, and this sort of thing has started to it off big, and has spread around colleges, even Priestley college where you can see one dress made completely out of recycled soda cans. Although you don't see it round the streets as drastic as you see it on the cat walk there's no saying whether this type of fashion will actually hit the high streets but because of the economy and the threat of global warming, there is no reason to say that it will never happen.

Game Timeline

Art In Games Task

Photorealism
- Heavy Rain
- La Noir
- Crysis

Crysis 2 is (in my opinion) one of  the most detailed and most photo realistic game at this moment in time.
Everything that you see in the game crysis look so realist, almost like it had been filmed or even photographed, while playing the game you come across even more that is real, one good one is water and the way that it splashes when you walk acorss it or even swim in it. Another big one is the way that plants move around you rather then through you like in other games, this gives a more realist atmosphere making you feel more involed in the game and making you feel like you are actually in the game, the physics of the game are also extrodinary, the way that building crash and barrels roll, gives the game it unquie and realist design techinque. Compared to some other games like battlefield 3 the game really does out do itself in the grahpics and pysics department which really makes it such a good game to paly.

Realism
Realism is where a world look realist, as though you are there, as though you are seeing the world through a window or a helmet. Realism is one of the most popular genres to put games into this is because people want to have a game where they actually feel like they are playing for real, like they are actually in the game. Realism has been round for many years, in photograph and especially paintings (before modern art) and this has brought on some very famous artists such as Di Vinci with his Mono Lisa. Realism uses expersions and movement to make the subject have more life, these thing would give the character more emotion giving across a more realsit point of view.

Cell Shading
- Boarderlands
- Afro Samurai
- Battlefield Heroes

Boarderlands has to be the most famous game for cell shading and is the most reconizable at this time. Cell shading is where the game used lines to theyir entent where a line isnt thing and unseeable like in a game such as crysis but is more potant and seeable from a long way off, this give the game a very cartoony effect yo the game making them somewhat more friendly and make you feel more relaxed while in the environment, and this would be used on more childish games but boarderland has taken it a put it into a shooter game which you wouldnt really see and I think this is what makes the game very successful.

Pop Art

Popart was something strange that just suddenly happened in the art world, where the artist defied what art trally was and came up with the idea that it should all be brightly colour and unusal, in the sense that you would print the same pciture multipply time and then take the image filling the foreground image with one colour and the background with another, and do this repeativly and then take all the image and place them together, another idea from a different artist was the idea of turning paintings into comic book style and adding a speach to them, and this really started to kick off and vecame really popular, and many years later this art idea would spread to games.

Cyber Punk
- Deus Ex
- System Shock
- Metal Gear Solid

Deus Ex is a cyberpunk game, and is quite an old but popular game but uses quite an unsal style which all game from a book names cyberpunk, this style was adpated and but into its own way, and became its own genre. Cyberpunk is where everything is macanichel and the world relys and machiences this could be the human body being more adanvanced and even become a cyborg. The style of cyberpunk us very dark, most things will be of a black or grey nature but they will have something that defines them, may that be some bright colour in their hair or a small light coming from their eyes or other body feautres. Cyberpunk hasnt been used quite a lot but has the potential to have many different stlyes within itself and isnt really ristricted.

Art Deco

Art Deco is a very Artistic style it shows of the slightistic of details like shading and colours, this style is a very interesting one, i really like this style because it really shows of the shading and i feel that it is what art is all about and i feel that most games should be designed around this

Steampunk
- Bioshock
- Final Fantasy
- American McGee's Alice

Bioshock, one of the most reconizable game names in history, and this doesnt just come from the amazing story line but from the style of the game itself, Bioshock uses the style of steampunk, which is the use of macanical things that would run off steam or are made from scrap, this can really be seen in the game when yuo see a big daddy, a man made if metal and cloth (a diving suit) and the weapon that are made from chairs, this really gave bioshock its amazing look and really had the audience going, steampunk wasnt really so reconizable to many people and only started to become more reconziable when the game was realsied, this took the game market by storm and start to influence other games and also influenced and sequal tot the game.

Surrealism
Surrealism is where a certain thing uses things that are real, like watches or the human face and transforms them into something that is out of the ordinary, some that looks really but not real at the same time and this is known as surrealism, surrealism has been around not that long and only start a couple of years ago.

Pixel
- McPixel
- Sonic
- Minecraft

Of course we all know of the pixels and how they were used a lot in early games, when games frist started coming out they were all in the pixel form, this ranged between many games such as the very first sonic the hedgehod to mega, but as time went on so did the grapics and many game developers decided that they would head away from the idea of pixels and make the game more realist, but some decided that they want to stay this way and develop some games, the main game that almost everyone has heard about is the game minecraft, this game uses the pixel art scheme but makes it 3D, the pizels really make the game have a friendly enbironment to it and this what makes the game very popular, it a game that anyone can play and have a good time.

Black and White
- Limbo
- Pokemon Red
- " Blue

We dont see a loy of black and white games anymore because they have become out of date and we only really saw them when a consel couldnt really hold the capacity to have colour such as the very frist gamebou and its pokemon games, but one game decided to give a game the black and white gaming style another game and this is where the game Limbo came from, Limbo is a game where you are walking the world as a little boy and you come across many challenges that test your skill, but the world isnt a really such a nice place, and by simple having the different shades of black and white it really starts to give the game a very scary atmosphere and make the player become more engrossed in the game, and become more scared of what lyes ahead.

Exaggeration
- Gears Of War
- Final Fantasy
- Little Big Planet

This has become one of the biggest game idea that is around today, this is where it takes thing and basically oversizes them, so such as in the game Gear Of War where the mens bodys are the size of trees but their head is tiny, this should certain parts that the game desiger what the play to see and this could range from the strength of a person such as in gears of war or even how cool and awesome their weapons are which can be seen in the game final fantasy where litterally every monster you come across will be so deteail and also be three thousand times the size you are.