In this project i will be covering unit 4,5 and seven and i will start of by researching what German Expressionism is and how it influenced the world. Then i will make my own environment in the style of German Expressionists and animate it.
Timeline
Germany isolated itself from the rest of the world during the first World War in 1914
Due to the import and export ban many people demanded more German films which lead to the Germans to create the German Expression technique because they were on a budget as the German economy was really low, however the technique used was a success and the number of movies increased from 24 to 130 films by 1918.
The value of watching movies in cinemas decreased allowing everyone including less wealthy people to watch the German movies which became really popular in Germany and domestically.
1930 German film makers flee to America due to Hitlers rise in power and Hollywood grows bigger and better. This event had huge influence Hollywood and lead to the creation of the film NOIR.
Destiny 1921 was released in America inspired by German Expressionism in Hollywood.
What is German Expressionism and when did it begin ?
German Expressionism began in Germany during the times of the first World War. German Expressionism became very popular in 1920's due to its rich use dark dull style of colours, monochromatic black and white, highly contrasted and a substantially large number of shadows and exaggerated angles.
How did German Expressionism start ?
During the first World War in 1914 the German government had demanded to isolate itself from the rest of the world which lead to a massive drain in the country's economy meaning that money was worth absolutely nothing and only rich powerful people could afford the luxury of food, this meant that normal people and poor people had no way of affording food which lead to them starving. The Germans then demanded to have more of their own films as there was no other way of importing films from the outside the country, this provoked the Germans so that from 1914 the German film stock market had increased from 24 films to 130 films by 1918. Furthermore in order to make these 106 new movies German film makers and directors had to consider their budgets which lead to them creating their own painted sets and props this would later be named German Expressionism.
What was the influence of German Expressionists outside of Germany ?
After the first World War ended in 1918's not far off in the 1920's the German government lifted it's import ban allowing people from other countries to get their hands on their films which made international audiences to really appreciate the German Cinema. This made America to change their focus of film making from creating large number of western films to more gangster films. By 1930's after Hitler's rise in power many film makers from Germany have decided to flee to America and work which had a huge impact on Hollywood, this meant that Hollywood would now use new movie techniques and have an element of the German Expression in its new movies.
A list of what is influenced still to this day by German Expressionism
- Films
- Theatre
- Architecture
- Dance
- Art
- Sculpture
- New Games
The Cabinet of Dr Callgari
Metropolis
German Expressionism
In summary German Expressionism is a style of it own invented in Germany around the first world war. As a result of the German government banning foreign goods which caused Germany's economy to be worth nothing. This made film makers in Germany to panic as they had no way of making movies with a budget being worth nothing. Also people demanded that the number of films increased as they only had 24 films and had no other way of getting any more due to the import ban. This made German film makers to pay artists money to paint their sets and props as it was the only thing that they could do with the low budget they had and can paint and create their own sets and props. Ten years later the War ended and the import and export ban was lifted by the government, by this time the number of movies in Germany already increased from 24 to around 130 which made international audiences to grow quite fond of the German film makers giving them credit for doing something new and mysterious rather than the same western movies made by the Americans. Sooner rather than later after Hitler has risen to be in charge of the Germans many film makers fled to America to work there which had a huge impact on the Hollywood movie industry.
Techniques
- Extreme Angles to show inner anxiety and turmoil.
- Chiaroscuro (different light shades)
- High Contrast
- Monochromatic Black and White
- Shadows
- Sinister Themes : Horror, Slaughter or Death
- Shape Dynamics
- Abstract
Character Creation Based on German Expressionism
Lighting and detail added
In the end i have created a character based on German Expressionism where i made him monochromatic of black and white with a little bit of a red accent. I have tried to use shape dynamics and add as many triangular/sharp shapes to him. Also i have made it so that these two lighting sources one from the front and one from the right.
Modern Influences
1 : Frankenweenie
Released in September of 2012 Frankenweenie was a film directed by Tim Burton and tells the story of a innocent boy loosing his dog named "Sparky" he then goes and tries to resurrect him using electricity. This film has the theme of Horror and death. The monochromatic black and white and sharp shape dynamics indicate that many of the characters are dangerous and unpredictable. The dark and dull style of art used in this film is a perfect example of modern German Expressionism and how it should be used.
2: Batman Returns
In the film Batman Returns Tim Burton includes many references to the old German Expressionist film "Metropolis" this is shown in this scene.
This scene shows how much influence Tim Burton gained from watching the original German Expressionist film "Metropolis" from camera angles to the exact shape dynamics.
3: La Noir
American gangster settings was the biggest thing during the 1930 to 1940 and with the help of the Germans the Americans came up with the La Noir and used many different techniques such as shadows and chiaroscuro and camera angle techniques to deliver the best German Expressionism film for that time.
A game series based on the movies was created in the twenty first century following the events of the film.
4: Limbo
Limbo is a video game which is uses monochromatic black and white this means that Limbo uses shadows and lighting to show emotions and feelings much like the German Expressions thus limbo is a modern influence by German Expressionism. Limbo has the sinister theme of Horror and has the main character go through different puzzles all throughout the game.
5: Einstein Tower
The Einstein tower has a beautiful design and nice curved angular shapes it was made by Erich Mendelsohn. The tower is an observatory and was inspired by the German Expressionism.
6: New Objectivity
Die Neue Sachlichekeit was a group assembled in the 1920's post war and was influenced by German Expressionism. This group consisted of Max Beckham, Otto Dix and George Grosz.
Mind-Map
MoodBoard
Sub Dominant = Red
Focal Point = Yellow
Sketchovers
I decided to use the web and look for some reference images to help me decide which environment i should pick.
I have came to the conclusion to use this environment as i think its the most suitable for this project as it has the best and most potential to have a German Expressionist touch to it. I then started to add a little bit more detail where i will then go on the web and make a collage of all the reference pictures i can find to help me with this piece.
For this section of the project i am going to animate my environment using no more than 30 frames. I will probably animate the water and the character.
MindMap
Development
Some detail added, also colour is added.
Waterfall reference
I have cropped my scene in order for the golden spiral to match my scene
Evaluation
During this project i have gathered a range of ideas based around the concept of German Expressionism, i experimented with a range of styles but most importantly i have made sure to follow the given brief of "Creating and Animating an original environment based on German Expressionism.
I started this project by gathering as much knowledge about the most important thing in this project which was "German Expressionism", i have went off and research this subject to find as much background information of the cultural impacts as well as it's origin and it's impact on people. And what i have discovered is that German expressionism was a well known technique popularised when used in many of the German movies released in 1914. This was as a result to the German import ban which caused it's economy to be worthless creating an insignificantly large part of the German population to be poor, this led to many people demanding film makers to make new movies and as a result to little to no budget many German film makers relied on artists to create their sets using paint thus that's how the German Expressionist techniques were invented.
The German Expressionist techniques are as follows ("Extreme Angles") which is a technique used by the German film makers to create inner anxiety and turmoil to the viewer watching, we then have ("Chiaroscuro") which is the use of different shades, Next it's ("High Contrast") this is a technique used to when they use a really light shade of a colour then a really dark shade of a colour, ("Shadows") this is a technique used in almost all of the German Expressionist films as it's the most powerful technique so much that i decided to add it to my own environment towards the end after i finished my animations. ("Shape Dynamics and Abstract shapes") are a technique used to make sinister themes such as Horror or Death this is where film makers use abstract shapes to make the viewer have certain emotions for example angles that are pointy would convey a feeling of danger to the viewer.
After my research stage i have decided to use the web to collect as many reference images and ideas as i can then i finally went on and created my first 10 ideas as silhouettes. During this stage i did not put a lot focus on adding much detail into the silhouettes as i wanted it to look messy and have abstract angles. I then decided to pick 4 out of the 10 silhouettes to further develop and add details to and i started looking for more reference images and experimenting by adding different shapes and objects to my silhouettes making them into my 4 sketch overs. During this time i was using the golden spiral and rule of third to guide me into where i should add what for example in my final outcome i have used the golden spiral to help me decide where to add my character, this would then be the focus point of my environment.
After finishing creating the four different sketch overs i have chosen the one i liked the most which was the setting of a cave or underground as i felt like it was the best choice to show sinister themes and the right place to add edgy, sharp rocks to help me make the best German Expressionist environment. I have then spent a few weeks on adding more and more detail which can be seen in the development stage then i came close to the animation stage which made me think about the different types of animation and what i found out was that there were 5 different types of animation: ("Traditional Animation"),("2D Animation"),("3D Animation"),("Stop Motion") and finally ("Motion Graphics") i decided to go with traditional which meant i had to draw each frame again and again.
In conclusion i really like the outcome of my animated environment as it has everything i planned to have in it which is an animated character and a waterfall. i have used many reference images of the web such as rocks to help me with creating the character and many of the objects used in my environment. However what i am the most proud of is using many of the German Expressionist techniques in my environment. I have made sure to use the abstract shapes technique, shadows, contrast of the colour blue, and monochromatic black and white. One thing that i wish i have done was add more frames to my animation as well as more detail to my character and waterfall.
16/02/18
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