Written Statement Of Intentions

I Mohammed Moossun, will be making an animation which includes different styles and influences from different artists and film directors. I plan to make an animation that last thirty seconds to a minute that will include different techniques from different artists, for example, the use of ‘chiaroscuro’ (used by artists and art historians for the use of effects representing contrasts of light, not necessarily strong, to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects such as the human body.)

As part of my animation I have chosen to use different types of genres to express the characters emotion towards a character that has been buried. One of the genres that I have chosen to use is “Film Noir”. This in my opinion would be a good way to express the characters feelings about the person who has passed away because the colour black can sometimes connote something that is negative and does not have a nice implication. I have been inspired to choose this genre because of the film “Citizen Kane”, which is a film that used black and white throughout the film, to create a mysterious atmosphere due to the use of heavy lighting and shadow. Hollywood cinematographers, like Greg Toland, was influenced by the use of heavy lighting and shadow by the artists in Germany who revolutionised film using German Expressionism, which is the use of dramatic lighting and shadows that have been designed like different shapes. All so that it gives the particular shot, deeper meaning.

In addition I am going to include lighting techniques that will give a certain message to the audience. In order for this to be achieved, I will have to use the lighting technique called ‘Chiaroscuro’. The term Chiaroscuro originates from Italian, which mean light-dark. This term is used in art for the contrast between light and dark. This is used to show bold contrast in the picture that affects the whole picture, however this is used mostly by artist and artist historians for effects representing contrast of light to achieve a sense of a three dimensional figure, such as the human body.

Chiaroscuro is also used in Cinematography to indicate the low areas of light and darkness that are in a film, this has mostly been done in black and white films such as "The Hunch Back Of Notre Dame" 1939. However the best example of Chiaroscuro, in the world of modern film making is "Cinema Paradiso" directed by Giuseppe Tornator.