Personal horror interpretation - 2D (design no.7)

This is the first part of two designs and the final digital paintings for my personal horror interpretation. Using the night and day transitions (designs five and six) I have tried to create a visual story in efforts to project the atmosphere of Japanese directed horror, alongside my regular methodology in which I highlight the design process, make a formal analysis and build conclusive results based on my findings. Again, to avoid repeating myself, any factors that remain unchanged within the summary will be labelled 'see design six'.

What story are you trying to tell in this first piece?
In attempts to capture the atmosphere of Japanese directed horror, I have inserted signs/indication of a violent struggle into the scene, highlighting the fact that whomever previously lived in this cabin was brutally murdered and the body has been buried beneath the floor boards.

Design process

 Using design six, I added signs of violence by indicating a struggle and the death of someone via the blood patterns on the wall.

 To further develop realism as well as a sense of atmosphere I painted some clouds in the sky.

Finally, I realised that over time the blood on the walls would drip down and pool, therefore, I painted some puddle-like shapes on the floor below the spatter patterns on the walls.

Formal analysis:

Summary:

Monochromatic colours - see design six

Depth of field - see design six

Lighting - see design six

Camera - see design six 

 Low and high value colours are present within the browns on the walls, floor, window and door as well as the blue gradient of the sky, the blood on the door, walls and floor and finally, the green grass in the background.

Lines - see design six

Shapes - see design six

 

Scale - see design six

Analysis:

The monochromatic colour patterns on the floor, walls, door and window are used to capture the time daytime the light projected from the sun. The blue sky and green in the background are used to bring out the foreground through contrasting colours. Realism is promoted via the colour gradient used for the sky because the high and low value blues were extracted from real life examples/pictures. An isolated atmosphere is captured using lack of human presence and blood spatter patterns on the walls and floor. Violence is captured using monochromatic tones of red on the walls and floor.

Interpretation:

The aim of this piece is to capture the unique characteristics of Japanese directed horror. Themes of deterioration, laziness and abandonment are captured via the horrible conditions of the cabin and the lack of human presence. Summer/spring is projected using sunlight and high value colours. Feelings of safety and warmth are evoked by the high value colours and bright atmosphere, however, feelings of anxiety and fear are evoked through the blood on the walls and floor and the unknown location of this cabin. Themes of hope are evoked through the bright projections of light beaming through the window and cracks in the wall, however, themes of hopelessness are projected by means of contrast because of the blood on the floor and walls.

Judgement:

The criteria I will be using to judge this piece are lighting, colour and composition. The composition in this piece follows the unique characteristics of Japanese horror very well by using realistic scaling, non-conflicting shapes, a non-fixed mixture of lines (angular and straight), a lower camera height, set at a side angle and placed at a close distance.

These low value colours are captured by browns on the walls and door. There are monochromatic and saturated tones as well as low value colours present in this piece alongside the addition of monochromatic red blood spatter patterns, however, high value colours remain superior in this scene, although they do not fully subtract themes of isolation from the atmosphere, therefore, this piece somewhat follows unique characteristics of Japanese directed horror better than that of design six.

The lighting in this scene displays some indication of three point lighting because the monochromatic browns for the wood of the cabin and projected lighting on the floor show key, fill and back lighting, therefore, adhering to one of the preferred lighting techniques captured within the already identified characteristics of Japanese directed horror

In conclusion, this piece is a marginal improvement from design six because one of the preferred lighting techniques of Japanese directed horror is identified, a visual story is drawn form the blood spatter patterns on the walls and blood pools on the floor, the clouds in the sky add realism to this scene and finally, the addition of blood on the walls and floor evokes feelings of fear to a certain degree. The second and final piece (design eight) should further capture a Japanese directed horror atmosphere by adding some reference to Japanese folklore/culture.

Next steps

• Visual activity/story in night-time setting
• Further Japanese horror reference(s)
• Japanese folklore/culture