Personal horror interpretation - 2D (design no.6)

This is the sixth 2D design for my personal horror interpretation. This is the second of my two part drawing piece focusing on light and dark settings using the same drawing. Below, I will be outlining the design process, formally analysing the finished piece, looking for any errors and finally setting myself some relevant and productive next steps. As this piece contains similar visual elements as the original night-time design, I will be labelling these stages in the summary as 'see design five' to avoid repeating myself.

Design process

Using design number five, I removed the saturation in order to alter the colours and the brightness.

To start the daytime version, I changed the colour gradient in the background using both values of blue from a real life image of the sky.

In order to adapt to the daylight, I changed the monochromatic values of the cabin walls, floor, window and door.

Ensuring that the projected light (the sun) was bouncing off the surfaces, I made sure all the 3D outlines in the wall cracks and the door/window frames were of a higher value..

Finally, I changed the shadows to a higher value of brown to display the projected light from the sun and added some grass in the background to give the piece a sense of atmosphere and location.

Formal analysis:

Summary:

Monochromatic colour patterns are present in this scene on the doors, walls, grass, sky (background), floor and window.

Depth of field - see design five

Lighting - see design five

Camera - see design five

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 and the green grass in the background.

Lines - see design five

 Shapes - see design five

Scale - see design five

Analysis:

The green grass and the blue sky in the background are used to compliment the foreground by means of colour contrast. The monochromatic colour patterns on the walls, floor, window and door are used to capture the time of day and the light projected from the sun (light source). An isolated atmosphere is highlighted by the lack of characters or human presence. Realism is captured in the colour gradient of the sky because the higher and lower values of blue are extracted from real life examples.

Interpretation:

The aim of this piece is to capture the unique characteristics of Japanese directed horror. A summer/spring atmosphere is projected by the sunlight and high value colours. Feelings of warmth and happiness are evoked by the high value colours and bright atmosphere, however, feelings of uncertainty and anxiety are evoked through the unknown location of this cabin. Themes of abandonment, laziness and isolation are captured by the terrible conditioning of the cabin and the lack of human presence. Themes of hope are evoked through the bright projections of light beaming through the window and cracks in the wall

Judgement:

The criteria I will be using to judge this piece are setting, composition and colour. There are saturated monochromatic tones as well as low value colours, however, the primary flow of colour in this piece consists of high value colours but does not fully detract from the isolated atmosphere, therefore, this piece somewhat follows the unique characteristics of Japanese directed horror. These low value colours are captured by browns on the walls and door.

The composition in this piece follows the unique characteristics of Japanese horror to a successful degree with a non-fixed mixture of lines (angular and straight), realistic scaling, non-conflicting shapes, a lower camera height, set at a side angle and placed at a close distance.

The setting in this piece conveys an isolated atmosphere, however, the intended setting and atmosphere found in Japanese directed horror is only somewhat present here because the high value colours and lack of activity removes any scary or fear evoked feelings/themes from this piece

In conclusion, this piece is a large improvement from design five (the night-time version) because it adds more to the atmosphere, the monochromatic colour patterns are more accurate and the colour gradient of the sky in the background is more accurate, therefore, adding more realism to this piece. The negative here is lack of activity; no blood, lack of darkened/low value colour patterns, no supernatural presence and no feelings of fear evoked or highlighted. The night-time piece (design five) did not feature some of the corrected or additional elements in design six.

Next steps

• Visual activity/story
• Design elements in design six to be featured in designs 7 & 8
• Japanese horror reference