The illusionist Case Study

The Illusionist (2010) or L’illusioniste written by Jacques Tati and Sylvain Chomet who also directed the film. This film is about a fading French illusionist who meets a young girl who is amazed by the magic trick performances, she decides to accompany him on his journey which ultimately changes both characters to what you see in the end. Using concept of actions speak louder than words, gestures and body language carry the plot forward and make you connect to the characters on a different level. The music is very underlining and helps set the mood whenever it comes in at the right time at the good times or the more sad and harder times for the characters. The beautifully drawn scenery which you get to see a lot being as it is drawn as a wide shot almost all the way through the film, this perspective gives you a feel of there surroundings it creates a distance from the character without creating a distance because it in a sense make makes you want to understand them better because they say very little and if they do it’s the odd English word or in French.

So the Main Characters are The illusionist and the young girl called Alice, their relationship is quite interesting not knowing each other they somehow form a bond through the passion of magic. And as the story progresses you see both characters grow, the illusionist soon becomes that father figure who does his best to look after Alice, doing what work he can when he can wherever he can which causes his a lot of hard times but he does it anyway. The side line characters which you see along the way are quirky so you remember them, they don’t have a big roll but they all stand out very much like if you encountered them along with them because of however they may appear or exit.

The art style gives the right sense of what time it is set in and every shot of this film is beautiful and looks like it could of easily been a painting with water colours if captured as a still. The backgrounds are captivating if you take the time to look at them they don’t draw you away from what’s going on at the time but some fine detail has been put into drawing and colouring them even though the colouring has been done digitally they was able to get that washed colour to come through and this effect works amazingly.

Underlining music, it’s there but isn’t what sticks out for you but you will notice when it is there It helps emote what’s going on and this subtleness which it has somehow makes it much more deeper and makes you feel more for what’s going on at the time.

The Perspective is always shot in wide shots mainly showing how characters reacting other characters or what’s going on around them, which is a good way of showing connections and how the character is feeling about what is possibly going on at that moment, keeping that distance allows you to encounter what they are going through as if you was following them, the film is very engaging with its audience and this element was one of keys to it.
To conclude I found this film spectacular to watch, the funny moments and sad moments and how the characters evolve kept me watching. The use of trying something different really caught my attention and is something I hope to do with the work I do as a animator.

The illusionist (how it was made)

Its always good to see what goes on behind the magic you see on screen.

The illusionist

A beautiful film and if you ain't watched it, its definitely a must. Its unusual technique of few spoken words and set perspective, the beautiful art will captivate you... its just amazing.

How would it look??

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If I did a animation like this how would it affect the viewer and how they feel? would it make it more interesting and inviting to watch further?

Sometimes you have just gotta go for it!

So this is another little test I did with a storyboard which I have had done for awhile , trying out animating from another perspective than my usual, more actions. It ain't great but I only spent a little time on it too see what I can do and realising I just have to go for it sometimes and see what I can do ... push my limits and keep going forward

Books books boooks...

I've been reading a few books and perspective books seem to go really deep with formulas and such so i do find it a bit overwhelming at times when i read them i need a simpler book which gives me a basic understanding of the concept and ways to go around achieving it. I also need a book which animating in these angles. On that note this one book called Force Dynamic Life Drawing For Animators, touches on it slightly in one chapter and I found it quite useful and basically the best way to get this is with life drawing... Something to think about.

SLR CAMERA

I got out the SLR camera which takes amazing photographs, id d a few test shots and noticed the effects you could change the photo's you could edit them on the camera and the one of the effects was to make it like a fish lens, its always made me wonder since seeing these kinda images how it would effect a animation if it was shot in such a way?? So its definitely a way I shall try as a little test.

Short rotation test

Not concentrating on detail but the actual motion of getting the head to rotate, the next step would be to ad the body and detail how to get the right perspective of feature which move on the face and how clothing will change as it rotates.

Various Images showing persepctive

I have a few images like this which show perspective which I have found in magazines like the metro and short list that have a nice view or angle. These 3 particular images are taken from films and re done with brown parcel tape. not really the technique is important but the shot it self, they say a lot and the feeling of what is going on at the time. Something which I want to be able to do.

Shroomtation

My proposal presenatation.