Quills

Bit of a random pick from the library because I knew it was a sort of 17th/18th century based film - but I've only watched half an hour already and I'm not really looking at the story but getting plenty of ideas for colour choices, stage designs and costume designs.

Colours have been kept to a minimum with a grey, off-white, black, brown and grey/green palate being the over riding theme with the odd splash of red - used to highly gory and dramatic effect.

Stage design ideas for the palace, keeping the palace feeling OTT and spacious with just detailed hints of decoration.

Costume design mainly comes in the form of Kate Winslet's servant girl style.

Ideas are floating around, images doodled, just need to pad these out and I think I'm liking the Louis XIV period of France.

If I were a rich man ....

... I'd have sat for as many portraits as Louis XIV did! There are numerous paintings of King Louis to highlight his grand lifestyle. I love the over-top'ness' of it all, there is nothing simple about his clothes, everything is detailed and over-done, the colours exploding out of the painting, this is something combined with looking into the baroque style of grand living that I want to focus on for the costume design as well as the stage design. The Palace/Castle of the Prince needs to be over the top to contrast against the kitchen that Ashputtel dwells in. I think the patterning, which I'm particularly liking in the bottom image is something that I want to work in, so not necessarily doing a full-on palace layout but giving suggestions of that through materials and colours and patterns, this being because the scenes swap around so quickly I want a clear swap between the grandeur and the hovel!!

Louis XIV ... The Sun King.

The underlying theme of Ashputtel that I broke down into heaven and hell can really be identified through the reign of Louis XIV in France.


Opulence. Grandeur. Over-indulgence.

Louis pushed for extravagance; during his reign the Palace of Versailles was built.
'...Versailles became a dazzling, awe-inspiring setting for state affairs and the reception of foreign dignitaries. At Versailles, the King alone assumed the attention, which was not shared with the Capital or People. Several reasons have been suggested for the creation of the extravagant and stately palace, as well as the relocation of the monarchy's seat. For example, Saint-Simon speculated that Louis viewed Versailles as an isolated power center where treasonous cabals could be more readily discovered and foiled.'

This quote alone I explains heaven and hell. The ideal place that Louis created; not simply just for grandeur, but to uncover treason and plots against him! Louis was very much a paranoid man constantly on the look out for those 'out to get him'.

...

In the same way I seem to be drawn to Louis' lifestyle to influence my ideas for Ashputtel. I'm wanting to look more at French paintings of this period, to get an idea of society in France during that time but also to look at the Baroque period, something that will help give me more of an understanding of the period of grandeur.

Ashputtel - 'The Real Cinderella'

For my Narrative and Genre work on the 'Grimm Tales' I read through all the tales and the one I found I liked the most was Ashputtel. You mention the name Ashputtel and not many people would be able to tell you the story; as soon as you say Cinderella then everyone knows this story. I too would be in the majority who hadn't really heard of Ashputtel but I found I much prefer this story to the 'fairy-tale' that Cinderella is ... Never would you expect a gruesome eye-gouging at the end of Cinderella!!

Following on from how I broke down The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover into 2 parts, the story and the look of the story I think on the outside I could define Ashputtel into this sort of style too. We have the story going on - portrayed through the narration and acting; then we also have the look of the story which I would break down into two different parts, 1- the squalor of Ashputtel's hell living at home, the endless chores and 'slavery' she has to endure and 2 - the escape from her life in the comfort of the wishes that come true when she visits the tree that has grown on her mother's grave and the freedom she has at the Prince's Ball.

I understand that I could break the story down even further but I like the idea of just these 2 different stories within Ashputtel. I envision it almost how Peter Greenaway does with the use of colour to contrast between Ashputtel's two stories -  her hell and her freedom!! In this way colour could be used as a powerful visual device!

I think I need to follow on this colour direction, explore the ways to work colour into my ideas! I hadn't really thought about the colour before but now I think it could be one of, if not the most important element of my design.

The Cook, The Thief, his wife and her lover!

After just one watch of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover- some would say that was more than enough!! I however, wouldn't rush to watch the film again, but something about it makes it intriguing, you want to stop watching but somehow you get drawn into the whole idea of it. I could easily break the film down into 2 elements; the story and the look of the film, more so the colour. One doesn't work without the other, you have one eye on what is going on and the other watching for the use of colours; which are so rich and grand you can't help be drawn into this 'seedy, underground' world. The colour not only determines the mood of the scene, but the colours are so powerful they almost drag you into the scene, you feel how the colours make you feel too.

I am certainly interested now to look into more of the works of Peter Greenaway to see what kind of film-maker he is; whether he is experimental or sticks to the same 'angle' all the time!