With hands.
Music Box designs.
Type 1
Type 2
Story outline with notations
Monday 31 October 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
The Birth of a Pensioner...
I think he's developing nicely actually.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
The New Animation Project.
Work in progress shots of the main character in my Second Year Animation final film...thing.
The "Working title" for the film is "Mr. Prigley's Pocket-sized Orchestra", even though said Orchestra won't be pocket-sized, but that's what working titles are for isn't it.
Drawing on my usual back-log of influences, this Short shall be in the same tone as Purple and the Penguin, which reflected my love of the works of Oliver Postgate and other such animated children's programmes from my lengthy and ongoing childhood.
This project is inspired particularly by Trumpton and Camberwick Green, infact the whole of Trumptonshire is offering continual inspiration and enthusiasm to this project and it's creation.
I also intend to pull in homages to Paddington Bear, my own childhood memories of warm sunshine and even, somewhat unintentionally reflecting the simplistic but charming semi-illustrative style of Tin-Tin, entirely separate from the current release of the block-buster Steven Spielberg CGI adventure.
This chap is made of, or to be be more procise, is being made of tin-foil, plasticine and thermo polymer clay.
Watch this space...
Please.
The head of Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness as George Smiley from the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
A supremely fun sculpt to make, I think glasses are becoming a doddle now too which is greatly reassuring.
Very pleased with this and greatly enjoyed making it.
Made from Sculpey Living Doll thermo polymer clay.
A supremely fun sculpt to make, I think glasses are becoming a doddle now too which is greatly reassuring.
Made from Sculpey Living Doll thermo polymer clay.
New Stuff
A couple pictures of my new Matt Smith sculpt I added the finishing touches to not long ago.
Sculpted from Living Doll Polymer clay, painted with acrylics.
Satisfied with this one I must say, his face is such a joy to sculpt.
Sculpted from Living Doll Polymer clay, painted with acrylics.
Satisfied with this one I must say, his face is such a joy to sculpt.
Wednesday 19 October 2011
A Belated Review
There's a Mole, right at the top of the Circus...
Last week (a little out of date now) I went to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with my dad and my sister. What can I say, I prefer the family touch when it comes to seeing a film. Anyway, there we were, sitting in a somewhat grotty cinema from my childhood, since rarely used by us apart from the odd Harry Potter installment following the discovery of a better, more upmarket cinema down the road.
We sat in the theatre which had literally a smudge, a spattering if you will, of people. Practically a dozen viewers come to see Tomas Alfredson's big screen adaptation of John le Carre (I'd type the accented "e", but unfortunately, I don't know how) and the murky world of espionage and ultimate betrayal he seemed to create effortlessly back in 1974.
I'm going to cut my standard dronings about setup, trying to tell a story as the purpose of this journal entry is *simply* to highlight the brilliance of said film.
Tinker, Tailor (the abbreviated name) is possibly the best film I saw all year, granted I've only seen three films this year...the one in question included. No...wait...not included. Submarine, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt II (obviously), and Super 8. This film, by-far, outshon them all. In all respects. Acting, direction, tone, lighting, music, it just appealed to me far more than any of my previous cinematic outtings this year. The combination of the pick of the British acting litter, superb direction and gripping plot just seemed too hard to resist.
The problem with adapting Tinker, Tailor is that it was never going to be easy. What with it being quite a fiddly narrative to follow at the best of time and given the fact it's been pretty conclusively adapted already by the BBC starring Sir Alec Guinness in the lead role of George Smiley (a quiet, mild mannered, semi-retired secret agent) now in the later part of his career.
This TV adaptation is extremely good too, undeniably superior in many many aspects, like pacing and character development, almost entirely different in terms of style or direction, but the moody undertones and quiet performances riddled with understatement are pretty much identical.
The problem with a hugely successful adaptation that precedes a big screen version, is it inevitably influences the viewer's...view, of the characters, how they're played, who plays them, the dialogue and such like. I would argue that Guinness is the more accurate, downtrodden, quiet Smiley, who works in the context of a TV series (I would even say it is Guinness' best acting role. FORGET Obi Wan, please, I beg of you. Expunge it from your mind), his performance also has a severely loveable, likeable quality. A quality that makes you sympathise with him instantly. The large circa 1973 spectacles magnifying his already sorry eyes make you feel immense respect, even pity for the chap, considering, somewhat unconventionally for the spy genre, it is his wife, the unseen-Ann who sleeps around, being known for her reputation alone.
Guinness most definitely made the part his own, playing it with quiet dignity, and a subtlety I haven't actually seen anywhere before. A marked success I think.
Anyway, that isn't terribly relevant, the point I was grabbing at was how a previous adaptation may affect the way a first time viewer (like myself) may perceive a new, more up-to-date take on a story. Thankfully, I dug out our copy of the BBC Tinker, Tailor, and put it aside, not to watch until the film is under my belt. And thus my life played out.
Back to the film.
It stars the considerably younger Gary Oldman as the aging spy Smiley, and you know what? He damn-near pulls off a perfect performance. He plays the part, understandably, in an extremely different way compared to Guinness, he plays a slightly..."crueller" Smiley, in the words of Oldman, even though I don't terribly see it that way. His Smiley is more...mopey, if that's the word. Retaining the silent, all-seeing, ever-present, confessor, disenchanted romantic qualities of the Anti-Bond spy set down in the books written by LeCarre. Infact he doesn't say a word for nearly the first half hour that we are introduced to him.
A character who is extremely introvert and a man of routine. So, quite the contrasting role for Oldman to play, he of playing energetic psychopaths fame.
The basic premise of the film, (best tell you what it is, seeing as this would just be a ramble about the film's brilliance, which, let's face it, no one wants to read. There's enough of mindless adoration of DeviantArt as there is) is George Smiley is quietly forced to retire, or is atleast tagged along into retirement, along with the aging head of MI6, Control, played by John Hurt (apparantly an early choice for the role of Smiley). Control has been working for months on uncovering the identity of a Mole in the higher echelons of the Circus (The name given to the organisation due to it's proximity to Cambridge Circus. Not an actual Circus you understand) in other words, one of his own people around him who is a spy for the other side...The Russians, Ruskies, Reds, whatever you called them back then. Control "dies" and Smiley is called back into service to continue Control's work in silence. And thus the story unfold.
The film is slowly paced, but not achingly so, it's an intellectual film is one way to put it. Hardly the latest Jason Statham/Robert DeNiro/Clive Owen trainwreck, "Killer Elite", based on the 1991 novel "the Feather Men" (and infinitely better title if ever there was one) by British action man-cum-adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
God forbid.
Thankfully things don't become tiresome or tedious due to the frankly orgasmic (and I mean that in the most Heterosexual way possible) British cast essembled for a film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth to name but two. The film is not unlike an intellectual version of The Expendables. Done right. Obviously. Thankfully, due to the sheer number of stupendous actors, big and small, there's always someone worthy of your attention on screen.
The film also got the seal of approval from the man whose opinion counts most, LeCarre himself, who not only co-produced it, also had a brief cameo in the film itself, which was great fun seeing.
But the real star of the film is, of course, Oldman himself, in a role he has named himself, as his best role to date. A role which is tipped to be his Oscar. Frankly it's a joke he's never had one yet, he should have an honourary category all to himself, but then, that would be silly.
His portrayal of Smiley is superbly meloncholic but also echos strongly at times Guinness, the ghost of Guinness did indeed linger it seems. Oldman's voice for example sounding awfully similar to the mellow resonant tones of the previous Smiley, but not to the point of being distracting, or indeed de-tracting from the acting itself. But really in situations like this, you must remember the film is NOT a remake, regardless of what some slightly less aware reviewers may say.
It is the first big screen version of the story to date. Makes you wonder why really, but then you have to remember just how large a shadow Sir Alec's performance has cast over all the following adaptations and how it, to many people, made any other version seem unnessessary.
Feels only fitting I make my final point about Alec Guinness. My mum adores the work of John leCarre and indeed Tinker, Tailor, she hasn't seen the film yet, and probably won't until it's release on DVD. She loves the BBC series, understandably so, but I dare say it's mainly because of the marked similarities between Guinness' Smiley and her now, sadly, late father (and my grandfather) who worked in an Embassadorial position. Apparantly he never spoke of his work to my mum or her mother, which does rather enticingly invite the thoughts that he might indeed have been in a Smiley position, holding the strands of government and such together. And in my mind, that is how I think of him now. As a quiet secret agent, totally unassuming to the naked eye, but with a mind as sharp as a tack, always thinking, always "seeing".
May seem a bit silly, but it's nice to think that way sometimes.
"We're not that different, you and I"
Last week (a little out of date now) I went to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with my dad and my sister. What can I say, I prefer the family touch when it comes to seeing a film. Anyway, there we were, sitting in a somewhat grotty cinema from my childhood, since rarely used by us apart from the odd Harry Potter installment following the discovery of a better, more upmarket cinema down the road.
We sat in the theatre which had literally a smudge, a spattering if you will, of people. Practically a dozen viewers come to see Tomas Alfredson's big screen adaptation of John le Carre (I'd type the accented "e", but unfortunately, I don't know how) and the murky world of espionage and ultimate betrayal he seemed to create effortlessly back in 1974.
I'm going to cut my standard dronings about setup, trying to tell a story as the purpose of this journal entry is *simply* to highlight the brilliance of said film.
Tinker, Tailor (the abbreviated name) is possibly the best film I saw all year, granted I've only seen three films this year...the one in question included. No...wait...not included. Submarine, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt II (obviously), and Super 8. This film, by-far, outshon them all. In all respects. Acting, direction, tone, lighting, music, it just appealed to me far more than any of my previous cinematic outtings this year. The combination of the pick of the British acting litter, superb direction and gripping plot just seemed too hard to resist.
The problem with adapting Tinker, Tailor is that it was never going to be easy. What with it being quite a fiddly narrative to follow at the best of time and given the fact it's been pretty conclusively adapted already by the BBC starring Sir Alec Guinness in the lead role of George Smiley (a quiet, mild mannered, semi-retired secret agent) now in the later part of his career.
This TV adaptation is extremely good too, undeniably superior in many many aspects, like pacing and character development, almost entirely different in terms of style or direction, but the moody undertones and quiet performances riddled with understatement are pretty much identical.
Bespectacled. Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
The problem with a hugely successful adaptation that precedes a big screen version, is it inevitably influences the viewer's...view, of the characters, how they're played, who plays them, the dialogue and such like. I would argue that Guinness is the more accurate, downtrodden, quiet Smiley, who works in the context of a TV series (I would even say it is Guinness' best acting role. FORGET Obi Wan, please, I beg of you. Expunge it from your mind), his performance also has a severely loveable, likeable quality. A quality that makes you sympathise with him instantly. The large circa 1973 spectacles magnifying his already sorry eyes make you feel immense respect, even pity for the chap, considering, somewhat unconventionally for the spy genre, it is his wife, the unseen-Ann who sleeps around, being known for her reputation alone.
Guinness most definitely made the part his own, playing it with quiet dignity, and a subtlety I haven't actually seen anywhere before. A marked success I think.
Anyway, that isn't terribly relevant, the point I was grabbing at was how a previous adaptation may affect the way a first time viewer (like myself) may perceive a new, more up-to-date take on a story. Thankfully, I dug out our copy of the BBC Tinker, Tailor, and put it aside, not to watch until the film is under my belt. And thus my life played out.
Back to the film.
It stars the considerably younger Gary Oldman as the aging spy Smiley, and you know what? He damn-near pulls off a perfect performance. He plays the part, understandably, in an extremely different way compared to Guinness, he plays a slightly..."crueller" Smiley, in the words of Oldman, even though I don't terribly see it that way. His Smiley is more...mopey, if that's the word. Retaining the silent, all-seeing, ever-present, confessor, disenchanted romantic qualities of the Anti-Bond spy set down in the books written by LeCarre. Infact he doesn't say a word for nearly the first half hour that we are introduced to him.
A character who is extremely introvert and a man of routine. So, quite the contrasting role for Oldman to play, he of playing energetic psychopaths fame.
Introverted
The basic premise of the film, (best tell you what it is, seeing as this would just be a ramble about the film's brilliance, which, let's face it, no one wants to read. There's enough of mindless adoration of DeviantArt as there is) is George Smiley is quietly forced to retire, or is atleast tagged along into retirement, along with the aging head of MI6, Control, played by John Hurt (apparantly an early choice for the role of Smiley). Control has been working for months on uncovering the identity of a Mole in the higher echelons of the Circus (The name given to the organisation due to it's proximity to Cambridge Circus. Not an actual Circus you understand) in other words, one of his own people around him who is a spy for the other side...The Russians, Ruskies, Reds, whatever you called them back then. Control "dies" and Smiley is called back into service to continue Control's work in silence. And thus the story unfold.
The film is slowly paced, but not achingly so, it's an intellectual film is one way to put it. Hardly the latest Jason Statham/Robert DeNiro/Clive Owen trainwreck, "Killer Elite", based on the 1991 novel "the Feather Men" (and infinitely better title if ever there was one) by British action man-cum-adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
God forbid.
Thankfully things don't become tiresome or tedious due to the frankly orgasmic (and I mean that in the most Heterosexual way possible) British cast essembled for a film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth to name but two. The film is not unlike an intellectual version of The Expendables. Done right. Obviously. Thankfully, due to the sheer number of stupendous actors, big and small, there's always someone worthy of your attention on screen.
The film also got the seal of approval from the man whose opinion counts most, LeCarre himself, who not only co-produced it, also had a brief cameo in the film itself, which was great fun seeing.
Approved.
But the real star of the film is, of course, Oldman himself, in a role he has named himself, as his best role to date. A role which is tipped to be his Oscar. Frankly it's a joke he's never had one yet, he should have an honourary category all to himself, but then, that would be silly.
His portrayal of Smiley is superbly meloncholic but also echos strongly at times Guinness, the ghost of Guinness did indeed linger it seems. Oldman's voice for example sounding awfully similar to the mellow resonant tones of the previous Smiley, but not to the point of being distracting, or indeed de-tracting from the acting itself. But really in situations like this, you must remember the film is NOT a remake, regardless of what some slightly less aware reviewers may say.
It is the first big screen version of the story to date. Makes you wonder why really, but then you have to remember just how large a shadow Sir Alec's performance has cast over all the following adaptations and how it, to many people, made any other version seem unnessessary.
Feels only fitting I make my final point about Alec Guinness. My mum adores the work of John leCarre and indeed Tinker, Tailor, she hasn't seen the film yet, and probably won't until it's release on DVD. She loves the BBC series, understandably so, but I dare say it's mainly because of the marked similarities between Guinness' Smiley and her now, sadly, late father (and my grandfather) who worked in an Embassadorial position. Apparantly he never spoke of his work to my mum or her mother, which does rather enticingly invite the thoughts that he might indeed have been in a Smiley position, holding the strands of government and such together. And in my mind, that is how I think of him now. As a quiet secret agent, totally unassuming to the naked eye, but with a mind as sharp as a tack, always thinking, always "seeing".
May seem a bit silly, but it's nice to think that way sometimes.
Smiley on Smiley
Monday 17 October 2011
What I do...
A slight introduction is in order I think.
My name is James O'Neill, I am an animation student at the London College of Communication (LCC), and this is what I do.
Gary Oldman as George Smiley.
Patrick McGoohan.
Alan Rickman.
Matt Smith.
Albert Finney as Poirot.
The puppets, props, and film in general, was animated by myself.
I wanted to create an animated story in the style of the warm, quaint, charming children's animations made during the 1970s, drawing on the works of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, then giants of animation who created the immortal Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, and the dear Clangers. Characters and series each which contributed to my growing up amid a swamp of Anime and CGI. Things I never truly understood.
In all, I'm jolly proud of this little thing and adore the job Paul did with the soundtrack and owe him much.
Something else that might be worth a look.
Wheels of Progress was another final major project I produced a few years ago which has a warm place in my heart.
A tedious story connected to filming this. It was frustrating and tiresome, as indeed is much of the process involved in making stop motion animation. One instance that springs to mind was the very setting up of the set and preping the train, getting it ready to move. It was working fine, and then the very, *very* instant I turn the camera on, the train dies and stops moving. So I had to shuv it along with my barehands. Tiresome stuff.
Well that's but a glimpse into what it is I do as a creative person, if I term myself that, which I rarely do. I hope it's atleast caught an ounce of your valuable attention, and hope that you will stick with me as I update from time to time what I have going on, including more head sculpts (my equivelant of doodling), drawings and another animated short I am currently working on.
Be gentle. Please.
My name is James O'Neill, I am an animation student at the London College of Communication (LCC), and this is what I do.
Gary Oldman as George Smiley.
Patrick McGoohan.
Alan Rickman.
Matt Smith.
Albert Finney as Poirot.
A wealth of other sculptural excursions on my sister site http://frasierdalek.deviantart.com/
What I do, essentially, is thus. I enjoy sculpting and have done for quite a very long time, or atleast it feels as such.
All started back in the early to mid-1990s when I was a small child and obsessed with Wallace and Gromit (by Aardman Animations). I got my hands on a block of plasticine and it kind of escalated from there. Making models of Wallace and Gromit became somewhat of an obsession of mine through those years, making models and watching the existing adventures in the form of "A Grand Day Out", "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave", which I adore still to this day. Indeed it was probably these three animated "shorts" that got my mind working in Frames....a bit of Animation jargon for you non-Animation people perhaps reading this. It inspired an interest within me for films with a more hand-made feel. Animated films that had a "hands on" feel to them, indeed Wallace and Gromit would usually have finger-prints and thumb grooves pressed into them unintentionally due to the animation process. This kind of charm is something I feel very warmly for to this day.
Another film that caught my attention during the mid-90s was "Flatworld", a stop motion animated short film constructed entirely from cardboard, reveling in the fact too. It's wordless charm grabbed me from that young age and is still engrained in my memory. Since then I've become enamoured with television and cinema, them becoming more influences on what I do than any other medium. I do, I admit, feel guilty in that. That I don't draw on more classical sources of inspiration, but that's just the way I'm built unforunately. Growing up I fell in love with Doctor Who for example, which is to this day a massive trend in my work, one way or the other. I get inspired by things I see on television and try to reflect this in what I do. Actors influence me too, as do writers and directors and sculptors and, yes, sometimes, even artists.
I enjoy the haptic experience of sculpting something so small and so intricate, the sculpts highlighted above are all 1/6th scale, i.e. to scale with a 12" doll, not sure why I work at such a scale, just works nicely I think .
What I do is fuelled really out of an obsession in trying to get things right. I wouldn't say I'm obsessively obsessive in my wanting for detail and accuracy, but I just can't stand seeing something fall short when it comes to looking right. I've had many sleepness nights following sculpting something or someone that fails to work the way I want it too, many times I've gotten up late at night from a slumber-less slumber to make a final adjustment to a sculpture that's been niggling at me for hours, and that slight tweak ruining the sculpt making that night even more frustrated and furious than it was before. I never seemed to learn that it was never a good idea to work on something after 9pm, as I just make mistakes and get sloppy after that blasted hour. I hope other people understand and sympathise, if not, I suppose this could just be an artistic quirk of mine. If that doesn't sound too pretentious. I hardly consider myself an artist, just someone who sculpts what he sees, or, put another way, a man who sculpts what he wants.
For those interested in my more animated work, this was my final major project for the end of the first year of my Foundation course, called Purple and the Penguin.
It was a collaborative project, made in partnership with Paul Freeman, a sound student who provided the (in my opinion) pitch perfect soundtrack and musical score.The puppets, props, and film in general, was animated by myself.
I wanted to create an animated story in the style of the warm, quaint, charming children's animations made during the 1970s, drawing on the works of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, then giants of animation who created the immortal Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, and the dear Clangers. Characters and series each which contributed to my growing up amid a swamp of Anime and CGI. Things I never truly understood.
In all, I'm jolly proud of this little thing and adore the job Paul did with the soundtrack and owe him much.
Something else that might be worth a look.
Wheels of Progress was another final major project I produced a few years ago which has a warm place in my heart.
A tedious story connected to filming this. It was frustrating and tiresome, as indeed is much of the process involved in making stop motion animation. One instance that springs to mind was the very setting up of the set and preping the train, getting it ready to move. It was working fine, and then the very, *very* instant I turn the camera on, the train dies and stops moving. So I had to shuv it along with my barehands. Tiresome stuff.
Well that's but a glimpse into what it is I do as a creative person, if I term myself that, which I rarely do. I hope it's atleast caught an ounce of your valuable attention, and hope that you will stick with me as I update from time to time what I have going on, including more head sculpts (my equivelant of doodling), drawings and another animated short I am currently working on.
Be gentle. Please.
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