Comedy & Laughter: The Voices

Comedy in films and other media is subjective, everyone finds different things funny and everyone has a unique sense of humour. Physical comedy, the humiliation of others, gags, and slapstick are just some examples of branches of comedy that people may find funny. However, what is funny for some may be distasteful for others. Dark comedy is humour that focuses on death, murder, and other dark, grim subjects that are often considered depressing and morbid. Using this dark subject matter as a base for comedy and laughter can rub some people the wrong way, but can also lead to stories and films that explore a deeper meaning while appealing to those who understand that type of comedy. Marjane Satrapi's 'The Voices' (2014) is an example of a dark comedy that is spliced with horror and elements of tragedy.

Figure 1. The Voices (2014)

Despite this film featuring popular actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick and receiving relatively positive reviews from critics, this film was only released to a select few cinemas before being released straight to DVD, "Unfortunately for 'The Voices', that admirable attitude to be what its screenwriter and director wanted it to be without compromising anything for the sake of success, rendered it, and in the eyes of its distributors was too risky and bold for them to take a chance on it...Its perfectly balanced weirdness proved to be far too outrageous for a market that likes to pretend it's adventurous," (Aguilar, 2016). It is a shame that this film did not receive more attention and praise as it was able to combine opposing genres while also showing some insight to the mind of someone who has a severe mental illness and a tragic past. It was able to focus on dark subject matter with a sad backstory while still weaving in some comedy.

The film flip flops between comedy and horror. One moment the characters are dancing in a conga-like to pop music dressed in a Pepto-Bismol pink uniform...and the next moment the main character is hacking apart bodies and stuffing the pieces into tupperware containers. This unusual film is about a man, Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) and his life with, presumably, schizophrenia. While he seems to operate like an average person at work, excluding being overly enthusiastic about packaging bathtubs, he is anything but ordinary. When Jerry returns home, he talks to his cat Mr. Whiskers and his dog Bosco which isn't particularly unusual until his pets begin to talk back. We learn that Jerry is meant to be taking medication to control his voices and hallucinations, but has not been doing so, and it is hard to blame him, "There's a great sequence about halfway through 'The Voices' in which Jerry gives in and takes his meds as ordered, waking up to a world he doesn't want to live in. He has no friends without the voices in his head/pets," (Tallerico, 2015).

Fig 2. Bosco, Jerry, and Mr. Whiskers

This is one of the many reasons why this film is so unusual, even though Jerry is murdering people and keeping their severed heads in his fridge, it is really difficult to dislike him. The audience feels bad for Jerry, he is afraid of being alone which is what perhaps caused him to accidentally murder Fiona (Gemma Arterton), a girl that he liked at work. Even after he keeps murdering people, it is hard to blame the guy as he is clearly very disturbed, lonely, and ill. Even his psychiatrist at the end of the film, despite being kidnapped and brought to Jerry's filthy, gore-ridden house, begs police to not harm Jerry because he is ill. While at first we do not know much about jerry, the viewers later get brief flashbacks of his childhood with an abusive father and schizophrenic mother who pleads for young Jerry to slice her throat with a piece of glass. There is no wonder why this man is troubled, "Jerry is a man forced down a road of violence by things that he cannot control. He is a unique serial killer in that he so wants normalcy, companionship, and happiness," (Tallerico, 2015). His past has led him to feel lonely and abandoned, which is why he yearns for companionship and perhaps why he attaches his hallucinations onto his pets and victims. This strange way of achieving companionship is what leads to the more comedic elements of this dark film.

The majority of the humour in this film, arguably, comes from the interactions between Jerry, Mr. Whiskers, and Bosco. Mr. Whiskers often comes out with crude statements and deadpan one liners about anything from Jerry being insane, to saying Bosco deserves to get hit by a mini-van. On the other hand, Bosco is a goofy character that tries to comfort Jerry and shouts 'intruder!' any time someone knocks on the door and reciprocates to Mr. Whiskers with comments such as 'sick, disturbed cat'. As the severed heads of Jerry's crushes and workmates begin to accumulate in his fridge, more personalities and voices enter Jerry's head, adding to the banter between him, his cat, and his dog. It is the delivery of the dialogue that makes it humorous while also knowing that all of these discussions are really just figments of Jerry's imagination. It is also amusing to see the awkward social situations that Jerry is in while interacting with different individuals at his job. Seeing some of Jerry's hallucinations paired with the darker horror content is also funny. For example, Jerry goes from seeing Fiona surrounded by butterflies, to 'accidentally' stabbing her to death (as he is apologising to her), to then seeing her again surrounded by flowers and sunshine. The choice of music also adds to the humour, such as the song that Ryan Reynold sings himself after his character burns to death - 'Sing A Happy Song'. Jerry's victims, parents, and Jesus joins in on the song and dance during the end credits.

Fig 3. Fiona 

It is difficult to put into words how or why this film, or any other film is funny to some because it is up to the viewer to decide if it is funny to them or not. However, to some, The Voices combined dark comedy with horror perfectly to create a tragic story of mental illness, isolation, and loneliness that is unique and refreshing. This film perhaps attempts to show people that there is often more to people than what can be seen, and sometimes people, especially with mental illness, are not in control of their actions and do not mean to do bad things. This is unusual when compared to films such as Mary Harron's American Psycho (2000) or other films relating to a mentally ill person or a psychopath that turns into a serial killer. Unlike most other films, Jerry remains somewhat innocent as we see he is not in control of his actions as his inner thoughts battle between deciding what is right and what is wrong. "Satrapi smartly inverts expectations by making Jerry's unmedicated existence the one that's eerily wholesome, day-glo, slightly trippy. The first moment when his diabolical, Scottish-accented cat, Mr. Whiskers, gives him the idea of slaughtering a colleage, the film's creepy-funny tone leaps into focus - you'll either run with it, or recoil and not want to be there," (Robey, 2015).

Bibliography:
Aguilar, C. (2016) Why 'The Voices' is the Truly Original Film Starring Ryan Reynolds You Can Watch Right Now At: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/why-the-voices-is-the-truly-original-film-starring-ryan-reynolds-you-can-watch-right-now-168226/ Accessed on: 22/12/2016
Debruge, P. (2014) Sundance Film Review: 'The Voices' At: http://variety.com/2014/film/markets-festivals/sundance-film-review-the-voices-1201074208/ Accessed on: 22/12/2016
Lyne, C. (2015) The Voices At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/11/the-voices-ryan-reynolds-review Accessed on: 22/12/2016
Robey, T. (2015) The Voices: 'creepy-funny' At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-voices/review/ Accessed on: 22/12/2016
Tallerico, B. (2015) The Voices At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-voices-2015 Accessed on: 22/12/2016

Illustration List:
Figure 1. The Voices [Poster] At: http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/2015/01/thevoicesposterlarge.jpg Accessed on: 22/12/2016
Figure 2. Bosco, Jerry, and Mr. Whiskers [Film Still] At: https://www.netflix.com/title/70299865 Accessed on: 23/12/2016
Figure 3. Fiona [Film Still] At: https://www.netflix.com/title/70299865 Accessed on: 23/12/2016

Maya Pipeline 1: Head Modelling - The Nose (Part 6)

Adaptation & Transcription: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Adapting a novel into a film is no easy feat, especially when the books have an intricate universe such as J.R.R. Tolkien's multiple novels about the fantasy world of Middle-Earth. Tolkien has imagined and created multiple languages, cultures, creatures and characters within Middle-Earth as expressed in books such as The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. Director Peter Jackson is well known for creating a captivating adaptation of The Lord of the Rings books into a three part film trilogy containing The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Since these films, everyone has speculated and hoped that Jackson would also adapt The Hobbit, a prequel to Lord of the Rings about Bilbo Baggins, into a film. After many years, Peter Jackson finally announced he was making the film - or rather...films.

Fig 1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Unlike The Lord of the Rings which had three books worth of content, The Hobbit was a single novel. Despite this, Peter Jackson for some reason chose to extend the more light-hearted book into a three part series, "the hard truth is that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is a slender volume, a quarter of the size of The Lord of the rings...it was never meant to be three movies...The Hobbit movies are so bloated they could survive at sea without floatation devices," (Travers, 2014). As news was released of the adaptation, fans heard of it being prolonged into two films...and then three - An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Throughout the films, Jackson seemed to pad out the story by adding some of his own subplots and characters. Perhaps this is why the final instalment, The Battle of the Five Armies was the least liked out of the three films as it forced Jackson to tie together all of the loose ends, resulting in a film that held little resemblance to the original source.

One major problem throughout the trilogy as a whole is Jackson's departure from his technique of equally combining CGI and real sets/landscapes/props/special effects makeup in his film. The Hobbit trilogy is very CGI heavy, to a point that everything looks rather elastic and noticeably fake, "CGI landscapes roll endlessly in the background. It doesn't help that Jackson shoots every meeting with a panoramic swirl which accentuates the virtual artifice...Jackson's cinematic instincts are here singly overshadowed by a computer game aesthetic. Even the more action-packed moments suffer from superfluity of weightless runny-jumpy-stabby action better suited to Assassin's Creed," (Kermode, 2014). While the use of CGI can add a lot to a film, as exhibited in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, if overused it take away from the realness (or frustrate actors such as Ian Mckellen who disliked acting alone surrounded by green screen). It breaks the immersion, you can tell what is fake and what is real including the landscapes, creatures and the human characters. It is unquestionable that the orcs and trolls in The Hobbit are a lot less realistic and grotesque compared to The Lord of the Rings where prosthetics were mostly used and different approaches to CGI. Although, both Gollum (Andy Serkis) and Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) were both breathtaking in how they looked, moved, and sounded thanks to motion-tracking technology. Perhaps most of their funds for CGI went towards those characters resulting much of the rest of the CGI to look artificial and rubbery.

Fig 2. Lurtz from Lord of the Rings - Actor in Prosthetics (Left) 
Fig 3. Azog from The Hobbit - CGI Character (Right)

Despite this, one must keep in mind that this The Hobbit is also more of a children's book when compared to The Lord of the Rings, so maybe they used excessive amounts of CGI on purpose to make the world feel more fantasy than real. However, many of the fans from The Lord of the Rings who went to see the new three films and were disappointed in this change of aesthetic. Fans of the book were also disappointed in how inflated the films felt, many things that occurred in the films did not happen in the books and some moments in the books were left out despite the excessive number of films. For example, Legolas (Orlando Bloom) never appears in The Hobbit book, but he does in the film...perhaps just as a nod to the fans. However, it can be argued that this would have worked better if he was inserted as a cameo/easter egg rather than a full role. Another attempt to appeal to fans is the introduction of a new main character that does not exist in Tolkien's Middle-Earth at all - a female elf named Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). Jackson created a love triangle between Tauriel, Legolas (who many fans swooned over in Lord of the Rings), and the dwarf Kili (Adrien Turner) who is pretty much 'the new Legolas' for swooning fans. To many Tolkien fans, this love triangle is completely useless. "Tauriel the elf is not given much to do, except love a dwarf, a big no-no in her world. She speaks of love repeatedly, softly and wondrously, and every time she does the entire film deflates en masse. Romantic love has nothing to do with the story overall, and the love subplot feels so obligatory that it's practically condescending," (O'Malley, 2014).

Fig 4. Kili, Tauriel, and Legolas

The story is meant to revolve around Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), but with Jackson's continuous need to insert new content and characters, Bilbo fell out of focus especially in the final film. In the book, Bilbo gets knocked out for the entire battle. Perhaps this is due to Tolkien's knowledge of Bilbo's character, knowing if he was part of the battle he would without a doubt be slain or be cowering behind a rock the whole time. It is understandable that Jackson would want to keep the fight sequences in, in order to keep the audience's attention with one last climatic battle, but it feels like anything but that. Rubbery elves and dwarves fight against equally plastic orcs while men fight with trolls with twig-like arms when compared to the trolls in The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo is not a warrior, so his character is pushed into the background for most of the film despite numerous attempts to bring him back into the spotlight, "As for Bilbo Baggins - well, he doesn't have a whole lot to do. Martin Freeman is a likeable careworn as ever in the part...Bilbo has a couple of errands to run, a ring to fiddle about with, but not much else - and certainly not much in the way of fighting," (Pulver, 2014). This is a shame as Martin Freeman's performance fit the character of young Bilbo quite well, he is likeable, hesitant, humble, and genuine. Jackson seemed to forget that the story is about Bilbo rather than a massive fantasy battle.

The downfall of this film, and the trilogy as a whole, is relatively common for an adaptation. Adaptation films can easily suffer from cutting out too much content or, like this one, packing on too much. Jackson himself has admirably admitted the faults within the film trilogy and how its chaotic shoots, lack of storyboards, and unperfected script probably led to the film's patchy content. It is noticeable in The Battle of the Five Armies that Jackson often, as he put it, 'winged it', "It ends virtually where it starts - with super-peeved dragon Smaug raining down fiery destruction on the pitiful residence of Laketown...everything else is scraps, in both senses. Jackson's one recourse is to ape the here-we-go-again war mania of The Return of the King," (Robey, 2014). This paired with overuse of CGI and the departure from the original source, most likely because they can out of original content after stretching it too thin, made the film a large disappointment for many fans.

Fig 5. Smaug

That said, not all of the film is bad...there will always be good parts of The Hobbit trilogy such as the characters and performances from actors such as Ian Mckellen, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee and Martin Freeman. The dragon Smaug was designed and brought to life beautifully by Benedict Cumberbatch just as Gollum is by Andy Serkis. Deaths that occurred in the books remained in the film even though it appeared it was going to be different at first, which is bittersweet for fans. Despite the disappointing conclusion, ending transitions back into the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, leaving the audience with the feeling of nostalgia. The credits roll, a song called The Last Goodbye sung by Billy Boyd (who performed as Pippin in The Lord of the Rings) begins to play leaving the audience melancholy that Jackson's Middle-Earth is over, even if The Hobbit wasn't received as well as The Lord of the Rings.

Bibliography:
Kermode, M. (2014) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies review - no more than a middling finale from Middle-earth At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/14/the-hobbit-battle-five-armies-review-middling-finale-middle-earth Accessed on: 14/12/2016
O'Malley, Sheila (2014) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-2014 Accessed on: 14/12/2016
Pulver, A. (2014) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies review - exactly what it promised to be At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/01/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-review-film-peter-jackson Accessed on: 14/12/2016
Robey, T. (2014) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, first look review: 'begs not to exist' At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11260252/The-Hobbit-The-Battle-of-the-Five-Armies-first-look-review-begs-not-to-exist.html Accessed on: 14/12/2016
Travers, P. (2014) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies At: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-20141217 Accessed on: 14/12/2016

Illustration List:
Figure 1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies [Poster] At: http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-poster-bilbo.jpg Accessed on: 14/12/2016
Figure 2. Lurtz from The Lord of the Rings - Actor in Prosthetics (Left) [Film Still] At: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/b/bc/Lurtz.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130903192308 Accessed on: 15/12/2016
Figure 3. Azog from The Hobbit - CGI Character (Right) [Film Still] At: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/d/d0/640.png/revision/latest?cb=20150306142735 Accessed on: 15/12/2016
Figure 4. Kili, Tauriel, and Legolas [Film Still] At: http://movie-screencaps.com/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-2014/9/ Accessed on 15/12/2016
Figure 5. Smaug [Film Still] At: http://movie-screencaps.com/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-2014/3/ Accessed on: 15/12/2016

Narrative: Reflective Statement

This project has been a real challenge from day one, it can be/is often difficult to collaborate with others but I feel that I have done the best that I could. I have learned a lot of useful skills in After Effects such as special effects for snowfall and different ways to create shadows outside of Maya. I feel I have become much more familiar with After Effects with the amount of experiments I tried out for the animation. The process within Maya to create 2D animation has been a real challenge as I did not fully expect all of the issues that were encountered, but I feel it has helped me better understand other techniques within Maya such as the use of projections and alpha channels. As the project progressed I found I was able to model, texture, and organise everything much faster. It was reiterated that organisation is key, especially in a group project, from planning production to labelling files/folders and assets for the animation clearly for other group members so things could be easily found. I feel I was able to further expand my knowledge of Adobe Audition and I feel I did a decent job making the sound effects and soundscape, although I wish I had time to experiment more and record my own audio. I also feel that this project has taught me about 2D for 3D enough for me to determine I'd rather use other techniques within Maya to create models and animations. While I learned I dislike 2D for 3D, it'll help inform me in the future of how I choose to make my work, and it also improved my skills with texturing, animation, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Audition. Overall, this project has taught me that all you can do is try your very best, ask for help when you need it, be honest when you are struggling, experiment with new things, and to try to get on with making progress no matter what.

Pikatti

Pikatti: Animation Stills

Pikatti: Editing & Sound Design Screenshots

Pikatti: Rendered Scenes w/ SFX

Pikatti: Special Effects/Post Production Progress

Pikatti: Animation, Digital Sets & Playblasts IV

Pikatti: Animation, Digital Sets & Playblasts III + New Textures for Summer

Pikatti: Animation, Digital Sets, & Animation II

Pikatti: Animation, Digital Sets, & Playblasts

Pikatti: Collar Bend Deformer & Playblasts