Film Review: The Hero's Journey - The Matrix (1999)

The hero's journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed. The study of hero myth narratives started in 1871 with anthropologist Edward Taylor's observations of common patterns in plots of hero's journeys. Later on, others introduced various theories on hero myth narratives such as Otto Rank and his Freudian psychoanalytic approach to myth, Lord Raglan's unification of myth and rituals, and eventually hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell: The Monomyth

1. Call to Adventure:The hero's world changes, either by an internal or external pressure, causing conflict in the hero.
2. Refusal of Call: At first the hero refuses to leave their ordinary world and life, usually due to resposnibilities or fear.
3. Supernatural aid: The hero meets their future wise mentor, who encourages, teaches / trains them for the adventure.
4. Crossing the First Threshold: The hero accepts the adventure and is now committed to carry out the journey to success in whatever is set out.
5. Belly of the Whale: The hero faces with the first challenge, but comes out alive, which causes them to change their approach and be more thoughtful.
6. Road of Trial: The hero develops and improves on their abilities and skills, often aided by their mentor.
7. Meeting the Goddess: The hero either physically meets with a love interest, giving the hero a boost; or they see potential outcome of a better life in the future.
8. Temptation: The temptation could be 'the Goddess', but is often someone else who rather distracts; however the temptation might not necessarily be a female, could be an offer or opportunity to leaving the quest, join someone else, etc.
9. Atonement with the Father: Conflict between hero and 'father', needs to choose between approval or becoming independent and making their own decision, thus becoming an 'adult'.
10. Apotheosis: A change in the hero, as they become much responsible and are capable of making better and more wise decisions.
11. The Ultimate Boon: The ultimate boon is a direct response to the call to adventure, these two steps are linked; however this does not mean the end of the hero's quest.
12. Refusal of Return: The hero had a goal and sees an opportunity to return home and their previous life, but the they refuses to go back (at least just yet) and they gain a new goal.
13. Magic Flight: Hero faces with the villain, a final battle takes place.
14. Rescue from without: When it seems like the villain has the upper hand and the hero is to be defeated, they receive a helping hand usually from an unlikely source.
15. Crossing the Return Threshold: The hero has won and succeeded in the quest.
16. Master of two Worlds: The hero now is the master of both world, their ordinary and the special world; they have overcome a previous barrier, often their fears.
17. Freedom to Live: The hero has changed, they have a power that could change the world and they have a choice to return to their ordinary world and live their life, prior to the journey; or they could seek out further adventure.

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Fig 1: The Matrix poster.

The Wachowskis's (Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski) The Matrix (1999) is an action and sci-fi movie. The film is about Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer, who is also a hacker, going by the name Neo. He always questioned truth and reality, until one day he is targeted by police and contacted by the legendary hacker Morpheus. Morpheus offers Neo a choice; take the blue pill - go back to his boring life - or take the red pill - learn what is the Matrix and the truth. He takes the red pill and wakes up in the real world (a wasteland) and learns the horrifying truth about how the machines took over humanity and they have been living in a computer generated world. Now as a rebel, he and a few other rebels fight to defeat the Agents and the Matrix.

Fig 2: The pills.

1. Call to Adventure: Phone call from Morpheus and meeting with Trinity in the nightclub.
2. Refusal of Call: Neo climbs out the window, but refuses to follow Morpheus's instructions further.
3. Supernatural aid: Morpheus is the supernatural aid.
4. Crossing the First Threshold: Choosing between the pills, and takes the red one to see the truth.
5. Belly of the Whale: Neo exits the Matrix and wakes up in the real world.
6. Road of Trial: Neo learns about the matrix and trains to fight.
7. Meeting the Goddess: Trinity is the potential love interest.
8. Temptation: Oracle telling Neo he is not the one.
9. Atonement with the Father: Neo understands Morpheus's teaching.
10. Apotheosis: Neo is the one.
11. The Ultimate Boon: Beats Agents and improves on his ability to controlling the Matrix.
12. Refusal of Return: In the subway Neo could run but chooses not to.
13. Magic Flight: Neo fights and being chased by Agent Smith.
14. Rescue from without: Trinity brings Neo back to life by kissing him in the real world.
15. Crossing the Return Threshold: Neo returns to life as the One and sees the Matrix.
16. Master of two Worlds: Controls both worlds.
17. Freedom to Live: Neo's phone call to the Machines, saying he will help people see the Matrix.

List of Illustration:

Figure 1: The Matrix poster. [online poster] At: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/The-Matrix-1-2-3-MOVIE-Fabric-poster-17-x-13-Decor-05/32693640932.html (Accessed on 28.09.2017)

Figure 2: The pills. [Film still] At: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-best-way-make-decisions-james-kademan (Accessed on 28/09/2017)

Perspectives: Lecture 2: Reflections On Transparency

• The Enlightenment Project: The Enlightenment Project is a term or concept that has been around since the 18th century and is discussed by many philosophers. It is an attempt to find reasoning of life and define humans through science, rejecting the idea of traditions such as religion.

• Structuralism: Structuralism is a concept which tries to understand the aspect of a human, such as experience or behaviour and attempts to try finding the core relationship between the human and object in order to create something that fits everyone's needs; a structure that is universal; 'one-size-fits-all'.

• Ahistorical: Not related to history or historical developments and is ignorant or lacking context and accuracy.

• Irreducible: Cannot be reduced, simplified or made more basic.

• Objective: Not being influenced by personal feelings or opinions.

• Universal: Relates to all collective groups or understood and applied to every collective group.

• Definitive: Is the finalised version of something that cannot be changed or developed/improved further, it is the final solution to a certain problem or situation.

• Postructuralism: Post-structuralism is recognises the issues of structuralism and rejecting the idea of 'one-size-fits-all'. Post-structuralism's purpose is to show individuality and throw away the idea of a certain thing can apply to everyone.

• The unreliable narrator: Is a character, who tells or narrates the story, but it is not completely accurate or true due to the characters mental state.

Perspectives: 5 reasons why 'Inception' is Postmodern

Poster

Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010) is a  action, adventure, sci-fi movie, about Dominic Cobb  who is a  thief professionalised in stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious while the person dreams. His job costs him everything he loved, but one last job has offered him the chance to go back to his past life. He gathers a skillful team and sets out on the dangerous and almost impossible mission to not steal an idea, but to plant one into the mind of a CEO.

Reason 1: The film plays with reality in two ways. Firstly, the visuals - although looking realistic - the way they act as an environment is hyper-real. As stated in the dialog a few times, the characters are able to distort and manipulate their surrounding in the dreams. For example, when Cobb introduces Ariadne to the dream world, she questions what would happen if they would mess with the physics of the environment. We see the city in its normal state, then the end of the road starts curling up and settles on top of the  other buildings, completely upside-down. The second way the film plays with reality is making the viewer question if what they see is real or a dream. The characters jump from dream to dream, and especially towards the end, when Cobb returns home, we might have different opinions about what was a dream and what was not.

Reason 2: The film contains many references and intertextuality. We see the Penrose's staircase when Arthur explains how to build a maze to Ariadne. Also, when Ariadne explores the possibilities of building a world, there is a mirror reference from a 1941 film 'Citizen Kane', but there are many more movie references. Furthermore, Ariadne (the only female character of the team) is the one who builds the world or as sometimes said/shown in the film, she makes the maze, which is a clear reference and connection to a Greek myth of Ariadne the Mistress of the Labyrinth (both sharing their names and are creators of mazes and labyrinths).

Reason 3: The narrative is fragmented, as they keep entering different dreams. As said in the film, we just end up in the middle of a dream but can't recall how we got there and how it started. So as the characters go deeper and deeper into dreams, the scenes, action, clothes and environments change. Whenever a new dream starts, the characters are at a different scene and they are already in the middle of an action, which makes it feel like the audience just joined in at a random moment. What help the viewers  understand and follow the story-line is the dialog, where the characters explain a lot about situations.

Reason 4: The character roles and the line between 'hero' and 'villain' is unclear and undefined throughout the film. Cobb is the main protagonist, but since the movie is quite fragmented the role of being the protagonist can be hard to tell, as some other characters play just as much importance and are presented in more detail as Cobb. Furthermore, movies often present a 'hero' character and a 'villain' character, and it is very clear which one is which. In case of Inception, the line between being a hero and being a villain is unclear, since we see the film from the eyes of our protagonists which, would most often mean that they are the 'good guys' and we are facing against the 'bad guys'. But the person they target is not presented as an evil character, but just an average person. They are presented as normal people as well, however their acts could be seen as villainous, since they are committing a crime and manipulating a persons thinking and future actions, but only for personal reasons, not because they need to 'save the world'.

Reason 5: The ending of the film is a plot-hole, as we followed Cobb's journey as he and his team complete an inception, where they plant an idea into the target's mind. We see how he sometimes questions if he is dreaming or is in reality, by spinning the charm. As we get to the end of the film, Cobb returns to his children and spins the charm, but walks away not waiting to know it is a dream or not. The camera stays on the charm as it spins, but before we know if it falls or not the screen goes black and the credits start to roll. It leaves the viewer confused and lets them decide about it.

Toolkit 2: Life Drawing #2

10 -20 minute pose; Graphite 

3-5 minute poses; Permanent marker & Graphite 

10 minute poses; 3-5 minute poses; Permanent marker & Graphite 

Toolkit 2: Character Design - Week 1: Drawing From Life

Project Collaboration: Animation Short - Some Ideas

At the project briefing, each group had to choose an enclosed envelope containing a 'topic' that our animations had to be about. Each topic is basically a half sentence that we have to finish in order to create a humorous theme. Our topic/half sentence is 'The worst person to...' to which we had to come up with 10 different endings (first 3 already given to us from the envelope). Here are some ideas so far:

THE WORST PERSON TO...

#1: ...be trapped in a lift with.
#2: ...enlist in the army.
#3: ...give you bad news.
#4: ...collaborate with.
#5: ...sit next to on public transport.
#6: ...sit next to in a movie theatre.
#7: ...have as a roommate.
#8: ...be neighbours with.
#9: ...have as a customer
#10: ...have as a landlord.


Link to studio blog: PLANET CUCKOO PRODUCTIONS

Project Collaboration: Logo Design

Link to studio blog: PLANET CUCKOO PRODUCTIONS

Project Collaboration: Logo Idea Sketches

Here are some logo idea sketches for 'Planet Cuckoo Production'. I have tried to keep it simple, but still interesting. At the moment I don't exactly know what colours should I use, but these are just sketches of the overall ideas.

Link to studio blog: PLANET CUCKOO PRODUCTIONS

Project Collaboration: Group Blog

Our group blog on: PLANET CUCKOO PRODUCTIONS

Toolkit 2: Autodesk Maya - 5 Action Poses

Toolkit 2: Character Design - Week 0: Briefing, Preparing & Research

In today's class we were introduced to what our project is going to be. But before starting our research for next class, we were given an image of an animal, we had to observe it for a short while, followed by turning it face down and spending the next 1 minute with trying to draw the animals as detailed and accurate as possible.

Tortoise

1 minute sketch of tortoise (and a later sketch)

Next we played some games, that showed us that we might not be as accurate as we think we are and the importance of observing something before we try to draw them.

Later, each of us got an enclosed envelope with a number in it, telling us our topic and what we are going to be doing for the following weeks.

Summing up the topic I have got: a hungry zombie in a German secret bunker in 1945, trying to find food.

Week 1: Person/Animal - A Zombie
Week 2: Conceit/Trait - 30's German expressionism; always hungry
Week 3: World/Time - Secret Bunker, Germany 1945
Week 4: Body Language
Week 5: Facial Language
Week 6: Props & Sidekicks
Week 7: Filmic Scene - Where's did the food go...there it is!
Week 8: Animation Action - Munching on...?
Week 9: Production Bible
Week 10: One Day Challange

Toolkit 2: Character Design - Influence Maps

Perspectives: 5 reasons why 'Kill Bill: Volume 1' is Postmodern

Postmodernism is...

"A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles, knowing always that the outcome of one's own experience will necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal."

(Quotation from: http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html, Accessed on 24/09/2017))

Poster

Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) is an action and thriller movie about a bride who was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her lover, Bill. After getting pregnant, she decides to escape the group and start a new and safer life. Angering her now past lover, who with the help of the remaining members assassinate everyone at the bride's wedding rehearsal, seemingly killing her too. 4 years later she awakes from a coma, realising that her unborn baby is gone and she decides to kill the 5 people who destroyed her life.

Reason 1: The narrative is non-linear, it often skips from the past with flashbacks, then back to the present. But despise the narrative jumping from past to present, the story is still understandable, clear and easy to follow. Throughout the film, when there is a change in the time, it is usually shown by a  cut of the sceene and text saying what 'chapter' it is and gives it a title.

Reason 2: Tarantino mixed various genres in this film, such as Japanese cinema, horror, thriller and action. The violence and gore is overpowering in the film, but the director still attempts to add humour to it, often by what the characters say. Genres are commonly mixed, but what is more noticeable and unusual is the mix of styles included. The majority of the film is live-action, but when O-Ren Ishii is introduced the scene turns into animated, heavily influenced by Japanese anime.

Reason 3: There are scenes and events that are hyper-real and the audience knows that it either would not be possible or just plainly over the top. One scene that is really hyper-real, is when the bride is clearly should be overpowered by O-Ren Ishii's bodyguards and people, but she is able to defeat all of them (killing only a few of them at a time, while the others wait for their turn) and still has energy to kill the super assassin O-Ren. Often, the blood the enemies loose is too much and the deaths/injuries are violent, ridiculous or over the top.

Reason 4: The purpose of music in films is often, to enhance the intensity of a scene, this means that the music fits perfectly to the emotions and action seen on the screen. However in Kill Bill the music often is not what you would expect to play. An example is when the bride and O-Ren are finally face to face and the final battle takes place. What we would expect is an intense (possibly) Japanese style melody, fit to a sword fight, but instead we hear an upbeat Spanish style music.

Reason 5: There are numerous references in the film, in fact it is filled with them. On of Tarantino's main influences and inspiration was Lady Snowblood (1973) a Japanese film about an assassin who sets out on a mission to kill a criminal who murdered her family. Not only the story seems similar but there are some shots that were copied. Also, there are lots of western film references including, The Searchers - 1956; Death Rides a Horse - 1969 (eye close-ups and red/orange flashbacks); City Of The Living Dead - 1980 (blood tears); Game of Death - 1978 (yellow track-suit); Black Sunday - 1977 (nurse disguise). Lastly he included lots of references to his own movies, such as Pulp Fiction - 1994 or Jackie Brown - 1997.

Perspectives: Lecture 1 : Postmodernism is Difficult

• High Modernism: High modernism also known as high modernity is believing and having strong confidence in science and technology in attempts to master and bring order to nature and society. 

• Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. 

• Superabundance: An excessive amount of something that is beyond the required amount, possibly with negative effect. 

• Disconnected: Breaking the connection between things; lacking a logical sequence or contact with reality. 

• Schizoid: Characterised as having lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, detachment, and apathy.

• Pop: Popular culture of the time; including art, music and fashion.

• Fragmentary: Consisting of small and multiple disconnected or incomplete parts.

• Eclectic nostalgia: A false sense of nostalgia and pleasant feeling resulting from a number elements that imitate the past.

• Superficiality: Lack of thoroughness or any depth of real character or thought.

• Simulacra: An image or representation of someone or something; 

• Flippant: Lack of seriousness and respectful attitude towards something or someone.

• Fabulation: Create or retell a story with false and/or fantasy elements.

• Pastiche: Is an art work  (visual art, music, literature, theatre) which imitates the style or character of the work of another artists, work or period.

• Bricolage: Construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things available, or a work created with mixed media.

• Aleatory: Random choice in the formation of art, relating to accidental or unpredictable causes.

• Depthless: Either beyond one's capability/ is too deep to be measured; or is very shallow and superficial.

• Skeptical: Doubtful, not easily conceivable and uncertain of information or a particular thing.

• Ambiguous: Open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning; lacks of definiteness.

• Innovative: Introduces something new, different or changes the norms.

• Obfuscation: Make something unclear and more difficult to understand.

Toolkit 2: Life Drawing #1

First life drawing lesson since April, clearly needs some improvements, but eventually I will get back to where I left it.

Year 2: Project Collaboration

This year we start with a group project / collaboration. We were put into groups of 3-4 people to create a humorous animation short. As said in the breif:

"Experience of collaboration is a key industry expectation of animation students. This unit challenges students to engage in teamwork in the pre-production, production, post-production and promotion of an original animated short. Students are required to identify their strengths as they align with specific studio roles; for example, concept artist, production designer, character designer, pre-visualiser, modeller, sound designer and animator."

I am assigned to work with Karolina and Graeme.