Friday, March 11, 2016
Film Scenes and the Art Paintings That Inspire Them, Side-By-Side
sploid.gizmodo.com: Film takes inspiration from the world around us so it’s no surprise that directors mimic art paintings in their movies. Vugar Efendi put together famous art paintings next to movie scenes to show how film meets art. It’s like seeing the paintings come to life. Some of them are so picturesque that it actually looks more like the painting than the painting itself, if that can possibly make any sense.
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4 comments:
Wow. This video put together by Vugar Efendi is so beautiful in its execution and idea! I sincerely wish the video ran longer though-- I'm sure that there are many MANY more examples of cross over references between movies and paintings. This is one of the most important, I believe, skills and should be requirements of going into the arts and a designer: having an expansive comprehension of Art History. The ability to cross reference other artistic works in your own work not only pays homage to the great artists you are taking inspiration from, but also makes you seem more developed in your artistic library. I think that my favorite mention in the video that Efendi made was the Birth To Venus reference juxtaposed against Adventures of Baron Munchausen-- I've never seen the movie, but from what I saw from the clip, it's absolutely gorgeous. However, I was turned off by the movie's choice to fly the two other characters in the scene. It looked sort of inorganic and cheesy to me and it took me away from the elegance and ornate qualities of the other character inside of the shell.
I have always been fascinated by the digital paintings which directors seem to create through the composition of elements on screen, so I'm surprised I never considered the literal paintings behind directorial thinking. This use of inspiration is so incredibly malleable, because it can either facilitate an already existing idea or create an element with which to move the story along. Whether the use of the painting's composition came into play before or after the story was written and decided, this method still has an incredible use in communicating the visual narrative of the film. It immediately gives the audience a visual association, and recalls whatever emotional reaction they may have previously felt at seeing the image, making mood, tone, given circumstances, character, and so many other pieces of the story easily apparent. More so, any allusion made is far subtler than if it had been spoken, so the recollection becomes more real as it is more up to the audience to pick it our of their own memory. The use of paintings as directorial inspiration in film is so obviously brilliant, I can't believe I never considered it before, and I am so excited for future chances to notice it myself.
I love this video and even though I haven't seen most of the movies mentioned I would really like to. I am the kind of person that can spend hours in an art museum wandering around looking at paintings. I love to make up the story behind each painting. That is what these movies are doing, taking these powerful images and incorporating them into a larger narrative. Being able to use these iconic images for your own work is a really effective tool, whether it is the very clear reference as in the case of the Baron Munchausen Venus or a subtle nod like the Napoleon movie. That’s why I agree with Michele that having a strong art history is so important for any artist or designer. I think that designers here at CMU should be encouraged to take art history classes and explore the art museums here in Pittsburgh so that they can have a plethora of beautiful imagery from across the ages to draw on for their designs.
In some cases, it is clearly evident that the scene is emulating a painting or mythical event: Venus is a legendary painting and she is portrayed rising out of the sea on a shell clothed only in her hair in most renditions of the myth, so the movie portraying that scene is making a clear allusion to that image. While other times it is more subtle, many of the paintings are very familiar to most of us and their movie counterparts evoke the same atmosphere and feeling as the paintings. In the movie compared with "Christina's World," I wouldn't have been able to conjure the name of the painting when watching the film. Still, that scene feels familiar and creates the same atmosphere as the painting did. I think using paintings and artwork for imagery can be a powerful tool for a director, as the visual strength of a movie can change a lot about what is understood about the characters and their story.
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