Sunday 12 October 2014

Behind the Scenes: You're A Real Card!

Recently, the original version of 'The Manchurian Candidate' was shown on tv.  Its great surreal opening scenes grab the attention and force the viewer to concentrate on the premise being set.

Throughout the film, there is a visual emphasis on the Queen of Diamonds from a deck of cards.  It is the trigger for a mind-controlled agent to act.  



We had used playing cards before; in a crooked card deal, and in a surreal dream sequence.  However, this time we looked at the idea of merging the visual image and character, in a reference to the psychological elements suggested by 'The Manchurian Candidate'.  (Reference in our episode title, too.)

Hamish had the idea of using a mirror to generate a symmetrical figure image, like the picture cards in a deck.  This seemed to work well, and we used hand and arm positions to further echo picture cards.  Here's an image that Hamish transformed to provide a closer reference to the reversed symmetry of a picture card.


We also returned to using projected images.  As previously, they provided some tribal-type face-patterns when overlayed on our own faces.  Furthermore, they gave some interesting Cubist-type face distortions / double-images, and some great confusions of hands!  As with some of those other uses of projected images, this was unexpected and exciting to work with in the moment.



Stay tuned, and join the adventure! 

Shadow Laughter schedule: 
Tuesday - trailer
Thursday, Saturday, Monday - Episode posts
Sunday - Blog







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