The marketing is beginning to increase exponentially for Disney's next live action remake "Cinderella" but, sadly, there isn't much I've seen that inspires me to see the film.
This new, mixed-media look at Disney's Cinderella, currently making the rounds on Tumblr, is far more interesting to me. For some reason, putting these animated characters into real backgrounds really makes you think about the story, and perhaps more about the many different types of Cinderella stories there are, including those under our noses today (and particularly if you live in New York).
"Mean Girls"
The artist responsible is New York based photographer and musician Harry McNally, for his new series titled Moments Like These. And Cinderella isn't the only familiar "neighbor" you'll discover in a very current New York context.
McNally places our most beloved Disney characters in the most real (and so New York) situations: The evil step-sisters parade around the Upper West Side as if they're fresh out ofGossip Girl; Alice gets lost in the subway instead of Wonderland (because who hasn't?); and Jasmine orders bottle service... at the club.
"The photographs were not taken with the intention of adding characters to them," he tells Refinery29. "The idea for that came one night while I was obsessively reviewing my photo archive. The scenes depicted in the photographs can be suggestive, some more than others. A situation is already there, ready to be imagined. Adding the character element makes the situation more of a 'moment.'" (source)
I've seen a lot of variations looking at Disney in modern context but this series does a great job of telling the story in a very fresh way (though I think the flippant commentary on the images, care of the reporter in the linked source, detracts). The angles and sizes are so well done it doesn't take much of a stretch of one's imagination to turn these animated figures into possibly-very-real people.
"Transformation"
My other favorite is the confused Alice in the subway, trying to choose which tunnel to take... You can see her and more characters-in-context HEREand buy (pricey) printsHERE.
This "long lost" film resurfaced on YouTube last year while I was in recovery and I found my note to myself to post the news on OUABlog when I returned, just today. (The images included are some of Burton's concept art for the project.)
A little background:
The film was conceptualized and created by Tim Burton whilst in Disney's employ. It aired one time only on Halloween night in 1983 on the The Disney Channel, due to the Disney Executives horrified reactions when they saw it on air, and I think, in this instance, they were right. It doesn't really fall within the Disney branding, and I wouldn't have been pleased to find a little one watching this either! (Did no one check the show before it aired? Yikes.)
The film was included in the MoMA exhibit that featured Burton's earlier and lesser known works and history a few years ago but hasn't been available to see anywhere before or since (except in Paris for a similar exhibition).
The movie is usually classified stop motion, though it uses real (amateur) actors, all of whom are Japanese*. (Note: it's also Tim Burton's first time working with live actors, which may be apparent in the quality of performance, though his direction is often very imaginative.) In yet another interesting choice, (especially for the time period) the same male actor plays both the Stepmother and the Witch. Seen throughout are designs now considered "Burtonesque", many of which might be considered precursors to other film designs seen in Frankenweenie and The Nightmare Before Christmas. There's interesting use of birds in this one too (duck and swan in particular), and that little toy duck looks remarkably like one Jack Skellington has Halloween town make as one of the presents.
From Wikipedia:
Filmed for $116,000 on 16mm, this live-action short film featured a cast of amateur Japanese actors, kung fu fights (despite kung fu being Chinese) and Japanese toys, as Burton was obsessed with Japanese culture at the time of production. The film's design style and color schemes paid homage to the Godzilla movies and is said to be heavy on special effects, making use of front projection, forced perspective and even some stop-motion animation.
Here you go. Enjoy! (Or, be creeped out):
CAST---------
Hansel - Andy Lee
Gretel - Alison Hong
Stepmother / Wicked Witch - Michael Yama
Father - Jim Ishida
Dan Dan the Gingerbread Man (voice) - David Koenigsburg
Features early work by Stephen Chiodo of the Chiodo Bros. Studio as well as the late Joe Ranft of Disney and Pixar.
Music by John Costa of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood fame!(source)
Can I just say: I'm just not going to ask what the Father did to the Stepmother, and I will stick with my regular Gingerbread Men, thank you very much! * Has anyone else noticed the Asian (specifically Japanese) fascination with Hansel and Gretel? I wonder what it is about the tale, exactly?
You may have seen her work recently in conjunction with the AFTS conference, but not known the name of the creative woman behind this new vision of Snow White. Her name is Debra Phillips and she tells stories. But not just with words. She also tells stories with paint. While she is a writer and is currently involved with an academic study related to storytelling and fairy tales, she also creates stories using paint and often incorporating other media as well. Be it stitching, photography, old maps or her own brushstrokes, there is always a story woven into the work.
A Grimm View of Life series: Three Little Pigs
From Ms. Phillips:
When I paint I tell myself a story
about the people in the scenes, the events leading up to the scenes and the
qualities of each person within the painting. For me, a painting is a story.
Although it is entire in itself, there is always a story before the image and a
story after the image. Decades ago when I painted the series of saints, I
also wrote on the back a short story about the life of the saint (either
imagined or real).
A Grimm View of Life series: Goldilocks and porridge
What you see here are some of her intriguing paintings, exploring familiar fairy tales in a new ways, something, she says, is bring influenced by her current academic research and study, with an emphasis on the notion of time experienced in fairy tales and how they can transform to become a distinct narrative about an imagined future. But that's not all she does.
A Grimm View of Life series: Snow White and rotten to the core
In the past, Ms. Phillips could often be found writing stories for friends by request, often with the purpose of commemorating a specific and special life event (birth, wedding etc). Over time, she began to include water colors, collages or photographs she had created. At some point she added stitching and the concept of her unique brand of hand crafted books was born.
Detail from a mixed-media collage
Story writing has overtaken my self and my life. There is always a tension
between the desire to write and the desire to paint. Sometimes the paintings
emerge from writing and sometimes the story comes from seeing a theme running
through paintings or collage images.
Fairy story themes are a constant thread running through all the stories. Some
fairy stories are obvious and others are hidden in the other themes of the
story. All my stories are about the human condition, especially its frailties
and it’s complex relationships.
As you can see at the head of the post, Ms. Phillips had the honor of being the cover artist for the AFTS Inaugural Conference program this year. She also attended and, along with everyone else, has been reported as being both delighted and inspired by the papers and presentations of all kinds.Which can only mean one thing: we should be seeing more from Ms. Philips very soon.
A Grimm View of Life series: Snow White & Rose Red have the wolf at their feet
In the meantime, she has a small website with a few examples of her workHERE, including a fascinating introduction to her current studies with fairytales. I look forward to seeing what Ms. Phillips does next.
A while back I posted a lovely photography series in which the subject/model "interacted" with illustrations drawn in white. After finding that - and falling in love with the style and idea - it didn't take me long to track down "Recipe for Forests" which also has a strong fairy tale feel to it.
While the previous fairy tales were by one artists this series is by a trio, namely:
Carlos Gutiérrez (Photography)
Sebastián Rubiano (Illustration)
Juliana Mira Restrepo (Styling)
A rough translation of the Spanish text is included below the corresponding pics.
(Edit FTNH: This image is my favorite of the set.)
An underground stirring reveals the dreamlike beginnings of this place. If I close my eyes, I can see them too.
This crimson air feeds the senses, reviving the pleasure of falling into inescapable inner worlds.
It reads like the opening to a story, doesn't it? I wish they had written more and created/produced more photos for the series. I want to see more of this recipe. You can find the set on Behance HERE, which links to all three artists own personal portfolios. The trio also collaborated on another forest fantasy project, titled Blur, which some readers may like as well, though it's darker and has no illustration. You can find it HERE. There's an interesting fantastical-dream story that goes with Blur, which , though a little wordy is an interesting read too. Just hit your auto-translate. Being somewhat poetic, a Google-translated approximation still makes enough sense to read and feels magical. Here's one of the pics to give you a taste:
From Blur, also by Gutiérrez, Rubiano & Restrepo
I think these artists are still developing (some extra attenion to focus, a better quality lens and more control of the lighting would knock this out of the park!), but their potnetial, especially as a team, is high and I'd be curious to see some newer forest-based work, especially with a male central figure. We need more fairy tale images with males that aren't knights! Perhaps they'll be inspired in the new year...
If you like this as much as I do, please go to the Behance page and click the "appreciate this". Unlike Facebook, you don't need an account to click the button and the sole function is to let the artists know as simply and quickly as possible that people like -and appreciate- their work. Let's encourage them to do more in this vein!
I found the beautiful projects below by Trish Lavar fairly recently (first one or two then tracked down the sequences) and just adore the sketchy imagination drawn into the scenes!
It's not animation and it's not a live-action with animation crossover. It's beautiful photography with a little extra to make it something unique (and extremely fairy tale like). The impression we have is that we get a glimpse of what the character herself is really looking at, but that, even so, it remains a little hazy to us.
I completely relate to this...
First up: Little Red & the Wolf
See the next tale after the jump. ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒
“Taking pictures of something that just exists was never interesting to me,” says Michel Tcherevkoff. “I’ve always gravitated to photography that’s more illustrative in nature, where I can create my own reality — with a twist."
Paris-born Michel Tcherevkoff graduated from law school only to realize he needed a more creative career to dedicate himself to. He came to work in the fashion industry in New York (following after his sister, who became a model) and though successful, he soon found he preferred still photography without the manic flurry that often surrounds fashion shoots. At his website you can see how how transitioned into a 'fashion stills' niche but it was his Shoe Fleur creations that rocketed him to fame beyond 'fashionista' circles.
Inspired by the upside-down leaf, Tcherevkoff played with the image in Photoshop on his Mac, adding a heel and turning it this way and that until he’d created a shoe. When he showed the prototype to his agent and a few others, he says, “I got this terrific reaction. People kept saying, ‘This is so unusual’ and ‘You should try it again’”
His book (pictured here) is a must-have for lovers of faerie attire, flowers and high fashion.
“I decided early on that I wouldn’t mix different types,” he says. “Every shoe and handbag [most of the shoes in the book have matching purses] would be made from one particular plant or flower.” Tcherevkoff shot blossoms and stems, twisting and knotting and weaving and tying them to bring nature’s flora to heel as meticulously as a third-generation Italian cobbler.
According to Faerie Magazine (see note at end of post), Tcherevkoff has more botanical wonders in store, this time along the lingerie line.
Apple.com also got a good description of his creative process of which I'm quoting a portion here. It turns out Photoshop is only one of his tools, and there's a much more intricate approch to his original photographic content than you might think. As a result his creations really are unique to his photographic sense and work.
“I’ll take a leaf, make it into a sole, bend it to make a heel or a strap, then shoot it.” He works untethered. After taking the pictures, “I walk over to my computer room and download the flash cards. Now, some art director might say that’s wasted time,” he says, “but for me it’s thinking time. I’m looking one or two steps ahead, getting ideas, making creative decisions.”
Once the image is downloaded, he plays with it in Photoshop. “I silhouette the element I’m interested in,” he says, “then I place it here and there. I ask myself, ‘What would happen if I shrink it, distort it, shear it?’”
He’ll return to the set, as needed, to capture new visual elements. “I might take a rose or a daisy,” he says, “and the first time I shoot it straight on. Then I might go back and customize it for what I’m building — say I turn it 20°, then 20° more, and so on, until it forms a collar around the shoe. Getting all the flowers at the proper angle, with the right lighting, creates a put-together ensemble.”
The rest of the interesting two-page profile article can be read HERE.
As for the fashion? There's a LOT more to see on his website (choosing a small selection to include here was uber-difficult!). Many of the shoes have a matching bag and there are glasses too, not to mention all his other work but once you have a good look I think you'll say the same thing I did: "More please!"
Note: You can read more about Michel Tcherevkoff and his creations in the Spring Issue of Faerie Magazine, which is still available in stores at this writing.
