The birth of Modern horror

Edgar Allan Poe{see picture above} is described as the Father of  modern horror and the inventor of the detective fiction ,though some may argue Mary Shelleys works are an influence?

Edgar Allan Poe  (born Edgar Poe, January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849 in Boston  Massachussets his last years wer spent living in the Bronx area where he lived in a small cottage.He died in mysterious circumstances  in Baltimore ,October 7, 1849 age 40. He was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic. 

He married his young cousin when she was aged 13 or 14 and she died at a very young age. His second wife suffered illness.

He had a fear of being buried alive  as he was clostrophobic.He was  also an Alcoholic.

He was a very tragic character.   

                                               

Most of his stories were based around loss and tragedy due to those events in his life. He wrote the story the Raven (January 1845).He also wrote the tell tale heart published in 1843.He also wrote the pit and pendulum and based stories around bad dreams,though made his Characters believable to the general public.

He also had a drug habit and made the media  believe in his stories.. Another story he wrote was the Great balloon hoax, along with another famous story which was made into a film, the Rue Morgue. The Book being published in 1841.

He also influenced the Sherlock Holmes detective Character..He influenced later writers such as HP Lovecraft who incorporated Beasts and the religious side of things into his stories.. Both Edgar Allan Poe and HP lovecraft certainly influenced modern horror such as in the era of the 1980's.These films featured iconic characters and the films wer quite brutal. Anamatronics effects were used in the 80's for instance whereas in  the 2000's cgi effects are used for special effects .

Saul Bass was it appears very influenced by Poe's work.Saul Bass having used  minimal shape  in his work , silhouette and textualised animation.Gothic elements were also used in his work. The Film version of the Tell tale heart  (1953 Warner Brother's) is a prime example of  having incorporated this style .

Hanna Barbera's early work could aslo have been influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's work,though later of course  Hanna Barbera's work was best known for cartoons rather than horror.

Edgar Allan Poe certainly has an influence on Modern horror films  after all these years, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Pioneer, Vol. I, No. I, Drew and Scammell, Philadelphia, January, 1843

Film Noir

Edward  Hopper is  an American artist and eventually studied in France and was influenced by the French artist Degas which can be seen very much within his Paintings.He returned to the USA  to continue his work.

The  picture above is  an Edward Hopper  painting  titled House by the  railroad.

The Painting seems to depict light and darkness. The Tones and shading giving it this feel.
The Image seems to depict isolation and there is also a sinister look about the style of the Building. This   was used in the very famous Alfred Hichcock directed movie from 1960, Psycho.

Below  is another Edward Hopper Pictiure the Gas attendant again depicting clour tone and lighting and emphasing  isolation. There is a scene in the Psycho film in which there is a gas attendant incidentally.  

Here is a caption from the Psycho film in which he deigned the opening titles.This seems to be very stark and stripped down. This image gives a feel of menace  and also in a strange way isolation.

Of course both Edward Hopper and Saul Bass{May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996} are linked by this film, hence Edward Hoppers painting of the House used in Psycho and  Saul bass's Title scenes designs not forgetting his involvement in the shower scene and blood swirling down the sink scene, which was his idea and not the director Alfred Hitchcock.

Isolation Voyeurism Dark and light  imagery Antagonist protagonist influence sems to run throughout both these Artists work.Also the  relationship aspect side of thingsare icorporated in their works. Psycho paved the way for  risque scenes in future films  as pre 1960 scenes featuring visual kissing etc were quite taboo and only refernced   as innuendos.

 The Film Noir style is very much used in some of todays films.

Art Deco

The 1939 New York Fair poster.

A typical 1930s Art Deco style poster very streamlined. Speed, and fast design.
Space age,with futuristic looking imagery.

Below a postage stamp  with the poster design implemented.

 

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Chicago 1833-1933 A Century of Progress Art Deco style Poster

ART DECO

The Art Deco Era 1920's -1930's. Coming to prominence in the 1930's. The Art Deco was  born  out of France from an exhibition in  Paris inthe 1920's.This came to prominence around the World in the 1930's.The style influenced interior design,architecture,visual Arts,jewellery,fashion,paintings and graphic Arts as well as Film.This style was representing glamour elegance and modern imagery.
The designs were prominent in glassware amongst many other things. Art Deco was very influenced by Tudor era design.
For example Tudor |Houses.
Art Nouveu fed into Art Deco.Egyptian Tomb designs were also an influence on Art Deco designs.





The  USA was very influenced by past and future designs. Fast Cars ,Trains and streamlining .Streamline Moderne.Aerodynamics and speed of object imagery and design featuring heavily in the designs.Space age images Rockets and Buildings again influenced by this.

New York World's Fair Postcard

Chrysler Building . Art Deco influenced design.Buildings surrounding it also have a posible Egyptian design which was of course very influential in Art Deco designs

Renee Lalique was a  French designer very influenced by Art Deco with his Glass ornament designs and another designer Raymond loewy the Father of  industrial design incorporated  a lot of this in his work.He was very influenced by the Pharaohs designs.

He designed the Shell ,BP and Coca Cola designs as well as his train designs,Car designs,Cigarette packet design amongst other designs.

Buildings such as the Chrysler building in New York which has an Art Deco influenced design.

A lot of the Bauhaus designers emigrated to the USA  from Germany after Adolf Hitler closed down th Bauhaus School.Their Art Deco influence can be seen in the USA  quite prominently in a lot of the Building designs.

Due to World War two from the late 1940's through to the 1960,s design and imagery did not change much and was still influenced by Art Deco to a certain degree. Furniture, such as Chairs, Lights, lamp shades, Televisions  and a whole range of things had the Art Deco style influence, and indeed some of todays designs can be seen to still be influenced by the  Art Deco era in reproduction furnishings amongst other things.

American Super Heroes such as the First Super Hero, Superman ,through to the late 1930's Batman and Robin,Captain America and  Dare devil etc,were very Art Deco orientated. The super hero Marvel comics for example all had the Streamline fast space age Art Deco influence running through the images and overall design of the magazines and Posters.Some Toys from the 1930s through to the 1960's and onwards can also be seen to have an Art Deco influence.The 1980s Comic book heroes were reinvented in the UK.The 1930's Posters had limited Colour Palettes giving them their unique style.This could be described as iconic abstract form in an almost Picasso style possibly.

The Airship used for  Trans Atlantic crossings were certainly  designed in an Art deco style. The Lz 129 Hindenburg airship disaster  which occured on Thursday May 6th 1937 caught fire  on attemting to dock which was also captured on one of the very first news reels of the time signalled the end of this type of transportation, and  the commercial flights that we know today were born out of that.
Airship travel would probably still be used today but for the Hindenburg Disaster.
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The Empire state Building was a building where Art Deco was also a big influence.The King Kong film based around the building being representative in it's imagery, and message, good vs evil and power, being examples of  the Art Deco style.
The Empire state building was actually used for Airships to Dock on top of it. There is now an Aerial mast replacing where the docking  station part of the building used to be.

Up  Film Poster 2009

The Art Deco style can be seen in some of todays film Poster designs such as the recently made film up Up.See the Picture Poster on the left.The Air Ballon a pointing reference to the Air Ships which had the Art Deco influenced design.The poster  is also very minimal but eye catching.Graphic Design by Craig Foster.

Further examples of Art Deco influenced posters The 1927 Film Metropolis Poster design and  an image of King Kong and The Empire State Building poster design. Also an Image of the very futuristic Art Deco style Hindenburg Airship disaster which changed the way Air travel was used in the future. The Empire State Building  on  the Left.Also the Chrysler Building below are  very Art Deco in their  design. Raymond loewy Car design can also be seen below the page.

Also below the page a 1938 Superman comic which typifies   the Art Deco image. Fast , Powerful,  Strong,Striking, and Futuristic.At the bottom of the page ,the 2012 pre release poster of the latest Batman Movie. Batman having featured in USA DC Comics back in 1939 and most certainly influenced by the Art Deco movement.Also featured the old Batman logo used in older posters ,which shows that the updated poster is still carrying the 1930s influence design into 2012.

 Empire State Building.

A very innovative  Art Deco style Building reaching the heady heights of the New York Skyline, with the Chrysler Building in the background.

Metropolis original 1927 theatrical Poster from the German Fritz Lang film Very futuristic for its time and the Art Deco design is very prominent in this excellent Poster

Above  left : The 2010 French Poster of the Restored  Film Version of Metropolis minus the  Maschinenenmensch which featured on the previous posters. Above Right: A 2002 Metropolis Poster to advertise the restored version of the film, featuring  the Maschinenmensch.The concept of the 2002 version inkeeping with the original 1927 Poster.

 Left :Original King Kong Film Poster 1933.

 A 2008 King Kong Poster with Empire State Building image

The ill fated Art Deco styled Airship the Hindeburg

Art Deco style Spirit of Adventure poster

Superman Comic Book Hero.The CGC-graded 8.5 copy of Action Comics #1 which sold at auction in 2010 for $1.5 million

A Raymond Loewy Car Design. He designed many things including Trains

Left :1930s Batman very Art Deco Artwork orientated 

Batman 1960s logo Used on the Film Poster .

2012 Batman Movie Poster.Hence the Batman logo incorporated in the Poster design

Dystopia

Dystopia

 Dystopia could be described as  someones Hell.

 An imperfect World. 

 Maybe living in a dysfunctional society.

 The modern era and todays society to a large degree could be described as this.

 Injustice and  World wars could also be described as  dystopia.

 A breakdown in morals  and bad attitude are possibly other examples.

 Crime , Murder and frightening and threatening behaviour are examples of what dystopia could be.



  

Utopia

Utopia

 Utopia can be described as  Heaven in some peoples eyes.
Other possible examples of utopia could be  someones perception of World peace.

 The Garden of Eden, a peaceful walk in the woods, or the view of the sea.
A warm sunny day could be an example of this.

There are many examples of  peoples utopia, eash and every one of us having our own images and ideals of what Utopia is or could be.

The Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial revolution took place from the 18th and the 19th Century.

This changed the way manufacturing,agriculture,manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology were utilised.

There was growth in income notably for the ordinary class people and with it came a population boom .

In the late 18th Century  manual based labour shifted toward machine based work.

Things began to change in the textile industries and other areas such as coal manufacturing and the use of  different forms of transportation such as  using Canals, Trains, and  better roads, enhancing output of work.

Steam power and water wheels and powered machinery along with metal  machine tools  further increased output which spread across  Western Europe and North America.

 The printing press was invented in the Holy Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw presses. He started out as a blacksmith.. before developing the printing press.



    Johannes Gutenberg's  Printing press

Johannes Gutenberg {1398 – February 3, 1468}



The Great Wave 

 (神奈川沖浪裏, Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura^?, lit. "Under a Wave off Kanagawa"),

The great wave, or also know as the wave.

Designed by Japanese artist.Katsushika Hokusai. Born in 1760  in Edo.

The Great wave has also been credited as the Birth of the poster.

This is from the Edo period ,19th century.

Edo renamed Tokyo from 1868, when the shogunate[military generals or dictarors}  era came to an end

The area in which the image is depicted  is near Mount Fuji.The mountain itself can be seen in the background of the picture.

It looks like an image of a Tsunami but is probably  as the title stipulates a large  wave of the sea  which can be seen persuing the boats in the picture..

The deisgn is a woodblock print.The colour is described as woodcut.

The  actual dimension of the picture is 25.7cm x 37.8 cm {10.1 in x 14.9 in}.

The style of Art Hokusai used has certainly been influenced by the Art Nouveu movement.

A great many prints of the great wave can be seen in quite a few Western Art collections in places like Londons British Museum, the Metroploitan  Art Museum in New York City and  Claude Monet's house in Giverny in France.,

 Katsushika Hokusai died in 1849 aged 88.

A truly innovative designer who lead the way for  many great Artists after him, and whose influence can still be seen in some of  todays designers work.

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The Mysterious geographic of Jasper Morello

This Oscar nominated Australian Gothic animation mystery filmed in silhouette,and directed by Anthony Lucas,tells the story of Jasper Morello, a navigator with a chequered past,who flees his homeland in search of redemption, and in a quest to save his ill wife.

Jasper Morello embarks on a journey to find new opportunity en route.
Jaspers crew includes an eccentric biologist, are blown off courseand find themselves abandoning ship and ending up on an Island.
Jasper encounters a giant creature which happens to be a cure for the wretched plague, and battle commences.

A gripping story unravels.

Film released ,January 20th 2005 . Duration 26 minutes.


Synopsis.

My general thoughts on the film were  it was unusual in that it was animated in silhouette which i personally had not come across before.
Interesting that the film was also set in a style not too disimiliar to Tim Burton animations.
Dark , Gothic and intriguing from start to finish.