From artist Bruce D. Price
A recent issue of ArtNews (November, 2003) featured a Russian artist said to be pursuing "a digital aesthetic." His works, it turns out, are "pixel-based paintings of art-historical classics." Why, one might ask, does digital art need to refer to anything historical? What's the point? Digital is the unpredictable present and the unseen future. Let's see where that goes.
At the start of the 20th century, intellectuals hailed the beauty of the machine. This philosophy was called Machine Aesthetics. What the intellectuals meant was the sleek aerodynamic surface of the racing car or ocean liner. (They did not mean the dirty engine or dangerous boiler.) At the start of the 21st century, we are entering an unexpected new chapter in Machine Aesthetics. Now there's no beauty on the surface, as the computer can be in a cardboard box or hidden in the wall. The beauty is deep inside the silicon chips that enable computers to perform a billion calculations a second. Digital art can be understood as Machine Aesthetics II--The Inner Beauty.
A sculptress (more precisely, a potter who makes artistic ceramics) was interviewed in the Princeton Alumni Weekly. "Sometimes," she said, "the most interesting pieces come from a series of guided accidents." Exactly. Many digital artists would tell you the same thing: "I'm looking for those wonderful accidents that are more beautiful than anything I might think up beforehand. Serendipity--that's the best part."
Digital art can be used to replicate traditional media and to represent traditional subjects--e.g. to paint a flower or a nude. Brilliant work will be done in this direction. But why use this exciting new medium in old-fashioned ways? Avant-garde thinking suggests: this new kind of machine (the computer) should be used to create new kinds of art.
How do they do it? Hard to say. Even digital artists can't always tell how other digital artists achieve their effects. There's trade secrets and luck and even unexplainable, unrepeatable results. In an odd way, digital art of today is like glass blowing in Venice in, say 1000, when every glass blower had personal secrets and techniques. This mystery is part of the fun in digital art. But don't be intimidated. If you don't like the art, it's bad. If you like it, it's good. Buy it.
That Jackson Pollack dripped all those paintings was a big problem for many people. Cynics said, "My kid could do that." The Jackson Pollacks of today are digital artists. People ask, "So, when my kids get a computer, then they'll be able to do digital art?" Sure--exactly to the degree that when they get a set of oil paints, they'll be able to do oil paintings.
A new field is emerging, the sociology of computers. Here are the first findings: Turns out that almost half the population thinks the computer is bad, a devilish machine that is both impersonal and anti-creative. This Luddite perspective views the computer as a cookie-cutter drudge. For these people "computer art" is an oxymoron... Simultaneously, almost half the population thinks the exact opposite! Computers are gods. Push a button and opera comes out. Any child and a computer can write War and Peace and outpaint Manet. An artist painting on a computer isn't doing anything because the god-like computer is doing the work. Sorry. Neither view is very helpful. The computer is just a tool. A word processor--i.e. a computer programmed to manipulate texts-- doesn't create poetry, and an image processor--i.e. a computer programmed to manipulate images--doesn't create art. As always, poets make poetry and artists make art.
Digital art--here's one reason why the art world sometimes tries to pretend it's not there--is hugely democratic. Once a piece is created, the artist can make multiple copies. In this respect it's exactly like the photograph, another much maligned democratic medium. For the first 100 years of its existence, let's say 1850-1950, the camera was not considered a real artist's tool. What did the photographer actually do? Push a button, that's all. Much too democratic. But little by little, good artists went to work with the camera and made great art. Philistine opinion gave way. The same story is now being replayed starring the computer. What took a century in photography's case will pass by in relatively few years for digital art.
Andre Breton and the Surrealists said that artists should liberate the unconconscious. The idea was that you don't try to control everything. You let the creative process loose. Turns out the computer is a natural ally to experimentation, freeing the unconscious and, in effect, getting out of the way.
Toward a Digital Manifesto: the pixel is the language of the future. Digital is the landscape on which we will live. The goal of the digital artist is to explore the vast new aesthetic possibilities that digital technology has presented to us.
Welcome to the digital universe.
© Bruce D. Price 2004
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Resonses to "Hope"
"When artists slip the collar of convention, only then can they roam the forest of new found sites. With skill they may return with their visions for others to see in the code of their paintings. I do not understand the language or code of the birds but I do still love their songs. New visions need not be fully understood--only agreeable. I believe that true genius does not understand the word fear--instead their sails are set by hope of unseen shores."
Todd Plough
Todd Plough
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Willpower is best used with care
Cordelia Fine
June 14, 2006
A DECADE ago when I was an undergraduate psychologist, a departmental librarian called Anne was doing something any psychologist would say was impossible. Every year, with near-perfect accuracy, she would predict which third-year undergraduates would be awarded first-class degrees.
Anne didn't know how their essays were rated, what A-level grades they had under their belts, or how they scored on IQ tests. (All information many would say was essential to forecasting final results.)
All she knew was how often she had seen students in the department library: reading course notes, photocopying journals, borrowing books. And the handful of students who Anne saw a lot - conspicuously more often than the other students in the same year - were going to get a first.
Anne was working on the principle that in academic achievement it is self-discipline, not talent, that counts. Ten years on, a study published recently in Psychological Science has come to exactly the same conclusion.
Psychologists Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman descended on the eighth grade of a large public school in the northeast of the US. As the autumn leaves fell, each of the 160-odd children took an IQ test, then they (and their parents and teachers) answered questionnaires that probed self-control. Are you good at resisting temptation, they were asked. Can you work effectively towards long-term goals? Or do pleasure and fun sometimes keep you from getting work done?
The children were also given a real-life test of their ability to delay gratification. Each was handed a dollar bill in an envelope. They could choose either to keep it or hand it back and get $2 a week later. Their decision was carefully recorded.
The researchers returned in spring. They took note of each child's grades and then looked back to see both how clever, and how self-controlled, that student had been in autumn. What, they wanted to know, was the most important factor in school grades?
The psychologists discovered it was self-control, by a long shot. A child's capacity for self-discipline was about twice as important as his or her IQ when it came to predicting academic success.
At first glance, research of this sort is a comfort to those of us not exploding with raw talent. The science seems to back up the writer Kingsley Amis's well-known advice that "the art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair". Why, in that case anyone can write a book. Yet a small problem remains; namely, the problem of keeping the seat of one's trousers applied to the seat of one's chair.
Amis kept to an "unflinching schedule" of 500 words a day, according to The Guardian. (No doubt the young Amis would have returned the seductive single dollar bill to the researcher with barely a hesitation.) But just as we all have different levels of physical endurance so, too, do we differ in the strength of our will.
Some people are simply more susceptible to temptations and distractions, and we all sometimes reach the limits of our willpower sooner than we would like. "Programs that build self-discipline may be the royal road to building academic achievement," psychologists Duckworth and Seligman conclude from their findings.
So what can we do to strengthen self-discipline, to transform ourselves from impulsive dollar-snatchers to lofty long-term investors in future success?
Help lies in seeing willpower as a muscle, recent research suggests. The "moral muscle", as it has been called, powers all of the difficult and taxing mental tasks that you set yourself. It is the moral muscle that is flexing and straining as you keep attention focused on a dry academic article, bite back an angry retort to your boss, or decline a helping of your favourite dessert. And herein lies the problem: these acts of restraint all drain the same pool of mental reserves.
Take, for example, a group of hungry volunteers who were left alone in a room containing both a tempting platter of freshly baked chocolate chip biscuits and a plate piled high with radishes. Some of the volunteers were asked to sample only the radishes. These peckish volunteers manfully resisted the temptation of the biscuits and ate the prescribed number of radishes. Other, more fortunate, volunteers were asked to sample the biscuits.
In the next, supposedly unrelated, part of the experiment, the volunteers were asked to try to solve a difficult puzzle. The researchers weren't interested in whether the volunteers solved it. (In fact, it was insoluble.) Rather, they wanted to know how long the volunteers would persist with it. Their self-control already depleted, volunteers forced to snack on radishes persisted for less than half as long as people who had eaten the biscuits or (in case you should think chocolate biscuits offer inner strength) other volunteers who had skipped the eating part of the experiment.
As this and many similar studies show, if you draw on your reserves to achieve one unappealing goal - going for a jog, say - your moral muscle will be ineffective when you then call on it to help you switch off the television and start essay-writing.
What, then, can we do about this unfortunate tendency of the moral muscle to become fatigued with use? One option is to build it up and make it strong. Evidence is starting to accumulate that the moral muscle, like its physical counterpart, can become taut and bulging from regular exercise. People asked by experimenters to be self-disciplined about their posture for two weeks were afterwards stronger willed when it came to a test of physical endurance, compared with other people allowed to slouch about in their usual comfortable way during the fortnight.
By regularly exercising self-restraint and virtue in all areas of life (moral muscle cross-training, we may call it), we will come to resist temptations with the same casual ease with which a world-class athlete sprints to catch a train. That, at least, is the idea.
Unfortunately, like any sensible, long-term strategy for self-improvement, this approach has limited appeal. For just as we want to fit into those trousers next Monday - not after eight tedious weeks of healthy eating and regular exercise - it is often the same for our more cerebral ambitions. Exam dates are set in stone, deadlines loom on the horizon, or may even mock us from the past. In other words, there simply may not be enough time to become a master of temperance and virtue before tackling our goal.
Fortunately, there is also an attractive quick-fix approach to the problem of limited willpower. This is to use your moral muscle only very sparingly. My father, a professional philosopher, has a job that involves thinking very hard about very difficult things. This, of course, is an activity that consumes mental resources at a terrific rate.
The secret of his success as an academic, I am now convinced, is to ensure that none of his precious brainpower is wasted on other, less important matters. He feels the urge to sample a delicious luxury chocolate? He pops one in his mouth. Pulling on yesterday's shirt less trouble than finding a clean one? Over his head the stale garment goes. Rather fancies sitting in a comfy armchair instead of taking a brisk jog around the park? Comfy armchair it is. Thanks to its five-star treatment, my father's willpower - rested and restored whenever possible - can take on the search for wisdom with the strength of 10 men.
Although we may not all be able to live the charmed life of the well-paid scholar, the general principle - not to spread our inner resolve too thin - is an important one. If you are about to embark on a big project you court disaster if at the same time your life is cluttered and demanding, or you also commit to draining attempts at self-enhancement. The would-be novelist whose taxing day job exhausts her moral muscle will find it harder to apply the seat of her trousers to the seat of her chair. The dieting philosopher will struggle to keep his attention on a tricky passage of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Where are the students whose self-discipline is constantly worn away by other concerns? Not in the library reading course-notes, photocopying articles or borrowing books. And if they are relying on their smarts to get them to the top of the class then there will be disappointment ahead.
But don't just take my word for it. Ask a librarian.
Cordelia Fine is a research fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne.
June 14, 2006
A DECADE ago when I was an undergraduate psychologist, a departmental librarian called Anne was doing something any psychologist would say was impossible. Every year, with near-perfect accuracy, she would predict which third-year undergraduates would be awarded first-class degrees.
Anne didn't know how their essays were rated, what A-level grades they had under their belts, or how they scored on IQ tests. (All information many would say was essential to forecasting final results.)
All she knew was how often she had seen students in the department library: reading course notes, photocopying journals, borrowing books. And the handful of students who Anne saw a lot - conspicuously more often than the other students in the same year - were going to get a first.
Anne was working on the principle that in academic achievement it is self-discipline, not talent, that counts. Ten years on, a study published recently in Psychological Science has come to exactly the same conclusion.
Psychologists Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman descended on the eighth grade of a large public school in the northeast of the US. As the autumn leaves fell, each of the 160-odd children took an IQ test, then they (and their parents and teachers) answered questionnaires that probed self-control. Are you good at resisting temptation, they were asked. Can you work effectively towards long-term goals? Or do pleasure and fun sometimes keep you from getting work done?
The children were also given a real-life test of their ability to delay gratification. Each was handed a dollar bill in an envelope. They could choose either to keep it or hand it back and get $2 a week later. Their decision was carefully recorded.
The researchers returned in spring. They took note of each child's grades and then looked back to see both how clever, and how self-controlled, that student had been in autumn. What, they wanted to know, was the most important factor in school grades?
The psychologists discovered it was self-control, by a long shot. A child's capacity for self-discipline was about twice as important as his or her IQ when it came to predicting academic success.
At first glance, research of this sort is a comfort to those of us not exploding with raw talent. The science seems to back up the writer Kingsley Amis's well-known advice that "the art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair". Why, in that case anyone can write a book. Yet a small problem remains; namely, the problem of keeping the seat of one's trousers applied to the seat of one's chair.
Amis kept to an "unflinching schedule" of 500 words a day, according to The Guardian. (No doubt the young Amis would have returned the seductive single dollar bill to the researcher with barely a hesitation.) But just as we all have different levels of physical endurance so, too, do we differ in the strength of our will.
Some people are simply more susceptible to temptations and distractions, and we all sometimes reach the limits of our willpower sooner than we would like. "Programs that build self-discipline may be the royal road to building academic achievement," psychologists Duckworth and Seligman conclude from their findings.
So what can we do to strengthen self-discipline, to transform ourselves from impulsive dollar-snatchers to lofty long-term investors in future success?
Help lies in seeing willpower as a muscle, recent research suggests. The "moral muscle", as it has been called, powers all of the difficult and taxing mental tasks that you set yourself. It is the moral muscle that is flexing and straining as you keep attention focused on a dry academic article, bite back an angry retort to your boss, or decline a helping of your favourite dessert. And herein lies the problem: these acts of restraint all drain the same pool of mental reserves.
Take, for example, a group of hungry volunteers who were left alone in a room containing both a tempting platter of freshly baked chocolate chip biscuits and a plate piled high with radishes. Some of the volunteers were asked to sample only the radishes. These peckish volunteers manfully resisted the temptation of the biscuits and ate the prescribed number of radishes. Other, more fortunate, volunteers were asked to sample the biscuits.
In the next, supposedly unrelated, part of the experiment, the volunteers were asked to try to solve a difficult puzzle. The researchers weren't interested in whether the volunteers solved it. (In fact, it was insoluble.) Rather, they wanted to know how long the volunteers would persist with it. Their self-control already depleted, volunteers forced to snack on radishes persisted for less than half as long as people who had eaten the biscuits or (in case you should think chocolate biscuits offer inner strength) other volunteers who had skipped the eating part of the experiment.
As this and many similar studies show, if you draw on your reserves to achieve one unappealing goal - going for a jog, say - your moral muscle will be ineffective when you then call on it to help you switch off the television and start essay-writing.
What, then, can we do about this unfortunate tendency of the moral muscle to become fatigued with use? One option is to build it up and make it strong. Evidence is starting to accumulate that the moral muscle, like its physical counterpart, can become taut and bulging from regular exercise. People asked by experimenters to be self-disciplined about their posture for two weeks were afterwards stronger willed when it came to a test of physical endurance, compared with other people allowed to slouch about in their usual comfortable way during the fortnight.
By regularly exercising self-restraint and virtue in all areas of life (moral muscle cross-training, we may call it), we will come to resist temptations with the same casual ease with which a world-class athlete sprints to catch a train. That, at least, is the idea.
Unfortunately, like any sensible, long-term strategy for self-improvement, this approach has limited appeal. For just as we want to fit into those trousers next Monday - not after eight tedious weeks of healthy eating and regular exercise - it is often the same for our more cerebral ambitions. Exam dates are set in stone, deadlines loom on the horizon, or may even mock us from the past. In other words, there simply may not be enough time to become a master of temperance and virtue before tackling our goal.
Fortunately, there is also an attractive quick-fix approach to the problem of limited willpower. This is to use your moral muscle only very sparingly. My father, a professional philosopher, has a job that involves thinking very hard about very difficult things. This, of course, is an activity that consumes mental resources at a terrific rate.
The secret of his success as an academic, I am now convinced, is to ensure that none of his precious brainpower is wasted on other, less important matters. He feels the urge to sample a delicious luxury chocolate? He pops one in his mouth. Pulling on yesterday's shirt less trouble than finding a clean one? Over his head the stale garment goes. Rather fancies sitting in a comfy armchair instead of taking a brisk jog around the park? Comfy armchair it is. Thanks to its five-star treatment, my father's willpower - rested and restored whenever possible - can take on the search for wisdom with the strength of 10 men.
Although we may not all be able to live the charmed life of the well-paid scholar, the general principle - not to spread our inner resolve too thin - is an important one. If you are about to embark on a big project you court disaster if at the same time your life is cluttered and demanding, or you also commit to draining attempts at self-enhancement. The would-be novelist whose taxing day job exhausts her moral muscle will find it harder to apply the seat of her trousers to the seat of her chair. The dieting philosopher will struggle to keep his attention on a tricky passage of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Where are the students whose self-discipline is constantly worn away by other concerns? Not in the library reading course-notes, photocopying articles or borrowing books. And if they are relying on their smarts to get them to the top of the class then there will be disappointment ahead.
But don't just take my word for it. Ask a librarian.
Cordelia Fine is a research fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne.
Make a Conservator Happy
From Art Biz Coach ~
Camilla J. Van Vooren is a good friend who is in my Toastmasters club. After she leaves us on Wednesday mornings, she goes to her job as Senior Conservator of Paintings, Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts in Denver. I asked her recently what kind of information conservators need from artists. If you are concerned, as you should be, about the enduring nature of your art, take heed:
"What we desperately need to know from artists, I think, is a 'structure and instruction' report which makes specific references to their intent., i.e., 'If that caviar falls off your work, should I restore it or just go buy fresh caviar?' [Did I mention Camilla has a sense of humor to be envied? She continues. . . ]
"Seriously, what I think would be of immense value would be a form that covers every aspect of the structure of the work. For example, on an oil painting, start with the 'auxiliary support,' the stretcher, strainer, panel or board that the art is executed on. Then we would talk about the gesso or ground layer, then the paint film, the varnish, etc. It would be helpful to the artist to keep records of these things for their own future reference.
"For each of these categories, the artist would list the brands or types of materials used including technical references, especially if it is an unusual material. If they would include procedural notes such as layering schemes it would be invaluable to future conservators.
"Then, they could include notes on the degree to which they would have any part conserved or restored. For example, if the stretcher fails, do you approve of a conservator removing the canvas from the stretcher and replacing it? Now, on all of the different areas, they could include condition notes and their thoughts about it with some general comments about their intent at the end. This might be anything from 'Do anything necessary to preserve the 2-dimensional image' to 'Do NOT VARNISH' to 'Let the thing rot. I specifically do not want it to be preserved!'
"If we had these types of guidelines from the artist, it would be heaven!"
KNOW THIS Conservators need to know your intent and materials.
THINK ABOUT THIS Future generations have no idea what your intent was. You have to spell it out if it isn't obvious.
DO THIS If you want your work preserved in a museum one day, make a conservator happy. Get in the habit of keeping notes about your working materials, techniques, and intent.
Camilla J. Van Vooren is a good friend who is in my Toastmasters club. After she leaves us on Wednesday mornings, she goes to her job as Senior Conservator of Paintings, Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts in Denver. I asked her recently what kind of information conservators need from artists. If you are concerned, as you should be, about the enduring nature of your art, take heed:
"What we desperately need to know from artists, I think, is a 'structure and instruction' report which makes specific references to their intent., i.e., 'If that caviar falls off your work, should I restore it or just go buy fresh caviar?' [Did I mention Camilla has a sense of humor to be envied? She continues. . . ]
"Seriously, what I think would be of immense value would be a form that covers every aspect of the structure of the work. For example, on an oil painting, start with the 'auxiliary support,' the stretcher, strainer, panel or board that the art is executed on. Then we would talk about the gesso or ground layer, then the paint film, the varnish, etc. It would be helpful to the artist to keep records of these things for their own future reference.
"For each of these categories, the artist would list the brands or types of materials used including technical references, especially if it is an unusual material. If they would include procedural notes such as layering schemes it would be invaluable to future conservators.
"Then, they could include notes on the degree to which they would have any part conserved or restored. For example, if the stretcher fails, do you approve of a conservator removing the canvas from the stretcher and replacing it? Now, on all of the different areas, they could include condition notes and their thoughts about it with some general comments about their intent at the end. This might be anything from 'Do anything necessary to preserve the 2-dimensional image' to 'Do NOT VARNISH' to 'Let the thing rot. I specifically do not want it to be preserved!'
"If we had these types of guidelines from the artist, it would be heaven!"
KNOW THIS Conservators need to know your intent and materials.
THINK ABOUT THIS Future generations have no idea what your intent was. You have to spell it out if it isn't obvious.
DO THIS If you want your work preserved in a museum one day, make a conservator happy. Get in the habit of keeping notes about your working materials, techniques, and intent.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
V for Vendetta
I do have to say that I love this film. Scarlet Carson roses do not really exist unfortunately. The sequence in the film in which Evey reads the autobiography hidden in the wall is one of my favorites.
V for Vendetta: Behind the Scenes
V For Vendetta is set in London in the near future. Though still anchored by venerable landmarks such as Parliament, Old Bailey and Big Ben, the city, like the rest of the country, has fallen into a state of post-war isolation and depression. Chancellor Adam Sutler wrested incalculable power over this tightly-controlled society by championing his extremist Norsefire party as England’s only safeguard against war, disease and famine. Yet Sutler’s oppressive policies have stripped the culture of its spirit, vitality and hope. Food is rationed but fear is in great supply. Personal freedoms are an antiquated notion of the past, and no one dare raise a voice in dissent, lest they be “black bagged” by Fingermen �" Minister Creedy’s secret police force �" and never heard from again.
Led by director James McTeigue, the V For Vendetta team strived to capture the essence of present-day London in their rendering of the film’s grim socio-political landscape. “England has become quite soulless,” says production designer Owen Paterson, who previously collaborated with McTeigue and the Wachowski Brothers on the Matrix trilogy. “We tried to create a London that is very recognizable, yet frozen by having become this totalitarian state.”
Paterson and costume designer Sammy Sheldon used a palette of gray tones to evoke the bleak, regimented pall that envelops the city and its citizens. “In this environment, choice is limited,” set decorator Peter Walpole notes. “You might be able to buy a car or a can of baked beans, but there’s only one brand available. This was reflected in the television studio set, for example. All of the monitors are the same brand, and all of the desks and chairs are exactly the same.”
The film was largely shot on soundstages and interior settings to underscore the story’s tone of anxiety and alienation. “We wanted to create a sense of claustrophobia, so the film is very purposefully interior,” McTeigue explains.
Filming began in March 2005 at Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany. With nearby Berlin doubling for a handful of practical locations, the production spent ten weeks on the Babelsberg soundstages before moving to London for a few weeks to shoot principal exterior sequences.
Paterson oversaw the design and construction of a staggering 89 sets for the Babelsberg segment of production alone, including the Jordan television tower, home to the government-controlled British Television Network; Victoria Station, a former stop on the ruins of the Underground, which the government shut down years ago; as well as another critical section of the Underground that V has commandeered for use in his plot to blow up Parliament.
On historic Stage 2, where Fritz Lang’s classic futuristic thriller Metropolis was filmed in 1927, the cast and crew of 500 inhabited the grandest and most elaborate of Paterson’s sets: the labyrinthine Shadow Gallery.
Like V himself, his subterranean lair is elegant, mysterious and enthralling �" a stylish cross between a crypt and a church, carved from the passageways beneath the city. “I envisioned the Shadow Gallery as an expanded ace of clubs, with a central space and chambers spiralling outwards from the middle,” McTeigue says of the sprawling set, which includes a library, V’s dressing room, a kitchen and a screening room/lounge. “It feels like it’s located beneath some great cultural institution that has long been closed down by the government.”
“The Shadow Gallery is the sort of place that could exist below St. Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey,” Paterson elaborates. “It’s an arched, Tudor kind of space where you can imagine someone bricked up a door years ago and forgot it was ever there.” V’s vaulted hideaway also serves as a museum of sorts, a home to his extensive collection of music, film, literature, philosophy and art �" all of which has been banned by the government’s Ministry of Objectionable Material. “V has become a caretaker of everything that the government won’t allow,” says McTeigue.
“He’s a guardian of a culture that is in danger of being lost forever,” adds Hugo Weaving. “I suspect there are a number of people in this world who are like him, who have their own hoards, their own treasure troves like the Shadow Gallery.”
One of the biggest challenges for set decorator Peter Walpole and the art department was securing the rights to reproduce the Gallery’s myriad iconic works �" and then replicating them and dressing the numerous Gallery chambers. “We had to get an enormous variety of objects �" everything from Picassos to Turners, modern art to comic books,” Walpole says.
Walpole’s team also had to collect and arrange hundreds of books to dress V’s makeshift library. It is here that Evey first awakens in the Shadow Gallery and finds herself surrounded by stacks and stacks of treasonous volumes.
“As you enter the room, the books are piled low, as though they’ve been blown in like a bunch of leaves,” Walpole describes. “But as you move toward the far end, the piles grow until they reach the ceiling and line the walls, almost like a snowdrift.”
To give McTeigue and the crew maximum flexibility while filming in the library, many of the books were fastened together like building blocks, so the stacks could be moved quickly and reconnected like Lego components, rather than moved piecemeal.
During production of this scene, Natalie Portman recalls, “James brought in a clipping from a newspaper with a photo of a library that was discvovered in Iraq. The government had shut it down and there were piles and piles of books everywhere. It was sort of incredible, having this real life parallel as we were filming.”
In addition to designing the sets, Paterson also collaborated with McTeigue and art director Stephan Gessler on the creation of V’s eerie mask. More than a mere disguise, an affect of his theatrical personality or a veil for his hideously disfigured face, V’s mask becomes a powerful symbol of the ideas of freedom and expression he represents.
Paterson’s design was modeled on V’s iconic visage from the graphic novel, which illustrator David Lloyd based on the eponymous masks worn in tribute to traitor-turned-folk hero Guy Fawkes. But as drawn by Lloyd, V’s mask takes on different moods and expressions from frame to frame.
McTeigue opted to create a “fixed” façade, rather than using CGI or a flexible mask that could be manipulated to form expressions. “I wanted the face, even though it’s very distinct, to have a ‘universality’ to it,” he says. “I knew that if we achieved the right look for the mask, we would be able to tonally and atmospherically change the way it appears on camera through the lighting design and Hugo’s performance.”
The result, which the director describes as “a cross between a traditional Guy Fawkes mask and a Harlequin mask,” was sculpted from clay �" a considerably more imperfect and painstaking process than the modern mold-making method of computer cyber-scanning �" then cast in fiberglass and painted with an airbrush to create a porcelain doll-like quality.
“We had a very fine sculptor named Berndt Wenzel who patiently went through seven generations of carving the mask from clay to get the right personality,” Paterson says. “We needed to capture the perfect generic look so that when we lit the mask in different ways, it would take on different expressions.”
Bringing the mask to life was “definitely a collaborative effort,” Weaving reports. Though aided by lighting and cinematography, the actor needed to convey a great deal of emotion solely through his voice and body language, as no part of his eyes, mouth or face are visible behind V’s façade. “James often gave me notes about my dialogue or my performance as I would do it if I weren’t wearing a mask. That was great, because central to making the mask work was making the character behind the mask work.”
Finding V’s voice was crucial to the process. “I knew I didn’t have to worry about my voice being muffled by the mask when we were filming, because we would re-record my dialogue in post-production,” says the actor. “But it’s still important to find the character within the voice and give the right performance on the day.”
In addition to the challenges of emoting through the mask was the considerable challenge of learning to work with the mask. “It has a very narrow field of vision,” McTeigue explains. “Hugo’s actual eye-line when he’s looking at the character he’s playing opposite is at their stomach.”
Weaving also had to integrate acting in the mask with the character’s wig, hat and a heavy cloaked costume featuring a high neckline that restricted his head movement. “The amount of sweat that pours off you when you’re wearing a wig, a hat, a very hot costume and a mask is phenomenal,” Weaving says good-naturedly.
Created by costume designer Sammy Sheldon (Black Hawk Down, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Weaving’s wardrobe was styled after McTeigue’s vision of V as “a cross between the actual Guy Fawkes character and a gunslinger.”
“V’s costume is rooted in the 16th century, but we chiseled it down to look more simple, sleek and modern �" futuristic in an historical way,” says Sheldon, who crafted the ensemble from cashmere, wool, leather and an original 16th century silk basket weave. “V’s hat was modified, for example. We shortened it and made it cleaner, instead of fancy and feathered as it would have been in Fawkes’ time.”
As with V’s wardrobe, his weapons of choice �" six handmade throwing knives �" reflect a combination of period and modern design. “When V opens his cloak, I wanted it to look as though he has metal teeth attached,” McTeigue explains. “Our armorer, Simon Atherton, did an amazing job of crafting V’s knives and creating the metal sheaths they slide into.”
V’s chillingly exquisite calling cards, Scarlet Carson roses, were portrayed in the film by red Grand Prix roses. The prop department purchased dozens of Grand Prixes daily to ensure there were always a few on hand at the studio in the perfect state of bloom for filming.
While Weaving contended with his character’s multi-faceted costume, Natalie Portman had a much more minimalist wardrobe challenge in portraying V’s unlikely accomplice, Evey Hammond: she was required to have her head shaved on camera for a pivotal sequence in which Evey is imprisoned and tortured to reveal V’s identity.
Knowing he had only one take to capture Evey’s anguish as Portman’s auburn locks were stripped, McTeigue used multiple cameras to cover the action and asked the film’s hair stylist, Jeremy Woodhead, to handle the shears.
Portman found the experience liberating. “It’s been really nice to step away from vanity a little bit,” she says. “The time you spend on your appearance as a woman �" if you put all that together you’d have an extra ten years of your life. It’s been great to get away from that. But at the same time, it takes a really long time to grow back, so the sooner, the better!”
Another powerful shot that McTeigue and company needed to achieve in one take is a stunning sequence in which V touches off thousands of dominoes meticulously arranged in an intricate “V” pattern on the Shadow Gallery floor.
While principal photography rolled on at Babelsberg, an advance team prepared for the final few weeks of filming in London. Owen Paterson’s art department transformed exterior locations to convey the dull pallor of the strictly-controlled society �" removing advertising signage, all signs of public transportation and any splashes of color or brightness. “We wanted everything to be gray,” says set decorator Peter Walpole. “Then we added surveillance cameras and telegraph poles with speakers mounted on them to emphasize the ‘Big Brother’ atmosphere.”
For flashbacks to the 1990s that depict life in England prior to the election of ultra-conservative Chancellor Adam Sutler, the sets are “a little more cluttered, a little more lived in, a little freer,” Walpole describes. “In the scenes set in the present day in the film, there’s not quite as much set dressing. Everything’s a bit more regimented. There’s a subtle contrast.”
The film’s climactic sequence, set in the shadows of Parliament, took place on Whitehall, the iconic thoroughfare running from Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square to the Parliament Buildings and Big Ben.
Home to such high-profile Westminster addresses as 10 Downing Street and the Ministry of Defense, the security-sensitive thoroughfare had never before been closed to traffic to accommodate filming. After nine months of negotiating with 14 government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Defense, location supervisor Nick Daubeney secured unprecedented permission to close the street for filming between the hours of midnight and 5am for three consecutive nights. This gave the production only four hours of shooting time per night, given the setup and removal of equipment, personnel and the production’s vehicles, including two army tanks.
As with the multiple permissions secured to film on Whitehall, the production also had to obtain authorization for the use of the two tanks and simulated weaponry during rehearsals and filming at the location.
The decommissioned ex-military tanks were acquired from a prop warehouse in the UK. Prior to transporting the vehicles to Whitehall for filming each night, the tanks were inspected off-site by government security personnel to ensure their weaponry was not functional nor had been altered in any way. They were then taken via trucks to the location �" with no stops or changes to the tanks allowed during transport �" and were accompanied by security officials at all times. (On screen and on set, the tanks moved under their own power.)
Background checks were conducted on every actor and technician who carried simulated weapons during production of the Whitehall sequence. Barcodes on the weaponry were scanned to track each piece and the individuals authorized to handle them.
Meanwhile, government security personnel surrounded the production at all times �" some of whom were identifiable to the cast and crew, and others who maintained anonymity within the crowd to ensure the security of everyone involved. This ambitious sequence also required costume designer Sammy Sheldon and her team to outfit 500 extras in replica V cloaks and hats, as well as fabricate uniforms, helmets and flak jackets for 400 extras portraying militia.
Following the completion of principal photography, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass and the V for Vendetta miniatures unit, led by Model Unit Supervisor José Granell, spent ten days detonating large-scale models of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Old Bailey for key scenes in the film.
While some computer-generated effects were later fused with footage of the models being exploded, it was important to the filmmakers that the explosions, which carry great symbolic value, be as realistic as possible, so they opted for the practical effect of detonating physical replicas of the buildings over CGI.
“The models provide a real, tangible environment,” Granell explains, “and when you’re dealing with physical elements such as water and fire, and especially pyrotechnics, you get a better look when you have real, physical events taking place. With CGI, unless you actually deliberately create them, you don’t get any accidents �" so you don’t get that essential feeling of nature doing its own thing.”
The filmmakers chose to utilize large-scale models in order to create a realistic relationship between the size of the buildings and the pyrotechnic events being filmed. Built in eleven weeks at Shepperton Studios by the London firm Cinesite, the plaster models were constructed at one seventh scale, which yielded an impressive 20-foot replica of Old Bailey, with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben towering at approximately 30 feet high and the length of Parliament stretching 42 feet long.
During the course of their research, Granell and his team studied documentary footage of actual stone buildings being exploded to get a feeling for how stone reacts to detonation. From there they began their experiments with materials. Since plaster breaks up well and behaves most like stone when detonated, the models were predominantly constructed with cast plaster. The team experimented with a variety of plaster recipes for different areas of the model �" some components had to be more rigid, while some of the finer detail necessitated a weaker version of the plaster.
Prior to the final filming, an effects element shoot was held during which the team performed individual pyrotechnic explosions that they would later be able to use in post-production. They tested a variety of combinations of types of charges and different varieties of plaster, to see how each pairing performed on film. “For instance, one of the problems we found is that the weakened plaster we used tended to create too much dust,” says Granell. “And the one thing I didn’t want to do was hide any of the color of the actual combustible elements �" the pyrotechnic charges, the flames, all of those details. So we adjusted the plaster recipe to remedy the problem.”
The team had to study the architecture of the Old Bailey and Parliament buildings inside and out, in order to accurately surmise how the structures would react to the detonations. For instance, how fast the explosions would travel through the building, how the structures would break apart �" which areas would give first, which would be able to withstand the blast, what the size of the fragments would be and how fast and far they would travel.
In addition to this structural accuracy, the designers studied the outer detail of the legendary buildings to achieve exactly the right look. “You’ve got to be a real stickler for detail,” says Granell, “and pay close attention to how the real building looks �" such as design elements or the aging of the stone �" so that you can match it. You have to keep in mind that you’re dealing with structures that are potentially very familiar to a lot of people, who will be in a position to judge whether they look right or not.”
All of the research, time and work put into creating the incredible structures resulted in extremely convincing detailed models and detonations that look authentic onscreen and performed perfectly during filming. “The buildings looked just fantastic,” says Granell. “I apologized in advance to the chaps who were working for us because they put a lot of hours into this and the miniatures looked beautiful �" until we blew them up. So the only thing I could do was make sure we did a good job of blowing it up, and make it all worthwhile!”
James McTeigue's Career
V for Vendetta marks James McTeigue’s debut as a feature film director. This follows an impressive body of work as a commercials director. His career as an assistant director includes some of the highest grossing films of all time. These films include The Matrix Trilogy and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Other career highlights as first assistant director are Moulin Rouge, Looking for Alibrandi and The Monkey’s Mask. These films were a natural progression from his career as second assistant director on Dark City, Paradise Road, To Have and to Hold, A Country Life and The Well. This diverse body of work makes V for Vendetta an important and exciting directorial entrée.
V for Vendetta: Behind the Scenes
V For Vendetta is set in London in the near future. Though still anchored by venerable landmarks such as Parliament, Old Bailey and Big Ben, the city, like the rest of the country, has fallen into a state of post-war isolation and depression. Chancellor Adam Sutler wrested incalculable power over this tightly-controlled society by championing his extremist Norsefire party as England’s only safeguard against war, disease and famine. Yet Sutler’s oppressive policies have stripped the culture of its spirit, vitality and hope. Food is rationed but fear is in great supply. Personal freedoms are an antiquated notion of the past, and no one dare raise a voice in dissent, lest they be “black bagged” by Fingermen �" Minister Creedy’s secret police force �" and never heard from again.
Led by director James McTeigue, the V For Vendetta team strived to capture the essence of present-day London in their rendering of the film’s grim socio-political landscape. “England has become quite soulless,” says production designer Owen Paterson, who previously collaborated with McTeigue and the Wachowski Brothers on the Matrix trilogy. “We tried to create a London that is very recognizable, yet frozen by having become this totalitarian state.”
Paterson and costume designer Sammy Sheldon used a palette of gray tones to evoke the bleak, regimented pall that envelops the city and its citizens. “In this environment, choice is limited,” set decorator Peter Walpole notes. “You might be able to buy a car or a can of baked beans, but there’s only one brand available. This was reflected in the television studio set, for example. All of the monitors are the same brand, and all of the desks and chairs are exactly the same.”
The film was largely shot on soundstages and interior settings to underscore the story’s tone of anxiety and alienation. “We wanted to create a sense of claustrophobia, so the film is very purposefully interior,” McTeigue explains.
Filming began in March 2005 at Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany. With nearby Berlin doubling for a handful of practical locations, the production spent ten weeks on the Babelsberg soundstages before moving to London for a few weeks to shoot principal exterior sequences.
Paterson oversaw the design and construction of a staggering 89 sets for the Babelsberg segment of production alone, including the Jordan television tower, home to the government-controlled British Television Network; Victoria Station, a former stop on the ruins of the Underground, which the government shut down years ago; as well as another critical section of the Underground that V has commandeered for use in his plot to blow up Parliament.
On historic Stage 2, where Fritz Lang’s classic futuristic thriller Metropolis was filmed in 1927, the cast and crew of 500 inhabited the grandest and most elaborate of Paterson’s sets: the labyrinthine Shadow Gallery.
Like V himself, his subterranean lair is elegant, mysterious and enthralling �" a stylish cross between a crypt and a church, carved from the passageways beneath the city. “I envisioned the Shadow Gallery as an expanded ace of clubs, with a central space and chambers spiralling outwards from the middle,” McTeigue says of the sprawling set, which includes a library, V’s dressing room, a kitchen and a screening room/lounge. “It feels like it’s located beneath some great cultural institution that has long been closed down by the government.”
“The Shadow Gallery is the sort of place that could exist below St. Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey,” Paterson elaborates. “It’s an arched, Tudor kind of space where you can imagine someone bricked up a door years ago and forgot it was ever there.” V’s vaulted hideaway also serves as a museum of sorts, a home to his extensive collection of music, film, literature, philosophy and art �" all of which has been banned by the government’s Ministry of Objectionable Material. “V has become a caretaker of everything that the government won’t allow,” says McTeigue.
“He’s a guardian of a culture that is in danger of being lost forever,” adds Hugo Weaving. “I suspect there are a number of people in this world who are like him, who have their own hoards, their own treasure troves like the Shadow Gallery.”
One of the biggest challenges for set decorator Peter Walpole and the art department was securing the rights to reproduce the Gallery’s myriad iconic works �" and then replicating them and dressing the numerous Gallery chambers. “We had to get an enormous variety of objects �" everything from Picassos to Turners, modern art to comic books,” Walpole says.
Walpole’s team also had to collect and arrange hundreds of books to dress V’s makeshift library. It is here that Evey first awakens in the Shadow Gallery and finds herself surrounded by stacks and stacks of treasonous volumes.
“As you enter the room, the books are piled low, as though they’ve been blown in like a bunch of leaves,” Walpole describes. “But as you move toward the far end, the piles grow until they reach the ceiling and line the walls, almost like a snowdrift.”
To give McTeigue and the crew maximum flexibility while filming in the library, many of the books were fastened together like building blocks, so the stacks could be moved quickly and reconnected like Lego components, rather than moved piecemeal.
During production of this scene, Natalie Portman recalls, “James brought in a clipping from a newspaper with a photo of a library that was discvovered in Iraq. The government had shut it down and there were piles and piles of books everywhere. It was sort of incredible, having this real life parallel as we were filming.”
In addition to designing the sets, Paterson also collaborated with McTeigue and art director Stephan Gessler on the creation of V’s eerie mask. More than a mere disguise, an affect of his theatrical personality or a veil for his hideously disfigured face, V’s mask becomes a powerful symbol of the ideas of freedom and expression he represents.
Paterson’s design was modeled on V’s iconic visage from the graphic novel, which illustrator David Lloyd based on the eponymous masks worn in tribute to traitor-turned-folk hero Guy Fawkes. But as drawn by Lloyd, V’s mask takes on different moods and expressions from frame to frame.
McTeigue opted to create a “fixed” façade, rather than using CGI or a flexible mask that could be manipulated to form expressions. “I wanted the face, even though it’s very distinct, to have a ‘universality’ to it,” he says. “I knew that if we achieved the right look for the mask, we would be able to tonally and atmospherically change the way it appears on camera through the lighting design and Hugo’s performance.”
The result, which the director describes as “a cross between a traditional Guy Fawkes mask and a Harlequin mask,” was sculpted from clay �" a considerably more imperfect and painstaking process than the modern mold-making method of computer cyber-scanning �" then cast in fiberglass and painted with an airbrush to create a porcelain doll-like quality.
“We had a very fine sculptor named Berndt Wenzel who patiently went through seven generations of carving the mask from clay to get the right personality,” Paterson says. “We needed to capture the perfect generic look so that when we lit the mask in different ways, it would take on different expressions.”
Bringing the mask to life was “definitely a collaborative effort,” Weaving reports. Though aided by lighting and cinematography, the actor needed to convey a great deal of emotion solely through his voice and body language, as no part of his eyes, mouth or face are visible behind V’s façade. “James often gave me notes about my dialogue or my performance as I would do it if I weren’t wearing a mask. That was great, because central to making the mask work was making the character behind the mask work.”
Finding V’s voice was crucial to the process. “I knew I didn’t have to worry about my voice being muffled by the mask when we were filming, because we would re-record my dialogue in post-production,” says the actor. “But it’s still important to find the character within the voice and give the right performance on the day.”
In addition to the challenges of emoting through the mask was the considerable challenge of learning to work with the mask. “It has a very narrow field of vision,” McTeigue explains. “Hugo’s actual eye-line when he’s looking at the character he’s playing opposite is at their stomach.”
Weaving also had to integrate acting in the mask with the character’s wig, hat and a heavy cloaked costume featuring a high neckline that restricted his head movement. “The amount of sweat that pours off you when you’re wearing a wig, a hat, a very hot costume and a mask is phenomenal,” Weaving says good-naturedly.
Created by costume designer Sammy Sheldon (Black Hawk Down, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Weaving’s wardrobe was styled after McTeigue’s vision of V as “a cross between the actual Guy Fawkes character and a gunslinger.”
“V’s costume is rooted in the 16th century, but we chiseled it down to look more simple, sleek and modern �" futuristic in an historical way,” says Sheldon, who crafted the ensemble from cashmere, wool, leather and an original 16th century silk basket weave. “V’s hat was modified, for example. We shortened it and made it cleaner, instead of fancy and feathered as it would have been in Fawkes’ time.”
As with V’s wardrobe, his weapons of choice �" six handmade throwing knives �" reflect a combination of period and modern design. “When V opens his cloak, I wanted it to look as though he has metal teeth attached,” McTeigue explains. “Our armorer, Simon Atherton, did an amazing job of crafting V’s knives and creating the metal sheaths they slide into.”
V’s chillingly exquisite calling cards, Scarlet Carson roses, were portrayed in the film by red Grand Prix roses. The prop department purchased dozens of Grand Prixes daily to ensure there were always a few on hand at the studio in the perfect state of bloom for filming.
While Weaving contended with his character’s multi-faceted costume, Natalie Portman had a much more minimalist wardrobe challenge in portraying V’s unlikely accomplice, Evey Hammond: she was required to have her head shaved on camera for a pivotal sequence in which Evey is imprisoned and tortured to reveal V’s identity.
Knowing he had only one take to capture Evey’s anguish as Portman’s auburn locks were stripped, McTeigue used multiple cameras to cover the action and asked the film’s hair stylist, Jeremy Woodhead, to handle the shears.
Portman found the experience liberating. “It’s been really nice to step away from vanity a little bit,” she says. “The time you spend on your appearance as a woman �" if you put all that together you’d have an extra ten years of your life. It’s been great to get away from that. But at the same time, it takes a really long time to grow back, so the sooner, the better!”
Another powerful shot that McTeigue and company needed to achieve in one take is a stunning sequence in which V touches off thousands of dominoes meticulously arranged in an intricate “V” pattern on the Shadow Gallery floor.
While principal photography rolled on at Babelsberg, an advance team prepared for the final few weeks of filming in London. Owen Paterson’s art department transformed exterior locations to convey the dull pallor of the strictly-controlled society �" removing advertising signage, all signs of public transportation and any splashes of color or brightness. “We wanted everything to be gray,” says set decorator Peter Walpole. “Then we added surveillance cameras and telegraph poles with speakers mounted on them to emphasize the ‘Big Brother’ atmosphere.”
For flashbacks to the 1990s that depict life in England prior to the election of ultra-conservative Chancellor Adam Sutler, the sets are “a little more cluttered, a little more lived in, a little freer,” Walpole describes. “In the scenes set in the present day in the film, there’s not quite as much set dressing. Everything’s a bit more regimented. There’s a subtle contrast.”
The film’s climactic sequence, set in the shadows of Parliament, took place on Whitehall, the iconic thoroughfare running from Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square to the Parliament Buildings and Big Ben.
Home to such high-profile Westminster addresses as 10 Downing Street and the Ministry of Defense, the security-sensitive thoroughfare had never before been closed to traffic to accommodate filming. After nine months of negotiating with 14 government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Defense, location supervisor Nick Daubeney secured unprecedented permission to close the street for filming between the hours of midnight and 5am for three consecutive nights. This gave the production only four hours of shooting time per night, given the setup and removal of equipment, personnel and the production’s vehicles, including two army tanks.
As with the multiple permissions secured to film on Whitehall, the production also had to obtain authorization for the use of the two tanks and simulated weaponry during rehearsals and filming at the location.
The decommissioned ex-military tanks were acquired from a prop warehouse in the UK. Prior to transporting the vehicles to Whitehall for filming each night, the tanks were inspected off-site by government security personnel to ensure their weaponry was not functional nor had been altered in any way. They were then taken via trucks to the location �" with no stops or changes to the tanks allowed during transport �" and were accompanied by security officials at all times. (On screen and on set, the tanks moved under their own power.)
Background checks were conducted on every actor and technician who carried simulated weapons during production of the Whitehall sequence. Barcodes on the weaponry were scanned to track each piece and the individuals authorized to handle them.
Meanwhile, government security personnel surrounded the production at all times �" some of whom were identifiable to the cast and crew, and others who maintained anonymity within the crowd to ensure the security of everyone involved. This ambitious sequence also required costume designer Sammy Sheldon and her team to outfit 500 extras in replica V cloaks and hats, as well as fabricate uniforms, helmets and flak jackets for 400 extras portraying militia.
Following the completion of principal photography, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass and the V for Vendetta miniatures unit, led by Model Unit Supervisor José Granell, spent ten days detonating large-scale models of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Old Bailey for key scenes in the film.
While some computer-generated effects were later fused with footage of the models being exploded, it was important to the filmmakers that the explosions, which carry great symbolic value, be as realistic as possible, so they opted for the practical effect of detonating physical replicas of the buildings over CGI.
“The models provide a real, tangible environment,” Granell explains, “and when you’re dealing with physical elements such as water and fire, and especially pyrotechnics, you get a better look when you have real, physical events taking place. With CGI, unless you actually deliberately create them, you don’t get any accidents �" so you don’t get that essential feeling of nature doing its own thing.”
The filmmakers chose to utilize large-scale models in order to create a realistic relationship between the size of the buildings and the pyrotechnic events being filmed. Built in eleven weeks at Shepperton Studios by the London firm Cinesite, the plaster models were constructed at one seventh scale, which yielded an impressive 20-foot replica of Old Bailey, with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben towering at approximately 30 feet high and the length of Parliament stretching 42 feet long.
During the course of their research, Granell and his team studied documentary footage of actual stone buildings being exploded to get a feeling for how stone reacts to detonation. From there they began their experiments with materials. Since plaster breaks up well and behaves most like stone when detonated, the models were predominantly constructed with cast plaster. The team experimented with a variety of plaster recipes for different areas of the model �" some components had to be more rigid, while some of the finer detail necessitated a weaker version of the plaster.
Prior to the final filming, an effects element shoot was held during which the team performed individual pyrotechnic explosions that they would later be able to use in post-production. They tested a variety of combinations of types of charges and different varieties of plaster, to see how each pairing performed on film. “For instance, one of the problems we found is that the weakened plaster we used tended to create too much dust,” says Granell. “And the one thing I didn’t want to do was hide any of the color of the actual combustible elements �" the pyrotechnic charges, the flames, all of those details. So we adjusted the plaster recipe to remedy the problem.”
The team had to study the architecture of the Old Bailey and Parliament buildings inside and out, in order to accurately surmise how the structures would react to the detonations. For instance, how fast the explosions would travel through the building, how the structures would break apart �" which areas would give first, which would be able to withstand the blast, what the size of the fragments would be and how fast and far they would travel.
In addition to this structural accuracy, the designers studied the outer detail of the legendary buildings to achieve exactly the right look. “You’ve got to be a real stickler for detail,” says Granell, “and pay close attention to how the real building looks �" such as design elements or the aging of the stone �" so that you can match it. You have to keep in mind that you’re dealing with structures that are potentially very familiar to a lot of people, who will be in a position to judge whether they look right or not.”
All of the research, time and work put into creating the incredible structures resulted in extremely convincing detailed models and detonations that look authentic onscreen and performed perfectly during filming. “The buildings looked just fantastic,” says Granell. “I apologized in advance to the chaps who were working for us because they put a lot of hours into this and the miniatures looked beautiful �" until we blew them up. So the only thing I could do was make sure we did a good job of blowing it up, and make it all worthwhile!”
James McTeigue's Career
V for Vendetta marks James McTeigue’s debut as a feature film director. This follows an impressive body of work as a commercials director. His career as an assistant director includes some of the highest grossing films of all time. These films include The Matrix Trilogy and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Other career highlights as first assistant director are Moulin Rouge, Looking for Alibrandi and The Monkey’s Mask. These films were a natural progression from his career as second assistant director on Dark City, Paradise Road, To Have and to Hold, A Country Life and The Well. This diverse body of work makes V for Vendetta an important and exciting directorial entrée.
Riviera's Shanghai Dream
Tomson Group is swimming against the tide in seeking top dollar for its apartments but it has superb location and top-notch views of Puxi on its side, writes Olivia Chung in Shanghai
Monday, April 03, 2006
Tomson Group is swimming against the tide in seeking top dollar for its apartments but it has superb location and top-notch views of Puxi on its side, writes Olivia Chung in Shanghai
How much would you pay for the best view in Shanghai?
Tomson Group, the first Hong Kong property developer to invest major money in Shanghai back in the early 1990s, reckons that 143,000 yuan (HK$138,252) per square meter is about right.
That's what it is likely to demand for the best apartments in Tomson Riviera, four luxury tower blocks in the center of the Lujiazui financial and trade development zone in Pudong, the section of the city that lies east of the Huangpu River.
By asking well above the going rate for luxury apartments, Tomson Group is betting that last year's Shanghai property slump, when prices of all classes of housing fell an average 20 percent, won't last long.
In a city as flat as Shanghai, the only way to enjoy a view is to be in a tall building. But even that is problematic since new skyscrapers are going up all the time, and broad vistas can easily turn into blind alleys.
Tomson Group believes it has the problem licked, however.
Riviera is the Pudong development closest to the river, with only a green belt separating them. There's little chance of anything interposing itself between Riviera and its classic Old Shanghai view.
The company is most proud of the the flats in Riviera's Block A - 36 in all, each one a floor unto itself with an area of 597.57 sq
uare meters.
From their 20-square-meter balconies, the occupants will have an unimpeded western view of the Bund and its riverfront promenade, the 19th century Customs House, the early 20th century Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp building and the Peace Hotel, the 16th century Ming dynasty Yuyuan Garden, and a sprawl of other buildings whose architecture runs the gamut from baroque and Roman to art deco and art nouveau.
Tomson says it is not at all concerned that since it put the first flats in the development up for sale last October at an average price of 110,000 yuan per square meter - a Shanghai record - it has yet to record a single sale.
"After seeing the two-bedroom units in Block C in the showroom, many potential clients expressed an interest in buying the best units in Block A, which are bigger and have a better view," says executive director Albert Tong, the 23-year-old son of the company's founder.
When the four-bedroom apartments in Block A finally come on the market, he adds, they will cost 20 to 30 percent more than the Block C flats, or as much as 143,000 yuan per square meter.
Some in the property industry believe Tomson Group is being unrealistic.
"The city's property market has recently shown some signs of recovery, but I believe it will take a very long time for prices at the luxury end to return to the level demanded by Tomson," said Peter Lee, vice general manager of Shanghai Centaline Property Agency.
"While it waits for that to happen, Tomson will be paying an opportunity cost because it has billions of yuan locked up in the Riviera project."
The 220-unit project, comprising four tower blocks - two of 40 stories and two of 44 stories - cost Tomson three billion yuan in land and construction outlays.
Lee noted that while the average level of Shanghai property prices fell by 20 percent last year, luxury properties took an even bigger hit, falling by 30 percent.
Transaction volumes in the primary market totaled 500 a day in the first two weeks of last month, up from 200 units per day in December.
But that is far below the peak of 1,000 units per day in the first three months of 2004.
Tong insists, however, that the company will not cut prices.
He said the failure as yet to sell any of the less expensive apartments wasn't due to a lack of buying interest but because of ongoing bulk sale negotiations between the company and certain property investment funds.
Until these are resolved, no intensive sales promotions for individual buyers can be launched.
An Australian fund hopes to acquire an entire Riviera block, while an American fund has its sights set on two blocks.
An individual investor, who Tong said was considering withdrawing capital from Thailand because of the political situation, also approached the company about a block purchase.
Tong said the company had already turned down a Japanese fund's bid to buy two blocks because it offered 20 percent less than the asking price.
"If we cannot reach a deal with the funds or the individual buyer within a month, we will launch an intensive global promotion program for individual buyers, including those in Hong Kong," Tong said.
Tomson's plan is to sell three of the four blocks for about eight billion yuan and to keep one as an investment, leasing out the apartments at 40 yuan per square foot per month, a rental return of more than 4 percent.
Tong said the company can afford to name its price and bide its time because it has HK$1 billion of cash on hand and a net debt-equity ratio of less than 30 percent.
He said there were already about 30 potential clients for the most expensive units in Block A, half of them from Taiwan.
General manager Hsu Bin said some people had put down deposits on the most expensive flats without waiting to know what the final prices would be.
But Hsu said the high-profile nature of the development was making some buyers cautious.
"There's a Chinese saying - to shoot the bird which takes the lead. Because the media have called Riviera the most expensive apartment complex in China, the first buyer is bound to attract a lot of attention - from the mainland authorities, the tax bureau for example."
Developers are required to provide accurate sales information on fangdi.com.cn, which is the official online trading platform for both new and second-hand homes.
This is to prevent them from manipulating prices by claiming that apartment sales are better than they really are.
"So that our customers won't be hassled, a number of buyers' names will be posted on the official online trading platform at the same time. No one will be able to guess who our first buyer was," Hsu said.
Despite Beijing's renewed pledge in March to curb property price rises, Tong says further macro-economic measures to rein in the market are unlikely. He expects overall property prices in the city to climb 70 to 80 percent in the next five or six years.
High-end prices will rise 10 percent this year, he predicts.
"Foreign investment and economic growth are unlikely to slacken in the next five to 10 years.
"These continue to be the factors driving property prices," he said.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Tomson Group is swimming against the tide in seeking top dollar for its apartments but it has superb location and top-notch views of Puxi on its side, writes Olivia Chung in Shanghai
How much would you pay for the best view in Shanghai?
Tomson Group, the first Hong Kong property developer to invest major money in Shanghai back in the early 1990s, reckons that 143,000 yuan (HK$138,252) per square meter is about right.
That's what it is likely to demand for the best apartments in Tomson Riviera, four luxury tower blocks in the center of the Lujiazui financial and trade development zone in Pudong, the section of the city that lies east of the Huangpu River.
By asking well above the going rate for luxury apartments, Tomson Group is betting that last year's Shanghai property slump, when prices of all classes of housing fell an average 20 percent, won't last long.
In a city as flat as Shanghai, the only way to enjoy a view is to be in a tall building. But even that is problematic since new skyscrapers are going up all the time, and broad vistas can easily turn into blind alleys.
Tomson Group believes it has the problem licked, however.
Riviera is the Pudong development closest to the river, with only a green belt separating them. There's little chance of anything interposing itself between Riviera and its classic Old Shanghai view.
The company is most proud of the the flats in Riviera's Block A - 36 in all, each one a floor unto itself with an area of 597.57 sq
uare meters.
From their 20-square-meter balconies, the occupants will have an unimpeded western view of the Bund and its riverfront promenade, the 19th century Customs House, the early 20th century Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp building and the Peace Hotel, the 16th century Ming dynasty Yuyuan Garden, and a sprawl of other buildings whose architecture runs the gamut from baroque and Roman to art deco and art nouveau.
Tomson says it is not at all concerned that since it put the first flats in the development up for sale last October at an average price of 110,000 yuan per square meter - a Shanghai record - it has yet to record a single sale.
"After seeing the two-bedroom units in Block C in the showroom, many potential clients expressed an interest in buying the best units in Block A, which are bigger and have a better view," says executive director Albert Tong, the 23-year-old son of the company's founder.
When the four-bedroom apartments in Block A finally come on the market, he adds, they will cost 20 to 30 percent more than the Block C flats, or as much as 143,000 yuan per square meter.
Some in the property industry believe Tomson Group is being unrealistic.
"The city's property market has recently shown some signs of recovery, but I believe it will take a very long time for prices at the luxury end to return to the level demanded by Tomson," said Peter Lee, vice general manager of Shanghai Centaline Property Agency.
"While it waits for that to happen, Tomson will be paying an opportunity cost because it has billions of yuan locked up in the Riviera project."
The 220-unit project, comprising four tower blocks - two of 40 stories and two of 44 stories - cost Tomson three billion yuan in land and construction outlays.
Lee noted that while the average level of Shanghai property prices fell by 20 percent last year, luxury properties took an even bigger hit, falling by 30 percent.
Transaction volumes in the primary market totaled 500 a day in the first two weeks of last month, up from 200 units per day in December.
But that is far below the peak of 1,000 units per day in the first three months of 2004.
Tong insists, however, that the company will not cut prices.
He said the failure as yet to sell any of the less expensive apartments wasn't due to a lack of buying interest but because of ongoing bulk sale negotiations between the company and certain property investment funds.
Until these are resolved, no intensive sales promotions for individual buyers can be launched.
An Australian fund hopes to acquire an entire Riviera block, while an American fund has its sights set on two blocks.
An individual investor, who Tong said was considering withdrawing capital from Thailand because of the political situation, also approached the company about a block purchase.
Tong said the company had already turned down a Japanese fund's bid to buy two blocks because it offered 20 percent less than the asking price.
"If we cannot reach a deal with the funds or the individual buyer within a month, we will launch an intensive global promotion program for individual buyers, including those in Hong Kong," Tong said.
Tomson's plan is to sell three of the four blocks for about eight billion yuan and to keep one as an investment, leasing out the apartments at 40 yuan per square foot per month, a rental return of more than 4 percent.
Tong said the company can afford to name its price and bide its time because it has HK$1 billion of cash on hand and a net debt-equity ratio of less than 30 percent.
He said there were already about 30 potential clients for the most expensive units in Block A, half of them from Taiwan.
General manager Hsu Bin said some people had put down deposits on the most expensive flats without waiting to know what the final prices would be.
But Hsu said the high-profile nature of the development was making some buyers cautious.
"There's a Chinese saying - to shoot the bird which takes the lead. Because the media have called Riviera the most expensive apartment complex in China, the first buyer is bound to attract a lot of attention - from the mainland authorities, the tax bureau for example."
Developers are required to provide accurate sales information on fangdi.com.cn, which is the official online trading platform for both new and second-hand homes.
This is to prevent them from manipulating prices by claiming that apartment sales are better than they really are.
"So that our customers won't be hassled, a number of buyers' names will be posted on the official online trading platform at the same time. No one will be able to guess who our first buyer was," Hsu said.
Despite Beijing's renewed pledge in March to curb property price rises, Tong says further macro-economic measures to rein in the market are unlikely. He expects overall property prices in the city to climb 70 to 80 percent in the next five or six years.
High-end prices will rise 10 percent this year, he predicts.
"Foreign investment and economic growth are unlikely to slacken in the next five to 10 years.
"These continue to be the factors driving property prices," he said.
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