Entry #8: The One Where Shelby Actually References a Video We Saw in Class

                  Hey hey hey!

                  This entry is actually less of a tangential entry than the others. It actually has to do with one of the videos, specifically the one about the artist filming slow-motion recreations of renaissance paintings. I remember him talking about how seeing the paintings in motion gives us a better idea of what the characters in the painting are feeling and expressing. In slow-motion, we can see every detail of their movement and the transition from emotion to emotion. It was really fascinating to watch. Watching a painting play out before my eyes was really captivating and I really want to see more!

                  It got me to thinking about how I watch movies. When I watch movies, I like to have control over it so I can play back certain moments that catch my interest, which is often. I’m also very fond of facial expressions and they’re often a deciding factor of what really draws me in about a piece of art.

                  What really draws me in, though, are expressions of sadness. More often than not, I see sadness expressed by one single tear rolling down an otherwise stoic face:

which is absolutely not how crying works. Moreover, the simple act of crying isn’t the only thing that conveys sadness. Sometimes sadness looks exhausted, like this:

Of course, if you want to, you can always pack in the big blob tears and get this result:

I could go on about that forever, but by point here is that watching the development of expression is really important when understanding expression. And I think the artist doing these slow-motion paintings really understands that. Watching really anything in slow-motion is brain food for the animator, I think.

Take a gander at this video of slow-motion greyhounds! Lookit them go!