Other World

     Inspired by the film Coraline with the two worlds, and Coraline's fascination with the impossible things that happened in the other world that made it so appealing to her as an escape from her reality. I felt it was the perfect story that connects with my idea. When Coraline walks around the other world, into the forest as it begins to deteriorate around her, i thought the boney trees were very interesting with their empty life as the false world around her was revealed through the loss of colour until it became just white. This loss showed how cold the other mother was and also how fantasys give a false satisfaction as the daydreamer really achieves nothing.
     I decided to create my own version by cutting out tree shapes on black paper. I chose to not have the trees as thin and straight edges like in the film as it would've been difficult to cut out and the whole image would not be so obvious to everyone. Although their unrealistic shape in the film is quite intriguing especially as it adds to the unnatural world that Coraline has entered, it really adds to the overall style. The trees i cut aren't truly realistic but are more curvy giving a winding, clawing sort of look as if it was a nightmare. The branches are bare and dead reflecting how people feel when they don't have the energy to pursue their dream for whatever reason that prevents them. I stook down layers of book pages then placed the tree cut out on top before painting the rest of the page black. I quite like the use of monochrome colours for the dark feeling it shows, also the use of the words on the pages kind of acting as bark or tree circles which show their age and their story.
    Then on the next page i recreated the same image but with colour and the tree cut out. I layered strips of different paper and some fabrics to create a background, mainly sticking ti light, pale colours as if it was spring. It creates an interesting contrast with the colourful strips and then dark trees up front. Next to the other page i think it shows how becoming engrossed in a fantasy can be unhealthy for yourself as you become stuck and lost in reality. The colourful page conveys turning the story trees into a solid reality therefore feeling emotions and being connected to the world around you.
   To improve this i think i would work on my cutting skills, try different styled trees, maybe more twisted branches, more trees in layers or even have leaves on the colourful page. This could include using background images/colours that represent the transitions of different seasons from winter to summer like those overlapping photographs taken in the same place throughout a year. It would also be nice to try different cut outs of sceneries creating a silhouette of people, buildings etc.