Alex Figini Mass Effect 3 Casino Bar Analysis

The almost too vivid depiction of the men, with the forced perspective of the column, set in the washed-out landscape gave the whole piece a sense of motion that grabbed my attention. The effect reminded me of motion blur. It was like a still grabbed from the middle of an action scene in a movie, and I found myself imagining the moments before and after this piece which gave it the sense of a snapshot taken from a larger narrative. I found myself wondering what was about to happen. The sharp detail of the skull, and the way the shapes of the men draw the eye to it seemed to be an answer of sorts, as the detail it was rendered in compared to the rest of the landscape elements seemed to be

Though the viewers focus first on the centered figures, it is easier to first analyze the surrounding settings to understand them. The stone wall foreground and the open fields of the background each embodies one of the girl’s thoughts. The back landscape is filled with warm, airy colors of blue and orange, as if it were under a bright sun. On the other hand, the foreground’s stone walls and concrete floor has dark, cold, shadowy, earthy colors that seem to appear as if under a stormy cloud. The sunny land suggests free, pure, spacious land previous to the industrialization. Yet, the darkened foreground due to the overcasting shadows resemble the currently dirty,

The couple positioned in the front appears very large to make the painting 3-D. The relative size of the dancers drastically shifts to create a window into the painting. The viewer can imagine being a part of the event and watching the poverty-stricken dancers. The angle that the painting is at appears to be almost a bird’s eye view. This adds to the effect of feeling as part of the audience. Spatial features are also added with overlap making figures look even more distant. Almost everything can be seen all the way to the back of the painting as the lighting in Dance Marathon spreads equally throughout the painting. Many lamps hang from the ceiling to give it a sense of many sources of light and to distribute the light evenly.

Larson’s use of lucid imagery produces a clear image in the audience, allowing one to interact with the text and truly imagine the wonders of the fair. Chicago itself was frequently described as a “blighted hellish place” overwhelmed with “smoke and garbage” (123, 247). Even the sight chosen for the fair was “one square mile of desolation” (95). These revolting descriptions leave the audience with a picture of destruction and filth, making the completion of the fair seem almost impossible; this makes the later depictions seem even more magical and grand. Despite the bad weather, arguments over funds, economic turmoil, and time constraints, the World’s fair was finally finished. The Fair was completely revolutionary with things ranging from “clean public restrooms” to “electric street lights” (247). Larson illustrates, “lapis lagoons. Electric launches trailing veils of diamond. Carmine blossoms winking from bulrush and flag” (252). The pictures Larson installs in the minds of the audience truly reflect the fair. “Lapis lagoons” produces a calming image of a beautiful blue lake; this causes the reader to associate the park with a natural aura, even though the event is in the middle of a bustling city- which is on its own an enormous feat. “Veils of diamonds” create a cool, crisp, and fresh feeling that truly reflect the breathtaking effect the fair has on the visitors.

The horizontal lines of the land represent calmness and te diagonal and vertical lines of the sea represents power and ever changing . There is a contrast with these two such as the sea is ever changing and the land that is hard slow to change. Next I looked at the shapes of the painting. With landscapes, such as this painting, there is organic shapes that show the chaos and never ending change of the ocean and storm that is pounding the land that is calm. I then looked at the contrast of the waves and land then the sky and storm. The waves are dark with the land being light with the opposite light above the dark waves and dark above the light land area. It makes it seem like the storm clouds are passing with the rising of the

Another main focal point in this canvas was subject matter. This is where the objects or events are described. The artist gives us different objects such as the old couple seems displayed as depressing. Or you can observe it as normal couple, walking across the river, enjoying the night. He also gives us a boat which could possibly be giving us a correlation because the boat looks like it’s broken or about to sink. There is also another interpretation with the object that Van Gogh displays which is, the stars. Depending upon which way you want to take it, they look like flowers or fireworks. Also, there is a sense of false appearance with the houses. If you stare at just the bank you will notice that it is just a bunch of bright lights but if you pay attention to the water close to the bank, you will acknowledge the darkness or shadow of the houses.

The Bourgeois society is represented in the top half of the painting; tall office towers line the city sky which is a dominating reminder to Americans of a chance for prosperity. The Statue of Liberty sits in the distance; Frida pushes the ideal of Western strength and freedom to the background, which realizes the possibility of American economic failure. The water is a dark grey, reflective of the dreary years of the depression era. A collection of six industrial smoke-pipes reach high from behind the commericialist towers of the city. They seem to acknowledge the defining role of lower class workers and industrial society in the prosperity of America.

Color is highly evident in this painting, and helps to draw the viewer’s eye to certain places in the painting. The café is yellow, and adds a boisterous feeling to that section of the piece. The yellow light spills onto the street and walls of the town, creating bright colors and drawing the eye. The sky and town use dark colors to illustrate nighttime, although the bright spots of the stars cause the viewer to look to the sky.

While the City life is crowded with transport, people, tall, tightly spaced buildings and the pollution the urban community live in. The city lives are dealt with violence, greed and criticism of the people. The dull colour of scene where people are rushing to reach their destination and the heavy and quick pace of the music has change dramatically from the opening scene as the changes is when Rachel and Samuel got on the train to go and visit her sister in the city. As the train starts to travel you could hear a great change of music from calm and soothing music to a rush and mysterious sound of the music with this it tries to tell us that Rachel and Samuel are travelling for the first time out of their comfort zone of their home into a world that is strange and unknown to them.

The contrast of the large truck with the visually smaller Lola is used to show how close she came to being destroyed by this machine. This works to emphasise how luck gave her another chance to live and it was really because of chance that she is able to continue with her journey. This is similar to many occurrences in life such as death occurrences which people have no explanation for besides luck and chance. Another technique used is a long-distance shot of Lola in front of the big truck with the casino presents her a great opportunity to fulfil her journey to get the money she needs. This is used to show how chance is not always bad but may also lead to opportunities that will be beneficial in the future. Continuing on with the notion of chance and luck, Lola ends up at the casino and is completely oblivious on how to gamble. By chance again, she walks to a roulette table and bets on the number 20. The close-up shot of the roulette table, spinning and coming to a stop shows suspense when Lola was about to win. This works to place importance on the actual object of chance which in the real world is all casino games. The film is showing how just like Lola’s life afterwards depends on the small play of chance, many of our live depend on other games of chance. Life is essentially a ‘game’ of chance which affects an individual’s personal fate through our own actions as well as others.

The scene is set at night time so all the light in the scene is artificial from the street lamps; the light is dim but harsh casting dark shadows and creating a chiaroscuro effect, this is iconic of film noir and crime movies and it signifies that evil

into a pattern of lines. When I walked in the street, lights from stores and

The use of line in this piece is also very interesting. The artist employs a high horizontal line to create a plunging effect giving the piece more depth. Another use of lines in the image is to create focal points to attract the viewer. Lines are also used to separate the different sections of the painting. Overall this painting uses lines in dynamic ways that vastly enhance the viewers’ pleasure and admiration of the piece.

Then there are also many psychological lines to be seen in the work. One such line is of the woman and the floor, where she is staring down towards it. Another is from the young child and the store clerk, showing a defiance between the two. Next, light and value are not very contrasting in this painting, with only the basic highlights and the shadows seen. It isn’t completely contrasting or contradicting since the colors blend well together with close to the same value ranges, dark colors seen throughout except for the people’s pale faces. There also seems to be a variety of light sources since the woman’s face along with the shop clerk and the young boy’s is lit up by what seems to be a light bulb since they’re much brighter and highlighted and then the men and women in the back aren’t really as bright, except for the ones who close to the open door, creating a blue tinge from the outside light. The shapes shown through the painting is shown to be either very round or very geometrical. There are organic shapes in things such as the umbrella or even the back of the chair, but mostly it is either straight lines and geometrical shapes. The volume shown in the painting is very much implied, correctly showing the

Further more, in the painting, “the Gleaners”, the entire screen is filled with contrast elements. First of all, the main figures in the front labor scene are full of rich vigor, contrasting to the background with silent objects such as hay, trees and farmhouse. Secondly, the color brightness of the front contrast to the back, as well as the comparison of relative sizes between figures and scenery, applying the principle of perspective. What’s more, the most classic is the horizontal line, the intersection of the sky and the ground, contrasting with the light source, from the top left. Consequently, 2D and 3D spatial effects are combined precisely. Meanwhile, the sense of space of the image is strengthened as well.