Categorising Fear

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-five-basic-fears-we-all-live

Research into the basic psychology of fear, in this article on Psychology Today, Karl Albrecht expresses his ideas that there are only 5 natural fears.

Death (Heights, or the ocean)

Pain or Mutilation (The fear of insect, bugs or anything poisonous that could affect the human condition)

Loss of Autonomy (Being trapped, enveloped, imprisoned, can be applied both the the body, and to relationships or social standing) 

Seperation (Abandonment, Isolation)

Humiliation or "Ego Death" (Personal Worth)

According to him any other fears can be applied to these over arching categories.

I can use these basic ideas to influence parts of character designs, such as the fear of abandonment could include a creature with no mouth, tortured and unable to speak. Or a creature with a severely limited range of movement, for the lack of autonomy. 

Initial Research into Characters

Picking up from last year i have looked into one of the most well renowned horror games of all time, Silent Hill 2 , known for its immersive settings and horrifying creatures.

Part of what makes the creatures so horrifying is that they all relate to the main character. The premise of the game is that the town is torturing the main character for ending his terminally ill wifes life, and all of the creatures reinforce this point. The nurses are there to show sexual frustration with his wifes permanent illness or the "lying figure" a human entombed in what appears to be a straight jacket of skin, writhing in agony, the inner turmoil and guilt of the main character.

This shows the importance of incorporating story into creature design, and is a good example of story telling through character design.

In this short video documentary at 26:40 a character designer and cgi director Takayoshi Sato talks about if you want to "shake the heart" of the viewer you need to identify the players inner motives and exploit them. He says that not a day goes by when people dont think about sex and death, so he combines the two motifs in his designs to create terrifying visuals.

Creative Research, My Starting Point.

In this research project i'm hoping to continue from last year, exploring the link between the provocation of fear and my art .

Last semester i focussed heavily on creature design, and though it is still a large part of my plans for this semester i am also widening my horizons within the same subject matter, looking at paintings, surrealist work, creature designs, sculpture and digital 3D work.