Computer Based Art: Hansel and Gretel

I explained the premise of this assignment in my previous post on October 18th.  Basically we have to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel in an interesting way in 6 frames.  I had some other concept ideas that I wasn't really happy with but then one day I was in the shower and it hit me: Hansel is delusional!  I'm not sure where it came from, really, I just thought it would be a much cooler way to tell the story.  So in this new concept Hansel is actually a young man living in a mental institution who has delusions that he is a little boy getting into mischief with his twin sister (who in reality is a creepy doll).  

I was a little bit limited with the pictures I could use: they had to be taken by me.  Normally I would jump at the chance to get out my camera and start shooting but all our family and friends live far away and I'm not entirely comfortable asking strangers to pose as a psycho.  I decided to use some pictures I had of my little brother when I went to visit my family in Oregon last year.  Since I didn't really have any little girl pictures I thought it would be funny to just make them twins and alter Blake's picture a little bit to make him a girl.  For the older boy, Hans, I got my incredibly supportive boyfriend to dress up as a crazy person and even got him to wear a little makeup!  (Don't tell him I told you that.)  His parents were kind enough to send me some pictures of them to use for a the first scene too.  

My sister always makes horrible faces when you try to take her picture so I thought it would be funny to use her as the witch.  She would kill me if she found out!  I had taken some pictures of her a few years ago where I  tried to pose her in visually interesting positions but they just turned out to be creepy and unnatural which was PERFECT for this project.

In this first scene Hans is in the mental institution watching his parents cry as he is taken into the hospital's custody.  In his delusion, however, Hansel is watching his wicked step mom lead his father away as they leave Hansel and Gretel in the forest.

The second scene has Hans sleeping with his doll on the hospital bed in his room at the institution.  In his delusion he and Gretel are curled up together in the forest under a giant tree.

Scene three is Hans walking down the hall holding his doll's hand but in his mind Hansel and Gretel are walking together through the forest trying to find their way back home.

The fourth image is Hans using his doll to push a visitor into one of the hospital rooms because in his delusion Gretel is closing the witch in the oven.

The fifth frame in reality is the visitor glaring at Hans from inside the cell and Hans' creepy reflection smiling back at her.  In his delusion the witch is glaring back at Gretel from inside the oven.

The final frame is Hans stuffing "jewels" into his dolls back which in reality is just cafeteria food.  In his delusion Gretel is stealing a crown from the witch's jewelry and coin collection.