Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts and Music
Year:2021 | Volume:25 | Issue:4|Papers Count:6

what is important in this study as the main purpose, is face believability in 3D computer animations. To examine this, the importance of face has been discussed according to four perspectives as follows: face reading and face language, body language and face positioning, the importance of the face in communication and finally the importance of the sense of sight. The reason for focusing this paper on 3D animation was to find a way to translate facial expression in 3D animation. Another reason for focusing on this type of animation is its increasing popularity in various areas due to its high flexibility, which is continually changing its aesthetic boundaries. There are many research models which show that even in the simplest models of communication, the face plays the most crucial role in conveying emotions. The notion of believability in computer animations and, subsequently, face believability, is a subject based on the examinations of Curie and Kania’ s view as the real motion picture, which provides a basis for the best description of real 3D computer animations. According to the concepts mentioned above, we try to provide solutions to enhance the believability of the faces in the animations alluded. The animator must know his character so well that he can recognize his personal reality in the moment. It is the role of the animator and his skills as an actor that can provide the audience with believable characters. This is more impor-tant in the face because it is the source of emotions and the believability of the emotions is very important to the story and the audience’ s experience. ‘ Uncanny Valley’ , the most critical challenge of face believability in 3D computer animations, is also examined. What follows is an examination of two opposing viewpoints: one considers the universality of emotions to be true and the other considers it basically to be false. This study provides an opportunity to achieve practical solutions for the creation of believable faces. In the end, acting in animation is explored as an important element in conveying emotions to the audience; and attempts are made to develop methods of acting so that it helps to enhance the believability of the face. The results of this article show that humans are able to read each other’ s body language, and since the face conveys full meaning when it comes to emotions, it has a special place in body language and the believability of 3D animated characters. In addition to the method of acting, Kennedy’ s perspective on acting, inspired by the concept of Morris, is also discussed in this article. Finally, it should be noted that what is most imperative in acting is the believability of character emotions. This is especially important when it comes to photographic realism. If the character’ s face is designed in harmony with its intrinsic characteristics, it will likely have a better chance of conveying the emotions to the audience. This can help character designers in animations to create more believable characters and better overall storylines.

The possibility of mechanical recording and reproduction of the world by a camera is the turning point in the philosophical analysis regarding the representation of ‘ reality’ in art. Disparate theories were proposed with respect to the realistic nature of photography and cinema due to the distinct nature of photographic and film imagery. This approach has led to the creation of the theory of film realism. The main figures of this powerful discourse including Dziga Vertov, Siegfried Kracauer, and André Bazin believed that cinema is a realistic medium concentrating on the principle of mechanical recording and reproduction of the world. Bazin expounds on this belief by suggesting the hypothesis of the ontological relationship between photographic and film imagery. He maintained that the invention of the camera is more than just a technological event and it is the logical consequences of the natural evolution of art moving towards realism. This approach faced significant challenges in the postmodern conditions and after the emergence of digital technology. Theorists such as Jean Baudrillard proposed a new reading of reality and the role of modern technologies in their representation of the art form. Baudrillard challenged the idealistic principles of the representational system, i. e. priority of reality over imagery, using new concepts including hyperrealism and simulation and furthermore, lay the foundations of inverting this prin-ciple in the postmodern condition. He stressed that we are living in a world of objects and their representations. Accordingly, the present article carried out a comparative study on these two approaches in order to clarify the process of transformation of the concept of reality and its representation through the possibility of technological recording and reproduction of images. This comparative, analytical-descriptive, research was conducted with reference to the valid resources and aimed at clarifying these two approaches. According to André Bazin, one of the most important figures of this theory and his likeminded theorists, this study also seeks to indicate that even though the film realism theory mainly focuses on the representation of reality, there is not much of a distance between realism and mimesis, because the inherent link between reality and imagery is their starting points in the realistic analysis of the cinematic imagery. Thus, the theory of film realism is concerned with the question of the essence and the relationship between imagery and reality in cinema in the framework of the traditional concept of representation. However, Baudrillard is of the opinion that reality has a fragile relationship with cinematic imagery and other forms of representation in the postmodern condition. The reality that can be easily manipulated using technological advances and digital cameras. This process leads to a new condition, which Baudrillard described as Hyperrealism. A hyperspace in which the reality is a form of hyperrealism, due to the fact that not only the real is capable of being reproduced, but also it has already been reproduced by media such as cinema. This different analytical approach resulted in the creation of a new reading of the reality and its representation in the new media.

The analogy made between Jacques Lacan’ s conception of mirror and the cinema screen gave rise to innumerable psychoanalytical approaches to film and film criticism. The mirror for Lacan functioned as a means of illustration with reference to the procedure in which the infant would succeed to differentiate her/himself from her/his mirror reflection, on the basis of this process of individuation, Lacan further explain the split between The imaginary, the order of unconscious and The symbolic, in this case meaning social Identity. Later, the analogy made between the Lacanian mirror stage and the cinema screen is employed by film critics to explain the split they distinguished between the inner nature of the viewer (The real) and her-his outer symbolic positioning as a film spectator through which they mostly intended to express the mechanism The other (Cinema Apparatus) uses to form the identity of the cinematic social subjects or rather to exemplify how the cinematic subjects resist such a procedure. In this essay is reviewed the ways through which an image is viewed and perceived by the viewer constructed in the gaze of the viewer, then the assumed split between the inner and outer of the subject’ s subjectivity would be explored to finally argue against the existence of the very split. By employing the very tools of investigation the Lacanian Psychoanalytical approach to film-more specifically Suture theory-provides, in this essay would be invoked the very Lacanian ontological conceptions of the gaze and the image, then the very possibility of making analogy between the mirror and the cinematic image would be argued. Does the mirror image ontologically corresponds the cinematic image or such a comparison is limited to their appearances and the way the viewer perceives them? The mentioned arguments against the possibility of such an analogy made holds two objections to the analogy, first, unlike the mirror reflection the cinematic image originates from the light, it is light-written and not the mere light reflection. Second,-regardless of notion of digital screening of the films-as long as the projector and the screen are the tools in film screenings, the image comes from behind of the spectator, therefore once again it is different from the mirror image that has no other source except for the mirror surface. In this essay would be argued that these two mentioned fact not only expose the fundamental difference between the two image (reflected and cinematic) but also lay bare their radical ontological divergence, something that might even make us rethink it and wonder why such a resemblance and analogy between the reflected image of self in the mirror and cinematic image projected on the screen was theorized in a first place. The main discussion of the essay does not end with the opposition with the analogy but also later it would be discussed that maybe the very tools of psychoanalytical investigation of the image would enable us to theoretically deny the existence of the split between inner (Imaginary) and outer      (Symbolic) orders by using the key term of the light.

The complex abilities of pitch perception and perceiving discriminating pitches are vital to the music perception phenomenon. Comprehensive studies have investigated the influence of intervening silence in various dimensions and have indicated its effects on human auditory ability. The present study provides additional information on the pitch discrimination ability, with a focus on how silence between stimuli affects our perception. We neutralized various effective factors and assessed the effect of perceivable durations of silences (in the range of 500-2000 ms) on pitch discrimination ability in musicians; distractive factors were reduced to refine the effect of intervening silence, and assess pitch discrimination accuracy in varying silent inter-stimulus interval durations precisely. By using factors such as pure stimuli, moderate frequencies, suitable durations, and favorable intensities, the efficiency of the experiment was optimized. Varying degrees of pitch differentials (5, 10, 25, and 50 cents) were used to estimate the effect of silence on pitch discrimination. In this experiment, participants included 36 female and 65 male undergraduate and graduate music students from Tehran University of Art and University of Tehran (mean age=23. 31 years, SD=4. 46). They had passed ear-training courses, and played a melodic instrument for a minimum mean (SD) time of 9. 15 (3. 42) years. The difference limen for frequency was es-timated for all participants (mean± SD= 8. 2± 2. 88 cents). Since the results of multiple test attempts on one person should be considered related or dependent, Friedman test was used to compare the answers of each participant across different silent ISI durations. Moreover, Fisher’ s exact test was used to correct all analyses. To assess the influence of auditory sensitivity and musical experience in our experiment, and to find any correlation between these factors and the effect of silence intervention, par-ticipants were categorized into two groups: one based on their baseline mean DLF (8. 2≤ and >8. 2) and another based on the mean years of their musical instruction (≥ 9. 15 years or <9. 15 years). Friedman tests were again used to examine the difference between the answers of these groups. To perform a detailed analysis, logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of each duration of silence to the correctness of pitch discrimination (0 ms silent ISI as reference). All analyses were done using IBM SPSS for Windows version 19 with a two-tailed P value < 0. 05 being considered significant. The results showed that improvement in pitch discrimination ability was significant when the duration of silence occurred between stimuli in most of discriminations (p<0. 05). In addition, the auditory sensitivity and musical experience factors had no significant effect on this phenomenon. This effect is defined by the mechanical functions of the inner ear or procedures of tonal memory in the auditory process. Interestingly, the examined durations of silences (500, 1000, and 2000 ms) can conveniently be calculated by every common metronome. Hence, our achievement can be applicable to music educators to set better conditions reinforcing the pitch discrimination ability in the practice procedures or instruction processes. In addition, this information advantageous for investigators as an executable implement to design specific experiments in pitch discrimination assessments, and any other psycho acoustical researches.

Social science concepts arise from practical cases and they have become a method for reading artistic works. Nowadays, with the juxtaposition of different domains of Humanities and Art, this relation has been mutual. Social science concepts sometimes originate from Artistic works and they can be read by these concepts, giving the works a different perspective. The Docile bodies’ conception of Foucault which is originated from knowledge- power theory was made based on documentary cases from social history and has been used for reading political, social, and artistic works and events. Docile bodies concept has been the conclusion of performing discipline principles in garrisons, factories, schools, workhouses, and so on. This discipline which exerts on body، for improving and increasing the quantity and quality of the final product (work), degrades the human body to docile body and from this point, it can be compared with a puppet. The Marionette is one of the complicated puppets in making and animating, and is also one of the symbolistic kinds in meaning. It has a full figure because of the way of its animating which is from the top by strings. Then, it can be so realistic and humanlike which makes it a suitable figure for any realistic play and also Opera. It seems Marionette from making to animating processes is similar to the docile body. This essay tries to find the visualization of these concepts in puppet and distinctly marionette figures, and ultimately links the characteristic of Docile bodies in puppet/marionette form. In this way, the discipline principles for Domestication are compared with ‘ Puppet’ in two phases; making and animating the puppet. From four discipline principles which Foucault explained, it seems two of them are visualized in Puppet making and two others in Puppet animating. The art of distribution is comparable to the studio of making puppets in which everything is arranged in a specific discipline. The puppet maker must be surrounded behind a woodturning table like the worker who is surrounded behind the sewing machine table. Control of activity which has four sections is comparable to the program of making puppets. It consists of Planning for the process of making puppets, determining a specific time for each process, designing movement in which continuity between body and movement is made, and Articulating for animating puppets like the relation between body and object. The organization of geneses is similar to recognizing puppets and training for animating puppets for achieving a docile body as a puppet. And the last is the composition of forces is similar to the final performance in which all puppets as docile bodies coordinate with each other for creating the play. The inevitable discipline of producing Marionette Opera makes Marionette as clearer visualization of the docile body. By this cognition, Puppetry Artists can coordinate these implications with their performances and use it for conveying their ideas. Docile bodies that have different visualization in literal, social, and political cases, can be introduced as one of the implications of Puppet (Marionette Opera) and help Artists in creating coherent puppet performances.

This study aims to analyze a variety of narratives in order to construct a relative understanding of an incident related to the execution of several musicians and the escape of Abdolghader during the Teimorid Era. Research method is based on comparative study of the various and conflicting narratives that are relevant to the historical events of this incident. Narratives have always been used as key research citations in art and history and the researcher has to decide upon its accuracy and substantial evidence that it is presenting. According to the tradition of narrative, the importance of the issue, chronology of incidents, their detailed provision and balance are the most significant factors as well as the variety of music-related narratives could be observed as historical resources. Since, this study is related to history, the narratives are not being considered in an artistic viewpoint. Structurally, incidents are sometimes contradictory in the introduction and main body of the story. Some authors used to add fun to a tragic story which could make the story more interesting. The process of incidents’ narrative is chronological-based, though, detail provision and their balance are not the same in narratives. The use of various narratives for one incident reveals the realistic nature of the incident; although, there has always been a wide gap between an incident and the truth of it. Hanging of musicians in the court of Amiranshah (Tamerlane’ s son) is among one of these incidents. The narratives in regards to the execution of the court musicians of Amiranshah and Abdolghader’ s escape from the situation, demonstrates that despite the significant developments in music in Teimorid era, there was no security for musicians in that time. Amiranshah’ s mistreatment of the musicians and blaming them for this behavior are the two significant points in this incident. Generally, two groups of narratives have been formed about this incident in the year 802, lunar calendar. The first narrative is based on those historians’ records that had lived in the time of the incident’ s occurrence; the second narrative is based on mostly non-written evidence. It seems that the latter is less reliable than the former. Disagreements in recording the musicians’ names and the indefinite narratives are the reasons for this claim. It seems that despite the presence of Abdolghader among the other musicians of Amiranshah’ s court; he was not among those who were hanged due to some unknown reasons. In this case, it could be claimed that Abdolghader’ s credit before Tamerlan and reciting Quran is among the most significant reasons for saving his life, though; he fled the court to save his life nonetheless. Tamerlane’ s seven-year military expedition and his presence in Tabriz could be among the main reasons for Abdolghaer’ s not seeking shelter in Baghdad; because Tamerlane intended to attack Baghdad and Sultan Ahmad Jalayer could not resist against Tamerlane’ s army. That is why Abdolghader decided in the right time to go to Tamerlane and recite him a verse of Quran in which the title is about forgiving the weak; he could save his life and explain his absence during the incidents.