Unit 2: Space

Online Greenlight Review 08/11/11

Emma Foster

Contents The background of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea My Visual Concept Statement Visual Concept Influence Map Excerpt Breakdowns Scene Influence Maps Key Thumbnails Creative Partnership Archive Essay Introduction 2 3 3 4 4-5 6-7 7-9 10

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Synopsis 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea follows the story of Professor Aronnax who is rallied by The United States government to be a part of an underwater exhibition to track down and destroy a mysterious sea monster that is wrecking havoc. However, during a fight with this monster Arronnax and his companions Ned Land and Conseil are thrown overboard only to discover that this sea monster is actually a giant submarine. They are taken hostage by the Nautilus captain Nemo and end up going on a voyage of the depths of the sea from the Antarctic ice shelves and even to the lost city of Atlantis. Jules Verne was a French author born in 1828. He is especially known for delving into the science fiction genre and writing about space, air and underwater even before practical air travel and submarines existed. His best known works are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) and The Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864). He was especially influenced by publisher Hetzel because he was happy to find a willing publisher and so aimed to please and change his works to suit their needs. His work is said to have inspired the visual concept of Steampunk. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been made into many adaptations from television, comics, radio and film. One of the most well known adaptations is Walt Disneys 1954 adaptation directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Kirk Douglas. Vernes character Captain Nemo has also been borrowed and is a part of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). It is thought that Vernes novel was inspired by the cultural happenings of the early 1800s where artists were being commissioned including Robert Fulton by Napolean to build submarines. During this period travel and exploration were also a key interest such as when President Thomas Jefferson inlisted Meriwether Lewis to explore the Missouri River and beyond to find a route to the Pacific Ocean.

A key illustration and interpretation of the Nautilus for the 1954 Walt Disney adaptation

3 My Visual Concept After reading my extracts I thought of Harry Potter, especially the forth and seventh film with the lake scenes due to the lighting and dark atmosphere created. I thought this would be especially useful for my first concept. I also thought of Finding Nemo for the bright colours of the underwater lifeforms for contrast. After doing some more research I started thinking of colour schemes and the nice way my photoshop experiment with my first concept was turning out with the blue tonal atmosphere. This reminded me of LucasArts Monkey Island series because it is very characterised by its tonalisation of specific colours throughout the games to express the atmosphere. I found the blue and green tonalisations especially inspiring. From reading my extracts it seems fitting that Greek Mythology would play a key role in my visual concept due to the regular mention of Tuscan architecture and the whimsical detailing that reminds me of how Greek Gods are depicted in environments. Assassins Creed would be a good reference for this. There is also the venus shell reference with my second scene. The concept art of Alice Madness was also suggested to me and I think this has a magical aspect that would fit nicely into my mythological/fantasy concept. Visual Concept Influence Map

4 Breakdown of Exerpts I showed the breakdown of my excerpts as scribd documents and I dont think its possible to put a scribd doc inside another scribd doc so here are the links to the posts where I decypher my texts and pick my key concepts. http://emma-foster.blogspot.com/2011/10/source-material-research-concept-1.html http://emma-foster.blogspot.com/2011/10/source-material-research-concept-2.html http://emma-foster.blogspot.com/2011/11/source-material-research-concept-3.html Specific Influence Maps for each of 3 scenes Underwater Cemetery For this concept I want a sort of mystical peaceful atmosphere yet still portray the creepyness of a cemetery so I looked at blue colourings with silhouette blacks but that had nice soft light rays.

5 Giant Oyster Grotto For my Oyster grotto I wanted to get across the mythological, sort of temple haven so I looked at greens and soft colourings such as purples and light blues. I then looked at decorative patterns and elements that could prove useful.

Atlantis For me this concept is all about the element of discovery so I sort of want to convey this in my composition the element of surprise, looking through/past something or from above. I really like the digital painting on influence map 2 in the bottom left for this aspect.

6 Key Thumbnails Underwater Cemetery

Giant Oyster Grotto

Atlantis

Creative Partnership Archive so far Me (to Ilmi)

Hey Ilmi! We've already had a little chat but thought I'ld say hi on here too. Look forward to swapping
thoughts with you! :) Our little discussion about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari being similar to Shutter Island, but you not understanding shutter island that well got me thinking and this explains it...watch it fully first though!!http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jul/29/shutter-island-ending. Shutter Island is a book too so it might be worth a shot reading it, rather than relying on the adaptation making full sense. on Presentation

Ohh now that is interesting! More please I want to see it, don't care if you've not finished all the thumbnails you can put them up gradually! Don't make me have to go down your bag for your drawings to feed my curiosity :P on Design Development

I really like #5 for the sense of depth and the use of the character to exaggerate the scale. I think 6 is really interesting with the view from the inside and outside visible, maybe take this further? I'm sure it would make a very interesting concept. On Thumnails I love these submarine studies!! Have you looked at any steampunk yet? http://www.poeghostal.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/20081230072700Bigdaddy-bioshock.png http://nessunluogo.net/wpcontent/uploads/2008/11/bioshock-2007-12-04-16-36-53-60.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/pY7ZxIkI2cA/TVz_j583OnI/AAAAAAAAACM/vGb7TXFDtGQ/s1600/1250622655687.jpg http://sp.theyoungriderstv.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/steamboy.jpg http://www.shockya.com/news/wp-content/uploads/stardust_flying_machine.jpg on More Thumbnails

Hey Ilmi these are great! You've really captured the sense of depth and the adventure of the story. I especially like 28 because that tentacle looks like its popping off the page ready to attack! I also really like your 35-38 sheet because you have really thought about each the foreground, mid-ground and background :) on More Thumbnails

Me (to Tom)
Hiya Tom! Alone with Ilmi I'm your creative partner :D Look forward to bouncing ideas around with ya and seeing what you come up with! Come and say hi to me when you see me, don't be scared I'm not intimidating actually quite shy myself :) on Presentation Hi Tom! This is a really nice review and it's great to see your ideas on the sets. One thing that would improve it (as well as fulful the brief better)is the inclusion of a 3rd quote from another source. Maybe type 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' into google books? There are a lot of interesting books delving into the film and its sets on there. Have you also considered maybe including the quotes as part of your sentence rather than leaving them on their own? This may make your reviews flow a bit better and help back up your points easier. If you need any help or have any questions feel free to come and ask me! :) on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Nice one Tom, just tweak that little bit Phil said and that part with your first couple of quotes linking into what you are saying makes your review flow and really nice to read :D on Metropolis Review Ohh Tom this is great! Like Phil says you can really get the sense of the atmosphere. That concept idea you have from your source for an underground chasm sounds really interesting so I look forward to seeing where this goes! One thing I would say that is to add some more levels or depth round the holes leading into the underground, this would really boom out the atmosphere, maybe some lighting effects too like Phil showed in his painting he did for us (the yellow parts). He used a very soft, like an airbrush for it if you're not sure, lowering down the opacity. We still have yet to have a nice long chat too so if you see some smiley nutter skipping towards you...don't run! :P on Photoshop Work Hi again Tom, I've noticed you have a particular taste in what concept art inspires you and I already know you're a big fan of WOW so I thought this might be of interest to you. This concept artist has worked on lots of games including Assassin's Creed. http://www.sparth.com/ Also, have you ever looked at the magazine imagineFX? I would really recommend it, you can get a subscription discount if you have an NUS card too.

9
Their site also has some extra tutorials and freebies (gotta love freebies!) :) http://www.imaginefx.com/ on Concept Art: What Inspires Me Hey Tom! Nice to see these pop up. Like the fact that you are not just focusing on the actual composition but drawing the objects you aim to feature in it and adapting them to make them complement your concept better. I especially like your 3rd image down with the low angle shot adding more drama to the scale of the structures and I can easily see a foreground, midground and background blended together. :) on Thumbnaila-thon 2000 Hey Tom! Really liking this research, you seem to be looking into a lot of stuff that reminds me of Greek Mythology but also of historical landmarks in Italy. What about looking at Assassin's Creed? There are some great stills and concept art of ruins, and historical/religious places with nicely detailed architecture. Two things that I especially look at AC for are the scales and the dramatic camera angles. http://digital-artgallery.com/oid/4/r169_457x256_1968_Assassin_s_Creed_North_Kingdom_2d_landscape_horse_ruins_fantas y_picture_image_digital_art.jpg http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/games/1/13/12760/thumb_620x2000/Ruins.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2010/08/acbspca01pantheoneziowithbrotherhood.jpg http://gamingindustry.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/2p.jpg http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDodrSZ7VOyWYAf4NNBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4c GxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.images.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp %3Dassassin%2527s%2Bcreed%2Bcolosseum%26n%3D30%26ei%3Dutf8%26y%3DSearch%26b%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic&w=1280&h=800&imgurl=www.wallpapersgames.com%2Fuser-content%2Fuploads%2Fwall%2Fo%2F5%2FAssassins-Creed-Brotherhood-0004Wallpaper.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wallpapers-games.com%2Fwallpaper%2Fassassins-creedbrotherhoodaction_w75.html&size=434.9+KB&name=Assassin%26%2339%3Bs+Creed+Brotherhood+Action+wallpaper&p= assassin%27s+creed+colosseum&oid=fb9ae4477580554e730517913c122f64&fr2=&fr=&tt=Assassin%26%2339 %3Bs+Creed+Brotherhood+Action+wallpaper&b=0&ni=60&no=2&tab=organic&ts=&sigr=12ljib20j&sigb=13lp5 a4l2&sigi=135p1ptr7&.crumb=y7KkOaBQZId on Gathering Inspiration from Other Sources

Tom
Out of curiosity, I Googled 'Underwater Cemetery' on Google images after seeing your post and I came up with a rather interesting structure in Florida. http://everythingandnothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/14/2002.jpg http://aquaviews.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Neptune-Memorial-Reef-1.jpg http://www.foxnews.com/images/369273/1_61_051008_cemetery1.jpg Perhaps these might help. on Sealife Influence Maps for Concept 1 (Underwater Cemetery)

Ilmi
thumbnails are looking really good em, looks like you know where you are going with this project. theres a lot of work on perspective in these thumbnails. really good :) On ThumbnailsPart 3

10 Written Assignment Analyse critically the production design and visual concepts of The Dark Crystal 1982 Introduction The Dark Crystal released in 1982 by The Jim Henson Company and directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz is a film with an amalgamation of visual styles; whether it is the binary oppositions of good and evil or the whimsy quality. This essay investigates thematically the importance of the production design and visual concepts in order to tell the story. Case studies for investigation are The Dark Crystal (1982), The World of The Dark Crystal (2009), Reflections of The Dark Crystal: Light on the Path of Creation (2009), Brian Frouds The World of The Dark Crystal (2003) and Christopher Finchs Jim Henson: The Works- The Art, the magic, the imagination (1993). The assignment begins by defining the key ideas of production design and visual concepts, then explores the ways in which these aspects played key roles in the narrative of The Dark Crystal. In conclusion, the discussion will seek to summarise the thematic importance of concept and production design and how they shaped interpretation Bibliography The Dark Crystal. (1986) Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. U.S.A. The Jim Henson Company. The World of The Dark Crystal. From: The Dark Crystal. (2009) Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. [Blu-Ray] USA: The Jim Henson Company. Reflections of The Dark Crystal: Light on the Path of Creation. From: The Dark Crystal. (2009) Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. [Blu-Ray] USA: The Jim Henson Company. Froud, Brian. (2003) The World of The Dark Crystal. U.S.A: Jim Henson Co. Finch, Christopher. (1993) Jim Henson: The Works- The Art, the magic, the imagination. U.S.A: Random House.