Tuesday 14 December 2010

The Guide to my Project so far...

I'm afraid that due to my lovely housemates hogging all the bandwidth I can't get onto Scribd, or at least I can't get it to respond. So to make up for it I'm going to make as clear a guide as I can about everything I want to have in my project.

Here are the main images I'm looking at for the moment, put together in 3 influence maps:

Different artists work and old photos:


Screenshots from films:

 Different decaying textures and camera positions:

Here is the link to the few thumbnails that I've managed to do:


I would say that what I really want to have in my final image is a feeling of nostalgia and dust.  Like there was something happening there a long time ago but everyone left for some reason.  One idea, which is shown in my thumbnails, is to have an upwards shot of a stairway and a door, perhaps at the top of the stairs which you can see just a little of the next room through.

Another idea I'm keen on is to have a room with a door on one of the walls which is ajar, and a series of old benches or chairs with a couple of old gas masks and papers just sitting around, decaying.  I know I haven't drawn these up yet but that's because I've really struggled to make a decision about my final scene.

I'm really happy with how my research has been going, I've even got more films to watch and refer to but I've really got myself in a tizzy deciding exactly what I want for my final scene.  I'm about 80% sure I want the decaying empty room with gas masks/chairs/flyers littered around I just NEED to get these drawn up in thumbnails so I can see exactly what works.

I also really like the idea of having hanging shaggy cloths/nets around but that will take more practice in Maya I think.  It'll be great to have anything that can make this room look like it was once homely but for some unknown reason was abandoned.

4 comments:

  1. Interim Online Review 14/12/2010

    Hey Molly,

    Oh dear - a Scribd scrubbed - never mind! Okay - well, I think the gasmask idea is a good one; there's something both skull like and alien about them at the same time. At risk of sending you in the direction of some rather 'risque' websites, gasmarks are also big on the fetish scene - you might want to take a look for some additional surreal/shocking inspiration: all I can say is proceed with caution...

    oh yeah, and I found this and 'thought of you'

    http://www.bunnylicious.org/public/2008/10/gas-mask.jpg

    I'm still not sure exactly how you image is going to hang together - but or are you, and you've made that clear. Because you seem keen to express age too, are you going for a world war 2 relic style environment, so therefore looking at 1940s furniture and wallpaper etc. with which to dress your scene? Picking a specific era (and a specific country) can be really helpful in sharpening up the aesthetic and avoiding a kind of cg genericism - which happens when students just model the version of the world they've got stored up in their head. It's so important to work from life.

    Something about this project keeps reminding me of those uncanny atomic bomb testing site towns the American military used to test the effects of nuclear war:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG4hQQKrhT8

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZUIRBHBoG8&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dG76lkGC8w&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nop3tfseBqU&feature=related

    And there's that whole creepy sequence in the otherwise terrible Indiana Jones 4, where they go to that mocked-up town test site... I don't know, but perhaps this would enable you to combine your gasmasks, with your decay and also give yourself a specific period from which to design from?

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  2. Regarding your unit 3 written assignment, check out the link below:

    http://ucarochester-cgartsandanimation.blogspot.com/2010/12/fao-cgaa-year-1-unit-3environment-essay.html

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  3. Yeah I'm really sorry about that, I should've been more prepared but I know I'll sort it much more promptly next time!
    I definitely like the world war 2 idea. That will really help me get my act together. By the end of this week I will have my idea solidly designed in thumbnails, I just let myself down with time management again.
    I love that link! I definitely want that level of weird in my work. I'm yet to watch the videos but I'll get on that tonight!
    Thank you for the help and sorry I let the preparation side of things drop! :S

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  4. Hey, I know this is a late comment but I was just reading through your plan and thought this was a really cool idea. The use of the gas masks really remind me of that creepy episode of Dr Who when the people start growing the gas masks on their faces. If you hvent seen it, take a look...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgiE0AZ_Dgs

    That clip has the gas masks and is set in the world war, that's killing two birds with one stone. hope it helps :)

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