Hey Sandy, it's really satisfying to see you getting on top of everything from the start here; looks like you're much more settled and feeling like you're in the driving seat - and that's great! I really enjoyed your travelogue; there's something creepy and 'uncanny' feeling about Lithos, which I liked - a proper sense of surrealism, and while the worlds are entirely separate, I couldn't help but be reminded of the paintings of De Chirico...
https://www.wikiart.org/en/giorgio-de-chirico
They have that same slightly 'haunted' quality and when it comes to moving now towards developing your concept art, I think you need to think about how that 'feeling' can be translated into other aspects of the mise-en-scene - camera position, lighting and so on. In your travelogue you make it clear there's an 'unknowability' about the goings-on in this society - I like this! - that said, I do think that you need to know something about the society - even if that knowledge remains locked up and unavailable to us. What I means is, to ensure you can design distinctively and with confidence, and to guard against you simply creating a set of nice sculptural forms, you will need to establish some kind of rule book for yourself. For example, the children aren't educated, but children express themselves and children play, so is there an area of this city that is 'more' characterised by the behaviours of children - a favourite place or building, where they express themselves (hand paintings, graffiti, ad-hoc playgrounds, toys etc)? Are there any 'forbidden' or taboo buildings that must be treated with more seriousness by the citizens, and if so are they coloured/textured differently? We don't have to 'know' everything about the arcane rituals of Lithos, but I think you do. One of the challenges of this project is to use your digital set to somehow capture something 'specific' or meaningful about your What If Metropolis (so you're not just showing us a snapshot of someplace generic or 'ordinary'). All of that said, many of your thumbnails radiate a 'de Chirico' feeling of emptied abandoned strangeness, which I like - so there's a balance to be struck here.
Short version, I think yes you should move now to thumbnailing out your approaches to creating the concept painting that will drive your digital set, but do think about what you're putting in front of the camera (and indeed what you're not). This shouldn't be a snapshot of a 'sculpture park', but a frozen moment of strangeness that simmers with possible interpretation - do that, and I think you'll invite us into Lithos very effectively! Onwards :)
OGR 01/11/2018
ReplyDeleteHey Sandy, it's really satisfying to see you getting on top of everything from the start here; looks like you're much more settled and feeling like you're in the driving seat - and that's great! I really enjoyed your travelogue; there's something creepy and 'uncanny' feeling about Lithos, which I liked - a proper sense of surrealism, and while the worlds are entirely separate, I couldn't help but be reminded of the paintings of De Chirico...
https://www.wikiart.org/en/giorgio-de-chirico
They have that same slightly 'haunted' quality and when it comes to moving now towards developing your concept art, I think you need to think about how that 'feeling' can be translated into other aspects of the mise-en-scene - camera position, lighting and so on. In your travelogue you make it clear there's an 'unknowability' about the goings-on in this society - I like this! - that said, I do think that you need to know something about the society - even if that knowledge remains locked up and unavailable to us. What I means is, to ensure you can design distinctively and with confidence, and to guard against you simply creating a set of nice sculptural forms, you will need to establish some kind of rule book for yourself. For example, the children aren't educated, but children express themselves and children play, so is there an area of this city that is 'more' characterised by the behaviours of children - a favourite place or building, where they express themselves (hand paintings, graffiti, ad-hoc playgrounds, toys etc)? Are there any 'forbidden' or taboo buildings that must be treated with more seriousness by the citizens, and if so are they coloured/textured differently? We don't have to 'know' everything about the arcane rituals of Lithos, but I think you do. One of the challenges of this project is to use your digital set to somehow capture something 'specific' or meaningful about your What If Metropolis (so you're not just showing us a snapshot of someplace generic or 'ordinary'). All of that said, many of your thumbnails radiate a 'de Chirico' feeling of emptied abandoned strangeness, which I like - so there's a balance to be struck here.
Short version, I think yes you should move now to thumbnailing out your approaches to creating the concept painting that will drive your digital set, but do think about what you're putting in front of the camera (and indeed what you're not). This shouldn't be a snapshot of a 'sculpture park', but a frozen moment of strangeness that simmers with possible interpretation - do that, and I think you'll invite us into Lithos very effectively! Onwards :)