Below, I've included a few thumbnail sketches I drafted for my concept art piece. More to come tommorow.
About Me
- Sam Hayes
- I'm a student studying CG Arts and Animation at the University for the Creative Arts, I'm living in Kent.
Hi Sam,
great to see thumbnails up here, by now you should be at a stage where you are ready to commit to a limited number of ideas for your scenes and start pushing towards your final images, how is the digital stuff going?
Interim Online Review - Unit 2 : Space 10/11/09
Hi Sam,
The lack of drawings/visualisations (these new thumbnails excepted) is a bit of a concern - and yet there's no doubting your enthusiasm for the project and your personal commitment to creating a solid body of work. If you haven't done so already, check out Ruben's blog - a good yardstick for the sort of level of work I'm expecting from everyone; note also, how Ruben organises his workflow - with a scene selected, developed through thumbnails, then taken forwards into the digital...
What I'm particularly looking for from you, Sam is a bit of old-fashioned flair and 'razzle dazzle'; your portrait was not without its conceptual charms, but it lacked a certain boldness or memorable aesthetic - I guess I'm talking about personal style. Remember, one of the prime functions of concept art is to create a sense of 'wow' and eager expectation; in this sense, they are theatrical and barn-storming - strong flavours and potent impressions! I really want you to kick off your inhibitions and go for something impressionistic, striking and painterly - I don't want to see any more of these neat little mushrooms, but something much more 'Ridley Scott!' You have your orders... :-)
Regarding your written assignment (and my own opinions on the 300 excepted), both films deal with super-stylised worlds - the 300 derives from a graphic novel, and Sky-Captain from the serials of the 1930s; in this sense, both movies have strong rulebooks for reference - collections of conventions etc. (Personally, I thought the 300 was campest, most unintentionally homoerotic turkey ever... and why did Gerald Butler have to keep shouting...). Following this post is a second dealing more generally with the written assignment...
Written Assignment stuff…
Some general structural advice regarding framing your essay in the more general context of ‘production design’ – by way of introduction to your specific case-study (i.e. the movie or game of choice), you’ll need to demonstrate your understanding of the purpose of production design/designers in enshrining certain ‘narrative values’ within the look of the production; you should discuss the general aims/objectives/definitions of production design – see below:
“Before designing anything, the designer develops a "design concept," an overarching metaphor for the film's appearance that governs individual choices. This "concept" may or may not be established in conjunction with the director. Once settled upon, however, it structures all decisions made, helping the art staff to give an individual film visual distinction.”
Read more: http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Production-Design.html#ixzz0WRjZ6wTX
You’ll find alternative definitions that you may want to include, but your following analysis of your chosen exemplar should be an in-depth discussion of that ‘overarching metaphor’ that organizes all the various components of the production’s design; you need to be looking for recurring motifs, colour values, use of space, set-design etc. that, collectively, create ‘the look’ and be able to talk insightfully about the narrative contribution of ‘the look’ – i.e. – how does it assist in the audience’s understanding of the narrative or thematic framework.
IMPORTANT; try and think of your written assignments as ‘complete worlds’ – i.e., that they must contain all information necessary for your reader to follow your discussion coherently. Never presume prior knowledge on the behalf of your reader; do not, for instance, presume that your reader understands or is familiar with ‘Production Design’ – you always need to define your terms WITHIN the essay; likewise with films and games; give their release date, their director etc. Use footnotes to give definitions or information that would otherwise interrupt flow of argument; for instance, if you don’t want to pause rhythm of sentence by giving reader additional information about a particular artist or designer, use a footnote to put this data into the ‘margins’ of the discussion. On Word, goto to Insert and then ‘Footnote’ to install footnote at bottom of page.
AVOID DESCRIPTION – obviously, you will need to give some plot details to contextualise the scenes you want to discuss, but I don’t want a blow-by-blow account of the game/film; give a brief précis and get on with the ANALYSIS.
Below is a list of useful websites; use them in addition to other sources of reference (books, docs, making ofs) to SUPPORT your observations; you need to gather EVIDENCE to corroborate with your analysis. GENERIC observations (i.e. ‘stating the bloody obvious’) are to be avoided at all costs. Tell me something I DON’T know!
http://www.filmreference.com/
http://www.imdb.com
http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/
http://www.screenjabber.com/
http://www.empireonline.com/
http://www.metacritic.com/
http://www.totalfilm.com/
http://www.channel4.com/film/
http://movies.nytimes.com/ref/movies/reviews/
WORD COUNT!
The gloves are coming off; the brief asks you to produce 1,500 words… and that’s what want; shortfall assignments will be penalized accordingly – or failed.
Good Luck! ☺