Thursday 11 October 2012

Cinematic Spaces: Online Greenlight Review

At the Earth 2.0

3 comments:

  1. OGR 11/10/2012

    Hey Lekti,

    I really enjoyed your contextualisation of your source novel; fascinating to think that 'science' posited that idea of 'worlds within worlds' as a credible model.

    You have a challenge ahead of you if you're going to avoid the trap of generating generic scenes - and this book is of particular conceptual difficulty for that reason. Right now - if I'm being completely honest - your thumbnails are struggling to communicate the enormity of Pellucidar - and the sheer FANTASTICAL element of the story. You need to be very careful that you don't simply depict shorelines, jungles and caverns that could be anywhere.

    First thing to avoid is the depiction of people - I know using that silhouette gives spatial cues to the the shoreline thumbnail, but is also makes everything too toy-ish. You need to think more creatively about those foreground elements; you might also want to think about reversing the view, so that, compositionally, we looking in at the shore from the sea. Remember, you're NOT making an illustration of that specific passage, your designing the world using that description as a source: so, instead of looking out at a flat horizon line, maybe something like this?

    http://www.dinosaurcentral.com/images/lostworlds/skullisland/view3.jpg

    Your jungle thumbnails are much more expressive, but again, you need to work hard at opening up your compositions if you want to convey the grandeur and great age of the primeval forest. I suggest you use some of these thumbnails as 'seed' drawings - i.e. shrink them into a new 16:9 canvas and grow more of your world from it to open everything up a bit. I think you need to be a bit more bold in everything you're doing here - certainly in terms of layering up foreground, midground and background.

    Your chosen thumbnail for the Temple is actually really hard to read as a space; I can't 'see' it. I'm going to suggest that, in terms of working out composition, that you try and use the tablet more 'lightly' - i.e. that you use it like a nice sharp pencil, as there's something a bit blobby about your mark-making, and I'd suggest it's making it harder for you to work out your spaces.

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  2. So - in short:

    more thumbnails! You haven't yet really got to grips with your spaces, and I don't think you're thinking cinematically enough yet. I'd like to see more basic thumbnails in which you're working with different points of view and seeking to create the most dynamic compositions. You can find a good example of this process happening here:

    http://kinblob.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/space-and-environment.html

    I also want you to relax a bit more around your role as concepr artist whose job it is to take a source novel, and from it, make a world, not a series of illustrations. You can elaborate and reinscribe what's in your excerpts - but do so from a logic evolved from the original source. You need to fight genericism; this is an animated adaptation, remember - not necessarily the photorealism of Avatar, so don't be afraid to stylise your forms or think more originally about how you might depict the natural world: for example:

    http://madaboutcartoons.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/samurai-jack.html

    http://louromano.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/art-of-up_3697.html

    http://louromano.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/more-incredibles.html

    The point is that in an animation universe, the world of Pellucidar really needn't be a quest for Lekti to depict a realistic digitally-painted palm tree, but rather an opportunity to create a striking, never-before-seen world.

    More generally, watch your spelling; there are a number of mistakes and/or typos in your OGR - another pass of proof-reading is always good before you publish. Stops people making snap-judgements about you etc.

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  3. Thanks Phil, changing perspective in that way never occurred to me. I also agree with you on the depicting persons part.

    I think the problem i was having is my mind got stuck trying to realistic, when perhaps i should be going for a more "FANTASTICAL" approach like you said.

    What you have said has 'unlocked' the door for me in a way, so thanks again!

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