UNIVERSITY OF THE CREATIVE ARTS ROCHESTER - CG ARTS AND ANIMATION

Unit 2: Space
Interim Online Review
David John Vandepeer (Stitch) 11/7/2011

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Contents
The Neverending Source Material................................................................................ 3

The Neverending Short Statement............................................................................... 5

The Neverending Scene Breakdowns........................................................................... 6

The Neverending Production Design Influence Map..................................................... 7

The Neverending Scene Influence Maps....................................................................... 8

The Neverending Key Thumbnails................................................................................ 9

The Neverending Introduction to the Unit 2 Written Assignment................................. 10

The Neverending Creative Partnership......................................................................... 11

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Source Material

A world of dreams have been talked about by many in numerous contexts bending realms beyond the real and in some cases the surreal. It is an inner child-like pursuit for one to live their hearts desires, as we get older the embers fade but when we are confronted with children we see it anew, invigorating us, inspiring us. This is the case for my creative project based on the late Michael Endes novel The Never Ending Story. Michael Ende was born in 1929 in Germany on the birth of the Nazis regime. Michael was called to war in 1945 at the tender age of 16 but absconded to join an activist group. When the war ended Michael became an actor which led to his role as a critic and eventually into the field of fictional writing. Michaels first success was the childrens book Jim Knopf und

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Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer loosely translated as Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine-driver. Michael received great appraisal for his various works but remained modest, reluctant almost, with one eye affixed to the world of reality with the other deadlocked in fantasyland, half in and half out of his next masterpiece. The Never Ending story is about a young podgy boy named Bastion who comes across a book entitled The Never Ending Story. Bastion eventually gets absorbed into the book when he discovers that he is the one who has to help the boy warrior Atreyu save Fantastica from the dreaded Nothing. For Bastion to return to his world he has to find his true Identity in the real world. The Never Ending story was written to bring about the inner child in adults as opposed to inspiring young children. Ende loathed the idea of his works being categorised for a young audience as opposed to adults, for he felt his stories could appease the child mannerisms of adults such as his own. The Never ending story is rather tame in its pursuit for a mature audience, being told with such clarity and imaginative depth all while avoiding the grotesque and evil epitome. Blood is not spilled it is merely mired in a pure picturesque controversy, almost as if the story is running away with itself. One could argue that Endes innocent analogy of Fantasy is what relegated his works to the younger demographic. Ende was visiting Japan in 1977 - 1979 noting that in 1979 the book - never ending story was released. One could argue that the Japanese culture had inspired this novel allowing Ende to incorporate his analogy of reality with his own brand of dream like escapism. One could assume that Endes need to be half in and out of reality was a way to escape, growing up & being faced with a war could not have been easy to comprehend. Endes escape from the front lines is what saved him; he therefore believed that escaping reality could save him. Dreams are important especially in a time of severe crisis, like a world war. While nothing can compare to the original classic a number of adaptions were made in light of The Never Ending Story, the adaptions are as follows: The Neverending story I, The Neverending story II & the Neverending story III were adapted into films receiving mixed successes but nothing as acclaimed as the original novel. The Tales of the Neverending story & a Neverending story cartoon were adapted onto television with less public attraction then that of the films. Auryn Quest, The NES Palace, The Never Ending Story were a few of many game adaptions made by Japanese games developers. The Original novel was illustrated by Roswitha Quadflieg which included the Never Ending story cover & chapter art. Johann Kott, Herbert Strabel & Gtz Weidner handled the art direction for the film adaption of the Never Ending story trilogy.

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Short Statement
The first thought one derives from Endes novel is child fantasy, it does not matter how he loathed being categorised in this fashion but merely that this is what his work conveyed. It is my belief that he meant his story to be related to an adult audience and for that to happen one would have to embrace an almost slight edge of Sinicism. I would like to explore, without pushing the boundaries past a Childs appetite but wetting the beak of the adolescent to fulfil a much wider demographic. My designs will spring with beauty but maintain some influence of imperfection (aka reality), this may be done with a single object (e.g. a muddy footprint on the foreground revealing a majestic city in the distance). My concepts will be half in and half out of realty just like Endes writing which I will break down as follows: The Sinicism will influence the realism I believe that Ende preferred fantasy to reality when writing the Never Ending Story, I know that anything lower than the limit of ones imagination is less majestic & more imperfect. The Beauty will influence the dream, the wonder, the perfection of imagination. Ende preferred surrealism (as do I) for the simplest reason - anything is possible. Placing something normal next to something perfect lowers the plateau bringing imagination that much closer to reality. For these productions I will be primarily analysing Disneys Epic Mickey for interesting production design namely for the combination of perfection & imperfection. This direction will be a fresh experience allowing me to explore child like surrealism (i.e. slanting chimneys & exaggerated caricature style buildings that exhibit traits of realism).

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Chosen Scene Breakdowns

For my creative project into the concept of space will analyse The Silver City of Amarganth from chapter XVI, the Desert of Colours from Chapter XIV & The Ivory Tower from Chapter I. I believe these to be effective ideas for final digital paintings.

Below is my visual breakdown of each of my 3 scenes. These breakdowns provide me with key visual requirements. I may not be able to implement every requirement but I believe I can achieve most of the Scene visuals from the narrative of the late and great Michael Ende.

My chosen style will be fun, quirky, something that can appease both adults and children immersing them in a fun & vibrant experience. I want my work to be esque, surreal with elements of the real.

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Production Design Influence Map

For my production design I will be analysing the Disney franchise very closely, leaning toward their recent and surreal Epic Mickey games concept directed by Warren Spector.

As you can see (above), the art is particularly gritty & very surreal. The very idea of a structure perched on top of a very thin pillar feels perilous. Despite the darkness the concepts jump out and engulf the viewer due to the wide range of colour & imagination.

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Scene Influence Maps

Below this are my individual scene maps, I decided to combine them to create what I will call A Supa Map. This map identifies the inspiration for each of my individual scenes.

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Key Thumbnails
My Key thumbnails (shown below) are broken into specific film strips. I began with sketchbook miniatures and then decided to venture into digital thumbnailing. The curving buildings are directly referenced to Spectators Epic Mickey caricature buildings.

The Silver City Thumbnail number 8 started my deep influence of the surreal. I wanted to illustrate awkward structure which I refined in Thumbnail 21. Thumbnail 12 was a more fun look into surreal structure with a characteristic castle feel. I wanted to pool my silver city together which gave birth to Thumb 18. Thumbnail 29 and 15 were pure acts of inspired symmetry, nice but not Disney. The Ivory tower began to flow from thumbnail number 5 which although primitive isolated a surreal structure. This image inspired Thumb 25 and 24 which are almost walking structures. Thumb 23 was born from thumb 11 showing the fun & beauty of perspective curvature, I couldnt help but imagine the ivory tower being a twisting staircase that leads to a single building. The desert of colours was rather simplistic but made me realise that any true definition of an isolated desert would have to be colour & detail heavy to attain a required level of feeling. The colour depth is almost hallucinogenic but it really does capture the eye.

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Introduction to Unit 2 Written Assignment

This essay will study the production design of Director Stanley Kubricks sinister rendition of Stephen Kings mind melee The Shining (1980), which is based on the unravelled psyche of the criminally insane. The subject of production design will be analysed using Norman Kagans book The cinema of Stanley Kubrick. The analogy of the set design will be assessed in regard to Kubricks vision of Jack Torrances degrading mental state ranging from implosive to explosive violent tendencies. Documented research will include Jane Barnwells book Production Design: architects of the screen which will analyse the practice of Iconic set design with expressionistic case studies; Harry Baileys website The Kubrick Corner will be used to explore Kubricks various Aesthetics and visual Theorys; to finalise this study will examine an article by Ryan Lambie entitled Iconic set design: The Shining's Overlook Hotel which will provide specific detail on the Hotels mesmerising visual importance with regard to its bearing on Kubricks story.

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Creative Partnership (WIP)

25/10/2011 - jojo610 said... Hellos!! Joey here, hope you're having a good holiday! I am your creative partner for the Unit 2 Space project so when you're back I can help you out with the low downs and we shall begin with the awesomeness of work!! :P 02/11/2011 - jojo610 said... Hey Stitch, That is one scary taskboard you've got there!!! I've changed my taskboard similar to yours as it looks way better than my old one and am trying to get used to this routine since my last one didn't quite work out well. The Never Ending story is such a good one, haven't read the book but watched the film before. It quite links to The Spiderwick Chronicles, Narnia, The dark crystal, Labyrinth and The seeker: The Dark is Rising because of the weird fantasy style so they're worth checking out. Hope they help!! :D Looking forward to see your first thumbnails!! 06/11/2011 - jojo610 said... Hey Stitch, Thanks for your helpful feedback and advice, got all the changes made especially Stars Ward!! whoops!! haha I really like your 2 mins ones, especially the third one on the top row, very well proportioned. The butt and the legs are improving as well but Keep it up!! I see what you mean about the negative space thingy, but as what Chris says to me drawing faint measurement lines is a common way of approaching this but do try and draw without them. Oh and try to avoid joining lines in between shapes like your 4th pic where she's sitting on a chair. Apart from all that, its all looking really good!!! :D 06/11/2011 - jojo610 said... Hey Stitch, I really like your approach of Disny- surreal twist as your influences, makes it more exciting to see your thumbnails!! Speaking of Disney twists, Kingdom hearts also contains stuff of what you're aiming for. A lot of its world areas contain a light and dark twist in them. Here are some examples:

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Radiant garden: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Radiant_Garden hollow bastion: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-02/kh-hollow-bastion.html the world that never was: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-02/kh2-world-that-never-was.html Realm of darkness: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Realm_of_Darkness Land of departure: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Land_of_Departure Castle oblivion: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/index.php?title=Castle_Oblivion&image=CO-jpg Sorry its kinda a long list, but I hope these help towards your final images! Can't wait to see your thumbnails!! XD

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