Space and Environment OGR

She: A History Of Adventure Will Huntley

'She' is a Fantasy/Adventure novel written by Henry Rider Haggard, first published in 1887. The main plot of the book follows the adventure to a lost kingdom somewhere in Africa by the main character, Horace Holly, who is accompanied by a friend, Leo Vincey. On their journey they encounter a group of natives lead by a white queen, Ayesha, Otherwise known as 'She' or 'She-who-must-be-obeyed'. The author of the book, H.R. Haggard (22 June 1856 14 May 1925), was an English writer of mainly adventure novels including, King Solomon's Mines, Cleopatra and what is considered his most famous work, She. Haggard was also one of the founders of the Lost World genres. This literary genre is a sub genre of the fantasy or science fiction genre that revolves around the discovery of a new worlds. The book was said to have been inspired by Haggard's experiences of trips to South Africa and British colonialism. Links that were drawn from the character, Ayesha, is that the novel explored themes of female authority and feminine behaviour. She also used illustrations to help create a new world to the reader; the artist who created these images was E.K. Johnson. The first excerpt I was given shows Holly being shown an abandoned city left in ruins. The scene contains large structures such a temples and marble pillars and also a religious statue. Whereas the second excerpt given describes the group exploring many underground caves, tunnels and caverns, following warm, bright glowing lights.

Synopsis

The first scene I chose to base one of my digital paintings on is set inside the small tunnels and caves where the group are confronted by the bright fires and thunderous noises. My thumbnails below show thick columns of rock in various distances from the camera almost creating a maze of caves. After drawing the simple thumbnail I decided to expand this into a more detailed sketch. I added in shading in to show where the fire was coming from, in this case, the left of the scene. I also added a sharp cliff face to the scene to create some more sense of depth.

Book Excerpt Scene 1

The second scene I have chosen to use for my digital painting is set viewing the city left in ruins as it just comes into view. For my first thumbnail I tried to create a temple/palace to be the main focus of the image and also included the large stone columns that are mentioned throughout this chapter of the novel. I then wanted to create a more detailed interpretation of the scene. To do this I extended the temple/palace into some rocky mountains; this could be the entrance to the caves and tunnels. Furthermore, I added some trees to the scene, this was to help create a sense of scale.

Book Excerpt Scene 2

The third scene I have chosen to create is only mentioned in a small section of the excerpt I was given. The scene describes a "font of crystal water" inside of a huge cave. Although this set isn't described in high detail, it still gave me a lot of ideas to use for my thumbnails. I wanted to show a small platform only holding the font with just a stone bridge leading off from the platform. Along with this I created a "great central cave" in the background with various rocky hills and mounds, this all leading to the mouth of the cave where the bright light of day is shining through. Once again I added some trees into the scene to show the scale of the cave and increase the perspective.

Book Excerpt Scene 3

When reading the two extracts from She, two very different environments are conjured in my imagination. The first is outside looking upon the abandoned city. I imagined this scene to always be dressed in red/orange glow from the setting sun in a dessert, also making it seem like a mirage to a weary traveller. When drawing thumbnails for the ruined city, images of the Al Khazneh temple, seen in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, kept on occurring in my head. This then gave me the idea that the city was carved into the side of a mountain. The Indiana Jones trilogy gave me a lot of inspiration for my thumbnails due to the exploring of different worlds just like She. For example when I was designing the font cave platform, I was reminded of the Leap of Faith scene at the end of The Last Crusade in which Jones has to get past the illusion of the invisible bridge. Another film series that gave me inspiration for my scenes is The Lord Of The Rings. First of all, I wanted the thumbnails set in the caves to have a bright, sinister glow, so for this I looked at Minas Morgul; the home to the ring wraiths. This castle has very misty green tinges to its walls and spires which is similar to the look I want my caves and tunnels to have. Second, I looked at the Mirror Of Galadriel scene in the Fellowship Of The Ring. This helped me to understand how I was going to go about the lighting in my font cave scene. A game that helped me create my scenes is Limbo. This game is full of dark menacing landscapes with a very eerie feel. The way in which this game makes the whole surroundings around you seem eerie is something I want to be applied to my scenes set in the underground caves.

For my third scene I wanted the crystal water font to be presented on what looks like a floating rock platform. When I created this image I was immediately reminded of the floating Pandora mountains seen in James Cameron's Avatar. This the helped me to add to my scene such as the mountains being covered in a thick mist.

Visual Concept

Visual Concept Influence Map

In my influence maps I have included images that will be able to help me to understand the lighting of my scenes, for example, the cave images seen in the Scene 1 map shows light coming from many different angles and directions and the effect it has on the surrounding. In my maps, I also used images of textures and colours that I want to use in my scenes such as the rock carvings shown in the Scene 2 influence map. Furthermore, for each of the maps I have included three block colours that I hope to use and revolve that specific scene around. For example the blue in the Scene 3 map would represent the glow bouncing around the rocky cave in the landscape.

Although the majority of the key thumbnails are black and white, I think that theses best represent the landscape I want to produce in my scenes. The top three thumbnails show the scenes I want to create for my final digital paintings. Whereas the ones below show tone, perspective and colour ideas I may use in my larger scenes. For example, the thumbnail on the bottom right shows an idea of the blue glow I want in Scene 3 (top left). This glow could be from a crystal river or an alien substance but he viewer is not able to see where the colour is coming from. Both the images on the bottom in the middle are to help show a sense of scale, such as a small tree is shown in the background of the cave to give the audience an idea of how big the cave is. I have chosen to include a lot of rocky and mountainous surfaces in my scenes therefore I think it will be a challenge to achieve realistic shadows, tones and reflections in the scenes I am going to produce.

Key Thumbnails

Film Reviews Das Cabinet Des Dr.Caligari http://wahuntley.blogspot.co.uk/ 2013/09/das-cabinet-des-drcaligari-1920-film.html Metropolis http://wahuntley.blogspot.co.uk/ 2013/10/metropolis-1927-reviewfritz-lang.html

Avatar http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FakyimrdCyQ/TNYgZQEVFn I/AAAAAAAAAvY/aDZiErZnyvI/s1600/FloatingMount ainsFinal7-19-06.jpg Limbo http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Limbo_B ox_Art.jpg http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/igf/LIMBO/ screenshot.jpg The Lord Of The Rings http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100709111704/l otr/images/0/02/MinasMorgul.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWVAOur-k-Y/Thr1rThkiI/AAAAAAAAAgc/Xj-JVP8DKc/s1600/galadriel.jpg
Indiana Jones http://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/original/yp_516 6fc7244b5f9.05566571/Indiana-Jones-And-The-LastCrusade-Leap-of-Faith-1.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/PetraRay1.JPG http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3600000/Raid ers-of-the-Lost-Ark-indiana-jones-3678069-1280-720.jpg

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