Invisible Cities; Online Green-light Review (OGR)
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'Off The Record' Note:
I only achieved half
of the OGR Thumbnail target.
This is a problem.
I could put this down to time management, and I'd be lying
if I were to say that it had nothing to do with my under-achievement here, and
I could have achieved more if I'd just spent more time thumb nailing.
That
being said, it's not the case that I didn't spend enough time on this to
complete 100 thumbnails. Despite only achieving half of the target, I
spent far, far more than twice as long as I should have on many of these
drawings.
Despite addressing it in an earlier post, I'm still finding it
extremely difficult to let go of my obsession with becoming too focused and not moving on. I honestly find the
constant shifting of momentum mentally exhausting, as if I'm riding a bicycle
and every time I build up to a comfortable cruising speed I have to pull the breaks,
loose all my momentum, turn around, and start accelerating the other way.
This is not an excuse; I
know that visual brainstorming and thumb-nailing skills are a vital part of the
creative process and the industry, so it's something I'm going to have to
improve at, whether I like it or not.
Despite all this, I'm not pessimistic about the rest of the
project moving forward. I have listened to all of the cities, despite not reaching
all of them, and I still believe that Baucis would most likely have been my
final choice.
Baucis, as a city, genuinely excites me. I've got a lot of fantastical
mental imagery I want to get down on paper, and I'll likely perform a lot
better now that don't have to haul my focus in a completely different direction
every other hour.
OGR 05/10/2018
ReplyDeleteHey Tom,
So Baucis - I really like the idea of the 'moving city' and the way you've linked that to the idea of its inhabitants. This makes sense to me. In terms of your 'grayscale' decision, I'd keep that under-review and interrogate it accordingly: sometimes students go for grayscale because they're nervous about bringing in colour - as colour represents a further level of conceptualisation and technical proficiency. That said, there is little doubting the strong rather ominous impact of your key Baucis thumbnails (though I note you've otherwise swerved colour in all your other thumbnails too). I guess what I'm saying is be prepared to challenge yourself if your decision to keep it monochrome associates with a negative fear of colour, as opposed to a positive design decision.
There is something a bit creepy in the idea of a city of watchers - a sort of surveillance state above the clouds - perhaps Baucis might speak to Orwellian fears of scrutiny and a nameless political/corporate entity? If so, your subdued palette might indeed be an appropriate design decision. I'm reminded of Bentham's concept of the panopticon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
Just in 'architectural terms' - I wonder if you might consider an ideation workflow wherein you seek to derive your architectural forms comprising Baucis from objects/components we associate with surveillance - in common with your Summer Project, in which real-world objects are used as starting points for otherwise invented elements: for example:
https://www.camtechsurveillance.com/ltsplseipsuc.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-circuit_television_camera#/media/File:CCTV_Cameras.png
https://www.123rf.com/photo_10826157_group-old-cameras-on-white-background-.html
I think, technically, the challenge of your master shot would be to commit to showing Baucis - as opposed to 'not showing' it - so as much as I love the image of that single leg reaching up into the mist, I suggest it buys you out of what is interesting/challenging about your establishing shot.
In terms of your 'low angle' and 'interior', you've got real opportunities here to further express how we are supposed to feel about this city predicated on 'watching us' - obvious choices for that interior might be some kind of 'control room' of mass surveillance or the observatory, or perhaps, in Baucis, we find the answer to all those apparent cases of 'alien abduction' - not aliens after all, but the citizens of Baucis, collecting specimens from the surface and studying them in labs or great museums... I'm suddenly reminded of this scene from James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein:
https://youtu.be/K7AKLKQqfj4
I guess your own thumbnails are pushing me towards a rather sinister interpretation of the motives of the citizens of Baucis: arguably they could be 'benign Gods' looking out for us - more parental than menacing, a bit like the alien in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951): https://youtu.be/ASsNtti1XZs
So - short version: walking surveillance city - lovely idea, which depending on their motives might need suit a rather dystopian greyscale art direction - but should you decide differently - that Baucis is benign, then I think you'll need to think about the appropriateness of your noir-ish approach.
So you didn't complete all the thumbnails - yes, Tom, you need to more faster and operate with greater fluidity and freedom. You're obviously a thinker - a thoughtful student who can connect the dots; this is a strength, but letting go and deriving creative pleasure from 'doing and moving on' are amongst your project goals now.
Thank you for the detailed feedback Phil!
DeleteI love the idea of Baucis as a somewhat sinister surveyor of people or animals. The feeling that it could approach as a great shadow over a peaceful ecosystem and just sit there, creepily looking down until it moves along.
Or perhaps as the Capital City of an oppressive Orwellian Regime that roams around intimidating and keeping tabs on it's citizens living in smaller settlements.
If I have time, I might write a short background story about the purpose of Baucis and its inhabitants, and I'll certainly take a look at the material you've suggested!