Unit 1 visual recording

My Saul bass research

Scouring the net i have found these 6 inspired saul bass themed movie posters.

As you can see the overall them/style judging from the lines, shapes and tone its very simplistic and to the point giving clear understanding which was always one of saul bass's goals. 

Here i have attempted my own saul bass inspired movie posters by looking at the previous research of secondary resources of saul bass movie posters, and tried to capture the retro-minamilist style you see below.

Font research

A collection of letters designed as a saul bass inspired typeface, looking over various type faces across the net that fit the saul bass theme, i have created my own version of a handmade/cut out typeface (which spells out napoleon dynamite)

Animated title sequence

Napoleon dynamite

Moodboards

These food products appear alot within the napoleon dynamite film although some may not appear as often as others they hold some attachment to an iconic/memorable scene in the film. 

Colours here are the main collection derived from the main characters themselves more than anything, so for instance the brown would associate to napoleons brown suit in the prom. this helps me give an overall colour scheme to follow when creating my finished title sequence.

Again more iconic items that stand out among others within the film, the objects themselves gives me stuff to work with for shapes to create within flash.

Below ive compiled a variety of areas/surroundings of which the majority of the is film is situated and shot, also giving me ideas on what sort of scenery/background i can use for sequence.

Initial development of ideas

Mind map + Y chart

Thumbnail sketches

Although this collection of images shares no relevance with napoleon dynamite it still helped give me and idea on how to look at objects and apply visual metaphors to them to create something new e.g character, setting, enemy.

Development of initial ideas

for each of the images below i took an iconic item/object (from my mind map of ideas) and initially drew a rather detailed sketch of each chosen object. i then proceeded to work on simplifying each sketch to its basic shapes, helping me to get an idea of how to work with them in flash animation.

Tina the llama

Debs camera

Napoleon's (famous) brown suit

steak (everyone was eating it)

Swing ball (one of napoleons skills)

Napoleon's choice of refreshment

Storyboards

Initial draft

Final draft

Unit 3 art of the game

Task one - Gothic poster

Chosen game : Little big planet

Research

Artist : Harry clarke

for me horror is in the simple things, where it leaves the imagination to do most of the work and i found harry clarkes use of negative space to quite efective in adding that sense of mystery almost closed off environment by having that small patch of or pillar of white in the back surrounded by black like, giving a almost claustrophobic feel.

Artist : Tim burton

going for little big planet and the task of "gothifying" it i looked up art pieces produced by tim burton who seems to always try to capture a childlike object/scene and adds a dark tone by using simple colours usually only black and white and if there is colour it is dulled down, without vibrance "absence of life", also with imagery used e.g here we have withered away trees and blackened eyes giving that sense of weakness or being vulnerable to everything around.

Development sketches

Final product

In the final development of the gothic poster i decided to lean towards more the retro minimalist art style or known as saul bass because of its clear and simple qualities, plus the absence of detail and minimal colours can add quite a dark almost scary feel because of the details are unknown to us and lets our imaginations run.

Task two - Redesign a popular game character

Chosen character: Altair lbn-La'Ahad

Research

Movement: Cubism

i find out of all the artistic movements out there cubism could relate quite closely to the assassin creed style e.g environment of the old religious cities and general placement in history. Relating by the use of abstract shapes and colours, for example the architecture of old was poorly built and was almost always shown to have bends and curves, like the building had been warped slightly appealing to the nature of cubism. 

juan gris "violin and glass"

here the example is of the use of colour and how it radiates with warmth with hot colours e.g reds, oranges and assasins creed chosen environment fits this description, with the orange golden sand that surrounded.

can also so pair the use of red with the royalty banners that would usually line the streets and of course as a highlight the main antagonist "altair".

 george braque "violin and pitcher"

The example here is to show the clear cut abstract shapes which back then can relate to the quirky buildings of old within the assassins creed environment, abstract in the way that they seemed to be warped or slightly twisted from years of weathering and bad maintenance  why all the abstract buildings were mainly situated in the poorer districts.

Movement: Futurism

Natalia sergneeva "The cyclist"

developing on from the cubist art movement futurism can relate to the character in the way how each painting has an "energy" or movement to it, matching the fast paced aspect of altair in the game.

luigi rossolo "The revolt"

with this image, mainly looked at how other artists have layed out or structured buildings within their work for simple inspiration in how i could possibly apply a background of structures behind the main subject of altair in front.

Development sketches

Final product

Task three-develop an original game character

Research

Development sketches

Final product

Task four-develop an original game level

Research

Development sketches

Final product

Task five-develop an original game environment

Chosen game environment: underwater city

Research

 Artist : scott sinclair

this city environment is taken from the game bioshock an underwater city deep below the surface, from a glance would look like a city above ground, but with the additions like that murky blur and the light beams shining through the water plus the skybridges/tunnels are key factors in trying to achieve a city view  that appears to be underwater.

Artist : Jason decaires taylor

these images are of underwater sculptures produced by the artist jason taylor, these humanoid statues stood out to me because i thought on a mass scale would make a great underwater city basis by having the human structure as like a form of temple because for a start an underwater city is a unique concept so the idea of a giant underwater human statue signifies that independence from the rest.

Artist : phuan quoc

From the vintage style of rapture in bioshock i decided to look for a more futuristic feel in city design, in this example this is very much a cyber punk inspired environment  i think (in my opinion) that a futuristic look suits an underwater city much much more than a vintage style because it makes it more believable for you can see they would have the technology to even create and support this underwater structure. also having a look at underwater transportation being inspired by oceanic animals e.g whales, also adding to the underwater feel and that sense of adaptation which is a natural human instinct.

Development sketches

Final product