the FINAL SUBMISSION

1 x STRATEGY STATEMENT

With the creation of my Island, I wanted to explore ideas of the Picturesque in order to create a Sublime image. The notion of 'the Sublime' - "greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation" - was traditionally used to depict the natural world around us. I wanted to explore this in an expanded definition of 'the natural world' by applying it to ideas of space outside of the limits of the Earth.

The hiding of the letters and number combination was achieved using a minimal approach. The letters are initially hidden throughout the island using small blocks disguised amongst rubbish and other goods. The "grounded" nature of the numbers (hidden on the ground) is slowly replaced by a focus on the sky (the numbers hidden in the rocks, as well as the final image - the C shaped island with 4 free-floating bodies). This notion is further reinforced in the trailer, where the initial shots are of the landforms of the island, with the free floating nature emphasized as the trailer progresses.

5 x IMAGES OF DRAFT CRYENGINE ENVIRONMENTS

 1 x MOVIE TRAILER



The opening scene, featuring the collision of the two planets, was taken from the Lars von Trier 2011 film 'Melancholia'. 

The music is the opening 2 minutes of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde - Prelude. The links to the youtube videos from which these two were taken are as follows:

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-WNBsp15Bc

Music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktwPGCR7Yw



1 x FULLY DEVELOPED CRYENGINE 3 ENVIRONMENT

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fa077vvnd9b0yr2/BENV2423_z3329964.zip

the SUBLIMINAL

The hiding of the letter and number combination. I hid them as parts of the scenery, using mainly very obvious type fonts. 

I wanted the hiding to be very simple, and hidden amongst the junk of the various 'stations'. The "subliminal" aspects of the island are thus tied in strongly with the presence (and lack of presence) of humanity on the island. This would thus highlight the Sublime nature of the level, as the letter/number's hint at a human population now long gone.  

DRAFT SUBMISSION

1 x STRATEGY STATEMENT

see above 

5 x IMAGES OF DRAFT CRYENGINE 3 ENVIRONMENT

1 x 120 SECOND VIDEO TRAILER

http://youtu.be/IlPYqbNGwRs

COMMENTS ON LECTURE
I find it very interesting that the beginnings of exploration into 'the subliminal' were tied in with advertising and encouraging the masses to buy more than they nee.d 

the SUBLIME
  
Space is the final frontier. Greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation. 

Creating the Drama in the CryEngine editor: 
Creating a body floating in space is made more difficult by the fact that CryEngine uses skymaps to create atmospheres. These work perfectly well with normal levels, where the horizon is obscured by water or land. However, with a floating island, the difference between the skymap and the 512x512 land is very obvious: 

The only way to overcome this situation, was to use a black fog on both the bottom and the top of the game play. This hides the contrast between the top and the bottom. However, it also hides any  skymaps which might have been placed in, so the night sky with the stars is also hidden. Thus, this just leaves a plain black surrounding. 

The effect of 'being in space' was created by scattering floating rocks around the island, to make it appear to be in some sort of asteroid belt. This effect was heightened by adding cloud entities above and below the island (i.e. space dust).

 Olafur Elliason - THE WEATHER PROJECT
The drama of a large, elusive yellow ball is used in my island as a remnant and reminder of Earths collision with the rogue planet. The double-orb created by the Cryengine Editor as it tries to render an object so far away adds further drama to the scene.

The presence of a large floating orb obscured by fog.

Turner - FISHERMEN AT SEA 

To add to the sublime nature of the island, I used Turner's painting as a model for the level of contrast/saturation/gamma for my scene. I also wanted to portray what colour might look like in very thin atmosphere (as might be expected after a planet falls apart). 

Saturation and colour settings edited for a more sublime effect:

VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxJTwV1yFNw&feature=youtu.be

LECTURE COMMENTS 
I found it very interesting that the original definition of 'the Sublime' in art was strongly tied in with appreciation of nature and natural phenomenon. 

the PICTURESQUE

the PICTURESQUE
 
Images of the Picturesque as inspiration for a fantasy landscape:

Humpfrey Repton

River leading to a distant landscape

JMW Turner 

The oncoming path of destruction

Suzhou Gardens

Intricate play of rock and water

William Gilpin

Descending path between rocks

Claude Lorrain

A view of the horizon across water

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCZEM6t66o&feature=youtu.be

Lecture Reflection
I found the discussion on how the painters used middle and foreground to be very useful for when I came to thinking about how to layout my own island.