Wednesday 6 November 2013

Secret Lairs: OGR 1

2 comments:

  1. OGR 07/11/2013

    Hey Megan,

    Your Secret Lair sounds like a lot of fun to me - there's a comedic, parodic element to to your idea (and the combination of your 2 words) that opens up lots of production design possibilities. It's not completely clear to me what your master criminal actually 'does' or how his atomic-ness helps him - and this you might just want to identify; for example, if he became so horribly unstable because he was trying to perfect an Atomic Ray, with which to melt the world's landmarks unless a ransom is paid, when his experiment went wrong, then a) we have his criminality explained, b) we know why he's become an atomic bomb himself, and c) you have another idea for a hero-prop - his ray gun. This is just a suggestion, but it demonstrates how tightening up your ideas can give you more content and more direction.

    I really like the idea of your character having to sleep in a pod to stop himself exploding - in truth, this sounds more like hero prop than the bionic arm! Some ideas then in regard to production design ideas: this has a definite Bond movie feel, so I would absolutely look at the designs for the Bond sets by Ken Adam:

    http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/tag/ken-adam/

    I'd even suggest that there's something inherently 1950s/1960s about the idea of an 'atomic master-criminal' so you might want to think about going retro for your secret lair and embracing a particular era of design - so creating a kind of parody, the way Austin Powers is a parody of Bond. There was a particular style known as 'Atom Age Design', which was popular when 'the atom' was scene as symbol of hope and technology; for example:

    http://masspanicatomic.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/cafe.jpeg
    http://masspanicatomic.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/googiediner.jpg?w=497&h=421
    http://andrewsimpsonwhatisgoingon.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/build-space-age-theme-building-weeks-replication-challenge-plus-last-weeks-winners-w654.jpg

    What I like about your idea is the way that it feels a bit tongue-in-cheek and a bit 'The Incredibles' - and I'd encourage you go with that retro element - it gives you so much in terms design ideas, colour palettes and a certain boldness of form and shape. Check out these designs from a CGAA graduate for further inspiration:

    http://ethanclements.blogspot.co.uk

    I think a bold, strong and graphical approach to creating concept art and production art will really help you visualise your secret lair, Megan - so get stuck in. Your current thumbnails are already suggestive of the right sort of qualities - but go bigger and blockier - take a look at some late 50s/60s illustration to see what I mean :)

    http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/23/5a/55/235a5529ce0d84ef05014d5ef0efb683.jpg

    http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/lordalea/lordalea1205/lordalea120500042/13821418-black-and-orange-60s-furniture-collection.jpg

    I think you can have lots of fun with your secret lair...

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