Something is coming...

Thanks to the guys at Turneshoe Productions I can show this teaser pic for a project Im working on with them which will be completed and entered into a competition in the next few months. Stay tuned...

Top 5 of 2011

A late post recently yet again but here is my Top 5 film of 2011;

5. I Saw the Devil
- a strong, strong movie from the director of my favourite Korean movie A Bittersweet Life.

4. TT3D: Closer to the Edge
- inspiring and down right crazy documentary on the Isle of Mann TT race.

3. Red State
- great to see Kevin Smith right back on track with a very cool film.

2. Drive
- blogged about it before and can't wait for its DVD release.

1. Super 8
- Goonies meets Close Encounters. Nostalgia trip to the max. LOVE IT.

Special honourary mention:
I thought of having this as a joint 5 but I'll add it here. Anyone who hasn't seen this must check it out immediately. Mel Gibson's The Beaver was just great. Dissregard anything he's done. He knows this character.

Enjoyos!

[pruh-mee-thee-uhs]

Prometheus in greek mythology was a Titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals. For this outrage, Zeus had him tied to a rock while an eagle ate his liver for the rest of eternity...

If this wasn't enough of an epic prologue to the name Prometheus, than the trailer for Ridley Scott's possibly-is-possibly-isn't-precursor-to-Alien should be the tipping point. This film is going to be great.



Now Empire magazine has already dissected this trailer and a number of youtube vids have followed suit so I'm not going to repeat what is already offered. Instead my take on this is from the angle that I originally intended this blog to be about; design.

So let's get straight into it:
STYLE:
It's debatable whether you would design a films aesthetic looks to be an obvious reference to a previous film in a series because it has to actually fit this existing world or whether you are taking the nostalgic route for a specific fanbase. Needless to say the entire trailer has the same feel and look to it as the Alien trailer and feature did back in 1979. It's more than likely that the designers Giger, Ron Cobb, Moebius and Chris Foss to name a fiew have not worked on this film but the many artists from David Vyle Levy to Ben Procter can be trusted to bring this familiar world back in a great way. Besides, with Ridleys background being in design, it would be fair to say if he had all the time in the world he could take on all design roles himself if he wanted to. Looks great so far Ridley...

SPACE:
We see space and if it makes sence to readers this looks like 1970s space. This is a quiet place. It's not hightened by fast paced Star Wars prequel action scenes or mad cap explosions. This looks like it resembles the sci-fi we loved from the late 70s when 12 foot miniatures would silently loom past the camera into an endless star covered canvas.

VEHICLES:
Again a feeling we have come straight off the Nostromo and found some similar craft. These ships including the trucks have the bulky quality as previously seen. In particular, the trucks and machinery is more likely to remind people of the military feeling James Cameron went for with his sequel. Looks cool all the same in particular the use of the Weyland logo (the evil corporation with sinister plans in all the Alien films)...

LANDSCAPE:
The terrain and atmosphere has been compared to LV-426 the original Alien planet. Certain shots do bare resemblances to this but Im not sure about one of the more sandy backdrops where a vehicle heads back to a landing ship. All the same these environments look like great locations for some great action pieces as we see later in the trailer.


As my next post will mention I loved Super8 this year and that was suited to my nostalgic sensibilities as does this trailer. Plus it's Ridley Scott back where he first broke out.
Can't wait...

Movie news to end the year

So as I previously commented, my blogs have become rather lack-luster.

But I have decided, after quite an exciting evening of web viewing, to write about my viewings of today.

There is nothing better than the excitement and anticipation for future releases and events and while this year has certainly given us some promising titles to remember 2011 by (I opened my blog with a lengthy appreciation for Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive), I can't help look toward to 2012 and two genuine epics. Firstly;


THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Anyone excited about this release and is following even basic reports of the films production will be aware of the prologue that is at the beginning of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. A 6 minute segment that introduces Bane to Christopher Nolan's Gotham City world featuring an elaborate plane sequence which is pretty cool to put it bluntly. Then later tonight this comes across the youtube channels; Trailer number 1!

To say it looks good would be an understatement and while it may not have the supreme hype that The Dark Knight did (I just rewatched this myself and remembered just how exciting it was. I watched this like 30 or 40 times), it still packs an exciting punch. Shame it lacks that punchy soundtrack and sinister voiceover but Bane still has what seems the best line at the end of the trailer.

Finally just as I was looking to bring my evening to a close, I fell upon an acquaitance's post that had me REALLY excited...

PROMETHEUS

This film is easily my favourite hyped movie for next year! For now I can't elaborate on a lot of the film as we need a trailer. Alas that will arrive thursday all thanks to this video. WOWZERS!!! Ridley Scott back in his old sandbox and it looks like he knows what he's doing. I love nostalgia, I really like the first two Alien films and I really like the look of this film! Thursday I'd like to post an indepth piece on what I truely hope will be the most exciting 3 minute advert this year!

Speak soon friends

First of many...

OK so this is more than likely the first of many apology posts in which I say sorry to the minimal people who read this. My updates have become fairly scarce recently and I know at least for this week it's not going to get any better as Im pretty busy.

Currently on a good turn as a storyboarding project Im working on is starting to look pretty cool as we progress further with it. Hopefully some more news later this week and also hope to get back to some design updates in the future.

I think a major discussion on a film again soon word be worth while as well as the end of year Top 5 Films of 2011 voted by... me.

So sorry again and speak soon I hope...

A few doodles

Hello all.
Quick update featuring these little black and white white sketches using various brushes to quickly create a design composition. Each took about 20mins and Im gonna do these as warm ups each day and store them away for a rainy day :)

They remind me of black ink on scratchboard sketches that I used to look at by Vincent Di Fate. Love his work as far as analogue artists go. If you get the chance, read his book as he also talks about his passion for film in particular the monster B-movies of the 50s and 60s.

Anyway catch up soon,

Hanging Sci-fi scene part 1

The notion of a hanging city has become more apparent to me within the concept art world over the last 5-10 years. Visually intriguing to say the least and Im sure one day, will appear as a key location in a film (if it hasn't already). Although Im sure it wasn't first seen here, I'd have to say the first time I became aware of the idea was of course the concept art knocked out for the Star Wars prequels.

Here's a brief backstory to the art:
Typically entitled 'BridgeWorld' many artists early on in the production were given a short brief; the clone wars will be seen in a handfull of planets that are new to the viewer. While the artists were given certain free reign over the subject, there were also key issues with each design. As these locations were brand new and were to be on screen for literally a matter of seconds the difficulty came with giving each location a specific design style/language that would be obvious to the viewer that they were seeing several different places. Among them were a giant plant-life planet, a crystal world and of course an upside down environment.

Enter Bridgeworld aka Cato Neimoidia.

So back on track, the other day I began to work on an environment design. My intention initially started with creating a large arching set of livable buildings that looked more like extreme bridges. I wanted a dusty washed out look and so started searching for dust cloud pictures as reference. As I messed about with them I inadvertantly flipped a picture vertically and low and behold saw the potential to create my own upside down world.

So with these next few posts I'll hopefully continue to show my thought process and work flow as I go through the design. What I have here to show you is the initial 45mins-hour of arranging things to a place where I feel a composition and story could be told. So here is my first step to my bridgeworld; my upside down planet; my Cloud City if you will. This is Hanging Sci-Fi Scene part 1...