Space & Environments

Secret Lairs: Initial Research

Jake Bryant

Project Introduction

Production Designers are major heads of department on film crews, and are responsible for the entire Art Department. They play a crucial role in helping Directors to achieve the film's visual requirements. The look of a set or location is vital in drawing the audience into the story, and is an essential element in making a film convincing and evocative. A great deal of work and imagination goes into constructing an appropriate backdrop to any story. (Skillset, 2010) Producer David O. Selznick originated the role of production designer for William Cameron Menzies in recognition of his work for Gone with the Wind (1939). Production designers are challenged to identify a unifying visual concept that crystallizes the visual identity of the film. Mise-en-scne is a French term and originates in the theatre, and refers to the composition of the shot, including framing, camera placement, lighting, set design, and props. Mise-en-scne can be defined as the articulation of cinematic space. From Ken Adams franchise-defining volcano lair in You Only Live Twice (1967) to Roy Walkers agoraphobic interiors of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubricks The Shining (1980), it is the places, spaces and things in a film that are as communicative of story as the characters they encompass. Production designers are storytellers too. The importance of production design is central to originating memorable CGI. Using Autodesk Maya and associated software you are required to investigate ways in which environment can be represented through the design, development and production of an original digital set. In response to the two design components allocated to you at time of briefing you are asked to design the secret lair for a key character in a new CGI animation. You are asked to produce a single rendered image of a digital set derived from original concept art. Production design for your characters secret lair and associated hero prop1 should demonstrate clearly your understanding of the principles of production design and the ways in which environments may derive and communicate their visual concept through careful consideration of the Mise-enscne. Your digital set can incorporate matte paintings2 if and where appropriate. Aspect ratio for final scene should be 16:9 (HD 1920 X 1080).

Understanding my Character and Environment

Beginning to understand what type of person my character is one of the first steps to map out during my initial ideas process. This will benefit me by producing ideas which can help reflect his/her personality through the design of their habitat, and make the environment linkable to an Aztec Dictator.

The Aztecs
The Aztecs inhabited Mexico in the 16th Century. The Aztec people were led by their Lord Montezuma, who ruled over their rich and huge empire. Their capital was Tenochtitlan which was a huge city where most of its neighboring cities were part of the Aztec Empire. The Empire eventually expanded, conquering new lands to support their growing population. The Aztecs were a very religious race and strongly believed in the practice of sacrificing people to please the gods. They sacrificed over 20,000 people a year. The Aztec Empire always wanted to make the sacrificial temples better than any other worldwide. Instead of removing the old temples, architects and engineers would build over the top of them. This would create larger, more extravagant and more pleasing appearances with each new layer that would be constructed. These temples would also include more steps, decorations and have a larger sacrificial area which would be more important. Priests were highly respected figures within their culture, and it was their advice that influenced the leaders to conquer other settlements to keep their gods happy with blood offerings. The Aztec rulers built up their wealth as they conquered more lands, and by the time the Spaniards arrived during 1519, the Aztec king lived in a magnificent treasure house of gold which acted as his palace and wore fine clothes and jewelry. No one was given permission to look the king in the face, and everybody had to approach him barefoot as a sign of respect. The empire was completely destroyed by the Spanish during their arrival in 1519. Their empire was conquered by Hernando Cortez, with only a few hundred men from overseas. The Aztec has mistakenly believed Cortez to be messengers from their gods, where they seized the huge city of Tenochtitlan which is now Mexico City.

As the Aztec population grew, there was a larger need for food. To solve the problem, Aztecs creating floating gardens which were a series of rafts that were anchored to lakebeds. Vegetations and reeds were piled on top of each raft along with dirt which then acted as fertile allotments. These also acted as walkways that connected to the capital of Tenochtitlan. The homes of nobles were made of sun-dried bricks, and sometimes even stone if the owners were wealthy enough. All these homes were whitewashed to make them appear clean. Each house would also have separate bathing room as this was a huge part of their culture as it was believed that bathing cleaned both the body and the soul of sins. Upper class people wore clothing that was decorated with feathers and embroidery to show their higher status. Some clothing also included the decoration of stones, gems or feathers. Aztec Emperors palaces were always very large and complex for a home, especially for a royals palace. It usually consisted of two floors, and had a very large courtyard. Their palaces were decorated very well, being covered with paintings and gold carvings and panels that resembled their culture. Within an Emperors home, there would be 4 main rooms; a reception, personal apartment, a main chamber, and a tribute room, all of which would all be used for different purposes. The reception would be used as a greeting area, and his personal apartment would be his personal space. The main chamber was a large room that acted as a political room where news would be shared with the king or gifts would be exchanged. The last room would be used for a tribute room to store any gifts that would be given, but usually this would not be able to hold all of them as there was never enough room.

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Dictator
A dictator is a ruler, who assumes absolute power with or without military control, that hasnt officially been sanctioned by heritage. A dictator runs a dictatorship which is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual. A dictator is also someone who holds and abuses an extraordinary amount of power that has the authority to create laws without effective restraint. To understand the power and influence that my character would have that could be presented through his personal environment, I have noted the main dictators who affected the events of history causing mass tyranny. I have included the most notorious dictators who had various worldwide effects. Benito Mussolini (1922-1943) Notable for the creation of the Fascist Party Mussolini was the founder of Fascism and was the leader of Italy. His reign was between 1922 and 1943. Mussolini had allied Nazi Germany and Japan during World War II in 1939. He had set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power after falling into political chaos. The regime was held together by strong state control and Mussolini's cult of personality. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government, and later shot after fleeing to Switzerland during 1945. Joseph Stalin (1924-1953) Notable for Revolutionary Regime Stalin was the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for a quarter of a century one, and is one of the most powerful, murderous dictators in history. His rule of terror had caused both death and suffering to millions of people. Stalin created the Gulag system of slave labour camps where he exiled many members of the Constitutional Democratic Party, and members of the Red Army. This lead to his downfall as he was ill prepared for Hitlers attacks during 1941. Stalin recovered and then led his country to victory with enormous human cost; however this was not a consideration for him. Adolf Hitler (1933-1945) Notable for the Jewish Holocaust and WWII Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party in Germany and became the German Chancellor from 1933-45. Hitler was the key figure in the founding of the founding of Nazism, WWII, and the Holocaust. Hitler gained popularity by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting anticommunist ideas and distributing Nazi propaganda. Being appointed chancellor allowed him to transform the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, with became a single dictatorship party based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideas of Nazism. He directed the rearmament of Germany and invaded Poland which led to the outbreak of WWII throughout Europe. Hitlers supremacist and racially motivated policies resulted in the murder of 11 million people including the estimated Jews during the Holocaust, and the deaths of between 50 and 70 million people in WWII.
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Mao Tse-Tung (1945-1976) Notable for Revolutionary Regime Mao Tse-Tung was a Chinese communist leader who was the founder of the People's Republic of China. Mao was responsible for the catastrophic policies of the 'Great Leap Forward' and the 'Cultural Revolution'. Tse-Tung launched an attempted Chinese form of communism during 1958, which was known as the Great Leap Forward. This aimed at mass mobilisation of labour to improve agricultural and industrial production. The result ended up leading to massive decline in agricultural output which, together with poor harvests, led to famine, and caused millions of deaths. In an attempt to re-assert his authority, Moa launched the Cultural Revolution 8 years later in 1966 aiming to purge the country of impure elements and regain the revolutionary spirit. This led to One and a half million deaths, and the loss of most of the countrys cultural heritage. Saddam Hussein (1969-2003) Notable for the Iran/Iraq War and the Kurdish Genocide Hussein was appointed the President of Iraq in 1979, and led the revolutionary Arab Socialist Baath party which adopted a mix of nationalism and socialism. Saddam helped to bring the party to long term power in Iraq in 1968. Hussein also led the Kurdish Genocide which resulted in the destruction of 4,500 villages and the massacre of civilian populations in 1986. During 1990 he

ordered the invasion of Kuwait, and was condemned for the brutality of his dictatorship. Hussein was captured in 2003 and was tried and convicted with a sentence of death that was carried out 3 years later.

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Bibliography
References; Accessed Online on 30/10/2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mussolini_benito.shtml - www page Accessed Online on 30/10/2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stalin_joseph.shtml - www page Accessed Online on 30/10/2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/adolf_hitler - www page Accessed Online on 30/10/2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mao_zedong.shtml - www page Accessed Online on 31/10/2012 http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/aztec.htm - www page Accessed Online on 31/10/2012 http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-civilization.html - www page Images; Figure 1: http://www.hellomagazine.com/imagenes//travel/200911302498/montezuma/exhibition/lond on/0-4-523/4523-z.jpg Figure 2: http://theredlist.fr/media/database/architecture/history/architecture-precolombienne/azteques/tenochtitlan/003_tenochtitlan_theredlist.jpg Figure 3: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02_04/hitlerDM2702_468x410.jpg Figure 4: http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120926203713/liberapedia/images/a/af/Mao.jpeg Figure 5: http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/tmp_assets/stalin-bio.jpg