Looking back at the three projects by the end of DP2, I have to admit, that, probably, Virtual Environments one was the most enjoyable in both execution and result. And that is fairly strange, considering my next years’ chosen pathway, which is Moving Image.
The whole
thing started a while back, when, at the beginning of the module, we were
introduced to the goal we will have to achieve in each pathway. Knowing the
briefs instantly made me think about what I wanted to make for all three of
them. Of course that did not last long, as we dived into our current projects.
However Virtual Environments never left my mind completely, as I expected it to
be the biggest challenge, because everything there was completely new to me. I
started picking up influences from the world around me and by the time it was
time to crack on working, I realized, that the picture was already there, all I
had to do is give it a shape.
The first
unnoticeable influence came from my gaming experience earlier this year as I
was playing the newest “Assassin’s Creed” game. The hero of that game, a
stealthy assassin, was a very appealing figure, not only because I followed his
life through all his installments, but also because of his character and how
well developed he really was. From that moment I knew that my Superhero would
not be an all powerful being, but a stealthy freedom fighter, who’s only
superpowers would be his will to survive and his irresistible charisma. Little
did I know that his made up personality would grow into a story with a fully
developed past and a complicated, but intriguing future.
Other things
kept building up and soon a side project I have been making for my girlfriend
turned to one of the main focuses in my Virtual Environment. The “sort of”
London Underground train I was building for her (yes, maybe building a train from
scratch for my first 3D model was a bit too ambitious, but the result turned
out to be pretty nice, so I guess that was a good call) got me into thinking
about the place I wanted my hero to be in. An abandoned underground station
came to mind as a great place for a stealthy character running from someone to
hide. I started researching the usual layout of service rooms that appear in an
ordinary underground, and it turned out that most of the service constructions
underground consist of 1 big room with whatever in it. This posed a challenge,
as our brief stated that we needed to create 4 rooms and to connect them in
some way. To keep things realistic, I tried working my way around one available
room and the idea of separating it with lights into, at least, 4 different
sections struck me. It felt like a goldmine, and after some experiments I stuck
with it. Creating environments in those sections caused quite a mix of
emotions. I was building an average hideout with some over the top things, like
5 big widescreen monitors, as every superhero should have, but it all felt very
basic and uninteresting, even thought I was very happy with the models
themselves. I started adding things like books and ashtrays to populate the area
when the whole image slid into place. Somehow, through these manipulations, my
hero started to develop his deeper personality. He became a smoker, thus
rendering him a stressed out person under a lot of pressure. I highlighted that
by turning one of the ashtrays upside down and adding a shattered texture to
one of the monitors, as if he threw it into the screen. Taking to the account
the characters position, his environment and his looks (I was working on them
too, that is how his armor and weapons got to the middle of the lair in the
first place. No guns, just swords) I added specific books to his place of
study. They were all strictly revolutionary or historical. That is how the
background of the story slowly formed.
Speaking of
a story, the last page to it was added through the characters appearance. His back
was covered in glowing tubes shaped as a double-sided letter “Q”. At first it
was just a decorative element, but as I started thinking about its practical
use, I realized it had a huge potential. It evolved into a logo and I placed it
around the environment as if stating that this was the official place of some
organization, adding a huge chunk to the story, which now looked like this:
“In
the future (in our future, for the character it is past) information is a
“weapon” which, by the people in power, is considered too dangerous. The once
mighty World Wide Web is gone, schools are being monitored and censored,
knowledge flow is reduced to minimum and learning anything beyond your assigned
duties is considered a highest offence and is punishable by death. Whole
nations were drawn into slavery, and those who escaped that fate are either
dead or brainwashed by the “flow”. Centuries have past in this state and there
is less hope with every year.”
The “flow” is the
liquid that passes through our hero’s body armor and weapons, and was created a
few hundred years ago by the company that used this symbol as its logo.
The
“flow” is an information storage device of a very high capacity. It also can
transfer information with incredible speeds, using liquids molecules. When this
system was invented it opened new possibilities. It could almost make people
“smarter” by increasing the storage capacity and the process speed of their
brain. It could also transfer commands to computers in objects with astonishing
speed, reducing reaction times, even in the melee weapons, practically uniting
the weapon and its user. This potential seemed either too dangerous or too
revolutionary to not to seize it. It fell into powerful and greedy hands. The
device was used to “brainwash” people into submission, basically replacing
their memories with the ones that have been created by the new masters,
overflowing the victims brain, until it cannot tell the difference between his
own memories and someone else’s. With this overflow of knowledge in certain
levels of hierarchy, the information flow to the whole planet was stopped,
basically putting people to slaves. The people of the organization that was
responsible for the “flow” were traced down and killed. Some of them escaped
this fate and established bunkers where they hid knowledge and the “flow” for
future generations to find. It seems that our hero found just that.
This was a huge idea, and I tried to place every single hint right where
it belonged to make this at least somewhat noticeable. As my tutors told me at
the end of my presentation – I succeeded. I think the whole project was a big
success, well, for me. I loved every single bit of it, and even though
sometimes I felt like I was going to break down, I came out empowered.
The video is at the top of the page and if you have already watched it
you can run through it again and try to spot all the hints that were there for
you.
Thank you and enjoy.
Ed.
