B-Movies & SteamPunk

I've not posted in a little while, so here is a little update as to where I am at. After my meeting with Alan on Tuesday, I came away rather happy with the thought that I was now getting some where - on the right path if you will. My project had something missing from it, as Alan had put it, there is a line of Medusas out there already, for me to be successful I have to come at that line at an angle, bringing something else. This was really interesting, this something else could be anything, I could bring a time period in history and situate her in that period, an alternate reality type twist ; "What could have happened if there was some bad ass huge robot Medusa?"

B-Movies
The idea for B-Movies came to my head during this meeting. I asked Alan his opinions on it, and he seemed very keen for me to explore this further. One thing I did do, at Alans recommendation is watch 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' - I had never seen this before, but I actually enjoyed it. This film relates to my project quite a lot.

A Doctor Totenkopf has been out of contact for Thirty years, and scientists are going missing randomly. A scientist 'Dr. Jennings' fears that he is next and so approaches a reporter called Polly Perkins to help him out. She crosses paths with her ex boyfriend Sky Captain Joe Sutton, and through certain events they help each other uncover the truth behind the robot attacks that have been happening around the world (Joe Sutton's friend gets kidnapped too).
It turns out that Totenkopf has built a secret Labratory, way out in the mountains, where he has built himself an army of machines to put into action a plan reminscent of Noah's Arc. The plan of course is to get two of every animal, but also all the equipment that would be needed to start a new world for man-kind. He fears that the human race is destroying its self, so in an attempt to help man kind, he is going to take what he needs to rebuild, fly a rocket off of Earth, and destroy it. Cool huh?

I had this 'idea' (whilst on this subject, I hate the notion of an idea. I hate that you do all this research to seek an idea, which actually never happens. You don't just randomly go "Oh I have an idea now") I had a thought (that's better) whilst talking to Alan, that there could be a Laboratory wherein the scientist is building some huge robot Medusa, the robot can't even fit in there so it's built at all kinds of angles to be squashed into there. This is why Alan told me to watch Sky Captain, and it relates so much. I imagined my scientist would have a similar mentality to Totenkopf - Not the saving mankind with an Arc type thing, but having all these robots doing his bidding. Living with only robots, I can imagine that being rather lonely? In fact, in Sky Captain, Totenkopf had built himself a robot chick, who could kick ass.


Her name is Mysterious woman, I kinda imagine that my scientist dude could be building Medusa in the same way Totenkopf built some hot chick to protect him. I think that any lonely old scientist dude would certainly build himself some robotic girl at some point?

Oh, I forgot to explain what B-Movies are. They are a low budget, non commercialized film. They often are creepier and often unintentionally funnier than high budget films. They represent a particular genre, Western, Sci-Fi and Horror Films are mostly BMovie genres.

Here is an example of a modern day B-Movie. Sky Captain was made as a B-Movie hommage (I guess that's the way to put it).



Here is an example of a B Movie Wester from the 1950's



I think I'd much prefer to go the modern route, of my piece knowing it's a B Movie, and embracing that.

Steampunk

Steam Punk is the application of advanced steam powered technology to a modern day or science fiction setting. It often combines Brass, Springs, Gears and of course - Steam, in order to produce a contraption of some sort.

Some Steampunk examples :

http://www.brigidashwood.com/mineral_deposits/

All these images have their original owners in the corners, or linked under it. I really like Steampunk, so I think this will be the style approach I adopt.

My 'Ideas' (eurgh)

So, I have two thoughts on where I will take this project.

1. An alternate reality, a what if this had happened type thing. World War 2 - what if Hitler had managed to built a Steam Punk Medusa? This Medusa could be huge, able to walk across the ocean towards its target to unleash some crazy destruction. I imagine that she could turn people to stone in the literal sense, ie. she had some ability that shot out lazers or something to turn them to stone (hello B-Movie) but also, if you saw her walking towards you through the ocean, you would turn to stone in shock and awe.
The final piece here could be the shot of her in the ocean, approaching a city, airplanes flying over head and her snake tentacles just destroying them. With some nice composition, a nice camera angle, and some nice lighting, this could be a really nice image reminscent of the Digital Masters series.

2. A scientist has built this Medusa robot in his Lab to use for his own protection. Now there's two ways I could take this. She could be a huge robot, capable of destroying buildings, and she can barely fit into the lab he is building her in. Her waist touches the ceiling, her torso is parallel to the ceiling etc. Or, she could be a 'Mystery Woman' type character, designed and built to protect him from attackers. Of course, the B-Movie style would suit her being this huge robot. The image in my head here is that the final piece would be that of this robot being in the Lab, turned off, the scientist in the foreground face to face with her, or something like that.

All of these ideas would adobt the female form, I would want this robot to still have the curves of a woman. For example :
But of course, steam punk and stuff as opposed to the high technology approach displayed in this image.

This post has become a long one, but I would appreciate some feedback if any springs to mind. Thanks.







2 comments:

Liam Scarlino said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK2IAyCuJ4U&feature=related

Link is to Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out).
The video is an animated battle in a steampunk city, its amazing!

Jon Stewart said...

Thanks for that Liam.

About Me

My photo
I am a video game artist at Dovetail games, working on Train Simulator 2014, 2015 and an unannounced title. I also graduated from the CG Arts course at UCA in 2010 with a First Class. www.jonstewart.co.uk