Unlike that I knew very quickly from the beginning what my set is gonna be, I actually struggled quite a bit with finding a prop/graphic to do for this set.
Condensed milk ad in the 1920s China
Ad in the 1920s America
Coffee packaging in the 1930s China
Coffee packaging in the 1920s China
Herbal tea pot in China
Tea set
Different ideas I research on. All about food/drink because in my concept I imagined quite a lot of scenes of people eating/ drinking.Also this special coffee filter. I even emailed a coffee museum in Vietnam to give me more information about the coffee culture at that time(to which they didn’t reply).My notes from Claire’s talk… seems like my ideas are all a bit irrelevant (as in they are not a story point or anything), which got me considering something else.
Researching on a bidding website. I stated looking at certificate and seal that kind of stuff because the story is essentially about power and they are really good representation of that.
And a chat with my friend Henrike inspired me to think about the murdered weapon. (It was her idea but she didn’t end up doing it so I stole it) However my concept isn’t set in a war, a piece of actual weapon might be a bit out of place. I had to think about other ways to kill king Duncan.
Meanwhile, I have been thinking about improving the set. When I handed for the last unit, the staircase still looked weird. So I did some more research on it. I like how they are very intricate but in order to create a more airy and ‘transparent’ feeling I decided that the steps won’t be solid.I had this staircase from 3d Warehouse as a reference, but started building my own because I didn’t think the shape of this one would fit in my set. But when I actually put it in, it looked really good!
Before
After
The curves add more visual interests and them being parallel to the wall kind of helped to create more depth.And while I was looking at my old research for the set, I notice in this photo that there’s a lamp, and it came to my mind that one can use the fragment of glass to kill people. (OK I sound like a sociopath but it’s all for the project)
Hence this drawing
I then started more research on the lamp. It was introduced from the Europe but became really common in China too.The kerosene lamp with Chinese style designPhoto bashing: I was thinking that it has to be portable so the character can carry in around, and the body is made of porcelain, there’s drawing on it so I can play with it.
More about the different parts and how they come together.
I drew out the shape in sketchup first
And then started modelling in blender
Basic shape is out!
During the Easter break, I followed a blender tutorial on making donuts (and Molly and Jack’s tutorials on Blender too) and decided to challenge myself to make something properly in Blender. I was off with a good start.
Eyes detail in blender
I kind of had this idea of the house as an ‘organism’ like a jungle or an animal, so I thought of putting eyes on the lamp. They ended up being like little people though.
I made the base bigger.
First render with little texturing
Glass texture test- In reality the glass shade wouldn’t be that clean because of the fire, so I tried to achieve a similar effect by texturing the glass.
For the drawing on the body, I chose this one Chinese ink piece of birds waiting to catch their prey, inspired by the lines from the original play. Also I was thinking that later in the story Lady Macbeth is trying to clean the blood on the lamp, and would mistake the drawing as the stain that she can’t wipe away.
Lady Macbeth cleaning the lamp
I added the fire and rendered the model! During one session, Steve mentioned that the lamp gets very hot and the flame is quite unstable so I was thinking during the shooting (especially when people are carrying it ) this might be replaced with electric light or CGI
Broken glass simulation
Rendered
Thinking about different stages of the prop: Blender physics is so cool and I learned from YouTube how to ‘break’ things easily.
Putting the prop in the set: I tried photoshop and it didn’t work… so I ended up putting a picture of the set into Blender and render it. Blender did the job nicely.
Tech drawing done in Layout.
Then I started adding more details in my model. The dressing is actually a pretty importance part of a shophouse. I sourced some furniture at the end of unit8 and managed to find some similar ones in 3D warehouse.
Base of the column
The lotus made in Blender
Making column details. They are in a specific style according to research and I had to make them by myself.
I also started building the front. I’ve been thinking that the unique part about the shophouse is actually the front, the façade and veranda, and it’s a shame not having them in my set. Also, Claire has been saying I should just add it, so people would have an idea how people move in and out in this house.
My rough plan for the whole building.
I did some research on the shops in that era.
I didn’t have time to put in too many details but to enhance the idea of the house as an organism and the naturalistic style of it I chose floral patterns to put in the set.
The shop, it’s supposed to be much more cramped with goods on the shelves and things hanging around, but I didn’t have the time and the model is getting super heavy for my laptop to handle.
On the other side is a space for costumer to wait for the manager/shop owner to talk with them while having a tea. I tried dressing it in a rather European style. And through the staircase and the door you can see a bit of the back of the house which is like a bit mysterious and I’m really happy with it.
I actually had built a front separately at the beginning of the project, but later decided to just make the back.
It didn’t really fit, so I did another one.
The shop front.
I know the shopfront design in my research are really fancy, but those in my chosen location are actually quite simple. I just replicated one of them, which is a bit boring, but to actually design something from scratch might be too ambitious. I painted and added signs on them in photoshop. Not too bad!Also if you’re wondering… The houses on the two sides are just pictures I found. On set they are probably gonna be built as flats, so we can get the shots of someone entering the building, mixed with shots from the location. (I actually wish I could look into location adaptation for that)
And I adjusted the backdrop after Claire’s talk, made it about 5 meters apart and lined up the horizon line so there are no ships in the sky. But this picture is taken from very high above, which isn’t quite the view I want. In reality, there’s gonna be a bit of woods/plants outside the balcony as well to cover up the backdrop a bit.Walk through of the set in sketchup
Isn’t it cutePeople liked it and Claire approved my red ‘stain’ idea, which made me really happy. Contextualizing the set/prop has always been something I enjoy doing, but yeah Claire said she was a bit worried that it’s too ambiguous, and so I found it difficult to be at the mid-point of being too obvious and too ambiguous. But it seems that it worked well this time.
Am I happy? Yes. Especially with my prop, I manged to find something not too basic, involved in the story and has different stages which I can play with. Also I think I did a pretty good job in Blender as a beginner! With my set there’s obviously more to play with but for now I’m really happy with the renders and they really convey the delicate and mysterious feeling I aimed for.
Forced perspective model: this is such an interesting and useful technique to learn!
I didn’t get to do the graphic, so I went into the print workshop just to do something for fun
Some other stuff I was doing on the side…
And finally, fair well Macbeth, it’s been a fun journey!
And a list of practitioner/company that I sent my work to:
Ged Clarke: Production designer, mainly does commercials. He was the production designer for The Fall (2006) by Tarsem Singh which is one of my favourite films.
He kindly replied and offered to meet me!But I couldn’t meet him because of covid regulation…
The Mill: Production company for digital video contents and virtual experiences. I found them on Instagram and really liked their works, they represent mainly directors and people who work in post-production, but I’m really into music video/ fashion video production, so I emailed their design department. Which they didn’t reply.
Object & Animal: Similar to The Mill, a production company for commercials and music video, which produced some of my favourite music videos. And I got no reply either…
Andrew Tomas Huang: a Chinese- American director/ creative director who directed FKA Twigs’s Cellophane music video, and some short films I really like. And his works are really dedicated to Chinese culture but managed to make it really cool and not cliché, which is something I want to achieve someday. But there’s no reply…
Tianheyan 天何言 concept art studio: this Chinese company that did the production design for the upcoming Love, Death and Robots season2. They mainly do concept art, but I found their works really cool, so I sent them an email with my portfolio as well. No reply.
(I guess I should have researched on individual production designers instead of production companies to have a better shot. I’ve got some more recommendation from people around and I’ll keep trying after finishing unit 8)
I did help out a bit with the LCC film practice project TANK. I didn’t follow it through because they postponed the shooting, and I was too busy with my own project work.
Concept art I did for them
Character design
And someone I met from my foundation at LCC is preparing for a fashion film, so she contacted me about production design. I sent her my portfolio which she really liked, and we met up to discuss the project. It’s a 3-minute short film about a fashion photography’s sketchbook coming into life, which is really ambitious and challenging. But we really got along well, and I thought it would be really exciting to do the production design since I really like fashion film and music video, so I agreed to that. The actual shooting will be after September which I don’t know I can attend, but I have informed her about that, and she is still happy to have me even just for pre-production.
Messages between her and me, and basically she was reacting dramatically to my portfolio haha
We had our crew group chat and had our first production meeting already to work out a schedule.
Watched the 2015 film- great visuals, Lady Macbeth: most interesting character
Thinking about my choice of period- what can I replace a war with?
Thinking about my choice of location and period- Would formal colonial treaty port Pakhoi be a good one?
Watched films with similar background (and there’s not many of them out there)
My mom sent me those pictures of Pakhoi- a town I used to always spend holiday in, that has an interesting histrory of being a treaty port in 19th and early 20th cetrury. Hence there’s buildings with western features.
The Lover (1992) set in the colonial Vietnam in the 1920s.
I told sunset about you (2020) Beautiful beautiful story sets in modern day Thailand, and one of the protagonists lives in a shophouse. The third picture is them being in the courtyard in the shophouse and the distinction between the light and dark looks fascinating.
Week1
Marking the script- Helped me understand the characters and their relationships much better and picked up more details
Thinking about the ‘unspoken words’- Macbeth and Banquo in their last meeting, would this be a good choice of scenes?
Script breakdown in Excel- not that fun but helps to sort out the location and props, must be so handy on set.
Watched Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation Throne of Blood- Macbeth in an Asian cultural context, and the delicacy of Macbeth’s relationship with Banquo might really fit my chosen background.
Marking the script on my ipadScript breakdown in story order.Script breakdown in location order
Researched into my choice of architecture, and talking to Anna about how to use the set to indicate certain themes in the script
Researched into the history and develop my characters
Rough visuals, thinking about what the landscape is
Pictures taken in Nanning and Pakhoi(Beihai) by me and my mom, and painting by me
Pictures from Bridgeman Education
Pictures from Pinterest, Flickr
Pictures from Pinterest, the TV show Little Nyonya
Some of my research pages. I was able to find a lot of reference of shophouses in Malaysia and Singapore, but not those in Pakhoi, which is a bit frustrating both because apparently they are not getting enough attention and that I didn’t get to visit and research on them myself (maybe I had been into one as a kid, but I just can’t remember)Picture of Tjong A Fie Mansion. Contemporariness?- Wood structure and the bamboo blinds? Also- I like this dark blueish green colour so much that this particular mansion became my main reference.History time
A bit visualization of the initial idea: Macbeth, Banquo and Fleance in the shophouse.
The landscape (picture on the left by my mom who went there recently.I made these models in Sketch up and Blender for fun. Because at this point I knew the whole ground floor as it’s really long, if I want to have the courtyard, I might not be able to make the shopfront for this set, but I still love them so much.Also, I tried to be a bit organiazed this time.
Weeks3
Struggled to put my mood board together- source of the pictures and how to search? Also, how to convey a certain mood?
Some reading on colour theory- kind of decided on the colour palette
Film reference and painting reference- thinking about the genre and style
More rough visuals- I love my pencil drawings
Rough storyboard- confusing orientation within the shophouse, but that’s probably the fun of it
Art history for filmmakers by Gillian Mclver
My initial idea for colour. As I said I really liked the dark green in one of the reference pictures, and here I had it but a bit more blue, thinking about the colour of the sea, and according to the colour theory, dark blue creates the feeling of distance and that’s what I want.
The Fall (2006) and The Prisoner (2009)
Painting and film reference, how does it look like? I imagine a very high contrast and vibrant image filmed in 4:3, with the sharp film grains… which I couldn’t really find a reference image for, and that’t what I had at the moment.Mood board 1st draft- probably not that moody. And I realized later I missed out the green (which is everywhere in this mood board but not on the colour palette)Visuals- Me having no style so trying everything.Kind of like story board visuals. I really liked the scene 101 one, of Lady Macbeth in the bedroom, but I ended up not doing it because it’s a separate room and just doing the courtyard is overwhelming enough for me.
Story board 1st and 2nd draft. I still find this my most favourite thing to do and it was during that I decided to add scene 75, and add Lady Macbeth listening in scene 76 which is not in the script, for it would make more use of the space.
I was bored so I made a zine.
Week4
Rough white card model
Rough tech drawings
Storyboarding
Presentation!
My first rough white card model. It looks nice with the columns and blinds (I think) and I got the light to work as how I want. I thought it was all good but looking back at it, it feels like the room just stops at the wall and feels a bit boring and plain.
Rough tech drawings. Not gonna lie it does look really boxy…I researched a bit in the graphic style in order to create my presentation.
The presentation was just me racing through.. But I guess I did a good job explaining the context, and people liked my drawings! Still, there’s space to develop in terms of the design of the space.
Easter break
OK, so it was at this point where I felt this design is a bit limited… I made up my mind on this choice very early which made my pace really fast, but there’s probably a lack of experimentation comparing to other people. But it was probably a bit late to completely change my design and I didn’t want to do crazy experiments just for the sake of it because I just really like the space as it is. So I needed to figure out a way to be creative within the design that I already had.
Trying to be more creative with the boxy structure- change of the size and relocated the stairs
My dad who was an architect said I should reduce the size of the courtyard of people would have very limited space to move when it rains.
He also suggests putting the stairs by the courtyard, so you have the view walking up and down. And it gives the space more layers. But it’s awkward with a staircase in the middle of the room…
So I ended up putting in the corner. Still not sure if that’s better, but it makes more sense for the movement of the character in my storyboard.
A set model exhibited in the V&A
From the TV show The Little Nyonya. I like the lighting coming from the holes on the wall
Both Anna and my dad asked ‘what do we see behind the kitchen door/windows?’ and with my old model it’s just a dark little room, and you’ll think, ‘oh, that’s the end of the house then’, which is not very exciting. I found this picture I took in V&A and the space behind is brighter, so you know the space extends further, and so I decided to open up the kitchen.New update, I added this weird door at an angle to create foreground. It doesn’t make any sense practically, but I mean… a plain wall is boring.
The floating column- a feature of traditional Chinese architecture, which wouldn’t normally exist in the courtyard, but after I read and rewrote the story, I realized there’s a lot of reference of predator and pray, and decided to make the doorway the shape of a mouth.
So as you can see, I’ve been saying that ‘It wouldn’t make sense in the real life but let’s do it’. In one of the earlier talk I remember Anna was saying, the design doesn’t need to be 100% realistic, but believable. And when I read the book Art history for filmmakers by Gillian Mclver, there’s this reference to the ancient Roman sculptures, saying that we wouldn’t actually know whether they’re realistic since there might be exaggeration on some features to emphasize certain quality of the subject (usually people in high status) , but we still find it believable. So I decided to challenge myself to think outside ‘what should be in the set in reality’ but at the same time find a balance of the reality and fiction.
Character design- I have my costume research in the presentation at the end so I won’t put it here because this blog is getting way too long.
So my dressing plan looks cute, but just not in scale.
I also had this page dedicated to the French, because the original owner of the shophouse, Duncan is French, so it’s heavily influenced by the French style. And maybe it’s a bit ironic, the French invaded this town, but Macbeth invaded this house, so I want him not to fit in by having French elements dominating this house.
Week5
Loads of lectures first week back
Started technical drawings
Nothing else basically, I was a bit unproductive
Though very boring, in general, this drawing didn’t give me too many problems as the one I did in unit 6 so far.I found this website of George Town World Heritage Incorporate, which is really helpful for contextual information for shophouse in Penang Malaysia (George Town) and I referenced a lot from it. They also offered internship before Covid and I was just thinking it’ll be so nice to work in the preservation of shophouse…
Week6
Amended colour palette- very helpful feedback on how to lay the palette out
Technical drawings- 3rd time doing it yet still confused about a lot of things
Started the proper 3D model
Spent the WHOLE weekend on animatic- which I felt so proud of
My original layout
So in the feedback session, my lovely Henrike laid out her colour palette according to the portion each colour has in the space, and Anna suggested that as well. I had never thought about it but putting them in different size actually feels so different and much more straight forward than what I had done! (which results in me rethinking my whole design decision for a while because it looks really… like my grandma’s clothing… but I started doing my sketch up model, and they look fine on the architecture, so I stuck to them.)
I can’t shrink this picture for some reason, but basically it’s my notes from the tech drawing feedback session.
Ok, my sketch up model didn’t look that good…a guide for my had tech drawing from my sketch up model
Guides I made for the animatic, because I changed my set after I’ve done the storyboard, some shots might look different
Enjoy my beautiful drawings
Onto making the animatic. I have always just been free-styling it when it comes to video editing and never really had a logic behind the shots which is probably very bad… But this time I watched Jack’s video about breaking down the script and working out the shots, which I tried to do myself later. I had the storyboard already so it’s not like ‘omg it’s so helpful’, but it definitely made me much more organized when putting the shots together.
What I did for the animatic is, exporting my sketch up model in a drawing style
And drew on my iPad the characters
It actually worked very nicely!
Week7
Added sound to the animatic- which made me even more proud (Jack is soooooooo nice)
Tech drawings Tech drawings Tech drawings (Katerina is sooooooooo helpful)
I had a tutorial with Jack and that was a confidence boosting experience. There were tiny things I had to tweak on, but he said it was nice and gave me a lot of advice on my study in general as well. I have always been really into video editing but kind of left it aside after joining this course, but being approved on that really encouraged me and I think at the end of the day, knowledge of any aspect of film making would help me with what I’m doing anyway. And on Friday, I came in with a ‘not wanting to do tech drawing’ mind but was greeted by the kindest person Katerina, who basically answered 100 questions from me (because I was confused about the ceilings, also which walls to build just for the set) and looked for tech drawings and set building videos for me to refer to.
Week8
Finishing tech drawing- yayyyyy (final drawing and model in the presentation)
White card model- not that difficult but I had back pain
Finishing Sketch up model (not really, because we can keep doing it for next unit)
Putting presentation together
All the different versions of my tech drawings (I’m horrible with naming things)I didn’t have a bigger sheet or enough space, so I did the drawing on separate sheets and put them together in Photoshop. At some point I found things didn’t match up but from then on I laid them on top of each other from time to time to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Another thing is, it was long after I started the final drawing in metric when I remembered we were supposed to try to do it in imperial for this unit! But it’s a bit unrealistic to restart, so I carried on drawing in metric. People who did it in imperial said it’s really confusing especially for those who has no idea how long things are in inches (like me), but it’s a good opportunity to train yourself for that, and I missed it…
Cutting out the ground floor
The upper floor, actually the windows are too big but they are barely in the shot so I left them like that.
The ground floor coming together!
Making the roof was not easy
My model making journey. It was not difficult but just very tiring and my hand hurts from holding the blade. The tip Anna gave us about leaving the edge for gluing really helped, and there was nothing that didn’t fit so once I cut everything out it all came together really quickly.So I thought I could get away with not building the outer wall on the upper floor cuz they don’t show in the shots, but it turned out that you will shoot off the set from the opening for the staircase. So I had to build all the walls on the upper floor. It’s kind of a waste and I could have planned something on the upper floor… maybe in the next unit?
I put the blinds and the figure in (more pictures in the presentation). I don’t know, it looks fine, but I feel like the stairs looks flat and didn’t add much…Same thing in the sketch up model. And not just the stairs, the windows looks flat as well.My texture folder. I customized my own tile patten and dark blue wood material.So at some point I decided to colour the wall dark, which I think added more depth. But the stairs are barely visible.Added the blinds and I opened up the ceiling on the upper floor, so there’s light coming through the hole above the stairs, which makes it look more interesting. But I hadn’t realized I missed out the key part— the sunlight!!(Probably not the best idea)The upper floor window looks bad because I made no effort… but the stone texture worked well.Sunlight is in, and the stairs are a brighter colour now.
The kitchen feels nice, just a bit empty at the moment.
At last, some stuff that didn’t make into the final presentation:
Hand drawn characters
Lady Macbeth walking through the courtyard
Architectural details
One idea of the back of the building
The Grand Finale
My notes
Some feedback from Anna
People’s very kind feedback
I thought we each had 20 minutes to present so I had a 4-page note, but it ended up being just 10 minutes… I had to rush through and didn’t really follow my notes, so there are some bits that I didn’t get to explain very well… But I think the presentation that I spent an hour choosing a font for worked nice and clear and I got some nice feedback. The sound of the animatic didn’t play properly and I was a bit sad but you can watch it in this blog!
I amended the presentation according to Anna’s comment and here it is.
With every project I’ve done in the past, there’s always some stages where I just couldn’t stand it any more and got really sick of my design. But for this one, although I did feel as if I couldn’t bring it any further at one point, I had always been really passionate about it that it even amazed myself. I guess it is a really good choice for my set, and for all the stuff I’m still not very satisfied with in this set, I look forward to bringing it further in the next unit.
Also, a big thank you to Anna who gave us so many amazing talks and tutorials!!!
(It was translated from Chinese to English using online translator and with tweakings by myself, a few things still feel weird but it's just that some expressions doesn't translate well)
The evening breeze swept up the remnants of the day’s temperature and lingered on the patio, although the sky was not yet completely dark, the lights in the corridor had been turned on, a bulb was making a faint noise of the current.
Jen sat at the tea table by the patio, and the Dim sum that were supposed to be afternoon tea were on the table untouched. His was lost in thought, his eyes as if staring at some plant in the courtyard, but it seemed not.
Françoise passed through the planting of the patio. The hem of her skirt swept across the broad leaves of the turtleback bamboo, as if a ripple rippled through the green pond, bringing Jen back to reality.
“Something on your mind that you even resisted the scenery and food?” Françoise took a seat next to Jen and tasted his untouched pastry, “What’s done is done, what’s the use of thinking about one when he’s dead.”
The man’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he took a look at what Fran was eating with pleasure, but he remained unmoved. “When the mantis catches the cicada, the bird is right behind. The problem seems to be solved, who knows what other danger is hidden.”
Just as the words were out of his mouth, a few birds chattered from the top of the patio, and Jen looked around alertly until Fran’s hand swept up to cup his face.
She looked at this childish yet sophisticated face, still the same after all these years as when she had first seen him in the ballroom in Paris. She remembered that when he spoke to her, she expected something stupid to come out of his mouth with a Chinese or Japanese accent so that she could laugh at him – this guy with his hair slicked back but had a short, boyish face. She thought Jen’s mind was as shallow and easy to understand as his eyes. Until now, he still looks that way, or seems to look that way, if you don’t read those eyes carefully.
“It’s not too late to think of solutions when hidden problems arise, isn’t improvisation your specialty?” Fran turned back and gestured with her chin to the smiling Maitreya Buddha statue on the cabinet, “Look, the Buddha agrees.”
Jen closed his eyes and his lips curved, as if he had taken in Fran’s words. But then he said: “Old Huang and his son also knew that prophecy, do not forget.”
Fran drew her hand back at once. The wind grew cooler as the day grew darker, making her shiver. “You must leave it.”
Jen glanced at the statue of the Buddha sitting in meditation, his body leaning uneasily on the arm of the rattan chair: “Buddha or saint, who really blessed me with a smooth sailing? Giving me this position but then saying that the future will come to the hands of the Huang’s offspring, I dare to say from the beginning, no one intended to write peace in my name. I’m afraid I’m just a sacrificial lamb, a stepping stone for the future of that boy of Huang.”
Fran did not argue, anxiety soon spread to her mind as well. When did she ever really believe in these smiling Eastern gods? In the end, the prophecy was just an excuse to urge Jen to seize power, and she had always been the one who believed in taking the initiative to win.
“So what are you going to do?”
Jen stared out at the patio again. Fran followed his gaze, and there was a scorpion, crawling down the clay flower pot. She was startled and got up from her chair.
“The other day, a maid said she saw a snake in the courtyard, we need to find someone to sort it out.” As she stared nervously at the vicious-looking animal slinking away into the foliage, Fran felt Jen’s arms wrap around her from behind, but she couldn’t seem to feel the warmth of his body. Perhaps his tone was too cold: “The snakes and scorpions in the yard are to be removed, but not the snakes and scorpions in my heart.”
Fran stiffened, and Jen loosened his arm as if sensing something. Turning her head, his face in the light of the dusk looked so gentle and somehow at ease.
“As evil as they are, they know very well who their prey is. Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure things are done before you hear anything.” He leaned his head closer to her, “I won’t forget what I promised you.”
Fran closed her eyes as the faint scent of jasmine hair oil from Jen’s hair filled her nostrils. She knew he would do anything for what she wanted, because as proud as he is being the oldest son of his family, he would always feel inadequate in front of Fran, so he did everything he could just to be near her, to stay by her side, as if that would make him more like her. She asked herself countless times about whether she was just using Jen to achieve her goals, but the truth is that he enjoyed that, so why not?
She wasn’t surprised this time either. He made up his mind instantly with Fran’s tacit “What are you going to do?” She was enough as a reason for him.
Only this time she wasn’t sure that’s what she wants anymore.
I sure had mixed feeling about this project when it was announced, I was happy that I can do something creative again after Unit 6, but at the same time how much I can bring out from creating based on an existing work, also the fact that we had to pair up with someone from tech arts worried me, since the two of us might be interested in totally different ideas.
My friend Angela asked to work with me and I happily teamed up with her. And luckily we have very similar taste of films and shows, and as we knew each other well, I can trust her with her skills and style. Randomly we both had this idea of choosing a work that is light-hearted and cute since we’ve both been doing kind of dark and weird themes. I put down a list of works that I think would be interesting to work on, but as we were talking, we somehow realized we both watched this anime on Netflix, and there’s a character which would be a really interesting choice. Although it’s miles away from what we first agreed to work on
List of interest
So this anime called Devilman: Crybaby is about the two childhood friends, Ryo and Akira, reuniting after many years apart, but Ryo seems to have an agenda, and he turns out to be Satan who reborn to take over the world. As you can probably already tell that Ryo is our character of interest, so Angela quickly decided that he’s the one she’ll be sculpting. But tricky thing is that this anime is in a really simplistic style when it comes to sets and background, and I wouldn’t be able to be very creative with the set. However, with a few more watching of the anime, I came up with the idea of creating a space within the lighthouse that appeared in the story as a symbol of the friendship between Ryo and Akira. As the end of the anime is in an apocalypse background, the lighthouse will be destructed, and I imagine Ryo coming back in the ruins mourning his friend.
General mood board
Initial idea
While Angela got nice feedback from the tutors of her choice suggesting it would be challenging but interesting to make Ryo as a sculpture, my tutor, Claire didn’t exactly like my idea, saying that she couldn’t picture how far I can get designing in this style and what the outcome is gonna be like. Was I ok hearing this? I mean, what she said was what I was worried about as well. Disappointed as she was, Angela said that even though Ryo was our favorite character, there’s no point if there’s nothing to work on set-wise. Somehow, the more I think about the idea of the lighthouse, the more it grew on me. And the fact that I tend to change my mind often when hitting something difficulty got me determined that I shall prove that I can make this work.
I actually enjoyed the process because I was not familiar with lighthouses, and as I was spending time researching I realized not only how unique the structure can be, but also how special it is conceptually. Apart from that it was already depicted as a symbol of Akira and Ryo’s friendship, a lighthouse itself stands for such loneliness, yet a guide and hope for those on the sea. This duality somehow fits the character of Akira, who is the strong, aggressive Devilman, at the same time, lonely without friends and family, the crybaby. And not to mention both the lighthouse and Akira himself would be broken by Ryo. Angela mentioned that at some point people made an altar for Ryo because everyone including himself thought he was the powerful being, until his mind was changed by Akira after Akira’s death. So we thought it would make sense for Ryo to turn to worship Akira instead, hence he came to the lighthouse as the altar for Akira.
A little mind map I did
More detail sketches
With that in mind, I put my research heavy on the environments that represents Akira, rather than Ryo, although he’s the one in the set. I soon had the conclusion that Akira’s space consists of mainly earthy tones, wood, and curves. So I changed the placement of the stairs accordingly. Some research of lighthouse in Japan gave me more ideas such as the wood paneling on the wall, which fits the feeling of Akira’s space as well.
I did some drawings of them as kids playing in the lighthouse just to indicate my idea of the interior, but later this idea also grew on me: as we need to create a narrative within the space, maybe having the childhood memory as a part of it would be more interesting. At the same time, I started my sketchup model, as I was eager to show the tutors that this could work!
And this time I got nice feedback as well! It was probably because that I was so bad at explaining my ideas that Claire didn’t actually get it, but as soon as she saw the visuals, the idea was approved. It was such a relief for us and now the green light was on, we can keep on developing it.
It hadn’t been more than two days until I felt stuck again. The requirement of ‘designing in style’ was still being a pain. How should I do the concept art? How far should I go with my model? With a few more tutorials with Claire, I decided to focus on story board first. And that was when everything went online again. As I mentioned before, I would like to include the childhood memory in the narrative, and after a few days laying in bed just playing the story through, which is something I’m best at, and referencing the original anime while playing with angle in the sketchup model, I soon put together the scenes in my head.
Some rendering I did in sketchup to test out the angles and lighting. I decided to have the whole scene in this sunset-like lighting, with a heart shape indentation on the wall through which the heart shape light was projected on Ryo. The projection didn’t work that well but Angela and I agreed that just having the hole on the wall is enough. Actually I still don’t know if the heart is a good idea, it’s supposed to be a bit of a sarcasm (Ryo always thought that ‘Love doesn’t exist’ but was left heartbroken by the death of Akira) but I’m not sure if everyone can perceive it like that.
For the storyboard, we’ll follow the children protagonists up, transits to the adult protagonists, then fall down. Because it’s a tight space horizontally, I should make use of the structure of the lighthouse and explore the dynamic on the Z axis. And because there’s always been something out of balance about the friendship between the two, having them in different ‘altitude’ could be an interesting representation.
A diagram of how the characters move
Although it might look more like illustration rather than a storyboard, it’s for sure the part of the outcome that I’m most proud of. I always feel like the spaces I worked on are all a bit lack of dimension, and this time I really got to play with it (on a different direction but still).
Slides from Angela. We coordinated our presentation style according to the original animeThe feedback from Claire after the formative presentation. I did make my presentation really research-based as I also put a lot of effort in that and I thought what I had drawn down was too rough. But the feedback gave me a confidence boost.
After the presentation that nerve cracked Angela and I, which we actually got a lot of positive feedback for, it came the Christmas break (which we didn’t know we wouldn’t be coming back from).
Me trying to do concept art and being confused
I spent most of the time in the break trying to develop some concept art, like I said I spent most of the time ‘trying’, not saying that I didn’t have any outcome, it’s just that I’ve been really confused with the style I draw. Not just because the work has to be in the style of the original anime, the whole concept of ‘concept art’ is confusing enough. I know that it’s just a way to communicate the design, but the fact that most of the concept art I’ve seen is in a certain style and I long had the pressure of training myself to follow that style already. Anyway, I had a go, and up until now I still don’t know if I like these drawings. I also did some drawings for LCC’s project, they are more in the style that I wanted to follow. I don’t hate how they look but it wasn’t completely comfortable for me to pull it off either.
What I did for the LCC project
The stress eased after I saw some more examples of production designers’ visuals that Claire shared and I realized I didn’t have to follow that certain style as long as my work convey my ideas well. But I mean there’s no hurt trying out different things and I do think I learned to indicate light and shadow better and that’s something I would keep while drawing in a style that I’m more comfortable in.
what’s worth mentioning is that there’s originally writing on the wall in the concept art because I was worried about if the space itself wasn’t enough to represent the character, but after showing them to Angela, she was afraid that the writings might make it too obvious and from her point of view the set convey the feeling we wanted really well already. Also I remined myself that the original style of the sets isn’t that sophisticated and yes, the writings might be a bit not necessary. As I said I was struggling with the style and probably wanted to make up for the fact that I didn’t like how it look by adding something extra (if that makes sense), and at that point having a pair of fresh eyes really helped.
I can feel the journal is getting too long but I still have my whole experience of 3D modeling to whine about. There’s moments when I felt I was already a master in sketchup but this project is just me realizing that’s not true, not in a way that I couldn’t achieve what I want, but that I didn’t even know what I was capable to do with 3D modelling programs. I originally had this ambitious idea of making a whole animation with the model, but at the same time it would probably look too distinctive from the anime style. Can I make it into the anime style? Should I make all the broken bricks and windows in the model? How realistic do I want it to be? So many question marks on my head that I didn’t get to bring the model further than what I had done with 3D modeling before. Although I’ve been working hard to prove that this choice of the anime wouldn’t limit myself and I can make something great out of it, I had to admit that it did. If it were a 3D animation or a real life movie, there’s obviously more to explore in terms of 3D modelling.
They didnt help that much.
I made the vines growing out of the body in Blender but failed to make the lighthouse more broken.
There’s pros and cons for every choice, I guess. I did get to have fun with the structure of the lighthouse, which I was really proud of, instead of just doing ‘somebody’s room’. At the same time I will have to develop my 3D modelling skills in another project. Communication wise, there’s never a big problem since the work Angela and I were doing don’t actually come across, but we still keep each other very informed throughout the process, not to mention we worked out the idea of the lighthouse together at the beginning. The lockdown definitely has affected on both of our conditions, physically and mentally, but we’ve been trying our best to support each other. I had experience of losing friends through working with them because one of us was being way too dominant and also lack of communication, so I’ve been really careful this time, luckily she felt the same and was being really understanding and trustworthy ant the same time.
The model with some final touchup in Sketchup and Photoshop.
So it seems that my journey with the lighthouse ends here. Angela applied for an extended deadline for her condition so it’s a shame that I can’t attach any picture of her model here. But I’ll update any progress from her!
(The following videos are the demonstration for the Part 2 exhibition, as I couldn’t attach them to my submission for part 2. )
The reel is made by my group member Laura Treharne demonstrating what will the audience be seeing druring the exhibition, details please see my part 2 journal.The animation is also made by Laura to demonstrate how the revolving set works. Details see my jounal for Part 2.
Ok, this feels weird. I haven’t been on this blog since I graduated from foundation, which is already more than a year ago. Re-reading everything I’ve written, course works or just random thoughts on exhibitions and TV shows actually makes me regret not continuing this kind of reflective journals, and now I’m very happy to be back.
My goal for this project is that, first, get more familiar with tech drawing of course. Last year was just dipping my toes into the pond (it’s a pun, because I did a pond for the project), and now I need to learn to swim. And second, I want to have a better understanding of the relationship between the space and the scene. I helped out in a student film during the summer and when I thought I did a very good job on dressing the set, most of the dressing I did was cut out of the shots. There was certainly a lack of communication of me with DoP to figure out how they’re going to place the camera, but I also just visualized the space as it would be in the real life, instead of on screen. And for this project, studying how the pros did their sets for the camera will hopefully make everything make sense for me more.
The reason why I chose Pan’s Labyrinth was actually not because I love the film. It’s an interesting film with amazing dynamic of the real and imaginative world, but I somehow find the imaginative world having too much cool concepts than it needs, and the visual feels a bit out of nowhere. Still it’s beautifully designed and crafted, and with the fact that I absolutely love Atonement and Blade Runner and constantly draws inspiration from them, it would just feel cliché choosing one of them for this project again. And for my past projects I’ve been doing living spaces, modern or period, but all realistic, it’ll be fun to do one that’s totally different.
So, the Pale Man’s hall. It’s not someone’s bedroom anymore, based on gothic architecture but with massively altered, fictional features, not square anymore. Perfect choice that I didn’t know, would give me one panic attack after another.
Panic Attack 1
I couldn’t find any wide shot from which I can at least tell how many pillars there are. All the behind the scene videos and article about that scene only focus on the making of the Pale Man itself (who I can now remember every detail of). In the end, I finally found a picture of the exterior of the set, which reveal that there’s not only two domes, but many small arch ways on the two sides, together in an oval shape. Sounds overwhelming already, but at least I was clear what I’m facing.
Panic Attack 2
How do you draw the elevation! I mentioned that I don’t want to do a square with 4 straight walls anymore, but the price is that I’ll have to make much more effort for more complex and organic structure like this. I tried to build a sketchup model for it, and even with my skill in sketchup which I’m very proud of, I struggled a lot. But anyway, I made a really rough one and sliced through it to get to see the elevation.
My not-very-well-done model
Panic Attack 3
How to put it down in the tech drawing! With the help of my sketchup model, I now know how to draw the elevation, yet the technical drawing needs to be understandable and instructional for the constructors on set, and again, the archways on the two sides got me stranded, for they’re so random. I had to consult my dad and his friend who have architecture background, and still couldn’t come up with a simple solution. At this point, I actually felt mentally drained, also because I was still in quarantine, the communication with tutor and everyone else had been painfully inconvenient. I seriously doubted my choice for the set, as I basically chose it because I wanted to do something ‘different’, not because I’m that interested in it. But it’s already the end of the second week and it was even more risky changing to another set. In the end, I stuck with the suggestion of my dad’s friend’s, and chose to draw a section of the archway. And surprisingly, when I finally made it into uni, my tutor Claire really approved everything I’ve done and said that I even overthought a bit, because the drawing is only supposed to be a visual reference and the constructors will work out a plan that’s workable as they build it. Which was such a relief.
Me trying to figure out how to draw these baddies
Guide from my dad’s friend
What I ended up doing
Panic Attack 4
I got the measurements WRONG. I only realized that when I started the final tech drawing, that I took the estimated measurement as the based of all the other measurements, when I actually had one that’s much more certain. And that meant I would have to change everything on the drawing, along with the sketchup model which I spent so much time and effort on, as a lot of the measurement I took from the model. I remember leaving the studio with sparks in front of my eyes. I have never been a very organized person and I magically managed to get away with little faults in my work every time, but obviously the luck, which I shouldn’t have been dependent on, is not with me this time. In the end, I paid for my carelessness by redoing everything.
Panic Attack 5
Shops are closed because lockdown 2, and I haven’t got any material I need for the model! I again left uni with sparks in front of my eyes, why didn’t I buy everything in advance! I can order things online, but not being familiar with materials got in my way, as I’ve been enjoying the convenience of going into the shop and choose from everything. And it would be a waste of both money and time if I order the wrong ones, which I did, from 4D model shop, paying more on delivery than the products.
But luckily, I found substitutions from amazon and they ended up working so well, and my diy DNA took over the rest. Because I could only do the drawing at uni, I made sure to use the time at home on the model, which is proved to be a very wise decision on time management by the fact that I finished everything right on time without staying up late the nights before at all. Despite the back ache, I very much enjoyed the process of model making.
Limbs of the domePillar made of straws making the naughty archway
With the model almost finished, my drawing on the other hand, is left without the last step, adding notes. I’ve always been quite proud of my handwriting, except when I need to keep them tidy and consistent. And I forgot to practice and test it out before, so it was kind of a hurry. The results is not bad, but I felt like they would be much more put together if I gave it some time to practice.
My very little practice (and I ended up tracing the title on poster instead of writing it out myself)
For the final presentation, I scanned the tech drawing in library in 6 pieces and put them together in Photoshop (my best trick). I actually put a lot of work in there because my drawing is so smudgy, and although you might not be able to tell, there’s some details that are a bit off, which is not what I was aiming for at the beginning of the project. Part of me was like, I can learn AutoCad later and just never need to drawing things by hand with my terrible skill of reading rulers and lining up things. But then again, AutoCad needs someone precise to use it well and that’s someone I should work hard to become.
On the other hand, I made really good pictures with the model, and that’s something that I should give myself credits for. There’s obviously many approaches to it and I’m really happy with every decision I made that it ended up really accurate and nicely represent the original set.
And that’s my first five weeks in London after three months back home. I was very doubtful with my decision of coming back, as the situation here really don’t allow me to fully go back to the normal life and study, at the same time I’m very far away from my family. But magically, as the project progress, I was gaining more and more faith and confidence. I know this journal has been addressing my panic attacks, on the other hand, these troubles I had kept me busy finding solutions, and the me that’s solving problems has been my favourite me at all time. I wouldn’t say I fulfill all the goals I gave myself at the beginning, as I still have a long way to go in technical drawing, and although I got better at making estimation at a space, actually managing one and using one like a professional set designer still needs more work. But I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done on this project, and I’m sure this experience will be a great reference to my future study and work. Plus all the staffs at uni have been so helpful and Claire always makes me feel like I have someone on my back, I’m so thankful to them and myself for everything I’m able to achieve.
For the fast-forward project, I spent three whole days in the screen printing workshop, and with the help of the practitioners, the result ended up being surprisingly good. But the satisfying art work is not the only thing I gained from this experience.
I’ve never been very confident with teachers or even just someone who’s more experienced than me. And before I came to this country, my relationship with teachers was basically me listening to them talking, instead of communicating. So when I first arrived at the workshop feeling not very sure about my draft, I hesitated to tell the technicians what I really intend to do, which I thought was not achievable and might not look good. However, the technicians were all very friendly and I could tell that they see me as an artist, instead of a kid who doesn’t know anything about screen printing, whose place I put myself into. This is very new to me. It’s not like being treated as a student, a learner does not make me feel good, however, the way they looked at me actually encouraged me to ask questions and speak up about my problems and new thoughts. And when I asked about the old-fashion CD player in the workshop, one of the technicians, Simon, gladly shared a lot of his thoughts and experience with music, which drove away my nerves in the workshop, so that I got to work in a more delightful and casual atmosphere in the following days. And for the first time, I had the feeling of working hard for my own wish instead of working hard to prove the teachers that I’m qualified for something, which I always felt back in high school.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard that people loved my finished work and planned to hang it in the corridor, I felt as if my child grew up and became a wonderful person. And I was very proud that I stuck on the plan which I thought was impossible after speaking to the technicians. I realised I always assume that I’m not good enough, hiding my real thoughts and just humbly listening to tutors, but communicating with them and bravely telling them what I think, is actually the better way of improving and further developing my ideas.
My project will focus on evolution, birth, motherhood, as this is the way that lives survives and continue our journey in this world. My starting points are:
Blade Runner 2049 (Whether cloned human is able or allowed to have children)
Sense 8 (The other form of mother)
Alexander the Great (The influence a mother has on her child)
Mother! (How mother is used)
First Reformed (Anxiety of the polluted environment where our children are going to live)
Lucy (How a human brain evolves)
Cloud Atlas (The connection between the past, present and future)
The museums/galleries/exhibitions I’ve been to so far:
English as a second language
Random access memory (Global warming)
A fortnight of tears (Mother, insomnia)
Natural history museum (evolution, life sciences)
The museums/galleries/exhibitions I’m planning to go to:
Saatchi Gallery
Tate Modern- Dorothea Tanning, Fran West
Science Museum
Barbican Centre
And anything to do with the mother and child relationship, human reproduction etc. I intend to learn more about the importance and people’s attitude of birth, reproduce so that I can make my own prediction.
My plan for the outcome is an interaction film or augmented reality installation art.
An AR installation that shows the connection between our ancestor and us and our children
A film about a future child suddenly appears in our present world
An animation showing/predicting how we evolve/will evolve in the future
I intend to use more approaches other than filming, like screen printing, model making, letter press etc. The work done in the workshops can be in the final video of be a part of the idea development.
My aim is to create the work that is suitable for exhibition. As a viewer, I always prefer the works that is interactive, that I can take a part in, hence that’s what I want to achieve. The target audience is everyone, because this idea is (should be) concerned by the whole human race.
I wouldn’t called this project a success but I don’t doubt this is another exciting experience (sadly the last on in this course). Since September 2018, I witnessed myself turning from a kid who only knew to draw what she saw to a (kind of) real art student who knows to see, research, develop my own ideas and visualise them. I always found it hard to look at other artists’ works and get inspirations from them, but after the last project, which was heavily inspired by the artist Ellsworth Kelly, I think I improved this skill more and I certainly used it for this project and did a quite detailed secondary research. And I kept my promise to myself and finally did a screen printing! It’s not a perfect work, not even the best work that I have done, and I didn’t get to use it in my final outcome, but I had fun doing it and I love it so much (partly because it’s the work that kind of got me in my dream BA course). And as I’m going to do Production Design next year, I did some models for my film. Again, none of them appeared in the film at the end, but this experience was really interesting, also gave me the sense of how hard to design suitable props to help the story. Also, I think I did a good job collaborating with other people, which is a big progress for myself.
Just like every time when I finished a project, I have a lot of regrets despite the relief of finishing the hard work. For this one, the biggest regret is that I didn’t succeed in developing a more interesting way of visualisation as I planned at the beginning. And to be honest, the final outcome looks kind of similar to the last one I did. But on the other hand, I tried my best and realised how hard it is to combine good story with good and interesting visualisation, which now become one of the most important goals for my future study.
It’s kind of sad that this will be the end of this course and this film is not really the best I can do to give this period of my life a good ending. But it might be a good start for something else and I can’t wait for it to come.
