Augmented Reality, Medway and Swale projecy (Informal note summary)

25.02.2016

Overview: A treasure hunt styled game to be played on smartphones and tablets. This will be a sequel to the first game, which the employer worked on with local artists previously. The first one was set in Rochester high street, this one is to instead be set in Chatham town, with special attention to creative or artistic areas.

In terms of story, the first game had a Steampunk styled zookeeper acting as a guide to lead the player around Rochester, attempting to hunt down his escaped animals. In the same story telling style, our team threw around the potential idea of a murder mystery type game, each character or object giving you clues that are styled to or inspired by the location they're in, e.g. A stylised nurse standing by a real life hospital.

In order to make this happen, the kind of things that we as the employees will need to make are prosthetics, costumes, and props. The set is already provided for us in the form of real life buildings and the route we decide on through Chatham. Character design will also be a big aspect of this project.

Mapping out and locations will be first on the list of priorities, as then we will know which locations and kinds of scenery we will be working with.  Making the objects/ people/ monsters tie in with background is cool idea, which also makes the game more immersive and believable.

Potential plot twists are possible as part of writing the narrative, such as having the player as the murderers next victim etc. So far the Genre remains undefined but computer interface is of a steampunk style, so we don't want to stray from that massively. As a team, these are the different roles available in this project, which of course will be overlapped so everyone is able to do more than one:

In chronological order of the project: Location team Character designers Writers collabing with both Then: Character builders Prop builders Writers continue with collabing with both to maintain context, but building and making at same time. Then: Sound design, shooting finals, photographers.

Final Submission Space

Final submission desk space/ set up for specialist pathway project. Included quilting samples, all sketchbooks and folders, final costume on a mannequin, final photos, storyboard and toiles. 

Final Costume Photo

My favourite photo from any of the photo shoots! Love the lighting that the studio manager helped me set up and the effect it has on the atmosphere. A lot colder, moodier, definitely the deep space vibe I was looking for. 

Photoshoot 1

Four final images, taken myself in the first of two photo shoots. At this point, the chest plate had no back piece so only photos from the front were available when it was being worn. The helmet was already sourced and painted, but the colour was a little too light, and the shoulder plate had yet to be finished or attached to the chest piece. This photo shoot was organised to ensure I had professional photos for portfolio, but was carried out while I was still applying finishing touches to the costume! So overall I made time for two separate shoots, one that now shows progression and one with the final completed outfit.

EVA Armor Progress

Not particularly great quality photos, but here stands the chest piece as it was in a state of being shaped and painted! As my first piece of EVA armor and first time working with these materials,   I'm definitely happy with the current outcome. Photos of final painted piece will soon follow.

Miranda and Prospero Final Designs.

Costume Details:

Miranda has a blue painted on Earth symbol on her shoulder plate, that she painted on there when bored one day. Shows she’s creatively minded, curious of her home planet, proud of heritage.

Miranda has a better suit than Prospero, as he gives her the better things, and repairs his own with patches. 

The waist armor Prospero has is assembled from broke ship parts. 

Miranda always carries a medical kit, as her dad demand she be ready at all times in case she gets hurt. Shows protective tendencies from father. 

They have similar chest pieces but Prospero’s contains his badges from career. 

Circular patches on knees are elbows designed to cushion, protect and lengthen life of fabric in these wear and tear areas. 

Miranda’s suit is green to show her trainee status. Prospero’s is navy to show higher ranking. 

Suit and Ship Concept Art

This design concentrated on expressing personality through formation of posing the character, as well as developing aspects of costume, e.g. the suit, breathing system and helmet. At this point in the project I reaffirmed with myself that making each of these costume aspects in the designated time period was slightly unrealistic, and setting goals of priority was necessary. These ordered as: 1) Designing, sewing and completed the jumpsuit. 2) Sourcing, designing and restyling a helmet. 3) Potential armor pieces, or sections of costume that weren't to be crafted from fabric through sewing. 

Another potential space craft design, inspired by the bio-luminescent mushrooms being researched as part of the eco-system for the environment of the planet. 

Temper05 Spacecraft Design

Original design for scouting spacecraft used in my transposal of 'The Tempest.' Supposedly a small scouting vehicle, built for two people with a small amount of emergency supplies. Incapable of space travel, designed to roam and explore planet surfaces.

Visual Narrative; Makeup Edits.

1920'S Doll: I was inspired by the 20's flapper's when I designed this makeup look. I wanted the small, cupid's bow lips and emphasis on wide, innocent looking eyes. When we were deciding on the wig, we wanted something choppy and youthful, so chose this red bob. This created a cross between flapper/ doll/ clown which I really liked, and thought was appropriate for the gothic toy shop theme myself and our group are currently focussing on.
I edited in the puppet strings and also made the eyes bigger, and the corners of the mouth smaller. 

Ventriloquist Doll: This is one of my favourite edits, as I love how the face looks like it's emerging from a wall of the characters own hair. Again, I wanted a doll-like expression, so focussed on making the eyes bigger, mouth smaller, and creating an overall wistful and innocent expression. Androgyny was also a large aspect of this look, as I used a male model to base a very feminine character on. By playing with gender/ swapping gender roles, there is room for a more open interpretation within the characterisations. 

Female Bluebeard: Overall a powerful and dark look. I really wanted to create an evil and twisted character, so edited in sharp, edgy facial features like the cheekbones and concentrated on making the mouth larger and pointier. I think the mouth is a very central feature within the 'baddies' of films, as they are often large or sharp. I think a big grin in the villains of stories can portray hunger, greed, or a misleading seductive expression. I wanted to add the tentacles as they matched the aesthetic of the character really well, and also metaphorically represented the long, slippery, manipulative arms of the character.

Forest Faun: A beautiful but dangerous look is what I wanted to create with this makeup design, as previously I wanted to emphasise the innocence, rather than perhaps the inner strength of a character. The makeup and colour palette convey a natural, earthy vibe but the dark eyes and strong body language present a more dominant and compelling character. 

Forest Faun 2: For the same previously presiding character, I wanted to see if I could create a opposite more submissive feel using the same makeup and model. This was achieved through lighting and using the liquify tool on the face to create a more forlorn and dejected mood. The silhouettes of hands where also edited in, as this would add to the controlling vibe being held over the figure. 

Visual Narrative; Character Interpretation Make Up.

For the visual interpretation part of this terms uni project, we are studying Bartok's opera, 'Bluebeard's Castle.' To look into the personalities behind both main and side characters, my group and I decided to turn our interpretations into real life characterisations through makeup. Each different makeup style was either based on an alteration of the original character, e.g. gender swap, or  fashioned around one of the themes we're contemplating to base our future collaborative set piece on; in this case, the themes I concentrated on where 1920's Toy Shop and Fantasy Woodland.

This image shows me glueing eyebrows down so I can powder over them, then re-draw new ones in. For this character, I wanted to create a doll like appearance so a wistful and exaggerated eye is want I wanted to achieve. This was based around one of the dead wives that appear in the opera, and I wanted to style it in the theme of the Toy Shop. By using a male to create a feminine character, I also played with aspects of androgyny. 

This character was also another female from the play, that I based around the Fantasy Woodland theme. I wanted to recreate a fantasy creature, therefore introducing ideas of rare and beautiful animals. Bluebeard could be collecting and mounting these imaginary beasts for their value and aesthetic. I mostly used eyeshadow and face paint for both the contouring and the coloration's. 

For my own makeup I wanted to experiment with what a female version of Bluebeard's character. I feel that she would be very intelligent and have a slightly intimidating aesthetic. As a modern version, she could be a high ranking business woman, seductive and smart. However, I feel that if she didn't get her own way through flattery or mind games, she could turn nasty and emotionally manipulative, or even abusive. To create this look I used dark colours, reminiscent of the namesake 'Bluebeard'. I also used sharp pointed shapes for the cheekbones and eye area to create 'evil' looking facial features.