Digital Pipeline - Esmeralda Model

What If? Metropolis - Final Render

Final render before adding in the matte painting.

What If? Metropolis - Travelogue

Travelogue

A warm breeze fills the air as you walk through the city of Esmeralda. You smell every spice and flavour as you walk through the stalls that line the market, the tight roads weave and wind in an endless maze. Esmeralda is described as the city of water, a mixture of canals and streets overlap and intersect like a broken spiderweb, roads and bridges that lead to nowhere, pathways that lead you in a complete circle. The centre of the city is tightly packed and full of life throughout the day, the streets under the constant glow of lamp light. The citizens of Esmeralda are spoilt for choice with rows of toy shops, tailors, pubs and more, all accessible by foot or boat. If one was to look up as they sailed down the soft flowing rivers their eyes would be caught by the great looming aqueduct the bridges between two mountains that hide the city from prying eyes. 

At the heart of the city lies Esmeralda’s Cathedral, each of the archways that span the outer walls of the structure are inhabited by ancient deities carved from stone. Their eyes follow the crowds as they scale the steps of the building below. People flock from the outer rim of the city to walk the halls of this great structure. Harsh light bleeds through the stain glass windows like multicoloured ribbons. In the centre of the stone room there is a body of water that ripples in the wake of coins tossed by those seeking to speak to their gods. A large statue of a women draped in cloth and holding a dish filled with incense stands in the corner of the room, the light catches the smoke that waltzes across the air with a smell of frankincense. This place, now filled with people, will soon become abandoned as the citizens return home to eat dinner. Continuing onward through the cobbled streets, the crowds become less apparent. The light begins to fall behind the mountains, its soft orange glow catching the water and transforming it into liquid gold. There is a constant sound of water running everywhere you go. The inhabitants of Esmeralda have adapted and morphed their city until it has become almost seamless. Boats of all shapes and sizes glide past the tightly knit walls. Strings of lights hang in a criss-cross fashion like vines from a tree. Much like the labyrinth from tale of Icarus, there are few that can navigate the streets of Esmeralda and not find themselves lost. The further you walk the more you notice the shop windows, the endless lights and the sound of laughter that erupts from the open doors of a pub nearby. 

As if by magic, after many hours of walking, you finally reach the outskirts of this beautiful town. The houses seem scarce, doted around the mountains contrasting the tightly packed city centre. A waterfall in the distance rages on through the night leading gallons of water down the hill side. This part on the city is much darker, the sweet exciting smells of the city centre are replaced by the smell of damp and decay. It is almost as if you can feel the water in the air. A thin layer of fog covers every surface. Dark alleyways filled with rubbish become home to the rats that escape from under drain covers. They scatter across the ground weaving in and out of the litter trying to find their next meal. It is almost as if you are being watched, the glowing eyes of unknown animals sit patiently in the corners of the street untouched by light. A rhythmic drop of water falls from a drain pipe covering the cobbled paths in layer of grime. Not a soul stirs all night. One by one window lights disappear leaving the winding roads lit by the faint glow of the lamp lights. The moonlight highlights the rooftops of the houses, the light blocked by the occasional creature skipping across the beams with ease. Although you have only caught a glimpse of the city you feel as if you want to stay longer and explore the endless pathways. 

The city of Esmeralda is unknown to its neighbouring towns. It lies behind great mountains, and although it exists across a vast amount of space, it is completely self-dependent. From above the city looks as if it were created by a colony of ants, a mess of veins intersecting across a large mass of land. Before leaving the last thing you notice is a faint glow of light from a building in the distance. A baker begins his work, preparing for another days work. The smell is reminiscent of the beginning of your journey in the market stalls of Esmeralda. Standing at the last house of the city you see the shadows and a faint glow of light as the city of water sleeps on. 

What If Metropolis - Key Thumbnails

What If Metropolis - Photoshop Exercise

Process for my orthographic designs of the main houses in the foreground.

Front House 

Back House 

Middle House 

Close up of orthographs of back house   

What If Metropolis - Photoshop Exercise

Here is an experimental drawing planning out the look of my final houses from today's photoshop lesson.

      

3D Modelling of Esmeralda - Developmental Thumbnails

In my chosen thumbnail I found that I created a limited amount of objects to focus on in detail. I have decided to look into the chimney's in more detail as they are a part of the main structures in the foreground. 

What If Metropolis - Brief

For our new project (a continuation of Environment), we are looking at making a 3d model of the our chosen city including a matte painting based off on of my concept paintings. As a start I have chosen the digital painting I think will work best and started to plan out my ideas.

What will be modelled in maya. 

What will be a matte painting.

Reflective Statement

Reflective Statement

In the time that I had, I feel that I did well in fulfilling the brief. Although I didn’t finish everything entirely, I completed most of the requirements, including the three digital paintings and supporting thumbnails. I have learned so much during this process already, however I am still learning so I think my digital paintings reflect that. I have never created anything like this before, so I think that it is just a case of practice. After finishing this brief, I realised that there are many things that I could have done differently, for example, time management, practicing more often in photoshop and accurate perspective. I also feel that I was overthinking when thumbnailing which made me struggle to create enough to reach the requirement.

I think that in hindsight, if I were to do this project again, I would plan my time out better and practice on my drawing style. I would also like to develop a looser drawing style when it comes to thumbnailing to get more ideas down on the page.

Overall, I am happy with what I have produced at this stage and I know I will improve in the future.

Invisible Cities - Research Material

Research Material by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - Presentation

Presentation by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - 'Art Of'

art of by Alex on Scribd

Invisible Cities - Exterior Low Angle Shot

Invisible Cities - Exterior Establishing Shot

Invisible Cities - Interior Establishing Shot

Invisible Cities - Thumbnails

I have produced three main thumbnails that I plan to use as a guide when creating my final three paintings.

Concept Artist's - Who's Who

Dermot Power by Alex on Scribd

Space Oddities Film Reviews - Metropolis

Fig. 1. Metropolis poster. 

Metropolis, (1927) is an incredibly influential German silent film by director Fritz Lang. Both the original story and screen play was written by Lang's wife at the time Thea von Harbou. The film itself is about a young man Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), who discovers that the people living under the city are overworked and treated like slaves so that those above may live a privileged life. Freder falls in love with a teacher from below, Maria (Brigitte Helm) and the pair aim to help the workers, much to the dismay of his father. This results in a strange turn of events that ultimately leads to a happy ending for both sides. The film introduces many common tropes that we now expect to see in cinema, such as, a fight between good and evil, a damsel in distress, an evil scientist, and the climax of the film in which good triumphs over evil. Ideas like this influenced and changed the course of cinema as a result of Metropolis being so ahead of it's time. 

Fig. 2. Illustration of Director Fritz Lang. 

 Metropolis was created at the pinnacle of German Expressionism, a movement which saw the artist's emotions influencing the end product, focusing on the artists reality rather than what the artist really saw. This movement had an interesting affect on cinema, for example, long shadows, artificial sets and unusual angles which gave the audience a new perspective. These principals are clear in Metropolis. All the buildings are structured with lots of contrast to emphasise the feeling that the characters that live below are almost in a prison like space, where as Freder's home is open and light with lots of soft edges. There is use of unusual camera angles and long shadows. Alongside the fact that it was part of the German Expressionist movement, it was also widely considered as the first science fiction film, influencing films such as Blade Runner. Lang was working with and developing brand new concepts never seen before on film. The set design directly relates to the art style of the time. "They are controlled like hands on a clock. And when the machinery explodes, Freder has a vision in which the machinery turns into an obscene devouring monster." (Ebert, 1998). Roger Ebert explains the first moment in the film when reality becomes twisted. Freder sees a vision, the structured machinery before him morphs into a monster, linking back to the idea of German Expressionism and the break in reality. There is a focus on time, the every day monotony of the working class against the repetition of the bells chiming. The imagery produced in these scenes was futuristic looking at the time whilst still keeping different elements that the audience would recognise. The buildings are heavily influenced by the architecture in New York.

Fig. 3. Cityscape in Metropolis. 

Metropolis was made during the time of the Weimar Republic and the hyper inflation in Germany as a result of the First World War. The population was extremely poor, the government  essentially printed more money in a bid to resolve this, which then lead to the devalue of their currency. This had an impact on cinema in a number of ways, one being that when people were going to the cinema they wanted to escape their everyday lives, which film makers then responded to by making films with a heavily driven story with a happy ending. The film has key themes such as; Capitalism, role of religion in modern cities, utopia and dystopia, and motherhood. I this case the theme of motherhood stems from the character Maria, who acts as a mother like character to the working class children. She is also responsible for the element of religion, she is depicted like a saint standing in front of a cross preaching down to the workers. 
There are many subtle religious references throughout the picture. This includes the stories the Maria tells, and the reference to the seven deadly sins. As well as this symbols like the upside down pentagram can be scene through the scientists home and work space suggesting the things he has created are unholy. When the scientist Rotwang is transferring Maria's likeness to the robotic man, the star represents ideas of satanism. Once created, the robot like creation represents the duality in human nature. The scenes showing the people working a ten hour day would have been relatable to the audience of the time. During the time Lang was creating this film there was a rise in fascism as well as the country being between two world wars. The director, Lang also had Jewish heritage which made him a target for the Nazi regime, a group who had heavy control over propaganda and film being produced at the time. "Fredersen’s city is designed to malnourish its inhabitants. The workers’ city is strictly utilitarian, its streets completely deserted with no signs of life save for when the grunts trudge home from work." (Abrams, 2010). Simon Abrams explains the imagery in the film which is arguably not that far from the reality of the audience that would have watched it. All of these contextual elements had an affect on the creation of Metropolis. The picture shows class divide and a 'Mediator' otherwise known as 'Mittler' finding the middle ground between the two groups. The more you read into the film, the more you realise these elements of propaganda creeping in. 

Fig. 4. Maria's double. 

Fig. 5. Rotwang creating Maria's double. 

                       

Fig. 6. The Seven Deadly Sins (Death).

The scale of the production was unbelievable for it's time. All of the sets were built slightly bigger than the actors to create the realistic effect portrayed through the screens. The use of special effects in a time where technology was limited. Metropolis uses various different techniques to achieve these realistic effects, such as the layering of film to create a double exposure like effect. This film has created a captivating visual experience for audiences of it's time as well as the modern age. The processes and style of Metropolis has influenced modern science fiction cinema continuously, making directors think about the effects of science on society and the idea of robots living around us. It also introduced ideas of dystopian societies. Johnathan Romney goes in to detail about how revolutionary the pictures concepts were. "The film's futurism is still breathtaking, from its Art Deco titles to the neon spiral in Rotwang's lab: this is surely must the first film to imagine people communicating by video screen." (Romney, 2010). 







  
Illustration List:
- Lang, F. (1927). Figure 1. Metropolis poster. https://davinciemporium.com/metropolis-1927-3-sheet-
movie-poster-lithograph/
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 3. Cityscape in Metropolis. https://www.the-philosophy.com/metropolis-fritz-lang-review
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 4. Maria's double. https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2017/12/unified-theory/
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 5. Rotwang creating Maria's double. https://imgur.com/gallery/kkVP6/comment/1113470439
-Lang, F. (1927). Figure 6. The Seven Deadly Sins (Death). http://www.scifiwright.com/2011/01/metropolis/

-Marszalek, A. Figure 2. Illustration of Director Fritz Lang. https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/222-the-sprawling-obsessive-career-of-fritz-lang/?page=all

Bibliography:
-Abrams, S. (2010). slantmagazine.com. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/metropolis/
-Ebert, R. (1998). rogerebert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927
-Romney, J. (2010). independent.co.uk. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/metropolis-fritz-lang-145-mins-pg-2076981.html

Invisible Cities - Photoshop Exercise

Colour study from Photoshop Lesson. We looked at the importance of colour theory and other techniques that would better my digital painting. The Painting I used for reference was painted by Caspar David Friedrich. 

Invisible Cities OGR

Invisible Cities by Alex on Scribd