Re: Clocktower Revisions

Wow! I just looked at the NEW clock tower.... and I have to say I think that is a great idea! Obviously there is still lots left to do, but it is SO out of the box.. That is just what was needed.. And it sends my mind in a dozen different directions as to how to build off of this idea to improve the city square thing as a whole. I had told you I wasn't too into the shot from a certain point in, since there just wasn't much to look at... but this opens a door that was sorely needed.

I started thinking first about how to integrate the chassis into the scene - so it didn't look like someone dragged it in the day before. This led to ideas for all types of slight modifications to the area directly under and around the chassis and extending around the courtyard that could really be the missing ingredient.

PLEASE don't touch the base of this thing for now. Just figure out how the clock works!

If I did have anything to say about the overall design as it stands - it would be that the proportions of the chassis to the tower seem reversed from what I would expect.. (I have been reading books on Bonsai today). But the overall scale of this (monolith?device?) in proportion to the girl is perfect.

The basic idea - that it is built upon the chassis of something else is awesome and I think once we work out how to really ground this in the surrounding space and to the ground plane; all of those small adjustments and changes that will be required to the scene will be for the better.

By ground it I mean things like:

Really old remnants of track - or other cars / chassis'. Or, if it was dragged into place, huge chain links and some type of guy wire system built into the surrounding buildings. Or part of a bombed out train station or departure arrival gate. (not literally bombed out, just super old) Or one of those things they put up at the end of the line across the tracks..

Then, imagine time has gone by and people just built around these things - That they could not move. Went on with their lives... Its crazy to think about!

Its like the train chassis (or whatever it ends up looking like ultimately) gives us a strong visual mythology that we can reference throughout the scene... when I saw these frames I simultaneously realized why I was a little unhappy with the way some things had been going - and how we could move forward at the level we expect.

I was disappointed because although we have written a script, boarded out an entire narrative and done reference studies on almost every aspect of the art direction.. It still didn't feel like a 'world' to me. I felt we were still left doing one-off pieces that we were hoping would fall together and become the world.

Now having seen this beast of a clock tower - I have the answers I needed to some of our most difficult questions:

How steampunk are we gonna go?

How are we going to make our largely European influenced city feel integrated into the later scenes which are SO mechanical? Where is the transition? And what is the specific nature of the relationship between the two?

What are we going to do to keep the whole clock in a courtyard thing from looking like a giant set piece?

How are we going to add the needed detail to the city space as a whole to give it an identity apart from any other place?

How are we using all of the weird wires and such / why are they there in the first place?

What happened here - to make this world what it is?

Some thing epic happened here.. and this is what is left.. And that is where our story picks up.

Kick ass work.