'Under the White Sun' - Initial Meeting

'Under the White Sun' is a film about a dystopian future where people over a certain age pay life tax and the world is managed by an aggressive organisation called CSEC. The genre for this film is Sci-Fi and influences included Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999). I personally felt their script was reminiscent of Logan's Run (1976).

I emailed 'Under the White Sun' about working on the graphics as this is something I was interested in developing as I feel I already have an eye for it. Plus from the examples of their inspirations in the pitch I could tell this would be a fun and creative project. The Production Designer in their team, Sebastian Chan, responded promptly to my email saying they would love for me to help out.
I was one of a few people doing graphics work for the film so I was confident it wasn't going to be too demanding. Jane was our head of department and would be in charge of keeping us on track and informed.

Initial Meeting Notes

The notes below are from our first meeting and a production design tutorial we had with Francis Boyle at LCC. He was incredibly helpful in making clear to the film students what he thought was possible for us as an Art Dept to do and coming up with solutions to possible issues whilst raising others.

After our initial meeting, we created a Facebook messenger group so that we could discuss ideas, keep updated and on target throughout the Christmas break.

Alexandra Palace - Nothing But Thieves

I have been to concerts in Alexandra Palace a few times now and I every time I find myself staring at the building longer than the musician I am there to see. I found the design of the hall interesting and wondered what the inspiration was. I thought ancient Roman or Greek perhaps?

Alexandra Palace was built in the Victorian era and first opened in 1875.

Nothing But Thieves at Ally Pally - my photo

Concert Hall - Google images

Concert hall - my photo

From the last photo it is clear that the columns are in the style of the Corinthian Order.

Left: The origin of the Corinthian Order, illustrated in Claude Perrault's Vitruvius, 1684. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_order

Right: Corinthian Order. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/designucdavis/130376828/

Bishop Home - Sketch Up

Making a SketchUp model helped me find the rough measurements of the set. For me, this was an important part of the process and I could quickly make alterations if it didn't quite match up to the screenshots I had from the film.

Finals Shots of my SketchUp model -

I really feel like I've developed my SketchUp skills since using it for the first time last year. I had never made skirting board or cornice before, but now I feel like I could almost do it with my eyes closed. I also used the 'follow me' tool a lot more for things like the banister. This was hard to figure out at first but was easy enough to get to grips with after a while messing around with it.

Contextual Studies - Goggle making

For the Unit 6 festival, I designed and made the goggles we would be using for our installation. I knew they could be made easily and in a few pieces out of cardboard. I happened to be inundated with the stuff after my house had bought several desks from IKEA.

Initial drawn designs -

Rather than making them out of three pieces we managed to make them out of two; a front piece and another piece that would block out the light from the sides.

Dan modeling the goggles after assembly -

After this, I then made the viewing holes and passed the goggles on to the other members of my group who were painting and attaching the elastic.

Me modeling finished goggles -

I'm pretty happy with how these turned out considering how simple they were. They fit well and weren't too uncomfortable to wear. Sometimes it doesn't have to be complex, it can be as simple as some cardboard and elastic. Cardboard can be a very useful material and this is a nice reminder of that.

Farley's prop house

We visited Farley with Kerry and were taken on a tour by Francesca Farley, the granddaughter of the founder Joseph Farley.
They hire out antique props which mostly date back from before the early 1900s.
This was such an inspiring place to look around and would certainly help to create an authentic looking set.

Rough Model and floor plan

Looking at my very rough card model I can easily see that the rooms are too small. It is hard to compare to the screenshots as it looks like a wide angle lens may have been used. But this was still very helpful for figuring out big errors.

Stairwell ~

Playroom ~

Boy's bedrooms ~

Music room ~

First floor plan ~

Rough floor plan with dressing

Using the makerspace

Before the start of this academic year, I had decided to try challenge myself more through my work. At the top of my list was learning how to use the 3D printer.

The grey piano was my first attempt, I wanted to make a piece of furniture from the 'Moonrise Kingdom' set for my model. The first piano was actually very successful but I think it was a bit small so I decided to print another model that I altered myself in SketchUp. This time the 3D printers were having some trouble and kept getting clogged before it finished. Eventually, I ended up with the white piano (pictured bottom right).

It is a shame these machines don't have proper technicians because I think they can be a valuable resource for us. Maybe there is something we can do to save our makerspace.