Design Fiction: Alternate Worlds

As mentioned in a previous post design fictions focus around narrative and storytelling, most of the time creating an entirely different universe from our own. In fact, its extremley common in fantsy and scifi works, as we take Middle Earth from Tolkien's Hobbit, or perhaps more recently Westeros from George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones.

 

With this in mind, its interesting to think how many fictional universes have been created since the begging of fiction work as a whole. 

If we analyse the previously mentioned works of Phillip Pullman, we notice that the story unfolds in a universe almost completley pararel to our own, but with major diffrences that underline its almost alien qualities. The buildings and locations described are mostly the same as ones that exist, but with major architectural characteristics; machinery and mode of transport function in a mechanical manner, poewred by electricity and otherworldly forces; and in this new Earth, the existance of a kingdom ruled by sentient polar bears, the Pansebjorne.

The plot of the books themseves focus on the concept of the reality of other worlds, universes conncected by a subsance called Dust. These worlds intertwine and connect and the similarities between many of them and ours is uncanny. 

We see something very similar in the 1982 film Tron, in which the protagonist, owner of an arcade, develops new technology that allows him to eneter the Grid, the progammed world of the arcade game Tron, revealing a world with its own social system, classes, justice system and with a completly different biology, of both the enviroment and the characters them sleve, no longer organic beings but lines of code that disintigrate into pixels when terminated.

Looking at these two completley different works of fiction, and their own universes, we can see how the both translate extremely well into the Multiverse Theory

-The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of finite and infinite possible universes, including the universe in which we live. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them.
The various universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes", "other universes" or "alternate universes."

With this in mind, altough childish, the possibility of worlds like Westeros, Middle Earth and the Grid being actual existing universes is an exiting and inspiring though, that stimulates new possibilities in creating fictonal work.

Design Fiction: Visual Styles

In a friday evenig seminar, we briefley spoke about fictinal designs, in particular Steampunk and Cyberpunk; two genres that I found myslef draw to during my school years.

Steampunk:
-Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Although its literary origins are sometimes associated with the cyberpunk genre, steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has maintained mainstream usage, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk may, therefore, be described as neo-Victorian. Steampunk perhaps most recognisably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art.

Cyberpunk:
Cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction in a future setting, tends to focus on the society of the proverbial "high tech low life"; featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as information technology and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.
Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences and among megacorporations, and tend to be set in a future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.

I became interested in Steampunk when I was encouraged to read Phillip Pullman's series "His Dark Materials", a trilogy the soon became one of my favourites. The style of writing is so vibrant that the world painted itself, and the visuals it created have been some of the most influential in my work.

 

Cyberpunk, however, is the style I'm most interested at the moment. I'm fascinated by the aesthetic and the narrative behind most cyberpunk orentated works, one of my favourites being George Orwell's 1984 and Blade Runner.

 

I intend to use this genre in my studio work.

Masks: Rituals and Theatre

As part of a studio project, I took refrence from masks. Coming from italy, masks are an important part of my countries theatrical history. So I decided to briefly research it.

Masks were orginally used for religious rituals since prehistoric times, but as everything else, it evolved into an object rapresentative of the theatre.

 

Masks can be found in every corner of the globe, and are a vital part in its artistic history.

In Europe, mask where first used in greek thetre to both interpet the character and amplify the dialogue so the sound reached every area of the theatre. 

In italian history, a mask originated in every region of the country, and each mask was interpreted as a character in various folkoristic comedies. Some of the most well known masks are Alrecchino (Harlequin) and Pulcinella, originating from Milan and Naples rispectivley.

 

I we move across the globe, we find that masks are more used for traditional purposes, religious events or celebrations, and each continent has its own characteristic mask. 

In sub-saharan Africa, masks ar an essential component in ritualistic dances and religious rituals, most representing humans or animals. Different regions have different styles and meanings.

 

In Asia, masks represent gods and demons, but are mostly used in the theatre, to reinact ancient legends and myths.

 

In America, the natives used masks to speak to animal gods and to perform rituals.

As we can see, masks are and have been a excellent medium to expolore, study and understand a country's history and culture; from religion to entertainment.

Japan's Monsters

In this lecture, we spoke of Japanese culture and aesthetic, how its consumerism has affected society and its appeal to western media.
The focus of the lecture was to establish the line between "Cute" and "Monstrous", a line that's very blurred when we look at a piece of animation like my Neghbour Totoro:

 

Although the characters may look soft and with a sunny disposition, they all have certain features that render them slightly morbid and disturbing, like the Catbus as we see above.

The "Giant Monster on the loose" genre is also significant in japanese entertainment, as one of the most famous "Giant Monster" film, Godzilla, now a clut movie, is originally Japanese.

This genre, though, emerged also in american filmaking, as we see with King Kong.

With this in mind, it easy to see the meaning of Geissbhuler's Pease Poster.

Animation: a History

"Animation refers to the creation of a sequence of images—drawn, painted, or produced by other artistic methods—that change over time to portray the illusion of motion."
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Zeotrope:
Invented by William Geroge Horner in 1834.
Injected movement into the still image by creating a succession of still onto a round base and, thanks to the fast spinning motion, induced movement, or rather, animation.
The zeotrope allowed a multiple audience.

 

Contemporary zeotropes can be found at Pixars Studios and Studio Ghibli:

Rotoscope:
Invented by Max Fleicher in 1915.
it was a device used to trace live action

 

It was complicated to use due to the speed of the capture; it was also hard to draw smooth and life-like movements.

Research:

Cell Animation:

Invented in 1915.

It was easier to produce with more stable results; fluid animation.

Research: