Virtual Environment Rationale

I have created a haunted castle dungeon ride. I first came up with the idea of a castle from looking at textures on the internet and I found a round brick one which I thought would work well for a castle, so applied it to the theater plan and worked from there. I have created a very simple castle with 4 towers with a simple track that follows around the dungeon cells. Initially I was going to create a complete castle but I found this too difficult and I was unsure of what rooms I could create. I think a castle dungeon was more achievable and works better for a ride as its more of a scary place. I was inspired by the Norwich Castle for this ride which has a underground dungeon, I have been there before and I found it to be a cold, dark and creepy place so I knew this could make a good ride. I have gone for a medieval theme and gone for a german expressionism/gothic style for the entrance and doors, I have made them tall, ending in a point like daggers or sharp teeth, which I think makes them look more scary. I was inspired by german expressionist films like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' (Directed by Robert Wiene) which is full of sharp shapes in the mise en scene and the castle in 'Nosferatu' (Directed by F. W. Murnau) with a doorway which also ends in a point, the shape makes Count Orlock look trapped within a coffin. Originally I had my entrance and cells extremely tall and exaggerated like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' but because it was so tall you couldn't see the point from the view of the camera so I made them smaller.

I have started the animation from the outside quite far back so there is a good view of the castle and its towers, I also find the wait going towards the castle builds up tension. I wanted to create ghosts and skeletons in each cell of my dungeon but I found it too difficult, I really struggled in trying to make any 3D characters, I tried looking at some tutorials but they were far too advanced and complicated to follow. I ended up finding a picture of a skull on the internet and used the line spline to draw around it, I then extruded the shape and made it black so it was a skull shadow shape. I copied a few of these so I could make them fly towards the camera for the scare scenes which worked quite well. I used a basic skeleton shape on the program for one of the cells which the camera quickly moves past as well as a skeleton that crawls along the ground. I made the doors open by themselves for the cart to enter which is something I am really pleased with as it looks quite dramatic. I had some problems adding textures from my computer to the skeletons and the doors so I used what what on the material editor, luckily there was a wood material on there for the door.

I have used the lighting to make sure the cells can be seen. I made the light move as the camera follows the track which took a long time to get right. I made the camera move around the track which took a long time to work out and attached the cart to the camera using a dummy. I have added a fog effect to give it a creepy, ghostly look. I have used Premiere Pro to edit some of the animation, making the entrance into the castle much quicker than the speed of the rest of the ride as this part was less interesting. I also used this program to add the sound effects, I have added a ghostly ambient sound effect for the background, a train going along the track sound effect, creaking doors, evil laughs and screams, all which I cut up, repeated and changed the speed to fit with the animation. I really like the ghostly background sound effect which I repeated and the slow creaking of the doors which creates that spooky atmosphere. This whole project was a massive challenge for me but I am quite pleased with how its turned out, I just wish I could have created some 3D characters in each cell, perhaps made more corridors with cells and created objects for the outside. If I had more time with this I would have liked to create a complete castle then ends up in the dungeon.

Haunted Castle Dungeon Ride - Influences

I have gone for medieval theme and gone for a german expressionism/gothic style for the entrance and cells, they are tall and end it a point like sharp teeth or daggers.

Nosferatu (Directed by F. W Murnau)

Count Orlock inside a castle door which is very similar to the shape of my entrance and cells. The shape of the door makes Orlock looked trapped within a coffin.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Directed by Robert Wiene)

Dagger shaped window pointing at the victim.

I was inspired by the sharp shapes in this film for my entrance and cells.

Norwich Castle
I was influenced by the dungeon below the Norwich Castle near where I live as when I went there I thought it was a very dark, cold and creepy place.

Textures/Images I used:

Texture I used for my castle which I got from www.cgtextures.com

I used Photoshop to make the texture darker for the floor as it was far too bright, possibly because of the light.

Skull I used to draw around using the line spline.

My Haunted Castle Dungeon Ride:

3ds Max

This is my Haunted Castle Dungeon Ride on 3ds Max. I haven't managed to create any ghosts yet, I just have the set which took my a long time to make. I still need to make the cart follow along the track.

Animation - Rough drawings and plans

I decided to go for a haunted castle dungeon ride. I've been to a dungeon in a castle before and I found it cold and creepy so I thought it would make a good ride, I also haven't seen a castle dungeon ride before. I have gone for high but narrow doorway and cells that ends in a point, which are almost like sharp teeth. I want to create evil spirits that fly out of the cells as well as flying skulls and a hand that reaches out.

Cart

I decided to go for the simplest design for the cart as you won't get to see it, the ride will completely be from the camera in front of the cart. I want to put all my time creating the haunted castle, my favorite cart design is the one with the skull with a light from its eyes, this would be really good for the ride if it was pitch black only lit from a small light.

Interactive Media Rationale

I knew nothing about web design before creating this project and I found it really difficult. I had drawn lots of rough designs in a small sketchbook and looked at lots of different online portfolio websites for inspiration. It took me a while to try and get a basic layout done as I struggled with the code. I had to look at lots of different websites for help, I found tutorials and basic code which I could use and then edit. I got help from some people and I managed to create a basic layout which I then used to add my images and text.

I had two favourite designs; one was a circle layout and the other was with stripes and boxes. I really wanted to create a layout which was all in a circle as it’s completely different. For the gallery I would have had the images in a few circles and had either ‘Next or Previous’ buttons or a scrollbar along the bottom to view them. I couldn’t create this though as I couldn’t find any help in doing this and it is something that would probably take a lot of experience to create. My other design I liked was inspired by BBC’s ‘The Culture Show’ titles involving the titles over some of the diagonal stripes. I have always liked this design but I wanted to make it my own so I decided to combine the circle idea and stripes, but I done mine in black and white. I used Photoshop to create the striped circles which I used for the titles of each page. I have kept it simple yet its bold from the black and white, I also think having a white background is best for a gallery as more of your attention is on the images.

I originally created the homepage image with the titles of each page on using Photoshop so I could use hotspots to link them but I decided to make a navigation bar along the top. I really like this bar as when you hover over any of these links the text turns white over a black box, I prefer this to just hotspot links. For the portfolio page I used a piece of my best artwork cut up in each stripe which I really like. At first I put on each page of my portfolio such as ‘Photography’ a cropped piece of my photography underneath the title image but I realised it wasn’t needed and it looked far neater with just the images. I made smaller versions of my artwork under the title images, I made the height of each image the same size which didn’t work out so good with the landscape pieces but I am still happy with my galleries. I managed to make it so when they are clicked on they are viewed larger in a separate window which I am really pleased with.

I made icons under every title image with links to my Blog, Vimeo, YouTube, DeviantArt and Twitter so people can easily find me on these websites and keep updated with my work and what I’m up to. I have made the icons simple and clear like ipod/ipad app icons.

I struggled a lot in trying to create this but I am very pleased with the final outcome, if I had more time I would add more information to the ‘About’ page with ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons to view new circles with text on. I would also create a scrollbar along the bottom of the film and animation page showing one row of videos, so the page wouldn’t be crowded and I could have larger videos.

Galleries

Research for visual essay

I have used photoshop to show my favourite pieces of work from the V&A Museum, Science Museum and The Natural History Museum.

I like the piece top right with the red line over the portrait. The Artist is Dryden Goodwin and the artwork is called 'Caul 08'.  This was in the Science Museum and its a digital photograph with a digital drawing toshow the activity of the brain. This reminded me of Jonathan Hodgson's work drawing over film which is something I am interested in. I could create a film and draw over the top to show different emotions or give people powers.

I like the piece with the text, I would like to create a piece of work that involves words in a film, perhaps a poem.

I would like to create a piece of work about the stars, I was inspired by the about of work in the Science Museum that related to the space. I have always been interested in space and the stars since I was young. I could create a time lapse of the stars moving across the night's sky. 12 hours would show the complete orbit of the earth, I could try taking a photograph every 30 mins of 12 hours. I could used words over the top and a poem. Perhaps I could even show night turn to day and day back to night.

Website

Homepage

I ended up making the links to each page as a bar along the top. I did this so I could hover over any of these links and the text would turn white over a black box, which I really like.

I have added icons for my Blog, Vimeo, YouTube, DeviantArt and Twitter, which are like the app icons on the iphone and ipad.

Portfolio Page

For this page I have used a piece of my artwork and fit it to the stripes. Underneath the image are the links to the different sections of my portfolio which I created in photoshop, I made these as hotspots.

Art Page

Photography Page

Film & Animation Page

Posters & Illustration Page

About Page

I have put some information about my education in the stripes using photoshop. I like this as the text is opposite to each stripe. If I wanted to add any more information about myself I could add a next button to get to a new page with the stripes with new text.

Contact Page

I have used photoshop to add my E-mail address on one of the stripes. I tried making a message box but I struggled in creating a script so the messages would be sent to my e-mail address.