Why I chose this role:
I chose to be a Set Designer for this project as it made sense because I’m a Set Design student, and it was a chance to build my portfolio. Also, our team was formed of three people from Costume, one from tech arts and one from set design, so it made sense really! I’ve also been wanting more opportunities to practice my skills in Blender and considering this is a VR project, all sets would have to be built digitally anyway. Therefore, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try to create some renders.
Another reason why I chose this role was because it seemed more of a Production Designer role as opposed to a Set Designer. There was a large number of sets (10), which meant each design had to achieve a certain style and concept, but didn’t necessarily mean they had to be a fully realised set by the end of the project. I had never designed a series of sets before, only usually one specific fully realised set, so it would be a challenge to see how I would design multiple sets in less detail, rather than one set in loads of detail.
Plan as a Set Designer:
My main plan as a set designer is to push myself and learn more about Blender. I will try to make some renders for the sets, even if they are not fully finished and are just used to show a rough design proposal.
I will also work on not overwhelming myself with work and going into too much detail. I will use this project as practice for this by designing a collection of sets, rather than one set in detail.
Working collaboratively with Laura is essential for the Set Design work. We will come up with initial designs/concept boards for all of the sets, then refine our chosen sets in further detail. I will display my design work in the form of research boards, sketches, rough technical drawings and renders.
Process
Location Boards:
Laura and I started off the design for this project with and understanding that we both wanted input in the overall aesthetic of the Hunger City World. As we were writing the story and creating the concept together, it made sense for us to also create Location boards together to join our visual ideas. We used the Script Breakdown as a starting point so we could create all of the relevant boards. We also made the boards so we could upload it to the drive for the Costume Department to reference to, that way they understood the environment their characters would be in, and design in accordance to it.
We managed to make the location boards using the Collaboration Feature on Powerpoint. This lasted for a few days, however we kept having problems with the file getting corrupted. Because of this, Laura finished off the rest of the Location Boards while I continued working on any schedules or Group Documents.
Dividing the Sets:
Laura and I split up the sets according to which ones were included in our half of the story. The sets divided up as follows…
Chelsea:
– Olympic Studios
– 70s Rock Bar
– Bar Street and Alleyway
– Manhattan Chase Rooftop
– Liberty Street
– Abandoned TV Shop
– Poster Street
Laura:
– Giant Escalator
– Optical Illusion Rooms
– Freak City Rooftop
Once the sets were divided, we both used the Location Boards as our main reference points for our designs. That way we didn’t stray too far from our agreed concepts and visuals and maintained a collaborative approach. A lot of our research into the designs was visual research as opposed to written research, as a lot of the written research is what we did individually at the start of the project.
Designing the Sets:
I tried to use a similar method for each interior design, using the Locations Boards, doing a rough floor plan/sketch and then making a 3D model in sketchup. I’ve been using Sketchup for about 5 years so I’m confident enough to make a quick model in that first during my planning process. Once the basic model was done, I would add textures and props from the 3D Warehouse. Once this was finished, I would Export the SketchUp file to a Collada file (3D Model file) and then import it into Blender. Importing a Sketchup model into blender always has the chance of going a bit messy. If you don’t export the file properly, parts of your model can go missing or geometry can become corrupted. I learned this the hard way! After watching many tutorials, I learned the best way is to purge all unused geometry in your sketchup model, and get rid of any groups and components before exporting. It’s still a bit messy, but much easier to clean up afterwards. Once the Sketchup file is imported into blender, I add lighting and make last adjustments before completing some renders.
For the streets however, my research started off at the Location boards and then I started looking at old shop fronts and buildings in 70s New York. Another helpful thing was walking around on Google streetview and taking screenshots of the streets. Although things have changed a lot since the 70s, a lot of Architecture has stayed the same, or at least similar. Lastly, using Textures.com was a great way to create the streets. I would download building textures in the “Derelict”, “Apartments” and “Industrial” categories. I then took these textures and collaged them to create the streets, and filled in any custom designs by drawing them digitally. I would then use the “Import Image as Plane” add-on in Blender, which imports an image straight into Blender as a mesh, meaning you’re able to edit it and sculpt into it. From my weekly Blender sessions I learned from Molly that when you’re making a street model, you don’t have to go into major amounts of detail. This is because the viewer is down on the ground and can’t see a lot of what’s up on the buildings anyway. All you need to do to make it look believable is to extrude windows inwards, and extrude window ledges and doorframes outwards. I didn’t have time to do this with all of my models, but I did manage to add lighting to them all and create some renders.
Olympic Studios:
The Olympic Studios in London is the first location where you begin the VR experience, from the perspective of David Bowie. You walk into the studios, as if you’re about to record the song Diamond Dogs in 1974. It was an venue for rock and pop music where artists like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix would use to record their songs. David Bowie also used this studio to record Diamond Dogs. We decide to use the original design of the studios of how it looked in the 70s, so the viewer can get used to essentially going back in time. The viewer is required to sit on a stool, surrounded by boards covered in posters of artwork related to Edvard Munch, Guy Peellaert, George Orwells 1984 and writings of William S. Burroughs. All of these things inspired the Diamond Dogs Song. As the viewer looks at these posters, their vision becomes distorted as they’re transported into an alternate world in 1970s Manhattan.
70’s Rock Bar:
The 70s Rock Bar is where the viewer appears as they’re transported to Hunger City. They are sitting at a 70s Rock Bar, the tables are all sticky and the room smells of smoke and alcohol. Other people are chatting around the viewer, enjoying themselves. This is the room where the song Diamond Dogs starts playing, then the Diamond Dogs run in and attack. We chose to start the experience in a 70s Rock Bar as they were an iconic place to hang out in the 70s. The main inspiration for the design of the bar came from CBGBs, a famous 70s Rock Bar. To Design the Bar I took common features from other Rock Bars from 70s Manhattan. Low ceilings, a stage area, a Bar, underground club and unpractical toilets. A lot of the bars looked like they had been thrown together, in cramped dirty spaces, but no-one seemed to cared as it was only about having fun and listening to music. This mentality inspired the personality of the “Freaks”, they just want to be themselves.
Bar Street & Alleyway:
This is the first main experience of Hunger City. You’re prompted to run out of the 70s Rock Bar onto this street, after the Diamond Dogs break in. The Street is full of old, run down bars and venues, graffiti covered walls and smalls fires filling the streets. The glam rock scene was prominent in 70s New York, which inspired us to create this street to show the fall of Rock and increasing crime towards the end of the decade. The way we came up with the streets was by looking at photos taken in 1970s New York, as well as walking around street view on google maps. We then used Textures.com to find textures of derelict buildings and collaged them together to make a street. Others were drawn using these textures as reference, so we had a mix of our own designs and real design. We repeated this process for all streets.
Manhattan Chase Rooftop:
Taken directly from the lyrics “he lives on top of Manhattan Chase. We looked at the actual rooftop of Chase Bank and simplified its design to look less techy and more grungy. We set up the Roof to look as if someone lived on there to match with the lyrics by including David Bowies Dressing Table, an armchair and tv and a broken down elevator. The design was first drawn up in a rough plan, then it was made in SketchUp and imported into blender so we could light the scene and walk around it.
Liberty Street:
Based on a real street in Manhattan, Liberty Street has two landmark sites on it, Manhattan Chase Bank and The Federal Reserve Bank. The viewer lands on this street after they zipline from the Rooftop of Chase Bank. Having them land in a place based on a real location, it momentarily brings them back to reality and lets them calm their nerves.
Abandoned TV Shop:
You’re prompted into the Abandoned TV shop by the “lady wearing a Dali broach”, (faceless woman). She tells you to hide in the shop as the Diamond Dogs surround her and take her face. This room is set up as if it was an Old 70s TV shop, but it is a lot more chaotic and has an uncomfortable feel to it. The TVs are stacked on top of each other. There is one TV larger with a chair in front of it, where the viewer has to sit and watch the Lady outside get her face taken. This set was inspired by George Orwells 1984 idea of Big Brother. The set was intentionally dressed to make it look as if someone had set up the space for the viewer, making the viewer feel as if someone is trying to control their actions and decisions throughout the experience. You see what Big Brother/Diamond Dogs want you to see.
Poster Street:
Poster Street is literally a street covered in strange posters and graffiti art, all related to George Orwells 1984, conspiracies and events that happened in 2020. Bowie originally proposed to create a play which predicted a lot of events that happened in 2020, so that’s where the inspiration came from. Also, as this VR experience is set in the 70s, we wanted to create the feeling of some kind of time loop, and manipulate the players perspective of reality.
Reflections
I found this part of the project quite challenging as there was so much work to do. Usually I am very tough on myself when there is work I do not complete to every tiny detail, however considering the circumstances and limited time we had, I think I did a good job of covering all sets. I wasn’t able to explore all sets in major detail, but I did improve my skills in Blender and Rendering which was one of my main aims.
I struggled with the work load at times, as I am also doing work outside of University and I’m currently trying to move house. I have also been having issues with headaches everyday, which I’ve been trying to sort out during this project too. The headaches were so bad at times that I felt I was unable to work and would have to do less demanding work like the schedules, meeting lists etc. Therefore I feel like I didn’t put in as much effort as I could have done. But I also need to stop putting myself down, so that’s a task for my next project!