These are images of various types of cities are gathered from different films and games; Total Recall (2012), Tron Legacy (2010), Bioshock (2007), Dredd (2012), Metropolis (1927) and Destiny (2014).
So my main focus for the digital painting of the Emerald City, is to incorporate a dystopian city scape appearance. This will contrast with most of the adapted versions of this story, all of which describe it as magical and sensational place. Therefore my version will be portrayed as a darker side, in which all the buildings will be grouped together to give a sense of entrapment, they will be deteriorated with dark tones and towering buildings.
Originally I thought of this idea when I found this video on youtube, which showed behind-the-scenes making of a city used in the remake film Dredd (2012).
Hey Sam - I have a question for you: what justification do you have for making Baum's world so obviously dystopian? The trend for adding 'darkness' to children's stories is clear, but remember, you're seeking to pull something 'out' of the text, not impose a reading ontop of it - no skin grafts, you see. The idea of the Emerald city being a proper 'Metropolis' - i.e. vast, Manhattan-like - is born from the idea that the Emerald City is the city of dreams. There is an argument here, because, like Oz himself, the city is more 'appearance' over substance, which means you could play visual games between 'illusion' and 'reality' - but just laying in a veneer of dystopian production design when that isn't in the source material is arguably an imposition, and not an extrapolation. In the famous film adaptation, the reason why the Emerald City is styled after Deco, is because, then Deco design was the height of sophistication and 'modern' - and citified. Using this same logic, I'd suggest that Apple's stylings are synonymous for people now of the 'most' advanced and the 'most' desirable and the 'most' sophisticated. I'm going to suggest therefore that you seek to think more about the city as representative of as an 'ideal', and find a visual language to express that - because you haven't been commissioned to make a dark sequel, prequel or re-telling of your source material - you've been asked to identify a visual strategy to bring Baum's vision to extraordinary life. Give it some thought - but in this instance the old 'Dystopian' switcheroo is, in itself, a production design cliche...
Hey Sam - I have a question for you: what justification do you have for making Baum's world so obviously dystopian? The trend for adding 'darkness' to children's stories is clear, but remember, you're seeking to pull something 'out' of the text, not impose a reading ontop of it - no skin grafts, you see. The idea of the Emerald city being a proper 'Metropolis' - i.e. vast, Manhattan-like - is born from the idea that the Emerald City is the city of dreams. There is an argument here, because, like Oz himself, the city is more 'appearance' over substance, which means you could play visual games between 'illusion' and 'reality' - but just laying in a veneer of dystopian production design when that isn't in the source material is arguably an imposition, and not an extrapolation. In the famous film adaptation, the reason why the Emerald City is styled after Deco, is because, then Deco design was the height of sophistication and 'modern' - and citified. Using this same logic, I'd suggest that Apple's stylings are synonymous for people now of the 'most' advanced and the 'most' desirable and the 'most' sophisticated. I'm going to suggest therefore that you seek to think more about the city as representative of as an 'ideal', and find a visual language to express that - because you haven't been commissioned to make a dark sequel, prequel or re-telling of your source material - you've been asked to identify a visual strategy to bring Baum's vision to extraordinary life. Give it some thought - but in this instance the old 'Dystopian' switcheroo is, in itself, a production design cliche...
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