198.

490 Industrial Design Special Topic C

Designing Science Fiction

Assessment One (Formative):
Lecturers' Feedback

Group

Tamati Turnbull Akurangi, Timothy Ceder wall, Roshan Patel

Comments

Tropic Of Cancer

Currently, this is a bit of a half-baked concept. The premise was initially quite exciting, especially
from a mapping point of view (giant archipelago of water-based habitats) that could have been
developed into a really interesting and unusual storyline and means by which this world operates
(reminiscent of the recently discovered linked state of the Amazon basin before the conquistadores
arrived or speculations on how Polynesia might have functioned at one time) but the interesting
aspects of this world were kind of dropped for a scenario that is much less science fiction and more of
a disaster genre in some respects. The visualization of this world was also very opaque and vague and
didn't really convey much of the potential richness here. Your sketchy, diagrammatic approach to
visualizing the world actual detracts a little from the idea spurring on the imagination of the audience
and it's kind of boring right now. Compared to the other two water-based premises, yours is the least
considered and as it currently stands doesn't inspire a lot of excitement or narrative mystery at this
stage. This idea could work but you need to figure out what is actually interesting about it first then
try to visualize that. In the meantime, for 6 weeks work it's disappointing and somewhat
unsatisfactory progress at this stage. Ramp it up! Build around a much more detailed and
considered story with characters and specific conflicts and this could be a good project with more
engaging concept art.
Ir

Roy Parkhurst, Matthijs Siljee, Lyn Garrett

1st April 2010
 Assessment One (Formative):
Lecturers' Feedback

GENERAL COMMENTS
All groups need to really ramp up their design contributions in a diverse but still clearly coherent
manner. A lot more refined and resolved work needs to come out of the process. As far as the
process goes, the projects all have the necessary premise and contexts to develop, but a lot of
development needs to take place. The main areas of development should include:
• Material articulation of ideas in a designed form - develop your design ideas through
sketching and modelling;
• Much more considered and careful articulation of the premise which often means
increased attention to the communicative aspects of the exhibition display of materials
sequenced in such a way as to lead the audience through the concept as clearly as
possible - alongside the next phase of narrative and rule-book development, keeping
discussing what yoOu will be making for the final assessment. Be interesting and
innovative here as well;
• The "rule books" (or what is often referred to as "series" or "movie" bibles) need to be
more fully developed such that they provide sufficient detail for subsequent iterations
within that world. This is particularly important in the narrative possibilities sense with
adequate parameters to guide any of these potential iterations (writers, subsequent
designers, etc.>;
• To achieve this previous point, it may be necessary to now provide an actual "case study"
of a potential narrative. Think of this as a "pilot" which is the premise-establishing story
in any given fictional world so that subsequent writers I designers can use this as a our story has to do
background articulation to help them understand what needs to be taken into this!!!
consideration if they wish to pitch ideas or work on ideas set in your world. It might also
be possible to think of this story as more compressed in something like the "trailer" as
Lyn Garrett has pointed out on various occasions. This is not only for the people who
would be working within your world, but also as a kind of "hook" for a general audience
that sets up an interesting premise through a particular story, has plenty of room for
expansion and elaboration, and provides a reference foundation for subsequent iterations
within this world;
• The final presentation I exhibition should be thought of as the material basis for a
"pitch." Think of an example like The Dragon's Den in which business people with
"good" ideas have to pitch their idea to a panel to persuade them to "invest" in their
idea. It would be a good exercise to think of your project as an attempt to convince a
panel to go forward from there with the project;
• While most projects clearly show an understanding of science fiction as a genre and its
our music relation to other forms (such as fantasy), the second learning outcome I context
would be pertaining to the audio-visual has been generally underdeveloped. Additional elements
very dark such as how something will look (consistent design concept approaches) and those aspects
of the concept that are endemic to audio-visual such as the moving image and
particularly the role of sound and music in science fiction (which is almost as significant as
production design in many respects) needs to be considered. You should start imagining
your project as a film and the elements of audio-visual media that are normally attached
to film as if you were "watching your movie in your head." Trying to convey that larger
context is difficult but also crucial in many respects to communicate the idea to the
potential audience. In regards to the sound potential of these projects, it is recommended
that you think of these things with soundtracks as well. In pre-production, many
filmmakers will use "place-holder" music etc. which help the atmosphere and can be
replaced with original music later, but it adds a lot to the overall feel of your world and
can help immensely in characterizing it and communicating the concept.
• There is some exciting work developing in this paper. Much of what excites is how what
you've presented appears to be informed by the varied backgrounds of the people in your
groups. Keep discussing how your various approaches to design and communication can
enrich your final design.