For a long time I've had a strong idea of what I wanted to do for my FMP. My first thoughts probably occurred around the time of the beginning of the second year, where I was really interested in the idea of having an interior environment, set on some kind of public transport. Another idea was something like an offshore oil rig. I was really into the idea of having an environment that was limited by itself, one that you can't leave.
I was swayed towards the transportation idea mainly because of inspiration from films and tv. A good example which I first remember watching to try and steer my idea was the Twilight Zone episode 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet' with William Shatner. I like those kind of short stories where a good deal happens condensed into a short amount of time, and where the story plays out in just the one environment.
However I was more interested in the idea of a train. Alot of my previous inspiration for this kind of idea had come from films set nearly entirely on trains. A few examples that come to mind are Silver Streak, Narrow Margin, Strangers on a Train and the many adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express. The thing I like about some of these types of films is the inability for the passengers to leave the train, creating the thrills and suspense, and interesting relationships with other passengers. There aren't many places to hide on a train, so characters are forced to deal with whatever problems until they reach their destination.
I'm also a big fan of good mysteries, so I was into the idea of creating an environment for something like Columbo or Poirot. LA Noire has shown recently that there is a place for this kind of game in the mainstream market, with beautiful locations to explore and detailed assets to pick up and examine which propel the story forward.
One of the elements that also sold the train idea to me was the journey and locations it would travel through. For a while I was unsure, but remembering back to many holidays to the south of France when I was young gave me an intriguing concept to consider. I have lasting memories of the long coach journeys. The scenery through France at the height of Summer, especially towards the end of the day was beautiful. Vast fields of sunflowers, vineyards and little villages and farmhouses all stick in my mind.
I don't want the view outside to be just a flat image scrolling past, I want to create something believable, and something that you could look at for a decent amount of time. This stems from me just enjoying journeys in general, I love having a window seat in any kind of vehicle, gazing out and seeing all the interesting things fly past. By having moving scenery outside, repeating on a loop, a more convincing illusion of depth would be created. I would be able to have light pouring into the carriages through the windows, and could perhaps consider different times of day. With this idea I started to think how I would want it to look like a moving painting, not in the sense of brushstrokes, but in the sense that its framed by the window, and is something of beauty. Appropriately I looked at a good deal of Monet's work, in particular his haystacks and poppy fields series of works, and his other rural paintings. He was the first artist I ever used to copy when I was really young, probably around the same time I went on these holidays, which sort of ties in with that personal touch I want, and it will kind of be like coming full circle, starting off at a young age with Monet, and finishing my degree with a nod to him.
I still have to look into what era and what style of train I want to base the environment on, so that's going to be the next stage of my research.
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