We Learnt For Nothing

We Learnt for Nothing

Initial thoughts/considerations/ideas:

- Garden scene

- Stream with plants and trees

- Small scene encapsulating history

- Hiroshima/Chernobyl regrowth with humanoid objects sticking out of the ground

- Large terrarium

- Include moving plants/particles/wind

- The Last of Us 2 inspired

- Horizon zero dawn

- Fallout

- House overrun by vegetation/water

- Chuck into game engine and allow player to look around and experience the space

- Worlds adrift Island Creator – sandbox to create world

PROJECT PROPOSAL

DATE: 10/06/2021

WORKING TITLE OF PROJECT: We Learnt for Nothing

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: Set/Environment Design.

The project I have decided to develop is a set or environment that encapsulates a piece of history. The first phase of this task was to brainstorm ideas which would have the potential to stretch my abilities, be easy enough to complete in the time frame and to finish my project to a high degree of polish. My original ideas included a garden scene, a stream with plants and trees or a large terrarium; however, these were purely plant based and would not have much modelling involved. Further thought took inspiration from the likes of The Last of Us 2, Horizon Zero Dawn and Fallout which made serious use of regrowth and plants taking over abandoned structures like cities, houses and facilities, reclaiming a space that was once part of nature through primary and secondary succession. Real world scenarios where regrowth has taken place are visually stunning with the right light, ambiance and focus. Abandoned buildings and cities and natural disaster and nuclear destruction zones piqued my interest due to their intense history and the resilience of nature.

My first concept was a road from a city once thriving now desolate, broken and overgrown. A river would run through the centre having fallen off an overhead pass. The buildings on either side would be cracked and falling apart, extremely unstable yet built so well that they would never fall. I would model a car and have two in the street along with a billboard, lamp posts, vehicle blockers and a child’s toy. Having considered the scope of this concept I realised it would be a difficult task to achieve in the set time with my limited skills.

My second concept drew from rooms and small buildings caught in Chernobyl, in particular, school classrooms. This smaller area to work with would allow me to complete this project with detail, all necessary components and to a standard I would be happy with. In saying this, I would then be able to import my modelled room into a game engine (Unity) and make it into a small world that one could walk around in and experience. To this I would add prefabricated flora, dust particles and maybe wind or plant movement. I will title it We Learnt for Nothing to draw on the idea that children once learnt in this room, but the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 finished their lives, and such education would go no further. This concept is thus achievable and creates enough of a challenge without being impossible or too stressful.