Research: Blade Runner

So I was having a conversation about my series with Pete Bishop (the director, not the guy from Fringe), and he mentions this film Blade Runner. I wouldn't go as far as to say I've never heard of it. I don't live under a rock. But I'd never seen it until today.
After watching it, I can see why Pete had told me to watch it. It's like Ridley Scott wants me to set my series in the exact same location as his brilliant film! Okay, granted the 80s sci-fi synth music was starting to get to me a bit, and there were moments when I was a little lost, but the setting! It's so hard to believe that this is a film of the 80s! It's definitely the type of dystopian world I'm looking for Wonderland to be set in. And you know, I actually like that I got a bit lost with the plot. It's very fitting with the hectic nature of the film, with the bustling slums sprawling as far as the eye can see (which, granted is not very far) and the occasional fast paced chase through a crowd. So, I'll definitely be giving it another watch to understand it a little more (hopefully the remastered version this time!).

Just to make things look pretty, here are a few images:

Okay, so this one's actually a recent CG render that someone's made to test out a game engine. Or show it off, whichever. Either way, you can see it's a very dark and gritty looking place. Unfortunately, this image is lacking the prominent bustling crowds that are ever present in the film, so it loses a bit of the atmosphere. Having said that, this is actually more appropriate for my series. I can't very well expect to have a bustling crowd in each of the 52 episodes. That kind of stuff is for live action. Or insanely high budgets. 

Here's one from the actual film. If memory serves, I think this is from the beginning of the film. Beautiful, yet horrifying. The lights give the sprawling, dystopian metropolis an almost magical look. But then there are those threatening flames, I'd assume from oil burning or something...I'm no expert, but they look pretty threatening. And there's that prevalent smog. Clearly, those towers aren't doing the atmosphere much good. So it's actually quite a horrifying vision of what probably isn't a totally distant future (okay, I'm not expecting flying cars any time soon). Also, I've not managed to get out of the country much in my almost 21 years, and I haven't seen many densely packed, sprawling cities. I can't say I've ever seen New York, but I imagine it wouldn't look this big. It's all very threatening, and a city this large would provide ample room for a series! After all, it was enough for a film. 

Just how many people live here?! That's a lot of windows! I'm liking these big advertisements too. Like I said, my knowledge of large cities spans about as far as Manchester for the time being. Ah, if only I had the time and funds to hop on a flight to New York for research. Anyway, I'm sure this kind of advertising exists in the world today, but there's something about it that seems almost intrusive in this film. It sets a good atmosphere.

And here's a rather blurry image, another one from near the opening. I could screen capture so many image of the Oriental theme of the film, but instead, here's one that really sets the scene. A lot of the film (if not all of it) takes place in this Chinatown, and it really shows in the architecture. Not just the buildings either, but the interiors too. It creates an odd juxtaposition with the towering sci-fi skyscrapers. Nevertheless, it's a cool contrast. Also, those neon lights? This film has A LOT of neon lights. Yup, this was the vision of 2019 way back in the 1980s. Although, it's not the most far fetched I've ever seen. 

And there you have it, me rambling on about Blade Runner. Hope you enjoyed!

Current Action Plan

Progress with my series is dragging a bit... So, I've come up with this handy action plan to make it look like I'm working!
But seriously, I am working.

1) Coloured character art: -Work on a new visual style: The current designs are lovely if I do say so myself, but they're quite complex for a series, so I need to work on that a bit.
                                            - Outfits! Alex and Alice still need their Asylum Outfits, they can't just wear normal clothes! Alice needs to look like a doctor, Alex needs to look like a patient. I've already designed their city exploration outfits. Also, the plan is for each character to have a different appearance in Wonderland, but not just that! The plan is to have Alex and Alice having a different look for each "world" of Wonderland. So that's a different outfit per episode. I know it's quite a task, but I love character designs.
                                            - Wonderland's residents: Alex can't just go around seeing visions of Wonderland without seeing some of its residents! But the idea is that Wonderland represents the real world, so the residents of Wonderland need to be represented by real world characters. So Alex will see Alice as the Alice from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland! Read that sentence a few times... Believe me, it does make sense! The Hatter, The Cheshire Cat, The Red Queen, all these characters will be making an appearance and more!

2) Locations: This is going to require a bit of thought and research. The plan is to come up with several locations within the Wonderland universe, one for each episode, for Alex to explore and uncover secrets of his past (the series is all about his recovery after all!). But, I need to make sure that these locations all correspond to a location in Alex's real world. For example, an abandoned railway station could become Wonderland Rail! And of course, I need to create so environmental concept art to go with this.

3) Alice's Device: -Design it! I still need to design Alice's device that links her to Alex; the device that lets her see what Alex sees. Once I've done that, next step!
                              -How the device links to Alex: Is it an implant in his eyes? An implant in his brain? Or is there something else at work here? This could be the difference between a supernatural series or a sci-fi series.
                              -Activate! I don't want to go too Sailor Moon here, but I thought it'd be good to have a repeating "activation scene" in each episode. This is essentially Alice activating the device, and Wonderland appearing around her. This would also involve an outfit change (yeah, really trying to avoid going all Sailor Moon on this series!). I thought it'd be cool to get myself a storyboard for this too, possibly an animatic.

4) Story arc and pilot episode: Once I've got all that other stuff done, I can start thinking about storylines to go with all these locations and characters! The pilot episode is essentially going to be an introduction to Alex and Alice, and involve Alex's escape from the asylum.


So, there's my plan! Obviously, that's not an entire action plan! These are just my next steps.

Characters and Marketing

I finally have some sketch work for my characters!

This is Alex. I designed his look to be a little grungy looking, but sort of "cutesy" in a way, hence the incredibly oversized clothing and his rather fragile looking frame. This is kind of an unusual look for a male character, although in fairness Alex is an unusual character. I want him to look vulnerable. But I wanted him to fit in with the world, so I've gone for something a bit modern. The world of the series is essentially a slum, so I wanted his clothes to look a bit worn and torn, as if he found what he could. 

This is Alice (it's not the first design for her). Now she doesn't look much like a doctor here, and that's intentional. This would be the outfit she wears whilst pursuing Alex through the city. It's intentionally warn and has a grungy look to fit in with the urban slum style of the city. Basically, if she looked like a doctor, she'd stand out, and thus she could become a target for criminals. It's a pretty dangerous city.  I added the bow on her sleeve for that "Alice In Wonderland" look. One thing that comes to my mind when I think Alice In Wonderland is a pretty girl in a nice dress with a nice bow tied around the middle. The bow on her sleeve is a bit of a nod towards that. I thought the long stripy socks would be cool for adding to the Alice look. She's definitely an eccentric looking character, but there's potential (in my eyes) for her to still be recognized as the iconic Alice character when place in the right story.

Plus, I've written some character profiles!

Alex:Age: 16

Alex is a young patient at an asylum in an industrial slum. He was institutionalised after the death of his father and the disappearance of his mother. These events led to his current mental state. In the asylum Alex is quiet and reserved. He refuses to talk to almost everyone. When he does talk he usually speaks in single word sentences. However, Alex has made a particular exception for Alice, and exception that even Alice doesn’t understand. When Alex is in his “Wonderland” his personality is almost completely different. He has quite a sharp tongue and is considerably more eloquent than he is in the real world. Alice is quite impressed by these displays of intelligence, seeing them as potential for Alex to get better. 

Alice:Age: 20

Alice is a brilliant young doctor. Her level of skill for her age is beyond impressive; she even surpasses most of her supervisors. Her reputation has made her quite famous, and so her current patient, Alex, is speculation of much media attention. Alice is one of few doctors capable of using the mind reading device that allows her to see what her patients see, helping her to better understand her patients. While Alice can seem quite cold and unfriendly this is due to her time at university where she was looked down on for her background as a slum girl. However, she is particularly cold towards Alex as he has been a great source of trouble for her and he runs a great risk of tarnishing her reputation. 

So there you have it. I think there's some potential for character development there. Alex's goal is essentially to regain his sanity, but you can see that his personality isn't necessarily that great. He's a young guy with a "sharp tongue" and clearly a lot of angst! He need to develop quite a bit. Alice has room for development too. She's quite cold and resentful towards others, but particularly towards Alex. There's plenty of room to work on the two character's relationship, so that Alice could come to care for Alex as more than just a patient. Not to say I'm planning a romantic relationship between the two characters. Just more friendly and caring. 

I've also given distribution some thought. The length of the episodes in this series will be quite short; approximately 10 minutes each. I thought it would be interesting if this series could be distributed through gaming platform, such as Playstation Network, Xbox Live and Steam. That way, episodes could be released in packs available for users to download over a period of time. This could also lead on to a potential video game tie in, so users could watch the series and develop interest in the video game, or vice versa. 

So that's one source of merchandising. I've also given merchandising a bit of thought too. I've look particularly in to the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children for this. In the film, the leading character uses a phone quite a lot. This is actually a real phone and was a tie in with the film.

The main character of the film seen in an advertisement for Panasonic's p900iV. The phone was released in Japan a week before the film's release. The phone comes in various colours, but the most popular is black (as it is seen in the film). This could potentially seem a bit of a waste if you ask me. After all, black goes with almost anything (for the more fashion conscious) and it's likely that anyone investing in the phone will want the same one from the film, thus black. 

I was thinking this could actually work quite well with my series; Alice's mind reading device comes with a set of glasses that she uses to see what Alex sees. Said set of glasses could be sold as sunglasses for big fans of the series. The device could also double up as a phone, which could also be sold as merchandising. Pretty much ripping off Advent Children here. Those are just some ideas that sounded a bit more interesting than basic mugs and t-shirts to me. It's all a bit sketchy at the moment. 

But more will follow!

Also, keep an eye out for character designs in the future. The plan is to designs several outfits for Alex and Alice depending on where they are, be it the asylum, the city slums or different parts of Wonderland. Or course, the latter is all in Alex's mind, but Alice will see it using her device. 

Anyways, enough writing. I'm ill. I'm gonna go watch Sucker Punch tonight for research purposes so expect another research page.