|
Here's a breakdown of the script, as far as the description of the sets is concerned. These are partly based on the requirements of the script ( things that must be there etc.) partly on my internal 'movie' when I wrote the script, and partly on the original ideas that pre-existed before I even joined the team.
Scene 1:
Initially there is no 'set', as the universe does not exist. Then stars and galaxies form, and we will end up with a background of a dense starscape with galaxies, nebulae etc.
Scene 2:
Takes up where scene 1 leaves off, so just a nice interesting set of starscapes.
Scene 3:
Close up af a single galaxy with starscape behind.
Scene 4:
A barren outcrop of rock. This I see as reddish rock, a roughly flat step in the side of a tall cliff. Perhaps 30x100 metres, with other smaller steps and tumbled boulders on the 'uphill' side, for Rhagen to take as his vantage point above Nia. It is some of these that fall and pieces then roll across the platform and fall into the water below. The falloff on the other side is perhaps 100 metres to the lake/sea. Distant mountains, miles away across the water, with snow and a dark blue sky. No trees, bushes, etc. as life does not yet exist. Windy. Perhaps the sun should be low and 'sunset-y' to add colour to the rocks and the scene.
The sky is cut by a rift, later in the scene, and then 'healed' by Nia. The rift should be black and smoky/wispy, slow moving, with red edges, and perhaps crackles of lightning within it.
Scene 5:
Starscape. Similar to earlier, but perhaps more sparse, and 'older' looking, so less colour.
Scene 6:
A) as Scene 4, then the interior of the teardrop.
B) Our Solar system, normal starscape and Earth in the foreground. The Earth needs to change from the ancient form with no life, to the 'current' form by either an animated texture, or some other method. Initially it would be bare rock colours, with cloud and smoke from volcanoes and a red glow on the 'dark' side from these, then changing to a green and blue planet. We are not going as far as the current day, so there is no need for a man-made night-time glow.
Scene 7:
A) shots 1&2, no background as such, just a dark void.
B) shot 3, planet against starscape, obviously not earth, but a living planet. It has to 'die' by fire and blackening, so once again an animated texture.
C) Shots 4-6. Cottage in a simple peasant society. Not actually on earth, as it is important that earth and 'humans' are only attacked at the end of the movie, thus causing Nia to retaliate against Rhagen, but earth-like, with human-like people, so we can identify when they are killed. Night time, thatch or turf roof, mud or wattle and daub walls, in a muddy enclosure, with perhaps other building(s) to give a smallholding type of impression. No nearby trees, but some in the distance. Strong door, windows large enough for the shadows of what happens inside to be visible on the blinds. Trying to give the impression of the people being aware and scared of what is going on around them, as Rhagen's influence spreads across the planet, but not advanced enough to fight back.
Initially we are looking down at the cottage, then focus onto the door, then the window, and finally swing upwards to see the sky. The rift should be visible in the sky behind Rhagen as we look up.
Scene 8:
A) Shot 1, we start with the view from scene 4.
B) Shot 1a, through to shot 3, a stepped pyramid, in the Inca/Aztec style, on earth, with a night sky and the rift visible above it. A black wash of distant jungle to the horizon, but we are at a high vantage point on a platform/balcony roughly the same size as the flat area in scene 4, on the side of the pyramid. The intent is to give the scene the same physical layout in order to draw a comparison to the earlier scene, even though scene 8 is on a man-made structure. The Exterior of the pyramid itself should be a similar colour, though perhaps greyer, ( reddish granite, perhaps) to scene 4. There is a square doorway, not too large, but tall, with a heavy carved lintel and carved frame. Steps lead down from the platform into the dark below, but we are always looking upwards, so we do not see where they go. Candle/torchlight is streaming out through the doorway, and Nia is lit by the moon, and the light from the rift. The platform has no balcony railing, just a low wall, perhaps knee high at most. It is made from massive stones, well hewn, but not carved except around the door. Carvings should be plants or perhaps animals, rather than writings.
C) Shot 4&5. The interior of the temple. Once again, huge blocks of the same stone, with squat pillars forming a centre aisle and two side aisles. The roof above is a corbelled vault, that is to say that the stones step inwards with each course, until they touch in the middle. This is typical of the era/location. The roof is thus tall, but massive feeling, and tapering to a narrow point, rather than a curved arch. It is lit by lamps, or flaming wicks in open bowls of oil. Nia is a Goddess, but not one that desires wealth or worship or power, so there are no trappings of power. There is no throne, or altar ( she would not have an altar to herself in her living quarters) just a table as one end with the means for her to make her drink, between two lamps, and a low table and stool in the centre of the room, between the door, ( at one end) and the table, (at the other) These should be simple, homely, wooden items, with perhaps some woven cloth coverings, in bright, South American designs. Likewise, the columns are carved, but the other walls could be covered in places by tapestries in the same type of designs. The idea is to give the impression that the room has been made for her by her followers, but is actually used by her as a 'living room', rather than a throne room or temple. Overall, the room is perhaps 30-40 metres long and 20 metres wide, and about the same height in the middle. The columns are only perhaps 2- 2.5 metres, so the room is low and dark. There are no windows, or at most some small narrow slits, as the walls are tens of metres thick, as this is inside a pyramid.
Scene 9:
A) Shot 1&2. As scene 8A.
B) Shot 3-5. Earth's solar system, with starscape, and asteroid. The asteroid is large, pock-marked, grey, and boring looking. It has no particular interesting features. The hole that appears in the side is minute in comparison to the size of the asteroid, to give the impression of size. It should give the idea of being the size of the moon give or take 50% either way. Rougher than the moon, but otherwise similar. If it is too irregular, it will look more asteroid-like, but smaller, so the balance needs to be drawn carefully.
C) Shot 6, back to A).
Scene 10:
Set is the same as in scene 8. It needs to be demolished as the walls get smashed out, to leave sizeable holes and piles of rubble. This can be done with the physics/game engine, then hand tweaked. At the end, we go to the doorway, and look out, so the entrance tunnel needs to be detailed, with carved pillars and lintels similar to the ones on the outside of the building. We see the sky/jungle as scene 8A, through the doorway, but do not need to see the platform. However, it might be as well to model the two sets as a single entity, if the scale does not cause issues.
Scene 11:
Basically the same set as Scene 9. However, we need to be able to rotate around the asteroid, so it has to have a distant earth, sun, and other planets, perhaps, in addition to the asteroid.
Scene 12:
A) Shot 1, a void between the outside of the tomb and the solid rock of the asteroid. There is a narrow crack running roughly top to bottom on the left hand side, in an otherwise solid face of rock. This is perhaps three or more stories high, fading into the black above. The space curves around to the right as it vanishes, enclosing the tomb wall, which is on the right. The tomb wall is covered with symbols and hieroglyphs, which should appear to be mathematical formulae, and instructions, along with incomprehensible diagrams and the like. If the outside of the tomb is to look like the interior, then it should be covered with triangular facets, all at slightly different angles, and transparent/translucent. The space between the tomb and the rock should be perhaps 10 metres. There is a single facet missing in the wall of the tomb, opposite the crevice, which is the door. The only light in the scene is a glow out of the door/through the wall, from Nia, and Rhagen's own light as he passes across the space at speed.
Each facet should be perhaps 5-7 metres across.
B) Shot 2-13. The interior of the tomb. This is already at the concept stage, and consists of a large roughly hemispheric room ( actually half of an ovoid) with 6 columns of crystal holding up the roof. The internal face of the roof is faceted with crystals and is reflective,translucent and pale, but only dimly lit. The columns themselves are basically transparent reflective columns of crystal in clusters, with smaller ones surrounding the central core.
Each glows with light at the top, illuminating both the roof above, and the floor below.
At each end of the room there is a low dias made of hexagonal steps randomly placed, with a cluster of crystals on the top, forming a base for the two 'arks'.
C) Shot 14. This is the exterior of the asteroid, with the crevice. The crevice should be in a wall of rock that forms the edge of a crater, near the top, so that we are on the lip of the crater. It is re-used in Scene 13 shot 1.
Scene 13:
A) As last shot, but then fading into the same terrain, but with a mining colony on it. The idea is that we are at ground level on a road as it passes over the brow of a road as it passes down into a crater, with a high wall on either side, in the right one of which there is a tunnel. We can see down the road into the crater, where we can see, clustered right of the centre of the crater, (we can only see a small segment of the crater, in fact, as the crater wall passes round on the right side and into the distance on the left) at the base of another two cracks in the crater wall, are a dozen or so living units, some garage/repair units, and a large processing plant. This covers perhaps three of four football pitches, but the crater should be tens of miles across. To the left of the colony is a landing pad, and between them is a tall 'control tower'.
B) used for various shots, interior of various tunnels. These tunnels are huge, - you could literally pass an oil tanker down them, perhaps 100-200 feet tall and the same wide. The interior looks melted, as the machine that makes them does just that. Huge bundles of pipes and electrical cables pass along the lower sections of the walls, and lighting and security equipment is mounted in the upper sections
C) The mining machine is roughly designed already. It is like a huge version of the Chunnel mining machine, only several hundred yards long, and with plasma cutters at the front that melt the rock. It has short, squat sled type feet on huge hydraulic rams, that allow it to 'walk' along the tunnel.
D) the void between the tomb and the rock, only with the front of the mining machine filling the left hand of the screen, where it has burned through the wall. The machine has lots of glowing cutter heads, and is still glowing red hot, and there is a hatch or door in it, through which the miner enters. Other than the glow from the cutter, the room is dark until the torch illuminates it.
Obviously this is rough.
Matt
|
. But before I start, I want to have a good understanding of the PS. So, I have a very small question. In shot 2 of scene 2, a trace of Nia's hand is seen. In shot 3 of the same scene, the camera takes on the identity of Nia's point of view. Does that mean that the trace of Nia's hand should point away from the camera, as though the camera is extending its hand?
