1. Idea Development:
My first idea of the project was inspired by one of my favorite movies since childhood “Alice in Wonderland.” I planned to recreate different scenes in the movie with a focus on landscape, lighting, interactions, and movements.
For example, by eating the mushrooms in one scene, the person can experience a change of scale.
I sketched out different scenes I wanted to include in the project as indicated in the image attached below.
However, it would be extremely difficult for me to include all such details and interactions in my first project. After hearing suggestions and feedback from Professor Krom and other students, I reconsidered the feasibility of the project and decided to focus on one scene I want to create from the movie.
The concept I want to focus on is fear and mystery. Hence, I choose the scene where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. I name the project “Wonderland Syndrome” as I want to evoke a feeling of confusion, fear, and impossible to escape just like a syndrome for anyone who experiences it. The overall scene would be dark with the only source of light coming from the moon and a few fireflies. There is only a dead tree standing near the canyon, reaching the moon on the sky. This will create a sense of loneliness and desperation. On a branch of the tree, we will find the Cheshire Cat sitting there with its signature scary smile. There is only one straight (or curvy, I haven’t decided yet) road in the whole scene that leads to nowhere. Please find the new sketch below.
I also have another idea for my first project, which is completely not related to the first idea. For this new idea, I want to recreate our NYUAD campus scene but with giant campus cats (with different postures). The idea came when I was walking back from D2 and saw different cats laying down or chasing each other around in the space in front of D2. However, I am not sure if this is a good idea for this first project and if it is possible to find the assets for the project. So any suggestion on this would be appreciated!
2. Project Implementation:
I started laying out my virtual space in Unity. I put the mountains and the dead tree in the scene. I am still struggling with adding the light source for the moon, looking for additional assets, and envisioning the whole idea in the 3D space.
UPDATE 16/2/2020, 9:29 pm
I finished the basic layout for my virtual space. From Professor Krom’s suggestion, I put multiple cubes of different lengths with decreasing size towards two ends of the path to create a sense of infinity. I also fixed the camera rig to match up with the scale of the mountains and trees (instead of putting y = 2, I put y = 4).
To be added/fixed: Cheshire cat, the lighting of the moon, the color/lighting of the sky, music (if possible)
UPDATE 17/2/2020, 7:41 pm
The idea of my current seemed to diverge from my original idea of the scene where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. Instead, I tried to create the two different vibes along the path separated by two posts: one [1] side reflects a safer sense, the other [2] reflects the opposite with a deadly sense. In order to do that, I changed the lighting of the scene where the [1] side is much brighter than the [2] side. Also, the [1] has dense forests with a greenish platform, and the trees start to sparsely populated towards the [2] side and the green color of the platform and the trees also start darkening.
To be added/fixed: the spotlight in the [2] side, light emission from the 2 posts, and sound of strong wind (if possible)
UPDATE 18/2/2020, 8:19 pm
After meeting with Professor Sarah Krom, I decided to fix my scene a little bit. The first change is the lighting. I decided to decrease the intensity of the main light source since it did not quite fit with the night. I removed the two posts since they were not really relevant in the picture. Instead, I added two tombs from the asset package, gave them some blue light to evoke a sense of mystery and fear. I also added mountains far away to suggest the feeling of remoteness and emptiness. I added some rocks along the path to make it less flat than it was before.
On the other side of the road, I added some rocks with grass on them. I also lit up the fireflies so it evokes a sense of brightness and peace matching with the stars on the sky.
In general, I tried to make both sides of the path opposite in the sense and the feeling. To be added/fixed: sound of wind
UPDATE 18/2/2020, 10:22 pm
Sound of wind added. Project submitted.