Feb 11th
For my first VR project, the keyword that I came up with is psychedelic. More specifically, I want to build an environment where the viewer, by just looking around, feels isolated, even suffocated, as if they are in an apocalyptic nightmare.
There were a few things that inspired me when I was ideating this project, the most important one being a psychedelic rock band I really like called Tame Impala. Every album they put out has beautifully designed artwork, and their music videos are always different and very well-crafted. I drew a lot of inspiration from the video of “‘Cause I’m a Man.”
The video feels surreal and dizzy as it contains a lot of colors that clash and collide, while the camera is constantly revolving around the protagonist. It is also worth noticing that a bunch of striped repetitive patterns are used to enhance the psychedelic vibe.
Based on what I had in mind and what I learned from the Tame Impala video, I created a storyboard (as shown below). It basically shows an island in the middle of a round shaped space filled with red/dark pink-ish liquid. It has quite some specific details, such as a disco-style dance floor, an armchair, a TV and a palm tree on the island, where the viewer is located. Not shown in the storyboard are objects I will put in the water and a dome over the space.
The main idea is to create a contrast between what is on the island (reachable for the viewer) and what is (not yet) in the water (not reachable for the viewer), the former making up a cozy little space while the latter would be dark and evoke heavy emotions; the contrast results in a surrealistic feeling.
As I said at the beginning, there is another very personal reason why I wanted it to display such a strong dark identity. The notorious coronavirus is currently threatening China, especially the city of Wuhan. Thousands of people were killed by or lost their family to the pandemic. Having read almost too many devastating stories that happened in the catastrophe, I felt extremely overwhelmed and frustrated, by not only the stories but also the fact that I could do nothing but constantly check the social media and pray for the people who are suffering right now. As a result, I want this project to reflect a sense of helplessness that I was going through.
Feb 16th
With a palm tree asset (or coconut tree, I can’t really tell) and an armchair asset I downloaded from the asset store, I started putting my environment together. I also found an asset that simulates water movement in low-poly style, so that the platform in the middle of it can be obviously recognized as a tiny island. I made the television with two cubes, which will be made to display a video.
