Project Aim: To model futuristic technologies for a computer generated spacecraft set, as if
consulted by area specialists, as is common on science fiction films.
There are many military and research spacecraft with popular science
fiction, but very few rescue or medical ships. Many ships have medical bays and
treatment facilities aboard, but few are equipped to retrieve downed crew
members or rescue those stranded in environmental catastrophes, either on an
international or interplanetary scale.
The design of the ship would therefore be designed with these areas as
a priority, with human safety and rescue capabilities put first in the
dangerous environment of space.
The research involved will cover many areas including current and
projected space, medical and rescue technologies.
Science fiction directors have used scientific consultants since the
dawn of the space age. There has been an increasing fascination with the genre
since, and has become one of the corner-stones of popular culture.
With the recent advancements in both scientific and computer generation
technologies, there has been a recent resurgence in sci-fi films, many coming
as massive investments and profitable franchises. With green scene set
extensions now common-place and full digital sets becoming standard for
environments, I believe developing the techniques to construct such sets in the
computer will soon become normal practise. Doing so will allow the visual
effects teams to composite actors or characters into the generated world, but
also provide a basis for practical sets and pre-visualisations that the
director can approve.
With the increased interest and research into environmental and climate
changes, with the concern they will bring about more weather based disasters for
the population, has increasingly been used as the subject of a basic message
for films, including science fiction. Therefore I believe the presence of search
and rescue teams and vehicles will also increase as a result.
This project will also allow me to invest far more in prop modelling
and environment design, two areas I have great interest in. I believe each
aspect of a visual effects asset should have a purpose and a reason for its
existence, rather than the sometimes purely aesthetic preference that often
seems illogical and impractical.
The areas of focus will be production design with visual effects
assets. Within the asset there will be models of equipment and structures
involved in medical treatment and recovery as well as search and rescue
technology, all in the context of space travel and living.
The Star Wars franchise does
include various medical and rescue ships, including Rebel Alliance medical ship
Redemption where Luke Skywalker
receives his robotic hand and several fire service craft after a crash landing
on the planet Coruscant. Medical bays play a large part in the Star Trek franchise and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, both having larger numbers
of crew aboard their key ships.
The Star Wars and Star Trek franchises both have their own
Wikipedia databases and many art books including designs and extensive cross-sections
of many of the ships featured.
As the topics for research are quite wide and varied, I am unsure I
will complete all the research and modelling in certain areas.
Due to the heavy space based aspect of the asset, NASA and its
associates are obvious candidates with their lengthy and focused research, but
due to the large distance to them, as well as current budget cuts, they may be
unable to provide ample assistance. They do however have extensive online resources
including possible applications of technologies from science fiction. Result
from research in this area may have to be vastly extrapolated to fit the
asset’s intended purpose (as is often the case in science fiction).
Medical advances and projected future innovations in that area are
often the subject of expertise in large universities. These should be far
easier to contact and will also have their research published in journals as
well as online. Unfortunately any current research is probably unlikely to be
allowed to be discussed or released.
Rescue technology should be quite easy to research with the amount of
footage compiled from incidents worldwide every day. This should allow research
into dealing with many different disasters that occur in multiple environments
across all continents. Disaster movies could also serve as good reference for
current technologies and techniques. Developing and future technologies in this
area would be harder to gather research on. Much is often developed in
conjunction with other areas including the military.
Other experimental technology is often constructed under military
contracts and so would be harder to discuss or find evidence of. These include
stealth and armour technologies as well as non-lethal weapons.
The assets I wish to create for this project are:
1.
A 3D spacecraft that can be used as both a
visual effects asset and a basis for practical sets; interior and exterior
2. A
user manual for said spacecraft including labelled cross-sections and
blueprints of the ship’s decks and systems
3.
A video of a fly-through showing the interior of
the ship with labels for systems similar to a HUD or AR system
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