Presentation 2

Analysing The Games. 

recording the details

• Name of Designer /Team

 343 Industries were responsible for building the majority of halo 4 and its core and specialist design.
A.J Trahan

• Name of Publisher

Microsoft studios

• Title of the Work

the work doesn't really contain a title, the work is concept art from the game Halo 4. 

• Date it was made/published
3/25/2013

• Genre
FPS

• Target audience

The target audience is aimed mainly at those who play xbox 360 as it was a title only for xbox 360.

Formal Elements:

Composition

• Main organisational features

It's main features mainly consist of a giant alien structure which is forerunner technology, surrounded by large mountain backgrounds. 

• Focal Point

the focal point could be considered the superstructure, as it generates the most interest, maybe making the viewers ask about it, and what does it do. 

• Geometrical shapes?

The geometrical shapes you could say are the mountains, as the start of a concept process can certainly be built from shapes, creating interesting backgrounds or large areas.

• Symmetry?/ Asymmetry?

Its difficult to suggest there is symmetry in the image, the image is built asymmetrically and is designed to endulge the viewer into the environment and idea of the game.

• Methods used to lead the eye around the work/ scene/gamescape?

The methods mainly come from the depth of the image, the concept piece is designed to make the viewer imagine the raw depth of the environment, what could or would be in it, what possible enemies could the player encounter? 

Space/Depth

• Effects created: (e.g. to create a sense of naturalism, to give

an illusion of great distance, to limit picture space

As seen in the image, the image has massive amounts of space and depth, indulging the viewer into thinking how involved the player can be in the landscape, and what there is to explore and fight. 

Colour

• Main Colours used

Grey, White, Black, Red. 

• Cool and Warm Colours

the colours could be considered fairly cold, the majority of the image is dark, gritty, mysterious, and filled with ice and winter environments. 

• Range of the palette

The Palette doesn't consist of much except for dark colours and patches of red.

• Effects colour creates
The creates a faded appearance of the image, adding to the mystery of the location.

Light

• Chiaroscuro (contrasts of light and shadow) or Even Lighting
There is minimal use of light and a fair bit of use in shadow, to add to the atmosphere of the image.

• Atmospheric Light (what mood is created)
As mentioned above, it is created in a way to add a dark and mysterious atmosphere to the image.

Style

• Realism/ Expressive/ minimal
The style is both realistic and expressive, as it is very well designed, and in depth. 

Influences

• other designers/periods/genres/mediums
halo was influenced by literature from the bible, and from books about heroes and aliens. 

  Historical influences
Halo had no historical influences apart from the bible, some people suggest the main character came from " John 1:17 ".

Subject, Theme & meanings

• Describe the subject (what is obvious in/about the game?)
It is obvious it's set on another planet, and that there are many things to be explored, just from the image.

• Characters (how are they represented?)
There is minimal representation of characters in the image, however, any person who's played halo will immediately know who the characters are.

• Setting
The setting is based on another planet. 

• Mise en scene
The visual elements are of a dark and mysterious nature, full of snow like natural colour. 

• Describe the content (what is it ‘about’?)
About exploring a new enemy and a new location. 

• Explain any ideas that the work is expressing (historical, political,

social, cultural, etc.)
I suppose if a idea had to be selected it would have to be cultural as halo is a heavily cultural game as it's enemies and allies are based around cultural belief. 

• What symbolism is there in the image/ scene?
there is minimal amounts of symbolism. 

• Identify any issues that are raised

• Is there anything controversial about it?
No issues or controversy has been raised or talked about.

Context

Explain any background known about the work (using research)
the work was originally casted out in a group of concept art pieces, to illiterate the sort of environments and the feel of the game Halo 4.

How does the context within which the work was made/is viewed affect meaning? it creates meaning by emphasizing the amount of space and depth in the image and environment, and the mysteriousness of the game. 

• Social/Historical
As explained before it has got historical elements to it relating to the bible, and I suppose you could say it has social elements as it would incline people and/or fans to guess its origins and reasons, and what it contains.

• Geographical/Cultural
A.J Trahan, who designed this specific art piece, would of more been heavily influenced by mountain ranges, as the images are heavily mountainous, and this would of played a huge part in his design, large landscapes would of been great influences for this image. 

• Ideological
The image is also rather idealogical, as it retains a great amount of creation and imagination. 

Personal Response

• What is your reaction to it?
Its a wonderfully creative image, that really gets the viewer involved in its imagination.

• What feelings does it provoke?
a feeling of wanting to conquer the mysteries. 

• Can you pinpoint any qualities that make you feel this way
wanting to jump in, and complete a mysterious adventure. 

Task 3 & 4

1) What is your specialism/what would you like it to be?

If I were to pick a specialism, i'd like to enter the world of 3D animation, Animation, and Character design, I like areas like those, and find them challenging yet peaceful, and I think I could do well in an area surrounded by development of games, I am also aware this includes engine building and coding, but I also find these area's interesting too.

2) Who are your heroes (within your specialism)?

If I were to pick a hero within the industry of design and animation, it would most definitely have to be a designer called Sparth, who designs massive scenes and characters, and even something called matte paintings, which are massively constructed cityscapes or areas, designed for games and art.

Sparth's art is heavily focussed on future and creation, images that could or would be our own future, images of characters, robots, spaceships and so on. he was specifically selected to design for the " halo " series, and he made an absoulutely amazing job at designing for the game series. his artwork is both amazing and influential and I would definately choose him as one of my inspirations in the game industry as an individual character. 

3) What makes a good practitioner within your specialism?

I think anyone that's able to tie themselves down to a project, complete it as effectively and efficiently as possible and provide the entertainment to an audience and impress the industry would make a fantastic practitioner in a specialism. 

Picking an artist/practitioner i would have to choose the following....

Nicholas Bouvier is a one of the best artists around in the game world, He's worked on Halo 4, Images for borderlands, and Images for Assassins creed. His artwork is popular and famous for its ability to give off incredible feeling of the scenario thats been done, as well as beautifully landscaped and drawn areas of the world for that game. It really gives off a realistic feel to the game.

Here's a link to his biography and some of his work.

www.sparth.com

The link can provide images and information revolving around nicholas sparth.

I had chosne Nicholas sparth because he is probably one of the best artists and designers for Sci Fi elements in the games industry. His art is recognized as raw talent, due to it's sheer depth in its design.

an example of sparth's work shown above, you can see how detailed his work is, anywhere you look is something deeply designed, the detail in the caves and mountains is very in depth, which really creates life in a single image, his detail in his work won him a place in the design team for the halo franchise.
You can clearly see that he utilizes different shades of colour and light to get the slight and accurate appearances of the scene.

This is why I picked sparth, because he has amazing depth in his design work, and his work is very influential. 

Task 2

Sourcing research

 explain how each may be useful for finding out about artists and designers

•The Library

•The Museum/ Art Gallery

•The Internet

What different methods will we need to use in each case?

The Library - The Library will have extensive amounts of research, and potentially classic and official research placed into books, rather than risking unofficial research or facts, that could be written by unofficial sources on the internet or in magazines for example, opinions can quite easily be mistaken for research, and can throw people off of their desired target.

providing one can provide the time and the effort to search through unknown amounts of books, normally one can find what they are looking for, the only issue with libraries is the factor that they can be very time consuming. libraries normally contain information about people or characters and history, so libraries would certainly be a good place if you can donate the time.

The Museum/Art Gallery - Museum's and art galleries can also be greatly resourceful for finding out information on artists and designers, rather than having written information, normally you'll find lots of work created by artists and designers, with core information on their work, i.e when it was made, or how it was created, or maybe even where the idea's came from. 

Museum's and Art Galleries are prime places to find physical work and core information about artists and designers, but this method will only contain so much information, rather than having excessive amounts of information on the desired character. 

The Internet - The internet is a massive database of information where you can gather any kinds of information, about any person you desire, it could technically be considered a museum/rt gallery and library all in one, but the only problem is when it comes down to finding information, some information gathered can be incorrect. as it is a place that any person can upload their own knowledge to the internet, which could potentially be wrong. 

not all sources are officially wrong, nor are all of them officially right, which is the main problem with the internet, not to mention it's hazards when it comes down to viruses and so on. 

All characters, artists and designers can be found on the internet, with wide ranges of information and images included, but users must be aware that they could be collecting information that isn't entirely correct.