fmp concept sketches

So, we've had, what, two weeks on this now? I feel like I've been quite slow with the planning process of my final major project (or "FMP" for short - somewhere in the bowels in this blog you'll find a ton of stuff that I uploaded for my final project last year), but this week my team-mate and I feel like we've arrived at a concept that we both feel could work.

I'm working on the project with my buddy Grethe, who is an illustrator/animator/model maker from Norway and has a deviantart page here. I have a lot of respect for her way of working because she's quite open to experimentation but completely capable of doing things quickly and by the book. I also wanted to work with her because I've been dying to try something more ambitious with stop-motion models, and she has this habit of making some really strange-looking creatures out of wire and fabric (such as this) which I feel would suit the medium quite well. She's a massive Harryhausen fan, too, so we're pretty much all set.

The concept itself is currently pretty abstract - essentially, it's a film (and I use the word "film" literally - it's our ambition to make something that looks as if it's happening in real-life surroundings) of the insides of a dark, uninhabited house, which is being "haunted" by these otherworldly, Lovecraftian fish. The idea currently is that these special lamps dotted around the house illuminate these invisible creatures to human sight.

As an setting I think it's quite nice, but I need to work more on getting the idea of a narrative across, regardless of how abstract it is. We're looking at a lot of nature documentaries for inspiration, because we want to give it that sort of feel. Think Microcosmos meets Lovecraft's From Beyond meets, I don't know, Star Wars or something.

More work as it comes.