S2C1: Designs and Storyboard

Here are the member of the band Rush, top as they are in present day, and below as they looked circa the albums release in 1976. I think it would be nice to pay homage to the band and have them as characters in the animatic, They could perhaps be the elder race, as in their early days they dressed very eccentrically so having them in their original clothing could give a nice look. i also think when the main character is seeing the work of men with a free mind.

I also think it would be nice to incorporate the album imagery to the animatic as well, as the symbols are iconic amongst the bands fans, as well as prog culture as a whole. the symbols represent the oppression of the people in this world, and the naked man in front of the federation star is the single man, helpless to stop the machine, i could incorporate the idea of the federation being a machine into the work, perhaps the star could become a cog, although this is very reminiscent of previous  works. The star could also be used as a belt around the planet, symbolising the control they have upon the planets.

Neil Peart, Dummer and Song writer of rush, never gave a name to the main character of 2112. as just referred to him as anonymous. i feel this was done to give sympathy to the character, as at the end of the day this isnt a story with a happy ending, as the mans life amounts to nothing and he ends up taking his own life as he deems it meaningless. I feel it was also done, so the listener can put themselves as the main character of the story, creating relatability. For this, i feel that i shouldnt go into much depth if any when it comes to creating the character, and instead focus of the "oracle" and vision that he is having. I think the man should be not much more than a generic looking man, to give a sense that this character isn't anyone special. In addition to this i plan on making the world around him dull and the dream very brightly coloured, to give an idea of what this mans life "could be".

Here are a few idea sketches of how i feel that certain things should look like, i liked the idea of the star being the belt of planet and tried to create a sequence around that, showing the control they have over that planet. i also tried to incorporate dalis work by including the surrealism of an eye being in the palm of the hand.

I also started working on designs for a ship, but didnt feel that was that important after my first page of designs, as long as it looked convincing, i didnt think it would matter, as the feat of space travel itself is far more impressive.

Here is my storyboard for how i want the dream sequence to go, following from the lyrics. i tried to keep the real world bleak and dull and used nasa space images for the dream sequences to give this explosion of colour, as well as a sense of surrealism. I will use these storyboard art in my actual animatic i feel as i am very happy with how they turned out.