- A pdf treatment document for the Reality Threshold project containing the following:
- At least 3 rough distinct ideas in written form. They can be just a sentence or two for each.
- Sketches to help explain your written ideas. These can be in the form of hand drawn sketches or using digital tools such as Illustrator, Photoshop and Tilt Brush.
- Visual references for each of your concepts that express the feelings and moods you are interested in exploring. These can be in the form of screenshots, photographs, collages or even sounds. The focus is less on the specifics and more on the overall feeling conveyed by an assembly of space, texture and light.
- Expect to share this document with the rest of the class for feedback.
- Your treatment should answer the following questions:
- Can you describe briefly what spaces you are interested in creating and how to possibly connect them?
- How will you travel between them?
- What references inspire you?
- Do you have any concerns about your ability to accomplish your goals?
Idea one: Motion and Stillness
Do you know how… when you stare at something for a long time and don’t move your eyes at all, your vision starts to go fuzzy and dark? You need to move your eyes to see the world around you — I guess in one way, you could say that the movement of your eyes is the “framerate” of your personal world. Or else, the feeling when you wake up in bed, and you’re totally still, and you know that when you move everything is going to just start going? Of course, VR allows for a much wider range of movement than just your eyes, but the same principal allows.
So, I thought of this: two distinct places that are linked by how much you’re moving. It doesn’t need to be a walk towards anywhere, or even a walk at all. Head movements or arm movements are enough. You can only be in the one place when you are completely still, and movement starts transitioning you to the other place. When I thought of a still place, I couldn’t stop thinking of the Temple of Time from Zelda, probably because even time doesn’t move in that place…? I found this nice picture of a shattered landscape that mirrors the cathedral-ish vibe of Zelda, but everything looks like it’s literally flinging itself apart.
I like the idea that the more movement, the more the space shifts. So, you’re still going on a journey, there’s a beginning middle and end, it’s just… all the travel is localized in yourself.
Idea two: Boat Ride to the Underworld
You’re Charon, the boatman to the underworld, and you’re ferrying a boat full of spirits from Feneos down to the underworld. I’m a classics major so I’ve always got a little bit of Greek mythology swimming around my brain, and if we’re talking about liminal spaces is there a bigger one than the border between life and death? It’s VR, so there could be rowing motions involved. I really like the idea of stopping at all these different places and picking up souls there. In my head, I see this as a “stepping stone” kind of journey. You’d be in the boat, going from small area to small area through a series of portals, “scenes of death” maybe, picking up souls along the way until you finally arrive at the gates of the underworld.
Idea three: Past to Future
They say life is a journey, right? I was thinking about all the places I’ve been lucky enough to see over the years. I was born somewhere, and now I’m here, and soon I’ll be somewhere else, etc etc. I’ve also been reading a lot of Bachelard lately, and he talks a lot about how internal and external spaces are closely correlated. So, for A-B, I was thinking of where I was born bridged to where I live now, going through a series of rooms I’ve lived in throughout the years.
I recently finished a show called “Tatami Galaxy”, where one of the motifs is of this room where the exits lead to another room, and I like the visuals of that idea. If I pursued this I’d probably make it so to get from point A to point B you’d open the door and it’d lead into another place I’ve lived. The problem here is that I’m not sure what the visual style would be exactly, or how to portray the passage of time. I considered having to get a personal artifact of mine from every room to progress, but I’m not sure if my life story is necessarily very engaging.
