Artist Statement: World Building

Hand of the Dragon

            The project seems to be based around a “what if?” premise, which led to some very funny, and downright outlandish, suggestions in class.   I was glad that mine wasn’t picked since the issue I chose was of a more serious nature, and this project seems to be a breath of fresh air in comedy.  World building was a fun exercise in creativity and open mindedness, though I’m not quite sure how helpful it was.

            All sorts of realistic things could come of any a world: no matter how bizarre it may seem.  As an example, a restricted access sign from Peter Jackson’s District 9 was shown which displayed an icon of an alien with a red cross circle through it, saying in captions “HUMANS ONLY.”  This is a fantastical idea: interplanetary aliens being discriminated by humans, but the sign looks as if it could exist in such a world, as is reflexive of similar signs that were posted during the time of color segregation in the United States. 

            An add campaign for the fictitious politician Harvey Dent was also displayed.  That campaign poster was not different than the posters in our reality, so if we treat the world of The Dark Knight as it’s own reality, it would be only sensible that a thing like that would exist…even though we do not see it in the film: it just makes sense.

            Star Wars has been the berth for countless “world artifacts” made by fans.  I’ve seen everything from Storm Trooper Aim Training School prints, to vacation pamphlets and videos for places like Tatooine, Naboo, and Coruscant (all of these artifacts are actually part of the interactive line environment on Disney’s Star Tours attraction).  In fact, the Star Tours attraction is a world artifact in and of itself, since the whole ride is supposed to be the docking bay for a fan-concocted travel agency.

            Brittany’s dragon idea was as comical as it was a brainteaser.  Just how would you eat food on a date if you had two mouths?  What if you liked a person but your dragon hand didn’t like each other?  How would puberty be different? Would they make pamphlets for that? Certainly the news would also be filled with reports of accidental burnings, and IHC would need an extended burn-care unit.  I was in charge of creating the newspaper article, complete with adds for dragonhand-based business pitches.

            I was a bit critical at the beginning of this statement, concerning this project. Looking back, perhaps this was also an exercise in belief.  As directors, writers, sound designers, etc. we are literally world builders.  We need to be so completely engulfed in our work that we start treat it as if it were actually real.  After that jumping-off point, creativity just comes naturally with the logic of the rules of the world we’re playing in. The best actors and authors have been using this skill for ages, so why not us?