concept central

What happens when effects gets in the way of a story? Throughout modern visual culture's colored history, there are classic examples where stunning effects, massive setpieces, and bombastic sound design that have somehow managed to fail in carrying an entire production simply because the story was just well... ordinary. "I have a love of astonishing sights, of films that show me landscapes and cityscapes that exist only in the imagination,...

I've been browsing TV Tropes terminologies on modern visual culture and I think I have come to realize the importance of understand these ideas before proceeding with any form of concept work for my fan and original projects. It is at least important that I have these ideas on my blog so I will not lose focus.We begin with the term to begin all other terms - 'Verse' The Verse The thing is, I hate that word. I didn't coin that word....

The good ol' days of wanton destruction and violence. Oh wait. Violence is more present than ever in today's media. So why discuss such a non-issue? Well, I was just thinking whether or not the entire concept of bloody violence is necessary for a science fiction space opera type thing. Sure, we got the ol' standbys such as the classic Aliens and Predator franchises showing us just how violent the genre could be, and we got games like Gears...

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an upcoming multimedia project developed and published by Lucasarts. This new franchise for the most famous sci-fi brand of all time includes a a tie-in novel, action figures, a comic book, a reference book and a role-playing game supplement.Honestly folks, despite a certain level of... 'crappines' to Mr. Lucas' films and merchandise machine, you really have to give him a hand for generating great excitement...

So while I develop Robotech concepts nobody in the actual Robotech world cares about, let me take some time to admire the franchise that is Halo. Three games, a batch of novels expanding the mythos, and a whole lot of merchandise tie-ins - even though I'm not a particular fan of the series, I can't help but admire the majesty and grandeur that Bungie has done in manufacturing this epic.Yes, you heard me right, I'm not a big Halo nut. I've...

Xavier Marquis... damn cool artist. He's currently a concept designer from Guerilla Games, and one of his biggest project has been Ubisoft's Killzone 2. I was already enamored by the gritty art style seen in the initial Killzone 2 trailers, which gave audiences a taste of the 'next-gen' Playstation's power - and I was fortunate enough to pick up the old June 2007 issue of ImagineFX which had the guy as a featured artist. It's a shame...

Introducing... WarhammerCall me a newb to this whole Warhammer / Space Marine concept thing - but the lore is just so fantastic and inspired - even today. Originally published back in 1987 as a companion piece to the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the franchise today seems cooler than ever. The concept of religious fanaticism and high-powered Space Marines in the 40th Century seemed to just click so well at the time, and its influence can be...

"Robotech" is my most favorite animated series. What is Robotech? A general description of the show would be that it is..."... a science fiction franchise that was launched by an 85-episode adaptation of three different anime television series. The key ingredients in the show has been a mix between humanity's constant struggle against alien oppressors and cheesy soap opera drama."Others with a more innate understanding of the series would...