This week we got split into groups for our “Design a World” Project. We had to explore potential concepts for our world, generating 100 ideas in total. We settled on EJ’s idea focused around a sunken submarine, with a society developing inside. I drew from Lovecraftian sources for inspiration, with the society slowly descending into madness and worshipping a squid, whether it is an actual deity is left to audience interpretation. An undetermined number of generations have been born on board the submarine, with each new generation exhibiting new behaviour and adaptations, straying further from normal humanity.
We are using a Bigfin squid as reference for our “squid god”, an elusive giant squid, found in the depths of the ocean. Its true size and origin is unknown as when it’s brought to the surface for studying, it suffers such injury and shrinkage that it doesn’t resemble its original form. This gives us a lot of room for experimentation.
We discussed what adaptations might occur from living with a lack of natural sunlight, unbalanced diets, generations of inbreeding and an unnatural atmospheric pressure. Despite evolution normally spanning thousands of generations, the society onboard seems to be evolving rapidly, some significantly more than others. We aren’t planning on outright explaining why this is happening, perhaps time passes differently onboard the submarine, and despite only being sunken for what seems like 70 years to the surface, centuries have passed onboard. Perhaps the rate of mutation is somehow linked to the level of belief and commitment to the squid god. We will offer several explanations and theories, from different members onboard. The common mutations present throughout seem to be a loss in sight, change in skin colour and texture, loss in size and varying ailments. Some characters may suffer from more rare and unnatural mutations however.
This world will revolve around our protagonist, a normal human from the surface who has managed to wake up on board the ship, and must conform to fit in and survive, how will being on board affect him? How long will he be on board? Does he slip up and they realise he is a fraud? Does he somehow escape? Does he start to enjoy life at the bottom of the ocean?
Experiencing the world through a character allows us to play with the “unreliable narrator” trope, since we see things from his perspective, there will be a mixing of hallucinations and reality as his mental health deteriorates. Reinforcing the ambiguity of the supernatural aspects of the world, while giving us more abstract design opportunities. (I suggested this, not sure if we are going to implement it yet)
While discussing different plot points and world ideas, I realised the story could be a political commentary on the Echo Chamber Effect – a situation in which beliefs are amplified/reinforced through communication and repetition inside a closed system, insulating them from rebuttal, resulting in people amalgamating and developing tunnel vision. I suggested naming the submarine The Echo Chamber, but this might be a little obvious.
We were given the assignment of completing 12 thumbnail composition studies of the world:
I like my initial 8 thumbnails but the last 4 were rushed, just getting the ideas down for the deadline. I drew inspiration from Robert Eggers, since all the suggestions I put forth were inspired by the lighthouse (Unreliable narrator, Lovecraftian horror) as well as Call of Cthulhu.
We were also set the task of doing 6 perspective studies from various animations:
Visual References
