Online Greenlight Review

Space and Environment

Georgia Murray

Book Synopsis and Adaption History

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (The original French title being Vingt mille lieues sous les mers.) was written by the French novelist Jules Verne and was published during 1820. It depicts the story of Professor Pierre Aronnax and his travels with Captain Nemo and his crew aboard his strange submarine, The Nautilus. As the story continues they're met with a number of questions about their Captain and his mysterious past and many of the oceans deep sea creature and phenomena. The novel includes imagery of real life ocean attractions and animals, as well as ones based on myths and Verne's own imagination. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea has spawned many movie and television adaptions, varying from the 1916 silent feature film adaption which was the first of the book to the adaption produced by Walt Disney in 1954, which is arguable the most famous. There were also books written by authors other than Verne that continue on from where the story left off and ones that act as a prelude to the novels events.
The front page of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Author Biography and Possible Influences

Jules Verne (8 February 1828 24 March 1905), was a French novelist, poet and playwright. He is most widely known for his contributions to the science fiction and adventure genres. When he was six years old Verne attended boarding and hs teacher, Mme Sambin was a widow of a former Naval Captain. The Captain had gone missing 35 years before and the widow often said she still believed he would return, many believe this influenced a lot of Vernes later works. Verne was raised as a catholic but from 1870 onward he began to practice Deism, something which many assume became apparent in his works, something which also affected his later works was the death of his Mother and publisher Hetzel, after which his works became notably darker. Around 1869, whilst working on the manuscript for 20,000 leagues, Verne enetred an argument with Hetzel. Verne had originally wanted the Captain, Nemo, to be Polish and to be seeking revenge against the Russians for the murder of his famly during an uprising but Hetzel refused the idea on the grounds that they would lose or greatly diminish their Russian market. This argument is what lead to the mysterious background of Captain Nemo, the mystery being the compromise Verne created instead of using Hetzels own ideas. Verne had his own small ship, the Saint-Michel, later renamed the Saint-Michel II and Saint-Michel III as and when he could afford to upgrade. He traveled around Europre using this ship, which may have inspired many of his stories.

Jules Verne - 1878

Book Excerpts
The First Chapter: The Nautilus
In this chapter we follow Professor Aronnax as he is led by Captain Nemo to a large library aboard the Nautilus. The shelves are full of well known authors and large anthologies of works the professor himself is familiar with. As they continue a long large paintings are hung on the wall, there are sculptures dotted between them and in cabinets are a large collection of shells and other ocean treasures, all collected by Captain Nemo himself. The Captain and Professor engage in conversation but it is cut short as Nemo becomes lost in thought. Aronnax continues to survey the treasures that the Captain has collected, seemingly amazed by it all. This chapter is very descriptive about furniture, lightning and small details. It mentions rosewood almost immediately and I also picked to keep this as a part of my colour scheme as the colour is very rich and matches well with the scene and its inhabitants.

Book Excerpts
The Second Chapter: The Submarine Forest
In this chapter we have left the apparent safe confines of the Nautilus and Aronnax, Nemo and the crew are heading into the ocean wearing special diving suits. They reach what they call the submarine forest, with the professor naming the different plants around him, that reach far up into the waters above. They continue walking for hours and, after taking a rest, are confronted by a large sea spider, before it can attack it is killed. They move on and continue until they reach a giant cliffside, looking up towards the surface Aronnax realises they have reached land and with this, Nemo begins to lead them back to the Nautilus. On their travels back they encounter a giant shoal of fish, a type of sea otter that Nemo spears, kills and keeps and an almost deadly encounter with a shark. Ultimately they reach the ship safely. This chapter is full of descriptions of plant life, it also includes many emotive descriptions based around fear and other such emotions which can be incorporated into my scenes through different positions, lightning and colouring.

Visual Concept
My visual concepts include inspiration from varying types of design and depictions of sea life. For example, my main visual concept and inspiration for my scene inspired by the description of the library in the chapter The Nautilus is steampunk, with hints of Asian design. I chose Steampunk to represent the interior of Captain Nemos Nautilus because of its ties to this time period but also how it is mixed with modern day concepts. It creates a futuristic look, which fits the mystery and adventure we apply to Nemo and his crew, while still maintaining the overall feel of the 1800s. My visual concepts for the outer scenes from The Submarine Forest were more difficult to decide on since Ive never tackled an ocean environment before. I researched artists such as Hayao Miyazaki, who uses a lot of water based scenes in his films for Studio Ghibli and also referenced a lot of Disney works, another company who also favour the ocean environments in their films. I want to create a vibrant ocean scene that will do Vernes descriptions justice while adding my own twist and so I will continue to use these artists in regards to colouring and creating the illusion of movement in my scenery. I particularly liked the use of foreground and background in Disneys concept art and used this idea in many of my thumbnails, ultimately choosing the idea for one of my final scenes. The genre of adventure is also a major part of my concept and ideas and is one of the main reasons for choosing the thumbnails for scene 3. I hope to create an environment based around suspense and to really use perspective and lightning to my advantage here.

Overall my concepts are very varied as the scenes differ greatly from each other, I plan to keep all three connected by using a slightly subdued set of colours that reflect the time period and setting effectively, while using the lightning to bring out key features in each scene.

Influence Map

I incorporated different concepts from each scene to form one overall Influence map. I stuck to my colour schemes for each and chose images with bold shapes and patterns, interesting lines and positioning to give me further inspiration as I continue on in creating my own 3 scenes.

Chosen Thumbnails

Scene 2: From the chapter The Submarine Forest. A scene made from the descriptions of the forest like marine life, either including sea creatures or a member of the crew.

Scene 3: From the chapter The Submarine Forest. A scene showing the moment where the Professor awakens and is confronted by a giant sea spider.

Scene 1: From the chapter The Nautilus, a depiction of the Library in which Captain Nemo and the Professor talk.

Creative Partnership: Comments To Me

On Thumbnails 17 32:
Megan: I like 21, 22 and 26 from these, very nice ! Very encouraging as I need to pick up my tablet and get those digital thumbnails done, sticking to pencil so far! :/ Sukhi: Hey georgia.. really like 21 and 22 :)

On Influence Maps and Thumbnails 1 16:

Scott: Hi Georgia, im in your creative partner thingie :) I really like thumbnails 6, 7 and 15 there is a very strong link to your influence maps, showing where you got your inspiration :) which I think helps :P keep it up!! Megan: Hey, nice set of thumbnails! 11, 12 and 15 caught my eye :)

Sukhi: hey ..number 4 and 8 really stood out to me... the tone and shading is great :) and 15 :)

Creative Partnership: Comments From Me

To Livi, on Thumbnails 42 64:
Hi Livi, I really like the way your thumbnails are drawn here and I love 52, 56 and 58, seems like there's a lot you could do with those settings if you were to colour them. (:

On Influence Maps and Thumbnails 1 16:

In reply to Scott: Hi! Thanks for the feedback, 15 is one of my favourites from this bunch as well. (: That influence map was definitely the easiest to work from.

Blog Links

Film Reviews: Metropolis - http://georgia--murray.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/metropolis-1927-film-review.html