New Background - A Stage

[Cluey]

This will be used (if I go with the current script) for the intro of my latest project. It's a 1940's theatre stage. Done in my usual shadowy style.




And the "Godfather II" version:




I'm aware the shadows aren't technically correct at all but meh.

If anyone wants to do a paintover I can upload the Graphics Gale file to make it easier.

[Babar]

Godfather II version seems nicer, but it looks like all you did was tint it a bit yellow.
Can't think of anything to say about technically wrong aspects of the BG, but a theatre would generally have the ENTIRE stage lit up (or a spotlight on one thing, if it is required to draw our attention to it).
Also, the stage seems to be excessively high. Where will the audience sit (or is that part not complete yet)?
Lastly, the green stuff on the wall (especially the cracky part in the centre) seems to be a bit out of place.

[i k a r i]

Hyper quick edit, I tried to give it more atmosphere, and make the lights have a more important role.... 

     

[Cluey]

Unfortunately Ikari, I can't see your edit (I assume Imageshack is playing up, will check back later)

As for Babar's comments, I'll address them in order:

-Slight contrast edit and a yellow tint. S'all,
-I did the whole stage lit up, as it's meant to be a production of Twelfth Night, the scene with Malvolio in the garden when he talks about greatness. The green bits are meant to be creepers, vines if you will. I did figure into it that the production costs wouldn't be too high for the production as the game is set in the 1940's so the background wouldn't be too welly painted.
-There is going to be an object over the big empty area for audience, there will also be the text down there so it won't look so empty in game.

Thanks for the critique anyhow guys, I'll look forward to Imageshack working.

[EldKatt]

Some thoughts about the design itself.

With the caveat that I don't really know what the vogue in set design in the 40's was, the scenery looks a bit odd to me. Specifically, the hill and the houses far away. I take it that these are part of a backdrop, while the buildings are flats placed in front. I would expect the backdrop to be more neutral and less eye-catching. The more bright little houses you put in, the harder I expect it is to create the illusion of depth. Maybe.

Also think about the curtains. Are these the front curtains? In that case, it feels to me like they're too far back on the stage. Either that, or there's massive unused space behind the scenery. As you might expect, there's usually more space behind the front curtains than in front. If they're not the front curtains (in which case they'd be wing curtains or legs), they would be a more inconspicuous colour, like black, grey or dark blue. And given the way the whole stage is built, it surprises me somewhat that they aren't drawn back into the wings, since their flashy redness detracts somewhat from the otherwise realism of the scenery.

Then there's the lightning. Again, I don't really know for sure how theatrical lightning worked in the 40's (though it's probably easy enough to research), but this just looks really odd. I don't think I've at all seen a stage lit from below like this, and I can assure you that lighting in the 40's wasn't too different from the way it's done now. From this point of view the lights themselves wouldn't be visible, so I guess you could just shade it so that it looks neat, without having to think up what sort of a setup would look like that. Be aware that there would probably fewer individual lights than in a modern theatre, but since this isn't a rock concert that probably won't matter.

You might want to google up some pictures of actual sets from the relevant time period for reference. And if you ever find one that's lit like this, let me know. Also, please don't think "since the game is set in the 1940's the background wouldn't be well-painted/the lighting would be ugly/it would look cheap". That might be true if it's a small venue or a bad production (just like today), but really, stagecraft in the 40's was very sophisticated. Really, even earlier the only thing that would be notably inferior is lighting, but by the 40's they had modern-looking electric spotlights and stuff like that so even that won't be a large factor in this case.

Also, I second that the stage is too high. If text or an object will divert attention from that fact, fine, but fact remains that it's way too high. You could make it lower (i.e. place the floor higher) and fill up the space with some faint chairs and people. Or you can not and hope nobody notices, which I guess can be fine.

[InCreator]

That's pretty good. Lacks a bit detail yet, though.
Edges of lights should be softened a bit.


* Lowered saturation
* Increased contrast
* Added a bit reds and greens, lowered blues
* +2% monochromatic noise

[Cluey]

Addressing a few issues here. This is what I shall work on:

-Curtains
-Rework the painted BG ,the buildings are slide sets and I'll add a little gap under neath to demonstrate this to the player.
-I'll draw the audience over just to show ye how it'll look.
-I'm not sure about softening the lights, it'd either require painstaking anti aliasing or photoshop, which I don't want to use as the results will be too smooth and look odd.

Note that this IS a low key production and the lights are from a picture I found(I did get a reference picture). I was suprised how barren the actual theatres were myself.

The whole scene is supposed to be a bit comical, Malvolio walks on dressed in a rather poorly made costume and delivers his speech, then some air-raid sirens sound and he puts on his gasmask (which he seems to pull from nowhere) and exclaims "bugger it" before walking off. The silhouetted audience also rises all wearing gasmasks, we don't see this until one of them turns to the next and says some muffled garbage before the opening credit montage rolls.

That's the idea, the whole scene doesn't take too long, the large area at the front is for the actor to fill, I'll see if the code monkeys are able to do a moving spotlight as well. But only when the project gets underway.

[Cluey]

Here's the edits, I left the curtains as they were because many stages have large areas in front of the stage. I added some rollers to the back set, tweaked the shadows and resolution and messed with colours a bit:







The second one is the one to use I think...