Project Brief 1 – An Early Reflection – Brydan Meredith s3547569

I want this blog post to explore and exploit the very basics that comprise a story world. An issue I had in these opening lessons, was that I struggled to get past the false idea that place (setting) and story world are interchangable. They are not.

Let’s go to an apartment.

The apartment lives in the 1960’s, it is in California, on the top floor of a 20-story building Surfers talk amongst themselves wearing nothing but bathers, the cream carpet is soft on their terse feet. All of the Surfers are men whom enjoy listening to Elvis Presley. They all smoke, they all drink, they are all under 30, 65% of them don’t believe in God, 10% consciously rebel against any kind of authority. In the middle of the apartment lies a huge, green couch. It’s the centrepiece of the room. Behind it, at the very back, just metres from the window and balcony, there is a bar. Jailhouse Rock plays in the background. Everyone is talking, the dry California sun shines through the large window at the back, energy, positive and intangible swells within the room. Our protagonist, inscrutable, sits on the arm of the couch.

This is my world. Now let’s play around with it a bit.

The apartment lives in the 1960’s, it is in California, on the top floor of a 20-story building a group of Indian people, from Pune, talk amongst themselves wearing nothing but board shorts and T-Shirts, the cream carpet is soft on their terse feet. All the Indians, Men, Women and Children alike enjoy listening to music from their native city. Only a few smoke, none drink, 95% of them believe in God and none rebel against any kind of authority. In the middle of the apartment lies a huge, red couch. It’s the centerpiece of the room, behind it, at the very back, just metres from the window and balcony, there is a television. Ambient music plays in the background. The room is quiet, but pleasant, everyone is happy, the dry California sun shines through the large window at the back, energy, positive and intangible swells within the room. Our protagonist, sits on the arm of the couch with a relaxed expression on his face; Contentment.

These two examples of the same setting demonstrate that a) Setting does not solely define a world- innumerable things do. Some of these innumerable things are: The culture that comprises it, the country (albeit ficticous or not) where the world lives, the year the world is set, the people within the world, the objects that comprise the setting, even the weather, all play a role in building this world. If there was no Sun in my first illustration, the mood would change, maybe the characters would talk less, wear more clothes, drink less alcohol, listen to Bing Crosby.

The second thing I was showing can be found in our protagonist, doing the same thing in both sketches, can be perceived differently depending on the world he is in. He wears the same expression on his face both times and in the first example, is not fitting in, and is perceived as being alien (inscrutable). In the second he is perceived as being relaxed, content, because he matches the world around him.

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