This week I presented the storyworld of Deluge in the Another World studio. The presentation content is covered in the previous blog post Deluge introduction. I received copious amounts of feedback that was invaluable to the creative process and will fuel much of the proceeding work that I undertake. A summary of the feedback is below.
Summary
Stayci provided an insight into my creative process. She pointed out that I began exploring the Western genre and themes surrounding the frontier which then developed into the decision to set the world in a small Victorian town in the 1860’s. This decision then led full circle to the exploration of generic conventions from disaster and murder mystery genres, which provided a specific tone and pace for the world.
Lucy suggested that I watch The Poseidon Adventure in order to research the disaster genre, which sounds like a fantastic idea. She also commented on how the soundscape and the video of the river growing worked for her and created tension. This was my primary intention for exploring the disaster genre. She also enjoyed how the world actually trapped the people in the town, and was interested in knowing more about how the water/ dampness affected the characters. This encourages me to look at what the impact of the environment is on the characters.
Michelle commented on the fact that the landscape has agency in the form of the flood and how this is a useful device. Michelle also asked many relevant questions relating to the internal logic of the world such as:
- Wouldn’t the townspeople know how to deal with the flood if they have lived there a long time?
- Are they left to the will of the landscape?
- How much does the flood impact on the townspeople?
- How well do they know each other? How tight-nit are they?
- How well did they know the murdered man? Does it matter to them?
- What is at stake for the townspeople?
Michelle suggested that in order to circumvent some of these problems perhaps the townspeople haven’t been there a long time, and that they are at the mercy of their environment.
Reflection
Considering all of the feedback received, I asked the question, which piece of feedback is crucial to developing the world of the story? I then focused on how I could develop the look and feel of the world further. I decided to attempt to answer some of the questions that Michelle raised in order to develop the internal logic of the world further.
I will focus on issues relating to the way in which the townspeople react to the disaster. One of the inspirations for this storyworld was the Icelandic series, Trapped (Ófærð). The main premise of the series is that a body is discovered in a fjord and a blizzard traps everyone inside the town, including the murderer. The presence of the blizzard is noticeable, and does have agency over the village, however most people in the village know how to react in these extreme weather conditions. The threat that the villagers respond to is that of an impending avalanche that may engulf the entire town.
In Deluge however, I aim to use the flood in a similar way, threatening the lives of the townspeople, however in this case Claranda is a newly established town and they are not prepared for the disaster, and may in fact have contributed to it. This is plausible because in the 1860’s many towns were developed in remote areas due to the gold rush. Prospectors would buy claims in regional areas and mine the land for gold. A similar situation is proposed in the case of Claranda. The founder of the town William Hughes, preemptively buys large swathes of land in order to develop them into towns and mine the land for gold. William could lease out parts of his land to prospectors who would extract his gold, and receive a small fraction of the wealth that William would gain. Claranda could be positioned between William’s parcels of land, and would be an ideal settlement because of the water source and picturesque valley. William’s vanity could champion his decision to build his Manor House on top of the hill, causing many trees to be uprooted in the process of building the town. This development could cause soil erosion which could contribute to if not cause a landslide.
The title Deluge refers to a severe flood and some of the first working titles included Diluvian and Diluvia referring to a flood of biblical proportion. If the town was not properly planned and was in the stage of being constructed, the impact on the town and its inhabitants could be catastrophic. Floods and heavy rainfall would cause the soil to be soft and many trees to be uprooted leading to a landslide event. The rising flood waters could also swallow up most of the buildings at the base of the hill and if the water level rises enough, threaten the Manor House itself. I aim to harness this tension and explore what impact this will have on the characters. Therefore, the internal logic involves adhering to the generic conventions of the disaster genre, with the precursor to the disaster being the development of the town and greed of William Hughes. This also relates to the Western genre and the tension between civilization and primitivism and how the environment is at odds with the infrastructure and development of the landscape.
In the next few weeks I will consult the feedback received and work on producing several artefacts for my end of semester ‘proof-of-narrative’ portfolio.
Presentation
This is an audio recording of my presentation for reference.
Feedback
This is an audio recording of the presentation feedback received from Michelle and Lucy.
