Personal and Professional Practice 3: 'Engage' Studio Brief (Live Brief) - Designs and Backstory

We decided that we wanted to go with bees as this was the most original idea that we had and it hadn't been done outside of a few films. I started by coming up with some very rough initial sketches that could be featured in the throne room to begin with to get an idea about what kind of things we wanted to have in the room. This was a very quick process that got some ideas down on paper quickly and we were happy with what was there originally.

I then moved onto creating a quick rough mock up of some ideas for the room and how it would work. The idea was to make it a hexagon as this is the main shape used when thinking about a beehive. We then brought in other elements and built on the initial ideas that we had to produce this below. We thought that it could be sat on a bed of flowing honey which would then run into other rooms, and there would be a walkway up to the throne that would have a plant in the middle as we had to include an element of foliage.

Sophie then created some very basic mock up designs for the environment so that we could get an idea about what it is going to look like quickly before we went into more detail with the designs and concept art. At the moment it is looking quite bland but once the details have been added in and the textures it will make all of the difference.

I then looked at designing the box/balconies that are going to be in the room. The inspiration came from looking at theatre boxes and how they look, taking a lot of inspiration from the top right and using the same colour schemes as the bottom two as the yellow combined with the orange of the honey comb goes really well with the red, making it look very royal and more expensive.

I then moved onto looking at how the individual rooms can be designed and first started with the Princess's. The idea behind her is that she hates what the Queen is doing to the rest of the population but doesn't want to say anything to her or about the subject as she is scared of the death penalty. She is a quiet and reserved character that will spend her free time playing and listening to music, and reading. She doesn't want to challenge the authority of her mother and her partner feels the same way, although wants something to be done about it.

The second design is for the Prince. He is a much more lively character, bringing home different people all of the time, and being very much a live it large character. He hasn't got any boundaries and he wants to be young forever and never have responsibilities to deal with, making him an eccentric but fun loving character.  

The next design is for the Priest who is a major part in the running of the hive. He is the go to guy when you have a problem and he believes that God will help him solve everything. He doesn't agree with the Queens actions in anyway and he knows this is not what God would have wanted. The Queen despises the Priest but cannot do anything to him as he is under the peoples protection and she knows that there would be chaos if they thought she had anything to do with a disappearance or death to him.

The next design is for the Mayor. He is the leader in the main section of the hive and backs up the Queen with whatever decisions she makes. He is her right hand man and he is too scared to do otherwise. He got the role out of fear of disappointing his family and leads the activities around the hive and reports back to the Queen. He knows that one wrong movement could equal death and calms his nerves with an addition to alcohol.

Lastly I decided the security room which is where the Queens security would sit and watch over the throne room. They are big burly bees that will do anything to protect the Queen as they have been ordered too. They will accept no bribes and will attack on command making them very deadly. There are a number of different security teams but these three monitor the throne room at all times looking at different areas using specialised equipment.