Brief six : Major Project

During one of my very helpful meetings, I was reminded of Leonardo da Vinci's piece 'The Virgin and Child.' This drawing employs the subtle sfumato technique of shading, but the main thing is that the drawing has an unfinished quality to it. This technique is an inspiration for developing these images further.



My idea is to shade the environments from top to bottom but reveal the realistic quality of the originals as the journey progresses to create a sense that you are entering the real world. This style should also work well with the element characters that Casey is developing by hand using much the same technique.

Through image and narrative storytelling we are going to tell the story of the four individual quests for the Holly bean.

This was the original allocation of jobs:
Air Kingdom: Pete
Fire kingdom: Sara
Water Kingdom: Chris
Earth Kingdom: Angela

It was soon clear that I would be doing ALL four of the environments. Reasons for this are that when I created my air environment, everyone liked the style and we therefore wanted some consistency to run through the images. Other members also had alot of work left to do for Coffee Republic whereas I had completed my tasks on the deadline set.

Story research and background:

Guardians:
The task of elementals, like that of the nature devas (angels), is to build up forms in the natural world, thus providing an arena in which other beings, such as human souls can evolve spiritually.
- Uriel controls the elemental of Earth
- Gabriel-Water
- Raphael-Air
- Michael- Fire.
Many identify the color green with Raphael, perhaps to associate the healing of the earth. Gold with Raphael, to draw emphasis to his divine messages, and Michael in shades of blue, to show his divine messages

The Earth kingdom

Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti or Agarttha) is a legendary city that is said to reside in the Earth's core. It is related to the Hollow Earth theory and is a popular subject in Esotericism.
Garden of Eden - The original birthplace and home of humanity according to Abrahamic religions. The first humans were banished from it after disobeying God and it was destroyed in a Deluge.
Lemuria - A supposed "lost land" that was found in either the Indian or Pacific Ocean.

In Greek mythology Demeter is the Earth Mother goddess of grain and fertility, the pure. Nourisher of the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. She is invoked as the "bringer of seasons" in the Homeric hymn, a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of the Olympians.
Demeter taught mankind the arts of agriculture: sowing seeds, ploughing and harvesting.

The central myth of Demeter, which is at the heart of the Eleusinian Mysteries, is her relationship with Persephone, her daughter and own younger self. In the Olympian pantheon, Persephone became the consort of Hades (Roman Pluto, the underworld god of wealth). Demeter had a large scope of abilities. Besides being the goddess of the harvest, she also controlled the seasons, and because of that she was capable of destroying all life on earth. In fact, her powers were able to influence Zeus into making Hades bring her daughter Persephone up from the underworld. Persephone became the goddess of the underworld when Hades abducted her from the earth and brought her into the underworld. She had been playing with some nymphs, whom Demeter later changed into the Sirens as punishment for having interfered, and the ground split and she was taken in by Hades. Life came to a standstill as the depressed Demeter searched for her lost daughter.
Finally, Zeus could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to return Persephone by sending Hermes to retrieve her. But before she was released, Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds (the number varies in various versions; one, three, four, or even seven according to the telling), which forced her to return for six months each year. When Demeter and her daughter were together, the earth flourished with vegetation. But for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. Summer, autumn, and spring by comparison have heavy rainfall and mild temperatures in which plant life flourishes. It was during her trip to retrieve Persephone from the underworld that she revealed the Eleusinian Mysteries. In an alternate version, Hecate rescued Persephone. In other alternative versions, Persephone was not tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds but chose to eat them herself, or ate them accidentally, that is, not knowing the effect it would have or perhaps even recognize it for what it was. In the latter version it is claimed that Ascalaphus, one of Hades' gardners, claimed to have witnessed her do so, at the moment that she was preparing to return with Hermes. Regardless, the result is the occurrence of the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendars.

Creatures:
Centaurs - Creatures who are half-man and half-horse who appear in many mythological stories,
Giants - Huge, often violent human-like creatures that cause fear in the people who encounter them,
Gnomes - Very small human-like folks who stand just one or two feet tall,
Leprechaun - Merry little human-like creatures who live close to humans but do not like to be seen by them very often,
Ogres - Human-like folks who stand twice as tall as humans and are built very strong and heavy,
Pixie - Tiny folk who live among the countryside. They are hard workers and can help crops and flowers to grow, but they also like to play tricks on humans,
Unicorn - A horse-like creature with a horn growing out of its forehead.

Narrative:
'URIEL' the guardian of Earth is summoned leave Tartarus and embark on an epic journey to bring the four elements to mankind on a quest to create the perfect coffee bean. Throughout her journey she must overcome mythical creatures (Giants, Ogres) and travel through violent earthquakes and the evil forest to reach her destination and unite the elements to create the Holly bean. Earth is the first component and will sow and harvest the seeds.

Air Kingdom:

Balloons/ wind turbines/ Kites/ Clouds/ smoke/ mist/ hair blowing/ birds/ butterflys/ rainbow/ leaves/ sun/ hot air balloons/ planes/helicopters/ bubbles





The air Kingdom: 'Laputa' - Laputa is a fictional place from the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.
Laputa is a fictional flying island or rock with an adamantine base, that can be maneuvered by its inhabitants in any direction using magnetic levitation.

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt and the eagle.

Sylphs:
1 : an elemental being in the theory of Paracelsus that inhabits air
2 : a slender graceful woman or girl — sylph·like \ˈsil-ˌflīk\ adjective
Paracelsus was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist. Paracelsus believed in the Greek concept of the four elements, but he also introduced the idea that, on another level, the cosmos was fashioned from three spiritual substances: the tria prima of Mercury, Sulfur and Salt.

Narrative:
'RAPHAEL' the guardian of air is summoned by Aether to leave Laputa and embark on an epic journey to bring the four elements to mankind on a quest to create the perfect coffee. Throughout his journey he must overcome mythical creatures (Garudas, Griffins, Harpys and Simurghs) and travel through severe storm clouds and dangerous tornados to reach his destination and unite the elements to create the Holly bean. Air will blow and spread the seeds across the land.

The Water Kingdom:

Andromeda was a woman from Greek mythology who, as divine punishment for her mother's bragging, was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster.

In Greek mythology, Poseidon (Greek: Ποσειδῶν; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the sea, as well as of horses, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. He was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish spears (tridents). He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.

Atlantis - The legendary (and almost archetypal) lost continent that was supposed to have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean; there are many differing opinions on what and where Atlantis was.
Atlantis is the name of a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. According to Critias, the Hellenic gods of old divided the land so that each god might own a lot; Poseidon was appropriately, and to his liking, bequeathed the island of Atlantis. The island was larger than Ancient Libya and Asia Minor combined, but it afterwards was sunk by an earthquake and became an impassable mud shoal, inhibiting travel to any part of the ocean.

Sea monsters: Giant octopus, mermaids, sea serpent, Scylla & Charybdis were the two monsters in Greek mythology, sharks, whales (Moby-Dick)

Narrative:
'GABRIEL' the guardian of water is summoned to leave Atlantis and embark on an epic journey to bring the four elements to mankind on a quest to create the perfect coffee. Throughout her journey she must overcome mythical creatures (octopus, sea serpents, sharks) and travel through treacherous waters and high seas to reach her destination and unite the elements to create the Holly bean. Water will feed and nourish the beans allowing them to grow strong.

The Fire kingdom:

In Greek mythology, Hades and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans and claimed rulership over the universe ruling the underworld, sky, and sea, respectively

Hades refers to the ancient Greek underworld.
The Greek underworld is a general term used to describe the various realms of Greek mythology which were believed to lie beneath the earth or beyond the horizon. In classic Greek mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus. It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component.

Phlegethon (English translation: "flaming") or Pyriphlegethon (English translation: "fire-flaming") was one of the five rivers in the infernal regions of the underworld, Plato describes it as "a stream of fire, which coils round the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus.'

Creatures:
Dragon: The two most familiar interpretations of dragons are either European dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, or unrelated Oriental dragons, derived from the Chinese dragon ). The word "dragon" derives from Greek, "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon"
Pheonix: a mythical bird that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes

Narrative:
'MICHAEL' the guardian of fire is summoned by to leave Tartarus and embark on an epic journey to bring the four elements to mankind on a quest to create the perfect coffee bean. Throughout his journey he must overcome mythical creatures (dragons) and travel through burning forests and flaming rivers to reach his destination and unite the elements to create the Holly bean. Fire will roast beans ready to give to mankind in order to be ground and brewed.

Story:

For supreme beings with the powers of the four elements are summoned from thier kingdoms to embark on an epic quest to reach the Holly land and combine the elements to create the perfect taste of coffee known to mankind.

Inspiration: In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Ancient Greek: Προμηθεύς, "forethought") is a Titan known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals for their use.



Prometheus brings Fire to Mankind

Taking into account the research and influences found, I hope to key elements to be used throughout the story. The story is a result of eastern and western influences:

Alchemy: Creation by the god was the result of blending these "simple bodies" (the four elements) together in the correct proportions to produce the infinite varieties of life / The changing of the elemental proportions in base metals to make rarer ones such as silver and gold. - Blending the four elements to produce the perfect blend of coffee. The coffee represents the gold.

Alchemy: According to Aristotle, the four elements are distinguishable from one another by their "qualities." - These "qualities" would refer to the elemental forces and the characters ability of controlling them.

Alchemy, natural philosophy, and early modern physics proposed the existence of a medium of the aether, meaning "upper air" or "pure, fresh air"
Aristotle included aether in the system of the classical elements of Ionic philosophy as the "fifth element" (the quintessence), on the principle that the four terrestrial elements were subject to change and moved naturally in straight lines while no change had been observed in the celestial regions and the heavenly bodies moved in circles.

Chinese pholosophy: In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng), or the Five Phases, usually translated as five elements, five movements or five steps.
Note that the five elements are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with 5 stages; hence the preferred translation of "Phase" over "Element".
The elements are:
metal (Chinese: 金, pinyin: jīn, ) (literal translation meaning "gold")
wood (Chinese: 木, pinyin: mù)
water (Chinese: 水, pinyin: shuǐ)
fire (Chinese: 火, pinyin: huǒ), and
earth (Chinese: 土, pinyin: tǔ, ).



Buddhism: The Buddha described nirvana as the perfect peace of the mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states (kilesa) - Relevant to our concept of being 'in your element'

Buddhism: In early Buddhism, the Four Elements are a basis for understanding and for liberating oneself from suffering. - The four characters (four elements) are used to liberate oneself from suffering and bring them into their element.

Hindu: Avatar or Avatara in Hindu philosophy is the 'descent' or incarnation of a divine being (deva) or the supreme being (god) onto planet Earth. (Siddhārtha Gautama, The founder of Buddhismis aid to be an Avatar) - Our four characters could be considered Avatars or supreme beings.

Korean History: When Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the 4th century, the Korean peninsula was politically subdivided into three (some say four) kingdoms - Each of the elements could travel from the four kingdoms in the four corners of the world.

Literature: A quest is a journey towards a goal used in mythology and literature as a plot. Quests can be found in the folklore of every nation. It is often used throughout eastern literature. - This story could be a quest story with the four characters having to leave their kingdoms to seek out the other elements to be able to produce the coffee.

Eastern Literature: The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, most notably the 'Journey to the west' that represents spiritual insite in which the group of pilgrims journeying toward India stands for the individual journeying toward enlightenment.

Western Literature: Homer's Odyssey and the Holy grail all depict a 'quest' through western literature. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz tells the story of the scarecrow, tin man and lion who join Dorothy on her odyssey to the Emerald City to find the Wizard of Oz and return home.

Story:

Four supreme beings with the ability to control the four elements must leave their kingdoms and embark on an epic quest to seek each other. Once they have joined together they must use their abilities and bring together the four elements to produce the perfect blend coffee and restore a sense of Nirvana to the world. ('in your element')

Influences:

Aristotle: Greek philosopher
Fire, which is hot and dry.
Earth, which is cold and dry.
Air, which is hot and wet.
Water, which is cold and wet.
Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).

The Quest for the perfect blend.

Four Charatcters: 'The four elements'

Wind representing Spring: Kun - courageous, hopeful, amorous
Fire representing Summer: Yi - easily angered, bad tempered
Earth representing Autumn: Kon - despondent, sleepless, irritable
Water representing Winter: Kam - calm, unemotional

The four humours, their corresponding elements, seasons, sites of formation, and resulting temperaments alongside their modern equivalents are:

A Quest story

Myths and legends telling of journeys and quests are among the world's oldest stories. Two of the world’s most famous quest stories are Monkey (China, 1584) and The Wizard of Oz (US, 1900). Many say that from the safety of a fictitious storyline, Wu Cheng’en boldly criticized the religious, social and political institutions of the Middle Ming dynasty, and Frank L. Baum criticized US political policies of that time.

In quests, several obstacles are usually met. In this story, some of these include:

External obstacles (mountains, rivers, etc.)
Demons (represent an unsteady mind: steady the mind and the demons disappear)
Carelessness (complacent characters)
Group unity is repeatedly upset and discord is created.
Monkey stories provide an excellent springboard to explore the connection between ancient and modern quest stories. Students can make comparisons between the fictional journeys and the challenges facing people in the real world. They can learn from the experiences of others while keeping alive a sense of adventure and wonder.

Among the many highlights of the Beijing Olympics are the BBC's trailers and tiles that promote and bookend coverage across a full range of media.
Created by the men behind Gorillaz - Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - Monkey and his friends will be the faces of the BBC's Beijing Olympics coverage.

After coming up with a range of directions we wanted to take the Hollys brand, we were all happy with the idea of developing a set of characters to represent the four seasons. This idea has snowballed into an entirely story based concept.

We intend to create a 'story' driven brand campaign

The BIG Idea: The Four Elements.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS (air, earth, fire, and water), first identified as such by the Greek philosopher Empedocles in the 5th century B.C.E., constitute the fundamental aspects of life.

Promotional Video

A video to promote Coffee Republic throughout the four seasons

- Consider brand concept and asthetics:

“The heart of your city”
Use of typography
White/colour on black

- Represent the four seasons throughout

- Show how video can be used through a variety of screen based media (online, TV, public spaces, mobile downloads)

Video theme: ‘The heart of your city’

Visual style

- Typotown by ‘BuroDestruct’
In Typotown the characters become the architecture. Just change the typeface and enter text to create a cityscape.



- Alex Gopher: “The Child”



- Frank Miller : Sin City Comic books



City Theorists:

- Leading city theorists include:
Walter Benjamin / Henri Lefebvre / Michel de Certeau / Michel Foucault

- Walter Benjamins final, unfinished work, was a collection of writings on the city life of Paris and its distinctive street life and culture of flânerie (meaning to stroll)... A flâneur is thus a person who walks the city in order to experience it.
- Michel de Certeau describes "the city" as a "concept," generated by the strategic maneuvering of institutional bodies who produce things like maps that describe the city as a unified whole, as it might be experienced by someone looking down from high above.
- Heterotopia was a concept by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions.
- Henri Lefebvre's writing was concerned, with the deep transformation of "the city" into "the urban" which culminated in the "complete urbanization of society".

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