Task 1 - Theme Research

Task 1.1 - Theme Mind Map.

Mind Maps start with a single word in the middle of the map and then branch out to multiple different ideas around that one word - this Mind Map should be focused on the theme of your project.

You should be aiming to make the Mind Map as large as possible.

Annotation must be applied to your examples in order to explain your thought process.

Theme Mind Map

This is my entire mind map I created researching different meanings, ideas and examples of stories and creations relating to the theme of mythology. I explored many variations of how mythology has been interpreted across history as well as different meanings that the word "mythology" can hold, including natural elements, creatures, religion and divination, as well as many subcategories stemming off of these.

Natural Elements

The natural elements are ideas relating to the composition of everything in the universe. In the current day, we believe everything to be made up of atoms and combinations of the 118 elements, however in the past there were multiple different beliefs for how objects and materials were formed. One of the most common beliefs across multiple time periods and locations was that everything was a combination of the four elements water, earth, air and fire, as well as some other elements which were less universally agreed on. Exploring these elements could lead to some interesting ideas for my FMP as I could make some props or characters themed around these different basic elements, similar to characters in Pokémon and Avatar: the Last Airbender who have the ability to manipulate these forces and use them offensively.

Creatures, Cryptids & Folklore

This is by far the largest section of my mind map, encompassing mythological creatures and beings from across the world. I think that designing a mythological creature could be an interesting pathway for this project, as there are so many examples from multiple cultures, locations and beliefs that I can take inspiration from and find unique or common themes between. Additionally, lots of mythological creatures take features from existing animals and merge them together, giving me even more places to take references from, finding unique features in existing animals and using them in interesting ways to create a new design.

A lot of the characters I found from multiple cultures were Gods of various elements, such as the sky, the sun, the sea, as well as different skills or emotions, such as love, poetry and music. Not only does this show me how different mythologies believed the world worked and the divine supreme beings they worshipped and believed in, but it also shows me a range of different elements and powers they believed to be important to allow them to survive and prosper. This could help me find different abilities or themes to base weapons, characters or props around, as well as a large variety of Gods and deities I can find and reference.

Another interesting category I found in my creature research was urban legends and cryptids, legendary creatures that have been rumoured about for years but with no conclusive evidence proving their existence. I think this is a really interesting topic as despite their lack of existence, stories of these supernatural beings are shared across the world with hundreds of different interpretations across different cultures and different regions of the globe. These creatures usually possess unearthly abilities or are rumoured to be incredibly violent and dangerous, which could inspire some really unique horror-themed ideas for this project.

Religion

This section of my mind map explores different religious beliefs and ideals, as well as how their stories and traditions are recorded and performed. This would be an interesting subject to explore as whilst many forms of mythology are ancient and forgotten, various religions are still very active and prominent in modern day society, with each having their own beliefs, items and traditions.

One common subject across multiple religions that I thought could lead to some interesting project ideas are different beliefs for what happens after you die, with some popular ideas such as being reborn as a new human again or going to some form of afterlife, often having a 'good' or 'bad' place depending on your actions in life, sometimes referred to as karma. I could incorporate this into my project by incorporating elements of what religions consider to be good or evil, researching what actions are seen as redeeming or sinful, helping to add contrast to different character designs by making some very visibly evil or good. Additionally, I could explore other ideas of rebirth, such as an immortal being that can regenerate wounds or rise from the dead, or similarly some form of eternal afterlife that still exists in the mortal world, such as a ghost or zombie.

Divination/Foresight

This section of my mind map explores the supernatural ideas of divination and foresight, the abilities to see the future and become spiritually enlightened, exploring objects related to these ideas and different ideas on how it is achieved.

I think these ideas could be quite interesting for unique weapon or character designs, as I could challenge myself to find ways to incorporate several of these elements into outfits, weapon components or character's bodily features to create an irregular design that focuses more on prediction and adaptation over brute strength or force.

Task 1.1 - Theme Research.

Mood Boards are large collections of images that relate to an idea, you should be aiming for at least 10 images per board and create at least 4 boards.

Annotation must be applied to your Mood Boards in order to explain your thought process.

Mythological God Moodboard

This moodboard is a collection of mythological Gods, including Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian beliefs.

I think that the theme of Gods would be a very interesting pathway to follow for this project as not only do they fit very easily into the theme of mythology, but they also showcase the different perceptions of absolute beings with omnipotent abilities in different cultures and how they vary across the world.

One idea I found from this moodboard that I really liked was the common idea in many cultures to have Gods specific to certain powers and aspects of the universe, such as agriculture, thunder and war, rather than a single, all-powerful God. This could provide some unique ideas for my project, such as creating character concepts designated to these different beliefs in the composition of life for different cultures and researching tools and abilities commonly associated with these themes to find creative and clever ways to incorporate them into designs.

Divination Moodboard

This moodboard showcases various images, items and characters relating to ideas of spirituality or divination.

One thing I found from this moodboard that I thought could be an interesting idea to pursue for this project was the common ideas of tarot cards, zodiacs and astrology signs. These symbols often have various related imagery and meanings, including animals, personalities and powers. This could produce some interesting ideas for a project in which I reference these ideas to create a range of characters or weapons with each corresponding to a segment of these collections of signs, as well as giving me a great opportunity to research the different meanings and explore how I could incorporate these into new and creative designs.

Mythological Monsters Moodboard

In this moodboard I tried to find various examples of common monster/creature designs and tropes used throughout various media, such as zombies and vampires.

This moodboard will be very helpful if I choose to create some kind of creature or monster design, giving me a range of examples of design elements that people have found to be intimidating or supernatural.

One common theme I noticed among these designs is that many take inspiration from existing animals, then corrupt and mutate them into unearthly, frightening designs, such as vampires being a fusion between bats and humans, and yetis taking inspiration from apes and arctic creatures such as polar bears. This amalgamation of different creatures to create an uncanny new design could be an interesting pathway to follow for my project and will allow me to experiment with different animal features to find what makes a design intimidating and how I can use these elements to create a unique and interesting design.

Folklore and Beliefs Moodboard

This moodboard showcases various examples of creatures from different mythologies and folklores that have been believed to exist at some point in time.

This could be helpful if I decide to take inspiration from these creatures for my final project, potentially creating a character design incorporating elements of these creatures or even designing a mythological creature of my own.

Additionally, many of these creatures showcase the different beliefs in supernatural forces and beings from various different cultures, such as mythological Egyptian creatures associated with Gods and fearsome Greek monsters rumoured to have slain and vanquished many powerful warriors. This helps to give me some insight into what these cultures associated with power and strength which I could incorporate into my project to diversify the areas of the world I am taking inspiration from.

Mythological Weapon Moodboard

This moodboard showcases examples of weapons and items owned by mythological beings, or weapons and items with mythological powers and abilities.

This moodboard will obviously be incredibly valuable if I decide to create any weapon or prop designs for my project, giving me a great collection of unique weapon designs that fit into the theme of mythology that would give me excellent material to reference and incorporate ideas from into my own work.

Furthermore, due to the majority of mythological beliefs being ancient and forgotten, many of these weapon designs are outdated and unique, which could lead to some interesting ideas by allowing me to experiment with incorporating modern elements into these designs, such as futuristic forms of these old weapons or comparing them to modern day weapons and giving me the opportunity to research how they have developed and changed over time.

Mythological Examples in Media Moodboard

This moodboard is a collection showcasing how different mythological ideas have been presented in various media, including films & tv, games and literature.

I think this moodboard could be quite helpful in deciding where I want to take my project, as it shows me many examples of how others have used mythology to inspire their own work and how they have adapted it to generate creative ideas and designs for their own projects.

Something I found from this moodboard that I found quite interesting was how different media can take the same character and interpret them in different ways, such as the drastically different interpretations of Greek Gods between the game 'Hades', which presents the Gods as intimidating, powerful beings to suit the more serious and aggressive tones of the gameplay, and the movie 'Hercules', which creates caricature versions of the Gods, with more goofy, cartoony personalities and appearances to better suit the light-hearted, fun tone of Disney movies. This can help me to ensure I keep my designs relevant and suited for the theme of my project to avoid creating confusing and differing tones.

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