FMP Initial Research & Pitch

The Brief

Week 1 02/03

Initial Ideas

Mind Map 02/03

Here is my mindmap for the theme of Retro we werre given for this years FMP. The first thing that came to mind when i heard the word retro was actually old toy robots and neon colours, i then went and searched for iconic things from 80s/90s because thats what i would consider retro. As i read through this list of iconic things i picked the ones that i liked and that realkly stuck out to me the most and i ended up with this mind map ive put together.

Mood Board 02/03

This is the mood board I made so I can really visualise the ideas I'm going for from my mind map. I think my plan right now is a 3D diorama in a setting like the image in the middle, with a nice neon, retro, geometric look. I will have all of these things that really made up the 80s and 90s scattered around the scene as if they are in a space, and theyre just floating together with each other. I feel like using all of these things will bring nostalgia for generations older than mine.

Pecha Kucha

Title page

This is my Pecha Kucha for my Second Year FMP. The theme we have been given for this year is "Retro". I will now talk about what the term "Retro" makes me think of and what it really means to me. Retro to me is all about music, culture, fun, and evolution into the modern world.

80's

First off, I think of the 80s and 90s kind of era when I think of retro. Starting with the 80s, it makes me think of bright colours, films, MTV, and music. Still, when you really think about the 80s, you can also think of other things like everything happening in the world in the 80s, like political stability, technological advancements too. The 80s were when gaming really became a thing, with the bloom of arcades and even very early consoles in the late 80s. One piece of media that really sticks out to me and represents the 80s is Back to the Future.

90's

The 90s are probably my favourite generation, and I really wish I could have experienced the 90s. The 90s had a lot going on at the time with things like the rave scene, the rise of hip hop, and the beginning of grunge. The 90s are also famous for media like games and films getting closer to how they are in the modern day. This was when TV really became a big thing with huge shows and films still massively famous today, such as Friends, Jurassic Park, and Titanic. The fashion in the 90s was also huge and was massively diverse, with the grunge style inspired by bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains.

Hip Hop

One of the directions music went in during the 80s and 90s that i thought of when i heard the theme retro was Hip Hop, big names like The Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur exploded in popularity along with people like Snoop Dogg and NWA who also redefined Hip Hop and rap culture and this tiem is considered the golden age of hip hop in the 90s but there is also older artists from the 80s like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and the start of NWA. Hip Hop may inspire violence in some of its music with the rise of the East and West Coast rivalries, but it also has a good meaning behind it by using their music to challenge societal issues and create political awareness.

Rock

Rock music has been a huge genre for decades and still is today, but the evolution of rock music was massively influenced in the 90s with the rise of grunge, with bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden, which then brought on the beginning of Nu Metal, introducing bands like Slipknot, Deftones, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit. While this changed music forever, it also changed fashion to this day with flannel shirts, ripped jeans and messy, crazy hair. The genre of grunge was huge on themes of depression, rage, and internal struggle.

Skate Culture

Skating in the early 90s transformed from an underground activity to a mainstream subculture with faces like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Skate culture was influenced by music that shaped the soundtrack of skating and skating videos; bands like Nirvana and Wu-Tang Clan were often featured in skating videos. Skating was more than just a sport; it was the embodiment of freedom and self-expression. Skateparks and Skateshops popped up all over the world, and while skating was considered rebellious and anti-establishment, it gave youths a feeling of belonging and seeking identity in this community and culture.

Fashion

The 90s were a decade of contrast, experimentation, and subculture influence. The early 90s embraced grunge and oversized casual wear, mid-decade saw minimalism and glamour emerge, and the late 90s highlighted retro revivals going back to the 70s, bohemian influences, and casual chic. Pop culture, music, and media played a critical role in translating street and subculture trends into mainstream fashion, many of which continue to inspire modern style choices today. Media exposure, through magazines, MTV, and films, brought high fashion to streetwear and everyday consumers. TV characters like Rachel Green (Friends) and Cher Horowitz (Clueless) became models for young women’s casual chic and preppy looks.

Technology

When it comes to Technology the 80s and 90s were huge, with the 80s being the foundation of modern consumer technology, whereas the 90s was digital and connectivity boom. The 1980s laid the foundational infrastructure with things like PCs, CDs, VCRs, Walkmans, early mobile phones, and digital imaging. The 1990s, on the other hand, amplified connectivity and interactivity through the internet, email, mobile technology, and advanced gaming and multimedia, forming the basis for the digital, connected lifestyle we experience today. These decades progressively integrated technology into daily life, transforming how people communicate, entertain, work, and access information.

Gaming

In the 1980s, gaming exploded from a niche hobby to mainstream culture. Arcades buzzed with hits like Pac-Man and Space Invaders, while home consoles such as the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo NES brought gaming into living rooms. Iconic titles like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda emerged, and home computers like the Commodore 64 introduced new genres, including text adventures and early role-playing games. Moving into the 1990s, technology leapt forward with 32- and 64-bit consoles, 3D graphics, and richer sound, with systems like the SNES, Sega Genesis, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 pushing game complexity. Handhelds like the Game Boy made gaming portable, and early online connectivity began to grow, paving the way for esports and global communities. By the late ’90s, franchises such as Pokémon, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil helped cement gaming as a major cultural and economic force, transforming it from a pastime into a multi-billion-dollar industry that shaped music, movies, and more.

Final page

Thank you for watching and listening to my Pecha Kucha. I hope you enjoyed this and have possibly learnt about the huge changes and influence during the 80s and 90s, but also how it has shaped the modern day when it comes to music, fashion, technology, culture, and more.

Week 2 09/03

Idea 1

Challenges, Previous Experience and Things I'll Learn

Challenges

Some of the models I'll make will be new to me and unlike things I have made previously
Keeping upto time could also be a good challenge and will boost my ability to get things done quickly yet efficiently

Previous Experience

I haven't got much experience with making things like this, so I feel like that links to the first challenge I had come up with, since it will then give me more experience in modelling other objects efficiently

Things I May Learn

This idea will push me for learning more and refine my skills the most out of the ideas I have come up with, so I think that thats why i like this option so much because it will be such a challenge for me to overcome and could be a piece im very proud of as long as all goes well

Retro-wave area

Brief Overview and Thoughts

For my first idea i am thinking of having various retro objects floating around in an open retro wave area. I feel like this idea is good and will look like it's inside an arcade game with all the objects to bring a sense of nostalgia to older generations than my own, who remember the 80s/90s era. This was the first idea that came to me instantly before I came up with the other 2 I have in mind. I like this idea most as well, as I feel like it will be just as challenging as the others, if not more challenging, but i wont be as cut for time to get everything made compared to the other ones.

Potential Problems and Solutions

Problem: Running out of time to get the assets I want to make could be a problem I run into, as I have quite a few ideas I want to implement into this concept, and I may have overdone it with the list of assets I have in mind
Solution: Since i have a few assets that are similar like consoles i could prioritise what i have so i can keep some variation and the way i will proiritise things would be to sort them into groups and going through the groups and making 1 asset for each group then build off it so if i have time i can then do extra ones that have similarities to the other objects in the same groups
Problem: Getting stuck making one of the assets could be a problem I'm likely to run into because i havent made many assets like the ones I have listed
Solution: I will make sure to have reference images for all models I make, so I can easily replicate each item and keep them well proportioned and make them look as close to the actual thing as I can

Final Product

For this idea, the final product would be a video render and im thinking ill have a moving camera looking around at the retro objects i have floating around, the reason i want to make this a video is so that these objects can sort of float up and down slightly to make it seem like they are actually placed there rather than having it look like i forgot actually to put them where i wanted them, im also thinking some objects might have animations made for them too, example of these animations would be things like; kirby and donkey kong sprite just doing basic animation from older games, skateboard and rollerskates might have an animation i can implement, image coming out of polaroid camera, rubix cube mixing itself around, tape coming out of walkman. I feel like adding all these little animations will bring this project to life quite nicely without being too much at once.

Visual Examples and Ideas

Idea 2