Images and Sounds for Imagined Worlds
This is a piece of artwork by Simon Stalenhag. He is an artist who specializes in futuristic images with a more grounded, mundane style. This image depicts an industrial style futuristic airport with various space ships. In line with his other work the image is mundane and looks similar to an industrial scene from real life besides the space ships. Elements like the trucks, concrete roads sets the image apart from other futuristic artwork by keeping the world grounded - more like a version of the present day with futuristic elements rather than a vastly different sci-fi world. It has a cold, almost lonely mood due to the lack of visible humans and the somewhat washed out colour palette. The designs of the spaceships has aspects such as painted metal panels, steel support beams that add to this grounded, industrial style future setting. In terms of composition, the green space ship takes up most of the left and middle thirds of the image, with other ships airborne in the distance. This gives the ships an almost intimidating feel, as they dwarf the familiar elements like the trucks and huts. The perspective is from the ground, as if it is seen from the eyes of a worker, which contributes to the grounded feel of this world, as opposed to a perspective from above, for example.
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Diagetic sound ('real' sounds that are in frame):
- Loud, futuristic engine noises from the distant space ships
- Engine noises from the trucks
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Non-diagetic (off-screen sounds that :
- Strong wind
- Distant mechanical sounds from repair men etc
- Seagulls
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Each space ship takes up it's own third, with the focal one taking up the middle row. They are the dominant elements in the scene and are much larger than the non-futuristic elements, which makes them almost intimidating. The ground takes up only the bottom third, with the sky and ships taking up the rest.
The size and positions of the ships create movement between each one. The viewer's eyes are first drawn to the main body of the green ship. They are then drawn to the bottom right due to the shape of the ship, to the ground and trucks, as well as the orange ship. This then draws them to the sky, birds and the third ship in the top right.
The colour palette is muted and washed out. This creates a cold and mundane atmosphere that keeps the image grounded in reality. The space ships share this colour palette with the environment.