Disseminate presentations

On friday we carried out our disseminate presentations for personal professional practice. I have been fretting about this presentation basically since we first were briefed on it as I find presentations really daunting to do. I decided to do my presentation on the Bioshock games. This series is one of my favourites and I thought it was a really good example of how environmental storytelling can be used in order to make an imaginary place have so much depth and atmosphere that it begins to feel real. I also have an interest in concept art and this game is a great example of that too.
Bioshock Infinite, the third game in the series, is set in an alternate dimension in a floating city in the sky called Columbia, based around 1912 and inspired by the 1893 Chicago's World Fairs 'White City.' I love this environment because it is so vibrant and immersive and the attention to detail is immense. You get a real feeling that there was life in the city before you arrived here and that it actually functioned, which makes the story even richer and more immersive. However, there is also a sense of uneasiness in the city; everything is so perfect it almost becomes uncanny and uncomfortable. It is meant to be a city of American religious and political ideals, but as time goes on you begin to realise things are far from perfect, with the main themes being racial segregation, elitism and patriotism. All of this is reflected really cleverly by the environments in the game.

I also talked about Columbias sister city, Rapture, from Bioshock 1 and 2 in my presentation. The polar opposite to Columbia, Rapture is set in the depths of the ocean and has architecture based on the Art Deco style of the 1940s. The city is both retro and futuristic at the same time as well as opulent, but run down. This combines to make you feel very isolated when you play the game and can even get a bit claustrophobic because the environment is so well planned. It is intimidating and makes us feel vulnerable. 

I love how both Columbia and Rapture were meant to be utopian cities but have become corrupt and how that is reflected in the games environments.

Rapture's design was inspired by Hugh Ferris's perspective drawings of New York. You can see buildings in the game inspired by the Chrysler building, the Empire State and the Rockefeller Centre. 

 Overall I am really pleased with how my presentation went, usually I would have been visibly alot more nervous but I think the preparation I took this time and how much I like these games made it alot more manageable.