Research for Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy)

Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs), but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 with the eponymous video game conceived by Sakaguchi as his last-ditch effort in the game industry; the title was a success and spawned sequels. The video game series has since branched into other genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing, and fighting.


In My Own Words
Hironobu Sakaguchi created a successful on going, best selling franchise. Final Fantasy has become a best selling franchise in the gaming industry. With thirteen main titles to date and many spin offs. The tradition of the franchise is to make a a completely new story, setting, characters, music and many other changes to each instalment but still sticking to the traditional Final Fantasy feel, rarely do they make a sequel to a certain installment, such as Final fantasy X-2. I think this is a really good way to treat each installment to the franchise, it keeps each game fresh and new without the franchise going stale from same story and characters.


References 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hironobu_Sakaguchi

Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli, Inc.  is a Japanese animation film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro (a large forest spirit) from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro. It has its headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo.

Several anime features created by Studio Ghibli have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award, including: Castle in the Sky, in 1986; My Neighbor Totoro, in 1988; and Kiki's Delivery Service, in 1989. In 2002, Spirited Away won a Golden Bearand an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, which it remains the only film made outside the English-speaking world to have done so.

This is no longer the artist I am using for my project.

Daft Punk

Daft Punk is an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (born February 8, 1974) and Thomas Bangalter (born January 3, 1975). Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s housemovement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop. The duo is also credited with producing songs that were considered essential in the French house scene. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records


Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo met in 1987 while attending the Lycée Carnot, a secondary school in Paris. The two became good friends and later recorded demo tracks with others from the school. This eventually led to the formation of the guitar-based group called Darlin' with Laurent Brancowitz in 1992. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo played bass and guitar, respectively, while Brancowitz performed on drums. The trio had branded themselves after The Beach Boys song of the same name, which they covered along with an original composition.Stereolab released both tracks on a multi-artist Duophonic Records EP and invited the band to open for stage shows in the United Kingdom. Bangalter felt that "The rock n' roll thing we did was pretty average, I think. It was so brief, maybe six months, four songs and two gigs and that was it." A negative review in Melody Maker subsequently dubbed the music "a bunch of daft punk." Instead of dismissing the review, they found it amusing. As de Homem-Christo stated, "We struggled so long to find [the name] Darlin', and this happened so quickly." Darlin' soon disbanded, leaving Brancowitz to pursue other efforts with Phoenix. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk and experimented with drum machines and synthesizers

In 1993 Daft Punk attended a rave at EuroDisney, where they met Stuart Macmillan of Slam, co-founder of the label Soma Quality Recordings. The demo tape given to Macmillan at the rave formed the basis for Daft Punk's debut single, "The New Wave", a limited release in 1994. The single also contained the final mix of "The New Wave" called "Alive", which was to be featured on their first album.

Daft Punk returned to the studio in May 1995 to record "Da Funk". It became their first commercially successful single the same year. After the success of "Da Funk", Daft Punk looked to find a manager. They eventually settled on Pedro Winter, who regularly promoted them and other artists at his Hype night clubs. The band signed with Virgin Records in September 1996 and made a deal through which they licensed their tracks to the major label through their production company, Daft Trax.

"Da Funk" and "Alive" were later included on Daft Punk's 1997 debut album Homework. The album was regarded as an innovative synthesis of techno, house, acid house and electro styles, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential dance music albums of the nineties. "Da Funk" was also included on The Saint film soundtrack. It was during this period of change in dance music that Daft Punk became largely successful. They combined the aforementioned music styles with crowd pleasing elements of rave. The most successful single from Homework was "Around the World", which is known for the repeating chant of the song's title. Daft Punk also produced a series of music videos for Homework directed by Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Roman Coppola and Seb Janiak. The collection of videos was released in 1999 and titled D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes.


In My Own Words

References


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daft_Punk

James Cameron research

James Cameron, born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954, moved to the USA in 1971. James first landed his professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and debuted as a director with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) the following year. In 1984, he wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. It was a huge success. After this came a string of successful science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2 Judgment Day (1991). Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.
As Cameron continued educating himself in techniques, he started as a miniature model maker at Roger Corman Studios. He did special effects work design and direction on John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981),

After completing a screenplay for The Terminator, Cameron decided to sell it so that he could direct the movie. However, the production companies he contacted, while expressing interest in the project, were unwilling to let a first-time feature film director make the movie. Finally, Cameron found a company called Hemdale Pictures, which was willing to let him direct. Gale Anne Hurd, who had started her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, had previously worked with Cameron in Roger Corman's company and agreed to buy Cameron's screenplay for one dollar, on the condition that Cameron direct the film. Hurd was signed on as producer, and Cameron finally got his first break as director. Orion Pictures distributed the film. Linda Hamilton first appeared in this film in her iconic role of Sarah Connor, and later married Cameron. The Terminator was a box office hit, breaking expectations by Orion Pictures executives that the film would be regarded as no more than a sci-fi film, and only last a week in theaters. It was a low-budget film which cost $6.5 million to make, cutting expenses in such ways as recording the audio track in mono. However, The Terminator eventually earned over $78 million worldwide

During the early 1980s, Cameron wrote three screenplays simultaneously: The Terminator, Aliens, and the first draft of Rambo: First Blood Part II. While Cameron continued with The Terminator and Aliens, Sylvester Stallone eventually took over the script ofRambo: First Blood Part II, creating a final draft which differed radically from Cameron's initial version.

Cameron next began the sequel to Alien, the 1979 film by Ridley Scott. Cameron named the sequel Aliens, and again cast Sigourney Weaver in the iconic role of Ellen Ripley. According to Cameron, the crew on Aliens was hostile to him, regarding him as a poor substitute for Ridley Scott. Cameron sought to show them The Terminator but the majority of the crew refused and remained skeptical of his direction throughout production. Despite this and other off-screen problems (such as clashing with an uncooperative camera man and having to replace one of the lead actors – Michael Biehn of Terminator took James Remar's place as Corporal Hicks), Aliens became a box office success, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Weaver, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and won awards for Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects. In addition, the film and its lead actress made the cover of TIME magazine as a result of its breakthrough feminist themes about women in combat. Following the phenomenal success of the film, Cameron now had more freedom to make whatever projects he wanted.

Cameron's next project stemmed from an idea that had come up during a high school biology class. The story of oil-rig workers who discover otherworldly underwater creatures became the basis of Cameron's screenplay for The Abyss, which cast Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn. Initially budgeted at $41 million U.S. (though the production ran considerably over budget), it was considered to be one of the most expensive films of its time, and required cutting-edge effects technology. Because much of the film takes place underwater and the technology wasn't advanced enough to digitally create an underwater environment, Cameron chose to shoot much of the movie "reel-for-real", at depths of up to 40 feet (12 m).

 

In my own words

In my opinion, James Cameron is one of the best film directors/producers in the movie business. It isn't just a coincidence that most of my most favourite films are made by him, Aliens, Terminator and Avatar for example. With Titanic and Avatar being the two highest grossing films of all time, Avatar being the highest, it's no matter of questioning that James Cameron is Extremely succesful, highly praised and one of the most sought-after directors in hollyword. He is also the second-highest grossing director of all time.

Refrences


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron

Spider-man comic

The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. The series began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was relaunched with a new numbering order in 1999. In 2003 the series reverted to the numbering order of the first volume. The title has occasionally been published biweekly, and was published three times a month from 2008 to 2010.


In My Own Words
First appearing in the early 1960's, Spider-Man is a classic in the comic industry and one of the most popular characters of Marvel comics and all time, being Marvel company mascot. I chose Spider-Man as it is a childhood favourite of mine and largely appeals to me. What I like about Spider-Man is how original the character is and how it largely appeals to children and teenagers. With the character being teenager himself, it attracts younger audience more. The appearance of Spider-Man is an red, blue and white primary colours, much like other Marvel characters such as superman. This is an attractive combination of colours that bold well for younger audiences and is a good representation of a cartoon. Spider-Man's outfit is meant to resemble a spider(for obvious reasons) with large spider like eyes and webs running through his outfit.


References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man 

Halo graphic novel

Published by Marvel Comics in partnership with Bungie Studios. The Halo series began with the award-winning popular video game Halo: Combat Evolved, which spawned several books as well as video game sequels, and is focused on the story of future humanity fighting against a powerful collective of races called the Covenant. The Halo Graphic Novel is the series' first entry into the sequential art medium, and features aspects of the Halo universe which until then had not been discussed or seen in any medium.

The majority of the book is divided into four short stories by different writers and artists from the computer game and comic industries. Each story focuses on different aspects of the Halo universe, revealing stories that are tangential to the main plot of the game. Apart from the stories, the book also contains an extensive art gallery compiled of contributions from Bungie, Marvel and independent sources


In My Own Words


Halo has been one of the most popular video game franchises to date. Making its first appearance with Halo: Combat Evolved which was successful and critically acclaimed. It is considered the platforms "killer app". Due to such success, it spanned sequels and many other adaptations such as anime series, books, novels and a possible film in production. To me, Halo was one of my all time favourite games, starting with Halo: Combat evolved which I personally think was the best, mainly because it was the first original game of the franchise. It appeals to adults and younger audiences alike. It's bright, colourful, imaginative and very entertaining. This game was a main cause for me buying an xbox as it's only exclusive to xbox due to microsoft's hold on it. The franchise is still on going with a fourth installment on the way, the franchise is a one of the leading games in the gaming industry 


References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Graphic_Novel

Nevaeh game

The group has discussed my design idea and we have settled on this idea, and are now planning to make the story, characters, setting, structure.

We have each been gathering ideas for different things in the game, such as one finding images, that are similiar to the setting of the game, which help build an idea of what the game would look like. And another looking at possible characters, with costumes or armour on. We are further developing new ideas for the game, which is going along progressively. We have the general storyline plot and setting covered, which allows to focus more onto the game structure and elements, Allowing us to plan the gameplay.