Art of:

MORIANA
 Introduction
Invisible Cities is a novel by Italo Calvino. Published in 1972 the
novel explores the descriptions of cities by Marco Polo, an
explorer. The book has over 55 cities grouped into 11 categories.
Through the project we were given over 14 cities to read, analyse
and construct thumbnails from. After looking through these
extracts I found my self drawn to Moriana found in the Cities &
Eyes category. It didnt catch my interest until I read over the
extracts again, it talked about the city being this utopia of dancing
women and transparent aquatic structures, but also mentioning
the city having a darker side, parts of it rusting and breaking apart.
The city having this second half, an opposite. This part didnt fully
inspire me until later on as at the time I found Moriana to be more
geometrical and prismatic. Looking back at it now I can see how
much my idea of the city has changed.
 Influences
Just after my OGR my thoughts perspective of
Moriana changed completely, I originally saw it
as this geometric, pristine utopia and didnt
really take in much of its true identity, the
darker more gritty parts. It was suggested that
Moriana sounds a lot similar to Vegas, by night
the city comes to life full of lights, colours,
entertainment and sensual pleasure but parts of
it that the light doesnt touch, the hidden
parts hold something a bit more darker. This
became my focus for the interior, combining the
idea of a twisted pleasure palace became a
concept for a strip club / Bar, these sorts of
places are dim lighted and hold intense
colours. I managed to find in my influences
bars that presented the geometric themes of
Moriana I was going for. It also gave off the
effect of corruption, the inner area of Moriana
that was its true self. A Venus fly trap of
sirens, giving me the idea that Moriana was
this mix of aquatic and gemstone themes.
 Thumbnails
Establishing shot
 Thumbnails
Low Exterior Shot
 Thumbnails
Interior shot
Production Concepts
 Sirens
I initially had ideas of having
sirens live in Moriana, portrayed as
beautiful mermaids or women dressed
in 1920s dresses to support the
Silver scales description and just
as they lure their prey in they turn
into their true form, I like to
think that from afar you see their
beauty that of which is a mask and
the closer you get to them they
slowly distort into their true from
and the corruption grows from them,
by the time you realise this youre
under their spell.
Colour Concepts
Colour Composition Alternatives
Final Outcomes
Establishing Exterior Shot
Establishing Exterior Shot
close ups
Low Exterior
Low Exterior Shot
close ups
Interior Shot
Interior Shot
close ups