FROM:Alita: Battle Angel sets are a “respite” from dark sci-fi dystopia, say production designers
The post-apocalyptic architecture in sci-fi blockbuster Alita: Battle Angel is a diverse fusion of Panama’s vibrant ruins and Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City, say its creators.
Production designers Caylah Eddleblute and Steve Joyner told us that they looked to the “welcoming” nature of colourful Cuban and Latin American colonial architecture when creating the film set.
“We wanted to do something that was completely different and never seen before, so we looked to environments that were not typically used in these types of films,” said Joyner.
科幻大片Alita：Battle Angel的後世界末日建築是巴拿馬充滿活力的廢墟與香港九龍寨城的多元融合，其創作者說。
製作設計師Caylah Eddleblute和Steve Joyner告訴我們他們在創作電影時，他們看起來色彩繽紛的古巴和拉丁美洲殖民建築的“歡迎”性質。
“我們希望做一些完全不同且以前從未見過的事情，所以我們尋找那些通常不用於這些類型電影的環境，”Joyner說。
The warm tones featured in Iron City reject the typically dark aesthetic of sci-fi films
Iron City中的暖色調拒絕了科幻電影的典型黑暗美學
Located in an unspecified region of equatorial South America, the fictional Iron City’s sun-drenched scenery goes against the aesthetic typical of sci-fi films.
This “gloomy and oppressive” style is epitomised by Ridley Scott’s rain-slicked 1982 Blade Runner movie, which set the tone for the genre.
Designers “wanted to avoid recreating Blade Runner”
“We specifically wanted to avoid recreating Blade Runner,” stated Joyner. “Science fiction has been imitated poorly so many times, as it’s tough to pay homage to something that’s so well done.”
The designers deliberately looked elsewhere when creating the mood of the production design, specifically to the streets of Havana and Panama.
“A big part of the mandate early on was to not create Iron City to be dystopian in the way that many sci-fi settings are,” explained the duo.
位於赤道南美洲的一個未指定區域，虛構的鐵城陽光普照的景色與典型的科幻電影相悖。
這種“悲觀和壓抑”的風格是雷德利·斯科特（Ridley Scott）1982年的“雨林流行”（Blade Runner）電影的縮影，為這一類型奠定了基調。
設計師“想避免重建Blade Runner”
“我們特別希望避免重建Blade Runner，”Joyner說道。 “科幻小說已被多次模仿，因為很難向那些做得好的事情致敬。”
在創造生產設計的氛圍時，設計師特意在其他地方尋找，特別是在哈瓦那和巴拿馬的街道上。
“早期任務的很大一部分就是不要像許多科幻場景那樣創造鐵城作為反烏托邦，”兩人解釋道。
Alita: Battle Angel is a cinematic adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s manga comic series
Alita：Battle Angel是Yukito Kishiro的漫畫系列的電影改編版
Alita: Battle Angel is a real-life adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s manga comic series Gunnm. It is set in a 26th-century, post-apocalyptic world that is suffering the effects of a destructive war 300 years prior, known as “the fall”.
Home to survivors of the apocalypse, Iron City accommodates both ordinary people and cybernetically enhanced humans, who co-exist in the shadow of Zalem – a wealthy sky city that houses the elites.
Alita：Battle Angel是Yukito Kishiro的漫畫漫畫系列Gunnm的改編版。 它建立在一個26世紀後世界末日的世界，它正遭受300年前破壞性戰爭的影響，被稱為“墮落”。
作為天啟的倖存者的家園，鐵城可以容納普通人和控制論的增強型人類，他們共同存在於Zalem的陰影中 – Zalem是一個擁有精英的富裕天空城市。
Panama City and Havana’s buildings were influences
巴拿馬城和哈瓦那的建築受到了影響
The designers knew that Iron City had to be located on the equator to allow for the existence of a “space elevator” connecting Zalem to earth – a popular concept in sci-fi narratives of a cable fixed to the equator that reaches into space.
However this location also gave them the opportunity to create a warmer and more vibrant setting, which doesn’t usually exist in dark sci-fi narratives. To achieve this, Eddleblute and Joyner looked to the colourful and weathered structures of the historic district of Panama City, and Cuba’s capital city Havana.
“It’s easy to do dark science-fiction, but to make something stand up in the harsh light of the sun and then look amazingly intriguing at night – that’s the challenge,” Joyner added.
設計師們知道，鐵城必須位於赤道上，以允許存在將Zalem連接到地球的“太空電梯” – 這是一種固定在赤道上進入太空的電纜的科幻敘事中的流行概念。
然而，這個位置也讓他們有機會創造一個更溫暖，更充滿活力的場景，這在黑暗的科幻敘事中通常不存在。 為實現這一目標，Eddleblute和Joyner展望了巴拿馬城歷史街區和古巴首都哈瓦那的多彩風化建築。
“這很容易做出黑暗的科幻小說，但是為了讓一些東西在太陽的強烈光線中站立起來，然後在夜晚看起來非常有趣 – 這就是挑戰，”喬伊納補充道。
Writer and producer James Cameron envisioned Iron City as a “place of abundant contrasts”
作家和製片人詹姆斯卡梅隆設想鐵城作為“豐富對比的地方”
They built 62,000 square-feet of buildings to a height of 7.3 metres – around two storeys high – in the colourful style of classical colonial architecture.
This was further animated with street art and combined with visual elements of tech spread out across eight constructed streets.
Robert Polidori’s photography series of Havana was a particular point of reference for the designers, as it captures the Cuban city’s picturesque ruins in vibrant shades of orange, turquoise and lime green.
他們建造了62,000平方英尺的建築，高度為7.3米 – 大約兩層樓高 – 採用多彩的古典殖民建築風格。
這進一步激發了街頭藝術，並結合了八條建成的街道上的科技視覺元素。
羅伯特波利多里的哈瓦那攝影系列是設計師的一個特別參考點，因為它以橙色，綠松石和檸檬綠的鮮明色調捕捉古巴城市風景如畫的遺跡。
Closed packed city-scape inspired by Hong Kong
封閉的城市景觀靈感來自香港
Made up of an intricate network of interconnecting streets, passages and “nooks”, Iron City was envisioned as a “deeply layered place of abundant contrasts” by the film’s writer and producer James Cameron.
In the early stages of production Cameron turned to a book by Greg Girard titled The City of Darkness, which documented life in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City that would further inform the production designers’ work.
由一個錯綜複雜的街道，通道和“角落”組成的錯綜複雜的網絡組成，鐵城被設想為電影作家和製片人詹姆斯卡梅隆的“深層次對比豐富的地方”。
在製作的早期階段，卡梅倫轉向Greg Girard的一本名為“黑暗之城”的書，該書描述了香港九龍城的生活，這將進一步為製作設計師的工作提供信息。
Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City, once the most densely populated place on earth, informed the production design
香港九龍寨城曾經是地球上人口最稠密的地方，為生產設計提供了信息
“As the last surviving major human settlement, the philosophy behind Iron City was that it would be a melting pot of people – a place where all cultures and all races have gathered to trade,” said Joyner.
In the aftermath of the apocalypse, Iron City is overcrowded, allowing for a darker, more dystopian reference to China’s Kowloon Walled City.
Before its demolition in the early 1990s, the tightly packed, interconnected high-rise blocks that make up the Walled City was the most densely populated place on earth. With an estimated 50,000 inhabitants, it became a microcosm of crime.
“作為最後倖存的主要人類定居點，鐵城背後的理念是，它將成為人們的大熔爐 – 所有文化和所有種族聚集在一起交易的地方，”喬伊納說。
在大災難結束後，鐵城人滿為患，允許對中國九龍寨城進行更黑暗，更反烏托邦的提及。
在20世紀90年代初拆除之前，構成寨城的緊密堆積的相互連接的高層建築是地球上人口密度最高的地方。 估計有50,000名居民，它成了犯罪的縮影。
How people move in environments was key
人們如何在環境中移動是關鍵
While this informed the fictional metropolis’ dense structure, the designers focused instead on using the sense of tightly packed bodies to establish a sense of openness and inclusion.
Eddleblute explained how she used what she learnt from her days working at Disney when aiming to create a welcoming environment: always use curves and soft edges.
In line with this idea, many of the buildings in Iron City are accented by arches, colonnades and rosette windows.
雖然這為這個虛構的大都市的密集結構提供了信息，但設計師卻專注於使用緊密包裹的身體感來建立開放和包容感。
Eddleblute解釋了她如何利用她在迪士尼工作期間所學到的知識，旨在創造一個溫馨的環境：始終使用曲線和柔軟的邊緣。
根據這個想法，鐵城的許多建築都有拱門，柱廊和蓮座窗。
Eddleblute and Joyner also looked to the “welcoming” nature of vibrant Cuban and Latin American architecture for the film sets
Eddleblute和Joyner也期待著電影佈景中充滿活力的古巴和拉丁美洲建築的“歡迎”特質
“It is designed as a place that is safe for people to go to, a sort of respite,” she said. “We wanted it to feel warm and comforting.”
“We didn’t want the sets to be just a series of streets,” said the duo. “We thought a lot about how people move in environments, and how cities have nooks and crannies and gathering spots where people congregate and live life.”
“We wanted to make sure all our environments had depth to them,” they continued. “So that people could be standing in the alleys, and vendors could be selling their wares in the market storefronts to passers by – we wanted to have that sense of community in the neighbourhood.”
“它被設計成一個人們可以安全去的地方，一種喘息的機會，”她說。 “我們希望它感到溫暖和舒適。”
“我們不希望這些場景只是一系列的街道，”兩人說。 “我們考慮過很多關於人們如何在環境中移動，以及城市如何擁有角落和縫隙以及聚集人們聚集和生活的地方。”
“我們希望確保我們所有的環境對他們都有深度，”他們繼續道。 “所以人們可以站在小巷裡，供應商可以在市場店面向路人出售他們的商品 – 我們希望在附近有這種社區感。”
The designers built the sets to a height of 7.3 metres in the colourful style of classical colonial architecture
設計師們以多彩的古典殖民建築風格建造了7.3米的高度
To create this sense of collectivity they also included a fountain, positioned in the middle of a square, as a central point where people gather.
“I wanted to make sure that we had a fountain somewhere in Iron City,” Eddleblute explained. “Because that’s an element that represents – and has done over centuries, no matter where you are – an area of congregation and community, with water being a symbol of life.”
為了營造這種集體感，他們還包括一個位於廣場中間的噴泉，作為人們聚集的中心點。
“我想確保我們在鐵城的某個地方有一個噴泉，”Eddleblute解釋說。 “因為這是一個代表的元素 – 並且已經過了幾個世紀，無論你在哪裡 – 這是一個會眾和社區的領域，水是生命的象徵。”
An archeological layering of multiple environments
多種環境的考古分層
When it came to overlaying the sets with CGI for the finished effect, the brightly coloured streets were completed with a hazy, sun-drenched look suggestive of a city “buzzing with life”.
“No matter what is going on in Iron City, people are still people,” explained Joyner. “We wanted to create a place where people still go about their daily lives, where there’s culture and art and shopping, where people still go out dancing and enjoy the music.”
當用CGI覆蓋整套效果時，色彩鮮豔的街道完成了一個朦朧，陽光普照的外觀，暗示著一個“生活嗡嗡”的城市。
“無論鐵城發生了什麼，人們仍然是人，”喬伊納解釋說。 “我們希望創造一個人們仍然在日常生活中的地方，那裡有文化，藝術和購物，人們還在外面跳舞，享受音樂。”
Arches, colonnades and rosette windows were used to create a “welcoming” environment
拱門，柱廊和蓮座窗用於營造“溫馨”的環境
This, paired with the colourful and decaying architecture of Havana and Panama, made Iron City an unusual combination of two “really diverse and beautiful, multi-layered environments”, the designers explained.
“We appropriated all of the layers of Panama City just like real archaeology, which has gleaming skyscrapers, colonial Latin American architecture and ancient stone ruins in the centre of town,” explained Eddelbute.
The result is a vibrant cityscape of over-layered references that feels as if it has built up over time.
“We wanted to show that Iron City was built generations upon generations – it needed to feel like it was a part of history,” said the designers.
設計師解釋說，這與哈瓦那和巴拿馬豐富多彩的腐朽建築相結合，使得鐵城成為兩個“真正多樣化，美麗，多層次環境”的不同尋常的組合。
“我們就像真正的考古學一樣佔據了巴拿馬城的所有層面，這裡有閃閃發光的摩天大樓，殖民地拉丁美洲建築和鎮中心的古代石頭遺址，”Eddelbute解釋道。
結果是一個充滿活力的城市景觀，過度分層的參考，感覺好像它已經積累了一段時間。
設計師說：“我們想要證明鐵城是幾代人建造的 – 它需要感覺它是歷史的一部分。”
The result is a vibrant cityscape of over-layered references
結果是一個充滿活力的城市景觀的過度分層參考
Alita: Battle Angel is just one of the many movies Eddelbute and Joyner have worked together on. Previous films include 2010 adventure sci-fi film Predators, 2014 thriller Sin City and the 2001 children’s action film Spy Kids.
Alita：Battle Angel只是Eddelbute和Joyner合作過的眾多電影之一。 之前的電影包括2010年冒險科幻電影“掠奪者”，2014年驚悚片“罪惡之城”和2001年兒童動作片“間諜小說”。
FROM:https://www.dezeen.com/2019/03/13/alita-battle-angel-set-design-sci-fi/
