When you think of world-building you probably imagine sweeping landscapes?
imposing skylines or even a whole new universe filled with its own set of [regents] cultures and rules for
[any] Sci-Fi or fantasy epic world building is one of the first most pivotal steps in crafting your story?
But lost in that is one simple fact
Every work of fiction has to have world building whether it takes place [in] a galaxy far far away
Or right here in Modern Society world building is what gives a story its sense of place
Not physical location or setting but the space the story itself occupies in
Order to draw you in the world has to be
Convincing you have to feel what it's like to [be] there the world needs to be alive outside the plot
That could mean creating entirely new cultures complete with their own set of conflicts which may not even be a part [of] the main narrative
It could also mean allowing the viewer [to] relate to a character through simple actions in their daily grind a works world is the entry
Point [to] the story it should exist both within and outside the main narrative
World building essentially boils down to the delivery of [information] what type of people inhabit this world, what mechanics govern it?
What does it like to [actually] live there Etc?
you have to know what it's like to [be] in the world [to] dive into it just
[as] important as the information itself however is the way in which it's conveying
I don't want a story to explain its world to me
I want to be shown this is why nobody likes info dumping it's boring the information may be interesting
But simply telling it to the audience with little or no action isn't
Giant chunks of exposition can take the viewer out of the story's flow making it much easier for some of that information to get lost
Show don't tell info dumping is especially bad in a visual medium where there's always something to look at
Anime has the luxury [of] limitless possibilities to what you can put on screen so shots of character sitting around while they explain away
The story are insanely boring and a massive missed opportunity
It's not simply the Major features relevant to the plot that make a world interesting though
sure psycho passes simple system is
Philosophically fascinating and fMAC alchemy makes for an insanely cool concept but these are just one part of creating a world
flip-Floppers has been one of my favorite series of the fall 2016
Season in part because of its unique ability to create so many interesting worlds in such a short [amount] of time each new venture is
A visual treat that uses the characters interactions with the [environment] as well [as] beautiful backgrounds and wide shots to Convey its feeling
That's the nature of world building. [I] should feel what it's like to [be] there
much of the talk on world Building centers on big details leaving big impacts
But I want to [focus] on the smaller [details] leaving small impacts because taken together
It's these details that make a world come alive if a story takes place in Modern-day
Tokyo it should look feel and Act like Modern-day
Tokyo do the background characters wander aimlessly, or do they have some sense of direction. What do the characters eat?
When do they sleep what are they doing when they're not on screen? What's the environment like?
shinsekai [Yuri] or from the new World is one of animes better examples of world building to me and I say that readily admitting it's
Not without faults the fourth episode for example is one giant info-dump which drives a story to a grinding halt
But where it succeeds is creating a world that truly feels living a critical component to world building is mood
How does the world make you feel?
Anime unlike textual media doesn't have to rely purely on words to construct its world
It has visuals and sound
Shinsekai Yuri Crafts a haunting yet Serene atmosphere through its chilling vocal soundtrack and simplistic
animation using silhouettes and Sharp Monochrome it felt truly alien to me a
Feeling made even more unsettling with the knowledge that this is indeed a future Earth
That mood drew me into the world from the start and thankfully kept me from dropping the series after the plot began to drag in
Its first Arc the show's world only expands from there as you're thrust into its rich history and diverse cultures
shinsekai Yuri Captures the essence of
Dystopias Laid forth by Orwell and Huxley if you're going to write a story set in a far future where people have some power
Technology has advanced Beyond compare you have to account for how such changes would profoundly affect society in social order
dystopian worlds originate from those adaptations and [shinsekai]
[Ori] is at its best when it gives you a sense of what it's like to live in this new world
First impressions are arguably more important to the world than any other aspect of a story because unlike the themes major conflicts and even characters
To some extent the world needs comparably less time to really draw you in
More often than not it's the first thing you're really introduced to
take Gurren lagann for example the
claustrophobic dirty feeling of Simon and Communist underground home really comes through thanks to tight framing little lighting and a blue hue
when they finally break through to the surface the relief of the fresh air feels like a huge weight lifted off your shoulders and the
Beauty of the open sky is made striking by its color symmetry and size
Consider, how Barren and empty the surface really is here. It's made to captivate us in the same way it has the characters
it's the perfect episode for the start of their journey and a great hook into the world as
I've said the world-building [isn't] reserved for these grand adventures even [if] it takes place in a setting you're entirely familiar with like
[2000s] japan you may know the world, but you don't know the world of the characters
It's still the stories job to relate to feeling of being in this
specific section of Modern-day Society all those earlier questions still apply
But [if] there aren't any new cultures to divulge
New environments to explore or new laws to explain then what does the story I've left to establish
It all goes back to the central question of [world-building]. What is it like to be there say I'm some background character
How do I feel what am I doing? What am I seeing?
It's these smaller details which answer that question let's take a look at a different fall 2016 show sound [ephone]
'One of the series strengths is conveying its characters emotions thoughts and feelings through careful framing expressions and visual techniques
The Shaky camera for example is often used to convey rising emotion saying an argument at others
It's to give the series a documentary feel both cases reveal information about the sentiment of the room
Yama, too loves to use [boquete] to control focus and add a layer of beauty to a shot again offering a glimpse into the sense
of that moment the first sequence of season 2 uses a sharp contrast between
Environments to portray time and emotion as it shifts from a winter air to the heat of summer
The show takes Kumiko looking up at the same sky with a similar expression and elicits two very different feelings out of it by playing
Them back-to-back
If a story takes place in a [real-life] setting it should match that real-life setting. Sound! Euphonium takes place in Uji, Kyoto
So there are several nods to real events in the city such as the UJI fireworks festival which actually isn't run for several years
But author Ayano Takeda wanted to highlight it from her youth or the alignment of venus and jupiter in episode 8 of season 1 which happened in real
Life at that time [-] it's not just there as a reference only people from Muji would understand either
It's framed in such a way to reflect the relationship between Kumiko and Rana at the time
Details like these may not seem like much on their own, but add them all up
And it goes a long way towards making the world feel real to
See how detrimental bad world building can be to a story look no further than sword art online - his first [Arc] gun gale online
Few shows are as guilty [of] info dumps as sao - here in its first art
but the time any action was around the [stories] already bored me beyond repair [to]
[make] matters worse the setting of these scenes is even more boring [than] the info dump
There's nothing less interesting than having character sit around a table at a coffee shop and talk endlessly
So to do it over and over again is Borderline sadistic
Much of our initial time spent there is inside dull buildings with no character to them instead of engaged in it's more captivating world
It's no coincidence the arcs only memorable sequences make use of these striking landscapes even then
It's mostly just there to be a gritty counterpart to Sao s lighter worlds
I think that's the problem most series run into their world has no personality. It's just the place where the story happens
It's a shame really because a great world can make the difference between a decent story and an engrossing one often times
I find myself re watching my favorite series not because I need the narrative again. I know the plot [I've] seen it
It's the world I come back to so the next time you watch a show no matter how big or small the story may seem
Pay attention to the background [think] about how a particular shot makes you feel and see what information
You can pull from outside the exposition for world building isn't simply about giving a story a place to happen
It's about creating a world. That's truly alive