LittleBigPlanet for my Production Design essay!

I have chosen to study LittleBigPlanet for my Production Design essay.

I initially wanted to Tekken 6 as it is the game that I was most looking forward to for the Playstation 3. However, I soon realised that if I was analysing Tekken 6's production design, it would be difficult not to do it from a fan's eye view. Although it has limited stages to analyse, their are many aspects of Tekken 6's production design worth mentioning about, from the 80+ costumes, endless customisation opportunities and texturing, to the cinematics, stage design and character design.

However, I have opted to do LittleBigPlanet as it felt as if I could analyse each part of the production design without focusing heavily on one part.

“LittleBigPlanet is a unique game combining an amazing platform adventure with a huge social community enabling players to, play, create and share their gaming with others”.

I feel that I can really expand on the use of colour throughout LBP, with their constant use of bright thematic colours. The themes used can also be ellaborated on, such as the different location you can visit and the levels based on these areas, for example, The African Savannah or The Mexican Deserts. There is also a high use of abstract objects and building, I believe there is alot to talk about in the designing of these buildings and objects and the texturing used throughout. Like Tekken 6's there are endless customisation oppurtunities, however in LBP, it is literally endless with the Sackboy's (the main character) wardrobe constantly being updated by Media Molecule as they design new costumes or designers from other companies do to advertise their costumes on LBP.

I believe this essay on LittleBigPlanet will be alot of fun to write as it will allow me to research the various skills employed by Media Molecule's Production design team to achieve such a fun and authentic overall look.

I will be using the following resources throughout my essay:

LoBrutto. Vincent. (2002). The filmmaker’s guide to production design. Illustrated Edition. Allworth Communications.
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/objects/856/856680.html
http://www.littlebigplanet.com/en-gb/game_guide
http://newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/03january/pd.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/editorial/behind_the_scenes_with_little_big_planet/142811
http://darkzero.co.uk/game-reviews/littlebigplanet-ps3/
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/action/littlebigplanet/news.html?sid=6213416&mode=news
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/sony-gamers-littlebigplanet/34204
http://www.realgamer.net/playstation3/reviews/LittleBigPlanet.html
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/objects/020/020076.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2007-littlebigplanet/22389

Images that will prove useful to analyse:

http://ps3media.gamespy.com/ps3/image/article/853/853578/littlebigplanet-20080220024138947.jpg
http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Games/L/LittleBigPlanet/Bulk%20Viewers/PS3/2008-05-06/UPM101.lbp.mountain--screenshot.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/bejarada/LBPPIC2.png
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrW3wi1gSrgGlDTQE1iWGE38_H0uwsY9Hqi8uZ0G0rJbQZPfzzGJ_WFLx0XR5c_Pw1sft3FsunvHSa58D4gUiRM0fQoOY_53QoLflkMlbC4TVBwuSs3SDhVeE4HqYVSIIQFAiyEzwDrY4J/s1600/Madhura+Meenakshi+Temple.jpg
http://www.product-reviews.net/wp-content/userimages/2008/01/littlebigplanet-sony-1.jpg
http://ps3media.gamespy.com/ps3/image/article/788/788961/littlebigplanet-20070516040058602.jpg
http://www.brhphoto.com/img/mexico/image02.jpg
http://www.littlebigplanet.com/images/assets/shared/screenshots/story_savannah_02.jpg
http://www.exploretravel.com/upperlevel/slides/Namibia_Web/NamibiaImages/GIRAFFES.JPG
http://ps3media.gamespy.com/ps3/image/article/925/925504/littlebigplanet-20081030102251755.jpg
http://fuzzybuzz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sackboy.jpg