Many years ago, I created an online class where I covered different types of lighting (e.g.: direct light, diffused light, atmospheric perspective, etc.) For a section on “imagined light”, I asked students to discuss the following question:
Imagine that you are a production designer for a film, or a concept designer for a video game. You are given some text and asked to visualize a scene. What would you do with this bit of description?
“A long tilted valley, a deep gulf of shadow, ran back far into the mountains. Upon the further side, some way within the valley’s arms, high on a rocky seat upon the black knees of the Ephel Duath, stood the walls and tower of Minas Morgul. All was dark about it, earth and sky, but it was lit with a light. Not the imprisoned moonlight welling through the marble walls of Minas Ithil long ago, Tower of the Moon, fair and radiant in the hollow of the hills. Paler indeed than the moon ailing in some slow eclipse was the light of it now, wavering and blowing like a noisome exhalation of decay, a corpse light, a light that illuminated nothing.”
How do you illustrate “a corpse light, a light that illuminated nothing”?
This description is from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers. Over the years, various artists have attempted to visualize this part of Middle Earth. The Peter Jackson film Return of the King offers this conception.
Do you think this successfully captures the spirit of the book? How would you have designed Minas Morgul differently?
The class discussions were usually enlightening and entertaining, and some students came up with very creative suggestions of their own. As an environment designer, I am very impressed with the work that went into the Peter Jackson films (even if I don’t always agree with Peter Jackson's story telling sensibilities). As I understand it, John Howe created initial drawings for Minas Morgul that were later realized by the sculptors at the WETA Workshop (principally Dave Tremont and Leonard Ellis, working under the art direction of Richard Taylor). I think the WETA artists were in a kind of "catch-22" situation: on the one hand, Tolkien's text calls for "a light that illuminated nothing". On the other hand, illustrators and filmmakers must create contrast somehow. You can't have a picture that is all dark; something must be illuminated one way or another. Overall, I think the solution developed by the WETA artists was pretty successful.