Here is my 500 word rational describing visual and conceptual influences for my piece noting genre, tropes and semiotics.

After thorough research to design a perfect lair for my 3 little characters, I have decided that my genre for my lair would be superheroes based on a cartoon style.

The influence that made me design my lair the way is it is the power-puff girls who are three little girl characters that have different powers and identities/symbols. They are called Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, they all have a signature colours, Blossom being pink, Bubbles being blue and Buttercup being light green. I have made a few objects in my lair those colours to represent the girl’s influence. I used to watch the power-puff girls when I was young and they had a normal average house, which consisted of a kitchen, lounge, bedroom and a lab that was underneath the house. In my lair I have created a bedroom, lounge, kitchen, playroom and a lab, which is in the middle of the house and you have to go through a tunnel to get there.

While the power-puff girls have given me great inspiration in the design of the Lair I have also given it my own unique style and I have called it The Three Gems. I have had many other super and anti hero influences from the films including Hell Boy, Jumper, The Incredibles, Leon the Professional, Batman, Dr Frankenstein, Superman, Fantastic Four and The Joker.

At first I was interested in making an anti-hero where you are a villain and a hero but after researching and digging deeper to find more I really got interested with the Power-Puff girls. I found it very hard using the 3ds max software at first and I did not want to make any solid plans in case I was not able to create a good design, so I have gone into this design process just practicing and now I feel more confident in making things that I want to appear in my Lair. I feel I have shown who has influenced me in my lair with the symbols, colours and the way I have organised things together. I was influenced by the culture of the Power-puff girls, they revolve around the adventures of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, three little girls who were accidentally made my chemical x. A typical episode would be some humorous variation of the girls using their powers to defend their town from villains and giant monsters. They also have to deal with being very little, dealing with normal every day issues having a young child like faces, bed wetting or dependence on a security blanket. The thing is with the powder-puff girls they seem harmless but they use excessive violence, this is very unexpected especially as it is a children’s cartoon, however many cartoons use excessive violence as well. This show in particular has come under criticism for its rather excessive violence including images of the characters having blood from their mouths when they are fighting.

I have set my film of the lair as a widescreen angle to give it a more sophisticated look; some parts are fast, slow, smooth and edgy. I was trying to create a sense of suspicion as if someone is sneaking around seeing what your lair looks like.

I really enjoyed making this lair, at first I found the software very hard and not interesting, but gaining a confidence and practising with the software, I managed to create a perfect lair for my super hero's.