World Buildin'

Children of Men. We see this future through the workaday mopes, the secluded upper class, and the utter dregs of the fugees in Bex Hill; the different cults and factions that arise, and the iconoclasts watching it all crumble. The dystopia and the narrative are essentially one and the same, not mere facets or settings. Meanwhile, the future tech on display is both ubiquitous and subtle, everywhere (for the first 2/3) but never remarked on. And the design manages to be both futuristic yet a credible progression from what we already see today, from desktops to videogames to car models. Phenomenal movie, whose world-building is too often overlooked as an essential component to its power.

Gilliam's work is almost too obvious for this thread, but Brazil nonetheless. Terrifyingly comprehensive.

I can't really disagree with this thread.

Another addition: 28 Days Later.

Almost every Ridley Scott movie could qualify for this thread.

THX-1138. Like Brazil maybe too obvious but I love how unsettlingly crisp, clean, and ordered a dystopia Lucas created in that film.

What's the rationale champ?

Pan's Labyrinth does a great job of both creating an imaginary world and replicating, albeit on a small scale, the 1940s. You can really feel the period in the film.

The Good, The Bad and The Weird also does a fantastic job of being period and being outlandish. It feels of its period and fantastical at the same time.

I can certainly think of a movie that utterly and completely fails to create a believable world: 'Logan's Run'.

- The exterior shots of the city are pathetically obvious models.
- The interior of the city is obviously a redressed shopping mall.
- The props and costumes all feel like cheap leftovers from Star Trek.
- The exteriors are obviously sets.

Even by the standards of the 1970s, it's a totally unconvincing environment for the film to take place in.

You saw the movie, right?

But desolate London is just London shot in the morning when no one is around. If we're going to include 28 Days Later because of the way it shows a country post Zombie Apocalypse then we've got to include stuff like I Am Legend and Dawn of the Dead. I'd argue that the central performances in 28 Days Later are what give the film its feel rather than the desolate design of the thing.

Okay.

I nominate "Dark City" and "Dune"..even if the last oen isnt my kind of thing.

Speaking of... the first recent film that comes to my mind is D9. The initial documentary segment especially. Between the interviews, off the cuff shots (bug fighting), and signage, etc. I totally believed in that environment.

I'd say that setting the film in a country/city I'm not familiar with made it all the easier for me to be totally immersed in this place. There's no juxtaposition with familiar and unfamiliar. It's all alien to me and worked perfectly together.

EDIT: To add that production design (impressive or no) is not necessarily "world building". But it definitely is a major element when effective.

I also want to mention THE DARK CRYSTAL. In every majestic establishing shot and every close up of strange flora and fauna, it's clear that this is another world with its own ecosystem and mythology/history. Thanks to Jim Henson & crew and Brian & Wendy Froud. "Another world. Another time. In the age of wonder..."

'Barry Lyndon' remains the gold standard for period/costume films.

Brick does this pretty well, and by the same standards, so does Millers Crossing. YOu could just say that the latter is 1930's Chicago, but the language and style are part of a very specific universe. And by those standards, I think one can say the same for Hudsucker Proxy.

I'm surprised no ones brought up the Tarantinoverse yet. I love the way he has all of these characters whose interactions are (for the most part) pretty subtle yet specific, Donny the Bear Jew being the father of Donowitz the coke loving movie producer in True Romance, or Alabama being Mr.White's partner, etc, etc. Kill Bill clearly exists in a universe that's well built, to the point where I remember reading that Tarantino had come up with the histories of every single character, even miniscule ones like Hatori Honzo's little friend.

Also, Idiocracy, A Clockwork Orange and The Warriors.m While relating to that last one, though lord knows I love the movie to death, I don't know how well Streets of Fire does this.

Oh, yeah, most Lynch movies too, considering I've read a statement from him saying that Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive and Inland Empire take place in the same universe. Which is awesome and fucking terrifying.

ETA: spelling and Lynch mention

I suppose Escape From New York and the Mad MAx films do this too, or are they just too broad with their dystopian visions of the future? In any case, I certainly like to imagine that they exist in the same universe, because when I was thirteen there was nothing much cooler than imagining that Snake Plisken and Mad Max could possibly meet up.
Then again, it would probably just turn out like the Predator/Alien, Freddy/Jason mashups.

Ichi the Killer seems to exist in some strange alternate Yakuza world. In fact that's most Miike films. Sukuyaki Western Django does this too, IMO. Right down to the dialogue.

Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America creates an amazing backdrop of a world long gone viewed through nostaligia and memory.

David Lynch's Twin Peaks exists on its own out there within the Black Lodge.
Wild at Heart may take place in the South but its not the South I live in (though I wish I did).

Ridley Scott has been brought up, but Legend specifically is pretty damn amazing.
Labrinth does this well too.

George Miller really does create a post-apocalyptic landscape with the Mad Max films. I loved them as a kid and I love them now. Cultures with values and rules and myths (Beyond Thunderdome especially).

Babe Pig in the City creates a pretty fantastic little (or immense) landscape for the critters to run around in.

I can see where you're coming from there. Does naturalism need to be part of this criteria?

I have an unusual choice as one my faves

Dick Tracy - The color palette alone makes me drool, but it goes much further than that everything is so perfectly 1937 Streamlined and Simple, take for instance the Diner everything is pared down to the essentials and lines. Then the Wardrobe matches this and does abetter job of portraying the characters than some of the actors, and then Storiano tops it off with his colored lighting highlights. And the cherry on top is the background painting by Ellenshaw, probably one the last great real uses of actual matte painting. I just hope Disney gives a proper Blu some time soon.

The Incredibles-
Ken Adam + Johnny Quest + Watchmen + Silver Age Comics = Pure Gold

Lifetime Achievement: The untampered Star Wars (Original Trilogy). From the epic opening shot on, viewer is thrust into a Universe fallen into decay, despair, and debauchery. As the Empire crumbles, and the rebellion rages, we meet pirates, pilots, gangsters, wizards, and creatures like never seen before.

I totally see that. It may not be in service of the best film ever made but it does make you feel like you stepped into its world.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit does this as well. Perhaps better.

Lynch's DUNE: I saw the movie as a kid, and read the books several times. Two completely different 'feel' worlds. Lynch created a weird and fascinating place as he always does,
but this one I'd love to visit.

Pitch Black: it's only mentioned in passing, but there's a huge universe populated by people. The movie shows almost nothing, yet it's tangible. It's not a knock-off of our world, but set in space, it's a further development of our world... and then they ruined it all with Chronicles of Riddick.

Alien and Aliens: I think it's not necessary to say anything.

Great thread idea Phil and one of my favorite things to do myself with my own creativity...


Such a real feeling dirty lived-in quality to HBO's version of Rome, and stunningly historically accurate in its Ridleyesque attention to detail.


Shocked this hasn;t gotten a mention yet.


This was one of the first worlds in a movie I actually wanted to visit outside of Star Wars.

In fact, Henson was a master at world building in general really...

Those were great Rain Dog! Henson really was a master at this.

And great choice with HBO's Rome. Deadwood could fit in here as well huh?

Ooh... I loved ROME... the way they made streetlife of ancient Roma resemble modern India was genius!

Fraggle Rock, too!

Regarding television, I gotta mention The Venture Bros. the creators have built up quite the rich and expansive world of bureaucratic villainy and super science.

You know, this thread is a lot more expansive than I thought it was going to be. Makes me reconsider some things I've been taking for granted. Nice!

Absolutely no question.

Hell, Hensons entire ouvre is the best of this thread.

It's not nearly as subtle or masterful as nearly all of the already-mentioned films, but Wall-E did a pretty fantastic job of creating a completely abandoned planet and moving all of humanity into a lone star cruiser. With the amount of detail and the things that were expounded upon, what happened to the people in space didn't feel exaggerated or cliche'd - it felt like a pretty accurate depiction of what we would turn into in that situation.

If you go there, couldn't you go for almost every Pixar movie as well? Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story...

I would argue that Dune doesn't really work as an immersive, coherent world. It's production (and sound) design is wonderfully intricate and serves to build a great atmosphere in the picture, but it's a bit too stagey to ever feel like it's part of a unified world. And Lynch is very much going for atmosphere and mood over world building at any rate.

That said, and following on from Phil's choice of Mad Men, I'd throw in Far From Heaven as a really effective evocation of not just a period setting but also of the 50s style of filmmaking.

Especially shocking when you realize that one short year later...

It's hard to remember now what a game-changer Lucas's "used future" aesthetic was. Just focus on Luke's landspeeder: a Flash Gordon-style flying car with slick Art-Deco lines and a bubble windshield... utterly beat to crap. Clearly second-hand, with body panels removed, huge dents in the grill. Like a real flying car.

Of course, a lot of that 'look' was dictated by a limited budget and untested FX. The filmmakers couldn't afford to make everything look fresh and new, so they saved their polish for the Death Star interiors. Everywhere else they suggested a larger world outside the film through spare parts and detritus, in an almost impressionistic fashion.

Haven't seen it in a while, but I remember Delicatessen having a great lived-in sort of feel to it.

Second the District 9 mention.

I love how all the tech is just there and feels like its been part of the universe for years. The crazy alien guns don't get any exposition or introduction on what they can do you, just see it happen. The same for the mech suit.

I have never been to the States, but I'm fairly convinced most urban areas are like The Wire.

The RoboCop flicks. Not only they still don't seem dated considering the original's 22 years old, but the art design/ world building progresses and expands logically on through the sequel(s - I believe there's a RoboCop 3? Nah!).

I especially like the way how the OCP starts as a megacorporation, then the one that practically rules America and then goes down the shitter absorbed by a bigger japanese one. Same with the escalating situation in Detroit, from an gang-overrun PD to Nuke to a Blackwater-type private army taking over the Force alongside the Splatterpunks (that last bit admittedly being a bit too much, but still).

ETA: anyone here seen Sin Nombre? The thing has such a documentary feel to it, you occasionally wish it was a sci-fi flick for the sake of Mankind.

Jesus... so far only a picture reference?

Lord of the Rings. Then again, that was was obvious from the get go, right?

I'd also like to second Deadwood.

My Favorite Year: does a wonderful job transporting you back to the fantasy 50s.

And fling shit at me all you want, I think both PotC: Dead Man's Chest and Matrix: Reloaded are great for expanding the height and depth of the worlds established in the first films.

Firefly is the most obvious TV mention for me; so many things that you don't get on the first viewing, or are thrown out as supporting details. I love how much isn't explicitly explained in the series, and how the viewer can piece together a lot simply from careful viewing.

I'll second Firefly. I'm a closet browncoat.

Definitely. The interiors look like a (crappy) 70s vision of the future; the exterior model shots look like a 50s vision of the future. It's like one hand didn't know what the other was doing.

Since HBO is being brought up, Carnivale is maybe my favorite bit of television world building.

And I feel like LotR is a little too obvious but I'll third that notion as well.

The Max Headroom TV series smashed together Brazil and Blade Runner, sprinkled in a dash of 1984, and presented a pretty impressive (and oppressive) world for a low budget.

Seriously... the way that all the Pixar flicks set up their respective worlds so well in just the first 15 minutes or so of each movie is economic world-building at its best. MONSTERS INC especially IMO (news reports, classroom setting, walk to work, etc).

I HATED HATED HATED 'Speed Racer', but I can't deny that it did a really good job of creating its own little world that was consistent from beginning to end. It's a triumph of design implementation.