My Influences...Ken Adams- the 007 designer!

Not many people know this about me, but I am a HUGE James Bond fan. As a kid I was heavily influenced by 007 in many ways. Now as an adult, I am beginning to recognize just how huge that influence really was. Ken Adams was the production designer on the early Bond films, and really established the look of the series. I have studied his work very closely, and really do try to follow his design methods when it comes to my animation location designs. His style was as follows : Take grandiose-larger-than-life basic shapes, add sweeping archs and angles, a main source of light, great use of shadows, then base it around an oversized animatable main object, usually centre field, within a sparsely detailed stage like setting. A prime example of his work was Blofeld's secret rocket launch base in hollowed out volcano, as seen in " You Only Live Twice". Another great set, in which he was nominated for an OSCAR, was his Liparus Tanker interior set, which was 450 feet long, and housed 3 Nuclear Submarines (The Spy Who Loved Me). Nice design, with a great atmosphere. His Moonraker sets scored him another OSCAR nod for his bigger than life shuttle launch sets ( top 2 pics). Or check out his Dr.No interrogation room (above) which I VERY basic, but very bold in terms of his use of shadow. This one set itself probably influenced me more than any. Enjoy... Check out Ken Adams... it will change the way you view Bond. Now I've just given away all my secrets!