I’ve been thinking about the aesthetics of The Continent. I see it as a movie; I need to do the preproduction work. Location scouting and set dressing are high on the list.

The Continent has a muted, understated feel, like a war movie (Master and Commander, perhaps, or Band of Brothers). Lots of browns, visually, the colors not vibrant in the least. It has an odd feel in my mind. Historical sci fi, kind of steampunkish (I use this term loosely), but The Continent is set in the near future (of an alternate reality). There are computers, indoor plumbing, etc, but it has the stately ceremony of the 19th century. Warships are more stately and curved, less angular, and certainly smaller.

CC//stevecadman

There’s a sort of grandeur and intrigue missing from our world that is present in history. Romantic I may be, but we can’t compete with ships of the line and crazy archdukes. There was speculation, guesswork, a delay of information where battles could be fought after peace had been declared; today everything can be found immediately online. We’ve lost that mystery and sense of wonder. I hope that The Continent evokes it.