Conceptual Design Competition

2020 Incheon International Conceptual Design Competition

Conceptual Design Competition application form

1. Title

• Incheon International Conceptual Design Competition

2. Objective

• A co-hosted competition with Weta Workshop (the creator of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Avatar’) to promote the field of Conceptual Design in the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy contents for film, television series, games, animation and cartoons.
• The competition will promote its exhibitions worldwide and connect designers with filmmakers through competitions and workshops.
• To help designers experience fantasy productions and to expand their careers internationally, the top two winners will be given a chance to work as interns at Weta Workshop, world-renowned home of fantasy on film.

3. Conceptual Design definition

• Conceptual design (also known as ‘concept art’): An illustration of a work-in-development used to visualize and suggest the theme of the work.
• “An illustration shows a single story or a moment, whereas a conceptual design makes people want to find out more of the world past the image. Ultimately wanting to see the film.”
  – Sir Richard Taylor, CEO & Creative Director, Weta Workshop
• “A conceptual design is creating a concept that does not exist and visualizing it. It is used more in SF/Fantasy than the usual drama. Conceptual design is not a well-drawn drawing but a well-thought concept. Meaning that it suggests which way the film is going to go.”
  – Cho Min-su, Conceptual Designer, Snow Country Train, Sweet Life

4. Career field: Conceptual Design

5. Who this competition is for

• Designers (general): Experts in the field, College students, Adults
• Amateurs (students): Middle school and High school students

6. Design brief

[Option 1]
Imagine a time traveller from 1900AD (could be English, Korean, Chinese etc) that arrives in Incheon 2077.
Imagine the streets and buildings situated in the deepest shadows and lower levels of the metropolis that Incheon city has risen to become circa 2079. Is there a thriving community of unique inhabitants living in these dilapidated but much respected old structures? Those that strive to exist in these dark canyons deep below the gleaming 1000m tall towers of NEW INCHEON are bonded together by their love of this special community and all that it offers. Our time traveller arrives into this unique eco-system.
So – think of the architecture, the signage, the food stands, the vehicles, clothing, fashion, inhabitants, pets, the general clutter, the wealth and the poverty of these streets. Think of the sky line and what this may look like towering above and soaring to the sky. How has technology changed, how do people live, eat, cohabitate, protect themselves. How does our time traveller witness this world – is there a street party, a parade, or a protest in the streets.

[Option 2]
A time traveller from the year 2077 travels back to London or /Wellington, New Zealand/ or even Incheon / Circa 1900.
Explore the juxtapose of this futuristic human arriving in to old world architecture, culture and people. Maybe he causes a rip in the fabric of time and things from 2077 start slipping through and populating the streets of these historical cities. What if futuristic vehicles suddenly appeared in the streets of pre war London. Imagine the contrast between horse and cart and autonomous self-drive vehicles! Maybe this creates havoc, or harmony, or humour. What if hybrid, artificially grown pets of our future start running through the old streets of Incheon? Maybe even whole parts of the population – with their private servant robots, start to slip through in to early 20th century Wellington.

7. Competition Awards

1st prize	2, Domestic	Trophy Internship at Weta Workshop, New Zealand Living expenses during the Internship (approx. $5,000.00 USD)
1st prize	2, International	Trophy IFCON expenses (approx. $ 5,000.00 USD) Free admission to the Weta Workshop Fantasy Academy
Runners-up	4, Domestic	Trophy Cash prize (approx. $ 2,000.00 USD)
Top 10	10, Domestic 10, International	Free admission to the Weta Workshop Fantasy Academy Public display of the artwork at IFCON, etc.

8. Submission period

• March 31st (Tue) 2020 – June 30th (Tue) 2020
• Due date: June 30th 23:59 (the night between 30th and July 1st)

9. Judging period

• Preliminary Evaluation by IFCON panel: July 10 (Fri) to July 15 (Wed) 2020
• Final Evaluation by Weta workshop: July 22 (Wed) 2020
• Final Top 10 interview: August 27th (Thu) 2020

10. Awards ceremony

• 28th August (Fri) 2020

11. Evaluation criteria

• Originality – Is it original?
• Representation – How well does it deliver the concept?
• Details – Is the level of completion high?

※ The winners of the competition will be decided after the interview of final Top 10.
※ The winners will be judged whether they would adapt the entrepreneurship of Weta Workshop, and are capable to do the internship abroad.
※ The preliminary interview will be done in English with Sir Richard Taylor, CEO & Creative Director of Weta Workshop.

12. Judging

• Head of the Jury: Sir Richard Taylor, CEO & Creative Director of Weta Workshop
• Preliminary evaluation: Kim Kang-san (NCSoft designer) / Lee Myung-un (Ex-Smilegate designer) / Lee Nam-jin (IFCON director)
• Main evaluation: Weta Workshop Design studio, New Zealand
• Final evaluation: Sir Richard Taylor and Korean judges

13. Exhibition

• Nominated artworks will be on display for promoting the artwork and the competition.
• Location: Songdo Art Foret, Songdo Triple Street Media Tunnel

14. How to apply for the competition: online only

• Submit materials via email: ifcon2020@gmail.com
  The competition submission form is available from the website (KOR)
• ※ Mandatory documents :
  ① Conceptual Design competition submission form (KOR)
  ② Artwork (B3 size minimum / Resolution 300dpi)
  ③ Sketch file (Scan files accepted, same size as the artwork)
• ※ File naming :
  Name_Artwork Title_Submission-Date (Type of submission)
  (Example of John Doe’s submitted documents for artwork titled, ‘Dreamworld’)
  ① John Doe_Dreamworld_200707 (Submission form)
  ② John Doe_Dreamworld_200707 (Artwork file)
  ③ John Doe_Dreamworld_200707 (Sketch file)