Settling on a Ship

Initially, when I settled on my final three ideas for the FMP, I had the Ghost Ship written as a Galleon type ship. An old, wooden ship, something that would be perfect in a film like Pirates of the Carribean. The Shipwreck idea featured a sunken cruise ship, deeply inspired by a level in Tomb Raider II. When I settled on which idea I wanted to pursue, I ended merging two ideas - the Ghost Ship and the Shipwreck.

Then I was onto a second problem -- what kind of ship do I choose? If I choose a large, cruise ship, there's no way I can make all of it. If I choose a smaller ship, it may not have the same effect, thus leaving the scene feeling lacklustre.

Today I've followed up my initial musing on the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Here she is! Some facts about the QE2;

• Ordered in 1964 and launched in 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
• Ran a service from Southampton to New York
• Retired in November 2008
• Before retirement she had sailed nearly six million miles and carried 2.5 million passengers
• The QE2's only permanent resident, Beatrice Muller, aged 89, lived on board in retirement for fourteen years

Now, there's absolutely no way I could make the entire exterior of the QE2, and the interior, by myself, in this timeframe. Ship aside, the environment containing this ship would have to be collosal, I mean just compare it to those islands behind in that second picture.

I'm trying to find a compromise here between ship presence and size. That is, after all, one of the purposes of this research.