Dead Space: USG Ishumura research

The Planet Cracker

http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-23/art/ds-usg-ishimura-planet-cracking.jpg

'The USG ishumura is a planet cracker, a hulking industrial ship that is designed for one purpose; to mine entire planets in a bid to save a dying earth' 

'"the Ishumura came about because we really wanted to do some big sci-fi ideas in the story"  says Ben Wanat "We wanted it to be grounded , but we also wanted to throw in some elements that border on the fantastical [...] you've got a large industrial ship that goes out and destroys an entire planet to get the resources from it"

'It is that spectacular function that initially dictated the Ishimura's design [...] "in the initial designs, it was these glistening towers and this almost beautiful setting. But we thought that wasn't going to work for horror- so we took this notion of an oilrig out at sea and built that into this planet cracker idea'

'The grounded industrial roots of the USG Ishimura can be seen in the exposed ironwork and creaking steel that keeps it together. It is a structure that is unequivocal in it's own construction - an explicitness that is an essential part of the design.'

'although a fantastical ship built some four hundred years in the future, it's a living, breathing space with weight and beleivability'

- Mark Robinson (2013). The Art of Dead Space. London: Titan Books. p28.

Looking into the way in which the USG  Ishimura (the planet cracking ship in which Dead Space is set) uses the human body and particularly ribcage shapes to create a feeling of horror.

http://www.everythingscary.com/photos/albums/userpics/concept_ishimura_from_below_download_021208.jpg

'From the outside, the USG Ishimura looks like the upturned corpse of a dead animal, it's bones exposed to the elements'. It is an intentional reference and one that seeps through much of the Dead Space universe'

'"We started this creating this motif in the fiction that everything would have  these ribs repeated everywhere" Syas Mark Wayat "I think that, more than anything, is one of the marks of Dead Space, where you see these horizontal slats everywhere, even on Isaac's face. That all came from the Ishumur's design."'

- Mark Robinson (2013). The Art of Dead Space. London: Titan Books. p29.

http://s4f808227c3a27.img.gostorego.com/802754/cdn/media/s4/f8/08/22/7c/3a/27/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/p/spine_with_rib_cage.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/427288/427288,1276516279,1/stock-photo-bare-bone-remains-of-a-dead-animal-55159366.jpg

How the decision to use human body anatomy in the design of the ship could have been inspired by H.R Gigers designs for the film Alien 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5i09ght0n1qejbtco1_1280.jpg

http://bloody-disgusting.com/photosizer/upload/hr-giger-necronom-iv121310.jpg

http://img.bhs4.com/3c/1/3c17f64e9e5a18d57b002345aa153bb7a0370e1d_large.jpg

Fleshy walls with body parts make the ship feel almost like it is alive.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100827234733/deadspace/images/6/61/Dead-Space-2008-10-25-18-30-55-51.png

Potential influence: the Infector enemy from dead space (left) i aesthetically and functionally very similar to the Facehugger in Alien (right)

Making the world feel real

''"we really needed to make the ship feel like something they completely believe in, and that is really key to the horror experience." Logos and iconography hinting at a world beyond the ship's hull helps ground the Ishimura in a sense of reality'