HOME | DD

CaptainScruffi — Fitzjames Bragging about being shot Colour Version

#food #officers #royalnavy #sailors #polarexploration #lostfranklinexpedition #alchohol #bragging #british #crozier #dinner #irving #northpole #victorians #theterror #jopson #fitzjames #little #amctheterror
Published: 2020-02-10 23:29:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 1628; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 4
Redirect to original
Description Having dinner on HMS Terror, Commander James Fitzjames is bragging about being shot by the Chinese during the Opium Wars. The younger officers are entertained but the older captains are very bored because they've heard the story at least fifty times already.
This is inspired by the officer's dinner scene in episode 1 of AMC's The Terror.
As I was composing I was wondering how many officers I should put on here and how flat to make the image. At one point the composition nearly went in the direction of the last supper. I have a 'Terror last supper' planned for the future now. But the center of attention in this is Fitzjames so I had to keep him in the middle. I found balance with six characters: Crozier and Franklin sat on the left and Little and Irving sat on the left. Jopson is stood up behind/between Little and Irving, and this balances out the composition because the men on the right are closer to the viewer and there for bigger. I considered putting Hodgeson next to Irving but that would have made the composition uneven.
There is extra food on the table to emphasize how comfortable everyone feels and their confidence in the adventure ahead. The series uses food as a story telling device so I will be drawing scenes that feature food in my fan art too. The Terror almost uses food the same way as films like Ratatouille and the ones by Hayao Miasaki.
 
The actions in the scene are condensed. I watched it over an over to get it right. While Fitzjames is saying 'I was pierced by a single musket ball, the size of a cherry!' and doing this gesture, Jopson is pouring Irving a drink on the opposite side of the table, but I budged them up to be placed next to Lt Little instead. Little is saying 'Like the shot that killed lord nelson.' here but he doesn't actually say that till Fitzjames has gotten further into the story, but I liked the expressions and wanted to put them all together in the same shot. Irving is enjoying his meal the most. Jopson seems to just really like serving people and Irving is the only one that accepts a top up in this scene. 

As I analysed this I noticed some weird things about the scene that may have been mistakes like how come everyone is drinking larger (In the previous scene Jopson said he was giving everyone Allsopps, which is a kind of lager), from what look like wine or whiskey glasses? And how come they don't have mats or cloths to keep that well varnished table neat? Do they just do everything backwards in the Navy? This doesn't look at all like lager in the series or here, looks like something stronger. Also considering the glass decanter Jopson is keeping it in. Lager would come from barrels in the store room, not a crystal decanter. Possibly Jopson is just offering everyone a shot of something stronger as the meal comes to an end. 

Also, I'm just going to point out episode 1's dinner scene pays homage to the dinner scene in Alien, hello Riddle Scott, you sweet, kind man.  
Related content
Comments: 1

gordonphilbin [2024-12-24 23:35:20 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0