Some inspirational films.

Firstly, nice work from Kalveer on the mood boards: I just gathered together disparate images and posted them up, but you've actually presented them in a way, which we can probably use for the presentation. Bravo. Incidentally I do actually own a copy of The Art of Alice:Madness Returns if you wish to see any more of that book.
The Hansel and Gretal game which Chloe posted up was also a good find: I haven't played all of it but it is remarkable how, in a Flash game, they have achieved a sense of depth simply by shrinking the characters when they walk up the screen: very smart.
Here, I'm going to post up some extracts (or all, if they are short) from films which I find inspirational, you may have heard of some, maybe not - but where I can I'll explain where you can find the whole of the film, should you have the inclination to watch them.

Angel's Egg (Tenshi no Tomago) 

A rare anime from 1985: this is VERY hard to find a decent trailer for, since the film is so slow and thoughtful, but basically the plot involves a young girl, alone in a strange and desolate city, who protects a large egg of unknown content or origin. 

The major draw is the quality of the animation (with designs from Yoshitaka Amano), the strangeness of the designs, the music, the minimal dialogue, the mysticism of the plot: OK, basically everything - this is a favourite. The whole of the film can be found in reasonable quality on YouTube itself. 

The Secret of Kells

Another favourite, I've included a couple of trailers here: one for the forest design - deliverately invoking medieval manuscripts, and a second for the song - the song, of the film - there's another sequence involving a creature which I haven't included for fear of spoiling the film - you can actually find this one in the libraries' DVD section - I can probably find that clip as well, though, if you're in a rush. 

The Cathedral

Not a lot to say about this one: I just love the idea of sculpting architecture out of trees, though - As though nature has grown around the structure and then the brickwork has crumbled away, leaving the trees and vines behind to hold the memory. 

One idea I had for a game set in the forest, was for a number of the enemies - aside from bird or beast - to be anthropomorphic conjurings of vine and root - walking foliage, if you will; or ghosts wrapped in ivy: shapes suggested by the branches - there to haunt the character with memories of the past. 

The Tale of the Three Brothers (from The Deathly Hallows part 1)

If you haven't seen the last Harry Potter film, now you don't have to: here's the highlight. Seriously though: this is some wonderful animation - I'm still yet to find out what studio did it.