The Abandon Gardens of Dirgewood Manor

FORM FORGE 2025

Statement

In 2025, Form Forge produced The Abandoned Gardens of Dirgewood Manor, a collaborative cinematic environment project developed under a tighter production timeline than previous iterations. Despite the compressed schedule, the project resulted in a stronger and more cohesive final presentation, reflecting both improved pipeline efficiency and increased participant experience.

The 2025 iteration saw expanded participation, with a larger group of student and alumni artists contributing to the project. Several participants stepped into more advanced and specialized roles, including character rigging and posing, as well as technical artist responsibilities that ensured assets were designed and integrated with consideration for the surrounding environment. This shift toward role specialization allowed the project to better mirror professional production workflows and elevated the overall visual unity of the final piece.

Notably, students and alumni assumed greater leadership responsibilities throughout the production process, contributing to both asset development and technical problem solving. These expanded roles fostered peer mentorship and strengthened collaboration across experience levels, further reinforcing Form Forge’s goal of preparing participants for studio style production environments.

The final cinematic presentation and exhibition drew a large audience, with approximately 90 attendees, demonstrating strong engagement from the campus and broader community. Overall, The Abandoned Gardens of Dirgewood Manor represents a significant step forward for Form Forge, highlighting the project’s growth in scale, ambition, and execution while maintaining a strong focus on collaboration, professional practice, and public dissemination.

Overview

The Abandoned Gardens of Dirgewood Manor lie hidden deep within a fog shrouded forest, beyond the decaying halls of a once grand estate long since forgotten. Past the manor’s crumbling interior, visitors emerge into sprawling gardens where time itself seems to have unraveled. Twisted trees loom over cracked stone pathways, their roots breaking through courtyards that were once meticulously maintained. Statues, fountains, and architectural remnants stand half consumed by ivy and moss, bearing silent witness to a life that once flourished within these grounds.

The gardens exist in a liminal state, neither fully alive nor truly dead. Nature has reclaimed the space with quiet determination, vines strangling iron gates and foliage overtaking stonework, yet echoes of human presence remain etched into every structure. Lanterns flicker faintly through the mist, statues gaze blindly from beneath layers of growth, and water occasionally stirs in forgotten basins as though remembering its purpose. The environment tells a story of decay not as destruction, but as transformation, where memory and neglect intertwine.

Lingering within the gardens are figures bound to Dirgewood Manor by duty, devotion, and loyalty. The spirit of the manor’s butler continues his service in pristine attire, appearing only in fleeting glimpses when summoned by the ringing of a bell. The last gardener roams the overgrowth, her body entwined with roots and thorns, forever tending the grounds she refused to abandon. Even the estate’s hound remains, prowling the gardens as a spectral guardian, its presence announced by the faint rattle of a collar and the glow of an unearthly flame within its skull.

Together, the manor, its gardens, and its lingering inhabitants form a space defined by quiet unease and somber beauty. The Abandoned Gardens of Dirgewood Manor explores themes of memory, stewardship, and nature’s reclamation of human ambition, inviting viewers to wander through a place where the past refuses to fully fade and the land itself remembers those who once cared for it.

Characters

The Butler (Edwin Vale)

The once loyal servant of the Dirgewood Manor, Edwin remains to his duties even after his death. His ghostly body is half-transparent, not subtracting from his pristine appearance. He proudly stands tall, with a pristine waistcoat and bowtie. In one hand, he holds a silver tray, embossed with exquisite patterns of royalty along the edges. Atop, a goblet, filled with an unidentifiable red liquid. In his other, a pocket watch, ensuring his timely and prompt presence. Those who find a bell on the patio table, and ring it, will report that they can see him walking in the corner of their eye, but when they turn, he disappears.

The Gardener (Iris Rose)

The last caretaker of the Dirgewood Manor’s gardens, Iris refused to abandon them, even as she was let go from work and aged. As she continued to visit the garden, she eventually became one with it, as she died during her work. She can be seen with her gardener uniform, an aging white linen dress, browned and torn at the bottom from the thorns and dirt. Her beige apron, made with heavy cloth, has pockets filled with hand-held tools and stains. Her hands and have been taken over with plants, twigs and leaves now in the place where her bones would be. Her boots now leave large soil marks on the ground, and as she walks, she can be seen wearing a crown of thorns, alongside a pink rose in her hair.

The Hound (Name Unknown)

A creature of loyalty, the Dirgewood Hound prowls the overgrown gardens of Dirgewood Manor, forever bound to the estate it protects. Its massive, wolf-like frame is torn between life and death. Half of its body is covered in matted, dirt-streaked fur, while the other half is stripped bare, revealing muscle, exposed bone, and pulsing organs that glow with an eerie, spectral light. One can identify its presence by hearing the rattling of the collar that is attached to its neck. Its eye on the right side of the corpse is a hollow socket in the skull, showing a blue flame. On the left, showcasing a normal blue eye. It’s said that those who throw it a stick can avoid its growl. In the garden, one can also find its doghouse and an old bone beside it, worn by years of chewing.