Minor/Major Project: Clip Ideas

Following on from the feedback that I got from Alan in the last tutorial, which cleared up some confusion, I have come up with a few more ideas. Some of the ideas are for the clips that I picked in the last post, and some are from the clip ideas that I came up with a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, some of them have one detailed idea, which I have thought about thoroughly and have a good idea of what the animation would be, and the others have a few quick possible ideas of what I have come up with. I think the issue with some of these ideas is that they are too close to what the audience would expect from the clip and are not obscure enough in where they are set/how they are played out.

Also in the last tutorial with Alan, we discussed the possibility of having 3 main characters, who can easily be other characters - even going so far as to having a male character play a Woman - similarly to Monty Python, where the main actors can play several characters in one film. This idea is something that I have considered when coming up with these ideas.

Clip #1

 "And there are people who say that you're involved.

That you might be responsible. That you're a very dangerous man"

Story Ideas

• Interrogation Scene, with a toy being the thing that's being interrogated.
• Similar to the previous idea, but having a zoo-keeper talking to an animal at a Zoo.
• A trashman who likes to talk to the rubbish that he picks up off the floor.

Clip #2

 "Wait a minute, you're wearing black! That's my colour. I'm the Bad Guy!"

"But you're not wearing black, that's dark blue."

"It is not!"

"It is so. It's navy"

Story Ideas

• A married couple getting dressed
• Getting ready for a stage performance that leads to a fight.
• With the dialogue being slightly different, it's two decorators arguing over the colour of the paint, and they get other people's opinions involved.

Clip #3

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Story Idea

A man is saying the quote from the clip to another character, who has just asked him about his worried expression on his face - the camera slowly zooms in on his face, while he is saying the quote. Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign. (This is just an example of a minor crime, and will be thought about more).

Clip #4

 "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want? I want to play a game?"

Story Idea

A man and a woman are in bed, and the man starts trying to wake up her, like a child on Christmas day. The woman annoyingly wakes up and asks what he wants. The man replies saying he wants to play a game. The woman is confused. The man then pulls a Spider-Man mask over his face and then grabs two cans of web spray cans from under the duvet.

Clip #5

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Story Idea

• A man talking to his therapist.
• A boy/girl talking to their teacher.

Minor Project: Clip Ideas

After listening to the sound clips more, as well as looking for some myself, I have got 5 quotes where I have come up with a good idea/ideas. 3 of these were part of the selection that Alan gave me, and the other 2 are ones that I thought about/found myself.

From Alan's Selection:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

"He said he was going to do it, and he's doing it now.

The most stupendous, the most incredible crime of the Century."

Scenario:

A man is talking into the character, with the camera slowly zooming in on his face, while he is saying the quote. 

Once he has said it, it cuts to someone doing the something very minor and not at all illegal, like walking on the grass, where there is a keep off the grass sign.

Airplane! (1980)

"I just want to tell you both:

Good luck, we're all counting on you."

 Scenario:

The camera focuses on the door, while you can hear two people having sex. 

Then a small child walks through the door and says the quote, with absolutely no reaction to what they see. Then the child leaves.

   Shutter Island (2010)

"I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got seperated.

Have you seen him?"

"Marshal, you have no friends."

Scenario:

A young child is talking to his teacher, who tells him the unfortunate truth.

Hearing the Teacher tell him, makes him burst into tears. The teacher then looks at the camera with an "Are you kidding me?" expression on her face.

The Clips I found:

Duck Soup (1933)

"I can see you right now in the Kitchen, bending over a hot stove,

but I can't see the stove."

 Scenario:

A man and a woman are on a date in a restaurant, and the woman asks him about the possibility of living together and how good it would be.

The man responds with the quote.

The woman has an immediate shocked look on her face. She slaps in him in the face and chucks his wine over him. She gets up and leaves.

The camera zooms on the man, as he turns his head to the camera showing a sad expression on his face.

   Seven (1995)

"What's in the box!?"

"Not until you give me the gun."

"What's in the f***ing box!?"

"Give me the gun."

Scenario:

It's Christmas, and a girl receives a present. This sparks a reaction from her brother, while he hold his BB gun and aims it at her. 

The Dad, who gave the girl the present, wants him to give him the gun. 

Minor Project: Initial Story Ideas

After watching several silent films and more Comedy documentaries, I have come up with a few relatively simple story ideas that can be made into a funny animation. As I have said in a previous post, I think silent film comedies don't have much of impact on modern audiences, so I want to make something that would answer the question of "If silent films were made in the same way now, regardless of improvements in technology, how would they work and what would they be about?"

• Failing to get ready for a date/job interview properly.
• Someone from the past (early 1900s) "waking up" in the modern World.
• Someone "waking up" into a post-apocalyptic version of the modern World.
• Alien comes to find a human, but can't find anyone.
• A very bad "How to cook" show.

The middle 3 are all fairly similar in that they all tell the same story of someone interacting with the unknown, but obviously in different ways. I think the Cooking show idea would be quite amusing, if say it was done in the standard way of a chef following and teaching you a recipe, but they don't know what they're doing. The problem with this is the lack of speech, but I think it could still be easy to follow through gestures and screens of dialogue in places. With the first idea, I think there is the most potential in terms of visual and physical somedy in that the character can be making a complete fool of himself/herself. Out of these ideas, my personal favourite is the cooking show as I think it can be interesting and funny to watch, and it can be for all audiences.

Adaptation B: Charles Dickens' Characters

As I have taken a slight break from this side of the adaptation project, whered oing work is concerned, I have still been thinking about both the style and choice of characters for the final animation. Charles Dickens has a wide range of characters of various personalities and appearances. I think this also needs to be the case in the animation as there can't be just be 6 of the same type of character. There should be conflict and contrasts between them, which would then lead to a more entertaing result.

If I do intend to go down the route of having it shown with one image, i.e. you see all the buildings on screen throughout the duration of the animation, there should only be about 5 or 6 characters, so they fit the screen well (Not too far away or too close). I have been looking into Dickens' well known stories and have, therefore, been considering the characters. I think there should only be a maximum of 2 characters from the same story, as if there were more it would just feel like you were watching an adaptation of that story.

I have some ideas about some characters, but some I still don't know much about. Below are a list of characters that could go in the animation, with intial ideas about their appearance/personality next to them:

• Oliver Twist - Oliver Twist (1837) - Small, Innocent, Friendly, Gentle
• Fagin - Oliver Twist (1837) - Obscure, Intimidating, Somewhat Frightening, Mysterious.
• The Artful Dodger - Oliver Twist (1837) - Cocky, Quick Witted, Bombastic, Cockney.
• Daniel Quilp - The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) - Ghastly, Crooked, Aggressive, Strange.
• Ebenezer Scrooge - A Christmas Carol (1843) - Scary, Unliked, Dark, Mean --- Odd, Friendly, Excited, Enthusiastic.
• Mrs. Gamp - Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) - Funny, Drunk, Crazy, Surreal, Imaginative, Witty.
• Uriah Heep - David Copperfield (1850) - Ugly, Thin, Strange, Obsessed, Weird.
• Miss Havisham - The Great Expectations (1861) - Wrathful, Betrayed, Alone, Ghostly.

Fig.1 Fagin from Oliver! (1968) Played by Ron Moody 

Illustration Reference:

Fig.1 Fagin from Oliver! (1968) Played by Ron Moody - https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/6/11/1434051448425/a86608c4-807f-4830-be17-f76b021ca7a1-2060x1236.jpeg - (Accessed 06/02/2016)

Adaptation B: Initial Ideas

Since finding out about the Adaptation project last year, I have been trying to think of as many ideas as possible. Most of the ideas that I thought of have already been adapted several times and so it wouldn't be a good idea to adapt them again. From this, however, I have tried to think of alternative ways as to how a book, for example, can be adapted into an animation. These are the ideas that I thought had the most potential:

• Dorian Grey - Modern Version - Instead of a panting aging, it could be set in the present day and so his Facebook profile picture could be the image that ages, while he does not.
• The Time Machine - He visits the modern world and realises we're all doomed. This would act as a critique of the modern world, as he questions the lack of human evolution since the late 19th Century.
•  Life on Mars? - Based on the song by David Bowie. Not a music video, but an animation based on the lyrics.
• Pacman  -  An animation showing a character running througha maze, so he can reach the middle (Where he can escape). While these Ghosts are looking for him. In a horror style, at ground level.

Adaption: Info-graphic - Initial Ideas

In today's briefing, when we had to pick out a starting statement at random, I got "A Beginner's guide to....". Anything can be converted into a guide so there are many possible directions in which this can take me. I have made this diagram below, with as many ideas as I could think of:

Some of these ideas are very relevant to me and my interests, i.e. Breaking Bad and House of Cards. Some of them are just there for a little laugh and some are there as they can make quite funny/strange guides due to how simple/basic/weird it is.

Below are, what I consider to be, my favourite 10 ideas (In no particular order):

1. Binge Watching
2. Procrastinating
3. Wasting Money
4. Failure
5. Not being in a Relationship
6. Getting Drunk
7. Marvel vs DC
8. Comedies
9. Crap 21st Century Pop Music
10. Cooking

Narrative & Character: Briefing

In today's briefing, we learned more about what we will be doing in our groups, as well as what our individual projects will be.

For both projects, we had to chose 3 cards and so our work would be based on what we got. For our group project, we got "Metric Montage" as the type of editing that our animation must have, it must be set in a Circus and it should be based on fate. As a group, we have done some discussions as to how we can connect the three components and so more will be posted in our Cresecnt Moon Studios blog, which we will also need to complete the design of as well as creating a logo. 

For the individual project, I got "Urban" as the type of world that the game is set, and "Air" and "Resources". An obvious idea or game that is similar to "Resources" is Minecraft, but it could also lead to ideas of it revolving around gold mining. An Urban environment would be a type of city or revolve around the culture of it's people, perhaps. Incorporating "Air" into a game, however, seems a little odd. An example though is it could require wind as what allows the game to progress.