FMP Idea Development and Research

Story Narrative – I am going to attempt a non linear approach to the animation by have the first scene be from one of the last live action scenes of the 2 protagonist shocked and confused expressions after the events with a narrative voice in the back ground giving a brief and cryptic overview before panning to the first genuine scene of a panning shot of the college.

I have been researching and watching clips from other big non-linear films such as:

Fight Club

Kill Bill

Pulp Fiction

Reservoir dogs

These are all classic films that pulled off the non linear story very well and it shows in the reviews for the films. 3 of these films are from the director Quentin Tarantino, a well know movie director best known for his original movie styles and editing. Considering he is one of the best original directors (in my opinion) I thought it should be best to research into him and get an idea open how he thinks if I am to do a non-linear story which he is best at.

This is an interview I found on youtube of Quentin Tarantino when he was still at the beginning off his career and he is explaining his thought process on telling his stories and why he does the things he does. A big thing he does is keep the story ‘unfolding’ and keep the audience intrigued and fixed to the tv instead of having a simple ordinary story where once the opening scene happens you can take a very good guess on what is going to happen by the end of the film and how it might happen. I am going to try and do this to an extent and keep the audience guessing, I will try to do this by changing art styles and situations but always twisting the story so at the start of the film you may come up with an idea on what might happen but then by the end or at some point in the middle your idea completely goes out the window because of an event that has occurred or about to happen and keep the audience guessing.

I found this website explaining a few techniques to make a good successful short film to give me some guidance so my animation isn’t stiff and forced and makes the audience click off or fall asleep.

I am going to expand my work of these 4 points because I feel they would help drive me to get a final piece that I am hoping for.

Starting with the original technique I think my idea is original already because I am starting and finishing in live action but through out the film will be 3 different animation art styles (2D, 3D and stop motion similar to the original South Parks with cut out drawings) I think my story is also original because the concept is 2 friends working together because 1 of them has be transferred into a virtual game word made by another student in the college so the game is a bit buggy and doesn’t work perfectly. II am planning on making this affect the final scenes of the film to give a reason on why it is another students FMP instead of a triple A game because I can hopefully make the game start falling apart whilst the protagonist is still within the game world to add suspense and give another original twist to my short film.

Appealing story or characters. I am only having 2 main characters, 2 Teenage friends in college and 1 is sucked into the world. I am only having 2 main characters to reduce the script I will have to write and not give myself to much work but also helps flow as having too many characters could make things get a bit messy and not play out very well. I will have 3 villains though with some side enemies but only 1 enemy will have dialogue and it will be little because it will be the final boss with some short lines just to give some depth to the character for there finale.

Humour is something I think I will struggle a little bit with because trying to come up with artificial jokes and gags but still having it believable within the ‘film world’s key to a good movie. If the acts playing out are not believable to an extent and don’t work at all it will just look like a mess in the final piece. I am also going to do some research into comedy films and possibly some more directors and see if I can find some interviews or pointers from professionals on making funny films correctly and flow.

And finally design. This is another key aspect because if the characters look stupid or don’t work in the scene or context you want it to then there is an issue. I have made 4 original creatures/enemies to begin with to give me an idea on some scenes but obviously 1 will not be used so I am going to create a survey that I will get my peers and friends to take and help me decide on which one shouldn’t make it into the final cut. If problems occur during filming and editing though then changes may have to be made during production.

Link to website ^ – http://scribblejunkies.blogspot.com/2010/11/animation-101-what-makes-good-short.html

Comedy is often built up of these 6 aspects and they work amazingly well together when in the right context and performed to a suitable standard exaggeration, incongruity, surprise, repetition, wisecracks, and sarcasm. Pulling these of in my project will be a challenge as I have never done anything to this extent before but I have faith that I can pull it off without making it silly and over the top. This will defiantly take a lot of attempts but I am sure the final piece will be different, original and funny in its own way.

Although comedy films are meant to be funny and light hearted it is good to have a peak of the film where the characters are in danger and the mood drops and tension rises because it is a complete change of events and is probably un expected. This is shown in almost any animation whether its comedy or not. you need high and low  points within the project to excel the feeling of relief and happiness in the end when everything is okay   and possible fit in some more jokes about the situation that just occurred.

Characters with different moods or different points of view can also play a good role in a comedy film because they can bounce of off each other and take jabs at each other for whatever reason as long as it is in context to the scene and works within the style of film I am portraying.

On further research I cannot find any exciting products that cycle through multiple animation styles so now that I know my idea is completely original it gives me a good reason to go about this task and try and push through the challenges to see how it comes out in the end. Maybe there is a reason no one has done multiple art styles?

I will be using 2D,3D and stop motion In the way of South Park by drawing and cutting out characters or objects in paper and animating it in after effects. South parks original pilot episode was all paper cut outs which was then animation on Maya since then they have changed the way they animate as obviously budget increases and technology increases there is no need to draw out and cut out each episode but this is what I intend to do in one of my segments in the short film.

Films I am going to research and look deeper into are:

Jumanji (Newer versions) – Because the main characters are sucked into the jumaji game into the games characters bodies with their abilities and must ‘save  jumanji’ to be sent home but they only have 3 lives and they are unsure of what happens if all lives are lost inside the world.

Wreck it Ralph – Because it is about arcade games being self aware but all have there own jobs in there games when the machines are on but once turnt of they all have normal lives. This is a good example though of various different game characters and a different approach to an original story.

Tron – Because the idea of the film is about a virtual world that someone has created and scans there bodies from the real world and imports them into this virtual world where many strange things are possible and normal to everyone already in there/living there. This could help me decide how the character is sucked into the game and what has been done and what hasn’t and see if I can keep my ideas original.

Ready Player one – is also a game world where people in the real world put on a headset and and are emerged into a virtual game world where so much things can happen and and various dangers lie. This could help me with scene development or idea development in my project and different ways and ideas to what I was thinking of.

While i was researching films i noticed that almost every modern film recently has male, female and various religions mixed in to connect to various audiences but whilst having a debate with one of my teachers we came across the ‘issue’ of me having a general target audience with only male characters. The reason for having me and my friend or 2 teenage lads is because this story is about friendship and teamwork. If i just added a random girl within the story or a different race it might not work as the chemistry is not there. Me and my friend have been friends for years and are comfortable in many situations together but having actors that have no chemistry and no relations with each other may be noticed in the final product if they didnt get a long. I would never have a problem with a variety of characters but it would need to flow and make sense, if the actors dont get a long it would show majorly in the final piece. The main reason i am having me and my friend is because i dont really have anyone else to film with but with the chemistry we have i feel like it would work because we can be ourselves and it would come out better than 2 people who have never met trying to be best friends and it not working out. The story is 2 best friends getting put in a sticky situation when 1 is put into a game world and has no way out so having 2 people that are very comfortable together you can add some funny lines and jokes and not have to fake as much and have less chance of everything being mellow and morbid.

If this was a major blockbuster film or something of that stature then i would be having various actors of any background taking auditions with one another to see if the chemistry works and whether or not they could pull off being best friends infront of the camera. Take the new Jumanji for example, Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson have been working together for years and making loads of great films and have a good friendship but if they never got along or had so many differences then them films would not be that good or it wouldn’t be with them 2 actors. This does not mean though that my audience is not aimed at females just because my film has 2 male leads because the meaning behind it is friendship and teamwork so if anyone can relate to that then they should hopefully enjoy the film. The most recent ghost-busters has all female leads but is not necessarily aimed at women and not men because its ghostbusters. Its for everyone because the story is the structure for the target audience in my opinion.

https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=live-action-animated-hybrid

These are some strong examples of live action films with animation added into it for the story. Space jam is my favourite out of the list because when Micheal Jordan gets taken to the animated world he is golfing with his friend and gets sucked into the hole after hitting his golf ball into it. Within the looney tunes world anything is possible because it is a cartoon even though Micheal Jordan is a human, the first scene when Daffy Duck puts him into the chair and pretends to be a dentist and shoots his chair in the sky is a perfect example of breaking the laws of physics for a human character in a animated world and makes it funny because obviously humans would not be used to cartoon shenanigans.

This is the first clip when Micheal Jordan meets the looney tunes gang.

I found this compilation of adventure time episodes showcasing all the various animation styles that they have used which could help me a lot when going about what animation styles I am 100% sticking with. In this montage they have loads of animation styles such as:

3D

various types of 2D

Cell shaded

clay mation/stop motion

Drawn cells

and many more.

Audio is not my aim int his project but of course it is something I have to add in this project to explain the story and add to the comedy and random aspect of it but my main objective is show my abilities in animation and various styles so most of my focus will be on the production and making of the project rather then the audio and music choice but of course I will include both to make the film better and more entertaining.

Mind maps which helped me with my research and some points i received from after the research.

This is the story board i am going to try to stick to with only changing little differences as i am pretty happy with how this looks at the moment. It is a very rough sketch right now but with time i will have something looking similar to this in each animation shown. This also gives me a lot to research such as various stories similar to this one and a few animation styles.

First few enemy designs that i sketched from the top of my head. I only need 3 but i drew 4 so i created a little survey that i asked my peers which one i should get rid off and the final decision i shown below.

These 2 drawings below are the first little sketches of the 2 levels in a simple structure. They would obviously be a lot bigger and hopefully more detail.