Pre-submission Reflection

Overall I struggled with coming up with a concept for my idea which slowed down my process. I did however spend a lot of time researching, which helped to inform my ideas.

For the submission, I created my sample in the animatic style. Some of the key points in the plot were animated and coloured. I think by creating the sample animatic, it helped me see how my storyline will come together in motion. This has made me feel more confident in my idea than before. I experimented with using the glitch style technique, using a template downloaded from:
https://motionarray.com/premiere-pro-templates/glitch-presets-11274

Next term I'd like to further experiment with unique editing techniques. Ideally, I'd like to do some more research between now and the beginning of next term, so that I'll be prepared to start working as soon as possible. Furthermore, I didn't get much experience with Toon Boom this term, so would like to practice more with it next term. If I find out that I'm not comfortable with the software, I will continue using my previous method.

Reading: Developing Story Ideas (Part V) - Michael Rabiger

Expanding Your Work

• Iron out kinks in storyline before expanding it
• Break outline of script in scene cards. This allows you to "try structural alternatives" p. 171

• Consider:
  - Timeline: is it chronological or not?
  - Point of view - the is from the main character's perspective or an omniscient narrator?
• "The point is that emotion often affects how we travel through time, space and memory" p.172

This quote is relevant to my own work as I will be including flashbacks in my film, related to the main character, Manon's emotions and memories.

• Rabiger argues that characters' emotions can distort time. 

This is useful to consider for structuring my narrative as it doesn't have to be linear. I think the structure I'll use will correlate with how the characters are feeling

• Keep the narrative focused from the beginning
• Introduce actors quickly
• Scan each character

It could be useful for me to develop the secondary character, Alecia's backstory in order to make sure that she has enough depth. I don't want her to seem unnecessary, I want her to be a compelling character for the audience.

• "Keep extraneous information till later to avoid information overload" p. 175
  I should try not to reveal too much information at once. Instead this should be spaced out
• Don't give away too much too fast "keep us guessing as long as possible so we exercise our minds and emotions and stay in that wonderful state of anticipation" p. 175
• Keep action going in story as new characters are introduced
• Decide on character's motivation 
• Raise the stakes in characters lives 
• Vary audience reactions - change up rhythm and conflict
• Kill anything off if the story still works without it (scenes, characters, conversations etc)
• Check for multiple endings
• Keep reworking hypothesis

Character Design Sheets

Manon:

Alecia:

Reading: Issues of Representation

This chapter was taken from Maureen Furniss' book Art in Motion (1998). It's important to analyse the way people are represented within animation specifically as it differs significantly from live-action. 

• Caricatures featured in silent era
• Decrease of racist imagery by 1950s - thanks to NAACP
• Yet not an increase of positive imagery
• Depiction of black characters rare until 1970s
• Doug 'neutralise colour issues' with unnatural skin colours like blue 
• Van den vos Reynaerde: anti-semitic - features money grabbing rhino
• Important to consider "whose standards are being employed" p. 233
• Argues that we shouldn't just ignore offensive images but watch them to analyse our own feelings

Gender and the Animation Industry

• Sharon Couzin: "historically the women had no voice at all" p. 234
• Networks trying to hire more female creators and producers
• Women in the media often used "masculine-sounding or at least gender neutral" names to escape gender inequality p. 236
• Lots of women new in management level jobs

Representation of Femininity in Animation

• Idea that males won't watch "female-oriented" programmes
  I'm aware that Disney often try to market their films to appeal to both genders in order to increase sales. For example the film Tangled (2010) was changed from being named Rapunzel to draw the focus away from the female protagonist. Instead they wanted her male counterpart Flynn Rider to be seen as just as much of a central character, so that boys would want to see the film too.
• Geraldine Laybourne from Nickelodeon expressed desire to "demonstrate to girls that we listen to what they have to say" opposed to being treated like property
• References to many live-action shows not animation
• Examples of well represented, female protagonists in animation: Daria (1997);  Pepper Ann (1997); The Legend of Calamity Jane (1997)
  As this book was published in 1998, all the examples given were from the late 90s. I believe female representation in animation improved throughout the 2000s as I recall watching many cartoons with female protagonists. For example I enjoyed Kim Possible (2002) and Powerpuff Girls (1998) which I think appealed to both genders as they prove that females can be superheroes too. 
• Working with predominately males made it hard to create shows about women
• "Male animation creators and directors usually do not design female characters who have substance and provide strong, positive role models" p. 240
  This is why I believe that as a female animator it's important to speak from my own viewpoint and help to erase the already existing stereotypes that prevail in the male dominated genre.

Developing an alternative form of expression

• Jun Falkenstein argues she got her success from thinking/acting like a man
• Women's work focused on "family, the environment and global unity" p. 241
• Faith Hubbly avoids linearity- instead uses cyclical structure
• Karen aqua uses elements of non-modern culture; non-narrative, metamorphosis i.e. in her films Shrine to Ritualised Time (1989) and Katuna (1989)
• Sara Petty used metamorphosis rather than physical actions in her film Furies (1977)
• Carmen Habanera (1995) was made by Aleksandra Korejno who studied painting music and poetry. The films imagery was created using salt

It's interesting to understand the ways in which alternative, female animations differ from the mainstream perceptions

Further reading: 'Racism and Resistance: Black stereotypes in Animation' Cohen

Reading: Understanding Animation - Chapter 3

I was stuck when coming up with an idea for the ending of my narrative. Paul suggested that I read Understanding Animation which discusses alternative narratives used within animation. It analyses the way in which animation is able transcend the boundaries of reality and uses symbolism to explore this. This is particularly useful for my own narrative which is set in an alternative, dystopian reality.

Once Upon A Time: Narrative Strategies

• Different ways of storytelling: linear; parallel series of related scenes; past events (memories, dreams, etc) retold as present; etc.
• "Animation possesses the capacity to create new modes of story-telling often rejecting the notion of a plot with a beginning, a middle and an end, in favour of symbolic or metaphoric effects" p. 68
  This is useful to bear in mind, as I could decide to reject the traditional narrative structure if it works better for my story

Metamorphosis

"Metamorphosis is the ability for an image to literally change into another completely different image" p. 69

• Possible to create a fluid linking of images
• Creates unusual correlation between images

The Street (1976) Caroline Leaf

• Created by using ink on flat glass
• Images flow from one to another using the same shapes in different ways
• Blurs the lines of visible transitions

Betty Boop's Snow White (1933) David Fleischer

• "Disrupting the rationality of a scenario and challenging the very premises of a stable environment" 
• Inanimate objects are brought to life - e.g. The Queen's mirror
• Shapeshifter - one of fairytales dominant characteristics

Metamorphosis is basically used in animation to seamlessly transform images from one to the other.

Condensation
"Animation predominantly occurs in the short form, and manages to compress a high degree of narrational information into a limited period of time through a process of condensation"

• Can be done through elliptical cut and comic elision 
• Use various transitions to shorten/move through time: dissolve, fade in/out, wipe etc
• Prioritises the most important movements "may be called the narrative premise and the relevant outcome"

Home On The Rails (1981) Paul Driessen

• The main character fades into the scene and moves to different locations
• "He deploys a faint transparent illustration of the train as a set of anticipation lines before the train actually passes through the room. This heightens the predictability of the piece and, most importantly, calls attention to the banality of everyday events"

Jumping (1984) Osamu Tezuka

• Text bounces up and down 
• The 'camera' bounces up and down and paces forward to appear like a point of view shot of somebody jumping
• These "jumps" increase in size as the camera plays with scales in ways that aren't true to real life
• "As the figure ascends and descends the viewer sees different events which signify both a temporal and spatial progression"
• Cyclical structure - ending takes the protagonist back to where they started
• Condensation allows animation to manipulate time scales in order to convey a great amount of movement during a shorter space

Synecdoche

"A device by which the depiction of part of a figure or object represents the whole of the figure or object"

• Metaphorical with narrative
• To signify a narrative event

Use instructions (1989)

• Shows a small amount of action then zooms out to reveal the whole imagery
• Drawings look like bums excreting but represent other objects for example a tap and faucet
• "The film operates as a catalogue of the ways in which humankind abuses itself and its environment. This is symbolised by the use of an excreting bottom as the 'part' which best embodies the 'whole' of humankind in its more inappropriate endeavours"

Synecdoches are used as symbols representing an alternative message within animation

Symbolism and Metaphor
"An animated film may be interpreted through its symbolism, whether the symbols have been used deliberately to facilitate meaning or not."

• Doesn't necessarily have to be related to the real world
• Different to a sign which just "duplicates" it's meaning
• A symbol is more "precise" and acts as a "substitute" for another meaning  in a more beneficial way

The Hand (1965) Jiri Trnka

• Represents "free expression in the face of totalarian regimes"

Balance (1989) Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein

• I believe that the film symbolises trust as the different characters have to work together to stay balanced
• One of the characters finds a box. Subsequently "cooperation becomes a necessary requirement if the box is to be equally enjoyed by all the figures"
• The ending symbolises greed as one character eliminates all the rest to selfishly enjoy the box on his own. Yet his selfishness is left at a price
• Wells argues that this film is open to alternative readings

Fabrication

"An alternative version of material existence, recalling narrative out of constructed objects and environments, natural forms and substances, and the taken-for-granted constituent elements of the everyday world"

• Bringing material objects to life  
• Often used in 3D animation

Jabberwocky (1971) Jan Svankmajer

• A made up world created through the use of images for example a wardrobe moves through a forest
• "Jan Svankmajer's Jabberwocky uses fabricated modes to create related but distantiated worlds, perhaps half-remembered, half-imagined, but certainly reconstructed through the repositioning of objects and materials from a fantastic past"
• 
  

Associative Realism

"Apparently impossible relationships are created through the fusion on contrary figures and forms, placing formerly disjunct or unrelated elements into new conjunctions"

Tale of Tales (1979) Yuri Norstein

• "Tale of Tales refuses all obvious signposts of plot, preferring instead a system of leitmotifs, recurring images that play out their own subtle difference and development as part of a wider scheme of recollection"
• Uses a combination of live-action film tropes and animation language

Sound

In film:

1. Voiceover [omnipotent narration] (non-diegetic);
2. Character monologue (diegetic)
3. Character monologue (non-diegetic)
4. Character dialogue (diegetic)
5. Character dialogue (non-diegetic)
6. Instrumental music (diegetic)
7. Instrumental music (non-diegetic)
8. Song (music with lyrics) (diegetic)
9. Song (non-diegetic)
10. Sound effects (diegetic)
11. Sound effects (non-diegetic)
12. Atmosphere tracks

• Early Fleischer Brothers films similar to music videos - visuals followed lyrics
• Music creates sense of "present tense"
• Voice suggests agenda
• Argues Warner Brothers better at sound effects than Disney

Gerald McBoing Boing (1951) Bob Cannon

• Dr Suess story - uses rhyming couplets
• Minimalist visual style - solid colour backgrounds, shapes left unfilled with colour
• Upbeat backing track; "perky flute music"
• Onomatopoeic - Gerald only speaks with sounds
• Actions are emphasised through the use of sound effects
• "The film successfully foregrounds the language of sound as a narrative tool"

Beauty and The Beast (1991)

• Fairytale-like piano music
• Atmosphere sounds - birds chirping, waterfall, to emphasise forest setting
• Omnipotent narrator non-diegetic

Overall I found this reading to be very insightful as it made me realise there are more ways to animate other than just trying to replicate real life. I found it especially useful to watch all of the examples listed within the text alongside reading Well's accompanying essays, as this gave me a greater understanding of the definitions.

I'm especially inspired by the use of metamorphosis, synecdoche and associative realism and would like to experience with using these techniques within my own narrative.

Character Profiles

These character descriptions describe the characters as their normal lives before the apocalypse


Character 1:

Name: Manon
Place of birth: Aubervilliers, Paris
Height: 5'6"
Habits: Smoker

Everyday behaviour:
She often sleeps in as she likes to stay in bed. She tends to wake up around 10 am. A typical day for Manon consists of going to school (travelling by bus). Although she maintains average grades, she is generally disinterested in school. She prefers to be independent and aspires to be an illustrator post education. After school she'll often hang out with two of her close friends for a couple of hours before going home. In the evening she spends time with her younger sister, Alecia, with whom she watches television. Before going to bed Manon likes to read comic books and sketching.

Attitude/Personality:

She identifies as a realist (not optimistic or pessimist). Often she puts feeling over rational thinking. She is compassionate and brave when she has to be. Manon would do anything to protect her younger sister. Although she may not consider herself to be academically smart, she's definitely street smart.

Emotional personality:
As an ambivert, Manon can often appear to be quite closed and cold, however will open up to those she's close with. She can be quite short tempered, often acting on impulse. When feeling sad, Manon will often hide her emotions and tend to be okay. In instances of conflict, she deals with this immediately rather than ignoring the problem. Her blunt personality may come off as rude, however she is just misunderstood.

Likes/Favourites:

Food: Sushi, salad, quinoa 

Drink: iced tea arizona

Colour: Turquoise 

Book: A Clockwork Orange

Film: A Requiem for a Dream

TV Show: Game of Thrones

Music/Song: Frank Ocean

Possession: Sketchbook

My inspiration for the character:

Katniss Everdeen

Mulan

 Manon's character was inspired by strong, female protagonists seen in film.


Character 2:

Name: Alecia
Place of birth: Aubervilliers, Paris
Height: 5'1"

Everyday behaviour:
Alecia usually wakes up early and watches cartoons before school. She generally enjoys school and performs quite well. After school she has gymnastics practice and then goes back home to enjoy dinner with her family. After dinner she does her homework, sometimes seeking help from her older sister, Manon. After watching some more television she'll go to sleep.

Attitude/Personality:

Alecia is an optimist but can be quite cautious in her everyday life. Her longtime goal is to compete in the olympics.

Emotional personality:
She is an extrovert with a bubbly personality. She isn't afraid to open up and let others see that she is sad. She doesn't like to deal with conflict and will often seek others for help.

Likes/favourites:

Food: Mcdonalds, pizza

Drink: Fanta

Colour: Yellow

Book: Twilight

Film: Shrek 

TV Show: Pretty Little Liars

Music/Song: Justin Bieber 

Sport: Gymnastics

My inspiration for the character:

Willow Smith

Amandla Stenberg

In terms of design, I was inspired by these celebrities.

I used the following websites for references on how to create a character profile:
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun98/how-to-create-a-character-profile-6986
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/writing-character-profiles.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Highly-Detailed-Character-Profile
http://www.novel-writing-help.com/create-character-profiles.html
http://www.epiguide.com/ep101/writing/charchart.html

Storyboard First Draft

Following the advice given from Dr Lance Dann (see post: Lecture 5) I've made a very (very!) rough draft of my storyboard. Dann suggested to do "open writing" when script-writing, just to get all your ideas out, so I decided to do the same thing with my storyboard. This is just my rough idea so far and I plan to refine the storyboard with fresh eyes.

The story will start off very slow and ambiguous, with the main character sitting outside Sacre Coeur in Paris. She starts walking through the streets and is suddenly reminded of a previous event in the same location. This triggers a flashback of when she and her sister spotted militant forces for the first time. These shots will only last a few seconds to intrigue the audience but not to give too much away yet.

The flashback ends and the main character continues on her journey. She takes the Metro and as she sits on the train another flashback is triggered. The flashbacks show militant forces coming on to the train and beginning to attack civilians

The main character and her family are seated on the train. The main character and her sister then duck down to hide from the militant forces. However their parents are caught and are killed. The flashback ends and the protagonist is shown crying on the train. She then exits the train station outside the Eiffel Tower.

The sight of the Eiffel Tower triggers yet another flashback. This will be the climax of the story. The protagonist and her sister are shown running around frantically along with many other members of the public. They run into a militant with a gun. The protagonist steps in front of him in the aim to help her sister. There is a confrontation.

The protagonist ends up killing the antagonist, leaving her sister traumatised. Her sister runs into the crowd and is lost forever.

Once the flashback ends, the protagonist is still on her own in Paris, but she turns around and her sister is there. The end.

I've realised there are a few plot holes in my story, but it's just a basic draft for now. I think I have a decent structure, however there is more of the flashbacks than the present tense. I might need to balance this out a bit more and add to the storyline of the present tense.

Inspiration for the flashbacks:

I would like my flashbacks to look similar to this, where it is quite glitchy and fragmented. However I'm not too sure how to show this in my storyboard

@00:30:05
I could frame them in a similar way to Akira with almost still shots which last only a frame each