For this assignment we were tasked with creating a group and creating a 30 second animated short film that explore the theme Big and Small.
Initial Idea
After Matt, Aaron, Piers and I formed a group, we went home and brainstormed ideas, themes and genres we could explore for our film. Below is my brainstorm for directions we could potentially work towards.
Upon meeting up, we looked over our ideas and enjoyed one of the concepts, which formed the basis for our initial idea. The story being that of a little boy with a big imagination. The film would have a dark and creepy tone, as the boy fights a ferocious monster dog, then as the boy gets cornered by the creature, his mother comes in flips on the light and tells him to get to bed, where we would see its just his pet corgi and himself.
While like aspects of this concept we were aware of how following through with this idea would be problematic. The story and setting are quite complex, and would be difficult to set up, introduce us to the characters, and resolve in a satisfactory way in under 30 seconds. So we pressed on and redeveloped the idea to make it more manageable.
Developing the Idea
Aaron came up with the concept of taking the film in a darker direction. He proposed we make the story about a war veteran experiencing at PTSD induced nightmare, in which as a young boy he sees a terrifying monster dog approaching him, whereas, in reality, its just his service dog trying to comfort him.
How to push the Big Small Theme?
We felt confident that with our newfound plot we had the assets available to push the story's narrative and characters to fit the theme of big and small. Have a small boy and a huge monster allows for the character designs alone to portray this theme, and by pushing perspective, with high and low angle shots, wide shots and more, we can convey this idea quite well.
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