@phil Cone of congency
Popular posts from this blog
Summer project 2017 - Drawings 1-22
This week we received the summer project that is to be completed before beginning our first year of the CAA course in a few weeks time. The first stage of this process is the beginning of idea generation. We were given a number of objects, from which we have to create 101 different concepts (including life forms, machines and structures) and then develop 3 of these further. These are the items that we were given to develop the concepts from. They are ordinary objects, but the trick is to create the extraordinary or unusual concepts from these. The following are the concepts that I have created in the last few days:
The Five Act Structure of the Greatest Showman - Film Review
Three and five act structures are key devices used in effective storytelling. They give narratives and stories a pleasing base structure upon which the weave the elements to create a unique viewpoint. The Greatest Showman has a clear five act structure used beneath all the songs and showy costumes to make it stand up as a narrative. Act 1 - Childhood We see the challenges that Barnum went through as a child. It shows him as a poor tailor’s son struggling to make ends meet. It shows him meeting Charity for the first time. It also shows his father getting ill and eventually passing away, and how he had to beg on the streets for food. Towards the end of the act we see Barnum heading off to make his fortune on the railways. Act 2 - Attempt One We see Barnum come back a wealthy man to marry Charity. They build a home together and have two daughters. Barnum is working at a trading company, but they all get fired when the company’s flotilla sink. Barnum uses the bonds for th
OGR 26/01/18
ReplyDeleteHi Nelly,
Okay - so this represents a big imaginative leap... (but that pesky microscope is still hanging about like a random thing...) There's bits I like here, but I also think you've got a level of complexity in here that is going to be very difficult to get on screen satisfyingly in the two minute run time.
So - the chunks that convince are - the idea of the toys making it over the wall into the 'real world'. I like too the idea of the 'toy-maker' being the doctor who is fixing injuries caused by (I presume) a 'real world' dog. In truth, I wonder if this is 'enough' of an idea...
ACT 1: We're introduced - bang! - into an emergency ward type scene with teddies and rabbits and soldiers all in a terrible state - it's like some act of terrorism has taken place. The doctor has never seen wounds like it - he looks down his microscope and realises that the injuries have been caused by teeth. Some terrible monster is attacking the population!
ACT 2: The doctor/toy-maker vows to find the answer to the terrible outbreak of injuries - so flies from the airport and goes over the wall where upon he encounters a terrible monster and does battle with it...
ACT 3: We see the doctor lose his battle with the terrible monster on the other side of the wall; he tries to get back to his plane, but the creature attacks it, and then - gulp! - the toy-mender is gobbled up... the camera than switches to a different view and we see the tiniest cutest puppy chewing on the 'action man' (or whatever the toymaker was in the toy land dimension) and so we have a nice, funny twist that reframes the action we've just been watching...
The important thing about your story is that you treat the 'toy land' scenes with complete seriousness - as if these are real people/animals - their pain is real, the trauma is real, it's all a bit 'action movie' and high-octane ... so the final reveal can work satisfyingly...
Like I said, I think the idea of the toy-mender/maker encountering a rash of new victims suffering from an unknown and terrifying enemy - investigating it, working out that they're being attacked by something enormous with teeth - going on a mission to stop it - all super heroic and serious - only for the ending of the film to show us that the terrible monster is in fact something rather adorable... I think it makes sense that it would be a puppy (i.e. a new addition to the household) because that would explain why the outbreak of attacks has just started and represents something new... I don't think you're going to be able to get the life-force stuff on screen in time and in such a way as to give you a satisfying 2 min structure... what do you think?