First post

Second post

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration.

The main piece of feedback I was given to reflect upon after my presentation was to push myself to ask why I’ve chosen animation for my project. This feedback was great and will be useful for the development of my screenplay as well as my world, and I’ll use this post to try and expand more on why I’ve chosen to write an animated film as I don’t feel as if I properly explained or justified this during my presentation.

Advanced technology on a budget

One of the primary reasons I have chosen to do an animated film is due to the restrictions when creating a futuristic setting with a low budget. I don’t think I could ever see this film made in live action format without having to compromise my vision for it, whereas it’s a genuine possibility when it comes to animation. I could collaborate with animators I know and create something that is not held back by financial or technical issues. Much of the technology that I expressed interest in including in my film during my presentation simply couldn’t be done. Self-driving cars on the road, hologram images, robots as workers etc. However, this doesn’t explain how animation serves the story, characters or world.

Bringing a machine to life

Christopher, one of the two main characters in my film, is a robot. Animation opens up endless design possibilities for him, as well as allowing for a more expressive character with spades of personality. A wide range of facial expressions and movements can be displayed as easily as a human character’s. The example below from Wall-E (2008) demonstrates this: the head tilt, reflections in the glass of his eyes and hand movements convey that Wall-E longs for contact and love with others, as he imitates the man and woman holding hands as they do in the video.

Wall-E (2008). Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/love-disney-pixar-7Ed9FMQxevW1i

One of the important parts of my world is that everything feels seamless and integrated, with nothing sticking out as if it doesn’t belong; a practical or computer generated robot would likely be conspicuous and take away from this. I want a character that is lively as well as a natural fit for the world he is in, and I believe animation will help achieve that.

A light-hearted adventure

Seeing that a film is animated sets the tone and changes viewer expectations. The main presumption would often be that the film will be comedic, adventurous and for all audiences. My film is all of the above, and because I’m setting my narrative in a grounded world, the fact that it’s animated may help audiences understand that the light-hearted tone and nature is a contrast to to this. A dry, repetitive lifestyle and real world (future world?) problems will allow the characters to shine and play off what is happening around them. My world’s most important job is to serve the narrative and the people within it. I also believe the comedic parts of the film will be given a chance to shine through animation, opening creative possibilities that live action could not.

Monsters Inc. (2001). Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/disney-pixar-disneypixar-zxxXYJqTlpBnO

The example above from Monsters Inc. (2001) really highlights the kind of opportunities that animation can generate (another Pixar film yes, they’re great though). Physical comedy between human and non-human characters is natural and seamless, with no need to work around the fact that a live action actor can’t actually interact with a non-human and see what is going on with the scene. By choosing animation, sequences like these will be easier to execute and more coherent, as well as (hopefully) more inventive and imaginative.

I’m confident going ahead with my the assessment and I will continue to develop my idea in the coming weeks. I believe choosing animation is the right move and a better project should emerge from it in the end.

Work discussed in post

The work-in-progress I have to discuss is the beginning of the script I plan to write for my final assessment. It’s a first draft so I should have no problem finding things I’d like to change in different places, and the reflection should help me with the continuing process of building my world. The first few scenes of the script should be good for this, as this is where a lot of world building is going on. It probably isn’t incredibly clear by just reading the script (this is where I’ve had some trouble) so here’s a quick summary of what’s going on: the year is 2064 and the world is becoming increasingly automated and digitally integrated. One of the key parts I want to focus on when creating this setting however, is keeping it grounded. I want this to feel like a ‘real’ future, a world that could actually be expected to come to fruition in 50 years. This is another thing I have had trouble conveying in the script. A big part of this is the look of the world, which is difficult to write in a screenplay. I want the world to look very similar to how it does today in most ways. Rather than a Blade Runner (1982) type of world I want to go for something more like Looper (2012).

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper (2012). Source: http://www.fandango.com/looper_149878/moviephotosposters

A grey colour palette would help assert this ‘grounded’ feeling I assume, but I want to look at how I can establish this world a little bit better within my writing. Looking at what I’ve written, a couple of things in this regard come to mind. Firstly the ‘Summer’ character is an A.I; this isn’t made clear in the script and I’m not 100% sure if this is an issue or not. Secondly I found it difficult to describe the technology being used by Scott and Jaxon during the scene in the kitchen. I said Jaxon was watching the video on the kitchen table, which is a little vague and unclear. I then later state that he slides the video across the kitchen table over to Scott. It doesn’t make much sense, but I feel as if I can easily describe it outside of the script itself. I won’t have any trouble showing it during the presentation, in fact there’s a video which aligns with what I’m trying to describe quite well (A Day Made of Glass). If I were to sum it up here quickly: the contact lenses that Scott is shown inserting are used to show projected images on any surface. It’s augmented reality used in every day life for many purposes.

A Day Made of Glass (2011), Corning. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38&t=206s

The main technological advancement in this world, however, is automation. Robots have taken over many jobs from humans, particularly in labour segments. The catalyst for my protagonist’s story is the loss of his job to a robot. I plan on demonstrating the prominence of automation a bit deeper into the script. Self-driving cars will dominate the roads, among other things. Within the world, I want there to have been a very recent leap in the consciousness/self-awareness of robots; a new software that has just hit the market. This will be the reason for Scott’s lost job, the ‘final straw’ that makes the company that hired him pull the plug. It should also give the robot character Christopher some personality in the story, and allow him to grow. I want to really focus and hone in on getting some of the descriptions of these technologies right on paper without requiring an outside explanation, because I believe that they should not only be an interesting part of the world in their own right, but also play a big part in the narrative. I think I have a clear picture in my head, so it’s going to be one of my main goals to make sure I can show others that picture concisely without a convoluted and uninteresting description out of context.

Our look at loglines in class on Wednesday, as well as this chapter by Kathie Fong Yoneda, was pretty interesting and seems like a lot of the info will be useful for our class presentations. I think a logline will be a great way to show a very brief overview of the narrative, setting the stage for the main focus of ‘world’ while simultaneously giving some context. I’ll maybe try creating some loglines to get better at it before my idea is fully fleshed out and it’s time to create one for my film. Fong Yoneda’s chapter on pitching gave me a good place to get started when it comes to our presentations, and also a good look at pitching and how it is done as a whole. There’s certainly a lot of stuff I can refer back to for the rest of the semester, and even beyond. So overall this is basically just a quick update, still going over some different ideas for my week 7B presentation but I think I’m on the right track, and this last workshop has really helped my start thinking about how I’m going to go about pitching.

As I thought more and more about what I want to do for my final assessment, I kept coming back to the idea of a very grounded and realistic world set in the future. I’ve thought about how I can do this whilst telling and interesting story, however it’s been difficult coming up with something to settle on. Something I’ve also seriously considered would place a protagonist from the future in the modern day. To me it’s an interesting concept but I feel as if I can’t create much of a world without at least a brief overview of what my narrative will be. So basically I know the kind of ideas I’m thinking of doing, but I’ve struggled to make up my mind completely. I think I’ll look at some scenes and even the scripts from some films I’ve enjoyed that are in a similar vein for some inspiration.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Edward Furlong (right) in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). Source: http://www.moviestillsdb.com/movies/terminator-2-judgment-day-i103064/7e8a4f13

Terminator 2: Judgement Day is one of my favourite movies ever, so I might look at the script for that. A couple of characters from the future in a modern setting is shown here (although they are terminators so it’s a bit different). I love the grounded world in Spike Jonze’s Her (2013), which I’ll investigate as well. Hopefully I can take the influence these texts have had on me and create something unique of my own.