[Film Making] Video Animation Concepts

[Elfaba]

mods feel free to shift this if its more suited to another area - i wasnt entirely sure

I'm doing video animation as my elective this year and we've to put together a short piece of film thats like at least three minutes but no more than 10 that exemplifies video animation

we can do it in a 2d format or 3d - id quite like to dapple with both if possible but i know thats probably ambitious for the timescale we've been given when technically i should really concentrate on the other subjects i study too lol

problem is i have no idea what to use as a concept for the feature - im working with another girl and we've decided to go think about it individually then kinda make a decision over the next week or so.

there is no remit in terms of the theme which is good on one hand but makes life really difficult on another.

anyone got any ideas for stories or concepts or models etc that they think would be cool??

any help and suggestions would be vrey much appreciated

[djtoast]

Can I ask, cos I'm curious, do you mean stop-motion or computer-generated animation?

[Elfaba]

stop motion

[djtoast]

Originally Posted by a web site somewhere

I'm not sure about plots for stories, but plots for plays is something my father Denis Johnston, had a lot to say about. Originally he thought there were seven, but then he realised there are in fact eight:

Cinderella - Unrecognised virtue at last recognised. It's the same story as the Tortoise and the Hare. Cinderella doesn't have to be a girl, nor does it even have to be a love story. What is essential is that the good is despised, but is recognised in the end, something that we all want to believe.

Achilles - The Fatal Flaw, that is the groundwork for practically all classical tragedy, although it can be made comedy too, as in the old standard Aldwych farce. Lennox Robinson's The Whiteheaded Boy is the Fatal Flaw In reverse.

Faust - The Debt that Must be Paid, the fate that catches up with all of us sooner or later. This is found in all its purity as the chase in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. And in a completely different mood, what else is the Cherry Orchard?

Tristan - that standard triangular plot of two women and one man, or two men and one woman. The Constant Nymph, or almost any French farce.

Circe - The Spider and the Fly. Othello. The Barretts of Wimpole Street, if you want to change the sex. And if you don't believe me about Othello (the real plot of which is not the triangle and only incidentally jealousy) try casting it with a good Desdemona but a poor Iago.

Romeo and Juliet - Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy either finds or does not find Girl: it doesn't matter which.

Orpheus - The Gift taken Away. This may take two forms: either the tragedy of the loss itself, as in Juno and the Paycock, or it may be about the search that follows the loss, as in Jason and the Golden Fleece.

The Hero Who Cannot Be Kept Down. The best example of this is that splendid play Harvey, made into a film with James Stewart.

These plots can be presented in so many different forms (tragedy, comedy, farce, whodunit) and they can be inverted. but they still form the basis of all good writing. The fault with many contemporary plays is simply that they do not have a plot.

I'd always heard seven also, but there it is.

Pick one at random and do yer best!