Over the past few months I have been reading and trying to immerse myself in as many different takes on magical realism as I could, from the novels by Haruki Murakami to films such as Amelie. I think the reason I like magical realism so much as a genre is the subtleties it presents to the audience but in turn make the whole piece feel so much deeper as if there is a hidden layer of story that is often interpreted in so many different ways due to its complexity and abstract nature. In a way writing a piece that fits into this genre has provided me with a welcome challenge, and a way for me to attempt to further the stories that I create, hopefully improving as I go. I specific challenges that I've been faced with so far is trying to write in a way that fits into a realistic world but strays away from fantasy. Although I like fantasy, the real world plausibility of magical realism is appealing in that it plays on the in story characters' mentality and emotions whilst leaving the audience to decipher certain scenes. For example, some of the scenes in Murakami's work are incredibly surreal and boarder line fantasy, however the context the scenes are in can simply amount to a characters mental state and feelings - dreams or hallucinations, meditation etc. This use of emotion and feeling combined with the descriptions create very interesting imagery and varied responses from the audience, this is one of the aspects that drew me to the genre and the narrative complexities that it can provide a story.
When I was trying to come up with a concept for my own story there will several things I tried to keep in mind that would help me somewhat grounded whilst still trying to write a story I liked. Firstly, there had to be a real world setting. I ended up choosing Japan because I like the variety of forest, mountains and city all in close proximity and thought that suited the type of story I intended to create. Next, I tried to come up with some subtle fantasy elements, not necessarily things that wouldn't exist in real life but very peculiar events that are totally feasible within themselves. I also want to employ the technique of 'authorial reticence' which I discovered during my context of practice module which includes the deliberate withholding of information in order to allow the audience to learn about the world through interpretation.
Thursday 9 February 2017
OUAN603 - Further Development of Story & Characters
I have finalised the overall themes at this point in the project as being a bildungsroman, coming of age, magical realism, mystery, with drama. It is hard to put a genre on something but I these are the best words to describe what the overall intention is with the project and how the story will feel to the audience. The story itself is essentially aimed at all ages, which is something I had decided I wanted from the very start of the project in that I wanted to stay away from dark stories that aren't necessarily accessible or appreciated by all ages and different audience members. However, some themes and the nature of coming of age stories means that more adult themes may be included, not too much to alienate an audience and the story will certainly have a charm that can be appreciated by all ages.
Rough Synopsis of the Plot So Far
The idea I have currently is that the animation segment of the project starts in a dream shared by the four main characters. They are on a bus approaching a forest for a camping trip. During the camping trip they come across a cave and venture inside, whilst they are inside they are swarmed by cicada. The characters are unaware they have shared the same strange dream until the following day. Upon discovery that they all had the same dream on the same night, they decide that they have to work out what it means, and are consequently led down a rabbit hole of events spanning most of their adolescent lives. They decide that they must find out what it means and by try to discover the meaning, but by doing so they are lead down a rabbit hole of events that span most of their adolescent lives. The Children Who Dream About Cicada is a coming of age, magical realism story set in the suburbs and forests of Tokyo, Japan. The story follows four friends; Takahiro Okada, Kazuya Kurogane, Akari Matsuo, Gorō Yoshida.
The questions that remain at this point is 'Why did this happen to them and what is the point?' and 'What does it mean in terms of the story and what is the ultimate resolution?'
The story is full of strange occurrences and events that happen in a variety of mysterious ways, anonymous notes or phone calls, dreams, surrealism, Hallucination, Weather, Lighting-flickering of lamps, lights, bulbs etc, People/Messengers.
Boys : Takahiro Okada / Kazuya Kurogane / Goro Yoshida
Girls : Akari Matsuo
Takahiro Okada - Normal size, intelligent, longer hair, quiet, average appearance 岡田孝宏
Kazuya Kurogane - Large, friendly, short hair, tall 黒金和也
Gorō Yoshida - Intelligent, normal size, stern 吉田五郎
Akari Matsuo - More serious, skeptical, short hair 松尾あかり
Rough Synopsis of the Plot So Far
The idea I have currently is that the animation segment of the project starts in a dream shared by the four main characters. They are on a bus approaching a forest for a camping trip. During the camping trip they come across a cave and venture inside, whilst they are inside they are swarmed by cicada. The characters are unaware they have shared the same strange dream until the following day. Upon discovery that they all had the same dream on the same night, they decide that they have to work out what it means, and are consequently led down a rabbit hole of events spanning most of their adolescent lives. They decide that they must find out what it means and by try to discover the meaning, but by doing so they are lead down a rabbit hole of events that span most of their adolescent lives. The Children Who Dream About Cicada is a coming of age, magical realism story set in the suburbs and forests of Tokyo, Japan. The story follows four friends; Takahiro Okada, Kazuya Kurogane, Akari Matsuo, Gorō Yoshida.
The questions that remain at this point is 'Why did this happen to them and what is the point?' and 'What does it mean in terms of the story and what is the ultimate resolution?'
The story is full of strange occurrences and events that happen in a variety of mysterious ways, anonymous notes or phone calls, dreams, surrealism, Hallucination, Weather, Lighting-flickering of lamps, lights, bulbs etc, People/Messengers.
Boys : Takahiro Okada / Kazuya Kurogane / Goro Yoshida
Girls : Akari Matsuo
Takahiro Okada - Normal size, intelligent, longer hair, quiet, average appearance 岡田孝宏
Kazuya Kurogane - Large, friendly, short hair, tall 黒金和也
Gorō Yoshida - Intelligent, normal size, stern 吉田五郎
Akari Matsuo - More serious, skeptical, short hair 松尾あかり
OUAN603 - Creating World Maps
An aspect of the project I want to develop once the story is fully developed is the creation of a map. The map will perhaps show the area that the story takes place and highlight on the map where certain events take place or where the characters like to go or the places they speak about in conversations within the story. This reinforces the story world aspect of the project and plays into the nature of a transmedia project because it is expanding the information the audience has to decipher and immerse themselves in. This idea stems from other successful transmedia projects that are based around their detailed world maps such as The Lord of the Rings.
Maps can be useful and interesting for the audience for a range of reasons and can be done in different ways. For example, since the characters in the story are school children, there can be an element of that within the map in terms of what they call certain places and the nicknames they have for certain locations. In this sense, perhaps two versions of the same map can be created - one accurate one and another that looks at the characters' perceptions of the world or the place that they live. Having this visualisation of the environment also gives way to other stories that could be written about the locations on the map, and encourage the expansion of the fictional world.
Maps can be useful and interesting for the audience for a range of reasons and can be done in different ways. For example, since the characters in the story are school children, there can be an element of that within the map in terms of what they call certain places and the nicknames they have for certain locations. In this sense, perhaps two versions of the same map can be created - one accurate one and another that looks at the characters' perceptions of the world or the place that they live. Having this visualisation of the environment also gives way to other stories that could be written about the locations on the map, and encourage the expansion of the fictional world.
OUAN603 - Establishing an Aesthetic
One of the most difficult parts of a project for me is taking all the different ways to create an 'aesthetic' for an animation or graphic novel for example and pinning one down in particular. This is made more difficult during the visual research stage when I am exposed to a range of different aesthetics. Another consideration that is made at this stage is the feasibility of creating something hyper detailed in the given time. I think the constraint of working alone of a project like this is that there is never enough time and the quality does have to be compromised in order to finish the project before the deadline opposed to if there was 3 or 4 people working on it for example.
The aesthetic I've tried to establish is a mix of medium level detail coupled with a strong colour palette and some other simple environmental details. In essence I went for medium levels of detail as I didn't want to go too simple and sacrifice the look and feel of the content but also didn't want to spend hours on each individual drawing I was doing, again since I'm undertaking every element of the project I think it is wise to tone down the level of detail in some way. I also feel like the type of story and the themes involved contributed to selecting and developing an appropriate style for the project as a whole. Some tools that helped me achieve this were Pinterest, and watching back films and works that compliment the type of work I'm doing - the work of Makoto Shinkai and some of the other bildungsroman titles that I included in my rationale have all played a part in the way I thought about the project and in turn how it has been developed up until this point.
The aesthetic I've tried to establish is a mix of medium level detail coupled with a strong colour palette and some other simple environmental details. In essence I went for medium levels of detail as I didn't want to go too simple and sacrifice the look and feel of the content but also didn't want to spend hours on each individual drawing I was doing, again since I'm undertaking every element of the project I think it is wise to tone down the level of detail in some way. I also feel like the type of story and the themes involved contributed to selecting and developing an appropriate style for the project as a whole. Some tools that helped me achieve this were Pinterest, and watching back films and works that compliment the type of work I'm doing - the work of Makoto Shinkai and some of the other bildungsroman titles that I included in my rationale have all played a part in the way I thought about the project and in turn how it has been developed up until this point.
OUAN603 - Rationale
Creating an original IP through the use of several or more platforms i.e (graphic novel and animated film short combination, and any other media). I want to produce a final film that I can work on but also want to produce some more paper based narrative work to accompany the story world and the narratives that I develop. The reason for this is I like the idea of producing something original but also branching out into several mediums as well as the chance to create a final film. It also means that there is opportunity to collaborate with other individuals on the separate pieces of media either within the course or externally.
The genre I want to base my project on is magical realism. The project I'm working on in COP3 is based around a dark survival story in a post-apocalyptic world and in contrast to that I would like to create a story with more charm, innocence and magical elements but still with a serious tone. At this point I would like the story to be told from the point of view of a child. I would like the art style to be vivid and peaceful, with influence from the style of Makoto Shinkai and Ghibli and I'm including Garden of Words, My Neighbour Totoro, Bakuman, Losing Sleep and Alice in Wonderland as contextual references early on. The premise of the story in undecided at the moment but it will likely involve a young character or several characters and depict the adventures or time they spend together at school. This idea is intended to mimic the types of stories that revolve around friendship and adventure such as Stand By Me, The Goonies, Super 8, Bridge to Terabithia and Stranger Things. The imagination of the characters and and their collective imagination will play a large part in the story, and it will have some magical aspects to it, for example - finding a hidden place that has magical properties. This type of idea combined with the visuals I'm hoping to achieve should make for an interesting take of magical realism and give me the chance to explore different mediums with this type of story. At the moment animation seems to be the most obvious platform both for storytelling and to get experience creating a larger scale project. I would also like to utilise the advantages of the comic book format in order to explore visuals and story further through print and illustration. I also think that magical realism could make use of some platforms that I haven't yet used such as a game, different types of illustration such a pixel art [http://i.imgur.com/MP9yFVn.gif] and other web media.
For the project, then, I would like to create a short final film to introduce the audience into the story world. This could be done in any place and that's an advantage for me as there are a range of potentially interesting and creative ways to tie the different media together. But aside from this I would like to create short graphic novel extension of the story, a written story to get more of the main story line out as oppose to doing it through visual media alone. Along side this there will be a transmedia bible documenting the story world and the way it functions with characters and aesthetic etc. Finally, there will be an art book to demonstrate a complete look at the fictional story world through the use of visuals.
The genre I want to base my project on is magical realism. The project I'm working on in COP3 is based around a dark survival story in a post-apocalyptic world and in contrast to that I would like to create a story with more charm, innocence and magical elements but still with a serious tone. At this point I would like the story to be told from the point of view of a child. I would like the art style to be vivid and peaceful, with influence from the style of Makoto Shinkai and Ghibli and I'm including Garden of Words, My Neighbour Totoro, Bakuman, Losing Sleep and Alice in Wonderland as contextual references early on. The premise of the story in undecided at the moment but it will likely involve a young character or several characters and depict the adventures or time they spend together at school. This idea is intended to mimic the types of stories that revolve around friendship and adventure such as Stand By Me, The Goonies, Super 8, Bridge to Terabithia and Stranger Things. The imagination of the characters and and their collective imagination will play a large part in the story, and it will have some magical aspects to it, for example - finding a hidden place that has magical properties. This type of idea combined with the visuals I'm hoping to achieve should make for an interesting take of magical realism and give me the chance to explore different mediums with this type of story. At the moment animation seems to be the most obvious platform both for storytelling and to get experience creating a larger scale project. I would also like to utilise the advantages of the comic book format in order to explore visuals and story further through print and illustration. I also think that magical realism could make use of some platforms that I haven't yet used such as a game, different types of illustration such a pixel art [http://i.imgur.com/MP9yFVn.gif] and other web media.
For the project, then, I would like to create a short final film to introduce the audience into the story world. This could be done in any place and that's an advantage for me as there are a range of potentially interesting and creative ways to tie the different media together. But aside from this I would like to create short graphic novel extension of the story, a written story to get more of the main story line out as oppose to doing it through visual media alone. Along side this there will be a transmedia bible documenting the story world and the way it functions with characters and aesthetic etc. Finally, there will be an art book to demonstrate a complete look at the fictional story world through the use of visuals.
- Garden of words - http://nopybot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/gardenofwords03.jpg
- Losing Sleep - http://www.lookhappydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/PAGE_07_v04.jpg
- Bridge to Terabithia - http://www.moviemail.com/img/still/21422/50958_Bridge-Terabithia-5.jpg
- Super 8 - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nMi2ZQST6wA/maxresdefault.jpg
- Stranger Things - http://blogs-images.forbes.com/erikkain/files/2016/08/Stranger-Things-1-1200x605.jpg?width=960
- My Neighbour Totoro - http://a141.idata.over-blog.com/4/92/80/11/archives/2006/11/18660075.jpg
OUAN603 - GANTT Charts & Strategies of Organisation
To keep this extensive project on track and on a particular schedule I have put into place several strategies to make sure that I leave room to complete all of the work I set out to complete. Firstly, a GANTT chart to see what tasks have to be done in which order and be able to plan my time effectively will be very useful as the project goes on. What is so useful about this is that the timings can be adjusted if a particular task takes more or less time that initially anticipated. Another advantage is that having a time plan that is visual in the way different tasks are represented, for example having a visual representation of time makes it easier at a glance to acknowledge how long a task is going to take and therefore how much time to invest.
Aside form this the simple method of keeping significant dates written down, so crits and presentations for example. By doing this I hope so ensure that I am well aware of these important tasks well in advance and can make good time in completing those tasks. Finally, I want to be efficient with my time. For example, it may be better to work for 2 hours less on a day to make sure I can be more productive the following day and thus keep a consistent level of speed and productivity when working on the project.
Aside form this the simple method of keeping significant dates written down, so crits and presentations for example. By doing this I hope so ensure that I am well aware of these important tasks well in advance and can make good time in completing those tasks. Finally, I want to be efficient with my time. For example, it may be better to work for 2 hours less on a day to make sure I can be more productive the following day and thus keep a consistent level of speed and productivity when working on the project.
OUAN603 - Visual Research
When doing visual research, Pinterest has become an invaluable tool when attempting to collect imagery together in one place. It allows me to collect my thoughts and ideas visually to illustration and represent some of the ideas I've either been thinking of or developing. For this project I used three image boards. Firstly, a collection of Japanese style illustration and photographs taken in Japan of people, buildings and natural elements provided a lot of inspiration when developing background and character work. It also provided me with a mood that I could then express in some of the artwork being created. Smaller but still significant elements such as weather, colour and lighting can also be gathered and interpreted using this method of collecting imagery. Some of the images that I liked best were candid photographs of people in their homes or on the street, because it provided a natural look at every day life. These small and subtle elements are the types of attention to detail that I want to strive to incorporate into my short film, which is something my work has lacked in the past.
The nature of the story and the magical realism genre that I want to strive for encouraged me to look a little into surrealism and other strange or unfamiliar images. Due to the abstract nature of surrealism it is easy to take multiple elements from a single image and turn this into multiple ideas for story or a particular scene. Although magical realism isn't overly surreal or fantasy based, there is room for strange occurrences and I found that this type of imagery helped me to think in an abstract less conventional way in terms of story and events that will take place within the fictional world that is being created. Finally, I created a board for inspirational imagery so that I could use images I liked for colour reference or composition reference.
The nature of the story and the magical realism genre that I want to strive for encouraged me to look a little into surrealism and other strange or unfamiliar images. Due to the abstract nature of surrealism it is easy to take multiple elements from a single image and turn this into multiple ideas for story or a particular scene. Although magical realism isn't overly surreal or fantasy based, there is room for strange occurrences and I found that this type of imagery helped me to think in an abstract less conventional way in terms of story and events that will take place within the fictional world that is being created. Finally, I created a board for inspirational imagery so that I could use images I liked for colour reference or composition reference.
- uk.pinterest.com/joealbaker/j-a-p-a-n-i-l-l-u-s-t-r-a-t-i-o-n-s-u-r-r-e-a-l-i-/
- uk.pinterest.com/joealbaker/s-u-r-r-e-a-l-i-s-m/
- uk.pinterest.com/joealbaker/i-n-s-p-i-r-a-t-i-o-n/
OUAN603 - Extended Practice Briefing & Intention
For this project I intended to expand upon the way I worked on my context of practice practical piece but whilst paying consideration to the time given for this module and what can be achieved given the scale of a 60 credit module. With that in mind I knew I wanted to create a final film but also provide the project with the potential for expansion so that the story itself was not confined to a 2 minute segment. To achieve this, I again decided to explore transmedia storytelling and create a transmedia project in which I can create several smaller elements that contribute to the fulfillment of the larger story world.
Given that the deadline is in May my main objectives early on in the project are to establish the type of story I want to create and provide some rules that the world will follow. I'm hoping to establish a basic premise for the story quite early on that can be expanded and explored as the project continues throughout the next few months. I don't think the story itself will be completely written before I start the pre-production phase and as I learned with the context of practice module, sometimes story elements have to be changed during the creation process in order to make sure each separate element is cohesive and gaps in the different plots don't emerge. One of the main reasons I want to create a final project in this way as it allows me to look again at building narratives and writing but also maintain the development of my own transmedia IPs that I've become interested in making. My interest in world building and creating self contained story worlds will also be encouraged by this choice of project, my interest in illustration, writing and animation/film will also be utilised as I can explore these and better my skills across these platforms. In terms of my specialist practice, the writing side of the project will hopefully improve my skills which is something I really would like to improve at. I felt like the story I created for the context of practice example piece was quite weak and was more an illustration of the transmedia technique. I would like to write a much better story with stronger characters and an exciting story world for this project.
The idea of collaboration and contributing to other projects came up during the briefing. It was encouraged in order to reinforce collaboration and provide a range of high quality projects due to the use of people's strengths. Within my own project I feel like there is definitely room for collaboration and an opportunity to work with others based on their specialist skills. This has a strong chance of improve the quality and breadth of the work that I could produce for the module as a whole, especially since I'll be working across a range of media platforms, some of which I am not as experienced with as others.
Given that the deadline is in May my main objectives early on in the project are to establish the type of story I want to create and provide some rules that the world will follow. I'm hoping to establish a basic premise for the story quite early on that can be expanded and explored as the project continues throughout the next few months. I don't think the story itself will be completely written before I start the pre-production phase and as I learned with the context of practice module, sometimes story elements have to be changed during the creation process in order to make sure each separate element is cohesive and gaps in the different plots don't emerge. One of the main reasons I want to create a final project in this way as it allows me to look again at building narratives and writing but also maintain the development of my own transmedia IPs that I've become interested in making. My interest in world building and creating self contained story worlds will also be encouraged by this choice of project, my interest in illustration, writing and animation/film will also be utilised as I can explore these and better my skills across these platforms. In terms of my specialist practice, the writing side of the project will hopefully improve my skills which is something I really would like to improve at. I felt like the story I created for the context of practice example piece was quite weak and was more an illustration of the transmedia technique. I would like to write a much better story with stronger characters and an exciting story world for this project.
The idea of collaboration and contributing to other projects came up during the briefing. It was encouraged in order to reinforce collaboration and provide a range of high quality projects due to the use of people's strengths. Within my own project I feel like there is definitely room for collaboration and an opportunity to work with others based on their specialist skills. This has a strong chance of improve the quality and breadth of the work that I could produce for the module as a whole, especially since I'll be working across a range of media platforms, some of which I am not as experienced with as others.
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