Film Studies and Cinematography - Project 1
27/8/19 - 27/11/19 (Week 1 to Week 14)
Project 1: Short Animation Proposal
Instructions:
Module Information Booklet:
Inspiration:
In the first week of class, we were asked to think about an experience that really stayed in our minds and we could use this as inspiration for our story later on.
Exercise 1:
I also thought about an experience where I saved my sister from a swimming pool when I was 7 years old, and I remembered it really well because I jumped in to save her without thinking. I felt like I needed to save her because she was my sister, like it was an automatic response because of the bond we had.
Initial Story Ideas:
After our lectures and excises were done, we started working on the story spine. These were my initial ideas for the story I wanted to tell.
Story Spine First Draft
We presented it to an audience and this was the feedback given to my story:
- not fluent presentation
Revised Final Story Outline:
Synopsis:
Twin angels were blessed into heaven's holy grounds, except that one of them entered the world with only one wing. Why did she only have one wing when her twin sister had both? That question, often in the mind of Lithia the one-winged angel, would soon be answered through an adventure full of obstacles never to be anticipated by one of God's holy messengers.
Act 1
Lithia and Leia, identical twin sisters but one thing differentiates them. Well, from the whole angel species actually, as Lithia was born with only one wings. Their parents feared that Lithia would be ostracized by the other angels, and tried to hide the fact that Lithia was different, but alas, for how long could they hide the fact that their child only had one wing?
Every day, Lithia as a toddler would sit in front of her window and wonder why she wasn’t allowed to go to school like Leia does, questioning why it was so wrong to have just one wing. It didn’t make her less divine than the other angels did it? To her, even her parents were extremely worrie about it. She thought that they didn’t want to be made fun of because of a daughter like her. She felt like she didn’t belong here. After growing up, she would find ways to escape her house and go around heaven, acting like a miserable outcast that no one liked. Because of her insecurities of not having wings just like the others, she would treat the other angels badly instead, even her own sister that didn’t understand her feelings.
Until one day, while she was looking past heaven’s door, she heard her sister and her friends enjoying their time with their full-grown pair of wings at the Round Table, where every trendy angel would hang out at. Overcome with feelings of jealousy, Lithia couldn’t stand it anymore and threw a big temper at Leia and her friends. Leia’s friends couldn’t stand this behaviour and told her that she doesn’t belong in heaven, and to go down to the human world instead as they didn’t have wings. Thinking that she would fit perfectly in there, Lithia planned to abandon heaven and go into the human world, even though she knew that the penalty was that she would gradually lose her divine powers if she did so.
Act 2
As Lithia looked back at Heaven and passed the gates without a word to her family, she ventured to The Path Down, which connects heaven to the land below. Not knowing what was going to come before her, she leaped down to Earth, and landed in a church. Upon exiting the church, her mouth was left agape as she looked at the scenery before her in awe. She landed in the Red Christ Church in Malacca, Malaysia, right in front of one of the the tourist spots in the country, Jonker Street. Looking around, she saw all kinds of colours and so many events happening, what a contrast it was from Heaven. Everyone was wingless, and she felt like she fit perfectly in the human world.
However, things didn’t go as well as planned when Lithia started to venture the newly found place. When she thought that Earth was where she belonged, where she would stay forever, a puff of smoke blew into her face. Not knowing what it was, she inhaled it and started coughing for the very first time in her life. She felt really weird about this situation, her chest was tight and she felt irritation in her throat, also for the first time. What were these sensations? As she kept walking, a drunk old man approached her and offered her some vodka, which she innocently accepted. Not knowing what alcohol was, she turned tipsy after drinking so much in one shot, and her vision started blurring out, her getting illusions as she kept walking forward. Out of nowhere, she heard a loud noise and felt pain for the first time ever. A car hit her while she was drunk and as she lay on the road in pain, she cried out for her sister Leia in Heaven.
Because of that, Leia decided to check on Lithia through her telepathy, only to find out that her sister was going to die and vanish from the world, as angels who die as humans would not be able to return to Heaven once more. Without hesitation, Leia rushed past the gates of Heaven and to The Path Down, bringing Lithia back up to heaven using her powers, and cut off one of her wings, giving it to Lithia thinking that it might help her regain a little bit of divinity and pass through the gates. However, as they wanted to enter the gates, the guardian of the gates told them that they don’t have two wings each. Now both of them are neither humans nor angels and have nowhere to go.
Act 3
As Lithia took her last few breaths finally realizes that what she had done so far was childish and selfish, and instead of accepting herself and the truth of how others looked at her, she ran away from being different from others, which caused her own sister to be in the same state as her. Lithia then decides to sacrifice her remaining angel powers and her life to give Leia enough powers to return back to heaven. Leia, on the other hand was devastated as she didn’t want to lose her sister at all. SHe felt sorry for leaving her sister alll alone like that when she could have stood up for her sister being different instead, and accompany her more. She was regretful that she didn’t understand her own twin sister’s feelings, and cried as she apologized to the almost dead Lithia. Seeing Lithia’s act of sacrifice, the guardian of the gates bestows Lithia her wings again, and tells her that her wings were divinely delayed during birth as her heart wasn’t pure when she was born. Because of Leia who sacrificed herself earlier as well, the guardian healed her wounds and she regained her wings as well. The both of them now had the qualifications to enter Heaven once again.
In the end, Lithia and Leia went past the gates of Heaven together, and were welcomed with a loud fanfare to celebrate them coming back with their wings perfect, as how all angels’ wings should be. Their parents welcomed them home with a smile on their face and both Lithia and Leia lived on to carry out their duties in Heaven for the rest of their angel lives.
Themes and Values
- Accept yourself for who you are, use your strengths and weaknesses to improve yourself
- Blood is thicker than water
- Nothing is perfect, we should be thankful for what we are given.
Conflicts of Main Character
Risks:
Internal - Her insecurity of never being able to fit in.
External - Her one wing
Philosophical - Angels with one wing are seen as imperfect
Obstacles: The stigma that angels must have two wings, the holy gate guardian, her own insecurities.
Inspiration:
Setting / world idea : Watched Black Clover and Seven Deadly sins anime that contains angels and different world encounters in it.
Relation to self : Sibling comparison / rivalry / love
Memories / Personal Story: When the writer was 7 she saved her younger sister from drowning in a swimming pool, and that was what started this story idea.
Notes taken:
Jasmine Teoh Lee Suan (0331993)
Film Studies and CinematographyProject 1: Short Animation Proposal
Instructions:
Module Information Booklet:
Project 1:
I used everything that I learned from the first few weeks of class into Project 1, especially the story spine.
Inspiration:
In the first week of class, we were asked to think about an experience that really stayed in our minds and we could use this as inspiration for our story later on.
Exercise 1:
1A : Think of a memory that comes vividly.
One fine summer day, I was in a baseball game in Seoul, I bought a box of dumplings that cost 5000won. Wanted to take a picture of it so I put it on my lap.
Before I knew it, the box vanished from the camera view and I realized my dumplings dropped onto the floor past the chair in front of me
1B : Why do you remember this so well?
- Because it was recent ( short term memory ) and I really wanted to taste the dumplings AND IT WAS 5000won
- I felt really sad that my money was wasted just like that
- It was kind of embarrassing because all my friends saw it too
- But after that, they shared their food with me and I felt the warmth from their kindness – regret I didn’t buy another
1C: What were the feelings that you got?
- I left a memory in Gocheok Sky Dome
- Frustrated that I couldn’t eat the dumplings
- worked hard to get something / spent a lot of money on something but lost it because of not being aware
- dumpling - significant meaning?
My Korean dumpling led me to the inspiration of including sacrifices by families or friends for others’ happiness, while my story about saving my sister made me want to create a story that relates to the feelings evoked from that experience.
Initial Story Ideas:
After our lectures and excises were done, we started working on the story spine. These were my initial ideas for the story I wanted to tell.
I also compiled the information into Google Slides, relating what I learned from the exercises into it, like the themes, values, character’s wants and needs, risks and obstacles, world and character settings. Here’s the PDF of the slides:
After consultation and feedback given, my Markio and 7 sins stories were too complicated for a short animated film, they felt more like anime story lines (I blame myself for watching too many anime at that time. Mr Mike advised me to think about my personal story and I brought up the one where I saved my sister, and he said I could work with that. I then talked about genre, and was deciding on whether I should do a fantasy or a slice of life story, and Mr Mike advised me that I should think about the story outline first, as any good story could be told in different genres and still be interesting, so that I don’t stereotype my story into a genre instead.
I came back with a story about twin angels, but one had only one wing. Mr Mike said that it was a good what if, because how could an angel be born with one wing?
I then wrote a synopsis for it and created a more detailed story outline, with the acts and beats. Here’s the pdf that I first wrote my story in. 
Story Spine First Draft
After consultation, Mr Mike gave me some great suggestions for my ending and told me that I could start thinking about my storyboard and character design as well. Storyboarding took a long time and I would always consult and revise my angles in class.
Storyboard sketches:
Storyboard sketches:
I then proceeded to create a presentation slide that consisted of the same things I included in my initial one, this time adding character design ideas and my storyboard.
We presented it to an audience and this was the feedback given to my story:
- not fluent presentation
- show more than tell
- ending – clearer – must be clear and strong- tie to the first art
- needs to be clear – parents keep the angel needs to be clear
- protection than caged in
I was stressed about the feedback and decided to work harder. I admit that I really wasn’t ready with the presentation as I had just finished compiling everything that morning and was sleep deprived. I regretted not preparing myself earlier as I would usually do so for presentations.
I made changes and added details that I was supposed to after the presentation and consultation that day, and felt like the story was becoming more like a story.
Here’s the final revised story outline:
Synopsis:
Twin angels were blessed into heaven's holy grounds, except that one of them entered the world with only one wing. Why did she only have one wing when her twin sister had both? That question, often in the mind of Lithia the one-winged angel, would soon be answered through an adventure full of obstacles never to be anticipated by one of God's holy messengers.
Act 1
Lithia and Leia, identical twin sisters but one thing differentiates them. Well, from the whole angel species actually, as Lithia was born with only one wings. Their parents feared that Lithia would be ostracized by the other angels, and tried to hide the fact that Lithia was different, but alas, for how long could they hide the fact that their child only had one wing?
Every day, Lithia as a toddler would sit in front of her window and wonder why she wasn’t allowed to go to school like Leia does, questioning why it was so wrong to have just one wing. It didn’t make her less divine than the other angels did it? To her, even her parents were extremely worrie about it. She thought that they didn’t want to be made fun of because of a daughter like her. She felt like she didn’t belong here. After growing up, she would find ways to escape her house and go around heaven, acting like a miserable outcast that no one liked. Because of her insecurities of not having wings just like the others, she would treat the other angels badly instead, even her own sister that didn’t understand her feelings.
Until one day, while she was looking past heaven’s door, she heard her sister and her friends enjoying their time with their full-grown pair of wings at the Round Table, where every trendy angel would hang out at. Overcome with feelings of jealousy, Lithia couldn’t stand it anymore and threw a big temper at Leia and her friends. Leia’s friends couldn’t stand this behaviour and told her that she doesn’t belong in heaven, and to go down to the human world instead as they didn’t have wings. Thinking that she would fit perfectly in there, Lithia planned to abandon heaven and go into the human world, even though she knew that the penalty was that she would gradually lose her divine powers if she did so.
Act 2
As Lithia looked back at Heaven and passed the gates without a word to her family, she ventured to The Path Down, which connects heaven to the land below. Not knowing what was going to come before her, she leaped down to Earth, and landed in a church. Upon exiting the church, her mouth was left agape as she looked at the scenery before her in awe. She landed in the Red Christ Church in Malacca, Malaysia, right in front of one of the the tourist spots in the country, Jonker Street. Looking around, she saw all kinds of colours and so many events happening, what a contrast it was from Heaven. Everyone was wingless, and she felt like she fit perfectly in the human world.
However, things didn’t go as well as planned when Lithia started to venture the newly found place. When she thought that Earth was where she belonged, where she would stay forever, a puff of smoke blew into her face. Not knowing what it was, she inhaled it and started coughing for the very first time in her life. She felt really weird about this situation, her chest was tight and she felt irritation in her throat, also for the first time. What were these sensations? As she kept walking, a drunk old man approached her and offered her some vodka, which she innocently accepted. Not knowing what alcohol was, she turned tipsy after drinking so much in one shot, and her vision started blurring out, her getting illusions as she kept walking forward. Out of nowhere, she heard a loud noise and felt pain for the first time ever. A car hit her while she was drunk and as she lay on the road in pain, she cried out for her sister Leia in Heaven.
Because of that, Leia decided to check on Lithia through her telepathy, only to find out that her sister was going to die and vanish from the world, as angels who die as humans would not be able to return to Heaven once more. Without hesitation, Leia rushed past the gates of Heaven and to The Path Down, bringing Lithia back up to heaven using her powers, and cut off one of her wings, giving it to Lithia thinking that it might help her regain a little bit of divinity and pass through the gates. However, as they wanted to enter the gates, the guardian of the gates told them that they don’t have two wings each. Now both of them are neither humans nor angels and have nowhere to go.
Act 3
As Lithia took her last few breaths finally realizes that what she had done so far was childish and selfish, and instead of accepting herself and the truth of how others looked at her, she ran away from being different from others, which caused her own sister to be in the same state as her. Lithia then decides to sacrifice her remaining angel powers and her life to give Leia enough powers to return back to heaven. Leia, on the other hand was devastated as she didn’t want to lose her sister at all. SHe felt sorry for leaving her sister alll alone like that when she could have stood up for her sister being different instead, and accompany her more. She was regretful that she didn’t understand her own twin sister’s feelings, and cried as she apologized to the almost dead Lithia. Seeing Lithia’s act of sacrifice, the guardian of the gates bestows Lithia her wings again, and tells her that her wings were divinely delayed during birth as her heart wasn’t pure when she was born. Because of Leia who sacrificed herself earlier as well, the guardian healed her wounds and she regained her wings as well. The both of them now had the qualifications to enter Heaven once again.
In the end, Lithia and Leia went past the gates of Heaven together, and were welcomed with a loud fanfare to celebrate them coming back with their wings perfect, as how all angels’ wings should be. Their parents welcomed them home with a smile on their face and both Lithia and Leia lived on to carry out their duties in Heaven for the rest of their angel lives.
Themes and Values
- Accept yourself for who you are, use your strengths and weaknesses to improve yourself
- Blood is thicker than water
- Nothing is perfect, we should be thankful for what we are given.
Conflicts of Main Character
Risks:
Internal - Her insecurity of never being able to fit in.
External - Her one wing
Philosophical - Angels with one wing are seen as imperfect
Obstacles: The stigma that angels must have two wings, the holy gate guardian, her own insecurities.
Inspiration:
Setting / world idea : Watched Black Clover and Seven Deadly sins anime that contains angels and different world encounters in it.
Relation to self : Sibling comparison / rivalry / love
Memories / Personal Story: When the writer was 7 she saved her younger sister from drowning in a swimming pool, and that was what started this story idea.
Notes taken:
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