Animated Narratives - week 10

by Xile Qiu

Class summary:

In this lesson we talked about stories and movement. We learned how to use the relationship between the lens and the subject in the service of our narrative. As the camera moves within the frame, we can control what is shown to the viewer and what is hidden. In this regard, there was an animation in class that was very enlightening to me.A Mouse’s Tail(2008) Dir Benjamin Renner.

The camera of the story keeps following the mouse. It tells the story of a mouse walking on the road, unknowingly came to a lion's head (the lion is black pattern. It blends into the background). The lion tied up the mouse. In order to survive, the mouse begged the lion that he was too small. He could find other food for the lion. The mouse was bound by the lion. The mouse found a lot of food, panting tired lion is not satisfied. Just then the mouse began to taunt the Lion. At this time, the audience was confused, everyone thought that the mouse was mad with exhaustion and lost the desire to live. The camera began to zoom out to reveal the full picture. The mouse had tied up the lion long ago.

Story:

In class, our team selected a wiki for story creation. I adapted the story of our group again according to the teacher's feedback in class.

Here's my updated version of the story:

1. A very tired delivery man who had been working for a long time because he needed money and was hungry.
2. The delivery man took the wrong way on the subway.
3. The tired delivery man was walking on the hot day. (The camera moves with the protagonist)
4. The delivery man's foot sank into the ground. (Zoom in)
5. The delivery guy gets deeper with every step he takes. (The camera moves with the protagonist)
6. Eventually the delivery man's back sank in, too, and he couldn't walk. The pizza in his takeout box smelled good.(Camera move up)
7. He took the pizza out of his takeout bag.(Fixed Focal Lens)
8. At last he fell asleep standing up.(Fixed Focal Lens)
9. When he woke up, he found that he had fallen asleep on the subway and the pizza smelled good.(Overlaps with the last frame and zooms out)

The story I want to tell is about an overworked and hungry delivery man. He went on working through hunger and fatigue. His feet sinking into the ground is a metaphor for how tired he is walking. In the dream he fell asleep and ate the pizza to show his hunger and exhaustion.

Downloads:

Download File: week10-.jpg