Animated Narratives: Week 12

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What if there was no sun? //Yee Hui Wong

Short Treatment AN Week 12

Title

The Reverse Eclipse/ The Missing Sun

The Log Line

The Reverse Eclipse is happening in a world without a sun.

The Overview

‘The Reverse Eclipse’ is a short animated film that aims to examine the human mindset or the way society acts in general when a radical incident happens. The difference between light and darkness and its effect on humans will be used as the main plot. The sun will be a metaphor for exposing the darkness of the society to people and their reaction will be separated into two different kinds. The audience will be able to watch the reactions, one being persistent in finding out the truth about the light and darkness and the other will be continuing their life like nothing ever happens. 

The Explanation

This first one-third of the animated film will be building towards the scene where the reverse eclipse happens. It will show the audience snippets to the human’s life under the premise of ‘what if there was no sun’. For example, there will be a scene where people coming back from work in transportation. Instead of having normal traffic light to conduct the traffic, a unique sound system will be implemented. The way they drive will be different from our norm as well. The audience will also experience the preparation and excitement of people before the reverse eclipse happens.

When it happens, their life changes. People can see clearly for the first time in their life. All of the hidden things are laid out in front of everyone. The people under that setting has been relying on their sound sense for too long and too much, and the effect of their extra vision has on them will be presented as the rest of the animation.

After the experience, some people choose to grab onto the truth and dedicate their lives to get it again. Some people, however, choose to ignore the truth and continue with their life like nothing happens. This animation will be using the concept of light and darkness has on people to test out the way the human mind works.

Summary (The Story)

Backstory

• This is a world without the sun, or the sun is said to be engulfed in a ball of dark matter. 
• When the reverse eclipse happens, the sun shows. But it happens rarely and only for a short amount of time.
• Starlight is the main light source before people invented light bulbs.
• The concept of light is not strong.
• People generally use their other senses more.
• The dominant sense is sound.
• People’s eyesight is stronger than chicken at night.
• People separate day and night by the times of the star flickers. (not really important in the film)
• People emit low light in default.

Story bullet point

• The radio announces that the reverse eclipse is going to happen today.
• Some people come back from work.
• The traffic is being directed by a sound system.
• People walk towards the rooftop of their building.
• Some people are setting up for the telescope.
• Some scientists gather together excitedly talking about the reverse eclipse with exaggerated gestures.
• Some people are having picnics on top of the building.
• Some couples are holding hands listening to the countdown together.
• The countdown is at its end.
• The reverse eclipse happens.
• It is so bright.
• Some people couldn’t bear the amount of light and they close their eyes.
• The scientists are well prepared with sunglasses. But even though, some sunglasses crack a bit. They are playing with their equipment with 100% focus to record everything after the initial awe.
• One person turns around and finds out that there is a thief behind him wanting to steal something from his bag pack.
• The picnic people stop eating after seeing their food so clearly the first time in their life.
• A couple stops kissing each other when they see their partner is actually holding hands with other people.
• Some people are Instagramming the reverse eclipse. (A version of Instagram that is more focused with sound and with a super low-quality picture)
• The rooftop is so quite.
• People are talking so loud out of a sudden.
• The street starts filling with people looking up.
• The city is celebrating.
• Then, the reverse eclipse dies down.
• The world goes back to darkness.
• Some people continue with their life.
• Some scientists want to work on recreate their own sun and therefore improve their eyesight DNA over time.
• Picnic people continue to eat their food.
• The couple resumes their kiss pretending nothing happened.
• The thief is tied up and forgotten. He eventually flees the scene.
• Some people are sent to the hospital due to sudden eyesight overload/ extreme sunburn.
• People leave the rooftop.
• They go back to their room.
• The building is lit up again.

Folio Documentation

This work examines the idea of human reactions to a sudden incident by using the concept of light and darkness. The animation is my chosen medium to deliver this idea as it can be used to depict a non-existing world. I want to show the life of humans without a sun, creating a world that is heavily relying on sound instead of visions. The visuals of the animation will be as simple as it can be to match with the idea of not having strong light in the world. 

A similar idea has been examined in the work of Cindy Yang, ‘And Then’ (2017), which tells the story of a sudden break happening to people’s daily routine. The work ‘No Monsters’ (2018) also examines different human reactions to the hidden truth. 

By watching the video 'Finding Ideas' created by Bloop, I reexamined the ending of my story and decided to change it. Instead of having a revelation moment where everyone suddenly realise the existence of the hidden truth and they start to be cautious of what they can't see, I decided to let the people in my story continue moving on with their lives like the incident never happens. They choose to live blindly even though they have tasted the joy of truth. By doing so, it will also create obstacles for those who want to discover the truth. This adjustment in the ending will make the story more realistic and ironic.