Week 06 - Character and dialogue
For this week's exercise I chose to further develop the premise I had contributed to the weekly premise exercise, which was ‘A candle had burned down to just a small section, a gust of wind extinguished it, saying, "Enough, your tears are already like a waterfall."
In order to develop this premise, here are some questions to figure out:
In a remote mountain village there is a temple, the temple is shabby, there is no decoration and furnishings, the only thing is a candle to provide light. But still some villagers would come to the temple to worship. "Hey, why are you crying?" A wind blew in and asked. The candle shook its head and didn't answer. After some time, the candle burned down to its last section, and the wind shouted anxiously, "That's enough! Your tears are already like a waterfall if you keep crying you will disappear!" After saying that, the wind wanted to blow out the candle. "Don't do that," replied by candle, "it's my duty and my mission, let me finish it." With that, the wind stayed gently beside the candle, watching it burn its last part. The wind tucked the last wisp of smoke from the burning candle into his pocket and say, “I will remember you”.
From the dialogue we can see that the wind is worried about the life of the candle and wants to blow out the flame, while the candle values its responsibility more than its life and insists on completing its mission, even though it has to give its life in the end. Dialogue can not only tells what is happening in the animation but also suggest and show the characteristics of those characters. In this dialogue we know that the wind is kind, and the candle is responsible.
The similar work I used as an inspiration is called ‘Lighthouse’ produced by Liberty Mutual. (https://vimeo.com/14895000). The Lighthouse is set in a small sea-side village. The lighthouse keeper is a curmudgeonly fellow who doesn't seem to approve of his neighbors. However, when disaster strikes, it is these neighbors who come to his aid. This film contain thoughtful messages that explore the theme of “what it means to do the right thing.”