For this week's exercise I chose to further develop the premise I had contributed to the weekly premise exercise, which was “A fly struggles to free itself from a web as a gigantic, bloated spider inches its way towards it. "It's so nice of you to visit!'' the spider says cheerily “
The immediate response to this was to note how the snippet of dialogue could be used to create a sinister effect, the spider speaking with a cheery voice as it prepares to consume the fly. I decided that I wanted to steer away from this, and approach the dialogue as a way of subverting the expectations created for the viewer by the setup of the scene, and as a way to flesh out the character of the spider character in a way that contrasts with its visual appearance.
I first decided to make a mind map (viewable here), which has turned into my typical first step for approaching exercises for this class, as I find it really does help me clarify and expand on my ideas, and find ways to link concepts together. Through the process of mind mapping I planned out the sequence of events for a small animation, as well as a few potential lines of dialogue, and some notes on the characters of the piece, both their physical appearance and personalities.
Because dialogue is the focus of the week, I decided to then try my hand at writing a script / screenplay. I struggled a little with finding templates / appropriate software, as I’ve not tried any screenwriting for several years, but eventually found a free tool I could use pretty simply (Highland). I then wrote a one page script, attempting to follow the conventions of screenwriting to visualise the action taking place on screen, written in the present moment, as well as finalising the pieces of dialogue.
My goal with this week's activity was to use dialogue as a means of both subverting viewer expectations and establishing character. This piece is suited to the medium of animation as it deals entirely with insectoid characters, and additionally animation would make it easier to exaggerate the grotesqueness of the spider and the apparent hopelessness of the fly’s situation, before the reveal of the spider’s true personality.
The animated short ‘Gristle’, by Jamie Clennett (found here) is another work that sets up a grizzly, macabre setting through the design of the visuals, and then uses dialogue to reveal the main character's personalities to the audience; although the focus in this work is on highligting the feebleness of these main characters, despite their tough words.
In terms of the character of character and setting, I was partially inspired by the 2021 game ‘Webbed’ (trailer here), which is a 2D puzzle platformer, where the player plays as a spider attempting to rescue their lover from a bird that has kidnapped them, encountering a variety of other insects, ranging from a colony of militaristic ants, to a fussy moth. I was also inspired by the character of Rosie from the 1998 Pixar ‘A Bug’s Life’ (trailer here), a black widow spider, who despite her sinister appearance and species name, is revealed to be a kind and nurturing character.
Downloads:
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Download File: fly-spider-screenplay-.pdf