Animated narratives- week1

By Ashley (Chun-Yu Chen)

This work examines ideas of how to develop a story from a simple premise exercise to a structured storyboard. The premise helps us to have a basic creative start before we develop more plots.  

The story comes from the premise --' There is a quirky always-slow-clock trying to follow the pace of the others.' During the class, we add more flesh to it. The metaphor for the story is that there is no right pace. However, I draw another storyboard with different story and different metaphor saying that all things in their being are good for something. This story is about an inaccurate clock feeling inferior about his own incompetence, but finally see himself in other perspective and realizing his advantage. The intention I had for the story of Clocks was conveying that no one is totally a failure despite the fact they fail for several times.

Using animation as a medium, I can present the whole story in a fun and heartwarming way. There is very little action between the characters, mostly dialogue. Shots from various angles help enrich the scene.

 This work is similar to the animation shared in class called ”Wind”, which use wind as a metaphor. The exact meaning of wind can be explained diversly, however people usually have a rough acknowledge about it. When it comes to constant strong wind, it reminds me of social norms.  

By examining ”Wind”,  I reflected that ideas of metaphor. One can quickly get into the situation, saving a lot of time in interpretation. Metaphors are also used in my work. Wacky clocks can be associated with clumsiness and inferiority, and the audience can understand the plight of the protagonist.

Bullet Treatment: Original Dot Points

• In a silent neighborhood
• A clock is feeling upset.
• Other clocks ask him why and try to encourage him
• The clock explains it’s because he can never be in the right time.
• The clock recalls the memory of being left behind by other clocks
• The clock bursts into tears
• A turtle walks by and asks for directions
• The clocks point out the direction
• The turtle speaks his thanks to the clock and says the clock is pretty accurate in a foreign turtle standard
• The clock feels great for finding that he is more than a quirky always-slow-clock.