Hey everyone,
Thanks for checking out the post. Simply put, I’m having some trouble developing a story.
The assignment:
For my 2-d Animation class, I have to create a short animation that tells a story. The story doesnt have to be elaborate; it just has to have a beginning, middle, and end. The entire animation will probably be about 40-60 seconds long to give you an idea of the time frame Im working with.
This is my first attempt at creating a short. Any suggestions/pointers/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s one idea I had for a comedy short. It’s very rough, so anything can be added, taken out, or changed
One day, a curious boy exploring the woods near his house stumbles upon a small wreckage (illustrated as a small pile of metal scraps and tangled wires). The boy wonders what it is and what business it has in the woods. Being a curious fellow, he brings the pile of scraps home and places it in the corner of his room, next to his robot posters. While hes sleeping at night, the pile begins to transform.
When the boy wakes up, the pile is no longer a mound of scraps, but a metallic entity in mid-transformation. The boy jumps out of his bed and watches attentively. The entity slowly begins shaping itself first an arm, then a head… With each passing moment, the figure becomes more identifiable. (The transformation scene would be very long and exaggerated. I want to make it to look and feel as dramatic as possible; powerful movements, vivid colors, and over-the-top ideas).
The dramatic transformation finally finishes and reveals a futuristic-looking robot. The boy can barely contain his excitement while he waits for the robot to do something. Moments pass but the robot remains motionless. More time passes; the boys confusion grows. The massive grin on the boy face gradually shrinks. There is a long awkward silence. The boy walks over to the robot and presses the various buttons located on its chest one by one in attempts to get a response, but they all do nothing. The boy gently taps the robot on the shoulder and causes it to fall over with a loud smash.
The animation then suddenly cuts to a scene of the boy throwing the robot away in the trash.
The animation cuts to another scene of a different boy in a junk yard looking at the robot.
END
I wanted the story to illustrate the feeling you get when you finally get something youve wanted for a long time and discover that it’s completely different from what you expected. I guess its depressing comedy. The transformation builds the robot up to be something amazing but in actuality is a useless hunk of metal.
Im unsure if the story really works or not. I feel like it doesn’t quite hit as hard as I’d like it to.
I had another idea for the ending of the story where the robot actually does communicate with the boy. After the transformation process, the robot powers up to greet the boy with a slap to the face (or something disrespectful). The robot right off the bat gets on the boy nerves. The scene cuts the boy taking a can full of scraps to the dumpster (suggesting he destroyed it). The last scene would be of another boy finding the scraps somewhere (connecting the end with the beginning).
[B] So thats what I have so far for ideas. Im really open to anything.
Thanks!
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