Hi!!
I’m a Story Developer currently trying to
take a break from some long-term projects.
As a creative, I think it’s good to work on a
few things at once just to keep ideas fresh.
I’ve been reading a lot of the posts here and
wondering if anybody is stuck on a plotline kink
or a character/relationship design issue.
If you are, send in a post, maybe I can help.
Free of charge. It’s a “professional” hobby of mine.
Hi there, how are you doing?
I’ve recently asked to make a storyboard for my new students. Since they are just learning 3d software, I have to make the story as simple as possible.
My senior colleage told me to make 5 secs story … and I was thinking to myself … 5 secs story ???How can you tell a story in 5 seconds.
Well I was actually thinking to extend it to 15 - 20 secs. I had an idea to make a simple story of a toy with a very simple animation, but I’m quite stuck right now :shrug:
Hope you can help me to give some ideas or inspiration.
well anyway cheers
Here’s a quick idea off the top of my head. Since time is of the essence…
How about a headshot of someone sleeping. An alarm clock with a toon
character with hands for the clock hands goes off…ring ring ring. The sleeper
slaps the clock off. Then the toon in the clock slaps the sleeper back.
Trying to tell a story in less than a minute can be the worst or most
awesome story you’ve ever imagined, especially with 3D.
Think: Commercials, Flash ads you see online!
Sometimes they’re really cool and other times
you just want to “X” them out of the way.
The key to make something great in a short period of
time is to rely on really good 3d work or an interesting yet simple plot.
Since this is a beginner’s class, I suggest the second option.
Here’s an idea for starters:
A character (your choice–be creative) is trying to open a BOX.
It’s shut tight. In that 15 seconds, make him/her/it do some funny
things to try to open it. This is a very simple idea but it works
because you don’t need time to tell this story–INTEREST is not captured
in what happens to the character, instead, your audience should be
focused on what’s INSIDE the BOX.
This should be flexible enough to let you put whatever you find most suitable
for a beginner’s class.
Let me know if this helps.
ThinkStory
userBrian, although i still think it’d a little bit hard for them, I must say that short story has really made me laugh out loud. very interesting, i can think about similar ideas.
ThinkStory. yeah that’s a good advice indeed. I’ll look example from some tv commercials.
and the your second idea, that’s similar with what i have in mind. I actually have been thinking to make something like a surprise box. However i wouldn’t want to make them do character animation.
Great!! I’ve got some ideas to be developed now.
I know i’ll be using those 2 ideas.
Thanks a lot for your ideas!!!
I will let you know when i have the final story.
ps: if they’ve done a good job, i will post the link to their animations as well.
kind regards,
Filik Sidarta
Hi Filik,
you’re Very Welcome!
I’ll be great to see the students’
work when they’re done.
“Imagination is Intelligence having Fun!”
–Anonymous
ThinkStory
ok… right now, in a nut-shell
i have several worlds (stories) going on… and i pretty much have its histories, places and all sorts figured out.
but i think it just kinda gets a little too too big for me to handle. i mean i’d like to cover everything but stick to the main plot.
i don’t even know whether i should start on this big historical chapters before i focus on the main characters or just skim it through with a prologue.
also, i am not sure which type of prospective i should attack the story.
i mean i like to go with first person… but then it lacked the freedom.
then i though of actually using like thirdperson and be able to into every character’s mind.
or even like a story telling of each single character’s situation and have them mingle together…
and the stories pretty much just expands when i have new ideas… so its all bloated and stuff.
what do i do?
Hi Floatingrunner,
believe me, I know what you mean.
A lot of times that’s the problem with being able too
develop lots of good ideas and I don’t mean this in a
sarcastic sort of way. Usually, the best creatives are
the ones with lots of great ideas and gets stuck on how
to incorporate everything into one single story.
The answer will be tough to accept if you’re really passionate
about all your plots/backgrounds/characters. I key to solving
this is to type of problem is to first develop a “BIG-picture” plotline.
Know what your story is Really about. Then, figure out what’s the
best way to tell that story in the most interesting way.
First person narration can make writing flow more swiftly, but due to
the complexity of your story, I’d suggest third person would probably
be more suitable and easier to correct, add, and make changes later
whereas it can become very difficult to changes to plots with first person
narration at times.
However, what’s most important is who’s the intended audience of your
story? This will make a significant impact on what style and approach
you should tell it in. What medium will this be told? Is this intended
for reading only? Which age range is this for? Younger audiences
have shorter patience for long intros.
If you’d like, send me some more info and we can discuss in greater detail.
“Imagination is Intelligence having Fun!!”
–Anonymous
ThinkStory
Hey ThinkStory,
I’m working on a story for my graduation project and need some advice. My intention is to make a short that’s max 5 minutes. I don’t have much experience in estimating how long a animation will going to be based on a story. But after reading my story I think it will be longer than 5 minutes. I’ve already posted the story in another thread but didn’t get much replies yet.
Here’s the link
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=220490
I basically have the same problem as floatingrunner, a story that’s too big to handle.
What I wanna tell in my story is that you have to confront and conquer danger in dreams; to fight rather than run or hide for your problems. I wanted to do it in a fantasy like way hence the dreamworld an demons.
Do you think there’s a way to make the story shorter/simpler without loosing the whole concept of the dreamworld? Or should I come up with another story for my project?
Hi Totoro,
interesting concepts! Well defined and has a strong message.
Well, I think the visuals and themes in your story speak for itself.
The problem here is Presentation!! Should you use another story
because of time constraints? Perhaps if it gets too difficult to tell
this one with the ideas that you have but, of course, if you can make
this work that would be best, wouldn’t it?
But remember, that Presentation is by far one of the most overlooked
elements to great storytelling, too many Awesome ideas told in Awful
ways turns out looking bad also.
Thanks for explaining the motive of your story on your post, that’s was
Very Important. Looking at what you have so far in your plotline, the only
thing that really seems to be missing is a motive or a “soft-point” that your
audience can really cling onto. What I mean is your story is lesson focused,
you’re trying to convey the importance of being strong even through feelings of fear.
In order to convey this idea across well, you have to grab your audience from
the get-go and SHOW them why Ken NEEDS to be STRONG. Or else, you loose
that fundamental Emotional element to your story.
Here’s an idea:
Open the scene at night outside of Ken’s house.
A scream!
Camera zooms into Ken’s dark bedroom.
He’s sitting up, sweating as if woken up from a nightmare.
He’s scared…his eyes glances at the samurai armor…tears…ashamed…
why isn’t he strong enough to defeat the monsters in his dreams?
(Sympathy is automatically conveyed here as the audience sees how a
six year old boy is struggling to be strong like his father despite his youth)
Light streams in as the door opens and his grandmother walks into the room.
She comforts him and shows him the statue and tells him about the tale.
(You can do some kind of narration here to Fully explain the background about
the dreamworld without having it seem weird.)
Ken then goes back to sleep.
He then dreams of the beautiful landscape you described in your original post…
the monsters are then defeated as you described…
(A lot of the stuff you already have are very good so I wouldn’t recommend changing
it if you don’t have to. I’ve always felt that the original intended ideas are the best ones.)
Feeling safe, he starts playing with his new friend but later sees the samurai armor
and the sword. He has a chance of taking it with him but, already feeling protected,
he chooses not to and leaves it behind as they enter the dreamworld.
When later confronted by the monsters without any help, he regrets not taking
the armor but realizes that strength is not obtained through the use of weapons
but through his own inner strength. (You can use your humor here)
(Remember to reiterate your theme at the wrap-up!!)
After he defeats the monsters and wakes up, his grandmother asks if the statue
worked and what kind of dream he had that night.
He smiles and replies that he dreamed he became brave samurai.
This reduces the plotline to a few simple scenes, making it basic enough to tell
in five minutes. This also focuses more on the samurai theme as a tool to convey
main idea your story. Don’t know if you’d like that though. But it’s a decent start
for you to build on.
Let me know if this helps.
ThinkStory
ThinkStory,
I have a story in mind, but can’t complete it. Do you mind suggesting something.
It starts like this -
There’s a boy [age 10-12] and his cute and useful robot. Its set in near future. The school has vacations, so he decides to go to a resort planet. There’s a nice base in tall mountains on that planet, which was set up by his father. It has cool things such as big waterfalls, holographic games, juicy food, pools etc, all managed by robots.
He jumps into his own small spaceship with his robot and takes off. They approach the planet after few days and dock their ship on the base. As soon as the door of the ship opens and they step out, they are attacked by big and dirty looking robots with lasers. They manage to escape but robots destroy their ship. It happens that the resort base was taken over by these robots to carry out their activities against earth.
Now its upto our friend and his lil robot to save themselves and earth.
So this is it. It needs to be fast and last not more than 10 mins. But guess I’m stuck on what happens next? How do our heroes succeed?
Thanks in advance
Hi Psan,
your description sounds like in addition to the solution
to your story, you also need some events and sub-conflicts.
Many plotlines are developed from a few characters
and a beginning scene. To sustain the it though, you’ll need
a Reason for the story. Another words, can you “label” your story?
Now I don’t mean this in a “lesson” or a “thematic” way.
You’re story sounds like a “just-for-fun” type which is Perfectly fine!!
Some of the greatest stories out there are simply fun and don’t need
any type of underlying theme kinda thing.
But to move it forward, think about why you’re producing it.
Is it for visual purposes?
A client project?
A private project?
If it’s for visuals, the conflicts, events, and solutions in your story should be
artistic/scenic based.
If it’s for a client, think about the type of audience that they’re capturing
and what they are looking for.
If it’s for your own use, think about what your own strenghts are, what
kind of stories do you like to tell:
action: where more physical struggles and fighting sequences will be the main focus
adventure: puzzles and obstacles to overcome
comedy: problems involving light jokes or big laughs
drama: inner emotions/motives and relationship based
mystery: who is behind all of this conspiracy of taking over the island?
These are a few examples but, as you can see, depending on the “type” of
your story, it can lead to endless possibilities of both problems and solutions.
Before a coming up with a solution, try typecasting the problem because
depending on the “type” of problem, it’ll need to be solved with the same type
of way or else it’ll only seem half-done.
A solution comes much Easier, works much Better, and becomes much more
Interesting once the niche to your story is found!
Let me know if this helps.
ThinkStory.
Hey ThinkStory, just wanted to say great thread…glad I said it…there should be more of this going on around here.
I am about to emabark on some shorts this year with the characters featured in the links in my sig (2nd link is the wip for the new design) I’ve already got some good stories in the mix but will be doing short ‘test stories’ 5-15 secs, any input, from anyone at all, will be much appreciated, and credited appropriately.
Cheers;)
ThinkStory,
Thanks for your help.
The animation is not for any client. It is for producing a demo, so that I get some experience out of it. Perhaps my next anim will be bigger and be covered in many episodes.
Here I want to finish the story within 10 mins. As I’m doing it alone.
The story will have 3-4 characters and 8-10 sets, so it will be visually strong, less dialogues and simple actions, plus a good background score.
It will be mostly minor kiddish action, like tricks that the kid sets up to get rid of dirty robots etc.
Ok, I’ve thought of an end today. In the end, the kid will recover a standby ship and command the system to restore the mess, contact his dad on radio, who thinks his son has again made a big mischeif there and orders him to return. The kid and his robot zoom through the space worried about what to tell his father, still happy that they did a great adventure.
Now the mid-part is missing, I need some light action events and some physical comedy by the friendly robot. We already know that he defeats the evil robots. 
We need 2-3 scenarios, where he turns the robots to junk and regains command. That sounds simple, but very difficult for me, I never did story writing before 
Thanks again.
Hi Psan,
ah…I see. Sounds Jurassic Park like.
Here’s an idea that can show-off your visuals quickly
and make-sense at the same time:
Suppose the “system” that you described that controls
the robots and base can only be opened/accessed through
turning on several switches located in various regions
of the planet. For the purpose of this story, I’d suggest
3 switches located underwater, on land, and in the air.
The water switch can be something like under a hot spring,
you can use steam and water effects here and underwater
sequences tends to work nicely with special coloration and
aquatic designed robots.
The land switch can be located in an area covered with
a group of land mines which will allow for some physcial
comedy elements, setting up traps, and the use of fire
and explosion effects.
The last switch may be one located on an air base where
they discover the standby ship that ultimately leads them
to restore the command system. Here you can use some
wind elements or indoor environments if you’d like.
These concepts may sound complicated but in actuality
can be reduced to a few simple scenes during production.
Think afterschool cartoons and how much they are able to
tell within about 15 minutes.
For a demo on your work, Quality not Quantity should be
stressed here.
Let me know what you think.
ThinkStory.
Well, that sounds great, sort of a game like story.
Only thing that bothers me is that it will demand more sets and more frames. But I’m keeping these ideas anyway for the next story 
For now I plan to keep only one location - the resort base. All action takes place here. Here’s the outline -
1.[the space scene] earth to resort planet
2.[the docking scene] resort base
3.[the attack] resort base
4.[the escape] to some hidden area in resort
5.[the fight and destruction of robots] 2-3 sets on the base itself <------ I need advice here
6.[contact dad] resort base
7.[space scene] back to earth
The point [5] would take up 3-4 mins, so I need a few interesting events that take place there.
Thanks for taking the trouble
Nice thread by the way,
I’m just like the rest here, with tons of ideas and very little time to explain them all.
I have a short story that I would like assistance and maybe create a movie script: Let me explain—
The year is 2850, and the Earth has been badly damaged from a great war (ww3) the war was a war like no other, it involved an alien race using masive robot machines to organize a takeover. Vampires and Humans fought side by side and destroyed the machines and alien race takeover. The earth is basically unlivable on the surface for humans due to the lack of air and sunlight. The vampires are well advanced and are able to rebuild the earth cities and are able to survive on the surface. Humans take shelter underground and build massive cities and cultivate a new way of life.
For the past 500 years since the end of the great war humans have, been heavily influenced by the martial arts. Humans have formed a diferent society than before bringing back old ways of living, or to say, the survival of humans is the focal point than the political or supremacy.
All is not well for the Vampire society, An Anarchy or Uprising is being buildup. A massive Vampire group is attacking its own leaders and killing Vampire Royalty. With that in Mind, this rouge group has gotten too powerfull to control, and leaving no choice but seek the help of the humans. They call for the help of “The Secret Human Protection Unit” a military group that patrols human society and use swift punishment for tough criminals. The SHPU is formed of Highly trained men and women trained in the martial arts and are weapons experts. This protection unit are deadly and just one member has been known to kill one thousand men.
The Vampires want just three members of this unit to destroy the formed clans. In return the Vampires will repay with technology and disease and virus killing antidotes from the Vampire scientist and technology departments.
http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/hybridstudios/MS3D_Models/Rogue_Vampire_Panzer_Clans.htm