Monday 11 February 2013

Emotional and Expressive Development

Today I had a bit of a chat with Alan. We were focussing on the issue of the more expressive and human moments in my film and thinking about how the two characters will be brought to life through their movement and expression, something that will hopefully help to give the film the emotional depth that is, perhaps, lacking to date.

We reviewed the comic prototype and talked about the further possibilities and potential strengths of a few particular moments, agreeing that the bones of the story are all in place in the comic (all the necessary pieces are there).

When the old man and the deer-man meet, for example, is a very important moment. Animating the sequence brings the opportunity to really examine and develop the relationship between the two characters and how they behave during this encounter. The sequence should also further set up or confirm the idea that these two are eventually going to effectively swap lives. The two will meet with some trepidation and eventually come to learn from each other, something of the lives they seek.

The mug that the deer-man hangs from his antler can become a very strong symbol in the film: an object that symbolises human sociability for the deer-man yet one that he is unsure of how to use. When they meet, the old man can teach him what the function of the mug is, thus strengthening the deer-man's confidence in his ability to interact with the people of the town.

In an earlier sequence the fact that the deer-man doesn't quite understand how to use the mug can be addressed thus narratively pre-empting the lesson from the old man. This could occur when the deer-man tries to 'share' his object with the squirrel.


This portion of the narrative could be tweaked so that the deer-man is on his own, sort of playing with the mug, unsure of what to do with it. A squirrel arrives and the deer-man offers the mug to the squirrel (perhaps upside down) to see if he can work it out. The squirrel of course quickly looses interest as he does here and scampers away, leaving the deer-man alone once more. This could be quite an amusing exchange and would hopefully conjure a few smiles... squirrels are inherently pretty light-hearted.

A similarly light-hearted moment that could bring a few smiles is another that includes a typically comedic animal: sheep. 



When the old man tries to battle his way through a 'field' of sheep there is the opportunity to further develop his emotional journey in line with his physical one. This struggle through an overcrowded area can be the second time that the man has faced such a crowd, the first having been when he leaves the busy streets of the town. The emotional cleansing of the old man will be curtailed by the field of sheep: he was starting to feel that he was free as he walks through the arable fields and a spring in his step has perhaps developed... he sees a sheep who he smiles at but soon he is surrounded by them and he becomes frustrated that he can hardly move... he has had enough when one sheep, deciding that it looks tasty, grabs the old man's walking stick... his progress is brought to a jolting stop and he shouts in frustration... the sheep scatter... he is now truly free of overcrowding and about to find the antler, starting the next chapter in his bid for happiness. Unlike in the struggle to get out of town, I think that this moment can be quite funny.