...
to Catch a wish 2012
...to Catch a wish
Unit 7: Narrative Step Rundown
Stitch 10/2/2012
A Narrative Step Rundown for our Smoke Stack Studios animated short "...to Catch a wish". This is for our UCA CG Arts and Animation Unit 7: Narrative Unit. These are to breakdown the conventions of our story for the development of our initial to final script.
Starting Point
Subject Matter: Period + Issue
Period: The Industrial Revolution Issue: (Complication): The lives of child workers
Step 1
Themes
The loss of innocence, freedom vs. captivity &/or the loss of parental love and safety - A contrast between themes.
Value Charge (Opinion)
We wish to identify the child worker contrasting the innocence of imagination with the tragic reality of life in Industrial Britain. Of course we feel for these children, there is no substitute for innocence. Every person in this world strives to keep it and those that have lost it only wish for it to return. These children could only dream of beauty and riches while they slaved to keep what was theirs.
Step 2
Step 3
End Point (Exit Velocity)
Sad: We want to the audience to feel sympathy for our protagonist, if only to - for a second place themselves in his shoes.
Smoke Stack Studios | ...to Catch a wish Narrative Step Rundown
Step 4
Contrast
There is a contrast between two periods in the child's life, freedom vs. captivity, a happy beginning vs. a sad ending.
Step 5
What if? Who, What, Why?
1900's + Child Labour + imaginary vs. real = A child indulging a fantasy; a past time that is no longer his in order to protect himself from the harshness of his reality.
Step 6
Animation Framework & Genre
Framework: Drama + Camera/transition Genre: Animation + Drama (Major)
Narrative Structure
Introduction: We are lead to our child protagonist through a floating wish flower which lands on his lap.
Step 7
Complication (Conflict): The wish is blown from the child's lap, desperately he attempts to retrieve it. Climax: As the child is about to retrieve the wish flower he is called by someone, when he turns back the wish is gone as is the tree it was sitting on. His fantasy transitions into a steel mill before his eyes. Resolution: The child returns to his work but is greeted once again by the wish flower that eluded him. He catches it and makes his wish.
Smoke Stack Studios | ...to Catch a wish Narrative Step Rundown 3
Step 8
Resolutions
Partial: Will the child's wish come true?
Step 9
Story Arcs
The Arc Plot: The environment shifts between past and present through transition, shifting the identity and motives of our protagonist. This causes a linear and consistent emotional rise and fall.
Individual Arcs
Backdrop: The backdrop of our story is key to showing the contrast between rural freedom and industrial captivity. The child of our story wishes to continue indulging his fantasy of times past. Character: Our characters motives are initially unclear but as he relentlessly chases down the wish flower we see that chasing this fantasy is what he lives for. His disappointment when he is thrust back into reality can attest to his emotional change at the loss of his dream. Objects: The McGuffin if our story is the wish flower bud itself which becomes this child's way of keeping his fantasy alive... with a wish.
Step 10
Smoke Stack Studios | ...to Catch a wish Narrative Step Rundown
