Process – Aurelia NTU Blog

A PERFECT DAY FOR BANANA FISH STORYBOARD

ASSIGNMENT

Knowing that I had to use a stereotype, motifs, symbols, icons in my storyboard. I have decided to use one of then that is stereotype.

By looking through the story, I did see a part where Muriel told her mum her husband called her Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948. It sounds like what a beauty pageant queen would be saying and it suits Muriel’s character. Furthermore, Muriel seems to be full of herself in this whole conversation and she cares mostly about her image.

With that in mind, the beauty queens would be her stereotype as she has the need to be image conscious and vain.

Image References

These are a few of the image references which I used for the perspectives and the designs of my characters.

Perspective of the first image in the first scene when Muriel is in the hotel’s bathroom.

Image reference for the stereotype of Muriel using Audrey Hepburn. However, I only referenced the body and not the face because for my stereotype frame, I like to place emphasis on the sash which says “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948.” I did use the gloves and the curvy feature of a woman’s body to show how Muriel can be an attractive yet

Image reference on how a woman would light her cigarette as Muriel would tend to smoke quite a few times during the conversation. This could also be part of my stereotype because it shows how a specific gender would light up a cigarette and a women would do it differently from men.

Perspective reference on how Muriel can be seated at her window seat while talking to her mother on the phone. Muriel would be seated in the corner instead of the middle so that there would not be too much focus on the center and fewer match cuts for my frames.

Perspective reference for the sunburn scene as Muriel talks about this incident to her mother. This image places emphasis on Muriel’s sunburn as she is closer to us and we could focus our attention on her . We could also understand very easily on what the topic both Muriel and her mother are talking about as they tend to change their topic a few times in the story.

Storyboards

“No Matter What I Gotta Get In There.” Perspective Drawing

Logline

A struggling farmer from Indonesia whose goal was to get a highly paid job in a developed country finds himself in an environment that was more crucial than he thinks.

Synopsis

Character Profile

Name: Ahmad

Goals: To work hard and earn money for his family.

Birth place/Country: Indonesia , rural part

Income state: very low and only dependent on meagre amounts of income

Job: farmer

Exposition

In a rural village of Indonesia, a struggling farmer named Ahmad worked tirelessly but earning meagre amounts of money for his family.

His wife was in the last second stage of cancer motivated him to keep holding on to the job overseas. He loved his wife and wants her illness to be treated so they could be together with their children. He also wants his children to be happy living in a complete family and having a better life rather than their current state of poverty.

Fatimah, an old neighbour of Ahmad recommended that he should go to Japan and work as an engineer. She mentioned that her husband is currently working in TOSHIBA and he is highly paid. Every month, he would bring back heaps amount of cash and food items that could feed their daily necessities.

At first, Ahmad was hesitant in leaving his wife and children whom he loved dearly. He could not bear to see his wife suffering and his four children to live off without his provision of income. Furthermore, he was afraid he could not meet up the working demands in Japan as the only skill he has is farming.

However, Fatimah managed to convinced him that Japan does provide training program for his engineering skills. Also knowing that his family is still living in a dire state of poverty, Fatimah strongly encouraged Ahmad to work in Japan and bring back happiness to his family. As for his absence, she has offered to look after his children by letting them stay in her place until his income was stable.

Ahmad knew that he wanted to see his family healthy and happy as always and living under a new protected shelter. With that in mind, he immediately agreed to Fatimah’s recommendation and asked her to book a flight ticket as soon as possible.

The next morning, Fatimah went to Ahmad’s house and passed him his flight tickets. She told him to fly as soon as possible and report to the Human Resources Director Satsuki for his interview. Before that, she had convinced his wife and children to stay at her place as he was leaving for Japan. With a heavy heart, Ahmad stepped outside of the house taking one last look at his family before leaving for the airport.

Rising action

When Ahmad landed in Japan, the first thing he realised was the tight security and how unwelcoming Japan was towards refugees. The guards even suspected that he could be a terrorist and did a spot check on him even though he was not carrying any weapons. Few hours later, he was released by the guards but was late for his job at TOSHIBA.

Climax

From the moment he arrived at TOSHIBA, he rushed to Director Satsuki’s office hoping that he could still clinch that job as an engineer. Unfortunately as Japan favoured punctuality and time in work , Director Satsuki rejected him without giving an interview.

Ahmad was not sad but worried as he was unable to get a stable job in Japan which could help bring income for his family. Furthermore, he was thrown in a foreign country wondering around jobless.

Tries to deal with it

However, that did not stop him to leave the country. In order to provide the best for his family, he had to search for a job that could bring in high and stable income for their lives. So, he started roaming around the streets and finding for Wanted Jobs advertisements in any company he could find. It was not long until he found a job at a fast food restaurant as a dishwasher located a few blocks away from TOSHIBA. Luckily, the restaurant accepted him because they were shortage of workers and it was the peak period.

Though being a dishwasher was not the job he wanted but it was all he could take in order to earn an income for his family. He had to face harsh criticisms and yells from his supervisor just because he was a foreigner.

Character resolves the problem

Days passed and Ahmad was still working at the restaurant receiving criticisms from his supervisor. Holding onto the hope that he could get a high paid job in any company, he continued to stay in Japan. However, this decision was going to be changed.

On Monday, during the lunch hour, Ahmad’s old neighbour Muthu came into the fast food restaurant and spotted a scene at the dining area. To his surprise, he saw Ahmad being reprimanded by the supervisor and even heard that it was just a small mistake he made when he forgot to clean one of the tables.

After which, he came and talked to Ahmad about his living conditions in Japan alongside with his family. Understanding that his family was in dire state of poverty and his wife’s illness was deteriorating, Muthu suggested that Ahmad should not continue living like this. Despite his goal to get a highly paid job for his family, he should not be staying in Japan but instead go to another developed country.

Muthu offered a job as an engineer to Ahmad at another TOSHIBA company but it was in Singapore . He suggested that Singapore provides better working environments and higher paid jobs for foreign workers like Ahmad.

With no hesitation, Ahmad immediately agreed Muthu’s offer and told him to book a flight to Singapore as soon as possible. This time, there was no mistake and no regrets in his decision.

Few years later, Ahmad was still working in Singapore’s TOSHIBA company and he was receiving a much higher pay than his job in Japan. His wife’s cancer illness was also treated as Ahmad managed to bring his wife over to Singapore for operations. As for his children, they have been staying with Ahmad ever since he started earning a stable income in Singapore and living under a new, well protected shelter over their heads.

Perspective 1

Reference Image for Perspective 1

Perspective 2

Reference Image for Perspective 2

A Perfect Day For Banana Fish Perspective Drawing (Revised)

Muriel’s bedroom

Reference Images

Perspective Reference

Design Reference

After doing some research in the character and the script, I realised that a typical queen sized bed would suit her. During class, we discussed how she resembles American Beauty’s Carolyn who is very sophisticated and vain of herself, giving Muriel a luxury queen sized bed is more appropriate.

With that in mind, I had to do research on how a hotel bedroom would look like during the late 1940s and 1950s. I found that the bedrooms would be similar to what we have today but more elaborated. The curtains and bed would be long and draped with some floral designs.

Hence, I took note of these features in how everything is draped and long to make them look more luxorious for Muriel. I also added a bench infront of the window that has sophisticated designs for the arms by just having a curve like feature. This little difference would help to bring up the level of elegance of design for Muriel’s hotel bedroom.

Elevator Scene

Reference Image

I feel that by having a more top down perspective is more appropriate for this scene because the character, Seymour’s other personality is being revealed. In the previous scene at the beach, he was more fatherly towards a child but in this scene there was a sudden change as he starts getting more paranoid.

Thus, this view acts like a camera in the elevator where it captures the real and negative personality of Seymour. He started accusing the lady who got so scared of him. In my drawing, the lady is clinching on to her jacket tightly and her shoulder is straightened as she is scared and disturbed by Seymour’s paranoid personality.

Animatic Storyboard

Prompt

When the call came in, I thought I was ready for it, but I never knew that it would turn out to be like this…

Story

Logline

Carrie never sees her father as an inspiration to be successful in life until he passed away.

Synopsis

Exposition:

A long time street hawker, Carrie’s father finds himself struggling financially, as his relationship with his family becomes increasing stressed. He runs a traditional snack stall that belonged to his family and now hopes that he is able to pass it down to his daughter, Carrie. Despite his respectable status, Carrie finds herself betraying his family’s business by providing unsatisfactory service out of spite.

With little help from his daughter, he had to stay until 12 midnight everyday in order to get more customers and earn money for the family. This tired him out and increased his risk of cancer, but chose to hide it from Carrie since she was in secondary school.

Rising Action

As Carrie is entering her first year of university, the relationship with her father continues to be strained. She even insulted him for being a complete failure in life and he was the reason the family was poor. This disappointed her father but Carrie was ignorant about his emotions. Carrie’s father started to drown his sorrows with cans of beers every day at a nearby coffee shop after work and was coming back late. His drinking habit became a hindrance to his cancer illness.

Four years later, Carrie became a successful lawyer and was spending less time with her father. She was clearly oblivious to her father’s deteriorating illness. Ironically, the building where she works is located near her father’s stall. Her colleagues, who were patrons of her father’s stall mentioned how the food has become of poor quality but the owner still wanted to remain open for business. He kept coughing and missing out orders. Carrie felt guilty after hearing what her colleagues said and wondered if it was her fault that made her father to become ill. After work, she decided to search for her father at the street market but later finds him at a coffee shop nearby. She was shocked to see her father lying on the table, crushed cans of beers surrounding him. She sighed and reluctantly helped her father up who cried out ” Why am I so useless? Why can’t I provide the best for my daughter? “. Carrie felt even more guilty as she never knew her thoughts would influence him to turn to alcoholism.

When Carrie brought her father home, her mother started to worry because she knew that her father had been drinking again. She told Carrie how her father had been drinking ever since she insulted him for being a complete failure in life. Because he keeps mumbling out the same sentences on how he was unable to provide the best for his daughter. Then, Carrie’s mother suggested she taking over the business. Carrie simply replied “no “.

Climax

Next morning, Carrie’s father’s illness got worse. His vision blurred and his hands were shaking more vigorously. Knowing his days were numbered, he went to Carrie’s room and asked if she could help him one last time. However, Carrie was in a rush and she lashed him off before leaving for work. Carrie’s father was disheartened as he turns to recipe and wonders who would be able to take over his family business. Suddenly, he started coughing heavily and was suffering chest pains as he tried to reach for his medicines but dropped them instead and ended coughing badly. His wife saw this and immediately called Carrie to tell how her father is coughing badly. Each time she called, Carrie would always think that was a minor cough and told her mother to give her the updates based on the doctor’s report. The big blow did not hit Carrie until the hospital called her saying that her father passed away. She started crying with tears full of regrets , failing to realise how she should have spent more time with him and being more aware of his illness.

When she reached the hospital, she cried again once she sees the sheet covering her father’s dead body. Then, her mother went over and passed Carrie the recipe which her father had been holding for years. She told Carrie her father had been holding this recipe until she reached the hospital because he wanted to pass it to her. Carrie’s mother also told Carrie the reason her father wanted her to take over the business was because he trusts her.

Falling Action

After listening to her mother, Carrie was reminded how she watched her father every night preparing for his business but she never helped. She came to realise how important the business is to him and decided to make it up to him by taking over his business. She decided to make it up to her father by learning the recipe every night and slowly found interest in making the tutu kueh.

Resolution

Months later after she took over the business, crowds of people started streaming in even during the non-peak hours. This may have exhausted Carrie out but nothing could make her happier than fulfilling her dad’s soul.

Original Storyboard

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO HAVE ACCESS TO MY SCRIPTS AND MY VIDEOS.

Script

Original Script

LONGINGTRADITION

Edited Script

LONGINGTRADITION (3)

Animatic Storyboard video

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v129368301K498dmpW

Reference Video for story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cy73ex6apo&t=158s

Storyboard Assignment 3

Scene 1: Muriel’s room. I would think of Muriel in ” A Perfect Day for Banana fish” as someone who would resemble Carolyn in American Beauty. Thus, the style of the character is similar to Carolyn when comparing the short hairstyle and the way she dress is quite sophisticated as she seems to be concern about her image.

About the perspective, I have chosen it as a two perspective. By looking at the image, the bed is not seen fully but the layout of the room is seen. This is to give an idea of what the character is like as she is someone who is similar to Carolyn’s character of caring about image and she does not seem to care about her Husband as she is seen seated and looking at her nails.

Scene 2: Elevator

The scene in the elevator would show how Sigmul has a change in his behaviour. To me, a closer view of his action and his expression would be a better perspective. I am also giving a one perspective view to show a sense of focus on the two characters especially Sigmul. This view enables us to see how Sigmul has changed and how much has he changed.