4D Film analysis week 5

I will be analyzing the short film “Land and Bread” by Carlos Armella using the 3 Act Structure.

First act (beginning) (setup)
– Beginning: Introduction of the pet dog.
– Inciting action (Set-up characters/ environment): There is a little girl playing with her pet dog. The weather is windy. It has a fun and relaxing atmosphere.
– Second thoughts: The windy weather may also hint that a storm (crisis/problem) is coming.
– Climax of act I: There is a pregnant woman (the mother) walking towards the hut. She seems to be in pain, most likely she is going to give birth.

Second act (middle) (confrontation)
– Obstacle: The little girl helps her mother back to their hut and she runs off to seek help.  The dog barks get more aggressive.
– Obstacle: The little girls manages to get her father and a doctor for help. All of them looks anxious.
– Midpoint: The doctor first left the hut with blood stains on his white coat. The little girl also calmly keeps all the hanging clothes. The outcome of the birth is still unknown.
– Obstacle: The father left the hut angrily. He shouts at the dog and let it runs away. (The dog probably runs away to look for food)
– Disaster/ Climax 2: From the previous scene, we know that the mother has a miscarriage. The father carries the dead baby out. He starts to dig a hole to bury the baby.

Third act (end) (resolution)
– Falling action: The mother and daughter are seen mourning in front of the grave of the baby. The weather also clears up, hinting the end of the crisis.
– Resolution (wrap up/end): The dog came back to sniff the grave (probably it thought it is food buried below, i think.. since the family looks poor and they probably do not have money to provide the dog food.. ._.”)

Overall: The short film is filmed at a fixed location and the only camera movement is zooming out. The dog is always at the center of attention.

4D ideation week 3

点虫虫 (Point the insect)

点虫虫,虫虫飞,飞到荔枝基,荔枝熟,摘满屋,屋满红,陪住个细蚊公

Rough translation: Point to the insect x2. (The insect) flies to lychee trees, the lychees ripen. Lots of lychees are picked that it fills up the room, with a little boy

The Game

  • Put an index finger on the child palm and sing out 点虫虫
  • The child is expected to quickly grab the finger after the first sentence of the rhyme
  • Move index finger away to avoid getting caught by the child

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(Click on image for gif)

 

Narrative

Overall idea: Comparison between the rhyme and the growth of a child &

the idea that this rhyme is passed on for generations.

  • Scene 1: A room with a child and his father. (点虫虫, point the worm)
  • Scene 2: A butterfly pupa hanging on tree branch. (点虫虫, point the worm)
  • Scene 3: The child playing the game with his father. (点虫虫, point the worm)
  • Scene 4: A butterfly pupa hanging on tree branch. (点虫虫, point the worm)
  • Scene 3 and 4 repeated a few times to show the comparison.
  • Scene 5: A butterfly emerged slowly from the pupa and flies to nearby lychee tree (飞到荔枝基, flies to lychee trees)
  • Scene 6: The child (slightly older) went out to the lychee trees to play. (荔枝熟, the lychees ripen)
  • Scene 7: The child always picked lots of lychee fruits back to his house. (摘满屋, Lots of lychees are picked)
  • Scene 8: A room filled with lychees with a happy child (even older) (屋满红,陪住个细蚊公, that it fills up the room with a little boy)
  • Scene 9: Everything disappeared. Only a old man (the child) in a room.
  • Scene 10: A voice called the old man “Father”. It is the old man’s son with his grandson.
  • Scene 11: The son offered the old man a bowl of lychees
  • Scene 12: The old man smiled. He looked at his grandson.
  • Scene 13: Old man played with his grandson the “point the worm” game (点虫虫, point the worm)
  • Scene 14: Ending in a room with old, son and grandson. (The rhyme continue playing in the background)

Stop motion animation film

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gif 2 (Click on image for gif)

gif 1

(Click on image for gif)

 

Yes, my style of drawing. Anyone wants to collaborate? 😀

I don’t mind working on other projects with animation stop-motion.

4D ideation week 2

Idea 1: Childhood rhyme

I want to make experimental music video on one of the Cantonese childhood rhyme that I have heard since young.

The name of the rhyme is called 點蟲蟲, which means point the worm.

Rhyme: 點蟲蟲, 蟲蟲飛。飛去邊﹖飛去荔枝畿。荔枝熟, 摘滿一包袱。

Rough english translation: Point the worm, the worm flies. The worm files to lichee site. Lichee ripen, (I/we) filled the bag with Lichee.

There is also a game which uses this rhyme to train children on their reflexes. The game is the adult would put an index finger on the child palm and sing out 點蟲蟲. The child is then expected to quickly grab the finger after the adult finished the rhyme, and the adult would try to avoid being caught by the child.

I want to incorporate the idea of this game and some of the images related to the song into the music video.

I am thinking of using a mixture of filming and stop motion animation in this film.

Idea 2: Bras Basah Complex

brasbasah_01

I want to film a experimental documentary video on the Bras Basah Complex. The Bras Basah Complex is built in 1980s. It is a famous place for students for books and art materials.

Inspired by the “5 minutes Museum” by Paul Bursh, I want to use similar style of filming (stop-motion) on Bras Basah Complex, to capture the  objects like books and people of that place.

Idea 3: Being Unique

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Inspired by the short animation video “Eggplant” by Yangzi She (https://vimeo.com/145897706), I want to create a narrative story about being oneself.

I will be using colors to represents people different personalities. There will also be a main character that is trying to be unique but is discriminated by others along the way which he/she will try to resolve. As for the detailed storyline, i haven’t thought in-depth into it yet.

I am interested in using stop-motion animation on this film.

Thats’s all.