So, we had the big seminar thing with all the crits. Very helpful. Except about half the people seemed a tad bewildered by the ending. How does he get into the tavern? Why is he in a tavern? What happened to the fairies? Etc.
It's something I was always a little worried about. Last year when we were first figuring out the stories, there was an idea kicked around that I ended up feeling wasn't true to what I wanted to do. However, I don't really want to sacrifice good storytelling to try to squeeze in a story that doesn't quite fit. So the alternative ending would involve a little bit of a change towards the beginning as well. Here's how the story would play:
The guy is walking through the woods with his cows but they don't really stay together as a herd that well. His playing wouldn't be very good here. A couple run off the road, and he has to chase them down. He tries to go after them both, but gets distracted by the fairy music. The middle would be the same. When he wakes up after the fairies, he'd be a bit befuddled, but start to play. He stands to play, his eyes are closed. As he plays, all of his cows come out of the woods and carry him towards town. You would see a couple fairies pop out of the woods behind him and do a little dance before flying off into the woods. The End.
Here're the boards for the new ending.
I'm not really sure I like it better... but I think that it might pull the story together more neatly? Should it still go back to the tavern? There will be a town in the distance that you can see. You can sort of see it in the last couple frames of the boards.
Also, just for fun, here's what my boards look like just in pencil. I like it, it's just harder to see.
Monday, December 10, 2007
New Storyboards for the End
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7 comments:
Hmmm. Part of me really likes the tavern at the end. Figure that right now your animatic's under 3 minutes, so you can always add the tavern in if your animation doesn't end up hitting the 3 min. mark. This ending seems more in line with the guy's character, and I really like the scene where he's bouncing with the cows carrying him.
...I'm weirded out that people were confused about the tavern. How dare he switch locales!
It took me a long time to figure out what you meant by Rosewood. I totally didn't mean to be hip *lol*. I just haven't got a lot of fonts installed on my computer and that's what I went with.
Emily-
I don't think you need a couple run off the road- that is confusing. Personally, I think if you took Victor's suggestion of an establishing shot outside the tavern with a sign posted outside some of the confusion would be eliminated. Perhaps you could run a couple of ideas past the faculty next week? I would not commit to more animation than is absolutely necessary.
I don't think people were weirded out by him being in the tavern so much as confused as to why it was important to end your film in the tavern.
Does that make any sense?
I can see how it might seem a little out of nowhere (like, "wait, is this what we've been working up to the whole time?" Almost as if they'd missed something.)
I actually kind of like the new ending better. You get the idea that he's in better control of his life now, as he can keep his herd corralled, blah blah blah.
It resolves the initial problem. Yay!
If you want to add the tavern in there, go for it, but in the end, I think this communicates just as much of a "man gets his act together" vibe as anything else would, while at the same time reflecting back on the beginning of your film.
I'm going to post this without proof-reading it now, so sorry for any rambling blather.
I see I was a little confused when I first read the post. I actually think that by ending in the tavern it shows that he went through a transformation. I think it would be odd if the cows "carried him" into town (am I misunderstanding that part?) I spoke with Christine about your film today, and she feels a long dissolve would solve your problem. Don't make any drastic decisions until your final crit!!!
The idea behind having more than one cow run off the road was to show that he can't control the herd at all at the beginning.
The film as it originally stood before this change did involve a long dissolve. That was the solution, and it seems to not work for a lot of people.
I'm not sure that I like having a sign just because I like to avoid having any dependence on reading in my films - it weakens the storytelling, in my opinion. Then I might as well have dialogue too - it can no longer stand apart from language. Not that there's anything wrong with having talking/reading in a film, but I like that this one doesn't need it.
I agree that it is good not to rely too much on text, although I don't think a sign is the same thing. It's just identifying a location. However, it may not be the best solution. I still like ending in the tavern. I don't know why viewers wouldn't understand it. Maybe once it's fully animation it would read better?
Personally,, I think the tavern performance relates more strongly to his experience with the fairies than the herding of the cows. I understand what you are getting at, but it doesn't really come together for me. (You can disagree- it's your film :) )
During your presentation you can bring all your ideas boarded out and get some feedback. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say.
Relying on language in your film sucks big time. I'll second that one...
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