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Final reflection

Reflective Journal – Final

My work this term has really been effected by a number of things I was dealing with outside the course. Although I was not able to finish anywhere near as much of the work as I wanted, I really enjoyed these projects. I will try and finish the puppet particularly in the Easter holidays as I was learning a lot from the trial and error construction and think he could have been a really interesting character.

Narrative Strategies - I really enjoyed the challenge of writing the screenplay and loved the research and trying to adapt a story into the screenplay style although I found it quite difficult. I am not entirely happy with my finished screenplay and think I could have made the dialogue a lot more effective, I had difficulty condensing what was actually quite a long story down into just a few short clips. If I were to turn this into an animation in the future, I have a good idea of how I would want it to look although I would do a lot more research on screenplay writing! I was really disappointed that I wasn’t able to complete my critical analysis and only handed in a draft. I did a lot of research on this project and learnt a lot throughout so hope that comes across in my blog as it does not in my analysis.

Lip Sync - The lip sync project is another part I would love to continue working on as I am desperate to get my computer skills up to scratch so I will be able to less difficulty in projects in the future. Lip syncing is also an important part of animating so I am eager to gain the skill.

Bestiary Project - The Bestiary Project was one I was incredibly excited about and really liked my idea for. Due to a number of outside issues my ability to manage the three units suffered massively and I was unable to complete this project in any way. It is something I would like to complete in my own time as I am desperate to get the hang of puppet making and stop motion and I would love to see the design in real life! I still learnt a lot from the project and think I have gained a little more perspective on how long each individual aspect will realistically take.

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Weekly Summaries - Week Eight

Narrative Strategies - This week I have been concentrating on finishing the screenplay and writing my reflective essay. I haven’t got as far as I hoped and I have so much for my reflective essay (because I got a little carried away with research) that I am struggling to condense it down in to an effective essay. I tried to do a little background research on homelessness which is a big them in my story due one of the main characters. I would have liked to do more as this was an issue relevant at the time of Jekyll and Hyde and now. The wealth divide was stark then and although perhaps less so now, homelessness is still very much an issue. 

Animated Bestiary - Due to a number of issues I have been dealing with over the course of the project with bestiary project really suffered. I really enjoyed the project and would have loved to create the character I designed but am left with an unfinished puppet.

Lip Sync - I really struggled to juggle the three projects this term as my work had been really effected by a number of things. I would have liked to complete this project and will hopefully be able to in my own time after the unfinished video is handed in. I think its really important I do finish the project as my basic skills on TV Paint were improving from the work I did do and I already found it more accessible.

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Narrative Strategies - The Character of The Lady

This character was really hard to capture in the few lines of the screenplay. I wanted it to be clear that she was a good person who, like most homeless people, had fallen on hard times and struggled to get back up. 

The Lady is supposed to be in her late 40′s, she has been homeless before and this has been her longest stint. As a youth she found community in the punk rock music scene and through that was introduced to drugs, alcohol and excess (as well as good music). The idea with her is that although many people found and enjoyed that scene in the late 80′s, she was one of the ones (as with a lot of scenes) that got trapped. She developed s dependency on drugs and alcohol and bought it with her as she grew up. She still holds the music very close to her heart and if I had had more time would have liked to bring this into her script.

The meeting of the two, one at the beginning of what could develop into a dependency on substance and one suffering from the effects of this was interesting. Even though they are from entirely different walks of life they share a common ground and for one night form a surreal family. Both, at different times, found substances to escape from their circumstances. Perhaps with the Lady it was an dysfunctional homelife (suggested, maybe by the situation the father is now in) and with the Girl it was from the confines of mental health problems (anxiety/ depression). There is also maybe the link of both fathers being slightly dysfunctional.

 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/17/80s-style-tribes-punk-mod-rocker

‘I got into punk at the age of 12, and went quite wild with it. It was a means of escape from difficult situations at home. I found it empowering; going to gigs and drinking and taking drugs was exciting. I felt free; but I was getting into trouble with the police.’ 

With something this short you can’t really capture how she ended up where she is, but it hopefully shows that peoples stories aren’t always that clear and that a bad series of events can happen to perfectly good people.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/rough-sleeping-and-homelessness-norwich-1-5426836

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/rough-sleeping-and-homelessness-norwich-1-5426836

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Animated Bestiary - 

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Weeky Summaries - Week Seven

Narrative Strategies - This week I have really focused on researching and coming up with my story for the Narrative Strategies part of the course. I have had very little experience in creative writing and none in screenplay writing. I had always imagined myself animating someone elses screenplay! I wanted to find examples of screeplays so I could get an idea of believable dialogue between characters and how much stage direction/ setting I should add. 

I love the work of author Chuck Palahniuk and particularly love the way he captures unusual characters in his books. I looked at the screenplay for the film adaptation of his book Fight Club to find out how the characters where translated. I do think there is a certain amount of artistic liscence that actors and directors can take when given a screenplay and even if the dialogue is minimal or seemingly lacking it can be delivered in a way which captures the audience.

The story I chose is actually based on a real event that happened to me when I used to have quite an unhealthy relationship with alcohol as a teen. And although Lynsey suggested that actually coming up with something not based on reality might be better, I though the story could be a really effective adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde so thought I would try and adapt it.

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Animated Bestiary - 

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Narrative Strategies -  Style of animation

Below are a number of animations I found on vimeo that I loved the art style of. For my animation I wanted quite muted tones and stylised characters. I love these examples below and I think the slightly surreal and ‘fear and loathing’ style of them would be really effective for my screenplay.

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Narrative Strategies - The End - Reflective Essay Plan + help

Introduction

·         Jekyll and Hyde was written at a time when society saw morality as very black and white. Here were good and bad people. When in fact there is good and bad in everyone this is the human condition.

·         There was also a stark wealth divide. The rich very rich and the poor very poor

·         Reading the book was particularly effected by the final chapter. Jekylls confession. His battle with the temptation of becoming Hyde and then being able to return to his Jekyll form.

·         Homelessness an example of a divide in modern society

·         Homeless lady’s Hyde has taken so much from her whereas Girl is at the beginning of her story

·         Jekyll seeing Hyde’s actions as distant to his, Girl seeing this other life as different to hers

·         Alcohol addiction/ binge drinking/ anxiety. Escape from burden of conscience

Writing process

·         Trying to condense the story down from the original copy

·         Having to imagine the characters conversations

·         Fight club screenplay, searching for other screenplays written by women/ time constraints

·         Cutting out travel etc. Trying to turn it into three snapshots of location

Filming screenplay

·         Black and white/ muted colours

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Narrative Strategies - Story

This story was meant to be a snapshot into just how bizarre and surreal a toxic relationship with alcohol can be. What the character does is not necessarily a-moral but is still far from a situation you would find yourself in in every day life.

I wanted to explore the idea of her living a different life when she is in this state. And having to try and piece it together when she comes back to her ‘Jekyll’ form. I am really struggling with capturing everything I want the short film to say through a screenplay. I want to get across why it is she feels a distance to the woman when she meets her again, and how she feels guilt at the concept of appearing to see this woman that she liked and shared this whole experience with as ‘other’ when she is no longer inebriated because she represents something she is afraid of.

Gif: Alice in Wonderland (1951) Dir. Clyde Gernimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske

I’ve done a lot of research into the concept of ‘blackout’ states with alcohol. The fact that people feel almost as though they were posessed or taken over by something else during a period (a theme which is heavily explored in Jekyll and Hyde). The idea of waking up and having to find out the things they had said and done. To understand why a person could act a certain way when under the influence would (as I’ve discovered through researching the effects of alcohol) actually take a much deeper understanding of yourself, considering all the factors, i.e genetics, mental state, past experiences etc.

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Narrative Strategies: Basic Story for Screenplay

 Characters: 

Girl - late teens middle class girl with unhealthy relationship with alcohol, drinks to excess and doesn’t stop to escape her anxiety. Famous for ending up in bizarre and extreme situations among friends.

Homeless Lady - early 40′s lady who has been on and off homeless for a number of years. A difficult beginning in life, which she then escaped from through substances and music. Mother of two children who were both taken away in their early stages. She has very limited contact with both of them.

Homeless Lady’s Father - in his late 70′s and in very poor health. Still smokes like a chimney and lives in a sparsely furnished and dirty flat. Clearly loves his daughter and his grandchildren very much. Seems to be thinking back on past choices/ experiences as the three talk.

Girl’s Father (briefly) - only represented in the story by bringing Girl too with the offer of tea. She has gone to his after this extensive night out as she knows he wont ask many questions or be angry. 

Girl wakes up in her bedroom at father’s house (where she usually goes after heavy drinking as there are less consequences), its lunchtime. Next to her on floor are two beer cans from a four pack, one half empty which she kicks when bringing her legs out of bed to sit up.

Father knocks at door to ask if she wants a cup of tea after hearing her moving

Girl recalls night/day previously after seeing sleeping bag with ‘punk rock’ written on it hanging out of her backpack.

It’s around 1am and raining, Girl is leaving her friend’s house by the river, drunk, walking towards city centre. As she walks down the road she tries to focus her eyes in order to roll her cigarette, the paper gets dampened by the rain and task proves impossible. She looks for some shelter.

As she walks further into the city centre [NOTE: LEAVE OUT WALKING SCENE, BEGIN FROM LEAVING TO IMMEDIATELY SEEING LADY] she see’s figure of woman (also drunk and with beer can) sitting in the light of a petrol station sheltering from the rain herself. She joins her and begins conversation.

At some point in the conversation Girl goes to get more beers for the two to drink and the night continues.

At some point in the conversation the Lady begins talking about her two children around Girl’s age that have been taken into care, and how she fears her elderly father with die before ever seeing them again.

The two are considerably drunk at this point, having both been drinking for some hours. The Lady then mentions how she is going to visit her father tomorrow (today). She then asks how Girl would feel about pretending to be her one of her daughter’s, so her ailing father would see her one more time. It had been so long since he’d seen either he wouldn’t know what she looked like.

Girl agrees. [BY THIS TIME IS DAYTIME, 7 IN MORNING? MAYBE MAKE HER LEAVE FRIENDS LATER]

Girl asks the Lady what her father drinks and suggests they take a bottle for the visit, she chooses cider.

The two arrive at the father’s house. [AFTER ASSUMED OR ACTUAL RUN DOWN OF SOME HISTORY OF THE GIRL SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE + NAME]

The three [AND EXTRA MAN?] sit in the council flat, morning time and talk. Occasionally going for cigarettes on the balcony. The Lady talks about how well her daughter is doing now. Girl talks about her real family as though they were her adoptive family. The father is happy he got to see them both and shares some memories of the Lady’s childhood. Girl falls asleep on the Lady’s lap

[IS THIS END? ADD LEAVING, GETTING FOOD AND THEN GOING HOME MIDDAY THAT DAY?]

Do need to add the next time they meet weeks later. Very brief encounter, Girl doesn’t immediately recognize her. She says ‘Hi’ and exchange a couple of words, but Girl is withdrawn and uncomfortable. She has no bad feelings towards the Lady herself, but to her this person represents an aspect of her life/ personality that is out of control (her drinking habit). Something that sober her avoids confrontation with at all costs.

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Narrative Strategies

Although I have really enjoyed researching and reading Jekyll and Hyde, I still find the concept of writing a screenplay extremely daunting as I have never been a creative writer! I have done a lot of research online to try and grasp a better concept of how to write believable characters and particularly their dialogue.

https://indiefilmhustle.com/screenplay-download/

https://www.thescriptsource.net/Scripts/FightClub.pdf

Quotes below from Author of Fight Club: Chuck Palahniuk

I’ve read a number of Palahniuk’s books and have found his approach to characters and stories fascinating. He often bases his characters off experiences people have told him and people he’s met, which is a nice link to the story I’ve chosen to write about.

“At the time, my life just seemed too complete, and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

“Have your adventures, make your mistakes, and choose your friends poorly -- all these make for great stories.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

“Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

“I admire addicts. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster or some sudden disease, the addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road. He's taken some control over his ultimate fate, and his addiction keeps the cause of his death from being a total surprise.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

“That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can't control life, at least you can control your version.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Stranger than Fiction

Continued from above the quotes...

I found a really useful resource where you can have access to a number of Hollywood screenplays by big directors, I need to keep in mind these are feature length films, but nevertheless, they will hopefully help me to see how to write people!

I looked particularly for female writers as I find they are often a little better at writing believable female characters. I did find a link to Sofia Coppola’s 1999 film The Virgin Suicides but the link was broken and I couldn’t find it anywhere else. 

Gif: The Virgin Suicides (1999) Dir. Sofia Coppola

Video: Trailer for critically acclaimed Lady Bird (2017) Dir. Greta Gerwig

Video: Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan of their film Lady Bird (2017)

https://thescriptlab.com/features/first-ten-pages/8450-first-ten-pages-lady-bird-2017/

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Weekly Summaries - Week Six

Narrative Strategies - This week I finished the book Jekyll and Hyde and found that particularly the final chapter was really moving. There were so many quotes in this chapter that I thought captured an addictive/ unhealthy relationship with substances so beautifully and I think these will really help with my story. I also did a considerable amount of research into the effects of alcohol particularly and found out a lot of interesting things from recent studies into the drug and its effect on the human mind. It’s interesting to see how our attitudes have changed and remained the same when it comes to addiction and substance abuse and how it has long been a big part of society.

Animated Bestiary - This week I have started creating my puppet skeleton. There have been a lot of technical elements to it that I hadn’t initially factored in, but with the help of Barry have been able to find ways around. Particularly the fact that one of the main features of my puppet is that he crouches to create the effect of a peregrine in a tree or on a wire. This will put pressure on the shoulder and leg joints of the skeleton and I needed to factor this in when I chose the position of the wire. 

Lip Sync - This week I was working on Adobe Premier Pro to create a showreel. I haven't had the opportunity to do this yet and how found Adobe technology a little hard to get the hang of in the past. A friend on the course helped me get the hang of it and it was much easier than I thought when I finally got to doing it. I need to make a few posts each time I learn more about a new software to note down shortcuts and tips to really help me remember as this is the part of my dyslexia that really slows me down on the course.

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Lip Sync - 

This is a rough draft of my experimentation reel for the lip sync project. I still need to add sound and will ultimately have to have some examples of my characters actually lip syncing to the audio track!

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Research for Narrative Strategies - 

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Penguin English Library Edition 2012

Excerpts from chapter: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case

In this chapter I found a number of useful quotes that capture substance abuse/ addiction perfectly.

‘If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, deliver from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good thing in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.’ (Jekyll on his aims with making the potion that creates Hyde, pg 58)

‘I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a mill race in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not innocent freedom of the soul’ (Jekyll on his first trial of the potion as Hyde, pg 60)

‘It was on this side that my new power tempted me until I fell into slavery. I had but to drink the cup to doff at once the body of the noted professor, and to assume, like a thick cloak, that of Edward Hyde.’ (pg 62)

‘I was the first that could thus plod into the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into a sea of liberty’ (pg 62) 

‘When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my new vicarious depravity’ (pg 63)

‘It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty’ (pg 63)

‘...I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged, the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of voluntary change may be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine’ (pg 65)

‘Between these two, I know I felt I had to choose. My two natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them.’ (pg 66)

‘Strange as my circumstances where, the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man; much the same inducement and alarms cast the die for any tempted and trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls out with so vast a majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part and was found wanting in the strength to keep it.’ (pg 66)

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Research for Narrative Strategies - 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/16066359.2015.1029920 - an interesting study  ‘ Searching for Mr. Hyde: A five-factor approach to characterizing “types of drunks”’

Gif: From Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/07/14/drunk-personality-study-hemingway_n_7795820.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_cs=Wvbp4P5kaWHm9iIfSqArew

Previous research into drunk personalities has shown that it exaggerates traits that already exist in a person, Dr. Joshua Gowin of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism told Shape last year.

The Hemingway -   "Hemingways" see very little decrease in either Intellect or Conscientiousness when drinking, according to this study. That means that, even when drinking, they were still considered reliable, and able to process complex ideas.

The Mary Poppins -  Drinkers in this category saw very high Agreeableness while both sober and drunk, and lower than average decreases in both Intellect and Conscientiousness while imbibing. Their extroversion also increased.

The Mr. Hyde - This personality became less agreeable, conscientious and intellectual while drinking, though it also recorded a small increase in extroversion than other types in the study. This type, said The Telegraph, is most likely to be arrested due to drunken antics.

The Nutty Professor -  "Nutty Professor" types aren't particularly extroverted while sober, but that facet of their personalities jumps when they drink. Conscientiousness, however, goes in the opposite direction.

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/weekinreview/is-it-the-drunk-or-the-drink-doing-the-talking.html

‘The cerebellum governs motor coordination, which explains the drunk's weaving walk and iffy driving skills. The prefrontal cortex "is normally making an assessment of the appropriateness of your acts," she said, modulating desires and urges. After a couple of drinks, Dr. Volkow said, suppressing such impulses becomes much harder.’

‘This leads to a condition that researchers call the "alcohol myopia effect," in which someone who has had too much to drink reacts to immediate cues without regard to consequences or the broader social context.’

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/science-choice/201607/7-effects-alcohol-myopia

Alcohol myopia effect -  Alcohol leads to myopia (short-sightedness). Alcohol consumption—getting drunk—narrows your focus of attentionand thoughts to the most obvious information or cues in your immediate environment. As a consequence, behavior is overly influenced by the noticeable cues to the exclusion of more distant stimuli or consequences (Steele and Josephs, 1990).

https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/what-determines-your-drunk-identity

He (Joshua Gowin, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)  compares the drunk brain to a car that’s been stripped of its brakes. “Normally, you would slow yourself down or realize that your actions or reactions aren’t appropriate. But when you’re drunk, that doesn’t happen.”

Different factors that science shows determine your intoxicated identity -

Your sober personality

Your environment

Your genes

Your experience

Your mental state

Your sex

https://www.medicaldaily.com/what-dual-drunk-personality-disorder-4-personalities-you-can-become-when-you-403101

‘The Mr. Hydes of the bar are the ones afraid to order their first drink because, like the roll of a dice, they can never make a sure bet they'll come out the other side of the bottle unscathed.’

‘They live never knowing which drink will flip the switch into blackness, leaving them to wake with only fragments of nights better left in the dark.’  

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Animated Bestiary -

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Weekly Summaries - Week Five

Narrative Strategies - This week was really interesting and helpful in terms of learning about screenplay writing. I have really enjoyed the research for this project and am sure I am going to do my story on alcohol abuse/ addiction. I am going to need to do a lot of research into successful screenplay writing as I am really struggling on how to imagine capturing what I want to come from the story through just stage direction and speech. 

Animated Bestiary - I am slightly worried I am falling a little behind on the Bestiary project and think I may have not left myself enough time alongside the other projects to crate the puppet I want to create. I did learn this lesson from our first year stop motion project and think I have to start creating slightly simpler designs when I have time constraints, as it is very hard to guess how many hours will be lost to crafting a little suit!

Lip Sync - This week I really enjoyed getting a bit more familiar with TV Paint. I really enjoy 2D animation but do struggle with picking up the software quickly. Thanks to a friend on the course I was able to learn some shortcuts and helpful tips in speeding up the animation process and was happy with the results. In the animatic I have come up with I concentrated on keyframes for just the characters physical movement. I did this by listening along to the audio track and creating a movement for the points in the clip that I thought the character would react to in his speech.