short script…

Last post I alluded to throwing around the idea of producing some sort of short animation.  I think that I have finally decided to go ahead and try to make this a reality.  After doing lots of research into producing an animated short over the past 6-8 months I’ve reeled in my ambitious imagination and think that creating something that is about one minute in length sounds possible.  Rather than try to cram an entire storyline into one minute, I’m aiming for an animation that seems like it is part of something bigger (think what @ndy did with Creature Factory).  The short is probably going to be just a few shots, with just one character, but hopefully it will seem like it has come out of a much larger story line.

The first step in creating any kind of movie, whether it is one minute or multiple hours, is to come up with an idea.  This is probably one of the more difficult parts of the entire process because the possibilities are nearly limitless.  Rather than try to write an entire story line myself, then pick a scene out of it, I decided to adapt part of an existing story.  This narrows my options considerably and I am now faced with trying to modify the story in such a way as to make it my own.

A couple of years ago I read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and absolutely loved it.  The most memorable of the seven books was most certainly the first one and nothing more memorable than that opening line “The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”  What a great opening!  It draws you in almost immediately, who is this man in black?  Why is he fleeing, and from what?  Who is this gunslinger?  What is a gunslinger anyway?  Why is he pursuing the man in black?  Why a desert?  So many questions to just one line.  These questions gradually get answered, or shall I say the reader gradually comes up with his or her own answers to them, throughout the series, but that beginning was so intriguing that it stuck with me long after I had answered these questions.  When I got to thinking about an interesting story that felt like part of a bigger story, this opening stuck out in my head more than anything else.  The first part of the Dark Tower series was what I decided to adapt to make into an animated short.

This opening also fit into my criteria really well.  There is just one character, one location/set, limited props, and very limited dialog.  There is also not a whole lot of complicated character animation, so it will hopefully allow me to concentrate on making the limited animation and cinematography top notch.

I’m using the software Celtx to write out my script/screenplay and quick storyboard based on the opening sequence in The Gunslinger.  It’s the first time that I’ve used Celtx (actually the first time that I’ve written anything like a script), but I’m finding it pretty straightforward.  Like I said before, there really isn’t a whole lot of detailed character animation, so the main focus is on trying to get the camera shots correct.  Storyboarding is the next step, so this should be a big help with arranging shots.  A nice feature of Celtx is that everything (script, notes, storyboard, etc.) is linked to the same database and synced together.  This makes flipping back and forth between different parts of the story much easier (not such a big deal with a real small script like this, but much more of an asset with a large story).

Finally, another quick concept painting to leave with you today, enjoy!