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Troll, faerie fly-fishing...


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Will,

 

Your troll looks like some bikers I've seen... at least in movies... hard to believe he's on foot.

 

I'd be rollin on the floor laughin' if he was on a vintage Sting Ray that was waaaay too small fer 'im. His bucket o'fairies hangin on the handle bars... and the rod bungee corded to the back of the banana seat (or held on to with fingers, across the handle bars)... But that's prolly a different story.... and it only just came to mind studying the sketch!

 

Love the pencil rendering concept!

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Love your stuff as usual, Will.

 

Not sure about her feet. They look out of scale for her waif body. But I noticed her hands were a little big too. Is this related, coincidence or am I seeing things?

 

Is this going to be a story out of your brains or some other less potent source?

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I think the big hands and feet is a fairy thing, I like it! Personally I'd go with breasts a bit perkier, more like peanuts and less like baps! But it's a personal thing!

 

Looking forward to your tests Will, Il have to check out these tests...

 

Nixie

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Ahhhh! I didnt think about that, then i retract my previous oppinion!

 

If you were to push it further perhaps wider hips. This is entirely up to you however, theres nothing wrong as is. I look forward to seeing the models.

 

Nixie

 

p.s you are one of the giants of AM, and I hope to stand on your shoulders eventually!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Do you think that I should put the sketches into a story reel, or wait till I start blocking the shots and just see how it feels?

It depends on what approach you plan to take. If you're going to be shooting for more of a storybook feel, with lush backgrounds and a static camera, you might be able to go straight from storyboards to rough 3D blocking. On the other hand, if you know you're going to be dealing with a moving camera, I believe it would be in your best interest to do hand-drawn animatics before you begin working in the Chor.

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Awww...poor fairies! They actually get squired onto the hook? Sounds abit barbaric. But then he is a troll. I'd put them into a smaller cage on the end of the line with a hook at the end of the cage. Wouldn't want to ruin those lovely models! :)

How about abit of justice at the end where you see the troll choking on the fish he's just eaten. Maybe the surviving fairy could get revenge for her friends...Just chucking out ideas.

 

But no, I do like the story. I just think it needs more of a "hook" to it. A sort of punchline thing going on.

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Awww...poor fairies! They actually get squired onto the hook? Sounds abit barbaric. .... I'd put them into a smaller cage on the end of the line with a hook at the end of the cage.
Nah! Seen too many cutesy-cutesy fairy tales - tell it like it really is!
How about abit of justice at the end ... I just think it needs more of a "hook" to it. A sort of punchline thing going on.
I was about to say that I agree with that, but I'm having second thoughts. Maybe because I can't think of a suitably punchy ending that doesn't involve a lot more work.
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Just some suggestions to be noted and considered. Nothing more:

 

1) The fairies are frantically trying to fray the rope to escape. One by one they get hauled out. Then at the end when the last fairy is about to escape, he just opens the door....and with surprise and shock she flys out. I think it would add a sense of drama and suspense.

 

2) A big fish pulls the troll into the water. The cage lands on his head as he sits in the water and the cage open to allow the (most likable) fairy to go free.

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I agree that the story seems too harsh. The real world may be full of 'dog-eat-dog' where the biggest, meanest critters seem to come out on top but shouldn't the story carry some hope? I think that the audience will identify with the fairies more than the troll. Perhaps you have a twist that you are not showing us yet? At the moment, and I mean this with the greatest respect, it is just a visually beautiful, horror story about fishing bait.

 

The fairies' magic could be used, through the fish, to provide a moral at the dinner table. Some kind of twist where the troll ends up 'on-the hook' or where he learns to respect creatures that are smaller than himself? Or the fairies are caught in the first place by being preoccupied with their own vanity.

I don't know. It just seems a bit barbaric at the moment. To me it just seems to be saying that life is brutal but maybe you're not showing us the whole story. Or maybe I'm just being too soft.

 

Whatever, it looks like it will be a beautiful animated short and will make an excellent show piece.

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Ummm, I believe that that is the overall big picture here... He could have used the last fairie... but he freed the fairie, when the fairie had no hope. I like the whole emotional grip of it. It's a very interesting concept... and very original... see the emotions he got out of you with just thumbnails/storyboards? Get it?

Conflict = story.

Although, you could have the troll at least have some regretfull look on his face when he frees the last fairie. That wouldn't take the troll completely out of character... We need to see his struggle in freeing the fairie to show that he, at last, fought something in himself.

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More and more I think he should stick with the current ending - anything else turns it into slapstick, or a gag, or similar. The atmosphere I was reading from the bulk of the storyboard (especially after re-reading) was more of delicate documentary - a visual equivalent of a musical etude. Given Will's artistic abilities, I think this will be visually stunning, and trying to add a big ending would detract from that.

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I'm glad to see the range of reactions to the storyboard. It is true that I want you to empathise with the fairy. She goes frome rage/anger to fear/horror to grief/despair to apathy to sudden joy over the course of the events, and I hope to be able to convey that and have her take the audience with her.

The troll isn't maliciously killing the fairies. he's just going fishing. So he is as indifferent to the fairies as a human would be to a minnow that he was using as bait. Minnows won't keep more than a few days (die), so usually when you are done fishing, you just dump them into the water. So there isn't any mercy in the troll either....

 

The troll could represent mans contradictory relationship with nature. Notice the troll enjoying the view and the fishing experience--but oblivious to the plight of the bait, or the fish.... The fairies emote feelings that should make the audience (and apparently that is working) identify with them...That life is cruel, sometimes merciless, sometimes merciful (she does go free in the end). The evil that crushes us, torments us, and ends us...might also be indifferent to us....

 

Lots of little existential stuff you can do with a "fairy tale". :)

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Now I see why I didn't have the emotional connection with the fairy. This is only my own personal thought & I could be way off base. I'm learning as I go. My thoughts are based on what I learned at college from a retired Disney animator.

 

There wasn't enough time or a situation to build up that connection. The story starts with the fairy already caught in the pail. Will conveyed the distress of the fairy in the 4th scene, but the emotional connection isn't there because the fairy was not yet introduced to me. I would feel her distress if, as an example, I saw her flying free, playing with the other fairies, maybe a playful situation that we can all remember as kids (a game of hide & seek?). Or the fairy dances with a bumble bee? And then, in the middle of this happy scene, they get caught by the troll... and the rest is histo... Will's story ;)

 

I don't want the story to go the way I want, it is Will's and only Will knows what's best. I'm simply sharing what I think will make it more dramatic. :rolleyes:

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Well I don't know what some of these people are talking about. I saw the meaning of this story from just the storyboards. I didn't have a problem understanding where Will was going. I love this idea. You just don't see enough of this kind of story. Go for it, Will! :)

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Great story.

 

I thought the same thing as dhar maybe start out with the faeries in their natural enviroment with a shot of the faeries sunning themselves while relaxing on a leaf and then a close up of the trolls hand grabbing her.

When the troll reaches into the cage one faerie could push the other out of the way sacrificing themselves for the other then a dramatic shot of the faerie bravely being set on the hook then you would have a hero.

 

Ok I will stop babbling now

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Great story.

 

I thought the same thing as dhar maybe start out with the faeries in their natural enviroment with a shot of the faeries sunning themselves while relaxing on a leaf and then a close up of the trolls hand grabbing her.

When the troll reaches into the cage one faerie could push the other out of the way sacrificing themselves for the other then a dramatic shot of the faerie bravely being set on the hook then you would have a hero.

 

Ok I will stop babbling now

 

But I think this kind of thing would ruin the metaphor of the story. In real life most people will run from danger than be the first to put themselves in front of it. And showing the faeries in their "home" being grabbed by the troll might give too much of an impression of evil menice with the Troll instead of the Troll just going fishing.

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(I'm going to read into this too much here but bear with me)

 

While I think there is a morale to the story here there really doesn't have to be per se.

Its enough just to know that these 'creatures' live in different worlds and react differently to the same event.

This story says a great deal about Trolls... and quite a bit about faeries too.

The simplicity of a common fishing trip joined with the complexity of MURDER really sells the shock experienced by the remaining faerie. There is an emotional rollercoaster going on here... and a lot of it is shown off screen in the audiences imagination. The story poses some pretty serious questions without giving the answers. It lets the audience formulate both the questions and the answers. Thats pretty great stuff storytelling-wise.

 

This story has a very 'Heavy Metal' or 'Epic' feel to it (as in the comic book magazines).

Definitely a mature story on its own merits with or without the nudity.

The fact that you keep it simple without getting gratuitous says even more.

 

Pretty simple... yet serious stuff. I'm impressed.

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I agree that the story as it stands could very well express the metaphor Jeff & Rodney refer to. But if Will wants to, as he said "The fairies emote feelings that should make the audience (and apparently that is working) identify with them", then I feel an emotional connection with the fairies needs to be established first.

 

A sad fairy in a pail is what it is; a sad fairy in a pail. But if that fairy had made me laught earlier, or made me connect with her on a personal level (I don't know about you but I've never been inside a pail before), then when she's in that pail that becomes appalling to me, now it's personal, because that would be me or someone I truly care about that is in distress.

 

That's all I'm saying.

 

Will; as they say in the entertainment industry: go break a leg. (That's = good luck)

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I'd also agree with Dhar. It wouldn't take much. Just a few flowers with a fairy smelling them...being at one with nature, then bam, down comes the trap and fade to the Troll walking with them in his cage. In the beginning, the story would seem to be a sweet one, but it takes a turn for the worst.

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I think that this story sports great metaphor of our (human) relation to the nature (or lack of real relation with the nature)... This is going to be cool short...

 

I would think about adding 'get to know lovely fairy' beginning, but then again it would remove 'depersonalization' of the story...

 

CAN'T WAIT!

 

Drvarceto

 

btw...maybe 'colour option' should be considered...

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"A shame"? What is there to be ashamed about?
Nothing. I was using it in this sense (take from the dictionary that comes with Mac OS X 10.4):

 

[in sing. ] a regrettable or unfortunate situation or action : it is a shame that they are not better known.

 

Regrettable (or unfortunate) that the final result isn't going to match how I imagined it would look. No shame as you're reading it!

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Regrettable (or unfortunate) that the final result isn't going to match how I imagined it would look.

 

What is important is that it matches the way I imagine it. Thats why I'm saying that saying it is regrettable or a shame is a question mark. I want it to look the way that I imagine it.

Everyone will approach the same subject differently--what is important to critique it, is not to substitute your own choices--but to understand the author's. Then you will be able to advise him as to how successfully he is accomplishing his objective.

 

So, yes, I understand that some people will approach it with color; some people will start with happy fairies frolicking and then captured; Some will like to see the troll punished for murder; some will prefer that the fish are caught and released... Now that we have that out of the way, we have established that I will be doing it my way without regrets. Along the way, I would like to continue to get your feedback as to what is working and why or why not. Especially when I get to my animation, I will definately need feedback on the performance, because that is my weakest area...

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What is important is that it matches the way I imagine it. ...
Absolutely! Anyone else's presumptions (including mine) are their own problems, not yours!
Now that we have that out of the way, we have established that I will be doing it my way without regrets.
You'll get no arguments from me. It's interesting to see all these points of view, but as you say it's your project to see through to the end how you wish.
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... we have established that I will be doing it my way without regrets.

 

Amen! We are here to help each other. We should all keep this as a standard.

 

Will, you have generated a lot of heat here, and I'll be watching this thread very closely!

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