Dec 9, 2020

Narrative - a story retold

Updated: May 4, 2022

For this project, I am required to reinterpret a classic fairy tale and place it in a contemporary environment, while still presenting the key narrative elements and moral conclusions of the original story. I have been assigned the fairy tale 'The Rat-Catcher' (aka The Pied Piper).

My task for this project is to create a 40 second moving image piece consisting of between 15-20 scenes. Along with a clear visual storyboard, an animatic storyboard & any additional research & visuals.

Brief:

Story re-interpretation:

The fairy tale I was set for this brief was 'The Rat-Catcher' (aka The Pied Piper). This is a story about a rat catcher who was hired by the town of Hamelin to lure away a plague of rats using his enchanted magic pipe. When the town refused to pay him for his services as promised, he seeks revenge by using his magic pipe to lure away the children of the town.

To re-interpret this story into a contemporary environment, I have picked out the key elements & morals of the tale. These being:

- Entices people to follow him (attracts followers)

- Seeks revenge when not getting payment

- Was victim to irresponsible promises

My version will be about a punk-rock band who are performing in a quirky London bar and have attracted a large crowd & customers for the bar. When the owner refuses to pay them after their performance, they take revenge by refusing to perform their again & instead they perform outside the bar, luring away all its customers.

Scene breakdown:

Establishing shot, sets location, exterior of bar, shows crowd, camera zooms in
Close up of bar windows, camera zooms in through window to reveal interior
Cut to interior of bar, shows band performing on stage
Band performing on stage, shown from behind, reveals audience
Close up of individual band members (pan around, overlay, draws focus, montage)
Shows band performing on stage, camera pans across band
Performance finishes, lights go down, gradually fades to black
Fade to black (insert shot)
Interior of bar, band ask owner for money for performance
Close up of owner, refuses to pay band for performance, shakes head
Band angry, band & owner exit shot
Cut to exterior of bar, band walk away & exit shot, owner stood by door
Close up of owner by door, changes sign from open to closed
Exterior, owner walks away, sky changes to show time passing
(Next day) Exterior of bar, band enter shot, want revenge for no payment
Close up of band performing outside bar, attracting crowd, bar emptying
Zooms out to reveal large crowd & empty bar, band performing
Cut to close up of owner, angry, no customers in bar
Cut to band performing again
Close up of band, gradually fades to black, end

(Very) Draft storyboard:

Character Design:

Initial character design / development. I wanted the animation to consist of straight lines & have a very geometric yet minimalistic feel. I created a template / structure for the characters in Adobe Photoshop and then developed these further by adding outfits, hair, etc...

Structure:

Band:

Bar owner:

Crowd / audience:

Storyboard:

Visual storyboard, created by illustrating individual scenes in Adobe Photoshop.

Animatic:

Simple animatic storyboard created by editing together frames from my static visual storyboard using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Background design:

The contemporary re-interpretation of my story is set in a bar / music venue. Because of this, I have 3 main settings; an exterior shot of the building, the stage, and the bar. I have illustrated each background in Adobe Photoshop - making sure to keep each element on a separate layer to help when it comes to animating. I have maintained the geometric style when designing the backgrounds.

Exterior (bar):

Interior (bar):

Interior (stage):

Interior (stage - rear view):

Additional illustrations:

I have also created additional illustrations & elements which are vital to the narrative of the story.

Instruments:

Posters:

Other illustrations:

Animated sequences and edit timelines:

I Have began animating several short sequences from my illustrations & development work using Adobe After Effects. These animations will later be compiled to form the core structure of my final piece. I have also included screenshots of my edit timeline while creating each piece to show my method & how I produced each one.