Directors Statement:
The first shot mentioned within Script 1 is the market
place, a vessel for bargaining and trades. Our main
characters are quite old, and their slowness helps
juxtapose the swiftness and commotion of the world
around them. Visually I can pose the question to the
audience in the form of a hint; do our characters belong
here?
This is what has attracted me to the piece, as I feel
anything rich with multiple themes helps pave the way to a
more interesting and interpretive story.
Secondly, another driving force behind my choice of this
script is the ingenious use of the café as a set. Though is
it an interior shot, we can clearly see the exterior threw the
window, giving us two stages to work with simultaneously.
Two worlds coexisting, or clashing together again help to
emphasize the theme that the realm of death has found
it’s way (or has been welcomed) into the realm of the
living, and our characters are caught somewhere inbetween.
We can play on the concept of two worlds further. The
lady longingly looks outside into the exterior world, where
the shadowy figure was present. The shadow,
symbolizing death, can help us to visually communicate
that the lady is tempted buy the realm of the dead.
Her husband’s angry reaction causes him to turn his back
on the realm of the dead (the exterior of the café.) He
never longingly looks outside, but rather looks away.
Already this gives me a lot of themes to work with
visually, and also allows me artistically to provoke the
audience with interpretive visuals.
Filled with sympathy, as we find out later on, the old lady
is drawn towards the shadowy figure. She offers the
creature coins. Due to the setting of the market place, we
can get a hint that some sort of bargain is being
conducted between the two. Further down the track, the
audience is presented with the imagery of a bill, or receipt.
Symbolizing that a transaction, or exchange of services
has indeed been processed.
The old man interrupts the two after payment is
exchanged. The old mans hand that grabs his wife’s is
juxtaposed by the shadows hand. Both characters
seemingly creating a tug of war for the same prize.
After the exchange of dialogue within the cafe, the Lady’s
tear transforms into a fallen petal, which we use as a
symbol of death or dying. As the shadow appears in the
background, we can guess that the shadow and petal are
perhaps found only within the lady’s mind, as both
disappear.
Here we can emphasize both the play on multiple worlds
again, and also concentrate on the lady’s loneliness in her
plight. We ask the audience, “Can no one see what she
sees?”
Curiously all other people within the market place are
oblivious to the shadowy figured presence, walking threw
it on occasion.
Later the shadow takes the form of a child, lugging a toy
bear around with him. Watching on the outskirts from afar,
the shadow seemingly has a limited ability to interact
within the world of the living. The image of the bear serves
as a dummy for the shadow, showing that perhaps it too is
lonely, or ‘hungry’ for company. The dialogue “He looked
hungry” can help us add more light to this idea.
I wanted to create the idea that death is tempting the old
lady. Perhaps she has lost a loved one many years ago,
and longs to be reunited. Mixing the imagery of a child
and a scythe gives the shadow a lot more visual flavor. It
can be seen on one hand as a threat, something that
extinguishes life, and on the other, something loved and
lost that could be regained. This is the tempting bargain.
The man suggesting that the money offered would be
wasted on drugs and alcohol reveals a poor
understanding of what his wife is going threw, and helps
to illuminate her loneliness.
Her walking away from him at the market stand can
suggest her willingness to make a journey into the afterlife
alone, much to her husbands dismay. The rush and
hubbub of the market place can reflect the lady’s rush to
be released from life before her time.
In the final scene, as the shadow walks out of frame, we
allow the audience to hear coins jingling, as if to say that
the deal has been accepted.
The theme of death is applicable to a broad audience, and
is perhaps best suited for short animated film festivals,
since the story is small but full of imagery.
I would use both 3D (subtly) and 2D to animate the story,
again giving the audience hints about multiple worlds
through the use of different mediums.
Due to the heavy use of imagery and symbolism, the
piece would require a minimum amount of labor, as using
limited animation could effectively communicate the
themes and ideas of the piece.
Within the storyboard dialogue is organized largely off
screen, or through the use of long shots, freeing animators the work load of extensive lip synching. This
stage structure makes the piece more achievable and less
expensive to create, without losing any aesthetically
pleasing visuals.
Fitting the piece into the genre of drama/animation helps
to give the shadow a lessened threatening feel in key
shots. Where as I feel a live action shadow would be more
sinister, and lose its duality of symbolism.
- Marcus Binge
