Christopher's Animation Blog: AX3001: Film Pitch

This post discusses three short films ideas I was asked to develop for my AX3001 project. These ideas include (all working titles): "Gopher Golf", "Opposites Attract" and "Hat Trick". All three of these ideas were developed for stop-motion animation, since this is the medium I have already chosen to work in for my final piece.

Gopher Golf

The idea that I have chosen to develop as my final university film project tells the story of a golfer living in America. He reads a newspaper advertisement for a large golf tournament which involves a huge cash prize. All sorts of mishaps get in the way of the golfer's training as he becomes more and more obsessed with fame and fortune. Finally, on the day of the big tournament, he thinks he has scored the perfect try and boasts about his win, until a gopher emerges from the ground revealing the golfer has failed.

Character designs for the Golfer, drawn then edited in Photoshop

This is the film idea I will be developing for my final year film, since it has a developed storyline which suits stop-motion more than the two ideas below. The idea also received the most positive reaction when I pitched it to fellow students and members of my family.

Inspiration and Research:
*The golf theme and appearance of the gopher are inspired by the 1980 film 'Caddyshack'.
*The style of humour is loosely inspired by films from the Golden Age of American Animation, especially Tom and Jerry and the Looney Tunes. These films often featured a classic set-up of a vain character thinking they've won (e.g. Tom), until a foil (e.g. Jerry) shows up and ruins everything, making the vain character's comeuppance much funnier.
*The films already listed have contributed as my main research, alongside watching golfing events such as the recent Ryder Cup. A key plot point is that in golf, the golfer has not officially won unless the ball has reached the end of the golf hole, so when the gopher brings it back up to the surface again, it is clear the golfer has not won the tournament.

Early modelmaking tests:
*Armatures were made for the Golfer as practice in preparation for making the real model. Materials used for these include a Ray Harryhausen armature kit and Meccano.

Early animation tests:
*These tests were completed to get the key movements needed for the film correct. These include a golf swing and the ball rolling into the golf hole.

Opposites Attract

Two men, a young and old man, are both painting the same fence which they share at the end of their cul-de-sac. They both have very different ideas over how the fence should be painted - one wants to use paints, another wants to use spray. They both want different colours and different styles. Eventually they learn to combine both their styles to make a piece of artwork they can be both satisfied with. The old man is then seen listening to modern music, whilst the young man is seen reading a classic novel, as an understanding of both of their opposites.

Inspiration came from observing opposites in the same environment, such as here where old and new buildings meet in Liverpool.

Inspiration and research:
*The idea was essentially to write a story for a film using all sorts of opposites to visually tell the story. The main research was a mind map I created where I listed all the opposites I could think of in a limited time of a few minutes; around 60 pairs of opposites made it onto the list.
*To tell such a story, it was important to have a young and old man be the two characters that would drive the story.
*The image below is a very simple, child-friendly image of how the screen would be divided, showing different opposites on either side that would compliment each other. All the characteristics of the old man would appear on one side of the screen, the young man's characteristics on the other.

Pixar's short film "Day & Night" (2010) was a key source of inspiration - a film that shows the advantages and disadvantages to one set of opposites.

Character designs:
*The character designs below for the young and old man portray what I felt were typical expectations of a young and old man. For example, the young man is clearly not fussed with his appearance, whereas the old man tries to look smart at all times. The old man's design was based on actor Spencer Tracy, who also inspired the design for Carl Fredericksen in Pixar's Up (2009).

Hat Trick

The story is set to music as a hat is lost from an old lady's head in the middle of a big city. The hat flies away to all sorts of different places over the course of the film, demonstrating its different uses as a bucket of water, a lamp shade, a shelter, a dustpan and brush and so on. The hat finally ends up in a tree and becomes home for a family of birds.

Inspiration and research:
*This simple idea was developed as a film with a clear recycling theme and environmental message, showing how one object can serve multiple purposes.
*The style for this film was partly inspired by the John Lewis adverts shown at Christmas in 2013. The advert was set to gentle music in a similar way to how 'Hat Trick' would work. The art style would also take from the same advert.