Story and Comission First Thoughts

For this project I'm going to create production work to make a short animation. I chose at random three aspects to be included in the story and I must write a script and use concept art and story boarding to show how it could go into production.



Character- A Dentist

Dentist

So I may have been hoping for someone more interesting to create a story around. As soon as I saw 'dentist' I thought white, plain, clinical and dull. Nothing excites me about dentists so I was a little pissed to hear that's what I've got for a character.



Wilbur Wonka




 




Maybe dentist in fiction are more interesting than the standard NHS posters that are vomited over the walls of your local GP practice. First thought was of Wilbur Wonka from Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' who was an aged, educated dentist who ironically happened to be the father of the world's most famous chocolatier. That was what I liked most about that film, that Willy Wonka's father turned out to be a dentist. That was funny. Some maybe there could be some kind of irony that I could bring to my dentist.







Prop- A Box of Matches

So there is quite a lot I could do with this prop, maybe use fire in my story, but then I thought of smoking. I like the thought of my dentist being a heavy smoker, which would give him bad teeth. Perhaps there is a reason why he's a heavy smoker, something that stems from depression, and where does this depression come from? I plan on setting this story in the modern day, which does mean most smokers use lighters instead of matches. So I'd like there to be a reason for why this man uses matches instead of lighters.

Matchbox (obviously)

Environment- A Haunted House

This slammed a whole new perspective to the story, mainly because the first thing I thought of was the stereotypical haunted mansion with gothic architecture, dark halls and cobwebs. I want none of that. I want to create a haunted house in a completely different style. And to achieve this I must look at what is over used in horror culture.

Stereotypes to AVIOD      

• Gothic buildings
• Gargoyles
• Statues
• Graves
• Coffins
• Cobwebs
• Blood
• Bones
• Corpses
• Mirrors
• Heavy breathing
• Loud jump Scares
• Dangerous weapons
• Scary music
• Children
• Creepy children
• Little girl ghost
• Porcelain dolls
• Little girl ghost with porcelain doll
• Groups of friends on a trip who all somehow end up dead
• Murderers who always seem to have a mental condition
• Car that brakes down in the middle of no where
• Mad scientist
• Ouija board
• Psychic
• Mental health hospitals
• Darkness
• Witchcraft
• Black magic
• Satan
• Demons
• Possession
• Exorcisms
• Monsters
• Visible ghost

I'm sure there are more but I can't be asked right now. Horror films have no imagination these days.

Story Idea

My story is about a young man who has just suffered a messy divorce and moves to a small village where he's just got a job at the local dental practice. His life is still young and yet he's a divorced dentist living in a country village isolated in a gloomy, isolated village. This is the source of his depression that causes him to be a heavy smoker, making him light up every time he's finished a cigarette. This means he has very bad teeth. This idea came from the character Roger from Disney's '101 Dalmatians' as he constantly smoked a pipe throughout the film. This dentist is a compulsive smoker and likes to use matches to light his cigarettes, because he is fond of the sound made when shaking a matchbox. Hearing the matches rattle around inside the box provides him with some kind of comfort, so every time he lights up a cig, he holds the box next to his ears and gives it a shake. This is a sound effect that I want prominent in the story. The scene is of the dentist moving into his house and un packing his boxes in his new house. He goes about doing his work whilst smoking constantly. With out realizing he puts the matchbox down somewhere and is unable to find them again. He becomes agitated, desperate for a cigarette but can't find his matches any where. He trashes the house, tearing through all the boxes looking for the matchbox. Then his thoughts are interrupted by the sound leaking gas, and someone shaking his matchbox...