Love and Story Telling

I have now decided what names the two main characters will be called. Robert Gold and Lacey French. I need to think about the other important characters in the film. Such as the school teacher and the hero’s and the names of the three evil watches.

Also need to think about how many of the school children are going to be shown and their names. Then I can check to see if anyone has been left out. This shown that I have included wide range of the characters, many are linked in to fairy tales.

I will have small things that link in to the original stories. Such as Red Hiding Hood will have a red coat. Also include links with Grandma’s House which features in the original story.

Today I have been mapping out the town on paper. Showing were each street begins and ends. Also helps me plan were to place each shop, this way I know that there have all appeared on the town map.

Using a map also allows me to see were each building will be on the town plan.

The map also includes the roads the shops are on and which roads lead in to the town centre. It also helps to plan the narrative as when creating a scene I know what to put in that drawing. Such as which characters, shops and buildings and nature likes trees etc.

I have chosen to look at Soho/Felix Series of films Kentridge made between 1989-1997. The reason I have done research in to his work is because Kentridge is one of the leading animators in fine art, and I am also making an animation. Also Kentridge work covered similar themes and emotions in narrative to my own short film which I am producing.

The two films of Kentridge which I am focusing on are Johannesburg 2nd Greatest City After Paris (1989) and Sobriety, Obesity and Growing Old (1991). They are about Soho Eckstein a miner owner who has very bad conditions in place for his workers. He has no respect for them or his wife Mrs Eckstein. The reason I chose these two films are because they feature a love story. In the end due to no feeling of love or care Mrs Eckstein starts an affair with Felix, the other main character in the series.

They start an affair and in the end Soho’s workers start to take over his head quarters due to not being treated well. As this happens a grant flood takes over the city and it has a sad ending the story as Mrs Eckstein drowns.

I have found while completing my charcoal drawings for the film that when I erase the image for the next frame, that there is always markings left on the page. This adds to the work as it creates a contrast of light and dark around the objects.

Christov-Bakargiev reports that ”Because his primary media are charcoal and pastel, innumerable visual cues within each film document the process of erasing and re-drawing that enable  Kentridge to metamorphose his subjects into ordinary human beings.” (1999, p.53)

In my film I am using the expressions on their faces to help show the emotions of the characters. Every time I move their mouth it is a way of showing what they are feeling, for example when they broke up the couple, their mouths are low, as they are feeling sad. Iwona Blazwick remarks that ”For Kentridge gesture acts as narrative. Always monochrome, the mark is a character.” (2016, p.4)

Hickey explains that “We see mining town, and the effects of the development on the landscape, on the cityscape and on the city’s inhabitants.” (2007, p.154) In my film I have a point when the characters are affected by the change, when they have to face up to the evil which has come to town. They will have to work together to defect the evil.

Kentridge films are all produced with charcoal on paper and to add contrast he uses pastel. They are made with 16mm camera and made compatible to video/laser disc.

Kentridge keeps the images quite simple but they are amazing. They create a linear effect while viewing them. Charcoal is a very good medium for creating layers and to build up contrast and detail. Kentridge observes that “charcoal is very fortuitous.” (2016). So while watching them you become very much part of the hole experience. Kentridge main colour source is for the water which represents there passion in the love story. Which a bright blue colour. Kentridge is making a statement about how the old regime were taking out, in Africa and how eventually the water will kill Mrs Eckstein in the flood. The drawings are very large and this way Kentridge can show every detail. So when the couple are in the pool together you can see every expression in their faces. Through using the charcoal Kentridge has created patterns, for example on the buildings they almost look like a row of crosses,

I am now working on my storyboard for the film, I am writing down the narrative for the main scenes of the story with each image. It will not include every part of the story, but it will cover the important areas. Helping me to think about exactly what to include and cover in the short.

It is also useful as it helps me to get a picture in my mind as to how scenes will look. As I am having to think and draw that part of the story on paper. Which helps when coming to doing the actual drawing for the film as I have an idea of how it will look.

By producing a storyboard it encourages me to get on with the film. This way I can see how many different scenes/frames I need to do each week. Also see where I am with time and if I need to be producing drawings quicker, because of the time scale.

I am now planning the story and I am thinking about how it will begin. The lady has just moved in to the small town, and quite by chance they see each other from across the street. They stop and stare at each other. Until they find themselves walking towards each other. They meet each other and they both fall in love at first sight.

Then there start dating and going out together until the lady wants the man to put his past behind him and try and change. As he holds a dark secret. The man does not want to change and so the lady and man grow apart. Both heartbroken, and not sure now how to make it right.

As this is happening an evil force comes to the small town, in the shape of a purple haze, carrying evil presents from a magical world. As the man is also from this world. He is trying to start over. Now he has find love he still not willing to give up all his past, as part of him still likes that life. As finding love is making him think about what he will have to give up long term, as he knows that the lady he loves will not be with him if he even uses a little of his badness from the other world.

So the town people and the two lost lovers come together to face the evil force that has come to their town. Will the man change or will he be tempted by his past life. All will be relieved in the final film.