Week 5: World

Prancer's journey takes place in Denali National Park in Alaska. The part we see in the film is a valley between a mountain and a forest on a hill, with a wide stream at the bottom. While Prancer's herd crosses the stream and follows its path around the forest, Prancer goes directly through the forest and meets back up with them on the other side. He essentially takes a shortcut, which is why he is able to catch up to the herd despite getting lost initially. The story takes place in Summer, when the landscape is taken over by a rainbow of different plants and strong lighting. I've attached a map of the setting which shows the path Prancer and the herd take, along with a diagram of inspiration images which correspond to specific locations and events in the story. The images are a combination of photographs and shots from the Bambi and Brother Bear films. The main emphasis in these pictures are in how well they match the environments I'm envisioning for the film at various points, with color and composition as a secondary focus.

Our reading points out how important setting is to presenting a character with the right challenges to prompt the story to advance. I definitely kept this in mind when choosing this setting, as my character is drawn forward by the natural beauty of the Alaskan wilderness. Making sure the environment is welcoming and interesting rather than intimidating and overwhelming is the key to making sure my character will be able to succeed with his journey.

Image guide from top left: The film begins by introducing us to the valley and the surrounding topography, along with the reindeer herd. It then focuses on Prancer on his own and the forest path that intrigues him. As the herd continues on to cross the stream, Prancer breaks off on his own to enter the forest and explore. He soon realizes that he has wandered too deeply into the forest, and turns around to try to retrace his steps. He ends up emerging onto an open ridge overlooking the empty valley, where he has been left alone now that the herd has moved on. He turns back to consider the forest path, and reenters it to commit to his journey and experience the natural beauty of the world. He eventually comes out on the other side of the forest on the edge of the stream, across which he sees the rest of his herd. He is then able to rejoin them.

Week 5: Brother Bear Study for Worldbuilding

As I mentioned in my last post I wanted to look at Brother Bear and Brother Bear 2 because they take place in the North American arctic wilderness, as does Prancer's story. I looked for shots that captured the kinds of environments and colors that I want to incorporate into the film, mostly ones that are bright and atmospheric while still having a rich palette:

Week 4: Bambi Study for Worldbuilding

I've decided on Denali National Park in Alaska as the setting for Prancer's story, and as I collect images of the park for reference and inspiration I also want to look at relevant films. So far four come to mind: Bambi, Bambi II, Brother Bear, and Brother Bear 2. Bambi interests me because my film is about a reindeer, and I want him to explore a forest. Brother Bear interests me because the setting is a lot closer to that of my film, and the colors and overall art style are closer to what I have in mind.

Here some shots from the Bambi films, mostly looking at color, composition, and mood. I looked for cinematic shots that make the characters look comfortable and interested in their environment:

Week 4: Character Bio

Short biography:

Prancer is a reindeer who is migrating North for the first time with his herd. It's his first journey as an adult and he is eager to keep up and stay on track--a goal that is complicated by his naturally curious and impulsive personality. He ends up having to confront his fear of being left behind when he accidentally wanders away from the group. Ultimately he finds that he has enough confidence in himself to trust that he'll find his way back, and is able to fulfill his desire to explore and discover new things in the process.

Photo source: https://www.mediabakery.com/ALS0006017-A-young-male-Caribou-climbs-a-steep-ridge-line-in.html?usource=lc
Initial design concept: mine


Our reading this week talks about authentic character acting and being able to empathize with a character's situation to build a better performance. That applies really well to my intentions for this film, because genuine emotional moments are at the center of it. The thoroughness of my idea-development processes is my way of making sure that those moments come through as clearly as possible. By keeping my treatment so far concise and direct I've left room for myself to think about what would make this character's story compelling without getting lost in unnecessary detail.

The emotional journey of this character is one that I want people to be able to empathize with, and as our reading points out that means being able to empathize with it myself. Luckily now that I have the basic information down I have a better idea of which of my own experiences I can pull from to make sure the emotional nuance of the story comes through along with all of the concrete details I've accumulated. I'm excited to show how this film can be a celebration of everyone's unique path in life.

Week 3: Brainstorming Character

My original idea for Prancer's character was that he was curious, which was why I chose him for this story. Now in order to flesh out the story more I have to develop his character beyond just 'curious' so that I can present him with the right obstacles. To accomplish this I thought about what he does in the story so far, and about how I'd like him to react to situations to reflect the core message of discovery. That's how I came up with the list of character traits on the left of the page below: Curious, impulsive, sensitive, brave, scatterbrained, easygoing, independent, friendly, openminded, kind, confident, strong.

From there it was easier to set up the key conflict for his character, reduced down to what he wants (to have fun and explore) vs what he needs (to keep up with the group). I also wanted to explore how he overcomes the conflict, so I reduced that down to what he knows (that he messed up) vs what he wonders (what would happen if he followed his interests).

The last character brainstorming I did was a way to tie everything together and start matching up motivations with story events. It combines things that happen to Prancer which are beyond his control with the ways he chooses to react to them. There is a lot of room to improve in this section, but thinking this way helps me maintain control over the impact the story will have on its audience.

Week 3: Story Beats and Treatment

Story beats:

• We are introduced to Prancer and his herd
• Prancer sees something that interests him and he decides to pursue it
• He realizes that he has wandered off alone and has been left behind
• He decides to move forward and discovers new things
• By following his instincts he finds his way to meet back up with his herd

Treatment:

Prancer is a reindeer migrating North with his herd whose greatest weakness is his curiosity. One day while following a well-travelled migration route his curiosity finally gets the better of him, pulling him off-course in pursuit of something that looks much more interesting. One distraction leads to another, and before he realizes it his herd has left him far behind. Without anyone to guide him Prancer is too inexperienced to follow the migration path himself. Rather than giving up he decides to move forward and follow his instincts on the path that initially attracted his attention. Even though he's alone, he enjoys the beauty and fun of the things he finds. Ultimately his faith in himself pays off, as he meets back up with his herd and is able to share his discoveries with the other reindeer.

The key to avoiding cliches in this story will be in drawing from personal experience and avoiding a reductionist approach. I want to make sure that it captures the unique voice that comes with this specific story I’m trying to create. By alternatining between focusing on the basic message and focusing on imaginative details I hope to end up with a film that feels new rather than derivative.

Week 2: Brainstorming Story

In the next week I'll be working on getting a solid story outline for my project, which means I'll be getting a lot of feedback from my peers! To make the process easier I'll be using diagrams like the one I've attached here to show my ideas as clearly as possible.

The goal here is to communicate the feel of the project and get people excited about the idea. It should also be genuine and direct in stating my intentions for what I want to focus on. I've included the central theme (the 'heart'), the elements I'd like to prioritize (the 'wishlist'), the basic 3-act structure of the story so far, and essential questions for planning out the action in more detail. At the bottom are further details that can serve as a jumping-off point for other people to contribute their own ideas. Even if we end up using different tools to facilitate the collaborative process, printer paper and markers help me keep everything organized for my own use. I like the colors!

Week 2: Theme and Logline

After considering my inspiration I've come up with the following theme for my project:

1) Discovery is a natural part of any journey. I want to show how it's possible to find fun and beauty in a journey, even if you're worried about the route you're taking. I want to explore how curiosity and exploration can make life meaningful. This idea has a lot of personal relevance to me because it's how I feel about my upcoming graduation, and I want to share my optimistic attitude toward the future with my peers.

My current logline is this:

2) A reindeer migrating north finds himself traveling alone, but this doesn't stop him from enjoying the trip and ending up exactly where he's meant to be.

Our reading for this week talks about universal stories, and to me this reindeer concept is about as universal as you could get. I think everyone gets nervous about where they are and whether they're headed in the right direction. This concept is also influenced by the idea of cultivating originality through personal experience. All stories may seem the same, but we engage with them because the storyteller has contributed their unique experience. This reindeer concept is about a character that is doing the same things everyone else has done, but having a totally unique experience of it because of his curiosity and willingness to discover new things.

Staying curious and discovering things is really important to us as storytellers trying to tell the same stories in a new and interesting way. It's like how you can watch six different documentaries about reindeer migration and be interested in all of them; they're all doing the same thing, but each one talks about a different experience. That's what makes life interesting!

Week 2: Compiling Inspiration

Over Spring break I spent a lot of time watching documentaries about cool stuff like ancient civilizations and dinosaurs. This past week I switched my focus to the annual reindeer migration in and below the Arctic Circle. I already had some reindeer characters I'd drawn up for a small-scale Christmas project, and watching the documentaries gave me a lot of ideas for stories I could tell through them. For this project I'm thinking smaller is better, but I'm interested in exploring the setting in a world-building sense through future projects.

I go into more detail about how I designed this character and the others on my website: https://www.meredithfinnigan.com/reindeer-2018

The northern wilderness is well-known for its beauty and expansiveness, I think it'd make a really interesting setting to explore in a short film! Especially since I'm interested in color and lighting, the seasonal shifts of the Arctic offer a lot of possibilities.

This concept is also interesting to me because it turns out that the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has a seasonal exhibit on the migration! I live just south of SF, so now I'm kicking myself for not thinking of going while I was home over Winter break. It looks like it would have given me a lot of inspiration! Luckily there are a lot of materials online I can look through.

Map source: http://www.kristenkong.com/californiacoast/