Shadows Submission

Art work by LewisMaddison on Scribd

Minor Project: Character Hand In

Shadows Presentation by LMaddison95 on Scribd

Shadows by LMaddison95 on Scribd

Laughing Shadows Script

Whilst working on other design work I figured id upload this draft of my script. It still needs some work doing to it.

Laughing Shadows Script Draft

INT. BEDROOM

We’re at the base of a large wooden bed, looking up at the long wooden beams of the ceiling. A foot slip’s out from underneath the sheets, towards the camera. A young girl, sleeping peacefully in her bed, twists and turns under the covers.

The narrators voice slowly comes into the scene

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark as a child. Monsters in the shadows, creatures under my bed. It was all fantasy…

A shadow slips past the camera, low sounding laughs echo around the room.  Bleary eyed, the young girl sits up in her bed. Confusion on her face as she scans the room contemplating what she heard.

The room stays silent, slowly slipping back into bed the girl falls back into a deep sleep.

NARRATOR

That night changed the way I saw the dark for many years.

Another laugh comes out of the darkness, more shadows flit past the camera. Around the room shadows begin to move in the corners, spinning and dancing around the walls. The laughing gets higher and higher.

The girl jumps up in her bed, wide awake now, eyes darting from one side of the room to the other. We get a first person perspective of the room, illuminated by a small nightlight in the corner. Nothing is seen at first. Then the shadows start to move, dancing along the walls, the laughing getting higher and louder.

NARRATOR

The shadows started off slow at first, circling me, their large grins and sharp eyes piercing through me.

The shadows stop, eyes begin to appear in their soft black forms, large open and close, taunting the girl, as they stare. No longer moving, just staring. The young girl pulls the covers up to her chest, hiding herself from the creatures surrounding her. She closes her eyes. The laughing stops once again.

NARRATOR

The shadows taunted me, as I hid behind my sheet the laughing came to a stop

Slowly opening her eyes, the girl slowly looks around the room. Seeing nothing and hearing nothing. She lightly steps out of bed and walks to the middle of the room, blanket in hand. Concealing herself as much as possible. Standing in the centre of the bedroom she slowly spins. Holding up the nightlight she investigates the dark corners of the room.

She backs off into the middle of the room once again, shadows crept from behind the furniture. The room begins grow and morph with the darkness. Becoming large, unfamiliar shapes. The young girl hides underneath her blanket. Watching the shadows dance around her through the thin layer of sheet. They begin to play with the sheet, pulling and pushing it around as the young girl wraps herself tighter and tighter under it.

The laughter getting louder and louder, the shadows continue to spin and move around the room.

EXT. BEDROOM WINDOW

Tree branches slowly batter the window, dull shapes can be seen moving through the fogged glass, illuminated by the faint glow of the nightlight.

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark. Not until that night.

INT.BEDROOM

Under the sheets the young girl sits, eyes closed, faced wrought with terror. Tears being to stream down her face. The shadows continuing to circle her. In a panic she jumps up and runs for the bed, now twisted and dark. Clambering up the sheets, she buries herself underneath. Hiding away from the shadows.

From above we see the shadows circle the small shape hidden beneath the covers, getting closer and closer. The laughing getting even stronger and louder.

A bright light illuminates the room; the girl slips out from under the covers to see a room, completely silent and ordinary. With a look of relief and confusion on her face, the girl leaps out of bed and leaves the room. Shutting the door behind her.

NARRATOR

I was never afraid of the dark.

The room settles into the darkness, shadows once again emerge. Their smiles fill the room as the camera cuts to black.

END.

Laughing Shadows First Hand Account

After discussing with Alan in my first Tutorial, it was suggested that I look for a poem to help solidify my story idea and give me something to work with, he also suggested that I email Phil and see if he could recommend and poems that could be of use.

Phil’s reply to this was that maybe I should ask my sister about her experience that night and use that instead. A first-hand account of the event and maybe get her to narrate it after I have written it into something more useful for an animation. So here is my sisters rough account of the night and what she can remember.

“Before this experience I was never afraid of the dark. That was something my brother was coping with at the time, constantly waking me up, terrified of things moving around the room which I always knew were just shadows from the lamp post outside.

This event took place when I was around 7 years old. After being put to bed and falling asleep, I woke up to what I heard to be really faint laughter. Looking around the room I noticed all of the shadows in our room had begun to smile or grin, staring at me as they moved with the light around the shelves and wardrobe. The laughter began to get louder and louder, somehow to waking my brother who was an incredibly light sleeper at the time.

Shadows got louder and louder, moving around the room until I couldn’t handle it anymore and burst into tears and began screaming at them to go away, causing my parents to come running into the room, trying to calm me down. I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night, or a few nights after that. Since that day I have always had a slight fear of shadows and the dark, even when my brother grew out of his fear. Although I can safely say I have never encountered the shadows since this event. Lewis has seen things since this time but none where ever as bad as that night”.

My next step will be to turn this account into an actual story and try and convince my sister to narrate it for my final piece, if not ill find a V/A to do it for me. I love this story as it has always stuck with me and I think that it will work really well with what I am trying to convey. 

Shadows Board

A quick influence for different shadows and styles that I would like to look at for my animation. Completed while waiting for my sister to write up a small account of her experience that I would like to use.

Minor/Major Project Slight Dump

Over the past week, I have mainly been focusing on getting my dissertation sorted and ready to go, however I have also been throwing some ideas around for my minor/major project. These are my initial Ideas and thoughts on what I want to do, along with some reference links and study pieces. There is not too much to go on at the moment as I am still refining ideas. 

Minor/Major Project Ideas

                                       

 Initial Notes

After the slight failure of my final first year project I really wanted to create an animation that nails a creepy, horror aesthetic. Originally I had an idea of conveying a child’s fear of the dark and how things are seen differently at a young age. The story would focus on how the room around the character warps and changes into a more menacing environment.

After doing some research around this topic I remembered a story from when I was very young. My sister woke up screaming in the night as apparently the shadows in our room where laughing at her. With my fear of the dark at that age it was an incredibly terrifying moment that I now feel could become a fairly interesting animation to create.

I started by creating a quick mood board to try and show what types of environments and characters that I wanted to use as sources or inspiration for my animation.

The character's shown in this image are from a fairly new game called Little Nightmares, a game which looks like something Tim Burton would create if he was a video game designer. I love the style and point of view of the child, where everything is much larger then yourself.

After completing this I went and started working on a style for my Sisters character. This is still and ongoing thing and at the moment I am not too happy with what I have created. The weekend will be nailing down my style and working on a script, after having a chat with Alan on Friday.