My production would fall into the fairytale genre as the idea of objects moving was inspired by the genre. However it will be quite sinister rather than magical.
I will use stop motion to bring the characters to life in a realistic way, rather than using something like rostrum animation where each frame is drawn by hand. Using stop motion will create a very different feel than 2D animation and make the audience react differently. Using stop motion will allow the audience to connect with the characters and get more involved. The 3D animation will make the film more believable.
The film is set in a bedroom, it starts with the occupier emptying their pockets on the table next to the bed, they then go to bed. The main character/object is a mobile phone who starts the adventure by displaying ‘lets get out of here’ on its screen. The other objects respond by lighting up, beeping and twitching. To the viewer the adventure looks hopeful. However it soon fails because of the lack of power.
The narrative explores the idea that children hold of toys and objects when you are asleep of not in the room.
The camera work will be simple. At the beginning of the film, when the live action is taking place, there will be just one continuous shot. The shot will be a mid shot and be at a low level so the audience doesn’t see and connect with the human character. Throughout the rest of the film the shots will either be close ups, showing the interaction between the objects, or mid shots showing the overall scene and what is happening all around.
The realistic setting will be used so that the audience believes nothing unusual will happen, so when the objects move and interact with each other it is a shock.
The lighting will come from a lamp or the mobile phone creating enough light to see the objects and their movement but the surrounding s will be dark. This will create the sinister and mysterious atmosphere I would like to achieve.
The main character/object the mobile phone will be represented with great determination for escaping and will receive different reactions from the audience. Spanning from sympathy, when the mobile phone starts to fail, to the audience being intrigued by its motive for escaping which will be left unsaid.
My main influence for my production is Toy Story and its director John Lasseter. Although Toy Story was created using computer generated animation, and I will be using stop motion, it has provided my inspiration. The main idea of toys coming to life in Toy Story gave me my idea of objects escaping. However there are differences from the technique used to the overall feeling of the film. Toy Story being bright and enthusiastic and my production being mysterious and slightly sinister.
There have been a lot of successful stop motion animations for example Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit and The Nightmare Before Christmas all of which have inspired me because I like the illusion that the characters are moving themselves.
I will use elements and ideas from directors such as John Lasseter, Tim Burton, Peter Lord and Nick Park to create my production but at the same time create an original piece.