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FAO CAA Year One: Story & Commission / From Script To Screen: Examples Of Previous Student - And Beyond / Your Creative Partnerships Announced



As you start thinking about your story ideas and planning your project timetables, take a look at these examples of previous student work in response to the From Script to Screen project brief - all of which began with those same 3 random slips of paper!


Lucy Yelding - Gie (Animatic)

Gie 'Art Of'

  


 Samantha NiemczykThe Chefs Of Tonga Island (animatic)



The Chefs Of Tonga Island 'Art Of'



Jono Pearmain - A Hero's Hat (Maya Pre-viz)



A Hero's Hat - 'Art Of'



This brief is much more than an exercise in satisfying the year one CAA curriculum. This is your first experience of getting an original story idea from 'script to screen' - and what you accomplish in the next few weeks might be just the beginning of a much more ambitious creative experience.

Back in early 2010, lecturer Jordan Buckner undertook the very same challenge of synthesising 3 random components into an original story idea for an animated short.  Jordan's resulting work, Piano can be seen here as both an animatic and pre-viz.  In early 2012, Jordan returned to this story as the basis for his final major project, and so it was that Piano became The Minor Key.


Jordan Buckner - Piano (Animatic March 2010)


Piano - CG Pre-viz (March 2010)



Piano - Repairman original sketches (March 2010)


Piano - Original storyboard panel (March 2010)



The Minor Key (July 2012)




The Minor Key - Repairman character development (July 2012)



The Minor Key - Rendered still (July 2012)




Back in March 2012, graduate, Sammy Butler picked her 3 random components from the mysterious blue box, and from them originated And Son - a story idea Sammy returned to with her fellow classmates Chrissie Peters and David Vandepeer, as the basis for a year long collaboration.   You can watch Sammy's original animatic below and  accompanying 'Art Of' too.

Sammy Butler - & Son (Animatic - March 2010)



& Son 'Art Of' (March 2010)



& Son - Polydoodle Pictures (July 2014)


& Son - Art Of (July 2014)



Current year 3 students, Alex Edmonds and Megan Howett have likewise returned to their original story ideas first devised in response to the From Script To Screen project.  Megan's Shelf-Life story, with its loveable rubber-chicken protagonist, has undergone a number of script-revisions since February 2013, including the addition of a new human character...

Rubber chicken expression sheet (February 2013)


Rubber chicken modelled (December 2014)



Susie character development sheets (December 2014)




... and Alex's original story, The Gamble, now entitled The House Always Wins, has moved from this:

Limbo concept painting (February 2013)
... to this...

Limbo concept thumbnail (October 2014)

 ... and Alex's Death character is now an animation-ready CG model...


This project is hugely important to your creative and professional development as CG artists. This is about the craft and graft of the storyteller and it's not for the faint-hearted. You will need to fight for your stories. You will need to fight to make them work and to connect satisfyingly with audiences. Don't underestimate the challenge - meet it head on with professionalism and with gusto and you might just create a story idea that's good enough to go a whole lot further. 

Good writing is a collaborative process and your creative partnerships will be of especial importance for this project.  Use each other proactively; test your story ideas, be honest; if it doesn't work as a script, it won't work on screen.  If you don't think your partners' stories are successful or satisfying - if it leaves you cold, befuddled and unmoved, you have a responsibility to say so!  You simply don't have time to hold on to mediocre ideas or make a secret of any difficulties you're experiencing. In most instances, your first ideas will probably be crap, so have more than one, and don't be precious. Your creative partnerships for the duration of this unit are as follows:

Cat, Ella, Tumo, Josh, Jacky

Chels, Jamie, Mark, Chris, Dan R

Adam, Vlad, Dan H, Jack W, Ryan

Frame, Lewis, Emma, Andi

Charlie, Julia, Sachin, Beccy, Mailin

Julien, Max, Brem, Abdulhagh

Ridge, Sankavy, Brad, Kayliegh

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