New Project Proposal
- willikoms
- Oct 8, 2020
- 3 min read
William Hanekom
Project Proposal MA Sequential Design/Illustration
The Rabbit’s Bride
This would be an animated short film utilising hand drawn and stop motion animation with digital editing on Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.
I am planning for the length of the film to range between 7 to 10 mins.
The target audience will be children and young adults, as this will be told without dialogue in favour of visual storytelling.
The process will start off with visual and academic research into the themes my project will present. The second step forward will be conceptualising and sketching rough ideas for how the film will look. A storyboard will be made soon after as reference for a script and animatic, and I will able to get to work on the final product. Whilst animating and revaluating the film itself, a soundtrack will be looked into for accompaniment as well as some experimental Foley sound.
The technical requirements made for the project will likely involve hand drawn assets, papier mâché models and puppet making. This will be compiled into a visual film narrative with musical accompaniment.
A young girl is tending to the crops in her garden one day, putting a scarecrow up to ward off pesky birds. This is until she sees a rabbit amongst the cabbages. When she goes over to shoo it away, the rabbit stands on its hind legs and introduces itself. She is shocked to find that the rabbit has been watching her for several days and has been taken aback by her beauty.
As a form of treatment, he offers up gifts to her within the next three days, in exchange for a visit to his home. It is on the third day she gives into temptation and is whisked away on the rabbits back.
When they arrive, she is forcefully taken in and realises that he plans to marry her as soon as he can. Fearful of her fate she conducts a plan to fool the rabbit and the guests by creating a scarecrow duplicate of herself. Using straw and cloth she constructs it and pushes it down the alter at the day of the wedding. All the other animals of the forest attending are fooled as is the rabbit himself. But very soon the cover is blown as the scarecrow falls apart in the rabbit’s arms, causing him to believe he has killed her. He sobs in the alter as the other guests are shocked.
Our heroine is lost in the labyrinthian hutch, desperate to find an escape as the other animals notice and are in quick pursuit. Badgers, foxes, hedgehogs and all sorts form a stampede as they chase her down towards the exit.
In one last action she slams the door of the hutch itself as it breaks apart and arrives to her home victorious.
In terms of creative influences for the film I will be drawing references from famous literary works such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and other Tales from the Brothers Grimm. The style of the film will change in between the outside setting of the girl’s garden and the darker indoor setting of the rabbit’s hutch. This will be influenced by the domestic fantasy settings of Jan Svankmeyer’s stop motion films, in which one room leads to another and dolls and furniture have an inner life. This will also be reflected in how the characters look when they enter into this world, the rabbit will become less innocent, revealing a more lanky, disturbing design. And the girl will have a pale complexion when she is imprisoned.
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