It makes good sense to me that you should make this a character/dialogue driven approach - in light of the strengths of your FSTS submission. Because therefore the emphasis is going to be on lip-synching and character animation it also makes sense to economise elsewhere - so for example, considering the use of simpler techniques for everything else, so not necessarily committing yourself to complex digital sets and other assets. It perhaps makes sense too to consider the use of 2D facial animation for your bee character? In this sense, you need to think economically about your 'time budget' - i.e. if you're going to spend a big part of your time budget on your bee character, you need to spend sensibly elsewhere.
So - the key to the next stage of this process is to really land on a strong characterisation for your bee character. You suggest he's a match maker, but I wonder if maybe you could think of him as 'The Fixer' and get him a little more 'street' - a bit more New York Italian wiseguy - there's something about your bee-with-the-shades that suggest that. You could even make it a bit gangster, in so much as the pollen is referred to as 'the package', like 'I take the package, I deliver the package, no questions asked...' That sort of thing. The thing about bees of course is that they're super, super important to everything - without them, humans would die, so maybe your bee starts off by going 'Hey, you, yeah you, I'm talking to you, I'm talking to you... are you disrespecting me? Are you disrespecting me? Don't you know who I am? You think I'm an insect? You think I'm nothing - a bug - well, let me put you straight..."
There's something about your bee design that puts me in mind of 'short man syndrome' too - so a small being with a big ego (because without the bee, the world's crops would die etc..., so maybe this little character has a right to be a bit chippy). In this way, you could a) not only tell your audience about how plants are pollinated, you could also b) get the message across that bees are super-important are not to be fucked with:
It feels to me that giving your bee character a bit more attitude and perhaps basing him on a sort of character we already know (The gangster/fixer stereotype) and having some fun with those expectations would be a good way of getting that script up and running and bringing a bit more flavour to your story - and will maybe ensure you're having a bit more fun?
I'm thinking you might want to look at some Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) for more examples of some suitably street-wise dialogue, but also look at Sin City maybe for a strong aesthetic in terms of how you might use 2d elements to tell the other bits of your story ... (click on the links to see the comic book panels): https://www.barik.net/archive/2005/04/04/110956/
Anyway- I guess my less specific point here is that understanding your bee character is key to everything else, and by that I mean you need to add another layer of reference onto of the bee (so thinking about the world from the bee's point of view and his view on his role in it) in order to find that character - which will give you the place/voice/attitude - and thus will make the script-writing/dialogue process much more rewarding.
OGR 15/03/2018
ReplyDeleteHey Francis,
It makes good sense to me that you should make this a character/dialogue driven approach - in light of the strengths of your FSTS submission. Because therefore the emphasis is going to be on lip-synching and character animation it also makes sense to economise elsewhere - so for example, considering the use of simpler techniques for everything else, so not necessarily committing yourself to complex digital sets and other assets. It perhaps makes sense too to consider the use of 2D facial animation for your bee character? In this sense, you need to think economically about your 'time budget' - i.e. if you're going to spend a big part of your time budget on your bee character, you need to spend sensibly elsewhere.
So - the key to the next stage of this process is to really land on a strong characterisation for your bee character. You suggest he's a match maker, but I wonder if maybe you could think of him as 'The Fixer' and get him a little more 'street' - a bit more New York Italian wiseguy - there's something about your bee-with-the-shades that suggest that. You could even make it a bit gangster, in so much as the pollen is referred to as 'the package', like 'I take the package, I deliver the package, no questions asked...' That sort of thing. The thing about bees of course is that they're super, super important to everything - without them, humans would die, so maybe your bee starts off by going 'Hey, you, yeah you, I'm talking to you, I'm talking to you... are you disrespecting me? Are you disrespecting me? Don't you know who I am? You think I'm an insect? You think I'm nothing - a bug - well, let me put you straight..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QWL-FwX4t4
https://youtu.be/r_DwZfyXAXI
There's something about your bee design that puts me in mind of 'short man syndrome' too - so a small being with a big ego (because without the bee, the world's crops would die etc..., so maybe this little character has a right to be a bit chippy). In this way, you could a) not only tell your audience about how plants are pollinated, you could also b) get the message across that bees are super-important are not to be fucked with:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7EpQnzbwA8
It feels to me that giving your bee character a bit more attitude and perhaps basing him on a sort of character we already know (The gangster/fixer stereotype) and having some fun with those expectations would be a good way of getting that script up and running and bringing a bit more flavour to your story - and will maybe ensure you're having a bit more fun?
I'm thinking you might want to look at some Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) for more examples of some suitably street-wise dialogue, but also look at Sin City maybe for a strong aesthetic in terms of how you might use 2d elements to tell the other bits of your story ... (click on the links to see the comic book panels): https://www.barik.net/archive/2005/04/04/110956/
Anyway- I guess my less specific point here is that understanding your bee character is key to everything else, and by that I mean you need to add another layer of reference onto of the bee (so thinking about the world from the bee's point of view and his view on his role in it) in order to find that character - which will give you the place/voice/attitude - and thus will make the script-writing/dialogue process much more rewarding.