New Idea

Hey guys,

After talking with calarts animator and fellow animation intern Jesus, I've decided to change my senior project. I really like my squirrel story, but there's no way I'd finish 30 shots in 10 weeks to my desired level of quality. With all of his short film experience, Jesus was able to read my shot list and strip the essence of the story down to a simple six shot idea.

The theme of the story is still letting go, and I think I'm going to keep the same title. This time, it's about a guy walking through the cemetery to visit his wife's grave and the obstacles that he passes along the way. We start with him walking and he sees a couple standing together comforting each other. He's assaulted with mixed feelings of sadness, longing, melancholy. He continues and is approached by an attractive young woman. He hastily hides his wedding ring as she gives him a flirtatious look. He returns the glance and watches her pass by. When he brings his ring back out he remembers his wife and is ashamed by his behavior. The guy turns and continues to the grave. When he arrives he places the ring on the grave and walks away.

I really like this new idea since every shot is a great opportunity for acting. There's no dialogue and all of the characters feelings will have to come through via acting choices and glances. It's going to be all about what the character does and more specifically how he does it. Jesus mentioned the Milt Khal scene from Lady and the Tramp where Tramp wakes up in the train yard and stretches before getting a drink of water. That scene is 100% pure character, and having something like that on a reel should make you desirable for studios.

Since my ultimate goal with this project is to provide new reel material to help me return to Disney, I don't need an epic 30 shot long film. All I need is great acting and that can actually be done in one shot.