New year, new stevil?

Apologies in advance for typos, got a new laptop and these newfangled keyboards are throwing me off.

First of all, hope everyone had a good Christmas, and relaxed a bit, and have a good New Year too!

I can see we haven't gotten many more responses on the Evil Stevil story and I'm equally as responsible, but it's the holidays and they're for taking a break really.

Having thought on this a bit more, I cast my vote for the new death (ie evil death) simply because I think the story will run smoother. I wish I could write more about this but I'm skiing on new years so I gotta keep it short.

Whether or not we decide to change him, I don't think it's a good idea to do a complete upheaval of the story, as stated in my previous post. A simple change of death's character should be more then enough to decide which way to go, along with other small adjustments.

I also think a script is really necessary, a good point from Rory was that it cuts out a lot of confusion when it's precise and to the point. I was trying to find examples but nothing yet.

I'm really not organized enough thoughtwise to be suggesting what our next step would be but I'd love to hear your opinions Plan B.

Either that have a great New Year, and drink/drive safely (not both!!!!)

-Tracy

Death's character

During the final leica viewing, alot of people loved or film and there were alot of good reactions and like any film bad reactions. Some of the less successful were... (not to be nevative nancy, but these are stuff we can consider taking out...)

• Parachute
• Chandalere (I was suprised, but no one liked it)
• speed of the actual jump (way too slow)
• too much dependence on dialogue
• TV (where annoncer is talking, liked announcer, but didn't get where it was coming from)

I sat down with Emslie (who came to the screening) and we talked about the two options of death's character. He seemed to really like the new and revised death, mainly because that blasted parachute could be cut). He also felt that because death ultimately wants ES to die that when he does, both character essentally win; Death kills ES and ES finishes his jump.

I think if we go the route of Death wanting ES to die but it too wimpy to actually get the job done, then we'll have to really think hard about how to describe ES and Death's relationship. We need to, in simple terms, tell the audience that death, altho death, is not as strong as folk tales make him out to be, this meening, he can't just touch ES and kill him.

so finally my vote: I vote to work with the new idea of DEATH WANTING ES TO DIE.

STORY IDEAS....(if we go new route of Death)

• Completely take out Parachute. (YAY!!)
• no more chandalier :(
• when ES is doing jump, I was told that the announcer sounds like he already knows what is going to happen, Instead we should make the announcer moreunaware of what comes next, make his lines more too the point and quicker, this will speed up the jump. We need to make the jump more climaxtic, not through obsticles (we've already done this) but through pace.
• Death changes to casual clothes, but instead of him walking to the TV he can mention he's going to watch his soups and ES then immediately interups him with the success of the mock jump and the pea.
• If Death's character changes, do we really need the part when he talks to himself about "where will I go, Ill be a widow". This doesn't work with his new character. we can still show his finger being cut off, and instead, yes is scares him, but then it sparks the whole fact that he's finally gonna get ES. He can maybe point out parts he might kill ES "Oh I'll totally get him there, yes, hehehe!" This might help the audience understand their relationship . When ES interrups him with the phone call we can splice a bit of dialogue off of this bit.
• we can rethink the dialogue at the end, make it a bit more to the point to drill the fact that ultimately they both won, but maybe ES won a bit more, seeing he doesn't care, can I maybe see the script at this part?

That's all I can really think of right now...

Story Idea!

Okay, so it's getting later on at night. Haven't drawn shit, but HAVE taken time to think about the stories.

Our main thing now, it seems, is deciding about our story, and how it'll roll. We were all "Yeah lets change this sucker up" and then our leica got some good reactions, so now it seems like we're split even?

Our choices go between Death LIKING Evil Stevil and WANTING him to live, and Death HATING Evil Stevil and WANTING him to die.

You know what? I think that we can make both these stories exactly the same, and then just decide on which Death character to go with.

BOTH these Death's have an opinion on Evil Stevil. BOTH of them have a goal, of either LIFE, OR DEATH (kinda black and white)

The difference between the two is how they act when Evil Stevil dies, but, I think BOTH stories can have Death learn the lesson at the end, that life/death isn't everything, Evil Stevil only wanted his goal.

Here is the interpretation I came up with, and this is of course the very bare bones of each story

Story 1.) Death wants to save Evil Stevil's life. Story begins, yadda yadda, Evil stevil chokes, Death comes in, saves him. Evil Stevil says jump works! Death says NO WAY (he is SAD, because Evil Stevil may die) and tries to talk him out of it. Evil Stevil does the jump anyways, lands it, dies. Death is SAD, because he's dead. ES doesn't give a rat's ass, ALL he cared about was the jump. Death realizes that living your life to the fullest is better then living longer and boring(er)

Story 2.) Death wants to END Evil Stevil's life. Story begins, blahblah, ES chokes, Death comes in, EGGS HIM ON, tries to take him, ES slaps him away, saves himself. Evil stevil says JUMP WORKS! Death says NO WAY (This time he's HAPPY, since ES might die) and tries to make it go as fast as possible. ES does jump, lands it, dies. Death is HAPPY, since he's dead. ES doesn't give a rat's ass, All he cared about was the jump. Death realizes (again) that dying once a dream is accomplished is no loss at all.

So it might be redundant, but I am just trying to point out the both ways could work EQUALLY. SOME might point out that there should still be a moment in story 1 where Death realizes he has to let Evil Stevil go, but, I feel like that could be the very END of the story, so he's all worried and terrified the entire jump, towards the end he starts cheering for him, he's ECSTATIC when he makes it, then suddenly devastated when he fails, but ES shows him that it's not a huge deal.

Of course, this is only what's turning in my addled brain, so if anyone thinks this is a terrible interpretation of it, feel free to change my mind! I love seeing other people coming up with ideas, so I can't wait to hear what other people come up with.

I am still undecided which version I like better, but that will change as we hear other people's ideas!

Come on everyone :) Either make a new post or add on to another one. If we can't meet up we can always talk here.

-Tracy

P.S I think when we're going through the story, we need to have more solid answers for certain questions, pertaining to a character's personality. We need to be SURE of ourselves in this, imo if we're not confident, the audience won't feel it either, and it needs to be either YES, or NO, or YES/NO with an exception, and the exception needs to be JUSTIFIED CLEARLY. EG: Does Evil Stevil ever say thankyou/sorry. NO. ONE exception is at the end where he is dead (old leica btw) and he vaguely thanks Death for saving his fanny, because well, Death DID save his fanny. EG#2: Would new Death (ie evil stevil hatin death) KILL people outright instead of waiting for him to die? NO, never, yadda yadda something. Does that make sense? I feel like if we are more certain about what a character is likely to do, the certainty reflects on how solid the character is

Rory's Pre-Pitch Notes

Good job on the pre-pitch everyone. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to post any notes we may have taken during the discussion with Natalie; she had some good suggestions that could really work for our story. Also, when she was explaining what our final pitch could include I made a quick list… apparently there was an example on the server all along, so I guess we should check that out too.

Notes:

- Mark suggests using the touch of death – I thought this might be something subtle to include right before ES pushes off down the ramp – perhaps Death gives him a supportive pat on the shoulder.

- Death’s Motivation needs more clarification – THIS IS THE BIG ONE – In the first sequence in ES’s apartment we need to establish their relationship to explain why Death’s position changes. He is comfortable living with ES and he never really thought it would end – he has long since given up on Steve ever finishing the contraption that will bring an end to their time together. Relationship: Old Couple, Show how much death cares for ES (perhaps Death puts out the fire on ES’s model after he has run off in excitement?) Dialogue both while ES is working on the model, and after he is finished, could help define their relationship. Death - internal conflict between his job and his personal feelings.

(Some ideas: Missing jumping-pants; Toilet seat left up –“you know I like to sit while I urinate!”; trophies – remember how you did this and that, you don’t need to prove anything; a pivotal character moment where Death realizes what the completion of the contraption really means; Death’s increasing concern about the jump (now that it is a reality); Stevil is confused as to why Death all of a sudden doesn’t want him to jump – the relationship is one way.)

- The Jump Contraption needs to be developed. We already decided to have a meeting about this on Thurs. Natalie suggested Heath Robinson as a reference for crazy contraptions. *Remember the jump took decades for ES to work out.

Presentation improvement:

Generally she said the work was good, we just need to focus in and use only the drawings that represent where we are now (less is more, quality over quantity etc). This is going to mean that we need to make some decisions about what to keep, what to change, and what we still need to do, so we should probably have a meeting about this. (Oh yeah, and we need to watch for typos and our time limit! Hehe... don't they know animation students can’t spell or tell time!)

Specifically the pitch should probably include (AT LEAST):

- A Title Page.

- 4-8 polished storytelling beats.

- Research - characters, jump, 60's atmosphere, etc.

- 1 page of Evil Stevil design

- 1 page of Death design

- 1 page of Evil Stevil/Death relationship development

- 1 page apartment design, with props: trophies, pictures, TV etc.

- 1 page of MODEL jump contraption design

- 1 page wheelchair design

- 1 page FINAL JUMP location design

- 1 page Crowd designs

- 1 page podium design – swimsuit models, trophy, stage etc.

- 1 page Crazy Cooter and his apartment design

Ultimately as heads of story and design Frank and Nabs are the ones to decide how to best handle all of this, but I thought I'd just get the info out there for everyone to mull over.

Story Premise

well here is the 1st story/premise by Frank.

A seemingly normal old man sits alone in his nursing home room struggling to eat peas. In a fit of frustration a sudden calm comes over him as he gazes up at his wall covered with photos and old newspaper clippings. We discover that in his prime he was a world famous dare devil. In an attempt to revive his fading glory, Evil Stevil decides to “jump again”. On the day of the stunt the feeble old man does the jump in a wheel chair rather than a motorcycle and miraculously makes it through the elaborate obstacles (go nuts with obstacles…crazy cool layouts) Once he lands it seems that he is in the clear until his wheel chair hits a pebble and his body is hurled from the chair. In the most elaborate fall ever he picks up flowers, champagne and a trophy along the way until he ends up on stage between two models. After a reporter leans in to snap a picture, he immediately collapses face first (dead) followed by the models shrieking in horror. In the final scene, Evil Stevil awakes in a daze and asks if he made the jump. It is revealed that he is in hell next to the devil, to which the devil replies, “Well…you did and you didn’t.”