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Hey there.
So.
My brother is an animator. A movie maker. And this summer he is venturing out on another project, and he has made me his co-collaborator or something like that. So he asked me to ask y’all about it and if you like it and stuff.
So… here’s the basic plot. I’m still a bit fuzzy on it and it may not be one hundred percent accurate, but… here goes.A young, orphan girl is crashed in the Amazon. She is struck blind. A giant anaconda befriends her and helps her make her way through the jungle across this ravine. They are trailed by a giant crocodileormaybealligatoridontrememberwhich. Her parent are actually alive and they are reunited.
And no, the animals do NOT talk.There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the basic low-down. The girl is pretty dis-trustful, and having someone, snake though she is, lead her through the jungle when she’s newly blind is pretty tough.
So. Do you like it? Suggestions even?
@Daeus
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@Micheal-StantonENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
Maybe it’s just because I’m recovering from Harry Potter at the moment, but I like the twist of the giant snake being friendly and worthy of trust. And it could make for some good character developement for it to be her guide when she’s blind. (And some humour, as the poor snakey tries to prove its care and concern for her well-being stem from purely altruistic motives :).) You could even use it for some good themes like “appearances (an ironic word considering the MC is blind) can be deceiving” and things.
Why don’t the animals talk? I see potential for all sorts of hilarious conversations here. “Hi,” says the anaconda. “How may I help you?”
Says the girl, “Uh, you know who the last snake was who talked to a woman? It didn’t go over very well for either of them.”I’m pretty sure the crocodile frequents the Nile, and the alligator is more of a Western-Hemisphere creature, but I’m not sure. Is it trailing them because it’s bad, or it wants company, or excitement, or it wants to help destroy the Ring, or get the Ring back precious, or what?
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
@Anne-of-Lothlorien I don’t see anything to pick at, but there’s not much more than externals here. Here are my questions to get to the heart of the story.
1. What’s the girl’s inner longing? e.g. she wants her parents to be reunited.
2. What’s the girl’s story goal? e.g. get back to her parents. (it’s best if her longing and goal can be closely related.)
3. How does the girl’s blindness put a stumbling block in the way of her goal and/or longing?
4. Why does the snake help her? For ulterior motives? To redeem its name?
5. Why is the crocodile chasing her? How does the crocodile inspire your protagonist to change? How does the crocodile contrast with the girl and the snake?🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
@Anne-of-Lothlorien what @Daeus said. 😛
@anne-of-lothlorien My brother’s an animator too 😉 Though he’ll probably tell you that since he’s in that long list of tags
First off, I think the South American version of the crocodileormaybeanaligator is the caiman.
I do want to know as well why the animals don’t talk. Like @Northerner said, it would make for some funny dialogue, plus it would help with the girl learning the trust the anaconda, and (ironically) I think it would make it more realistic that she would trust it, if it was able to communicate with her, rather than just following a random snake while she’s blind.
Another question; is she blind before or after she meets the snake? If before, how does she know it’s a snake? (if it can’t tell her)
Also @Daeus questions, namely the ones about the snake and the crocodilemaybeanaligator/caiman 😉
Currently reading Les Miserables
This sounds interesting. Not sure about the giant anaconda… Wouldn’t it sooner eat her than befriend her? XD It’s an interesting idea, though, and I’d love to help out where I can… If I may venture to suggest that instead of an anaconda, she befriends a flight attendant who was struck deaf from the crash? If that’s even a possible injury… IDK… Just a thought. But it’s his story, so I’ll assume the snake. 😛
How is he going to be animating this? ‘Cuz I could definitely help working out that if he’s working in 3D, particularly in Blender. I’ve got a good idea on how to animate a snake. A fairly easy way, as well. You only need to model three things, and modifiers will do the rest.
So… the questions.
To be honest with you, this is a pretty new idea, and we haven’t had our first session of brainstorming, so I’m sure there are things that he’s developed about the story that he hasn’t told me yet. So I’ll try to answer the questions without blending what I know with what I think should happen with the movie.@northener @perfectfifths – I think he wants to kill a cliche with the animals talking. I don’t think he wants it to be too cheesy, and it’s hard to do talking animals without getting cheesy. (Ever seen the seventies Disney animated Charlotte’s Web? If you haven’t, don’t bother) My initial thinking was that they could talk, and when he said they didn’t, I was just ‘okay, sure’.
@Daeus @kate-flournoy – 1. The girl wants to be with her family again. It’s like Annie, where they said they’d come back, you know, and everyone says they’re dead now, but she knows they’re still out there somewhere.2. She wants to find her parents. It’s pretty much the same as her inner longing.
3. Obviously, she is newly blind, petrified, doesn’t trust people easily, and just crashed and can’t see anything, so she is terrified, and can’t move through the Amazon on her own, so without the help of Ana (the Anaconda, I know, so original name) her other option would be staying at the plane wreck and probably dying.
4. ??? I am not sure why Ana helps her, and neither is my brother. We realize it would sooner eat her, but maybe her mothering instinct kicks in or something?
5. @northerner I believe you asked this too. The crocodile is trailing them because it is hungry. It is simply an animal of the jungle, killing to survive. That’s what it does. He and Ana are basically the foils to each other; the one animal somehow protecting this young girl for some reason, and the other just following his hungry instinct for food.
@perfectfifths – She is blind before she meets the snake, since the crash is what makes her go blind. I’m assuming she finds out it’s a snake when she feels the scales and long body???Also, SPOILER ALERT! Ana dies in the end, and she has three baby snakes, and the girl (Pearl we have just decided is her working name) keeps them and takes care of them. I can just see her walking up to her parents with three snakes wrapped around her arm. I think she should have more babies, and maybe the croc eats one, and the other gets eaten somehow. You know, have traumatic killing offs of the minor characters.
@leumeister – Here… is where I sort of lose it. I don’t know that much about animating, though I have been his assistant for several productions before. I’m mostly here for the writing and designing process. He’s done Playmobils, then the wooden, artists-use-them-for-posing figures, and then LEGOs before this. I think it would be good only in 3D, but he’s never had experience with it before. I’ll tell him about your offer to help, and maybe if he’s willing we can figure out a way for you two to get in contact with each other.
BTW, are you @perfectfifths’s brother?And just in case any of you all were wondering, I do not usually stay up until midnight. I am an hour ahead, since currently I am on Central time.
ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
@anne-of-lothlorien @leumeister Yes, that’s him. I told you he’d make himself known 😉 😀
Currently reading Les Miserables
Okay, fair enough. 😛 You could ask him what he’s using, or if I get into contact with him myself, I could ask. 😛
And, yes, I am @perfectfifths’ brother. 🙂
Also… I’m not sure how an anaconda takes care of its young… I don’t know. I’m sorry if I’m sounding like I’m picking apart your brother’s story, it’s just I find it really strange (even hard to believe) that a wild, South American constrictor snake would bond with a human child. Canya blame me?? XD
@anne-of-lothlorien I’m assuming she finds out it’s a snake when she feels the scales and long body??? 😐 …. Yes, of course 😛
I don’t think he wants it to be too cheesy
I honestly don’t think, when done the right way, talking animals are cheesy at all. I love the Jungle Book (the actual book 😉 ) In it, Mowgli learns the languages of the animals from Baloo, rather than the animals know English (I’m pretty sure that’s how it worked – it’s been a while since I read it) Could perhaps Pearl learn to communicate with them in some other way?
Currently reading Les Miserables
@perfectfifths Weird question cause I am nosy – Older or younger brother?
@leumeister – No, anacondas do not take care of their young. They leave them to fend for themselves, which is why Pearl takes care of Ana’s. I think.
It’s okay if you’re picking it apart. Mentally I am too, and am just waiting for our first session of story plotting so I can ask him all my picking it apart questions.
Yeah, I probably should learn a bit more about animating if I’m going to be a partner in this endeavor. The most I’ve ever done in the actual animating process is clicked the button on the laptop to take the picture. I’ve done costume design and sewing, set design, and voice acting before, but never actual animating work.ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
@perfectfifths. I do like the Jungle Book, and that is interesting that Baloo actually teaches him the language of animals. I was actually contemplating how they could communicate; if Pearl would learn snake-language. Obviously some level of communication has to happen.
At first when I didn’t know they weren’t talking, I was imagining this little girl hearing a woman’s voice talk to her, but being blind not seeing. She stumbles around, thinking she’ll bump into the person, but feels the anaconda. She freaks out, and is like ‘What is this?” and the voice says ‘That’s me’ and she’s thinking,
“Why is this person cold and why does she feel like a… WHY IS THIS SNAKE TALKING TO ME?Maybe with all the positive opinions about the animals talking I’ll suggest he make them do so.
ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
@leumeister – ‘Nother nosy question. What on earth is leumeister and why is that your tag?
ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
It’s my online alias. It’s a clever (I think) modification of my real name, which I am not prepared to share on a publically accessible website. 😛 You pronounce the Leu part of my name like you pronounce the Leu in Leukocyte or Leukemia. It used to be Lee-oo, then Lay-oo, now it’s just Lou. 😛
@anne-of-lothlorien Older, though two people now have thought he was younger (weird… XD)
Ooh, that’s a great idea. How can you not be suing talking animals when you can have scenes like that??
Another idea (feel free to poo-poo it completely 😉 ) what if she doesn’t know (at least at first) it’s an anaconda, she’s just hearing its voice and following it?
Currently reading Les Miserables
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