Synopsis of my Major Project

My submission for the major project shall be a short film. It will consist of a number of plural gags that stem from a repeated formula indicated at the beginning. Each individual gag will be less than ten seconds with some being less than three.

The Narrative of the film is set around the relationship between a man and his dog. The setting is a park where the two begin to play a game of fetch. From there the film takes an obsessive line in exploring many of the possible outcomes from when the ball is first thrown. As the film continues the results become more ludicrous and riddled with entropy. The first few instances see the dog refusing to give the ball back or covering the ball in slobber. Then a twist comes when the dog enters from another direction. From here a different dog brings the ball back, the dog brings a different ball back, the dog refuses to get the ball, the man gets the ball, the dog brings back a roast turkey, a giant foot squashes the characters, followed by anvils and safes etc.

The film addresses the relationship between man and dog, and how through body language the two communicate. Empathy is generated by providing situations we can all relate to - failure of communication, embarrassment, resignation and frustration. The obsessive structure of the narrative builds a sense of momentum in the story and pushes the characters to the edge of insanity. This relates to the absurdist tradition within animation, exploiting the plasmaticness of the medium, paying homage to some of the animators who made animation a viable creative medium.

My Film will imitate the stylised 1950s animation of Hanna Barbera and UPA with colourful, sharply designed backgrounds, and simplistic yet aesthetically pleasing characters. This will facilitate two important tasks. Firstly it will enable me to concentrate my time on the animation itself; one of the aims of this animation is to showcase my knowledge and skills in animation (timing, weighting, character performance etc). Secondly it will allow the narrative to proceed at a fast pace whilst still being highly communicative in animation and story telling.