This is my final idea about backgrounds. I was thinking and researching for a long time to find out what exactly would I like and I came out with this idea of COMPOSITED PAPER CUT-OUT PLANES. I would only play with lights and shadows and different textures of papers to create the feel and look of space.
Here are some inspirational clues:
An amazing animation, all done with stop-frame paper designs:
Okami game, all made of 3D animated cutouts:
Im not quite sure either I want to do the backgrounds in photoshop and entirely animate them in AFX or do them in Maya and set the beatiful lighting and rig and animate them there... Im opened for suggestions, advice and ...practice as well!
VERSION ONE starts with death and is all through one big flash back on what Sadako wanted to achieve.
VERSION TWO starts with flash back on the run, then continues with flash back of what happened to her when she was a baby and the whole thing is actually happening in a hospital, where she is dying. She turnes into a crane herself- in afterlife.
The SASAKI FAMILY is mourning over the prematurely deceased daughter SADAKO.
Top view, the sounds of crying. Sadako’s body enlightened.
Camera slow PAN IN for one half.
CUT TO:
1. SHOT: The title sequence “ 1000 cranes for peace“
Dark background (paper), white inscription. A red seal on the bottom.
Music starts.
FADE OUT TO:
2. SHOT: Close up to Sadako’s face.
Silence.
CUT TO:
3. SHOT: INT. “ Inside Her head”
Her eyes close. The blinding light from outside world disappears. The complete darkness for a while.
The sound of her heart beat (the heart beat monitor) is slowing down on the back the remote sound of the bomber plane coming closer.
Camera still.
SCENE 2: “THE ATOMIC BOMB FLASH BACK”
1. SHOT: The same darkness from the last scene becomes more defined as an interior of a bomber plane.
Two live-action masculine HANDS in a shape of fist appear in the bottom of the screen and travel up.
The sound of bomber becomes louder.
Camera sill, when the hands reach the top edge of the screen- starts tracking.
2. SHOT: The city on the top of a darkness
City appears on the top of “darkness”. The fists collide with the city from underneath. They are joined by several others when penetrating through the floor, causing a big clash. Together they create the shape of atomic bomb. Particles travel down.
Sounds of atomic bomb destruction.
Camera PANS OUT ¾ in a slight bird perspective angle AND STILL.
3. SHOT
The particles fall in a slow motion. From one of them 2 woman hands appear, carrying a CHILD. The child radiates. The hands come closer and closer, then stop.
Silence.
Camera subtle PAN IN onto the hands.
SCENE 3: “THE BAD NEWS”
1. SHOT INT. Hospital room
Close up- the hands carrying a child morph into the hands of a mourning girl- SADAKO. Hands slowly move down the face.
2.SHOT
Close up to the face. Eyes closed first , then open and the tears are pouring down the cheeks.
On the back we can hear the whisper of Sadako's father talking to her doctor about her diagnose:
DOCTOR:
"I'm afraid your daughter has an A-bomb disease... She has a year at the most..."
FATHER:
"No, nooo, noooooooooo! Not my daughter! Not my dear Sadako!"
PAN INTO:
3.SHOT
Close up to the eye. The eye closes and when it opens again we can see the reflection of a crane with a hand behind.
Silence. Crane wings flapping and a children playing in the distance.
CUT TO:
SCENE 4, 5 “THE WINDOW, MORPHE AND THE MAKING OF THE CRANES” and “THE RUN AND MORPHE INTO THE CRANE” montage (alternating from slow to progressed action)
BRIEF SYNOPSIS:
When waiting for her death sentence in a hospital, Sadako remembers the happy days when she loved to run. According to an old tradition, She gets an idea that making 1000 paper cranes will grant her a wish and in that final wish to run again and that all the children of the world will live in peace she becomes a crane herself, joining 999 others.
SCENE 4: INT. HOSPITAL
1.SHOT INT. Hospital WINDOW
Sadako at the window, watching the cranes passing by. Children are playing outside, silence in the hospital. Sadako’s hand is falling down and the body becomes heavy of pain when the cranes pass.
2.SHOT
Close up to the crane. It morphs into a paper crane and falls down into live action hands, which catch the crane and offer it to the camera.
The Friend reveals Sadako an old tradition:
FRIEND:
“ If you make 1000 cranes you will be granted a wish”
3.SHOT INT. HOSPITAL ROOM
Camera “dollys” through cranes that hang on the lines from the ceiling and reveals Sadako behind the table, making the paper cranes like obessed.
She is keep whispering to herself:
SADAKO:
“I wish to run again, I wish to run again, I wish to run again … and I …”
4.SHOT
Close up to Sadako’s face, camera PANS OUT to the beginning shot of her on the death bed.
On the end of this shot her body morphs into the body in first shot of the last scene.
The whisper continues:
SADAKO:
“ …and I will write peace on your wings and you will take it around the wold…”
5. SCENE EXT. OPENED SPACE
1.SHOT
Sadako is running through the landscape cranes are always following her. We can even see them in shape of shadows, water reflections.
Sound of rustling, crackling paper and nature.
2. SHOT
Close up to Sadako’s hand swinging down as she is running.
Sound of heavy breathing.
3. SHOT
Close up to the cranes wing going up.
Sound of “swusssshhhhh”.
4.SHOT.
Close up to Sadako’s hand raising up as she is running.
Heavy breathing.
5. SHOT
Close up to the cranes wing going down.
Light Swusssshhhhh.
6.SHOT
Sadako puts both arms up as she will jump over the puddle.
7.SHOT
Her foot hits the puddle and pushes off. We see the reflection of cranes in the water.
7.SHOT
Sadako takes flight. She thinks she is a crane herself.
The Silence, soft sound of the plane in the distance, louder and louder sound of heart beat.
SCENE 6: “SADAKO BECOMES A CRANE FOLLOWED BY OTHER A-BOM DISEASE VICTIMS”
1.SHOT: EXT. SKY, EXTREME LOW ANGLE.
Sadako “flays off” and morphs into the crane.
Camera ZOOMS OUT and we see that she isn’t the only crane. They pass by, leaving clear sky behind.
Silence
2. SHOT
The inscription appears :
“ Today’s worldwide arsenal of atomic weapons is capable of repeating Hiroshima’ s destruction for 400.000 times!”
"PEACE" expressed in 2D ink, watercolour animation
"PAPER" as 3D paper cranes (done in Maya)- expresses the importance of a paper as material which helped to develop written word and human education, and whose importance is more and more underestimated in today's digital era- it alos expresses the idea of NATURE
"HANDS" done as live action footage composited over the animation- express the idea of beauty of human touch, tactility, emotional communication, hand crafts and arts
Interaction between the last two- BOND between NATURE and PEOPLE- environmental concern
INSPIRATIONS
Dave Mc Kean (Neil Gaiman)- interesting mixture of mixed media- ink drawing, photography and painted backgrounds
PSYOP- interesting storytelig (synthetic time, not traditional) exchange of perspective angles (side, top, bottom angle) distinctive visual style
Traditional and modern shadow puppetry- Nine Inch Nails music video for song "Hurt" with scrim (very thin layer of fabric in front of performers, film projected onto it) - expresses the idea of light = life, transparency= fragility of life, sound perfectly fits the visual material shown.Traditional Japanese art- ink, waterclour drawings and woodcuts Litography- stone print- the prints are eep changing in a proces of printing, this is one of thechinques which allowes to transform photography into the beautiful crayon and watercolour effects.
Shadow puppetry also reminds me of my childhood, it was just something we liked to play
Traditional Japanese ink drawings, watercolours and woodcuts
and LITOGRAPHY- stone print- a great opportunity to transform photography into a beautiful crayon and water colour effects, besides the whole process of litographic printing seems like a sequence of animated frames as the pictures slightly differ from one to another print. This could be a great inspiration for backgrounds.
The book is based on a real story of young Japanese girl Sadako Sasaki, but I slightly changed it in wish to make it visually more engaging and to fit it to filmic language of animation.
Sadako was a healthy young girl with a passion for running.
But one day, at the age of 12, while she was doing what she loved the most- running- she collapsed.
She was hospitalized soon after. When she was 2 years old , the atomic bomb struck the floor just one mile away from where they lived. As a consequence of radiation she was diagnosed with a lethal blood cancer (leukemia) 10 years after...
Days were passing by in a hospital, where the lonely and frightened little girl was expecting her uncertain future
One day a friend visited and revealed her an old Japanese believe, that everyone who does 1000 paper cranes is granted a wish
This gave Sadako a ray of hope and she started to fold cranes .
She wished for herself to get better and run again, but for all the children of the world to live in peace.
...but sadly...more and more cranes she created...more the disease progressed
On 25th of October 1955 she passed away, after months of struggling with this awful disease. She left 999 cranes behind ...
She didn't really die, just imagined to walk into this beautiful landscape, where cranes were sunbathing in morning down and sunbeams were playing on the branches of the trees. After months of suffering she finally felt released and free of pain.
Contemplating this beautiful moment, she put her hands up against the sun into the shape of crane....suddenly the transformation began...Sadako turned into the crane herself
She became the symbol the peace and remained until today, in times when :
