Story 2: Animation Treatment

They Both Bow (alternative idea)

1. The alternative idea is to make an animation which includes playing shadow puppets and playing the computer game characters. By making them challenge each other, I focus on representing the similar and fun experience of playing roles in the above two media.


2. In order to invite more young people to enjoy Taiwanese Shadowgraph, the end goal of my animation is to deliver the concept that playing shadowgraph in reality life can be as challenging and fun as playing computer games in the virtual world.

Design Form: Motion graphic & Paper-cut puppets

1. I will animate the paper-cut puppets in After Effect.


2. My characters will be made by paper-cut. Two of them will look like gray shapes of human body; two of them will look like shadowgraph tiger and shadowgraph puppet; two of them will look like computer game character and the game-play element (such as the monster and cannibalistic flower in Mario); one of them will look like a sketch of a human hand.

Time Period: 5 minutes

Characters

1. Protagonist and Antagonist: The left shape & the right shape
   The left shape represents the minds of people who play roles by shadowgraph puppet. The left shape plays roles with the media (shadowgraph) it is used to.
   The right shape represents the minds of people who play roles in computer game. The right shape plays roles with the media (computer game) it is used to.


2. Supporting Character: The hand
   The hand represents people who have the power to choose in which media they want to play their roles.

Location

1. A big white wall


2. Shadow playing situation


3. Game environment

Plot Summary
There is one gray shape of human body on the white wall. His shadow reflects next to him and they all look the same.

They both bow.

At first, the left shape starts becoming a tiger shadow puppet and attacks the right shape. The right shape picks up the sticks and needs to learn fast how to control the tiger puppet by the sticks. The background of the white wall becomes a shadow playing situation. At the end, the right shape succeeds and makes the tiger puppet calm down.

Then, the right shape becomes the game character and translates into different obstacles, such as the cannibalistic flower in Super Mario.

The background transfers from shadow playing situation into a game environment as well.

Consequently, the left tiger puppet needs to learn how to pass all the obstacles in the game situation. At the end, the left tiger puppet passes the challenge successfully.


The two shapes take turns to challenge each other faster and faster. The background changes faster and faster as well. The two shape start having the idea of controlling and keeping each other in its own media environment.



They start challenging each other by not following the rule of playing turns.

At the end, one human hand comes in. The hand crashes the two shapes into a gray shape and fades away on the white wall.