Story 1: Animation Treatment

Your Shadow Plays My Affinity

1. As a witness of the disappearance of the Taiwanese Shadowgraph, I would like to combine the art with computer animation and re-position its role in the Taiwanese modern life.
2. Because of the cultural difference caused by geographical distributions, people living in northern areas of Taiwan lost the opportunity to enjoy art. As a young person from northern Taiwan, I was taught not to play the shadowgraph or touch the topic which relates to it. Thus, I chose the Taiwanese shadowgraph as my thesis topic and the Taiwanese young generation as my target audience in order to regain our lost cultural affinity.
3. In order to invite more young people to enjoy art, 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 : Stop motion & Paper-cut puppets
I chose stop motion as my design form which better applies to young generation’s media habit. I will animate paper-cut puppets in an interior mock-up house, shoot them frame by frame. With After Effect, I will edit the shooting footage and add effects.

Three characters will be made by paper-cut puppets (the father, the son, and the shadow puppet) and one character (the ghost) will be made by clay or stuffing doll. The paper-cut puppet will have the same structure to move as real shadowgraph puppets do.

Time Period: 5 minutes

Characters

1. Protagonist: The son
   The son is a game character designer. He plays all kinds of game, especially being good at “Super Mario” and “The King of Fighters.” He enjoys playing roles in virtual world and thinks that his father’s business, the Shadowgraph master, is out-of-date. He is twenty-five year-old and five-feet-five-inches tall. He has middle black hair to his ears, unhealthy pale skin color, and a big belly. He wears big frame glasses and dresses like a nerd.
2. Antagonist: The ghost
   The ghost is a mischievous spirit that comes from the hell. It enjoys its vacation in the Chinese ghost month. It likes to sneak into people’s houses and have fun by getting people in trouble.
3. Supporting Character one: The father
   The father is a shadow puppet master. He appreciates shadow puppets not only because the puppets earn his living but also play one part of his life. He is fifty-five year-old and five-feet -inches tall. He has cropped gray hair and a slim body. He has healthy skin color and dresses his old white singlet with shorts all the time.
4. Supporting Character two: The shadow puppet
   The puppet is one fourth tall as the father. It is an old puppet with fading colors. It likes and appreciates the old father as latter appreciates the puppet.

Location
House setting: An old mock-up room will be made by fiber board (MDF) and interior setting materials. It will include one big table, wood furniture and file cabinets, a big box (to preserve shadow puppets) and a small indoor stage behind a big white curtain, a computer with the computer desk, one window and one door, and two beds.

Plot Summary:
The old father enjoys playing the leather shadowgraph puppet. His son shows him his game character design. The son impolitely replaces the puppet’s shadow on the wall by his sketch and laughs at his father’s out-of-date business. After the son glorifies the advantage of computer game, they go to bed.

At midnight, the mischievous ghost comes into their house. The father wakes up. The ghost is shocked and is going to hurt the father’s life. The ghost grabs the father’s neck and lifts the father into air. The father passes out. The son wakes up and picks up the long sticks in order to save his father. The ghost loosens the father’s neck but stretches out its hands to catch the son.

Suddenly the shadowgraph puppet wakes up and tries to divert the ghost attention by running on the other side of the room. The ghost starts chasing the puppet rather than the son. At the same time, the son drags and hides his father behind the white curtain of the indoor stage. The son makes a bird hand shadow to guide the puppet to pass all obstacles in the room as if he plays in the computer game. The puppet successfully avoids the ghost’s chase and runs around the room to make the ghost tie up its knotty long hands. At the same time, the son pretends to be the other fake ghost and manipulates his father’s body with sticks behind the curtain. He successfully plays a shadowgraph show of “Jhong Kuei catching the ghost” by himself and his father. Finally the ghost gets frightened and starts melting away.