LO1 - Task 2, Treatment

TREATMENT

           The Star, created by Forward Productions

THE BRIEF

The Star will be a short fantasy animation made in order to entertain the viewer. The target audience of the animation will be children as it is a light hearted tale and has a simplistic art style that will appeal to the younger generation.
I want my narrative to carry a moral message behind it, one highlighting the importance of family. The Star will show that your family are a vital part of your life and you should always feel safe with them- simultaneously emphasising that if you do not feel safe with them the there is something wrong. By conveying this my animation will hopefully inform children of what a happy family should look like and make them aware if they themselves are trapped in an unhappy home.


SYNOPSIS AND CHARACTER OUTLINES

The narrative of my animation will follow a girl that wakes up, having lost her memories, in the middle of a raining woodland at night. Upon getting up she quickly tries to get out of the forest and to a populated area, and stumbles upon an empty village. The protagonist goes into an inn she spots and is greeted by a man that explains everyone has left to move to higher ground as the sky hasn't stopped 'crying' for days after one of the stars fell from it. Hearing the story she recalls that she is the star and is told by the hotel owner to go and climb 'the giant'- a tree big enough that she should be able to return to the sky from it. When reaching the top of the tree the moon spots her and returns her to her place in the sky.

The story will feature two main characters- the star herself and the man at the inn. The man at the inn is the narrator of the story but he will have little actual impact on events and the animation will be much more focused the protagonist. The main character will remain nameless and is a kind and determined girl that will do anything to get back to her family.

RUNNING TIME

The animation will be atlas 2 minutes long if not slightly over.


CONTINGENCIES

In the event of my voice actor not showing up I will instead use the time to record and find sounds for the animation- I will also try and find a back up voice actor in the event of him leaving last minute. If the recording studio is booked out we will have to either wait or arrange for another day and I can use this period to work on the actual animation.


KEY MILESTONES

Planning
Risk assessment: 10th July
Narrative: 1st August
Song permission: 10th August
Storyboards: 1st September

Filming
The filming should take place in September over the duration two weeks.

Editing
Editing can be started any time after September so will probably take place over the whole month of October.


EQUIPMENT

I will need a single 650D camera and tripod in order to do the stop frame animation at home; a light would also be a good idea so that the brightness of the animation doesn’t change with each frame.
When recording the sound I will be using the school’s sound booth and mac so I will not take any equipment out of college to complete the noises and then editing stage.


PROPS AND ACTORS

I will only need one voice actor to take on the task of being the narrator, this person will be Robert Lee. I wanted him to narrate The Star as he has a very emotive voice that will add more drama to the story and help the audience follow the action.
The only props I will need may be to create the sound effects for my animation, but most of them can be found for free online. I may make and use a ‘rain stick’ to create rain but other than that it would be much less time consuming to find the noises online.


HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS.

The only locations I will be doing animation work are college and my house- at college there is always a first aider on hand in the medical room and at my house I have a first aid kit in my cupboard that can be used if the need arises.
The actual equipment I will be using will need to be taken care of, which is why I will only shoot in intervals of an hour before giving the equipment at least a half hour break so it won’t overheat. When I’m not using the camera I will return it to its case so it isn’t left out in the open, and I’ll keep everything I have cut out for my animation in an envelope as some parts will be especially small.
Myself and the voice actor will be the only person taking part in the animation process. Whilst in the recording booth I will make sure both me and the narrator aware of any risks (I have highlighted these in the risk assessment) and ensure there is a first aider on duty in the event of any accidents. Whilst at home I will need to be careful when filming but there are not any major hazards I should be cautious of.


LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Every film and animation is legally required to have a BBFC rating, or an age rating, to ensure it isn't viewed in the cinema by an inappropriate audience. Children particularly need to abide by the rating so that they are not harmed or caused offence by the film. I would like my animation to fit into PG, this means it would need to have no nudity, swearing or threat; and the end will need to have a happy resolution (which I feel I have already accomplished with my narrative). However, I may want to have cartoon violence  in The Star which is why the BBFC wouldn't classify as a U. It would be unethical to subject an impressionable child to damaging imagery that may stay with them, which is why I will be very careful in the creation of my animation.


DISTRIBUTION 

My animation could be accessed in many different formats, such as being played in cinemas before the main film as many Pixar and Disney shorts have been. It would only be played before films with a low age rating in order to be viewed by the target audience, but this would be ones of the best places to distribute it as it’s not a full film so couldn’t be played to a mass audience in one place any other way.

It could also be distributed on kids TV channels as it is only short and would easily be played in the breaks between other shows. Channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon would be perfect are they are tailored to the audience I wish to target.
The Star could also be found on streaming websites such as the children’s Netflix account seeing as this is, again, tailored to my audience because of the light hearted fantastical nature of the narrative.