Storyline

This is very much a skeletal form of the plot at the moment, the main part to be filled out is the middle section which will be further developed as my project continues. Having a basic outline is important at this point because it will allow for my research to be more concise and allows ideas gained to be directly applied my film itself.


A child lies alone in a hospital bed of a terminal ward. The room is empty, stale and decrepit. All that furnishes what could just as easily be a cell in an asylum is the cold steel bed and a small metallic table. On the table is a withering rose in a clear glass vase. As the last of the living petals fall from the flower, so too does the protagonist fall into death. They find themselves in a foreboding world of surreal wonder which offers a hauntingly cruel comfort from the reality which they have been plagued with. This would be a bitter sweet tale of loneliness, hopelessness, acceptance and eventual salvation when they are revived back into the world to find themselves alive and the rose in full bloom.

The film would be comprised of two basic environments, that of the hospital room and also of the other world which the protagonist experiences. It is very much open to interpretation as to what exactly this world is, perhaps the afterlife, a form of purgatory, a abstract representation, a dream or an elaborate construct of a child's mind.

The hospital room would be a small to medium sized with a grey lino floor and dull concrete walls as well as a small window half covered by blinds. The colours in these real world scenes would be extremely bland with no vibrancy in the palette aside from the rose at the end.

The majority of the animation would take place in the other world where imagery would very much be emotionally charged with a focus on the character and what they are feeling. The landscape of this place would be barren and desolate to maintain a sense of melancholy which would be interspersed by sudden charges of hope and light as well as fear and darkness. The vibe is not so much intended to be scary but rather a disturbing portrayal of the fragility of humanity. There could also be additional characters from figurative depictions of emotion projected into strange creatures to others who have found themselves lost inside this realm.

I'm still largely undecided what would happen in this section – it would be a good opportunity to explore more experimental forms of animation as well.