Story Development and Ideation

gracieszymanski04
Aug 16
13 min read

Updated: Sep 14

Posts arranged newest to oldest.

To Do:

Meetings/organization
Crew Calls
Refine the animatic - add shot names to the next animatic

First Draft Animatic

Here is our first animatic that we have put together for our story:

Storyboarding

Hannah and I have taken the time over the course of a few days to fully storyboard and plan out this film. One of the biggest things we considered when planning these shots was how to achieve the best possible shot with the time, resources, and skills that we have. One of our biggest goals was to make each and every second of this story to be beautiful. We want each second to be able to be paused and hung on a wall. With that being said, here is the current storyboards for the film:

With these storyboards, I also put together a detailed sheet, giving each shot a title, and description. This can be found in this document below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y1-DKGdcjgM3FcTvOirFuHcpqTPOWDmjmlm5wzcjg6w/edit?usp=sharing

A big breakthrough we had when planning was knowing which shots will be XR stage, greenscreen, and full CG. As VFX artists, we do full CG much better than anything else so we made sure the big hero shot of the film was going to be a full CG shot. In order to explain any lighting discontinuities, we also kept full scenes either XR stage of greenscreen so that we would not have awkward shifts in lighting between shots. We plan to need at least two days of XR stage shooting and we also plan to do these shots in the early Winter.

After putting together the storyboard, we inevitably made some changes to the script. Here is the revised and most up to date version of the script:

Script

After locking down the idea for our story, I've gone ahead and put it in script format for the the short film. Here is our current script:

Final Story Choice

After team voting and discussion, we have all agreed and picked story number five to move forward with! After this decision, Hannah moved forward with writing the story to fit a film like format. We also decided on a name for the project! The film will be called Metamorphosis.

Here is Hannah's film format write up of the story:

Guideline: This short story should follow these specific guidelines:

Follow a short film script format
Has to fit between 1:30 to 2:00 minutes long

Short Summary: Through the thick of Winter, a lone fairy cautiously traverses her ghostly environment in hopes of uncovering her true role in this dark world.

Story:

Set in the center of the midnight sky sits the moon, its powerful glow illuminating the eerie forest below. A soft snow powders the ground, covering the brittle forest floor. The sound of the night isn’t something to reminisce on in these woods. Distant howls and ravaging banter stalks in the shadows. Nothing about this place, these woods, is eager of anything kind. Nothing good comes from the Winter.

In the cold depths of old thickets and rigid branches lies a small field. The field, holding something so rare, comforts the soft green glow of a cocoon. Its human size shouldn’t deceive the eye, for something unhuman sleeps peacefully inside its temporary home.

A slow, but steady, rumble shakes the cocoon gently. With an eager push from within, a hand emerges. Soon after, the cocoon’s inhabitant sits quietly on the chilly snow below. A girl. The girl sheepishly rubs the sleep from her eyes, extending her arms above her to stretch out. In doing so, a large set of bright glowing butterfly wings follows her arms upwards, reflecting a warm pink hue against her colorless surroundings. The girl is a fairy and she’s awake and she’s ready to live.

Excited to challenge this new life she was gifted, the fairy rose to her feet. With a remarkable swiftness in each step, the fairy made her way out of the field. The silhouette of the girl slowly disappeared into the shadows of the woods ahead.

Her feet danced through the forest. She was unbothered by the cold. Her gaze laid straight ahead as she explored the daunting forest around her. The landscape was quiet, interrupted by the rhythmic crunch of snow as the fairy lurked further on. Distant, muffled howls bounced off of the trees. The more she walked on, the more her curiosity turned cautious. Nothing about this place was welcoming as she quickly figured out. Visibly shaken from the eerie silence, a comforting hug tugged at her mind. The invisible pull of something unknown wanted her to keep walking. The fairy was alarmed, but curious. Whatever this mental connection was didn’t seem harmful. Something so warm and welcoming couldn’t be anything but kind in this desolate place. It seemed like it wanted to help her. This was the only lead she had to follow. Her feet swiveled in the direction the pull led her and walked on, ignorant of the large claw marks scratched against the tree trunks surrounding her new trail.

The fairy comes to a halt at the edge of a much larger clearing. Prominent beams of angelic moonlight encased the center of the field, a glowing circle sat in the middle. Even though every other inch of the forest was covered in snow, this spot strangely was untouched by the frost. She can feel the mental tether the strongest here. Something about the moon called to her. She takes one step forward, softly placing her foot into the open snow. The moment she adjusted her weight against this new posture, a large pair of glowing icy blue eyes flickered open from the shadows in front of her. She froze in fear.

More and more pairs of eyes started to appear. Whatever drew her here must've known about these creatures. Was the mental connection a hoax? The fairy’s fear made her retract her step. The tether hugged her mind harder, comforting her worries and doubts. She stood still in debate. What was the moonlight telling her? Will everything be alright?

She took in a deep breath and shook the anxiety off her shoulders. She had to trust whatever was guiding her here. Deep down, she knew she was meant to see this… as if it’s happened before.

She slowly made her way to the center of the field. The eyes glowed brighter with every step she took, low growls gurgled behind hidden faces. Whatever laid in the shadows out there held a heavy distaste for the lone fairy.

Moonlight encapsulated her body. Although still scared of the monsters that waited outside the light, something about this felt… right. The presence of the moon was relaxing. It melted away her worries and gave her this new confidence she’s never felt. The moon’s glow began to grow in intensity.

Louder howls screamed inside the shadows furiously as the light intensified. The more the moon took over the field, the wilder the eyes glared back at the fairy. Observant of the glow around her, the fairy’s skin began to sparkle. Its warmth felt good on her skin. She wrapped her arms around her torso with content. She had noticed the monster’s rage outside. She was too focused on the good, not the bad. This felt good. This was what she was meant to experience.

Happily following the moon’s guidance, the fairy seated herself back on the ground. She laid out on the snow-littered field with her knees tucked into her stomach. It just felt right to do. It felt familiar. She gave a gentle smile before closing her eyes. The moonlight was soothing, she could feel it dance inside her skin. Her veins tingled with a magic so rare, something so ancient, it only felt right to accept it. The fairy completely embraced the moon.

With one last sigh, the fairy herself grew brighter and began to disappear into a beautiful array of glowing warm pink particles. The sight was as breathtaking as her last. The cloud of magic melted away the snow where the fairy formerly laid, revealing the lush, green field of grass and flowers. It didn’t stop there. The snow continued to melt from its origin with swift speed. More and more Spring greenery began to shine through. Snow dripped from now lush, healthy trees, stems perked up to sprout new flowers. Winter is ending.

The beasts inside the shadows shrieked in outrage and distraught. Their home had melted away. The glowing blue eyes left one by one as they ran away, trying to outrun Spring. The monsters frantically disappeared into the shadows to wait again for their time to come. Their howls were the last thing to haunt the forest before Spring came into full bloom. A new season had begun.

Story Options and Creating a Team

After deciding on this project with the general themes in mind, Hannah and myself began recruiting peers to help work on the project. We asked around for people to bring together a diverse skill set, specifically looking at people with experience with the XR stage and Unreal Engine as it is something we want to incorporate in the film, as mentioned before.

Here is our current team and their strong suits:

Gracie Szymanski (myself): producer, FX artist, some lighting, some comp, makeup
Hannah Kim: director, FX artist, comp artist
Olivia Wesling: Editing, Compositing
Mia Esparragoza: Unreal experience, textures and surfacing, some lighting
Charlie Ragland: environments, lighting
Sydney Relkin: compositing
Benji Hopkins: XR stage experience, environments, generalist, costuming and makeup
Ben Jones: XR stage helper
Julien Schenker: XR stage helper

With this team, Hannah and I have led a few meetings to further discuss ideas and possible stories for the film. The whole group bounced around and contributed ideas. After this, Hannah and myself each wrote up proposed story ideas for the group to then vote on and discuss which one would be best. Here are our five proposed story ideas:

-Story Idea #1-

Name: Jamais Vu, A New End

Style: Full-Circle

Time: 1:30-2:00

Exposition/ Inciting Incident:

Awoken from her cocoon disruptively after decades of ethereal sleep.
She, the fairy, is out-of-this-world and stands out drastically compared to her eerie new life.

Rising Action:

The main character looks around sheepishly, sleep still clouding her independence.
A light high-pitch squeak ruffled through the thorn bushes in front of her, a creature quickly escaping the scene.
From a mix of confusion and curiosity she starts to hesitantly explore her surroundings, making her way towards the direction of which the little creature went.
She doesn't remember her home in the way it's presented now- the trees are grey and wilt over, vines encapsulate the ground, and the water is murky and runs still. Everything is dead or dying. Although ugly now, the forest has an old charm to it as it once had centuries ago.
Continues exploring different parts of the forest. The longer she walks the more things she finds somewhat familiar. Maybe someone she knows has woken up and knows what happened? Little wind chimes and small, familiar remnants of her past remind her of a nest of fairies not too far away.

Climax:

While exploring, she comes across a large patch of recently destroyed cocoons. An unnatural phenomena and something that gives the main character goosebumps.
She slowly walks over to inspect the damage, somewhat hopeful in saving/finding anything(one) she remembers inside.
As she goes to open one of the disheveled cocoons, a high-pitch gurgle warning blows out from inside. A smaller creature lurks inside, its glowing eyes are the only thing visible from the shadows of the cocoon.
The main character stumbles backward in shock and sudden dread. She hits the ground to quickly shuffle away.

Resolution/ Denouement:

As she retreats from the unknown monster in the nest, the same familiar gurgle, though much deeper and raspier, slowly sounds from behind her.
She freezes, watching the ground as a massive shadow engulfs her figure. With whatever amount of confidence she has left, the main character shakily turns her head over her shoulder.
Without exposing the terrifying monster behind her, she quickly pieces together what awoke her from her slumber and destroys her friends' cocoons behind the shadow snaps towards her. Screen black.

-Story Idea #2-

Name: Something in the Dark

Style: Three-Act

Time: 1:30-2:00

Exposition/ Inciting Incident:

The main character is seen immediately running away. Frantically pushing past trees and shrubbery to escape the mysterious thing chasing after her.
She loses its trail after some time, and when she regains her senses the protagonist starts to explore the world around her. Curious as she’s ever seen such ruined nature before, she follows the endless trail of dried leaves and thorn bushes.

Rising Action:

She concludes her exploration at the edge of chard field, a spherical blast of ash lingers in the center. A small cry squeals out inside the field. Hesitant, but more curious of the circumstances, she slowly walks into the field.

Climax:

After cautiously making her way towards the sound, she stumbled upon a small creature. The monster is harmless as it looks up to the fairy. It happily squeaks towards her direction; gathering itself into a sitting position. The fairy bends down to happily greet the creature, pausing her outreached hand as a massive puff of smoke knocks into her back. A low growl sounds behind her and the little creature anxiously swivels from the fairy’s reach and runs behind her giddily.

Resolution/ Denouement:

The fairy, frozen from shock, slowly turns her gaze around to look up towards the creature that had chased her previously. With a clear view of it in her rounded stare, the monster’s silhouette is visible through her eye’s reflection. The shadow pounces, and the screen goes black.

Notes:

Fairy can’t fly due to damaged or underdeveloped wing
The running sequence can be changed to avoid environment interaction

-Story Idea #3-

Name: Eternal Winter

Time: 1:30-2:00

Exposition/ Inciting Incident:

A spring fairy is seen stumbling upon a forest that appears as if it has been winter for an eternity.

Rising Action:

The fairy continues to explore the wintery forest. She walks past frozen trees where nothing seems alive. Along the treeline there are wispy, monstrous, winter creatures dancing in the dark, watching the fairy.
A lot of beautiful exploration shots in this rising action of the environment and the world building.

Climax:

In the middle of the forest, she finds a relic that is frozen over/darkened. She examines the relic, determining that it being frozen over is the reason this forest is stuck in perpetual winter. She picks up and hugs the relic and a warm glow coming from her body warms up the relic. She uses all of her spring powers here to try and help the forest. A big beauty shot here is shown of the forest around her melting and blooming. (XR stage)

Resolution/ Denouement:

The fairy collapses from the exertion of power. It was too much for her body to handle and she dies, peacefully becoming one with the forest. Possibly a shot of the ground growing around her

-Story Idea #4-

Name: More light hearted animal one?

Style: Less narrative more perfume style vibes

Time: 1:30-2:00

Rising Action:

A fairy is seen exploring nature (open to vein more flat grass or a forest). She’s doing her everyday fairy tasks though she is alone. She stumbles across some magical woodland creatures and starts interacting with them and playing with them.

Climax:

After playing with the small creatures, a bigger one appears from the shadows. It doesn’t attack but uses its eyes to enchant the fairy. She moves closer towards the shadows and possibly starts to see the landscape in a different way (dead plants, darker colors, etc.).
Could be a fun shot here to include her eyes being enchanted/turning colors.

Resolution/ Denouement:

Right before she finally reaches the beast, one of the woodland creatures from before wisps in front of her, breaking the enchantment and she’s able to get away.
Woo happy ending.

-Story Idea #5-

(combination of 1 and 3)

Name: Ethereal Life, Rebirth, etc

Style: Full-Circle, Hero

Time: 1:30-2:00

Exposition/ Inciting Incident:

Waking up from her cocoon peacefully, she stands in a familiar, but changed, world
She, the fairy, stands out drastically compared to her eerie new life
The woods around her are bare and covered in frost. Winter is in full cycle. Light from the moon illuminates the powdered snow along the ground.
She sheepishly looks around, tired from her long nap

Rising Action:

With caution, she makes her way from the cocoon to explore the new world.
Still sluggish from her time in slumber, she doesn’t notice the long gashes riddled along the tree trunks she walks past.
The forest is silent with the occasional low rustle or twig snap, she pays no mind to it
She continues to explore her surroundings, walking through the empty landscape of snow (beauty shots/ vfx heavy)
The fairy’s attention is suddenly drawn besides her. A mental connection so subtle and yet so welcoming and warm wraps itself around her mind. She's lured to follow whatever this is.

Climax:

She breaks away from the forest into a small opening. Moonlight beams down directly into the center of the patch of open land.
The tether is stronger here. She begins to walk forward only to be stopped by a set of glowing eyes in front of her, lurking amongst the shadows of the night.
Whatever drew her here pulls her forward even stronger, holding onto her hesitant stance with force. She takes cautious steps forward.
The more she walks into the center of the clearing, the more eyes that begin to appear. Their glowing stare startled the young spring fairy.
Although scared, this feels right. Something brought her here and she was stubborn enough to figure out why. She stands in the center.
The glow of the moon grows intense quickly. As it happens, the eyes grow in size and rage. Growls shake the snow from the branches above. The fairy turns around, left and right, as she witnesses the event play out.
Her skin begins to glow, sparkling with the help of the strength of the moonlight. Whispers circle her ears, telling her “its time”. She looks up at the moon as it becomes nothing but pure white.
The light is intense. She can't see anything beyond her, but she hears the anxious roars and stubborn chatter from the monsters surrounding her.

Resolution/ Denouement:

She can feel her magic surge through her body, swimming through her veins to reach back into her heart. Gripping her chest tightly, shes overwhelmed with the sudden power absorbing her. Terrified and in pain, she knows its okay. The whispers become warm and hug her, comforting her.
With one last final outburst, the fairy is consumed into the moonlight.
Her powers burst out from where she stood, swiftly attacking the snow with the warmth of her light.
The snow melts, revealing the lush grass and shrubbery underneath. The forest is now in bloom.
The monsters quickly run away into the shadows again to wait another cycle until their winter can overrun the land once more.

Early Ideation

Myself and my peer, Hannah Kim, have set out to spend our senior year of a bachelor's degree at Savannah College of Art and Design to direct and produce a short film revolving around these initial themes and topics:

Dark Fantasy
Fairies
Forest
Grimm

One thing we want to prioritize with this film is making each shot both aesthetically pleasing and beautiful to look at. The goal is to be able to pause on each frame of the film and be able to put that picture up on a wall. There will be little dialogue and more emphasis on a story that can drive the scenery. As FX artists ourselves, we want lots of FX shots and we also hope to be able to possibly utilize the XR stage that is available at SCAD, meaning we will also be using lots of Unreal engine to create the environment.

To start to get a feel for the overall look of the film, we've also created a Pinterest board for inspiration: https://www.pinterest.com/aspen7129/senior-thesis/