Hey, fellow animators of Falmouth University, and anyone else interested.
This here is my little pre-pitch for my third-year animated short film "The Wooden Plane".
Note that this title is just a working title and will most likely be altered in the future.
Story:
Alistair is a pilot in the RAF during World War 2 who is stationed in Cornwall as a Spitfire pilot in charge of a interceptor squadron that has to prevent German bombers from reaching Britain as they cross the channel.
Alistair is the father of Kim, a very enthusiastic six-year old who wants to be a pilot just like his father, but he is very worried about him getting killed during any of the perilious missions.
Kim, in his spare time, likes to make model airplanes of all different sorts out of wood, and he has made one of his father's Spitfire.
As Alistair is fighting desperatly in the skies above the English Channel, Kim is playing with the wooden replica of his father's plane. As Kim runs around in the garden, playing with his model airplane, Alistair's Spitfire starts to react the same way as Kim makes his toy move.
As Kim makes his model airplane make a loop, Alistair's plane does the same, but Alistair has no knowledge of this and just tries to shake off enemy fighter planes on his tail.
Alistair does well against the Germans, but as soon as Kim is called inside by his mother and put aside the model airplane, Alistair is losing control of his plane and is shot.
Kim and his mother Evie is worried about Alistair as they hear nothing from him, sitting up all night waiting for any word of his well-being.
Under the light of a full moon, Alistair's shredded and smoking Spitfire breaks the cloud and flies home.
Characters:
Alistair:
Alistair is a Spitfire pilot and father of one. He leads a squadron in RAF with plenty of experience, but often worries that one day he may never return.
Kim:
Kim is a six-year old boy with a huge interest in airplanes. He likes to make model airplane out of wood, and has made one out of his father's Spitfire to honor him. He hopes the model airplane will work as a lucky charm and get his father home safely.
Evie:
Evie is Alistair's wife, a strong woman who keeps Kim and her home safe while war is raging.
Just like Kim, she is worried that Alistair won't return.
Artstyle/Animation:
What I want to use as a format is a mix of CG and hand-drawn animation, with the airplanes being 3D animated, characters drawn in 2D and backgrounds hand-painted. I want to make the look and feel of this movie to be very colourful and vibrant, so artists that have a lot of experience with colour is well recieved.
Artists and animators needed:
I am looking for people in any level of the animation course who wants to either work with 3D modelling/animation, hand-drawn traditional animation and background painting.
If you want to work on other projects as well that is fine, but this project will require a lot of attention so dedication is very well appreciated.
Below are some sketches and moodboards that I have made in preperation for the third-year pitch that will happen later this year.
Sketch of Alistair in the cockpit of a Spitfire with full gear on.
I based this sketch on various photos of Spitfire pilot combat uniforms,
trying to keep this as realistic as possible.
A close-up of Kim painting a model airplane.
Kim sitting by the window, hoping that his father has survived whatever mission he has been sent to.
Alistair's wife, Evie, standing by the window and hopes Alistair will return alive.
Sketch of a Spitfire getting critically damaged, and a pilot trying to escape.
Below are various moodboards that will be used to help set the mood and design during the animation production.
Hi Patrick,
SvarSlettWell done for putting this up for comments; it’s good to test out your ideas before pitching them to the panel. You haven’t sent it to me for comments but I assume you don’t mind me adding something here; better I say it now than later when you will have less time to think about it.
Loz has made some interesting and valuable comments on Facebook but I think you need to go back to the main premise of the film and examine what is going on here.
As Loz says, we need to know about the set-up so that we understand who these people are and what their relationship is, but, more importantly, how is this mysterious communication between father and son happening? It seems very arbitrary that the wooden plane should influence the flight of the real Spitfire and you don’t show how it comes about, what is changed by this co-ordination or whether this influence is good or bad. There doesn’t seem to be a real connection between the father and son as the dogfight is happening; Kim just puts the plane down when called by his mother and he goes inside. Nothing really seems to be at stake here.
YOU actually need to know what is happening. You may want to keep things a bit ambiguous and not put an explanation in the film, but YOU need to know or the things you do put in the film will be contradictory and confusing and people will intuitively realise that there is nothing to work out and it isn’t worth bothering with.
There needs to be some kind of danger, not only for the father, but also for the son. If he desperately wants his father to come back Kim needs to be ready to sacrifice something too. How does he change and grow through this experience? What do the protagonists learn? And is mum just a cipher, or does she also have a vital role in this film?