Summer 2020: Redux
Summary: An overview of Summer 2020, in which Jack and I pitch a variety of short film ideas, develop an initial narrative and research ideas before scrapping all of this for an exciting new opportunity.
Our initial summer weeks revolved around pitching several short film ideas, developing pitch decks with a synopsis, key inspiration and initial thoughts on where each concept could lead. After exploring these ideas, we settled on pursuing Jack's initial narrative exploring ancient Maya legend and culture, which we then continued to develop and refine over the summer weeks. Within this subject area, we each had time to create multiple story directions and ideas - and after several pitches, we were outlining a short animated film based on the Hero Twins, heroes of biblical proportion from the Maya sacred text 'Popol Vuh'. We follow the twin brothers as they face fierce demons and villains from the underworld, in an action-focused narrative. Whilst we were excited about this project and narrative direction, I had reservations about pursuing a story from a sacred text: concerns that we would be 'pissing with the bible', and the connotations that arise from a project like this. Despite our conversations with those educated in ancient Maya culture, I had hesitations on actually pursuing this direction. Why are we telling this story? Apart from a just-beyond-surface-level appreciation of ancient Maya culture and legend, I couldn't give a convincing answer.
Cut to a month later, and an email pops into our inbox introducing us to Sam Meacham, a diver and research scientist currently mapping the Yucatan Peninsula's underground rivers with his Non-Profit Organisation CINDAQ. Sam seemed to be interested in our idea, but ultimately turned the tables in our initial Zoom call and instead pitched us a project that he's been wanting to see realised in animation for a long time, the 'Tale of the Motmot'. A Maya legend and fable, Sam gave us a brief outline of the story which follows a prideful Motmot bird who helps the animals and local Maya people to the safety of his cenote, away from an incoming storm. The bird loses its tail plumage and forms its iconic tail in the process. As a fan of animating animals and FX, this pitch instantly had an appeal for me. Jack was also enthused at the pitch, and it took away any preconceived concerns that we had about pursuing the initial project.
With this, we had been handed a brilliant opportunity - to work with CINDAQ and produce a 2D animated short exploring a strong conservation message with real potential for character and FX animation - and to do so collaboratively as Studio Bask. After having been pitched the project, there was no question why we would be making this film; and with no sacred attachment to this Motmot fable, we were afforded a level of creativity to shape this project into something that can benefit ourselves as an emerging animation duo. Alongside this project offer, Sam also mentioned the opportunity to redesign the CINDAQ logo and produce an animated ident for the charity. Thrilled at the prospect of these two projects, we outlined our interest int he offers but ultimately took a few days to think about the opportunity - and the potential of scrapping all previous research and development work made so far to pursue this new venture.
After examining each option's various benefits and downsides, we agreed that this was a rare opportunity (especially as students) and then arranged a call to discuss the project further, as Sam outlined the film's potential and his ideas for the logo and ident. From this conversation, we decided to put an initial focus on the CINDAQ logo and ident project as our Personal Showcase submission, having written an initial narrative outline for the Motmot short alongside this practical development. Over the course of BA3a, we proceeded to develop an animatic for the ident, style frame exploration and designed a logo which was approved by the CINDAQ team. Whilst the workload was intensely collaborative, Jack handled most of the logo design aspect, and I focused on developing a body of Pre-Production research and development for the ident. As we enter BA3b, we are both able to contribute to the ident and will begin the process with further style frame development - exploring alternate visual approaches and styles for the ident based on CINDAQ's previous feedback.