#67 = Post-Pitch update: Why not "Boy meets girl", plus a summary of the current idea.
Written on: Week 6, 28th Oct. 2021
Just did the pitch on Monday and got a lot of feedback, surprisingly many guests feel interested in Ultraman. Beforehand, I will do a brief summary of what I had come up with so far.
There are a few differences from the week 4 version, the boy and girls story is still a fun idea but I feel I am not capable to fill up the middle part of the story.
"Boy meets girl"
The Storyboard
It was a high-school romance sketch: boy meets girl, fall in love, misunderstanding and confession. An extra object supporting the story will be "the lollipop", on how the girl uses it to shut the boy's mouth, then the boy has the illusion which the girl also has a crush on her, and thinking because she is an introverted person so she is being reticent. The misunderstanding continues until the boy confessed his love to the girl, he is one step earlier than the girl, and give her a lollipop (Its flavour will be weirdly specific, e.g. mapo tofu, beef stew or kiwi curry), as in the boy's memory, it is the item link their relationship together from the beginning. The girl final speaks, perhaps she was touched, but mostly that flavour has brought her memory with her dad. She was seeking his attention and her dad used a lollipop (the same flavour as the one the boy gave her earlier) to push her away from him. The girl rejected the boy, but their (physical) distance comes closer than before, as the girl has opened her mind to him. In the ending both are standing on the rooftop, without speaking a word, enjoying their treats under the breeze.
The idea was partly inspired but my friend's true story, how she believes her behaviour was affected because her parents treat her in childhood and make her sometimes struggle on how to love others. The other was just based on my fantasy, an imagination of a high school romance. I remember Nichola said she thinks the story is already "enough" and I do not have to worry about the middle part. But in my personal view, still feels there something is lacking, or, "the journey of the story is too short". Let me try to explain it further:
(1) The boy only has the act of taking and the girl only has the act of giving. Even though our main character did not go into a further relationship, a healthy relationship should have "giving" and "taking" in a balanced way. It makes the bonding between them is weak and as a high-school romance story, the audience will possibly feel unsatisfied.
(2) The reasons for the characters' behaviour are not convincing. Even though a high-school boy will easily misunderstand the signal given by the opposite sex thus make a conclusion "oh she may love me", if our main character was fall in love only because of the treats from the girl and her appearance, the character would be difficult to be intriguing. Especially in a romance sketch, the audiences will very likely project themselves into the characters or tend to support the relation, but in both cases, because the boy's characteristics are such normal, the motivation to witness his journey is boring. I am too greedy about what I want to tell in the film. But actually, if it could be simple like "Fumiko's Confession" by Hiroyasu Ishida, cutting off the unnecessary settings would be a much enjoyable film to watch.
「フミコの告白」Fumiko's Confession, 石田祐康 Hiroyasu Ishida, 2009.
"Revenge"
There is another idea I had ready for the same day but didn't present the whole idea, as I realised that would be too ambitious, and the script must be too challenging for me. It was a story inspired by Tokusatsu, mainly the Ultraman series. It was a story around four main characters and a few other sidekicks. The story would be told through various random stories, and all of them will give a hint to the main plot. There is a young couple (their design will be exactly as same as the lollipop one), they live in a world in which kaiju (monster) exists and keep being hunted down by Ultraman-like giant superhero. But once they got into an accident. Both of them got injured, and the boy loses half his body. After the accident, a public conference was immediately held by the superheroes and admitted they have the responsibility for all accidents and they disassembled the related association. Five years have passed, luckily or weirdly, kaiju no longer appears after the accident and humans had their most peaceful time in period. The girl had never forgiven the hero and planning for revenge. The boy has revived as a half-human half kaiju and living with the girl, they are financially supported by a secret agent, who is an ex-coworker with the hero, who also hated him after the accident as it ruin his life. However, the boy already forgives everything, and he will team up with the hero and try to stop the girl and the agent.I feel this type of story will be easier to tell if it is a 20-24 minutes film, and the plot appears like the first episode of a long animated series. However considering this is a personal project with a tight time limit, I don't think this would be a good idea for now, but I really like the idea of "a relationship between two characters", "character's daily interaction" and "hero's redemption" from my previous plans, and I adept them into the current story. And it's time to catch up on the current idea, and my thoughts after the pitch.
"Hero and monster"
"2014 (temporary name)" will be a short, 6-8 minutes film about a story of the daily life of a retired hero and a kaiju, who live together. The film is still inspired by the Ultraman series, but instead of the "hero saving the world" type of plot, it will be a sketch of the couple living together.
Before going through the making of the film, I will introduce the background setting first. The whole story happened in a fictional city "G-City", and there is one special unit in charge of defending the invasion of the outer-space monster (Kaiju). One of the team members has a secret identity which he could become a giant superhero to fight against the monster and protect the human race. During every mission, the team will open a special protection shield¹ to protect people from getting hurt. However, there is one time the shield did not work and massive destruction was created. The superhero retired after the accident, and the kaiju who created that accident decided to stay on Earth. One is looking for his redemption and one starts working for living (The Kaiju casting as a Kiju in a morning, children-targeted live-action show) and both start living together.
The film will be a digital hand draw anime-style animation. I will use Tvpaint for the animation part, and Procreate for the colourring and lines. I hope the film will be in Japanese, I had already contacted with the university's Japanese and a few student were interested to have a try. I had plan an audition during mid December to January, before that I had to prepare a sketch script first. The story will be surrounding the daily life of the two characters.
The doorbell ring, the hero slowing run through the corridor and open the door. A familiar face stands in front of him, it's the Kaiju, it has back from work and bring get themselves some food from the convenience store nearby their flat. It squeezes into the door and the film begins,. It's a film with two character (Hero and Kaiju) and one setting (their flat).
I remember during the pitch, some guest had some great idea that maybe the film could start with a montage, a flashback of the memories to carry out the background settings, but I want to let the audience to understand it by their daily conversion. I would intend to cover them all but will definitely let them know what had happened.
I did consider about what should the film feels like: do I want to make a comedy sketch about a couple? I think I don't want the audience laugh hardly, but I really want to put a smile on their face while seeing their clumsy interactions. It will be a soft, subtle film, and in the middle part, once they are more comfortable with others, they will bring out their little secrets: they both escaping from their responsibilities. It will just be a hint, not aiming to bring out a solution, and afterall, the film will ends in a start of a brand new, normal day.
The character design, especially for the kaijus, I really want to stick with Narita Toru's concept:
- “Don’t make Kaiju with a animals size.”(動物をそのまま大きくしただけの怪獣は作らない。) “Don’t make Kaiju in a creepy, or body horror way.”(身体が破壊されたような気味の悪い怪獣は作らない)
- “Even if it is evil for the earthlings, he is a hero and justice on his planet.” (地球人にとっては悪でも、彼の星では勇者であり正義なのだから)
Also, I want to make it looks more plastic-like, like the jacket from totsukasu films. And their behaviour, will be a little over exaggerated and sometimes, a bit clumsy, like they are acting in a big heavy costume. Here are some referencee videos:
ウルトラライブステージ「ウルトラセブンよ永遠に」, 2012.
ウルトラマンZ, 2020.
Right now, the brief characters design were done. I had also complete the draft of the 2d and 3d layout of their apartment, there are still so
me considerations on how it would fit the kaiju and it is slight bigger that a normal adult. Also I am still continuing the conversation with the Taiwanese band and discussing some argements on using their song at the ending scene. Besides all the drawing part, I am now re-watching the Ultraman series (the original one, Ultraman Seven, Ultraman Gaia and Operation: Mystery!), the acting is worth to study. There are also a few magazine, includes some interviews of the actors, directors and the script writers, about their perspective on the film and I think that will also help on build up the characters.
A interview of the concepts of Ultraman GAIA
Some important books the helps me a lot: (Top) The Sky of Totsukasu, a collection of background of totsukasu film, very helpful on deciding the colour scheme of my film. (Bottom Left) Ultraman's Kaiju Gallery, a sketch book of various kaiju designer, help me understand what are their considerations on creating a characters. (Bottom right) Ultraman's Justice. A depth study on what is Justice in Ultraman's series.
For the rest of the semester, I will continue on the script writing and the animation test of the characters.
¹ Protection shield R.P.S. (Rapid-Protection-Shield), the shield has 3 main functions: (1) In the specific area, all the "creatures from Earth" and "Artefacts" will be in a "saved condition" when the shield turn-on. (2) Non-special unit members' memories will be partially formatted after the shield is off, and inserted a feeling of " being-rescued" and "satisfaction". (3) People will still be injured in the shield, including emotionally desperate and physically feeling pain, but will recover after the shield is off.
Referenced readings:
特撮の空 島倉二千六、背景画の世界. 島倉二千六. ホビージャパン. March 31, 2021.
ウルトラ怪獣幻画館. 実相寺 昭雄. 筑摩書房. March 8, 2017.
ウルトラマン 「正義の哲学」. 神谷和宏. 朝日新聞出版. March 9, 2015.
ウルトラ特撮 PERFECT MOOK vol.16 電光超人グリッドマン. 講談社シリーズMOOK. February 24, 2021.
ウルトラ特撮 PERFECT MOOK vol.14ウルトラマンガイア. 講談社シリーズMOOK. January 25, 2021.
