Since the second pitch, Phil and I have remained committed to finding a fitting ending to the story, so the storyboard can be completed and then we can begin actual production as soon as possible. We won't be making another animatic at this stage, as it will cost too much time.
I think it was clear to everyone that the visual style had been nailed, we had moved away from colour into monochromatic territory. We felt this was a natural transition, yet it was something that we always kept coming back to. The stark contast of black and white will enable us to be more experimental with story development, in terms of mood and character.
We have literally spent hours upon hours discussing all possible ways of ending the film - some ideas were simply awful, while others more promising. We had to go through this exhausting process of eliminating ideas to get to the really good ones. In some cases, we would find an idea we were happy with then decide to go with it, yet after some time to let it sink in, we would then go back and scrap it or alter it in some way. We were drawing a little closer, bit by bit, but there were always minute details that were bugging us, and unfortunately they couldn't be overlooked.
It's difficult to put into words how frustrating this was becoming and we both agreed that we needed a pair of fresh eyes on the case.
So we sought advice from our former Lens Based Media tutor Tom Hooper. He always had an eccentric outlook on storytelling, something that was ideal in this instance. We described the story and characters, using imagery as reference to give him a much clearer idea. He gave us a very positive response - as for the ending, well no luck there, we would have to find that ending ourselves, but it was certainly within our reach. He gave suggestions as to the right ingredients for a fitting conclusion for SPLAY, i.e, emotion - we have to feel what we want the audience to feel, drama - don't be afraid to push yourself and definitely don't play 'safe', be unexpected and push the audience to the limit, or you will not keep them engrossed. I don't think we literally want to make people cry, nor do I think the story has that level of punch to do so, yet we want to tug at the heartstrings and have a very memorable story.
Tom also suggested to be far more innovative with the soundtrack; again we shouldn't remain in the comfort zone of using orchestral music as it could soften the gritty, stark look of the visuals. Lots of experimentation with mechanical sound effects and music to give more of an industrial feel to the world of SPLAY. This is something we will most definitely consider.
Overall it was a productive meeting, and we felt more confident with how progress was going, yet an ending still had to be found.
I could ramble on for ages on how we came up with the right ending, but all I will say was that it was a challenge. There are loose ends to tie up (as there always is) but we feel far more relived to have something we are content with that doesn't seem rushed or contrived. Phil will now continue storyboarding the rest of the story, while I will continue lighting tests within Maya, as well as work on Polished Off, as I have neglected it.
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