Original Ides - The Fox and The Chicken and Greek myth

Fox and chicken – Script

Scene 1

Setting – A sunny green field with a great big chicken run in it everything looks happy, a typical British summer (on a good year) butterflies and birds can be seen, an old fashioned big red farm house is in view in the distance. Chicken run has 6 small houses 3 in a row with a big one at the back, a medium size fence lines the outside of the run, inside the fence the ground is dry and dusty.

Pan of the chicken run settles down in the field just behind a fox which can be seen creeping towards the run.

A side on shot in which the fox is creeping towards the run, he then gets there and opens the gate then slides in.

An above shot of the whole run, the fox can be seen darting from small house to small house doing rolls and dives, then reaches the main building

A closer shot of the main chicken house the fox slides in and all is quiet for a few seconds then an outburst of shrieks clucks and whimpers can be heard the door bows sharply as if something is being banged against it. Then silence, suddenly the door flies off as the fox is tracked as he flies out and lands face first in the dust

In front of the fox behind the large house can be the fox is still for a few seconds then a clucking come from the barn and a chicken comes charging out and the fox legs it with the chicken pecking his tail.

Scene 2 – Act 1

Setting – in a gap next to the field with the chicken run the fox is sat in the gap where a gate joins to another field.

Camera in front of the fox, he is sat looking extremely sad for himself (I want people to feel sorry for him) he rubs his tail. Suddenly stands up as if he has had epiphany, he looks extremely pleased with himself.

Setting – a small winding road lined with hedges on either side, the fox is sitting on the grass just off the road.

A shot of the fox from other side of the road, he looks expectantly one way and then the other ( maybe change from day to night). After a while a van engine can be heard getting louder , a van pulls across in front of the fox stops for a couple of seconds the pulls off.

Setting - Simple field with hedges.

A side shot starts at the box open on its side then tracks sideways to show a pile of paperwork and packing/polystyrene to the fox standing with his hands on his hips then to a cage/trap with its door open.

a shot of the fox holding a stick with the cage in front of him, he pokes the base and the gate slams shut.

Scene 2 - Act 2

Setting - back in the field where the farm can be seen in the background. A trail of seed is leading from the gate in the hedge to a shed in the middle of the field.

The chicken enters the field through the gate and is following the seed trail, camera pivots to face a shed with signs saying "Seed", "All you can eat" and "Life time supply".

Back to chicken now halfway down the field.

Back to shed the fox's  head appears from round the corner of nowhere, as camera rotates behind shed you realise that it's not a shed but a painted board and where the door of the shed should be is the cage from earlier.

Behind the cage the chicken enters and eats a pile of seed sitting in the cage and then leaves without setting of the trap.

A shot of the fox's face is stunned, the camera follows him as he picks up a stick and tests the cage.. nothing happens. he then walks around the board climbs through the door and starts jumping on the cage floor, at first nothing happens then the gate slams shut on the fox's tail. he jumps in pain the sits and looks miserable.

Scene 3

Setting - In the corner of the field, a tree is in the corner.

A shot of a pulley spinning working.

The fox can be seen pulling a rope as a shadow next to him gets smaller (shadow rest over a target with a melon on it) fox lets go of rope.

Shot of pulley again spinning extremely fast.

Side on shot of melon getting squashed by a big weight.

Foxes face fills shot he smiles.

Quick cut to black.

Fox is in bottom of shot looking over a hedge at the target which now has a pile of seed on it with a trail leading out of shot, half way along trail chicken is pecking at seed.

shot of chicken as he reaches the pile of seed, in background fox can be seen as he lets go of rope..... weight lands on him.

 fox pulls up on edge of a hole frowns at camera fade out (maybe classic circle fade)

The End

Luckily with the Greek myth idea I didn't have much to worry about as I was basing it the original translation. This idea got scraped early on any way as it wasnt a practical project.

The Dethronement Of Cronus

Cronus took his sister Rhea as his wife. But his dying father, Uranus, prophesied that one of his sons would dethrone him. So he swallowed his children as Rhea bore them, one by one.

   Rhea was enraged at this. Soon she bore Zeus, her third son, at the dead of the night on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia. She then gave her son to Mother Earth. Mother Earth gave the infant to the ash nymphs Adrasteia and her sister Io. They nursed the baby with Amaltheia’s milk and feed him honey. Zeus was very thankful for their kindness and when he became Lord of the Universe, he put Amaltheia’s among the stars. He also borrowed one of her horns, which resembled a cow’s, and gave it to the daughters of Melisseus. This horn became known as the famous Cornucopia, or horn of plenty, which is always filled with whatever food or drink its owner desires.

    Around the infants Zeus’s golden cradle, which was hung upon a tree ( so Cronus could not find him neither in the earth or heaven or sea ) stood the armed Curetes, Rhea’s sons. They clashed their spears against their shields and shouted to drown the wailing of the baby’s cries (so that Cronus could not hear the cries from afar) For Rhea had wrapped a stone in clothes and gave to Cronus who swallowed it thinking it was a newborn baby.

   Zeus grew to manhood among the shepherds of Ida. By the advise of Metis he asked his mother to make him Cronus’s cup bearer. Rhea eagerly helped her son in his mission for vengeance; she provided him with an emetic potion that Zeus was told to mix with Cronus’s honeyed drink. Cronus drank the potion and then threw up Zeus’s brothers and sisters. They sprang out uninjured and thankfully asked Zeus to lead them in a battle against the Titans.

    This war lasted (may have been ten years) but finally Mother Earth foresaw victory to her grandson if he would free those Cronus had trapped in Tartarus. Zeus did this and in turn the Cyclopes gave Zeus the thunderbolt, gave Hades a helmet of darkness, and gave Poseidon a trident. They was a final battle and Titans were defeated and banished to an island (some say a British island farthest west and some say in Tartarus) were the Hundred Handed Ones guarded them. Atlas who was the Titan’s war leader (because Cronus was passed his prime) was given an enormous punishment. He had to carry the Earth and Sky on his shoulders. Bu the Titanesses were spared punishment for Metis and Rhea’s sake.

As you can see its a very simple story which will hopefully translate well into a script and an animation.

Original Ideas

Influences over my ideas 

• I love Environment modeling
• I cant stand working in a style similar to pixar
• I would like to work with live action if possible
• I want a kind of gritty feel to my work 
• I would like a chance to put in some good editing and some motion graphics

First Idea

Now initially when i started thinking about this i really wanted to do a meaning full short film that would have a lot of impact rather than just doing an animation for the sake of an animation. When I started I had all these grand ideas about how I could make this awesome short film relating to the Iraq war and all our soldiers out there, i was planning to convey the emotion of what its like for them to be out there, the anticipation of waiting to get deployed and the grief that the family back home have to live with. this was a really good idea except the more i tried to plan it out the more it kept looking like a series of interviews with not much animation. so after talking with my tutor it was suggested that maybe it could be a more abstract piece displaying emotions through patterns, shape and colours while using the interviews as voice over. This is a brilliant idea but personally I hate the idea of doing an abstract piece, I could never under stand Picasso's work I guess some my say my mind can be a bit linear but hey. When taking this into account I had already began to lose enthusiasm for this idea so I decided it was best to let it go as I am going to have to work on my chosen idea for a year so it need to be able to keep my attention.

Over the next few months I had a couple of ideas mingling around in my head developing until i had enough of an idea to jot them down, my main idea that had been with me throughout was the Greek myth the dethronement of Cronus. Since I was little I have always loved Greek mythology I've always had book on it, it just fascinates me. Recently I had also purchased a direct translation of the myths so its a subject that I have a fair knowledge of. the story itself is just a few short paragraphs long so it would be simple to create (in theory). Unfortunately due to the recent releases of Clash of the Titans, Percy Jackson at the cinema and the video game God of War I put this idea on whole because I didn't want people to think I would just be copying them.

I had 2 other main ideas that I could work on first was an environment piece showing of different styles of architecture as it evolves through the ages. It would do this by having the buildings slowly rotating while being constructed it would then collapse back down followed by another building of a new era being built up. I really liked this idea but it involved as it would involve a lot of composting for the transitions but not much animation also it would lack a strong narrative and I had to bear in mind i had to pitch this to my classmates and tutors.

My final idea was a British take on coyote and roadrunner but with a twist instead it would be a fox and a chicken/rabbit. it would be the classic comical duo the fox trying to catch the chicken and failing miserably, although this was a goo idea I never got round to developing it fully. (see below)

With these all in mind I began talking to people about my them and seeing what people thought as I work better with feedback plus as i was doing work experience at the mill i thought where else would be better to get the feedback. While people seemed to like the fox and chicken idea the general answer I got was do which work on whatever ever I was most passionate about while I still have the chance, which for me was the Greek Myths. I was told not to worry about the films and games that had come out and just do it because I enjoy it.