Test shot 3

The book opening returns

I seem to have a bit of a thing for starting stories with a book opening as this will be second whilst at Uclan. Which considering i've only made 5 films it quite impressive.

Its a common device for starting a story, especially fairy tales, is to begin with a book opening. The Opening Narration goes on as normal, but as it goes on the book opens and we fade to see the story itself being played out. Just as if it came from the book itself. Usually the story will finish with the book being closed, i've kept this concept, but with a slight twist as my film ends with the closing of a laptop.

As mentioned before i have already tried animating a book opening during my BA

which can be seen to the left of this text. At the time i was so proud if this bit of animation, now... not so much. but its expected. But my skills as an animator have improved so much since. Which even though its expected is still a small reward in itself.

I used this as my starting point, looking back on my past work really helped me as i could basically used this as a starting point. i had the basic movement down, now its was just a case of making it better.

ALL the books!

I spent quite a while researching into book opening within animation/live action. Anything i could get my hands on really.

Some examples that Disney have animated can be found within (some of which can be seen on the right):

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio.
Cinderella.
Sleeping Beauty.
The Sword in the Stone.
The Jungle Book.
Robin Hood.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Beauty and the Beast uses a variation, with stained-glass illustrations on the Beast's castle windows instead of a book.
Chicken Little opens with Buck Cluck deciding how best to begin the story. When the storybook appears, he rejects it as too cliched and moves on. Ironically, the storybook opening was originally going to be used for the movie, but was cut for apparently the same reason.
Tangled was originally supposed to begin in a storybook style, as shown in the Extras on the DVD and also in the "Art Of" book, but was changed to the voiceover they used in the film.

Everyone knows about the iconic opening scenes with the Shrek movies!

Subverted by Shrek, which opens with the title character reading a Fairy Tale... and then ripping out a page as toilet paper. Of course, it's still the same basic type of story anyway.
Played surprisingly straight in Shrek 2.
Used again in Shrek Forever After, with multiple pages being ripped off in frustration by the villain, Rumpelstiltskin.

Example of this can be seen to the right of this text.

Shrek!

Live action

Used in Enchanted, for both the opening and the closing. Fittingly, the song that ends the movie opens with a line about "storybook endings".

Oddly used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It doesn't happen at the beginning or end, but about twenty minutes into the film, with the description of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.

The extended edition of the The Lord of the Rings DVD menu. which i cant seen to find an example of anywhere on the internet!

Elf not only has a storybook in its prologue, opening credits, and closing scene, but the menus on the DVD resemble pop-up books.

My book.

Honestly, to date i can honestly say that i have never been so proud of any bit of animation i have produced. It's clear to see from the shot that it's way way too fast, but this again this is something that can be sorted later.

I'm going to maybe colour this scene, i'm still not sure. Again thats something i'll address at a later date.