Further Development in story

After obsessively thinking about what I can do with my story, these are my thoughts

I want the experiment he is doing to integrate more into the story for more meaning because in my old story he could have been doing any experiment with the same outcome which makes it irrelevant to the story.

I also want the wasp to be more of a threat, as that was a comment made before hand because why would he be scared of a tiny wasp?

After struggling with what kind of experiment he could be doing I went through a few detailed thoughts such as:

he could be using a large ray gun to make objects larger but can’t decide what clamps to attach, the wasp gets in the wasp and wasp becomes huge

He could be using a brain device and can’t decide what clamps to attach to the device however that leaves no room for the wasp to become threatening

One that could make a lot of sense is that he is trying to produce an anti venom because he is allergic, this would make the wasp a much larger threat. This could also avoid the use of pouring liquids by using a syringe or something similar. However the main issue with this is trying to explain he is allergic and that’s why he is scared.

Instead I’m going for a simpler plot that’s visually pleasing and funny. So thiking more about the ray gun idea he could be tampering with it, get frustrated and bashes it which fires it at the wasp to turn it big and angry.

new story beats:

• Scientist invents ray gun (Setup)
• He is intimidated by its power
• wasp enters the room (turning point)
• He gets scared and drops the gun, it fires at the wasp
• Wasp becomes larger and more angry
• He gingerly tries to escape through a door but fails (Rising action)
  • He looks alarmed but is happy to see door, starts to sneak off camera
  • He runs to door
  • He reaches for the handle into frame
  • wasp flies in the way
  • Pulls hand back swiftly back
• He quickly tries to escape through the window but fails
  • He runs to window off camera
  • wasp flies in the way
  • Pulls hand back swiftly
• He frantically tries to hide in closet
  • Runs into closet
  • wasp chases him out
• He is backed into corner. Wasp closing in and scientist must you the ray gun to shrink it (Climax)
  • shoots the wasp, becomes larger
  • changes the setting to shrink, shoots wasp again
  • wasp is smaller, gains confidence
• He blows the wasp out the window (resolution)
  • Scientist is pleased with himself
  • Turns to ray and looks scared again
  • Recovers confidence
• He overcomes his fear and puts the ray gun in the bin

 

 

Developing character further

After having a look at some mad scientist I’ve found online:

Observations:

Most have large black gloves on, some with hazard signs

Most have spiky hair and bushy eyebrows

Most seems to be wearing goggles

relating this back to my character:

I’m going to put some goggles on his forehead, make his eyebrows bigger (monobrow?) and more bushy, give him big black gloves with a caution sign and shrink his very large forehead so his face cover more of his head.

References:

BreitBart (2017). Delingpole: ‘It’s Never Been Harder to Be a Climate Scientist’. Good.. [image] Available at: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/31/delingpole-its-never-been-harder-to-be-a-climate-scientist-good/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

CGsociety (n.d.). Mad Scientist. [image] Available at: http://tiagohoisel.cgsociety.org/art/mad-photoshop-scientist-cartoon-866688 [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Comic Vine (n.d.). Rick Sanchez. [image] Available at: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/rick-sanchez/4005-117059/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Den of Geek! (2017). 20 terrible scientists in TV and film. [image] Available at: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/movie-scientists/36310/20-terrible-scientists-in-tv-and-film [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

Mzayat.com. (n.d.). Mad Scientist Clip Art #120455. [online] Available at: http://mzayat.com/single/120455.html [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

WordPress (2013). Virtual Lab Inspires Mad Scientists of the Future. [image] Available at: https://aberdaneian.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/virtual-lab-inspires-mad-scientists-of-the-future/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2017].

 

Overdue update!

Since my last post a lot has change and is still rapidly changing.

I re-designed my character because he was quite unappealing. My main challenge was that I was attached to the idea of him being an egghead (literally) which got in the way of creating an appealing character. This is him as of now:

After some feedback it seems he still needs some work. He’s more appealing than previously however he could still be improved. I think it involves mostly the face, I think the nose could be more round and the eyes should be larger to avoid the beady look, I implemented this look to begin with to make him look more shy and timid, but this can be done with facial expressions easily with larger eyes and such. I’m still unsure about the body, it goes out almost in an hour glass shape with wide(ish) hips which is what female characters usually have so I’m going to experiment with proportions.

This is the current state of my project:

I received some feedback recently that opened my eyes to the state of my project. Its simple to mundane and boring. I’ve been given a blank slate to work from and I come up with a partially unappealing scientist who mixing test tube fluids and runs from a wasp.

I think my problem was that I had an exciting mess of ideas and themes at the start and was focused on stripping it down to be more concise but the fun element was taking out in the process. Now that I look at it, it just seems like its missing that factor.

I realized something a mistake I made that seems stupidly obvious now. I wanted to have a mad evil scientist doing a mad experiment that is scared of wasp but I changed it because hard to feel sympathy or be related to a character with evil intentions. So I went for a mundane scientist when I could had just went for a mad scientist (simply take out the evil part…).

In summary I need to add some spice to the mix, as I’m writing this i’m thinking all sorts of things he could be doing: building a bomb, genetically modifying a wasp, making a forcefield so the wasp cannot get to him or trying to ressurect a dead braing. I think with this new directions i’m going to have a lot more fun animating it. The only problem is that I can do a complete 180 on my project and change it drastically because I no longer have the time for that. My project has potential but i just have to find it.