Hey Annie - well, in general terms, I'm enjoying the prospect of this idea a lot. A sort of 'Pollination Waltz' between the flowers and the butterfly. My experience of this unit is such that I think you need to think about ensuring the actual nuts and bolts of the scientific content is likewise available to the audience, so it's not simply a beautiful aesthetic experience. The client will be wanting the best of both worlds so don't take your eye of the client's agenda because it's likely you'll get this feedback at the pitch anyway - so finding a suitably integrated way from outset will be in your best interest.
This is just a thought, but when I was thinking about your Pollination Waltz I was thinking of these:
I can see how you might be able to appropriate this kind of 'dance how-to' diagram as a means of talking about the 'dance steps' of the pollination cycle more openly, whilst keeping your concept untouched? Also, it occurs to me that if you decided that the 'flower' we're focusing on is a 'beginner to dance' - and they're learning the steps, then your audience could learn alongside the dancer - with the film ending with the beginner being swept up into a big final showcase - as the camera draws up and up and up until we see this abstracted 'Busby Berkeley' style finish - this is a different vibe obviously, but you'll get the gist (watch to the end...).
https://youtu.be/0Tm1nhhSpPE
The other 'big musical number' reference you may have already - but may not, are the big aquatic spectacles of Esther Williams: https://youtu.be/akQiZTlXn0M
So... I want you to think about getting the facts on screen and made available to your target audience from the outset, so your metaphor of the dance doesn't eclipse the function of the animation. My instincts around this are that the key lies in characterising your flower as a 'wall flower' - someone who wants to dance and join everyone one else in the ballroom, but doesn't know the steps - but after they've been taught, they take to the stage and all is wonderful!
The only other thing I think you need to careful about is 'gendering' your flowers as overtly female - as after all, flowers have both types of reproductive organs - so it's not accurate that the flowers are girls and the butterfly (for example) is the boy. You might want to consider a more androgynous design for the flowers - or a bit more 'cross-dressing' - so super glamorous and chic but a bit more representative of the flowers as they are truly constituted... a bit more Tilda Swinton? Something to think about.
Just some other references that might inspire in terms of getting that science content on screen in some format or other:
OGR 15/03/2018
ReplyDeleteHey Annie - well, in general terms, I'm enjoying the prospect of this idea a lot. A sort of 'Pollination Waltz' between the flowers and the butterfly. My experience of this unit is such that I think you need to think about ensuring the actual nuts and bolts of the scientific content is likewise available to the audience, so it's not simply a beautiful aesthetic experience. The client will be wanting the best of both worlds so don't take your eye of the client's agenda because it's likely you'll get this feedback at the pitch anyway - so finding a suitably integrated way from outset will be in your best interest.
This is just a thought, but when I was thinking about your Pollination Waltz I was thinking of these:
https://www.drdiagram.com/two-step-dance-steps-diagram/inspiration-latest-two-step-dance-steps-diagram-2/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542261611368607948/
I can see how you might be able to appropriate this kind of 'dance how-to' diagram as a means of talking about the 'dance steps' of the pollination cycle more openly, whilst keeping your concept untouched? Also, it occurs to me that if you decided that the 'flower' we're focusing on is a 'beginner to dance' - and they're learning the steps, then your audience could learn alongside the dancer - with the film ending with the beginner being swept up into a big final showcase - as the camera draws up and up and up until we see this abstracted 'Busby Berkeley' style finish - this is a different vibe obviously, but you'll get the gist (watch to the end...).
https://youtu.be/0Tm1nhhSpPE
The other 'big musical number' reference you may have already - but may not, are the big aquatic spectacles of Esther Williams: https://youtu.be/akQiZTlXn0M
So... I want you to think about getting the facts on screen and made available to your target audience from the outset, so your metaphor of the dance doesn't eclipse the function of the animation. My instincts around this are that the key lies in characterising your flower as a 'wall flower' - someone who wants to dance and join everyone one else in the ballroom, but doesn't know the steps - but after they've been taught, they take to the stage and all is wonderful!
The only other thing I think you need to careful about is 'gendering' your flowers as overtly female - as after all, flowers have both types of reproductive organs - so it's not accurate that the flowers are girls and the butterfly (for example) is the boy. You might want to consider a more androgynous design for the flowers - or a bit more 'cross-dressing' - so super glamorous and chic but a bit more representative of the flowers as they are truly constituted... a bit more Tilda Swinton? Something to think about.
Just some other references that might inspire in terms of getting that science content on screen in some format or other:
https://youtu.be/C2oBQVRXn6k
https://youtu.be/JmoNXbHi9pU