BEATBOARDS

This is what I presented for my first beat-board. (A beat-board is similar to a storyboard but not as detailed as a storyboard. It doesn't necessarily show all the camera movements like a storyboard would. The beat-board shows the key moments in a story.)


I got some interesting feedback on my beat-boards. The number one thing was that most of the imagery i used for the beat-board was a little too cliche. It was things which we already have seen. And it had a character in it. By having a character i am already moving the viewer away form the experience. Therefore I had to rethink the whole story. First thing I decided was to remove the character and make it look like it was form the point of view of the viewer. 


So I decided to remove the abstract ideas such as falling, excitement and success from the initial beat-board. This allows me to think of movements which have these qualities in it. Here is the beat-board with the movements in it:

beat-board with movements

I created another beat-board which shows abstract symbols that represent ideas of the abstract terms I had. I am then going to mix the both of these together to create a new look for the animation. Here is the beat-board with the abstraction in it:

abstracted beat-board

THE SCRIPT

After doing the free writing and the more brainstorming I identified some key areas within my free writing article which I could potentially use for a Nike style commercial. I came up with the script below:


We all have fears
Fears create doubts
Doubts generates failing
Failing give raise to success
Success comes from learning
Learning happens through experience
Experiences is the result of adventure
Adventure bring about excitement
Excitement triggers curiosity
Curiosity leads to questions
Questions provoke actions
Actions fuels potential
Potential we all have.


My professor looked at it and told me that i was heading in the right direction, but I still have to fix the script a little more. Such as some issues with the narrative of the script. Below is the script, but with the changes made to it:


We all have a fear
Fear create a doubt
Doubt generates a fall
Fall gives raise to success
Success brings experience  
Experience results in learning
Learning triggers a question
Question lead to an adventure
Adventure evokes excitement
Excitement triggers curiosity
Curiosity provokes an action
Action fuels potential
Potential within.

USIGN METAPHORE

Metaphor for our concepts.
A very powerful way to join ideas together is to make a Metaphor.  One can create this "wonderful Harmony" simply by recognizing similarities between unrelated phenomena.


Dont throw away your potential to make a difference is like:
walking the extra mile
doing what is right
helping someone cross a road
saying no to drugs
choosing between life an death
walking while you can take a cab
starving while you can feast
fighting while you can ignore
saving instead of killing
fighting a war

CRITIQUE

After the critique form my professors, I realized that I have a lot of work to do inorder get my chosen concept to a level to be executed as a senior thesis project. It is only through critiques that one can see their mistakes. I believe that I have a good overall direction for my chosen concept. "Dont throw away your potential for making a difference"

The illustration i had for that particular concept is not developed enough. I have been talking to my professor and brainstorming a lot to come up with a better illustration for the concept. Taking inspiration from Nike commercials, (since they do a good job in communicating abstract ideas such as strength and inspiration) I am thinking of making a script which might go along with such a commercial.

I have also been doing a lot of free writing, trying to come up with a good illustration of what the concept might look like if it was visually presented. Here are some of the writings I did. I highlighted some of the interesting parts of the text which I might extract and make a refinement to my concept.

Potential
I personally think that ones potential lies in a number of different areas. From leadership to to artistic potential, one have it all in themselves. This does not meant one necessarily use it or even know how to access these capabilities of extra ordinary actions. It might be within oneself, but how much of it does one use?

I believe that everyone of us has great potential in us. But we fail to acknowledge we do. May be it is because of ones surroundings that we don't realize what our abilities might be. Many times it is the surrounding which tells us what we can do and what we cant. This is the case for a lot of people. But i believe that the true happiness comes from our ability to do exactly what we want and not what others might say we should.

Struggles and hardships are part of life and these constantly questions us of who we are. Many of the times these struggles helps us understand who we are and what we are capable of.

We usually don't use our potential to full extent or even try to do so. The reason being our societies flourish a simple life which is entirely based on doing the bare minimum. And this is the main reason why we are not truly happy about our actions.

For example, I personally feel really disappointed in myself when i turn in a project knowing that i can do a lot better than what i turned in. Therefore the bare minimum does not fly with me. I am not proud of what i did. I don't feel like i accomplished something.

On the other hand, doing more than what is required and pushing towards my full potential always makes me happy. It is the idea of being challenged which drives my passion. And a challenge brings out the real capabilities in me. The most amazing thing is that when i put my full potential the things which i can come up with are great, it inspires others to become better than who they are.


Don't let other people tell you what you can do.
People say society shapes the person who we are. Even though what all of us strive for is an individual identity which is unique to ourselves. How do we differ from each other in today’s world? How do we make sure that we are not a portrayal of someone elses vision? How do we make sure we do the things which we love and live the way which makes us happy? More importantly how do we break out of the habit of others telling us who we are supposed to be.

Lets first ask the question why we let others tell us what we are supposed to be. Why do we listen to people who says that we can only do certain things and we should avoid doing other things? How do we break away from other limiting our potential to be who we really are. We are so much more than who we think we are. We have so much more potential then we think we do. All it takes is some guts to express your full potential.

Many of the times i feel people are afraid of their potential They are doubtful of what they can do. And it only takes one act of courage to prove themselves wrong. To prove others wrong.

The only thing you need is just one act of bravery and you will be able to fully practice your abilities. We all have a responsibility in doing the most we can. We should not limit ourselves to the views and sayings of others. We should do what makes us happy and many of the times, true happiness only comes from the ability to give the full amount to everything we do. It is only through this dedication that we can move forward with our-lives.



Hiding in the dark:
What do you possibly think to gain by being behind a mask? And how is it that we are so used to being under a mask which hides what we can really do? Would you not consider this as living in slavery? How different are we from a slave? Aren't we slaves of the society and how other people want us to be?

Why do we consider ourselves as ordinary people? And never realize that we can do what ever we want if we had the will? We have all the power we need to bring about change to the way we live, to the place we live and also to the people around us. We have the potential to be better that who we are. And this is one of the facts about life that never changes. There is always a need and a hunger for us to be better than who we are. We will always have a little less than what we potentially can be. It is that constant struggle to do better and that struggle to push the limits that makes us better than what we are now.

That is what makes us different from being a slave of the society. By pushing yourself to do more than what everyone tells you that you are capable of.

THE FIRST PITCH

Yesterday we presented our thesis ideas to our faculty. They found my visuals to be really interesting but, they didn't necessarily like all of my concepts. They thought that the second concept which i presented which is about encouraging people to use their potential to the ful extend was very interesting. But they did not necessarily like the illustration of the robots i had for the style frame. So I will have to come up with another illustration of the same idea. 

Other than that i think i did very well. I made sure i did not repeat the same mistakes i made in the practice presentations. So i think i did good overall. I will be posting updates on how i am coming up with the ideas for the next illustration. I might actually change it from a short story to some other form of communication such as may be a PSA or even a commercial.

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PRACTICE PITCH

Last Tuesday we pitched our ideas to our client - Our professor as a practice pitch before our final pitch this friday. I thought I did fine, but now that i saw the vide footage of me presenting, i think i have a lot to improve. It is hard to evaluate yourself without seeing how you are doing while presenting. So the video footage of my presentation really helped me realize what i need to improve.

 I noticed that I said a lot of "umms". So that is one thing which I will try and avoid as much as possible next time. Another observation was that i had a little difficulty answering some of the questions which they asked me. But these question were mainly about the story, which i obviously have not fully developed. So for Friday i believe that i will be able to answer all of them a lot better because i have my stories developed for Friday.

 I thought i did a good job in having all my style frames together and also having a nice looking presentation. I will post the PDF and the images for the presentation. Having the style frames helped everyone see what exactly i was talking about a little easier.

The slides for the presentation are given below.

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