Whilst going about his daily business in the library, the Librarians attention is drawn to one book in particular. Whilst reading it, although he is engrossed with the story, he grows weary due to his old age and falls asleep in his great armchair. It is at this point that the story really comes to life…

A while back a friend showed me the website for Anderson M Studio:

I had already seen the Pottermore video and loved it but was excited to see a whole other collection of stop-motion videos of the same ilk. I think these guys will give me a whole lot of inspiration for my film, this was the sort of thing I imagined with the library coming to life.

These were my three favourite book art videos:

I also really like the style of this one with the way that the cut out paper falls away:

I've started to write out the script for the story - here's where I have got to so far:

INT. LIBRARY - EVENING

At the top of an old wooden ladder that is leaning against a dusty bookshelf THE LIBRARIAN is selecting books from off of the shelf, studying them briefly and then dropping them to the floor for him to collect later. The THUD of the book hitting the floor does not faze him and with boredom he carries on with his chore of selecting books from the shelf. He does this three times in total.

Cut to a close up of the librarians’ legs walking slowly across the screen whilst idly dragging an unfortunate open book by the corner of its cover across the floor, its pages falling helplessly with gravity as it is pulled along.

Cut to the librarian sat at a gnarled desk in an old high backed arm chair. He is reviewing the books he has selected off of the shelf in a careless fashion. (Sigh) Impatiently he starts to throw the books over his shoulder as if he can find no joy whatsoever in their pages. He holds his head miserably in his hands.

He shuffles in his chair, eyes glassed over, bored with his task and no longer caring, gazing off into the distance. He soon falls asleep, arm dropping down the side of a chair still loosely holding the book he was clutching.

The book comes to life…

This is my latest animatic based on the newest beat board, there is still some of the story to come but that will follow soon:

We follow the Librarian, an old man who has forgotten the joy of stories. Although he holds the title of librarian he does not treat his books with respect, he is tired of life and tired of his job, what do a few old dusty books matter to him? Whilst you or I may know that the beauty and wonder of a story is not to be overlooked, our librarian has failed to remember this in his despicable mood. The question is will he change his mind on the matter?

I've been transferring shots off of my storyboard in preperation to shoot my animatic...

After presenting my latest beat board to a group of peers and tutor it was suggested that the Librarian is on screen constantly and this is not needed. The key image for the group was the Librarian throwing books over his shoulder (top right below) as this really showed his disdain for them. I could cut the scenes where he is interacting with the books and have instead him fall asleep in his chair and his part is over in the film. The Library then becomes the main focus at the end of the film with the books and stories coming to life, enhancing the irony that the Librarian hates stories and is missing such a spectacle.

Next step: I want to get these ideas into a work in progress animatic as I now feel confident in the first half of my story, but I want to set out timing and get a feel for some foley alongside it. I will then work on the Library scenes at al later stage.

Here it is, my second and improved (hopefully) beat board!

The Librarian is seen selecting books off of a shelf before dropping them carelessly to the floor, then dragging them to his desk whiere he impatiently flicks through them before throwing them over his shoulder. He pauses looking old and tired, then slowly opens up a new book. This one starts to narrate a story to him with the pages morphing into sculptural images, it is beautiful, the Librarian seems entranced. His expression changes and he angrily crushes the story being told. He falls asleep in his chair, only to awake to the library  being covered in alive stories alike to what was in the books. He carefully closes the book he was reading and places it neatly back on the shelf where he found it.