I have decided to get rid rid of the idea that the Librarian dislikes books completely. Whilst wrestling with the story I believe this is the thing that has been causing me problems all along, especially since he has lost the motive of his fathers death. I have decided to change the Librarian to be a character who is going about his daily business in the Library when his attention is drawn to one book in particular. This book then interacts with him.

Out with the old and in with the new...

So I realised in taking time out of this production over Christmas and New Year to write my dissertation that when I tried to get back into it I was in a bit of a rut. I think I had got too fixated on the idea of the Librarian losing his father and this was creating too much of a complicated back story, creating unnecessary faff and causing more work for myself.

Therefore I have ditched the back story. The Librarian is now simply a man who has lost his love for stories and books and is tired and grumpy in his old age.

I have been trying to think of ways that would help show his hatred for books visually on screen:

What does the character’s mind want?

The characters mind is a complex situation emotionally and is in a very fragile state.

What does the character’s heart want?

His heart longs for things to be as they were and for his father to be still alive.

What does the character’s soul deserve?

The character is not of bad intentions, but his soul has been warped and tormented and twisted with grief causing it to become bitter and uncaring.

Does the character have any traits that would help or hinder their desires?

The character has become bitter and twisted and now has a rather cruel soul. He is no longer able to love the books and stories his father once read to him.

Does the character’s context have any aspects that would help or hinder their desires?

The characters main desire is to have his father back again. His main hindrance is that his mind is in a fragile state because of his father’s death and he no longer is sure what is reality and what is not any more. He is convinced the library is tormenting him when really he is imprisoned in a certain state of mind.

Does the character’s history have any aspects that would help or hinder their desires?

The Librarian used to be an extremely happy person full of a love for stories, an element of his past self still lingers in the shell of the man he has become but this is only a very small part of his being.

Do other characters want the same things?

The narrator views things differently to our Librarian.

Story:

• Slow build up, telling the story of his father, he's alone, this is the reality. Close up camera angles on his expression, sighing, eye movements.
• Books come to life, the stories bring out a character in him.
• He tells a story which animates him, books come to life.
• Relates his grief through stories, his emotions become animated.

In reality he is sunken into his chair, part of the chair, looks like he is growing out of it or has become part of it with time. Appearance would suggest that he will never be able to get out of this chair again and is resigned to this fact.

Suggestion that when he tells the stories the sprightly librarian is in his mind, it is his spirit coming to life with the story, himself rememberin the excitment and life in books.

Think about performance over the dialogue.
I often concentrate on dialogue for expressing what I want to say. Using the 1-10 dialogue in performance made me think more about body actions and tone of voice.
You don't need dialogue to express what you want to say all the time.

This is perhaps the best example I have written so far of what I want to achieve with the story:

Character:

• A bit one dimensional?
• They need to become a character rather than an avatar for your story.
• Is it a solo performance? It is an interaction between a librarian and the stories he tells.
  
• Is there any speaking? Currently unsure, there might have to be to make the story more clear.
  

Set a pace for your film - a tempo that could be the music that your character/story moves to.


To reconsider:
2D and 3D together? Might be too confusing in a short space of time. Could I keep 3D librarian when telling 2D story? However on reflection the 2D by itself would be too seperate from the 3D librarian. May scrap this idea altogether.

If there is a back story and it is relevant to the story it needs to make its way onto the screen.

I've been trying to get the creative cogs into gear, here's a bit of creative writing on the Librarians appearance. This isn't set into stone by any means but just a way of helping me start to think about the character in more detail.