Scene 3: Underground

On the underground after work, the protagonist sat beside a lady. He intended to visit a bar for a drink to alleviate his negative mood following the day’s events. Suddenly, the protagonist experienced an unexpected physical change as his abdomen began to protrude. As a being with monstrous traits, he felt himself losing control and struggling against the confines of his leather briefcase. The protagonist swiftly used the briefcase to conceal the abnormality on his body. Fortunately, the lady seated beside him remained unaware of the situation, allowing the protagonist to exhale a sigh of relief.

Scene 4: Jazz Bar

Come to the fourth and final scene. The protagonist arrives at a jazz bar. As he glances at the menu to order a drink, his eyes fall upon the female singer on stage, who turns out to be the woman he had encountered earlier on the subway. Suddenly, the human leather covering her body cracks open, revealing her monstrous form. In response, the bassist beside him removes his disguise, exposing his own monstrous true self. To the protagonist’s delight, he rushes toward the stage, shedding his own leather covering as he runs, eagerly expressing his joy at discovering a kindred spirit. Upon witnessing this, other patrons in the bar also discard their leather suits one by one, unveiling their various monstrous forms. Everyone gathers together, dancing joyfully to the music.

This scene concludes the film. In the next article, I will talk about the ideas I want to convey to the audience in this story.

Scene 1 — Bedroom

The protagonist was awakened by the alarm clock under the morning sunlight. Upon rising, he approached the wardrobe, selected one of the many meticulously arranged leather briefcases stored within, dressed himself with his usual precision, picked up his briefcase, and departed to commence an ordinary workday as per routine.

In this scene, several adjustments were made based on the weekly feedback. For instance, the close-up shot of the alarm clock was reoriented to face the audience, the characters’ movement direction during shot transitions was maintained for consistency, and editing techniques were employed to avoid displaying the complete movement path of the character, thereby eliminating redundancy.

The purpose of the opening scene is to highlight the protagonist’s unique identity as a monster within the context of urban life. It subsequently portrays, through a vividly lifelike scene, his adeptness at concealing his true nature and seamlessly assimilating into society.

Scene 2: Meeting Room

The second scene unfolds in a meeting room, where the protagonist is delivering a presentation to his colleagues. However, the colleagues are either lost in thought or engaged in private conversations, paying no attention to the protagonist’s speech. During the presentation, the zipper of the leather case worn by the protagonist accidentally comes undone.

Nevertheless, as no one is listening to the protagonist, this detail goes unnoticed. The protagonist experiences a mix of frustration and relief at being ignored. He feels frustrated because he has consistently strived to integrate into the group but has failed to gain their attention or acceptance. On the other hand, he feels relieved because his anonymity allows him to conceal his true identity as a monster hidden among humans.

Eventually, I opted for the third concept and determined to utilize it for the creation of Previs. Building upon the existing Storyboard, the subsequent step entails developing a Mood Board to further elaborate and refine the envisioned world. This process will help establish the potential overarching visual style of the film and facilitate character design in accordance with the narrative setting.

1. Mood Board

Based on the background setting of the story, I hope its art style is similar to the semi-realistic style of Pixar and Disney. So I took the reference as shown in the picture from different animated films with similar art styles as my mood board.

2. Character Design

The protagonist is depicted as an introverted and unremarkable individual. As a unique being who differs from those around him, he consistently strives to assimilate into society, which has cultivated his reserved and low-key demeanor. Consequently, in the character design, I conceptualized him as a mundane office worker who embodies monotony and blends into the background. Despite commuting through the city daily, he remains unable to discover his authentic self.

This narrative recounts the tale of a creature inhabiting a contemporary urban environment. On a daily basis, it camouflages itself as an ordinary human being to assimilate into human society. Ultimately, it uncovers and joins a community of similarly peculiar beings, forming a cohesive group.

The story begins with the protagonist, a black, furry monster. One morning, he wakes up to the sound of an alarm clock. He opens his wardrobe, takes out a set of human-shaped leather cases, carefully puts them on, adjusts them, ties a tie, and gives himself one last check in the mirror before grabbing his bag and heading off to work.

The scene shifts to the meeting room, where the protagonist is giving a presentation to his colleagues. Unfortunately, no one seems to be paying attention. At this moment, the zipper of his leather case slips open, revealing a glimpse of his black fur inside. Quickly, he pulls the zipper back up. Since no one is listening, no one notices this small mishap.

On the subway ride home from work, the monster suddenly feels a surge of uncontrollable energy and nearly breaks free from his suit. Fortunately, he manages to cover his belly with his briefcase just in time, ensuring that the woman beside him doesn’t notice anything unusual.

Later, he visits a jazz bar, orders a drink, and sits down. Suddenly, the female singer on stage starts convulsing, and the monster inside her bursts out. Seeing this, the male singer beside her also removes his leather suit to reveal his true form. The protagonist, excited by what he sees, rushes toward the stage, sheds the confines of his own leather cover, and reveals his true self. Then, the audience below also removes their leather covers, exposing their various monster bodies. Together, everyone joyfully dances in harmony.

The theme of this story is to emphasize that individuals should not compel themselves to assimilate into social groups. Each person possesses inherent uniqueness, and it is essential for everyone to value and embrace their individuality without experiencing anxiety over the inability to integrate into mainstream society.

This narrative revolves around a mentally unstable painter whose life is plagued by drug addiction and paranoia, culminating in the tragic error of committing murder. The story begins with an unkempt painter, his long hair disheveled and shirtless, reclining on a sofa after consuming drugs. He closes his eyes leisurely, drifting into a hallucinatory state where he envisions stabbing a photograph of a woman with a dagger. The scene transitions to the imagined reality: the woman lies stabbed in the chest, bleeding profusely. (This sequence represents a stream-of-consciousness technique.)

The shot shifts again as the painter drags a large cardboard box into an elevator. Leaning against the corner, the box emits a red, viscous liquid. A security guard enters the elevator and, after scrutinizing the painter for an extended period, concludes that the box conceals a corpse. Believing the painter guilty of murder, the guard attempts to apprehend him. In the ensuing struggle, the painter fatally stabs the guard with his dagger and exits the elevator, dragging the heavy box that continues to ooze red liquid.

At the ending of the story, when the box is opened, it reveals not the dismembered body parts of the woman but a meticulously assembled mannequin resembling the woman in the photograph. The red liquid turns out to be spilled paint. With a disturbing smile, the painter proceeds to sketch the mannequin from life, completing his artistic vision.

This story focuses on exploring the inner world of a painter who has gone crazy due to drug abuse. Many of the storylines need to be presented through the cross-montage of stream of consciousness. As the story contains some bloody and drug abuse scenes, I eventually did not choose this script.

This story carries a charming fairy-tale quality, focusing on modern urbanites who struggle with sleep. At the start of the story, a woman lies in bed, unable to drift off. After repeatedly imagining a herd of sheep leaping over a fence in her mind, she finally manages to fall asleep. The scene transitions.

By the window, a tiny shepherd, leading an endless stream of sheep, departs from the woman’s thoughts and heads toward the next home of an insomniac in need of his assistance.

When he arrives at another man’s house, suffering from insomnia, he unexpectedly discovers an insomnia demon hovering beside the man’s head, creating chaos in his mind and preventing him from resting. Upon witnessing this, the shepherd becomes deeply concerned. He leads his flock to the man and personally confronts the insomnia demon in a battle.

After subduing the demon, the shepherd guides the lambs into the insomniac’s mind, helping the man successfully fall asleep by counting them. Finally, the shepherd gazes at the peacefully sleeping man and smiles with relief.

This story has no profound meaning. It merely fantasizes from a fairy tale perspective about what actually happens when people struggle with insomnia. Hope everyone is not troubled by insomnia and can have a sweet dream every night. Good night:)

According to the course requirements, we need to produce three short stories and draw story boards respectively, and select one story from them to make Previs. In the following text, I will introduce my three ideas respectively.

Idea 1

A fantasy story about magical elves safeguarding the quality of sleep for humans.

Idea 2

A story exploring the life of an artist with a distorted psyche, who commits murders under the influence of hallucinations.

Idea 3

A story about a monster living in human society finally finding its own kind