Monday, April 14, 2008

My short story!

Behind the Bedroom door

 

“BANG!” 

Luke was suddenly woken as his bedroom door slammed shut. He instantly reached out to grab his teddy bear for protection… but it was not there.

“Where could he be?” Luke thought to himself. “Teddy is always next to me.”

As Luke climbed out of bed he could see teddy in the middle of his bedroom floor, but something was wrong. As he took a closer look he could see that teddy was missing one of his button eyes.

“What has happened to you teddy? Where is your button eye?”

Luke began to look around his room, but the button was nowhere to be seen. He thought it might have been his older sister, Claire that had taken it.

Suddenly he noticed a piece of black coal sitting amongst a pile of snow in front of his bedroom door.

“What is this piece of coal doing here and how did this snow get into my room?”

Luke then remembered the slam of his bedroom door that had woke him. He reached down to pick up the piece of black coal and slipped it into his pyjama pocket.

“Right teddy, let’s go find your button eye and put you back together again.” Luke took teddy by the leg and walked through his bedroom door.


“CRUNCH!”

Luke’s feet sank into the ground as he stepped forward. He became very cold and whispered, “Where are we Teddy?”

Luke could see that the walls were made from blocks of ice and the ground was thick with snow. It looked like an igloo.

“Who are you?” said a loud voice from behind him. Luke turned around to see a short man in a fur coat. It was an Eskimo.

“You must be far from home young man, what brings you here?” asked the Eskimo. 

“My teddy bears button eye has gone missing, have you seen it anywhere?”

The Eskimo looked at teddy and thought for a moment.

He pointed and said, “A strange looking snowman came through here, may be he has seen the button? He went that way but watch out for polar bears… they don’t like little children.

Luke thanked the Eskimo, took teddy by the leg and left.

“Whoosh!”

Outside in the crisp cold air the wind began to blow. Luke could see mountains through the falling snow. At the very top was a little red flag… they were at the North Pole!

Luke walked through the snow making deep crunchy footprints until they came cross a baby seal.

“Hello” said Luke, “my teddy bears button eye has gone missing, have you seen it anywhere?”

The baby seal looked at teddy and thought for a moment. She pointed and said,

“A scary looking snowman came through here, may be he has seen the button?

He went that way but watch out for polar bears… they don’t like little children.”

Luke thanked the baby seal, took teddy by the leg and slowly continued through the snow.

The cold wind began to blow harder, and the frosty snow began to fall heavier than before.

“I’m cold Teddy” shivered Luke. As they trudge through the snow, they stumbled upon a small cave.  Luke peered into the darkness… “It looks very scary and dark in here teddy, but we must get out of the cold”. They slowly stepped into the dark cave.

“ROAR!”

Luke spun around to find an angry Polar bear staring straight at him.

“What are you doing here? This is my cave!” growled the Polar bear.

“Please don’t eat me!” begged Luke, “my teddy bears button eye has gone missing and I’m trying to find it”.

The angry polar bear looked down at teddy and slowly began to smile.

“I am always willing to help a fellow bear.”

The Polar bear pointed and said, “A silly looking snowman came through here, maybe he has seen the button. He went that way.”

Luke grabbed teddy by the leg and left the cave.

All was calm and still…

The wind had gone and the snow had stopped. As they walked through the fresh snow Luke could see a white figure in the distance.

“I think that is the snowman that might know were your button eye is!” said Luke as he continued forward.

“Excuse me Mr snowman. My teddy bears button eye has gone missing, have you seen it anywhere?”

The snowman slowly turned around and Luke stepped back in horror. The snowman looked very strange indeed. One of his eyes was a piece of black coal, but the other was teddy’s very own button eye!

“What are you doing with teddy’s button eye?” shouted Luke.

“I’m s-s-s-s-sorry,” stuttered the snowman “…I accidentally stumbled upon your bedroom in the night. I soon became too warm and began to melt. One of my eyes fell out so I had to find another one.”

Luke remembered the piece of black coal he found on his bedroom floor and reached into his pyjama pocket. “Is this your missing eye?”

“Yes it is…” said the snowman.

Luke handed over the piece of black coal and the snowman returned the button.

“HORAY!”

Luke cheered with joy and dropped the button into his pyjama pocket to keep it safe.

He looked at Teddy. “We can put you back together again as soon we get home. I think we should get back to bed now before mummy finds out!”

Luke looked up at the snowman, with his eye now back in place. “How do I get back home?” The snowman smiled at Luke and pointed. “A door behind the tree will lead you back to your bedroom.”

Luke thanked the snowman, took teddy by the leg and walked towards the tree. As they stepped behind the huge tree trunk they suddenly appeared back in the bedroom.

“Lets get into bed before mummy finds us.” Luke and teddy got into bed and safely under the covers. Luke closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


THE END

The little boy's short stories...

We will all create an individual short story that represents the little boys 'Escapism from reality' 

The main plot to these short stories is that the little boys teddy bear has lost his button eye. The little boy then takes teddy on adventures to find the button and put teddy back together again.

This story represents the little boy suffering from Leukaemia and his insecurities that are told through his teddy bear. It deals with the boys situation of losing his hair amongst other things and his determination to get better.


Here is the idea for my short story:
I wanted to create a short story that involves the little boy trying to find teddy's button eye and his adventure through the snow.

Setting: Snow world / Winter wonderland / Antarctica / North pole.

Characters: Snowman / Polar bear / Seal / Penguin / birds / Husky dogs / Eskimo

Story idea

Theme:

A story about a brother and sister, one of which is suffering from Acute Leukaemia, and their very different methods of dealing with such a terrible situation.

Main plot:

The main story focuses on a young brother and sister and how they both react in very different ways after one of them is diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia.

-       How one child deals with the having disease.

-       How the other child deals with coping with the disease in the family and how they can help.

These stories could be told in the hope to raise money for a children’s charity and raise awareness of the disease (Britain’s biggest childhood cancer)

We will try to work closely with a related charity with the possiblility of them using our idea to further promote their campaign.

 

Possible charities:

Children with Leukaemia: www.leukaemia.org (Mr Men & Little Miss running event)

Leukaemia Research: www.lrf.org.uk

 

Story One: From the perspective of the little girl and her parents.

Plot: A little girl is trying to deal with the recent diagnosis of Acute Leukaemia. Since the bad news she tends to shut herself away in her bedroom and proceeds to scribble page after page of black crayon. Her parents are obviously concerned by this behaviour and when they ask her what she is doing there is no reply.

(- This reaction would imply that she is the child with the disease and has become quite disturbed by the situation)

The twist: As the girl produces more and more pages of black crayon the parent’s discover her collection of puzzles and suddenly realise that there is a reason to what she has been doing. As they collect up all of the pages and carefully piece them together it forms a much larger image that reveals her decision to undergoing a bone marrow transplant to try and save her brothers life (the child diagnosed with Leukaemia)

Media: Either a video or interactive website… or both.

The video would clearly tell the story. We could also create a shorter (viral) version that doesn’t reveal the ending forcing the viewer to visit the website  where they can watch the full version and find out for themselves.

The interactive website could include the video as well as info about the illness and a link to the charities website.

A section where the user could piece together the different pages to form the large image featured in the video (a puzzle)

There could be a section on the site that allows visitors to purchase the children’s storybooks from the little boys perspective.

 

Story Two: From the perspective of the little boy

Plot: A little boy has recently been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia and is receiving treatment at home meaning he is unable to leave his room. The child therefore must keep himself occupied and use his imagination to escape the realities of the situation. The reader is then taken through the little boys hugely imaginative thoughts told using a series of short stories for children (on a pirate ship, saving a princess from a dragon, first boy in space ect) The ending to each story could include the boy being saved by a little girl (referring to his sister undergoing the bone marrow transplant)

(These stories are told as a form of the little boys escapism: Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily stress. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to try to help relieve feelings of depression or general sadness.)

Media: Children’s (interactive carousel) book.

This book could begin with a short introduction about the little boys situation (briefly referring to his sisters reaction of locking herself away in her bedroom)

The book could then become a children’s adventure story as you follow the boy’s adventures through a series of stories.

These stories could be told through an interactive book as we discussed, allowing the reader to piece together different storybooks and literally travel through them (almost like a pop up book). It could also include a sheet of paper to allow the child to actually use their own imagination and draw the story that they have created.

Story Title:

‘Behind closed doors’

‘Short stories: Behind Closed doors.’

'Behind the Bedroom door'

Concept development

Through the theory of learning with stories it tells us that children should read and use their imagination rather than relying on television and Internet.

- Living world / Spirit world

- (the death of)  a child's Imagination

- Adults imagination: Use a child's perspective

- Child : Teaching them to read and use imagination
  Adult : Teaching them to think like a child

- Fairy tale : Story of tooth fairy. A fairy that comes in the night and takes away television from little children that watch t.v too much.

- Work with NSPCC. Child abuse. Pop Up book? : pull tab to throw a punch. (Hard hitting)

- Magic camera : 
1/ With a simple video camera, the child uses his imagination to create stories. 
2/ From the point of view of the video camera, you can see the reality of what they are filming. 

Similar idea to the movie : Son of Rambo
Plot : A long English summer in the early 80's and two boys are about to form an unlikely friendship. Will Proudfoot has been brought up in a strictly religious household, forbidden to watch TV or listen to music. But after Lee Carter, the school trouble-maker, blows Will's mind with a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood, Will's easily persuaded to act in Lee's home-made movie sequel. Armed only with a camera - "borrowed" from Lee's brother -- and their limitless imagination, the pair plot stunt after stunt, dodging teachers and family all the way, as they do whatever it takes to finish their masterpiece in time to enter it in the national Screen Test competition. 
Directed by Garth Jennings (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), SON OF RAMBOW is a heart-warming nostalgic comedy about two boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions.




- Abducted :
1/ Teach children not to go with strangers
2/ Teach parents to keep an eye on their children

- Child's imagination : A brother and sister are told to use their imagination and tell a story through a single image.
1/ From the perspective of the first child. He starts to think what he could draw and we travel through his thoughts on a series of adventures.
2/ From the perspective of the second child. She begins to draw page after page of black crayon much to the concern of her parents. It is only at the end that you discover that the pages form a much larger image that may surprise you!

The last idea involving children's imaginations is what we have decided to develop...

Friday, April 4, 2008

Four (very) good initial ideas

1 / Dreams (freud)

2 / The unseen world

3 / Greek Mythology

4 / Adult vs Child perception of the world

Job allocation and time management


Job allocation: 
(this is not set in stone but is an initial plan considering each members strengths and abilities)

Concept generation - Peter Allinson / Casey Pocock

Researchers - Christina Kalli / Sara Lim

Strategists - Angela Ramos

Story writers - Peter Allinson / Casey Pocock

Motion graphics / editing - Peter Allinson

Illustration / Photography - Christina Kalli / Angela Ramos / Sara Lim

Online / Programmer - Peter Allinson

Branding / advertising - Casey pocock


Project structure :


Time management :


Brainstorming ideas

Philosophers

Philosophers to consider and understand are the works of  Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes.

Walter Benjamin

The literary-philosophical works of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) rank among the most quietly influential of the post-war era.
He was a German-Jewish Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. who was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

Key Text : lluminations contains his two most celebrated essays, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History'

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. Barthes' work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, Marxism and post- structuralism.

Key Text : "Image--Music--Text" (1977) provides an analogous parallel look at the active and passive, postmodern and modern, ways of interacting with a text.