HORN OF THE SUN
This is my film project submission, Its a short film about how the Narwhal ,often called the unicorn of the sea got his horn
I had heard the story as a child about how the unicorn got left behind during the great flood, He missed Noah's Ark, and jumped into the sea and was never seen again
So I thought it makes sense within the realm of fantasy that the Unicorn became the Narwhal under the sea
So its a short animated film involving death and rebirth which was my 1st idea for a concept when this project was announced.
ANIMATIC
This Video is my rough visualization of the first two acts, whilst it is a work in progress I'm happy enough with it, I wanted to tell a very visual atmospheric tale and I believe Ive been somewhat successful in showing you the possibility's of what this film could be,also please note the digital animation is taken from manimation test online, my intention is to show you how this film can be made, on some levels it appears complex but having spent allot of time researching I believe its a very doable film and will only improve over the coming weeks please look below to see the storyboard and script
THE FOLLOWING IS THE STORYBOARD AND SCRIPT COMBINED
The art work and shots are a mixture of live action, photoshop, referenced art work and animation from other sources ,also the final act of the film is as yet unconceptualized
ACT 1
It is the time of the great flood, the animals all in two's head into the ark for refuge
One animal, the last Unicorn is late, galloping
across the land he tries to get to the ark in time.
He reaches the ocean, He’s on top of a cliff, he’s
to late the ark has left, off in the distance it rides the waves, the unicorn
rears up on its hind legs in anger and despair. He looks down, to the waves
below and looks back at the ark ,his face turns from fear to determination, he
backs up preparing himself, after a moment of anticipation, he gallops towards
the cliffs edge, and dives into the raging sea
1
We see him splash into the water and disappear beneath the waves, after what seems an eternity, he bursts forth from below gasping for air, a tiny figure lost in the terrible waters.
ACT 2
He tries to swim for some time, constantly fighting
the inevitable, determined to survive
Eventually he can swim no more, and succumbs to the
murky depths. Sinking below we follow him on his journey into the deep unknown
beneath the water
We see a montage now that tells the tale of the flooded earth.
From here on the rest of the film is unconceptualized
ACT 3
Fade to black. Silence, a unicorn floating lifeless
sinking deep into the abyss.
He’s now at the bottom of the ocean, after a time
his horn begins to pulse, like a heartbeat, something sees the light and comes
towards it
It’s a female Narwhal who has spotted the light
pulsating from the horn like a distress beacon, she circles it, above the light
from the sun comes out from the clouds and travels deep below to join with the
unicorn horn, the unicorn is bathed in light and begins to transform. It becomes a narwhal.
The sun comes out and the ocean recedes, the ark is
safe.
Queue the narwhal family as they swim beneath the
waves and on to the surface diving into the air with a baby, the continuation
of the unicorns bloodline, their horns capturing the sun
The end
Audio Visual Inspiration
This film more than any other inspired the concept for my film, it has the theme of death and rebirth and is a very visual very beautiful film, I want you to look at it and imagine what could be
This second piece a classic Looney Tunes was also on my mind , please pay attention to the very clever use of simple layouts, theres some wonderful shots in this film and I believe it is a good reference for the layout artists and animators. It also has the classical feel I'm hoping to emulate with this film.
Narwhals in the wild, a very elusive creature they're rarely filmed so this has probably the best reference shots I could find of them. I believe the elusiveness of them adds to the the Unicorn mythology we could create with the film
The work of Claude De Bussey inspired me when I was initially trying to envision the film, his works sounds like how i want this film to feel.
CONCEPTUAL RESEARCH
The following is just artwork i found that helped me conceptualise the film, I think its very important to point out that although I submitted a very specific visual design the intended purpose was merely to help the team see some sort of visual example of what it COULD look like, I'm very eager to see what other people come up with if the film does go into productionn
I have a vast amount of research done into both Narwhals and Horses, Ive found many examples of Animated Horses and Unicorns, and some examples of Narwhals in animation so If the film goes forward ill post everything I have to be used for reference.
