The Apothecary Week 3 - Mixing Stories Up!

Dated: 29 November 2023

This is the week after Thanksgiving break! That is why there is such a big time gap between the blog posts. I personally didn't have a great time over the time off as I got sick with a bad cough. When class started again on Monday, we presented story ideas to the class and we ended up with eight story ideas.

Story One

The first story is being presented by Val and it is about Presented by a boy and his sidekick (a stuffed rabbit) search for his missing teddy bear. When he is in his fantasy world, the style is noir. Turns out his dad, a cop who never had his own imagination nurtured, took it. The boy and his dad come together in the end.

Story Two

The second story idea is presented by Jace and it is described as A man grapples with the demons in his mind, which he comes to realize are actually himself getting in his own way. He is an aspiring actor and has a hard time dealing with failure. The demons are made from a kaleidoscope of multiple scary images. In the end, he pays off bills and has the hope/confidence to audition again. He doesn't succeed but feels empowered to continue trying.

Story Three

The third story is titled "Liminal Sleep" and this is one of the projects I am super excited about. The story concept was presented by Malia. This story is extra creepy as it is based on true events from Malia's grandma. The story goes as, an elderly lady sees ghosts and traces about the spirits actions. She questions herself, but in the end the ghost is revealed to be a real person. She stabs him to death and then he haunts her.

Story Four

Story four is presented from Stefan and it is titled "The Blood that Beats". The story is about a boxer who lost his mother and he faces a championship fight. He battles other boxers and he gets guidance from his mother. He blacks out, we see newspaper showing he won. He visits her grave at the end to express gratitude.

Story Five

This story concept is titled "A Swing and a Miss" and Pidge came up with this idea. The story is a dancer (Leslie) in the 1920s wants to dance with another woman. Older queer woman (Ethel) becomes a mentor and helps her gain the confidence she needs to continue approaching others and dance with them. Ethel teaches Leslie to be the lead instead of the follow, which helps her with future partners.

Story Six

This story is the concept that is presented by Gisselle. I helped create the first iteration and concept of this story. The story looks like, Basil, a new witch, and Dorian, a wizard (and under cover crown prince of wizard-land), meet in Basil's new shop. Another wizard attacks and curses Dorian. Basil gets summoned to the castle to heal Dorian. Basil and Dorian end up together.

Story Seven

This story was presented by Sophi and it is titled "Armadillo". The story is Jade and crew on an interplanetary mission. They take samples and experience tremors. They realize the planet is following them, and they need to return the sample. (The planet unfolds like an armadillo.)

This reminds Jade of an experience from childhood where she was removed from her family. This is the project that I have currently been assigned to help further develop and present at our final pitches. I am working with Sophi and Jace for this project.

Story eight

This story concept was presented by Kiera. The storyline and plot is about an angsty teen drummer is practicing for a big concert. A younger kid watches her practice. She breaks a drumstick out of frustration. He mimics her by breaking his pencils. When she returns the next day, she sees he has repaired her drumsticks. She realizes she needs to be careful in order to be a better example/mentor. This is my favorite story idea and the project that I would want to work on. I really like the idea of a simple and shorter story that has a beautiful look development and animation, rather than a complex story that looks bad.

I think that all of these stories can have a lot of potential and I am really excited to see where my classmates and myself are able to take these stories. Personally, my top 3 projects that I would want to work on go #1 "Drummer" by Kiera, #2 "Liminal Sleep" by Malia, and #3 "Armadillo" by Sophi. I am excited for the future and can't wait to start working on these projects.