MAJOR PROJECT: THE VALUE OF SILENCE

This is something that has been drilled in since the beginning of the course the phrase 'Show not tell' but it is important to remember these principles and try and write my characters in the way that suits on screen moving picture rather radio, photographs or stage play. In a short video from a fairly recent Youtube channel I saw the importance of moving picture and the way we can exclusively tell stories through this medium in a different way to others.

I was inspired by watching a documentary from BBC One about 'Aardman Animations' the stop-motion animation company. They have been producing films and television made from stop motion animation since 1972. Everything from 'Morph' in the 1970's, 'Wallace & Gromit', 'Chicken Run' (2000), 'Flushed Away' (first computer generated) up to 'Shaun the Sheep Movie' (2015). The company founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton has been a master at creating characters from just pieces of clay, many of them not saying a word. Nick Park is the creator most well known for his creation of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep and he is a key person in the companies history.

This is what I found amazing is that they have a number of characters who don't say a word in any of their shows of films. Most famously perhaps is Gromit of 'Wallace & Gromit' who never says a word, but has still become one of the most famous animated characters of all time. The documentary I watched is called 'A Grand Night in: The story of Aardman' which chronicles the story of the company from its humble beginnings as two guys moulding a piece of clay that was a segment on another television show, to their latest film 'Early Man' set for release in 2018.  






Watching this documentary really drove home the importance of silence for me and how much you can do without the use of dialogue. Probably best exemplified by their 2015 film Shaun the Sheep The movie in which none of the characters say a word including the people in it. The story is all told in actions and noises made by the characters, which made for one of the most successful films in their history as well as being universally watchable around the world without the use of subtitles of dubbing.

This has come to influence my script in turn causing me to go through and see what I can show not tell specifically. I think in the long run this will help tell my story in a much more effective manner.