Theme Ideas and Changes from the Start

Originally the theme I took from Ring o Rosies was that someone has something to hide, it gets discovered and everything doesn't end well -"we all fall down." 

However when I discussed my storyboards with Claire we changed my story around a bit. My story was a girl is getting bullied at school, she tried to hide it from her mother, her mother discovers her diary and then her body. This then changed a girl getting bullied and tormented by her bullies (represented as shadow monsters) then she takes her own life because she cannot take anymore. This still relates strongly to the Nursery Rhyme, mainly to the last line "we all fall down." because no matter what happened to her the girl would still be unhappy with whatever outcome. 

Extra Notes:
Symbolism and Meaning in my Animation:

• The flickering Text: Shows the girls uncertainty. Symbolizes the girls hope fading. 
• Grungy Textures: The girl trying to claw her way out. The scratchy textures represent her past self harm
• The Shadow Monsters: A metaphor for her bullies. Are represented as shadows because shadows cannot go away without light. Shadows are always there.
• Girl fading away as the Monster gets her:The bullies are always attacking her, when she disappears its like no one can see she is getting bullied or they choose to ignore it 
• The Circling of the Monsters: This was originally going to be clear that it was monsters circling her, but I felt the fast motion and not being able to see them clearly, represents the girls confusion on how she feels: like she is going in circles and is confused. Birdseye view to show her vulnerability 
• Isolated shot of the Girl: Obviously to show she feels alone
• Close up of her eyes:  A strong shot to feel her emotions instantly, raw, a very personal shot, we feel what she is feeling
• Panning down her face: Following her eyes down at the same speed soon to reveal the rope she is holding  in the next shot
• Holding the Rope: Thinking about ending her life
• The Circling of the Monsters (again): A flashback shot to reinforce her pain and how often she gets tormented by her bullies

• Music: In another language not to distract from the words on screen and the animation, a soft, pleading woman's voice -as if the girl is singing this, slow, emotional, a build up at the start, once translated to English it says that sadness is the only feeling they feel now
• Colour Palate: Dominantly black and white with a subtle blue in her tears, this was the only thing I wanted to highlight and colour did this perfectly, black represents death, darkness, evil, grief: The Monsters, White represents purity, innocence: The Girl. 
• Text: Font: Title looks as if written in blood -representing death, Thin & scrawled text looks as if written by a little girl, looks like a font used for a suicide letter
  Words: "We all fall down" -enforcing the theme that everyone falls, never could have been a happy ending
  Animation of Text: The flickering of the text idea was inspired from my research of animated text a while back, I feel it suits the animation style and story, shows the girls uncertainty, symbolizes the girls hope flickering out (fading away) 
• Style of Characters: I was originally going to try and combine the two styles I researched (the cutesy almost anime style and the Tim Burton style) but I felt It would work better with just one style. The Tim Burton style suits the theme and story a lot more I think.