Rapunzel Treatment

Animation Treatment – ‘Rapunzel’

 

Universe

The World presented in my interpretation of Rapunzel is a fantasy realm, without a planet. People instead live on floating islands, all connected through magical vines that allow fast transportation. I’d like to present the details on how they work through visuals in further design process. The islands vary in size vastly, from a continent-like giants to tiny ones that can hold only one house. The biggest (main) islands form a ring around the sun, with the smaller islands appearing on the vines between them or outside of it, connected to the main islands with side vines. Every main island has its own ‘theme’ and original look. Most of the people possess some kind of magical ability, focused with the help of energy crystals, which usually fits the theme of their home world.

The Island that main character lives on is called (NAME UNKNOWN FOR NOW). It is the size of a smaller European country and its theme is rocks. Its surface is mostly covered in canyons, with very limited access to water and wood. Because of the harsh environment, natives practice hunting rather than agriculture and the resources used in their everyday life are stone, minerals, cloth, animal skins and furs. People live in smaller, village-like settlements that are often in conflict with each other. Travelling through northern vines has been forbidden, as it is believed there’s nothing there and only death awaits for the adventurers.

The Village and The Tower are the elements tightly connected and for which I have multiple ideas. Idea #1 shows Rapunzel’s village and tower as the same, because it is the only settlement placed on top of the canyon and is often referred to by the locals as ‘The Tower’. In Idea #2 Rapunzel’s home is the tower. In Idea #3 Tower is a place that Rapunzel goes to, to watch the sunset. In spite of the different concepts I see Rapunzel’s village as a group of huts made fully of perfectly cut stone, with a market that serves as a cultural and literal centre of the settlement and towers at the ends as defence points. It is also the closest to the northern vines.

 

Characters

Rapunzel is a young, curious girl named Zella, daughter of a renowned archer that is her mother – (NAME UNKNOWN FOR NOW). In Idea #2 they live together in the archer’s tower. She possesses the adventurous spirit and is not scared of obstacles. Since a young age she was fascinated by the vines and other islands, but knowing all the scary tales she knew she cannot leave her home. She wears a signature long, blonde braid and is known for it in the neighbourhood. She also inherited great fighting skills and magical abilities to control soil after her mother.

Mother of Rapunzel is a renowned archer and fighter in the village. She is a rather serious person, with a code of honor and is very strict with both hers and societal rules. She had tried to implement such behaviour in Zella, but the girl was always too wild and independent. Their close bond leads to her being the one who tries to stop Rapunzel from running away, because no matter their differences, she still loves her as her daughter.

Prince Azaan is the mysterious traveller, that one day appears in Rapunzel’s village on the market. He is very brave and curious of the world just like Zella, however unlike her he already possesses a great knowledge and experience of visiting other islands. Originally his home is Manolia – an island with a flowers theme. He is the one that ignites a spark in Rapunzel to eventually flee her home.

 

Story

Plot: The story begins with Rapunzel lost in her thoughts watching the sunset, suddenly her attention turns to the vines (If idea #2 is chosen this takes place in Rapunzel’s room). Mother disturbs her daydreaming and asks to join her in the visit to a marketplace. At the market the Mother is bargaining with the merchant, meanwhile Rapunzel looks around. She notices a suspicious, caped figure and follows them. Zella confronts the outsider in an empty alley and he reveals his face. The young man claims to be Azaan from the island of flowers, who likes to travel around the world. He talks about all the wonders he’s seen during his adventures, to the surprise of Rapunzel who was raised on the scary tales about the world beyond her home island. Azaan proposes travelling together to which Zella has mixed feelings. The meeting is disturbed by villagers who notice an outsider and rush into capturing him, causing Azaan to flee. Meanwhile Zella returns to her mother who is attaching all of the shopping to her mount. Zella taking the occasion, asks the same merchant about what’s on the other side of the vines. The merchant laughs at the idea of travelling north and jokes about rather not telling her mother of such ideas. Scene then cuts and we are at the dinner table, mother strongly disapproves with Rapunzel’s possible plans, trying to get rid of the thoughts about vines from her daughter’s mind. In the middle of night, Rapunzel wakes up and makes a hasty decision of running away. Leaving all of her attachments behind, she jumps on her mount and rides in vines’ direction. Unfortunately for her the Mother wakes up as well and starts chasing Rapunzel. Depending on the village idea and timing the chase scene can look differently. All versions however lead to the climax point, very close to the vines, where Mother dismounts Rapunzel by grabbing her hair. Both fall on the ground with Mother still holding Rapunzel down. Zella unable to escape her mother, decides to reach for her knife and cuts off the hair. Finally free, Rapunzel approaches the vines and disappears, leaving the mother in despair.

Explored Themes: conflict with self, conflict with society, conflict with other person, struggle, otherness, adventure, mystery, magic, escape, abandonment

Symbolism and comparison to original: Zella just like the original Rapunzel wears long blond hair, tied in a braid and similarly, it’s cut off at the end. In the early stages of work I did not include the concept of a tower. At the current stage the tower could be metaphorically and/or literally many things: the island, the village or Rapunzel’s home. Zella meets a prince that is also the cause of problems, sparks the idea of seeing the outside world. I also wanted to include further part of the story, telling about Zella and Azaan reuniting at the desert, just like Rapunzel and the Prince at the end of original story, but due to time limitations I decided not to develop next part of their adventures.

 

Mood, Lighting and Style

Colours and Lighting: For the first part of the story that happens during the day, I’d like to use a mix of reds, oranges, browns and greys. I imagine the colors to be slightly dimmed and not too flashy, with soft lighting, creating a dreamy atmosphere. During the night I’d like to use more blue and grey tones, much darker than during the day, with strong shadows and lighting, giving more power to the action that takes place.

Camera Angles: Throughout the animation I’d like to explore different angles and perspectives. Besides standard shots, I’d like to use dynamic foregrounds (on the market), establishing shots (beginning of the story, the chase scene and near the vines), shots from behind (chase scene), moveable cameras (on the market and during the chase), birdview (waking up at night) and ground perspective (near the vines).

Style: For this animation I decided to give up on the lineart in the finished piece, allowing myself to focus more on telling the story with tools such as colours or lighting (possibly more detailed designs too) and at the same time adding strong stylization.

 

Sound

In this animation, there are four characters with distinguishable dialogue lines (w female and 2 male): Zella, Mother, Prince, Merchant. I’d like to support the dialogue in this animation with an appropriate soundtrack, made of background sounds and music. For the background sounds I’d like to use a mix of royalty free sounds and recorded sounds. Some of them could be: multiple variations of footsteps on different surfaces, market ambient noise, moving cloth, cutlery, different stomps and thuds, metal clinging, special sounds for doing magic and vines. I’d also like to compose short melodies for different parts of animation: a calm melody with an adventurous vibe for the beginning sequence, slow and mysterious during the encounter with a prince, a very dramatic melody during the final chase sequence with a gradually increasing tension.