"the poison well" bachelor degree work

The Poison Well - Bachelor Degree Work Written by Nikola Chikos Edited, designed and printed in Macedonia. Lost Pin - Animation Studio

1000 Skopje Macedonia e-mail: www.lostpin.net All writings, drawings pictures, renderings are created by Nikola Chikos, un-less stated otherwise. Nikola Chikos, 2007

Nikola Chikos

ThE PoiSoN WELL-Bachelor Degree Work-

For the New Bulgarian Universitys Animated Film Directing De-

partment

4The Poison Well - Contents

Contents

Chapter1:sCript 7

one Line Synopsis 8Synopsis (short) 8Synopsis (long) 8Treatment 11Directors Statement (Explication) 19Technical information 25Cast & Crew 25Music Credits 26Dialogue List 26Participations & Awards 28Biography & Filmography 28

Chapter 2: shooting sCript 31

Chapter 3: CharaCters 71

Characters Description 72Characters Pictures 74Juxtaposition Scale Table 87

Chapter 4: BaCkgrounds 91

Chapter 5: aCCessories 97

Chapter 6: storyBoard (sCreenshots) 181

Chapter 7: storyBoard (ConCept) 339

Chapter 8: extras 527

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Nikola Chikos - Bachelor Degree Work

Newspaper Clips 528Promotional Materials 546DVD Menu Excerpts 554Premiere Photos 556

Chapter 9: other Works 559

Animations 560Design 581Collage 582op-Art 586Digital 588Paintings 592Photographs 594

1.

Script

8The Poison Well - A Nikola Chikos Film

one Line synopsis

A faceless puppet wondering for his identity.

synopsis (short)

The Poison Well is a story about the post-modern man, a man deprived of the safety and peace that promised the big ideas for the future, man left on his own, his own abili-ties and his constant search after his individuality and uniqueness. The protag-onist is a wooden puppet-typical worker who carries all sorts of objects from the Well to the Goal. Brought in a world where nothing else exists but the objects and tasks that are assigned to him by the so-ciety, his life passes through, starting from the middle of the 50s years of the 20th century, towards the near future...

synopsis (Long)

The Poison Well is a story about the post-modern man, a man deprived from the security and slumber of the great ideas of the future, man left on his own will, capabilities and his con-stant search for his individuality and uniqueness.

The protagonist in this story is a wooden puppet by the name of Redhat. hes some sort of a dispatcher who delivers all kinds of objects from the Well to the Goal (the two end points between which the whole action occurs). Thrown in a world where nothing else exists except him and the objects and tasks which are brought to him by the society, his life passes, starting in the middle 50s to the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Under the disguise of constant busyness and dedication to his work, lies a world of loneliness and insecurity, partially mixed with melancholy and indecisiveness.

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The whole plot is divided into six parts, which represent one decade (50s, 60s, 70s...). They differ from one anoth-er by the color of the back-ground (the surrounding world will be filled only by the col-or of that age: there will be no other objects). As the years pass Redhat gets older and the color of the wood and the metal from which he is constructed withers and turns to dark wood and rust. The

decades pass, so Redhat changes appearances i.e. he conforms to the standards and requirements of behavior and fashion that are charac-teristic for the specific decade. The objects which are carried by Redhat resemble the specific decade, and parts of the plot are derived from them. They are usually part of the popular culture (and counter-culture as well), some of them have a political background, and some of them are even subversive.

The 50s are in the sign of mass paranoia, typical for the Amer-ican pop-culture at the time. A Russian bomb, aliens... the only thing that dif-fers from the clich is their caricatured appearance and behavior, mainly mocking the mainstream beliefs of the time.

The 60s are more on the war-peace relationship that caused massive demon-strations and rise of counter-culture, especially at the late 60s. helicopters, soldiers, truck, airplane carriers, Uncle Sam... Redhat reluctantly serves the in-terests of his country and the army. The second half of the 60s is in the sign of protests and peace, where the counter-movement manages to mould our indecisive hero (Redhat), and at the end of the de-cade he shamefully throws his hat (which has Support the Army slogan written on it).

The 70s bring the disco, fast-life, fast-love. Redhat changes his appearance from a disco-king to the King (he becomes an Elvis Presley imitator). The years pass fast as Redhat is mostly

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The Poison Well - A Nikola Chikos Film

doing non-sense and fooling around while working. he gets tired at the end of the decade after he hallucinates, thus losing again the illusion of uniqueness.

The 80s bring on a more aggressive attitude as Redhat becomes a metal-head, as he demonstratively smashes the small radio. The next

what follows are games with death, chasing with skeleton hands and arms, decadent art, nihilistic attitude, which at the end of the decade end un-successfully at his head.

The 90s bring diver-gence, information high-way, massive molding of everything into everything. The workload is decreased for Redhat and he manages to spend some time changing radio stations, thus giving some hint of the vari-

ety of consumer goods. he ends the decade almost tired and sleepy, as he goes back to the well for the next shipment.

The 10s are the last decade and the closing part of the film. Redhat is very tired, old and rusty, he can barely walk. The only shipment he manages to transfer is a small computer chip. This time the music and the background is retro, a reminder of the 50s, the ages when Redhat was young and strong. After a while he falls asleep. The alarm on his chest cant wake up the tired and old Redhat (now he is wearing his old 50s hat, which is the only personality that he actually had) He wakes up to find himself horrified: the well has nothing on it. After some unsuccessful desperate attempts to open it, he moves shaking away from it. he falls and stands up, he falls and dies. his agony ends here. Alone and miserable. After some moments his alarm creates an electrical discharge which infuses the opening of the horizon: it reveals a dark factory filled with other puppets, which indifferently march with the same box as Redhat used to carry.

The well that gave poison to its consumers in order to live. The consumers which were consumed and poisoned.

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treatment

The film starts off with a citation from Michel Foucault: Maybe the goal today is not to find who we are, but to say no to what we are. After that we see a wide shot of Redhat (the puppet), the fence of the Well and a metal-wood box that is coming out from it which has the titles of the film written on it (The Poi-son Well).

Redhat shows himself from behind the box. The tries to lift it. he turns around. The stops for a second or two to take a rest, makes it obvious that the load is heavy and his job strenuous and diffi-cult. he carries the box along the way. Another wide shot in which some titles appear (the date). The lift made of wood, metal and rope falls to the Goal. Redhat reaches the Goal and throws the box at it. he moves a bit behind. he brushes the sweat of his forehead. This is followed by a sequence of fast montage shots where he skillfully

packs the box with the elevator. he brushes his hands in a manner that shows job well done and waves upwards.

other two puppets respond (Yellow and Blue). he waits as the coworkers are picking up the load. As Redhat waits, an alarm at his chest lightens up. After that he turns behind his back to see whats all the commotion. From the Well appears a Russian Radio box. Redhat scratches his chin, he measures the dimensions of the box with the dimensions of the previ-ous box that is on the elevator. Then he poses himself in a manner that tells that he will pursue the impossible: two boxes in one lift. he prepares himself for the exhibition.

The two puppets at the top, Blue & Yellow, are gossiping and follow him moves carefully.

Redhat is running wild. he jumps at the box, lifts it up, makes a triple salto mortale, goes back at the Goal. here are some slow motion shots that explicitly show his physical capabilities and vir-

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tuoso. he jumps in the air, catches the box, and slams it from the elevator.

Applause and ovations are heard, he bows at the audience and he continues. his luck fails him here, as the boxes start to fall down due to the gravitational force. he also falls down, with a piece of wood in his mouth. He screams and curses as he manages to fix the twisted steel between his legs, caused by the hard fall. he turns au-thoritatively towards the Russian Radio box. he hits it hard with his foot. The box flies few meters away from him. Redhat impatiently waits

for the elevator to come.A dissolve: a lot of

time passes by, Redhat waits seated on the ground with the boxes behind his back. Sud-denly, the elevator appears. Redhat seems happy as he dances to the rhythm of the music. he lifts the Russian Radio box and he moves to the elevator. he is surprised to see that Loser is writ-ten on the wooden pieces. he turns his head upwards to see

the two puppet laughing their guts out on the higher platform. Redhat becomes mad, he throw away the box and he curses the puppets... heav-ily. He aggressively throws the first box. So he does with the Russian one. he shows his whole hand at his coworkers (cursing by the way), he goes back to the well. Some shots reveal that the inside of the box is actually a spy bomb!

Redhat walks by. A strong explosion is heard and all sorts of wood pieces fly around him. In front of Redhat falls one of his co-workers: half baked, with smoke, without head and other body parts. Redhat carefully examines the corpse: he looks around as if anyone is seeing. he pulls out a bracelet from the hand of the corpse, af-ter that he leaves the scene totally indifferent at the loss. At this time the oth-er puppet rushes across the screen in flames.

Redhat returns with a stand-board, he moves aside the burned-out pieces of the puppet and he moves along towards the Goal. The other

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puppet which is on fire runs across the screen again. At the next shot the burning puppet falls to the ground.

Redhat is coming back, this time carrying an UFo with some aliens running around him, hitting him to have their spacecraft back. one of the aliens is drinking a booze. he burps at the wooden corpse

and throws the alcohol at it. After this Redhat is dragging another alien which refus-es to go along. After this, Redhead is writing something down at his notebook. The last alien, which is on the eleva-tor tears away a piece of the wood and throws it at the pup-pet. This hits him on the head and thus attracts his atten-tion. All of the aliens show a middle finger at Redhat. Red-

hat reluctantly dismisses the offence as he continues with his work. The 50s end here.

Wide shot at Redhat, he carries a cowboy hat, hes running to-wards the Well. On the Wells fence are some flowers that move in wavy cycles. it gives a hint of the peace-love-harmony decade. The Well introduces car wheel to Redhat. he ex-amines one of them. he lifts it in the air, the wheel starts to turn around Redhats hand. After this we see Redhat blazing as a turbo-charged car across the horizon. he tries to brake but, at his unfortunate situation, loses con-trol over the wheels and hits hard at the Goal. A deformed wheel slides back. Redhat catches it and places it along the others. he presses that button of a more sophisticated elevator. he runs back on the horizon.

he comes back with an Apollo cap-sule. The capsule breaks and falls over Redhat. Some strange radio voices are heard. Redhat bumps from the inside of the capsule, he manages to move it along from the inside towards the Goal. At this moment, helicopters start to in-vade the sky: all sorts of them, car-

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riers, fighters... also there are trucks, soldiers and jeeps at the ground. Redhat goes back and forth carrying a tank with soldiers on it. Afterwards he manages to carry a full-size airplane carrier. Aeroplanes are falling from the ship: so does an uncle Sam plastic image and a gorgeous American girl in patriotic bi-kini. Redhat seems confused while looking at the fallen planes. Either way he continues to the Well.

A shot at the radio: loud noises of ex-plosions are heard and the camera seems to go all over the place, tilting, and jumping off. At the end of the shot the music changes. The next shot is smoky airplanes, burning uncle Sam and an overweight American girl in... pa-triotic bikini. Redhat is pulling along a cart with concert equipment on it. There are also hippies and ex-soldiers on this, some of them smoking, some drinking. on the top of the equipment are situated two enormous 69 numbers and a woodstock label. The back wheels of the cart get loose, Redhat goes back to see whats going on. At the mean-time a soldier-puppet starts having sex with a girl puppet. The whole construction is shaking. Redhat goes back to see whats going on. At the time he arrives, an electrical discharge appears, the sound speakers tumble one over another, the 69 numbers dismantle on the

ground, smoke is rising. Three hippies focus their attention to the situa-tion, they start clapping with their hands. Redhat reluctantly dismisses the action and rises the cart, he continues to carry at towards the Goal. Sud-denly a giant Peace sign rolls towards the Goal. Redhat rushes after it. While he is looking how the sign is going up in

the air, the alarm on his chest activates, he turns around to see whats going on.

From the Well manages to emerge a hippie Volkswagen - Lovebus. A hand appears from the window taking the pose of the Peace sign. So do the others in the van. Redhat runs as usual towards the van. The

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weight of the van overpowers him, he enters the van and he drives it towards the Goal.

hands wave from the bus, Redhats face is full of lipstick kisses. he watches as the bus vanishes in the air. he scratches himself on the face. he looks at the hat too. he turns to-ward the Well. The hat flies in the air. It falls and reveals the slogan Support the Army. This is where the 60s end.

The 70s start of with a top-wide shot of Redhat standing in front of the Well. Afterwards we see him dancing and making exhibitions. he stops doing that after noticing the box coming out of the Well. There is an Elvis wig, glasses and an Elvis record on top of it. he puts those thing on his head and he turns the record on. he takes the box in Elvis style, afterwards he takes it to the Goal. he literally shoots

the box with his leg into the Goal. Cheers are heard. Redhat looks at the Well. A Cadillac exits. Redhat vigorously

runs to the car. After that he is riding the Cadillac which mimics a locomotive, some other carts are pulled behind. The carts are filled with disco equipment. Redhat continues his crazy driving across a roller coaster. he reaches the top of the hill and falls down. his glasses are broken, he re-places them with new ones, even more kitschy then the last ones. he turns to the Goal, after that he turns to the Well. Something comes out. he lowers his glasses: out of the Well comes a Ve-gas slot machine. he picks it up without much delib-eration.

Running to the Goal: he slip and pulls the stick from the slot machine. The machine goes up the elevator in the air. A coin falls upon Redhats head. he turns around to examine the situation: a whole lot of coins falls over his body. he emerges from the treasure. in an obvious ecstasy he throws around the coins. Suddenly they disappear, he falls to the ground. he turns around. he sees the cow with the big

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eyes. he turns on the other side, terri-fied. The space is empty. He stands up, looks at the glasses. in disappointment, he throws them away. They end up near the other half of the previous kitschy glass-es. The 70s end here.

The 80s start off with a small ra-dio dancing to a Euro Pop-Dance rhythm. A dark shadow appears. Suddenly a Martens boot smashes the radio to smithereens: a large hi-Fi system is placed instead.

Redhat rises. he has long hair and from the cameras perspective he looks quite menacing. he pulls out a record from nowhere. he puts it on the system. A skeleton head exits from the Well. A punk-metal melody starts to play from the system. he hits the skull: this one be-comes mad and goes for Redhat. he kicks it in the face. After a while a skeleton hand appears on the horizon.

Redhat is reaching for the remote control of the elevator. he no-tices something and turns around. he is devastated. he starts running around the elevator while the arm is chasing him with great anger. he runs along. A birds-eye perspective is introduced, Redhat and the hand multiplies manifold, after a while they form the letter A with a circle around it. Redhat and the hand are raging in total anarchy. Redhat is pulling himself together, avoiding the attacks of the hand. At the end the hand catches him and tors away both of his legs. For

worse it hits Redhat with his own boots.

Redhat runs away towards the Well. From the Well comes out a figure of Ter-minator. he points a gun at Redhat. Redhat is confident and goes towards the Termina-tor. The Terminator reveals a McDonalds sign in his right arm. Redhat picks up the Terminator commercial

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and brings it to the Goal.A flash appears and Redhat is pulling an art cart with a vandal-

ized portrait of Mona Lisa. Another flash, Redhat is trying to re-lease himself from some ropes. He roars at them. Another flash and he caries a vandalized statue of Poseidon. Redhat loses balance and he fall towards the Goal. Poseidons head is rolling back behind, Redhat nervously captures it and he sticks it over Poseidons genitalia. in uncontrolled rage he turns around his body while braking Poseidons leg.

he takes the remote control, hears some nois-es, turns back. After he sees that there is nothing there, he presses the but-ton and turns around. on his back there is a sprayed Fuck the USA. his leg shows up to be tied in a rope. The rope tightens and Redhat is flying in the air. This is the end of the 80s.

The 90s: divergence, mixing everything with everything, gray. Redhat wears a white rap hat he moves slowly towards the Well. From the Well comes a teddy bear. Redhat picks it up with a fast motion, he goes towards the Goal. he takes a remote control from his back. The elevator is modernized and elegant. he presses a button on the remote. Suddenly all sorts of home compliances come out from the elevators rear end. in quick motion he presses the buttons again and the com-pliances return. Afterwards a moving track goes out from the eleva-

tors front. Redhat puts the teddy bear, pushes a button and goes back towards the Well.

he sees that the Well is still fetch-ing his next shipment so he takes some time to switch stations on the radio. He finds a suitable song and moves back toward the Well. he takes off his hat, there a tattoo and some

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blue fire on his head. The Well picks up a red Love Parade balloon heart. Redhat is playing with the heart. he is being romantic with it, he kisses it, throws it in the air, but the balloon is blown by the blue

fire. Redhat touches his head, his hands are on fire. In panic, he jumps into a pool of water. he climbs up, takes the balloons remains and contin-ues towards the Goal. he leaves the remains inside the elevator. Suddenly, he falls asleep. The alarm on his chest wakes him up. Redhat walks to-wards the Well again.

This is where the 90s end.The 10s. Nothing new, Redhat is red-hat again. he walks very

slowly, his legs shake. The radio is hyper-modern, with a holographic projection of a media player. A computer chip comes out of the Well. Redhat picks it slowly.

he moves slowly towards the Goal. his back is twisted as if he has a hunch on his back. The media player follows him. it stands a step before him. Redhat tries to smash the player. This one escapes the at-tack and escapes him. Redhat continues. he reaches the Goal, he leaves the chip. he is making a movement with his hand, a small beam of light appears. he hits his head and a small intelligent elevator appears which picks up the chip.

Redhat re-turns towards the Well. he is tired, stretch-es his hands and he lies on the ground to sleep. he falls asleep. Suddenly the alarm on his chest start blinking: Redhat continues to sleep.

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After a while, he awakes. he scratches his neck, he looks at his chest: there is no signal. He is terrified, he looks at the Well.

With fast movements he reaches for the Well. in agony he tries to open it, he fails, he hits the surface. he is losing control of himself, in uncontrolled motion he starts moving toward the Goal. he falls and rises, advancing to a stop. he stops, he falls to the ground. he is twisting himself in agonizing pain. he falls, light is flashing around him. He rises slowly. He is on his knees. Redhat falls on the side. Fast montage shots where he hat falls off and he seizes breathing. he lies lifelessly on the ground. its quiet.

After a while an electrical discharge occurs on his chest. he moves as he has received an electric shock. The horizon reveals its true face: a dark, gloomy factory filled with puppets same as Redhat, reluctantly caring the same box which Redhat used to carry. The Poi-son Well is written on it, brightly shinning in the dark.

direCtors statement (expLiCation)

i graduated at Rade Jovcevski-Korcagin - Skopje, a math-ori-ented gymnasium. My interests in animation were born here, as we worked on various multimedia projects which involved animation at a variable degree. Mostly of the work we did, was for the history sub-ject, which had a well equipped cabinet. These projects were designed as an aid and an extension to the traditional methods of teaching. As we made the projects through the years, i began to incline my-self more on animation, but since i did most of the creative work by myself, i had to develop a broad range of skills which span through several artistic and technical disciplines. Also, before visiting educational facilities that would later on teach me about animation, i had the opportunity to work with several production houses in which i could practice animation. The stuff we made there were mostly cus-tomer based and ranged from commercials, short movies, design work, etc. i have also worked on a large scale productions such as serials on which i made almost all of the animations and SPFX.

As far as animation is concerned, ive been a fan since my young-est age. i used to spend hours in front of the TV, watching over and over again from my recorded video tapes and channels such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, TCC... in my teenage years i was fascinated by video games, but again, i was kind of more attracted to the cut-scenes, intros, outros which were... again, animations. Sometimes the gameplay didnt even matter, as long as the animations were in-

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teresting. Even today, in my early twenties i feel more attracted to animations then to film and similar media. There is a certain magic that belongs to animation only, which combined with music can engage the senses in the most unusual and unforgettable ways...

Since i wanted to broaden my knowledge as an animator, i real-ized that i couldnt teach myself, so i started to look for a proper school that could teach animation: from the classical roots to the modern tools that we use in every-day production. Since, until re-cently, there were no similar institutions in Macedonia, the New Bul-garian Universitys Animated Film Directing department seemed to be the best choice. As the time passed, this choice seemed to be a good one, since animating a character that can walk, talk and feel turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected. But hard work seems to pay for itself, and the good results are coming through, slowly but surely.

As human beings that we are, we cannot observe our world in isolation, so in our works we can always find influences from other artists that we consciously or unconsciously implement in our works. As far as literature concerns, i like the works of herman hesse, Charles Bukowski, honore de Balsac, Agatha Christie, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Niche, Sigmund Freud, Aldous huxley, George orwell... i usually listen a lot of music when i work, my usual suspects are Anathema, Dark Tranquillity, Apocalyptica, Placebo, Bauhaus, Joy Division, The Cure, Dimmu Borgir, Gorgoroth, Michael Nyman, Type o Negative, My Dying Bride... From the movies, i like the works of Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Kingdom of heaven, Alien), Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain), Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, The Gangs of New York, Casino, The Departed), Tim Burton (Batman 1 & 2, Edward Scissorhands), Little Miss Sunshine, 24h Party People, Seven, Alexander, The Perverts Guide to the World of Cinema... As far as painting goes, i like the works of Salvador Dali, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Victor Vasarely, Man Ray... The works of August Rodin, Michelangelo...

The question of identity has been an intriguing theme to me for quite a while. The symbols that we use in everyday life in order to distinguish ourselves from the other, to find the unique I among the herd inspired me in a way to try something quite different and chal-lenging as a film.

The main theme that The Poison Well interprets, is about the todays post-modern man and his ways of life. The leading character, the wooden puppet-a biped that can be modified, dressed, controlled as we like, whenever we like, and according to own will, made the perfect protagonist of this film. His presence is a bit more symbolic than his actual appearance, because he is nobody, yet everybody.

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i used the plain surrounding as a measurement to his own per-ception, which to some extent could symbolize todays common man: tightly specialized worker, unable to perceive anything that is out of reach than his busy and ever demanding job...

it is said that as long as we are able to perceive the world, we know that we are alive. This puppet was tired of his monotonous job which at the end, got rid of him. Since there was all there was for this puppet, it was his demise too. At the end the space opens, which this time is the viewers angle. The dark factory: the unperceived reality for the wooden puppet.

What this film is trying to accentuate the most, is the monotony of life which is produced by the society which invests in security, stable production processes, predictability, reliable workers which are never late, never complain, always give their best, workers which live in everyday fear and stress, experience the artificially made competition, loneliness... this is especially the case in transition-al societies where the ways of life, traditions and overall quality of life goes through deep changes.

This new man is devoid of almost any compassion, any real emo-tion, he is being used for goals that are beyond his understanding and perception, his Goal in life becomes his life, this man has no other but himself in his world, and although this world is constantly filled with people, they have no existence in his field of perception, again he sees only himself, and the praise he expects and sometimes wins.

This society tells us what we want, what we should do to get what we dont even want in the first place, so we are pushed in a circle that wastes our souls and bodies and in return we get almost nothing, we believe that we are winning but actually we have lost the battle (and the war) a long time ago, the very moment that we decided to serve for the Poison Well... it is a society that creates false identities, ideas that seem possible and easy to touch and get, but usually are only a mask for the contradictions and emptiness that it is trying to hide... to make us desire in order to spin its economi-cally evoked wheels.

With this project, besides the artistic experiments, i wanted to focus myself on production skills, analyzing the 3d animation cre-ation process from its drawing roots, to the final post-production, promotion and distribution phase. Working on a deadline was some of the key targets as well; cooperation was also included as a mean and a stable structure for future productions.

As a member of a similar society as i mentioned above, i have witnessed around me (and my own skin too) the lack of strong social human basics, mass confusion, lack of identities, lack of direction,

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despair, desire for better lives, deceit... the idea for this film is my own, i am the sole author of the script and the screen adapta-tion.

i decided to borrow music from some popular artists, since Red-hat, the leading character, is trying to find his identity and he does it through music, as music is usually easily considered as a mean for identification. He is changing his style as the decades pass, without a hint that a horde of other puppets could do as just as the same thing. These songs are not among my favorites, but are easily rec-ognizable among the music fans, and that was one of my intents with this film. Artists such as Pat Boone, Lesley Core, The Shadows, Scott McKenzie, Elvis Presley, Boney M, Destruction, The Exploited, Metal-lica are included. The music here also dictates the editing rhythm so its no surprise if some shots look like music video shots.

I believe that this film will find itself among the adult audi-ence, since it contains metaphorical scenes, symbolism, quotations which are more understandable to the adult man, while a small child would only see a puppet carrying some objects, interesting animation, some vulgar scenes, and a not-so-happy ending.

This film is made completely in 3d animation. I used Autodesk 3ds max 8, a program with which i have extensive experience and which workflow I understand quite well. Compositing software was used in some scenes (Adobe After Effects 7) which couldnt be made while us-ing plain 3d. Final credits, text shots, were also made here. Adobe Photoshop CS2 was used for the texture work, promotional materials, DVD covers and the DVD menus. Most of the graphics were drawn in CorelDRAW X3, as well as the storyboard frames and logos. The ren-dered shots were edited in Sonys Vegas Video 7, where the final mix was also made. Nuendo 3 was used by my associate, who gave sound to every movement, the atmospheres... All the scripts and scenarios were written in Final Draft 7, as well as the shooting script. The final DVD was authored in Sonys DVD Architect 4.0.

3d animation and working with software have many advantages when compared to traditional mediums, and that is increased productivity, fast workflow, organized work... the computer is becoming an univer-sal medium for work and entertainment and its abilities increase ev-ery day. Yet, it still contains some limitations, especially to 3d, which sometimes seem a lot less free than traditional mediums, it is difficult to make it not to look artificial, cold, which is mostly the feeling that evokes some poorly made 3d animations...

Comparison between classical animation and 3d animation may seem daunting and a bit black and white, but as the time passes and artists from both fields shear experiences and practices, the differences seem to weaken in which classical becomes less classical and 3d becomes

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less technical. Classical animation has a longer mileage before 3d which is still quite young. Given almost a century after its birth it managed to develop (classical) into masterpieces, situated somewhere in the 40s and 50s of the 20th century. This draftsmanship required many working hours, large studios, very talented artists: caricatur-ists, key animators, phasers, layout artists, background artists, which made the production of classical animation quite long, slow, difficult and expensive. Yet, even today, the artistic quality of this works remain undisputed.

only a few studios in the world could afford themselves to pro-duce, advertise and make profits from animated films. As the years passed, several tools for digital production emerged, which gave rise to a new wave of animation production: the digital. This gave rise to both praises and critics. Some considered it inferior towards classi-cal animation (especially in the young days of 3d) and that it could never substitute the thousands of carefully crafted drawings. others saw a great potential, a new vision, a new way of seeing and produc-ing animation.

Since then, 3d is constantly developing and today is considered an equally serious medium for expression. Easy shift of perspec-tive, no limitations for the camera, photo-realism, inexpensiveness, speed, object-based work, small and effective teams, are some of the benefits that rose from the development of 3d animation. Now there are thousands of studios world-wide, in which large percent are equally competitive and professional and can bring high quality productions that are distributed across the world. 3d today is considered a cross-platform and can be used for various types of works, and its usage ranges from architecture, CAD design, rotoscoping, film, multimedia, web pages, animation, sculpture, special effects...

As to some mournful predictions, the 3d revolution seemed to endanger classical animation and gave rise to prophetic statements about its demise. This has shown to be untrue, since plain 3d, with-out the training, draftsmanship and talent that emerged from the classical animation is really just plain 3d: cold and uninspiring. Also, the classical-drawn animations can reap benefits from 3d. Scenes that were very difficult and time-consuming to do before (such as massive scenes filled with different characters, perspective shifts, camera fly-throughs, and many more are now easily achievable, thanks to 3d. There are some examples that could illustrate this: The iron Man, where most of the work is classical animation, except some 3d-based shots and the iron Man himself. Animating the robot by hand, wouldnt have archived the effect of massiveness and smooth moves which are made by the machine, so the effect of massiveness, heavi-ness, smooth movement is more easily (and effectively) achieved by

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using 3d instead. The Lion King would have taken few years more to produce if it wasnt for 3d to animate the heard of bulls marching towards Simba. The dancing scene in The Beauty and The Beast would have been impossible and a lot less imaginative without the use of a camera crane. The camera fly-throughs in Tarzan were only anima-tors dreams ten or so years ago. on the other side, the movies that emerged from the Pixar Studios would have never appealed to the au-dience without the storytelling and character traits which were made by... people that worked mostly at Disney, which were undisputed at storytelling and definition of characters. Other studios that also got involved in 3d feature films had occasional success, although they had superb animation and artistic quality. This again proves that 3d is just a segment in the production of animated film, which by itself does not guarantee the success of the film. Another example that could illustrate the time saving capabilities of 3d is the Star Wars saga. in the 70s, it took the special effects team nearly eight months of hard work to create a few space shots. Today they can be made by a 3d enthusiast in about... two days. The famous sitcom, South Park, is entirely made in 3d (Softimage), none the less that the characters and surroundings are cutouts...

Since the pioneer days of Melies, special effects are constantly developing, and we can freely say that today they can substitute re-ality on the big screen. one of the most used technics is the blue/green screen shooting. it consists of shooting a character, a scene against a blue or green (and sometimes red) background. Afterwards, (usually digitally) the blue or green color is stripped of the image by using a chroma filter, that recognizes the hues of a particular color and removes them from the screen. After this we can implement our shots almost anywhere: a man on the moon, people inside space-crafts, people talking in a car... the possibilities are endless. Although it seems as a no brainer, in everyday practice is very dif-ficult to create an eye-faking shot that we cant decipher from real-ity. Problems do arise, and their nature is different. The first one is the quality of the tape that is being shot, too much grain can make the shot almost impossible to mask. Reflections should be avoided too, the blue or green color is easily reflected from characters clothes, which they end up masked, which is not one of our intentions, does making the job more problematic.

As the years pass, the blue screen becomes even more important, because of it money-saving capabilities. Almost everything we see on the screen today, especially in block-busters is made in 3d or at least composited from other shots. Films like 300, Kingdom of heaven, Gladiator, Alexander, and other historical spectacles rely heavily on realistic 3d shots in order to convey architecture, civilizations

25


and life that has disappeared long time ago. The days when Cleopatra was shot are long gone, instead of tens of thousands of statists, and paper made buildings, we witness digital masses of people that are impossible to differ from the real ones.

teChniCaL information

Form: 3d Computer Animation, Short Genre: Experimental, Surreal, Action, independent Date of completion: 21.10.2006 Runtime: 21 min., 11 sec. Country of Production: Macedonia Preview Format: DVD Region 0 PAL Exhibition Format: DVD Region 0 PAL, Beta cam SP PAL Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Sound: Dolby Digital(2.0) Language: Macedonian Subtitles: English Web address: www.lostpin.net Premiere: 03.11.2006, 5 Star Cinema, Skopje, Macedonia

Cast & CreW

Nikola Chikos - director, writer, editor, animator, modeler, texture artist, sto-ryboard artist, voice of Redhat.

- contact information: [email protected] (redacted) (redacted)

igor Popovski - sound editing, sound FX, final mix, voice of Redhat and other pup-pets.

- contact information: (redacted)

26


(redacted)

musiC Credits

The Blues Brothers: Peter GunnChuck Berry: NadinePaul Mauriat & James Last: KatuouchaPat Boone: Speedy GonzalesLesley Core: its my partyThe Shadows: ApacheScott McKenzie: San FranciscoBoney M: Daddy CoolElvis Presley: Viva Las VegasModern Talking: Youre my heart, Youre my SoulDestruction: U.S.A. (The Exploited cover)Gangstarr: You know my steezProdigy: BreatheMetallica: For whom the bell tolls

diaLogue List:

Redhat

hey, its done! Lift it up!

YELLoW

Coming, coming!

Redhat

hey!

Redhat (CoNTD)

What the hell!

YELLoW

hey, hey!

BLUE

27


Whats up?

YELLoW

Take a look at that!

BLUE

What a loser!

AUDiENCE (o.s.)

(Applause)

Redhat

Ah, you mother&^$*&^... (#$^% (cursing)

PUPPETS (o.s.)

(Laughing)

Redhat

(screaming)

You wooden assholes! My wooden stick up your ass! You motherf***ing losers!

Redhat (CoNTD)

Suck my wooden stick! Fags...

Redhat (CoNTD)

(screaming)

Whaaa!

YELLoW

(screaming)

Whaaa!

YELLoW

(screaming)

Whaaa!

ALiEN

ive never been so humiliated in my entire life... Let me go, you bastard! Motherf***er!

ALiEN (CoNTD)

Cmon gang, show what youve learned!

AUDiENCE

28


(applause)

partiCipations & aWards (the poison WeLL)

2nd place at the New Bulgarian Universitys film festival (2006)Future Film Festival 2007 - Bologna, italy (participation) Skopje Film Festival 2007 - Skopje, Macedonia (participation)Reanimacja Animation Festival 2007 - Lodz, Poland (participation)imaginaria Film Festival 2007 - Conversano, italy (an- nounced)

Biography and fiLmography (21.10.2006)

Biography

I was born on 04.12.1984 in Skopje, Macedonia. I finished my high-school studies in Rade Jovcevski Korcagin-Skopje, where my interests in animation, film and multimedia started to grow. After-wards i started my history of Art studies at the Faculty of Philoso-phy in Skopje. Shortly afterwards i signed up at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia, where I am currently enrolled at the forth year of my animation studies. During my career as a general visual artist, i managed to create several animation shorts, video clips, scripts, storyboards and various artworks, in which you may find more detailed information below.

fiLmography

29


2000 Started working with digital editing and creating multi-media presentations (Power Point). During my high school edu-cation, I made my first multimedia presentation: St. Cyril and Methodius.

2001 Continued working with digital editing, presentations, i started working 3d animation. My next presentation Macedonian Revolutionary organization had improved graphics, animations, etc.

2002 I finished my first 3d animation World War II (as an in-troductory animation for the presentation). The same year, i completed two more presentations: Ancient Macedonia and Nobel Prize Winners. - i started working in Dream Factory, where i worked on TV com-mercials, video clips, films, etc.

2003 New version of World War ii with new animations. it was presented at the school patronage day and Euro Clio 2003 world conference of historians. - Commercials, video clips in Dream Factory - Rebirth short animated film

2004 i worked on a childrens serial Journeys by Rabrobile. i made all the animations and SPFX (around 100 shots). - Video clips and commercials for 3d Project studio. - Short film: When the stars are moving (ass. director and SPFX) - Scripts, drawings, storyboards, pictures, photos for two ani-mated films: Peace and Veritas. Awards (Rebirth):- Tetovo 2004(state film fest.):- Golden award for experimental film- Golden award for editing

2005 - Scripts, drawings, storyboards, pictures, photos for two animated films: The Poison Well, Macedonia - Web site Lost Pin

2006 Production and post-production of The Poison Well- Journeys by Rabrobus (sequel, around 240 shots) - Vinum (wine etiquettes design)

2.

Shooting Script

32

The Poison Well - Shooting Script

FADE IN:

I/E. THE WELL - DAY1 1

REDHAT is running towards the Well. A box appears from below. The titles of the film are written on the box, they are glowing. REDHAT is trying to lift the box. He is successful at his second attempt.

CUT TO:

I/E. THE WELL - MOMENTS LATER2 2

He is turning around with the box in his hands.

CUT TO:


He stops for a while, his body goes up and down. He continues to carry the box towards the left side.

CUT TO:

I/E. MIDDLE - CONTINUOUS4 4

REDHAT carries the box from the right to the left. Titles appear: The date is 17.01.1955.

CUT TO:

I/E. MIDDLE - CONTINUOUS5 5

REDHAT looks somewhere in the sky, while he carries the box.

CUT TO:

I/E. THE GOAL - MOMENTS LATER6 6

An improvised elevator is coming down from the fog.

CUT TO:

Lost Pin - Animation Studio 2006

33


I/E. THE GOAL - CONTINUOUS7 7

The elevator falls over the Goal, REDHAT is coming closer.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is putting the box over the elevator. He smashes it over it.

CUT TO:


He moves back, away from the elevator.

CUT TO:


REDHAT stops, he is trying to get some breath. He pulls his hat out. He brushes the sweat of his face. REDHAT puts his cap back, violently rushes towards the camera.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - The box is pushed to the left side.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - The hook is rising from the elevator.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - REDHAT is sticking one of the hook catchers to the hook. He moves the hook back.

CUT TO:

2.


34



MONTAGE - REDHAT manages to stick the other hook catcher as well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is pulling the hook towards him. He releases it and the hook land over the box.

CUT TO:


REDHAT moves brushing his hands off in a pleased, macho style. He raises his hand, he is waving at someone.

REDHATHey, its done! Lift it up!

CUT TO:


A puppet is leaning on the fence. He moves back and goes towards the rope. Another puppet is looking at the camera.

YELLOWComing, coming!

CUT TO:


REDHAT crosses his hands and waits. The alarm on his chest activates.

REDHATHey!

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking at the little flashy light.

3.

Lost Pin - Animation Studio 2006 (CONTINUED)

35


REDHATWhat the hell!

CUT TO:


The camera moves towards REDHAT from the back. He moves towards it.

FADE TO:

I/E. THE WELL - CONTINUOUS21 21

A Russian Radio Box appears from the Well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is scratching his face, he moves his arms in front.

CUT TO:

I/E. MIDDLE - MOMENTS LATER23 23

REDHAT is measuring the size of the box.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is turning towards the elevator which is moving upwards.

CUT TO:


His hands are at the elevator.

CUT TO:

4.


CONTINUED:19 19

36



REDHAT is turning his head on the side.

CUT TO:


REDHAT kneels on the ground, preparing himself for the go.

CUT TO:


The puppets are pulling the elevator.

YELLOWHey, hey!

BLUEHATWhats up?

YELLOWTake a look at that!

BLUEHATWhat a loser!

CUT TO:


REDHAT is preparing for the go: he starts running.

CUT TO:


REDHAT furiously runs towards the Well.

CUT TO:

5.


37



REDHAT running wild. He jumps of the ground, he loses control, falls on the ground. He rumbles along, then jumps off again.

CUT TO:


He flies toward the Russian Radio box. He grabs it, jumps off.

CUT TO:


Makes a triple salto mortale.

CUT TO:


Lands on the ground.

CUT TO:


Spins the Russian Radio box in his hand.

FADE TO:


Slow motion shot, he hit the box from the ground, catches it, throws it again, makes a turn and flies in the air again.

CUT TO:

6.


38



He catches the box, land on the Wells fence, jumps off again while he bounces the box from the ground. He catches the box again.

CUT TO:


REDHAT put the box between his legs. He throws it in the air. The timing goes back to normal, he makes another salto, and continues to run towards the camera.

CUT TO:


The box is flying towards the left side of the shot.

FADE TO:


REDHAT is following the box with a pirouette.

FADE TO:


The box is flying, this time it decreases its altitude.

FADE TO:


REDHAT follows with a multiple salto.

FADE TO:


The box is falling further.

FADE TO:

7.


39



A cow with big eyes appears instead of REDHAT.

CUT TO:

I/E. MIDDLE - FLASH45 45

REDHAT and the box fly together.

CUT TO:

I/E. THE GOAL - FLASH46 46

REDHAT catches the box, he is a step away to slam it on the elevator.

CUT TO:


REDHAT slams the box.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is flying attached to the elevator. The elevator reaches its peak.

AUIDIENCE (o.s.) (Applause)

CUT TO:


REDHAT flies on the opposite side.

AUIDIENCE (o.s.)(Applause)

CUT TO:

8.


40



REDHAT reaches the opposite peak with the elevator.


CUT TO:


REDHAT jumps of the elevator, makes a salto and bows in front of the audience. The elevator comes from the left side and he grabs it with his mouth.


CUT TO:


REDHAT is attached to the wooden sticks of the elevator. The Russian Radio box starts to move.

CUT TO:


REDHAT reaches with his hand in order to catch the box. The box continues to move.

CUT TO:


The Russian Radio box is falling from the elevator.

CUT TO:


The Russian Radio box is falling, it is followed by the other box.

CUT TO:

9.


41



The two boxes are falling to the ground.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is also falling down.

CUT TO:


REDHAT falls on the ground. He spits out the wood in his mouth, he stands up. He looks between his legs, the steel there is twisted.

REDHATAh, you mother&^$*&^...(#$^%(cursing)

He pulls the steel straight. He relaxes. Then he turns on the other side, towards the Russian Radio box.

CUT TO:


REDHAT moves towards the Russian Radio box. He hits it with his foot maliciously.

CUT TO:


The Russian Radio box rumbles away from REDHAT.

CUT TO:


REDHAT crosses his arms. He waits for the elevator.

FADE TO:

10.


42


I/E. THE GOAL - LATER62 62

REDHAT sits on the floor, the boxes are behind his back. He looks at his arms.

CUT TO:


The elevator appears.

CUT TO:


REDHAT looks at the elevator. He stands up.

CUT TO:


The elevator is at the Goal. REDHAT is standing.

CUT TO:


REDHAT waves with his hands(dances to the rhythm). He moves towards the boxes.

CUT TO:


REDHAT picks up the Russian Radio box.

CUT TO:


REDHAT carries the box towards the Goal. He is singing along.

CUT TO:

11.


43



REDHAT looks at the elevator. LOSER is written across the wooden surface.

PUPPETS (o.s.)(Laughing)

CUT TO:


REDHAT looks above him.

PUPPETS (o.s.)(Laughing)

CUT TO:


The puppets are laughing their guts out.

PUPPETS(laughing)

CUT TO:


REDHAT throws the Russian box away. He is in rage. He is waving at the puppets.

REDHAT(screaming)

You wooden assholes! My wooden stick up your ass! You motherf***inglosers!

He moves towards the right.

FADE TO:


REDHAT throws the big box on the elevator.

FADE TO:

12.


44



REDHAT throws the Russian Radio box on the elevator.

FADE TO:


REDHAT show his hand towards the puppets.

REDHATSuck my wooden stick! Fags...

CUT TO:


The Russian Radio box and the big box. Something flashes inside the Russian Radio box.

CUT TO:


Red light flashes inside the Russian Radio box

CUT TO:


REDHAT is moving away from the Goal. Suddenly a strong explosion is heard. Wooden pieces fall at him. One puppet falls down in front of him. Its smoky and in pieces.

REDHAT(screaming)

Whaaa!

REDHAT looks at the body. He closes in on it. Sees if anyone watches, afterwards he tears a part from his co-workershand. He continues to the right. YELLOW appears from the left side, he is on fire.

YELLOW(screaming)

Whaaa!

13.


45


REDHAT returns with a stand-board. He throws aside the wooden piece that stands in his way. He continues to the left. YELLOW appears again, from the left to the right. Hes still on fire. REDHAT returns to the right.

YELLOW (CONT'D)(screaming)

Whaaa!

CUT TO:


YELLOW appears from the left side. He runs in circle, at the end he falls to the ground. From the right side a giant UFO appears, which is carried by REDHAT. He is followed by three aliens, one of them is hitting him on his back. The UFO picks up the YELLOWs corpse inside it. The UFO blows and the upper part flies away. The UFO is in smoke. One of the aliens stops. He has bottle in his hand. He drinks it and burps. He throws it over YELLOWs body. The alien runs to the left. REDHAT runs from the left to the right.

CUT TO:


The upper part of the UFO flies from the left to the right. REDHAT is dragging an alien creature towards the left

ALIENIve never been so humiliated in my entire life...Let me go, you bastard!Motherf***er!

The alien is dragged to the left, besides his futile attempts to escape.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is writing something in his report. One of the aliens tears apart one of the wooden parts and throws it towards REDHATs head. He manages to hit him. REDHAT turns around.

CUT TO:

14.


CONTINUED:78 78

46



The elevator is going up. One of the aliens shows the part of the wood where loser is written.

ALIENCmon gang, show what youve learned!

The aliens show their middle fingers.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking at the aliens. He turns around.

CUT TO:


REDHAT reluctantly waves his hand. He takes the hat, the report and the pen from the floor. Suddenly the upper part of the UFO appears. Its smoky, it finishes on the floor. REDHAT continues towards the camera.

FADE TO:

I/E. THE WELL - LATER85 85

The 60s. REDHAT is running towards the Well. There are some flowers waving on the fence. Large radio on the right side.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running towards the Well. Some tires appear from it.

CUT TO:


REDHAT picks up the wheel. He examines it.

CUT TO:

15.


47



REDHAT is turned with his back towards the camera, he turns around, the wheel is turning in his hand.

FADE TO:


REDHAT is raging on fire-driving on four wheels from the right to the left.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is driving himself. He loses control over the wheels and he crushes. One of the wheels appears: deformed. He picks it up.

CUT TO:


REDHAT places the wheel on the top of the stack. He presses the button on the elevator. This turns red.

CUT TO:


REDHAT runs towards the Well. The elevator goes up.

CUT TO:


REDHAT runs towards the right side of the shot. From there, he appears with an Apollo capsule. The capsule brakes down and REDHAT ends up inside. He hits the capsule from the inside, manages to move it towards the left. Helicopters, trucks, soldiers, jeeps appear from the right side. REDHAT runs again to the right. He comes back with a tank and soldiers on it. He runs back to the right again. He comes back with a giant airplane carrier. Planes fall from the carrier.

16.


48


So does a uncle Sam figure and a gorgeous American bikini girl. REDHAT comes back, hes confused. He continues to the right.

FADE TO:


The radio. Strong explosions are heard. The camera shakes all over the place. It falls to the ground. The radio changes stations.

FADE TO:


Smoky airplanes, fallen helicopters, uncle Sam on fire, overweight bikini girl. REDHAT pulls a cart with speakers, two enormous numbers (69) and a woodstock sign. Some hippies and ex-soldiers are sitting on the speakers. Suddenly the back wheels brake. REDHAT goes back to see what it is.

CUT TO:


An ex-soldier stands up, he walks towards a female drunk hippie puppet. He lift her skirt and starts banging her.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is examining the wheels. He hears a strong annoying sound. The whole cart with the speakers is shaking. REDHAT moves to see whats going on.

CUT TO:


As he reaches the crowd, the numbers dismantle, sparks everywhere, the speakers are falling across one another, the place becomes smoky.

CUT TO:

17.


CONTINUED:93 93

49



REDHAT looks at the mass. Three hippies appear from the side. They look at what happened and start clapping. REDHAT waves away.

CUT TO:


REDHAT picks up the cart and carries it towards the Goal. Suddenly a giant Peace sign appears. REDHAT runs towards it.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking at the Peace sign as it goes up in the air. His alarm activates. He turn around. Behind him two puppet fall dawn.

CUT TO:


Something is trying to pull out from the Well. A Lovebus jumps out of it. It lands on the ground.

CUT TO:


A window is open. Heavy smoke is coming from the inside. A hand points out of the window. It makes a Peace sign.

CUT TO:


The hand is followed by other hands which make the same symbol.

CUT TO:

18.


50



REDHAT looks at the mass. Three hippies appear from the side. They look at what happened and start clapping. REDHAT waves away.

CUT TO:


REDHAT picks up the cart and carries it towards the Goal. Suddenly a giant Peace sign appears. REDHAT runs towards it.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking at the Peace sign as it goes up in the air. His alarm activates. He turn around. Behind him two puppet fall dawn.

CUT TO:


Something is trying to pull out from the Well. A Lovebus jumps out of it. It lands on the ground.

CUT TO:


A window is open. Heavy smoke is coming from the inside. A hand points out of the window. It makes a Peace sign.

CUT TO:


The hand is followed by other hands which make the same symbol.

CUT TO:

18.


51



REDHAT makes a why not gesture and moves towards the right side.

CUT TO:


He carries the Lovebus on his arms. He loses control and the Lovebus falls on him. He quickly escapes in front of the Lovebus. He thinks for a while and goes towards it. REDHAT opens the door and enters in. He starts the engine and drives it to the left.

FADE TO:

I/E. THE GOAL - LATER107 107

Hands are waving from the Lovebus as the elevator lifts them up. The camera moves to REDHAT. He takes of his hat. He has flowers on his chest and lipstick kisses on his head.

CUT TO:


REDHAT looks at the Lovebus which disappears.

CUT TO:


REDHAT lifts his hand towards his face. He scratches himself on the cheek. He looks at the cowboys hat. He turns to the right.

CUT TO:


REDHAT slowly moves towards the Well. His hat flies towards the right. It fells on the right side. The slogan Support the Army can be read.

FADE TO:

19.


52



The 70s begin. REDHAT is waiting and moving his feet.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is dancing to the rhythm of the music. He is making a few exhibitions. He notices that the shipment has arrived. REDHAT stops and turns to see what it is.

CUT TO:


He moves his hand towards the Elvis wig. He picks it up. Here are also Elvis glasses and an Elvis record.

CUT TO:


REDHAT examines the wig. He puts it over his Afro haircut. Afterwards he picks up the record, puts it out the cover and smashes the record player. The previous record flies off.

CUT TO:


REDHAT puts the record in the record player. It starts to spin.

CUT TO:


REDHAT picks up the glasses at last. He puts them on his head. He turns around.

CUT TO:

20.


53



He picks up the load. He takes an Elvis pose.

CUT TO:


He is running towards the Goal.

CUT TO:


The elevator is spinning down from the fog.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running towards the Goal as the elevator goes down.

CUT TO:


The elevator lands on the Goal.

FADE TO:


The box is spinning in place. REDHAT hits it as if he is playing football.

CUT TO:


The box hits the elevator. REDHAT gets his head between his legs. The camera makes a fast movement to the back, thus revealing the Well and a Cadillac coming out of it.

21.


54


AUIDIENCE(applause)

CUT TO:


REDHAT stands up. He spits in both his hands and runs towards the right.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running towards the right. He reappears with the Cadillac and some wagons behind it. The wagons are filled with puppets.

CUT TO:


He continues to drive the crazy train, a rollercoaster steps in front of him. REDHAT continues to drive the little composition on the top of that.

CUT TO:


The train goes the rail, the rollercoaster is fully revealed.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is waving with his hands hes pressing the horn on the car.

CUT TO:


They continue to climb on. They end up in the empty space.

CUT TO:

22.


CONTINUED:123 123

55



REDHAT falls from the fog.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is lying on the floor, legs and arms spread.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is still lying on the floor. His leg moves a bit. He stands in a sitting pose. He is scratching his Afro haircut. He notices that somethings missing, turns around and picks up the Elvis wig. He throws away the broken glasses and replaces them with new ones. REDHAT stands up, he turns towards the Goal. He hears the alarm ringing, he turns to the Well. Something comes out.

CUT TO:


REDHAT in surprise, lowers his glasses.

FADE TO:


A slot machine rises from the Well. Shortly afterwards, REDHAT lands on it.

FADE TO:


REDHAT is running with the slot machine towards the Goal.

CUT TO:

23.


56



The elevator lands down. REDHAT slips and falls together with the slot machine. He pulls the slot stick on the side.

CUT TO:


REDHAT watches as the elevator goes up. He turns around. Suddenly a coin fall on his head. He turns to the Goal again. An whole lot of money pours down on REDHAT.

CUT TO:


REDHAT emerges from the coins. He joyfully throws around the coins. Suddenly the coins disappear.

CUT TO:


REDHAT falls to the ground.

CUT TO:


He turns towards the right.

FADE TO:


An Afro substitution of REDHAT appears.

FADE TO:


REDHAT turns around astonished.

CUT TO:

24.


57



The camera shows that there is nothing there.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is breathing deep and looks at the Well. He stands up on his feet. He takes away the glasses. He sees that they are broken. He throws them away as he continues to walk towards the Well.

CUT TO:


Half of the old kitschy glasses lies down. The other half falls down next to them.

FADE TO:


This is where the 80s begin. A small radio is dancing in the rhythm of the music. A dark shadow is coming near from the right side. Suddenly the radio is smashed by the Martens boot. A new hi-fi system is thrown in front of it.

CUT TO:


The figure of REDHAT rises. He has long hair and looks quite menacing. He takes out a record from his back. He pulls it out from the cover. He throws the cover away. REDHAT is moving towards the right side.

CUT TO:


REDHAT puts the record in the system tray.

CUT TO:

25.


58



A skull is entering the scene. REDHAT looks at it, he scratches his beard.

CUT TO:


The skull is flying to the ground from the right. He activates himself, his eyes are glowing, he jumps towards REDHAT. REDHAT hits the skull in the face, continues to the left. Suddenly a metallic hand appears from the right.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running towards the Goal. The elevator is going down. The skull lands on it.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is at the Goal. He reaches for the remote control. He hears some noises, he turns around. REDHAT is devastated, his hair is up in the air. The screen flashes.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running around the Goal. The hand is running after him. They chase around the Well too.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is chased by the hand. Few copies of REDHAT and the hand appear, chasing around the Goal. The screen starts to flash, A giant A with a circle around it appears.

CUT TO:

26.


59



Flashes of light and figures chasing one another. REDHAT manages to come to himself(the copies disappear). He avoids the attack of the hand, he escapes towards the right. The hand goes after him. Again, multiple versions of REDHAT appear, chased by the hand. They disappear, REDHAT is peeking from the right side of the screen. Suddenly the hand catches him, pulls him to the right. REDHAT enters the screen without his legs. The hand follows with boots, it hits REDHAT who flies to the left. REDHAT runs from the left to the right.

CUT TO:


REDHAT jumps and stops, he looks at something.

CUT TO:


A Terminator enters from the Well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is scratching his head.

CUT TO:


The full figure of the Terminator enters, he moves his left hand where he holds a gun.

CUT TO:


The Terminator points his gun towards REDHAT.

CUT TO:

27.


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REDHAT reluctantly moves towards the Well.

CUT TO:


The Terminator puts the gun down. From the other hand he raises a McDonalds sign.

CUT TO:


REDHAT reaches the Terminator. He picks him up and carries him towards the left.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is carrying the Terminator.

CUT TO:


REDHAT pulls a small cart with a vandalized portrait of Mona Lisa.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is coming from the left. He has his leg stuck in a rope. He releases himself from the rope. He roars at it.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is carrying a vandalized statue of Poseidon. He loses balance and falls towards the left.

28.


61


A head of Poseidon rolls from the left side. The hand of REDHAT appears, it takes Poseidons head back.

CUT TO:


REDHAT lift the head in rage.

CUT TO:


REDHAT sticks the head into Poseidons genitalia.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is raging, he rolls over the statue. He manages to brake its leg, it throws it back. REDHAT picks up the remote control.

CUT TO:


REDHAT moves himself away from the Goal.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is preparing himself to push the button. He hears some noises and turns around.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking towards the camera. A paint can falls from his back. REDHAT sees that there is no one there, he turns around again.

CUT TO:

29.


CONTINUED:167 167

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REDHAT presses the button, he turns around. Fuck the U.S.A. is written on his back. A rope is tied to his leg. He slips and flies in the air.

FADE TO:


These are the 90s. REDHAT moves slowly towards the Well.

CUT TO:


A teddy bear comes out of the Well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is looking at the teddy.

CUT TO:

INT. THE WELL - MOMENTS LATER178 178

REDHAT picks up the teddy bear.

CUT TO:


REDHAT moves towards the Goal.

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REDHAT is closing in to the Goal. The elevator is coming down.

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REDHAT stops in front of the elevator. He picks up a remote control behind his back.

CUT TO:


REDHAT points the remote towards the elevator. He presses a button. Out of the elevators rear comes out some home appliances, which fill out the screen size. REDHAT pushes the buttons again and the appliances return to the elevator. REDHAT pushes a button again.

CUT TO:


The front of the elevator opens. A moving track goes out.

CUT TO:


The track places itself in front of REDHAT. He puts the teddy bear on it. He presses a button and the track starts moving, the teddy goes up.

CUT TO:


REDHAT appears from the left. He notices that the shipment havent arrived yet. He continues to the right.

CUT TO:


REDHAT stops. He pushes a button on the remote. The remote doesnt respond. He kneels and pushes again. He is changing stations. REDHAT finds a suitable station and stands up.

CUT TO:

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REDHAT puts off his hat. Theres a tattoo on his had and two blue flames are coming out of his head. From the Well comes out a red Love Parade balloon. REDHAT touches the balloon.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - ~10 very fast shot in which REDHAT hits the balloon.

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REDHAT is playing with the balloon. He kisses it throws it in the air, he tries to hit it with his head. The balloon explodes. REDHAT touches his head. His hands are on fire. He jumps around and screams. At the end he jumps in a pool of water. He goes out from the pool, picks up the balloon pieces and continues to the left.

CUT TO:


REDHAT brings the pieces towards the elevator. He puts them inside. The elevator goes up. REDHAT is sleeping and snoring. The alarm activates, he wakes up and goes back to the Well.

CUT TO:


The 10s. REDHAT is going very slowly towards the Well, his legs are shaking. A media player is situated next to the Well. From the Well comes out a computer chip. He picks up the chip.

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He makes a slow turnaround.

CUT TO:


REDHAT stops. He manages to get some force and continues to walk towards the left.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is walking towards the left. The media player makes circles around REDHAT. It stops in front of him. REDHAT tries to smash it. The media player escapes the perils. REDHAT continues to walk towards the left.

CUT TO:


REDHAT stops in front of the Goal. He puts the chip. He makes some movements with the hand. A small amount of light appears in front of him. He hits himself on the head. A small elevator appears which picks up the chip. REDHAT is going back towards the Well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT stops, he stretches himself and lies down on the ground.

CUT TO:


REDHAT lies on the ground. He falls asleep. The alarm on his chest starts to beat. REDHAT still sleeps.

FADE TO:

33.


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I/E. MIDDLE - LATER198 198

REDHAT awakes from the sleep. He rises up.

CUT TO:


REDHAT scratches himself on the neck. Soon he notices that there is no signal on the chest light. He turns on the side in a fast manner. He stands up and starts to run.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is running towards the Well.

CUT TO:


REDHAT jumps at the Well. He is trying to open the lid. He fall to the back.

CUT TO:


REDHAT goes back to the Well. He hits at the lid, he is in despair. He rises up, he moves towards the Goal.

CUT TO:


He falls to the ground, he rises again. He continues to walk.

CUT TO:

34.


67



REDHAT walks with his hands on his stomach. He stops, he rises up and falls to the ground.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is on his knees. He screams as he contracts.

CUT TO:


REDHAT is on his knees, screaming. He is lying on the ground. He manages to rise up.

CUT TO:


He is moving slowly from left to right. Strong light appears. He falls to the right.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - Three fast shots where REDHAT hits the ground.

CUT TO:


The hat falls to the ground, it is spinning.

CUT TO:


REDHAT head is shaking. It falls on the ground lifelessly. The hat stops to spin.

CUT TO:

35.


68



A static shot of REDHAT.

CUT TO:



CUT TO:



FADE TO:

I/E. MIDDLE - LATER214 214

The camera circles around REDHAT. The camera closes down on him.

CUT TO:


MONTAGE - Two fast shots in which an electrical discharge occurs, REDHATs body moves in a shock.

CUT TO:


The camera circles around REDHAT. The horizon reveals.

CUT TO:

INT. MIDDLE - MOMENTS LATER217 217

Birds view of REDHAT. The factory reveals more and more.

CUT TO:

36.


69



The camera is going down. Dark room, gloomy lights.

CUT TO:


The whole area reveals. Puppets are marching on the side, carrying the same box as REDHAT used to carry.

THE END

37.


3.

Characters

72

The Poison Well - Characters

redhat

The protagonist and mostly the only character of this film. He is a wooden puppet, made of light wood (which will gradually get darker as the ages pass) and metal parts (which will turn to rust). he wears a red hat, and changes his hat and haircuts as the decades pass. he is a hard worker, dedicated to his well. he has only one mission, and that is to deliver his shipment from the Well to the Goal, where an elevator takes it to an unknown destination. he is very persistent at his work, although not always 100% successful. Ne never asks any questions about his life, nor his shipments, he reluctantly does his work. He is ambitious at first, trying to show himself at his best, but as the ages pass he losses his enthusiasm and becomes robotized. he is uncertain about who he is, he is unsure of his identity and his abilities. he is not very social either. Redhat is neither good or bad character, just a puppet found in these circumstances. he has an alarm on his chest, a red flashing beacon which warns him that it is time to pick up the shipment. he never misses to pick up the goods, and when he does miss, then its fatal. Redhat is a sort of a conform-ist, trying to be different, but yet the average, yet the same.

BLue & yeLLoW

Blue and Yellow are two puppets with which Redhat works in the 50s, due to a lack of more sophisticated machinery, they pull up the shipment. They are teamed up and dont like Redhat really, they usu-ally make fun of him. They are destroyed when they pick up the Rus-sian Radio Box, which is actually a spy bomb.

the aLiens

The Aliens feature few scenes in the 50s. They are quite naughty, they curse and drink. One of them turns Blue on fire with a bottle of whisky. They behave quite the opposite of the alien clich, theyre rude and vulgar. The aliens disappear in the 50s.

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the skuLL

The Skull is one of the props that activates after it is being kicked by Redhat in the 80s. it is mean, a bit similar to the Ter-minator. it seeks revenge, yet unable to succeed due to the lack of other body parts. The hand does what he is unable to do.

the hand

The hand is guided by the brains of the skull. All it does is chasing Redhat. it succeeds in capturing him and braking his legs.

the soLdier

The Soldier is a retired Vietnam fighter. He is hedonistic, all that he does is having fun, drinking and having sex with hippies. he has a small part in the 60s.

the hippies

They are hi and drunk most of the time in this film.

the CoW With the Big eyes

The cow with the big eyes is a metaphor for Redhat, a symbol for his madness.


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Redhat (50s)


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Redhat (60s)


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Redhat (70s)


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Redhat (80s)


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Redhat (90s)


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Redhat (10s)


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Redh

at (

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Soldier


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The Hippie


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Blue

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The Alien


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The Hand


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The Skull


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Juxt

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Juxt

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Backgrounds

4.

92

The Poison Well - Backgrounds

The Well, the Goal (60s)

The Well, the Goal (50s)

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The Well, the Goa

"the poison well" bachelor degree work

Documents

synopsis longthe poison

synopsis shortthe poison

postmodern man

script8the poison

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