Project Storyline (First draft)

Here is my idea for the third year project, this is the first full write through of it so it may still be altered as the storyboard is made:

Animation Third Year Project: Initial Idea

The story is set in an isolated forest in a snowy and high altitude habitat (Canada or Russia would be good examples). There is a single main character, a man approximately in his 50’s who lives in a log cabin in the middle of these vast woods.

It is winter, and the cabin’s food supply is on its last legs due to unsuccessful hunting. The man is forced to venture into the harsh weather to find food otherwise starvation will be imminent.

The man wanders for a while in the woods looking for any sign of prey. Eventually, he spots a deer not too far away. It hasn’t seen him yet so he begins to stalk closer. Suddenly, a bright flash of light engulfs the deer, and it transforms into a woman. She looks familiar but a stone mask covers her face. She looks at the man, and then runs into the woods. The man, astonished and confused, pursues the woman.

The man loses track of the woman steps, her last signs led him into a clearing, surrounded by dense forest and thicket. His eyes dart around, and then he sees something emerging from the trees. A creature, tall, black as night, and humanoid, with long arms bearing jagged claws. It slowly stumbles towards the man. The man is shocked and horrified and sees that identical creatures are emerging all around him, slowly surrounding him. As he looks at their cold faces images flash in his head, noises cluster his head, and then he shakes it away. Frustrated and delirious, he raises his rifle and fires at the creatures, but as one falls, another appears from the trees. Eventually the creatures completely surround him, one grabs his rifle and throws is aside. The man kneels to the floor and clutches his head, losing sanity by the second. Suddenly, it all goes quiet. The man looks up, there’s nothing there, except his rifle not too far from him. He picks it up, trying to clear his head, and heads further into the woods.

After more searching, he spots a large boar. He tries not to startle it; it would definitely attack him if it got the chance. He tries to creep forwards, but the ground was too brittle and the boar heard the crunching snow. But as it turns around, the man doesn’t see a boar anymore, but a larger monster than the ones he encountered in the clearing. Without hesitating or thinking, he raises his rifle but the creature lashes out a long, black tongue, latching onto the rifle, seizing from the man and tossing it behind the creature. It then starts to circle the man, twisting its head from side to side like its examining him. The images begin to flash in the man’s head again, over and over, deafening his mind. The creature lets a blood curdling scream and leaps at the man. The man tumbles, awaiting his demise.

There’s a gunshot, the creature falls at the man’s feet, it gets up only to find a huge bullet hole through its centre. It looks at the man, and then crumbles to ash. Behind the creature, is the woman, holding the smoking rifle. She walks up to the man, kneels down to him, and hands him the rifle. She then removes her mask. The face, like a burning beacon in the man’s mind, brought light to all the dark memories. He recognises her, and they embrace each other, tears streaming down the man’s face.

Then, in a flash, the man returned to reality, alone. The rifle was in his hands, as it always had been. He reaches into his pocket, and draws a picture of him and the woman, his dead wife. He kisses the picture, streaming more tears. He looks forward and sees the boar, dead. He gets out some rope, ties the boar up and starts to drag it home, disappearing into the trees.