Wednesday, February 10, 2010

DISHA STORY PROCESS

Logline: A student and a teacher trying to tame each other.
Possible Characters:
5 or 6 yr old mischievous girl (protagonist)
Skinny hot tempered conservative middle aged teacher (antagonist).
Girl’s male best friend: Partner in crime.
Parents
Peon or a Male teacher who the antagonist secretly loves?

Environment:
Public School or Govt. school?
City or Village?
Indian School.

Ideas for narrative:
Multiple four frame cartoons.
1.
i. Angry teacher writes note in girl’s report card.
ii. Girl’s parents are not happy, and girl looks sad.
iii. Girls takes revenge by writing nasty things about the teacher on the bathroom wall.
iv. Students giggle as teacher passes by with the same sad look as the girl in (ii) frame.

2.
i. Girl and boy talking in class and giggling.
ii. teacher throws chalk and girl ducks.
iii. Girl and boy sniggering and talking again.
iv. Teacher throws the duster and it hits the girl.

3. Sleeping Patterns
i. Girls studying for test all night as teacher sleeps peacefully.
ii. next morning, teacher teaches in class and girl sleeps in class peacefully.

4.
i. Girl sleeps in class
ii. Teacher shouts at her and wakes her up.
iii. now girl is wide awake and talking and disturbing the whole class.
iv. teacher regrets waking her up and looks exasperated.

5.
i. Teacher sleeping in class, Kids watch on and giggle
ii. Teacher gets up and snaps, Kids look scared and put fingers to their lips.
iii. Teacher begins reading a chapter from the book
iv. Kids seem to be fast asleep.

6. The cunning student
i. Girl disturbs class- is made to stand up.
ii. She started eating in class- is made to stand in front of the class.
iii. She slyly makes faces at the teacher- she gets throw out of class.
iv. She seems very happy and strolls down the corridor (it was a plan to get out of the class)


7.
i. Drawing class: Bored uninspired girl makes dull drawings and yawns.
ii. normal class (some academic subject): Girl gleefully draws elaborate, creative, funny caricatures or doodle of the queer looking teacher.

1 comment:

  1. I have put this up here because I find that Disha is following a certain process in getting to her strips which is pretty "designerly", well thought out and systematic in approach and I have no problems with that.
    I would like her to reflect on her stories and see how they "spread out" or "go down deep". It will happen.
    I like the way you are approaching the story.
    I like the various scenarios, the way you have thought out the characters.
    You can now go right ahead with your Final Product which will be a book consisting of a series of 4 frame cartoons.
    If some "stories" or "episodes" go beyond four frames to eight and more, then you will be moving into a larger story mode, with longer episodes.
    Let's see whether the process boxes you into the four frame mode (which is a good commercial mode) or takes you into creating a much larger and longer narrative.
    I would like you simultaneously, as you do your strips, to find strip cartoons that already engage with the same theme you are working with to become aware of the space you are working within. How do you expand or contract (in terms of your stories and the specific insights they bring) your work?
    I would also like you to find some time to read perhaps some of the teacher-student-school story books that are around - Tom Brown's Schooldays, Billy Bunter series, Jennings, William (Richmal Crompton) etc.

    ReplyDelete