This is a new acting shot I just started working on. Day one ;) . The dialog is an excerpt from 'The Hunt for Red October'. I haven't seen the movie, I'm not a fan of Sean Connery, I'm not planning to watch this movie... at all :) but I love this sound excerpt... So I will invent all the story and stuff behind my animation, and any resemblance, I hope there is none, but just in case, any resemblance in the acting is absolutely random. The audio comes from moviesounds.com. 45 seconds, this is half the length of my PSEUDO project... but not a million shots and camera angles, only one. I also will only animate Borodin. So now Cousteau is Borodin :)
Here's the sound (700k):
I did a first breakdown of the shot, you can see it in the image below (I'll add more background sound and chair sounds in between "Good" and "Then I will live in Montana").
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The text:
Borodin: Do you think they will let me live in Montana?
Capt. Ramius: I would think they'll let you live wherever you want.
Borodin: Good. Then I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman, and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pick-up truck, or umm... possibly even...a recreational vehicle, and drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?
Capt. Ramius: Oh yes.
Borodin: No papers?
Capt. Ramius: No papers. State-to-state.
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Explaining the shot (as much as I can... for now... | again, this background story is mine):
Action takes place in a room, Borodin and Ramius alone, it's casual, nobody (seems to be) listening. They are waiting for a third person to arrive. Borodin is just about to be granted a leave, don't know why... maybe it's a lie, they won't in fact let him leave. Maybe the captain knows this. But I sort of decided this is not important. I'll focus on Borodin's acting alone. Borodin hopes he will be allowed to leave, he is in a situation where he knows he should normally be able to leave. He's uncertain because of an entire life of living in uncertainty, but then also things seem to go very well for him, he's got real chances of leaving the Soviet Union.
First question comes as a breakthrough in the conversation, maybe this is the first thing that's said after a long silence (not present in my animation)... Borodin asks Ramius about Montana. Montana is a simbol of freedom, one big sky... no commies under it. As the answer is affirmative and encouraging, Borodin starts to construct a scenario. He starts visualising things - his home, his wife, his rabbits, his pick-up truck, his RV, his travel. But as he gets to the issue of travelling state to state he sort of hits a wall - would be any borders between states? Would he actually be able to cross from one state into another. This makes us realize the logic of his first question: he asks about Montana because he doesn't know he's free to travel between states with no visa, and live wherever he choses to. He innitially thought he would be placed and have to leave wherever "they" send him. So he doesn't know much about American freedom, but he does know about Montana, and pick-up trucks, and RVs. His image of the States is a messed up puzzle, various bits of information, but obviously no real concept of what America really is. Like the world seen through the eyes of a child.
Borodin becomes more emotional towards the end of the shot, as he starts talking about cars and imagines being able to drive state to state. There's an emotional buildup to this moment, with its peak at "Do they let you do that?". On "No papers?" he needs reassurance, he finds hard to believe that what he hopes for is really true...
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Borodin's interiour monologue (my first tryout, but I have to actually think about Borodin's character and polish his thoughts and acting, and try to... create a character... yeah...):
Borodin: Do you think they will let me live in Montana?
IM: Maybe this is unappropriate to ask, but I will try, it might be the moment, here, now... the captain seems friendly... or at least now, nobody can harm me anymore... it's not a risk... or even if it is, I want to take this risk... I want to know... but let's make it casual...
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Capt. Ramius: I would think they'll let you live wherever you want.
Borodin: Good.
IM: OK, let's continue, the question was worth the try.
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Then I will live in Montana.
IM: Let's then presume this is possible... just for the sake of presumption... let's make a scenario and imagine how it would be to live a normal life in freedom.
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And I will marry a round American woman,
IM: First, I would need to start a new life and build a family...
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and raise rabbits,
IM: ...and it would be great to do this thing I always wanted... this would be very possible there...
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and she will cook them for me.
IM: ...boy, would that be life...
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And I will have a pick-up truck,
IM: But then we have to be able to move around, wow, it would be so great to have one of those big cars, a pick-up truck, that would be very necessary in Montana.
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or umm... possibly even...
IM: Or even more, I could have a car for the entire family, like those big things Vladimir was talking about... what were they called...?
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a recreational vehicle,
IM: Recreational vehicles...
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and drive from state to state.
IM: And I could take my family and we could go see the whooooole country, I wonder if that is possible...
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Do they let you do that?
IM: Are there really no borders between states? Would we really be able to travel free like that...
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Capt. Ramius: Oh yes.
Borodin: No papers?
IM: And we wouldn't have to have a special permission, is there really no border in between states...?
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Capt. Ramius: No papers. State-to-state.