Research - Mary and Max by Adam Elliot

Mary and max is a brilliant film directed and written by Adam Elliot.
This film has had a lot of influence on me during this project in both the aesthetic style and subject matter. Although this film is made in 3d model stop motion and i have always wanted to make my film in 2d hand drawn, it has still influenced me aesthetically by its use of colour and character design. i loved its use of black and white to show New York and a large amount of brown shades to signify Australia, all contrasted by occasional uses of bright and vibrant colour, such as the bobble on Max's hat that Mary gives to him. i wanted to incorporate this use of colour into my film.
The character designs of Mary and Max also interested me, they have quite strange and dramatically structured faces, with strange head shapes, caved in eyes and deep wrinkles. however these are incorporated without making the characters seem inhuman. i wanted the character for the film to have aspects of this such as there depressed eyes and deep wrinkles.
Mary and Max also showed me that you can have very strong and seemingly depressing subjects in animation but still keep it funny and keep the tone of the film happy, without using loads of jokes and puns.

animatic timing and notes

these are the timings for the animatic


First Sequence = 40 seconds
in the first run all clock faces are 1 second

1. waking up= 2s
2. slippers = 2s
3. shower= 2s
4. toast= 2s
5. driving out= 3s
6. at work= 3s
7. toilet= 1s
8. leave work= 3s
9. driving in= 2s
10. microwave= 1s
11. watching TV= 2s
12. walking to bed= 2s
13. fall asleep= 2s

Second Sequence = 14 seconds
these timings have been worked out using ratios from the timings from the first sequence and the full times for the second third and fourth sequences in the draft animatic. This means all the scenes will be in ratio to the orginal sequence as they get faster

from now on all shots involve both the clock face and scene

1. waking up= 1.05s
2. slippers = 1.05s
3. shower= 1.05s
4. toast= 1.05s

5. driving out= 1.4s

6. at work= 1.4s

7. toilet= 0.7s

8. leave work= 1.4s

9. driving in= 1.05s

10. microwave= 0.7s
11. watching TV= 1.05s
12. walking to bed= 1.05s
13. fall asleep= 1.05s

Third Sequence= 8 seconds

1. waking up= 0.6
2. slippers = 0.6
3. shower= 0.6
4. toast= 0.6
5. driving out= 0.8
6. at work= 0.8
7. toilet= 0.4
8. leave work= 0.8
9. driving in= 0.6
10. microwave= 0.4
11. watching TV= 0.6
12. walking to bed= 0.6
13. fall asleep= 0.6

Fourth Sequence = 3 seconds 
 although these do seem very short they do add up to 3 seconds which is still the timing of the fourth sequence in the draft animatic

1. waking up= 0.225
2. slippers = 0.225
3. shower= 0225
4. toast= 0.225
5. driving out= 0.3
6. at work= 0.3
7. toilet= 0.15
8. leave work= 0.3
9. driving in= 0.225
10. microwave= 0.15
11. watching TV= 0.225
12. walking to bed= 0.225
13. fall asleep= 0.225

Ending = 25 seconds

1. analog clock face = 3s
2. mans face =1.5s
3. watch moved out of view (revealing railway) = 4s
4. man speaks- 'perfect timing' = 2s
5. man lays down = 5s
5. panning shot of train station (with woman speaking through tanoy) = 9s
6. cut to black (man sighs and ticking begins again) = 1.5s


Notes
in the draft animatic at the end of the fourth sequence for the last 3 shots before the analogue hand appears  it only shows the clocks, whereas it should be the scenes with the clocks in the background

in the draft animatic in the third shot of the ending sequence, it looks like 2 seperate shots but it is still the same shot, it is just the watch blocking the shot then moving away to reveal the railway

adjusted script

this is the adjusted version of script. It think it still needs a bit more work but this is what ive got so far. I like the idea of incorporating the train into his daily routine but im still not sure how to put it in without messing with the rest of his routine, bearing in mind that it should be at 12, as this is the time he tries to kill himself

Delayed – working title

A fairly respectable looking middle aged man lives his life perfectly on time and in routine. He lives in a large, comfortable looking house with all the insides that would be expected from any normal person, except for an increased amount of clocks, calendars and timetables scattered around. His daily routine runs as follows; He wakes up at exactly 7.30, he puts his slippers on at 7.35, he has a shower at 7.50, he gets dressed at 8.10, he makes toast at 8.20, he watches television for exactly 8 minutes at 8.25, he leaves for work at 8.35, he sits at his desk at 9.00, he goes to the toilet at 1.15, he leaves his desk at 5.30, he arrives home at 5.55, he turns on the microwave at 6.10, he starts watching television with his microwave dinner at 6.15, he goes to bed at 9.30, he falls asleep at 9.45. He never planned for his life to end up this way but once the routine started he found it impossible to escape and with no real friends or relatives he simply saw no reason too. This mundane routine unfolds throughout 5 days; always on time and never changing. The sounds of clocks ticking away follow him, slowly growing in speed and intensity.

The ticking stops abruptly, silence follows. It cuts to the face of a simplistic but expensive looking analogue clock just as it is about to hit 12. It is revealed that this is the point of view of the man as he checks the time. He stands next to a railway line in an open and run down area, wearing his freshly dry cleaned best suite. a dusty and depressing environment, no other life can be seen. The man stops checking the time and drops his arm.

              Man

          Perfect timing

He calmly lays down on the railway track facing upwards and waits silently.

It cuts to an empty train station, the only movement from a few plastic bags floating in the wind. The camera focuses on an electronic timetable that hangs from the ceiling. A woman’s voice begins to speak through the stations loudspeakers.

              Woman’s voice

          'I am sorry to announce that all trains heading east to            London Victoria have been delayed by 1 hour due to              scheduling problems, we are sorry for the               inconvenience'.

The electronic timetable changes to read delayed and it cuts to black.

The man sighs as the sound of clocks ticking begins again.

End