UMBRA: Synopsis & Treatment

Synopsis

Nighttime. Walking alone. That paranoid feeling of being followed by someone. Anxiety. Everyone knows that. Night town can be a dangerous place for a young girl. She is a typical modern teenager. Looking at her phone, music in her ears, oblivious to all dangers around. Obstacles on the road, slippery pavement, strangers, catcallers or even rapists. What will she do when she notices, she is being followed by someone? Just remember, do not jump to conclusions too early.

Treatment

Title: Umbra
Length: 1:30

     This short digital animation can look like a thriller for the first glance but it´s actually a light-hearted story showing us a strange relationship between two strangers, girl and a shadow creature, and it makes us realise that we cannot judge others by the first impression, which can be wrong.

     The animation is hand drawn by two aspiring animators Karolina Sedilekova and Kristina Krchmanova, accompanied with an original soundtrack by Ali Clinton and sound effects made with help of Felix Kotulic.

     The structure of Umbra is a traditional story with linear narrative, starting with the introduction of characters, the main plot and the resolution with ending.

     When it comes to the visual form, the style is simple, done with digital media, 2D animated. The camera movements are not complicated either, they are usually static, with few pans or tilts, because the animation is slow paced and relaxed. The colour palette is limited, mainly in dark shades of blue, to underline the night atmosphere of the city. As a contrast to the blue hues, there are yellow lights from street lamps, where the shadow changes from grey to black, because the more light there is, the darker the shadow becomes. Blue and yellow hues also work as the difference of the mood, because for most of the time she is walking in dark streets but when she recognises the shadow as a friend, they meet each other in the light of a street lamp which changes the cold, dark, unfriendly mood of dangerous town to friendly, warm atmosphere.

     Characters are stylised into a semi-realistic style, to emphasise emotions and movements of characters while keeping the art style of the artists. The main character, a teenage girl, is put into a dangerous environment, which is a night town. Streets after the sunset can be a very dangerous place for a girl or a woman, starting from simple obstacles such as puddles or branches on the pavement, to stray dogs, catcallers or even rapists. The second character is a shadow. The shadow is a magical entity, the only supernatural object in our animation. In the beginning, he looks like the man danger for the girl. She can see him following her, she can just hear strange noises and she is scared.      In the second third of the video, we can see that he is actually a friend who is saving her from all possible dangers around. We do not mean to suggest that creepy men following girls are friends or that women are not in danger alone in the night town. It simply a magical short story with an unexpected twist.

     The soundtrack for Umbra is a short song made specifically for the animation and it´s playing in the girl´s earphones. It is obvious when every time she takes one of the earphones out, the music is quieter. The song fits the pace of the story and adds up to the magical atmosphere created by the night and the shadow. There is no voiceover, we think the story is clear without it. There are also some sound effects such as water splash or other noise of the shadow moving objects while helping her, but they are all going to be muffled because we are hearing it from the girl´s perspective.

     This animation is going to be digital, using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects for clear, detailed drawings and fluid animation. We think making the animation digital is the best option because of the shadow who changes its shape, which would be more difficult to make it in live action, stop-motion or 3D, especially with our current skills.