A tabletop mannequin comes to life to help an artist overcome their art block. The mannequin begins drawing in the artist's sketchbook to inspire them. When the artist sees the mannequin's sketch, they are inspired to ask the mannequin for help improving their art. The film ends with the artist having created many new paintings and sketches, including having framed the sketch the mannequin made.

1. OUTLINE
A tabletop mannequin comes to life to help an artist overcome their art block. The film starts
with the artist getting frustrated over their work. When they leave the room the mannequin on
their desk comes to life. The mannequin then decides to help the artist. It then begins to draw in
the artist’s sketchbook, however when the artist catches the mannequin moving they try to
catch it. Eventually, they catch the mannequin and just before the artist breaks it out of
frustration they see the sketch the mannequin did. This inspires them and they ask for the
mannequin’s help. There is then a montage of the mannequin helping the artist improve. The
film ends with the artist painting in a room filled with new paintings and sketches; the sketch
the mannequin made is now framed.
Short Film
Duration: 5 minutes
Target Audience:15-25 men and women

2. CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
One of the characters is the mannequin which is a small wooden tabletop
mannequin which comes to life. They're inquisitive and always willing to
help but can go over the top. The other character is the binary opposite of
the mannequin and is a young female artist who is a pessimist.

3. VISUAL ELEMENTS
Lighting: High-key
Camera Movement: Tracking shot,
close-ups, shot reverse shot, high
angles, medium shot, two shot
Editing: Eyeline match, graphic
match, match on action
Setting: In a bedroom with a desk
Actors: We’ll only need one actor
and they should be young and
female.
Props: Wooden Mannequin without
a stand/ sketch book
Costume: Hair tied up and casual
clothes

4. RATIONALE
I chose this idea because I want to be an
animator and this project will allow me to
experiment with stop-motion. I think it‘ll
make a good project because it has a simple
but heart warming message and the
animation will make it stand out whilst
being fun to watch. I've done a small
amount of cut out animation and traditional
hand drawn animation.
The biggest issue to overcome will be time
as stop-motion is very time consuming. To
overcome this we could limit the amount of
stop motion and perhaps focus more on the
artist.