Once There was
a Woman
A video series of exemplary women for little girls, on YouTube.
Graduation Design Project, 2020
Male and female He created them
That means men and women were born equal, but it's never been that way.
Throughout history, women fought and broke conventions in the patriarchal society to enable them to be what they want to be. And to be equal to men and even to show them that they can be better than men.
Unfortunately, even today, in modern society, we can feel the remnants of discrimination against women. It can be seen in by the salary, chauvinistic comments thrown into the air, and through the basic conventions of society towards women.
This project is the first video from a video series called "Once There was a Woman" (or in Hebrew: “הָיֹה הָיְתָה”), that intended to little girls ages 5-6. The videos tell them exemplary women's stories from history. Strong women who fought and proved that women can do anything if they just want. That way, they can inspire and be a significant role model for little girls.
Target Audience
Little girls in the age 5-6.
Goal
Inspire female and personal empowerment in little girls,
at the age they develop their character.
Platform
Video - YouTube Videos Series
Bonus fact
The Hebrew title “הָיֹה הָיְתָה” contains only two words which describe
its conceptual meaning in an almost perfect manner. However,
in direct translation to English, "Once There was a Woman",
the title fails to deliver its full meaning.
Credits
Lecturer advises:
Professor Shimon Sandhaus.
Narrators:
Tal Bismut and Orri Dror.
The screen writers and filmakers advised:
Maor Alteras and Shiri Cohen.
Font
by Michael Gordon.
Tips:
Erez Behar
Intent:
Shira Zion
The Impact Of Adult Role Models For Little Girls
One day I saw my niece, Shira, measuring her mother's wedding shoes. The shoes were huge on her little feet. at that moment, when she walked with them proudly,
I could see the sparks in her eyes. Then I realized the importance of the Idiom:
"Big Shoes to Fill". Making little girls want to get as far as they can, without focusing on the fear of falling. And for that, they need an adult character as an influential role model in their lives, like the way Shira looks at her mom.
Visual Approach
“To Be The New Elsa”
There is no doubt that the first movie of "Frozen", made a big impact on little girls. The girls of our time want to be strong and independent. Suddenly everyone wants to be Elsa, because Elsa represents a strong female character and not dependent on anyone, compared to her sister Anna, who is looking for love.
I have based the visual look on the contemporary films of Disney and Pixar, in order to make my film to feel familiar, attractive, and contemporary to the little girls, who already loved Elsa.
Connection | The documentary section connects the three dimensional.
Script & Storyboard
I asked my niece, Shira, what she mostly remembers about the movie "frozen".
She answered me, that at the beginning of the movie, Elsa and Anna are seen as little girls. I immediately went to see again some of Disney movies. Then it was clear to me, in order to create a sense of childhood identification with the main character, I had to start the film with an exposition section that shows the main character as a little girl, and after that, the logo would enter and the movie will start.
I wrote the script several times, but because I felt it was not closed, I approached screenwriter Shiri Cohen. Shiri took everything I wrote and used it to write a new script. Her script was beautiful but very long and full of characters.
With the help of my lecturer, Shimon, we decided that there should be only one female character in the story, the main star. And the supporting characters need to be men, to empower and highlight the main character.
Also, we agreed that the story needs to be simple!
so we decided on a simple story template:
Logo -> Declaration of Goal -> Conflict -> The way to achieve the goals + Obstacles -> Success (The Climax) -> Counter Character Response -> Ending.
I went back to all the scripts that written, and with basing the story template, I wrote a new script with a new storyboard. To improve the storyboard, I approach consulting a friend of mine, the filmmaker Maor Alteras, and together we thought of more interesting camera angles to help tell the story.
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Design
In the design of the main character (Amelia) and some frames, I tried to be as close as possible to the documentary photos.
Reference | The main character, Amelia, designed to be closest to her original look.
Reference | An example for frame
The Animation Process
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Examples | Animation from self photography
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Examples | Face Cap X and the character, in Maya.
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Bests | Frames from the movie
The Movie | enjoy
