Film Studies and Cinematography - Project 01: Develop Short Story
26/09/2025 - 15/11/2025 | Week 01 - Week 08
Koh Sher Wei | 0353816
Film Studies and Cinematography | Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Project 1: Develop Short Story
Instructions
Progression 1 (Project Idea)
Try mixing a character and world from different shorts. Try
this and see what happens.
- Choose any Pixar short for inspiration.
The short film "Burrow"
- Analyse how this story becomes a great story from
emotional connection and personal experiences. Make your own version.
The story uses a cute bunny as a main character
who is timid and insecure. We see its internal
struggles of trying to run away from other species
who have such grand burrow spaces while his floor
plan is so basic and pathetic. In the end, it
still has to overcome its fear and insecurity to
ask for help to fix a huge problem he
created.
I relate to this story in the sense that I often
feel just as insecure as the bunny. It took me a
long while to realise that sometimes it's worth
stepping out of our comfort zone to see new things
and get help on things we can't do. Otherwise, the
bubble that we trap ourselves in can cause bigger
problems.
- Create your "What If" statement to spark your
ideas.
- What if a leaf knows nothing beyond its
surrounding.
- It only knows that it can grow in the field it
is in.
- All it hopes for is to grow into a beautiful
plant near it's mothering tree.
- However, that goal is ripped away by a sudden
bush fire.
- Think of the main characters and world that can
inspire your story.
Characters:
1. Leaf
World:
1. Bushes/forest
Progression 2 (Character Development)
Develop character from the story ideas that you have generated from
previous progression (Story Ideas) to character description
statement.
1. Give character a name.
A Kalanchoe Pinnata leaf.
2. Develop his/her personality traits, use 'elevator test' as a
scenario.
Leaf would have hope that someone will come and help, until it takes
too long. It starts to panic and finds its own way out despite not
knowing how to escape. Then it starts losing hope and thinking of
worst scenarios.
3. Develop his/her internal and external features.
External features:
- A small, tender Kalanchoe Pinnata leaf. (A plant that grows from leaves)
- Light and fragile, easily carried by the wind.
- Has tiny buds that can sprout into a new plant if placed in suitable soil.
Internal features:
- Deeply attached to its home field.
- Doesn't think it is capable of change.
- Self-destructive in order to return to comfort zone.
4. Develop his/her internal and external obstacles.
External obstacles:
- Bushfire that rips it away from its home field and burns its family.
- Strong gusts of wind that forces it away from fire.
- Physical fragility, easily torn or damaged.
Internal obstacles:
- Fear of change
- Doesn't know a world outside of its home field.
- Have to accept that life continues despite grief, pain and sorrow.
5. Develop character's wants and needs.
WANT: To return to the safety of its home field
despite the pain and damage it will cause itself.
NEED: To accept loss and move past it in order to
grow.
6. Develop character's change as a result from overcoming
obstacles.
Leaf transforms from a frightened leaf desperate to return to the
safety of her mother tree into one that accepts loss, embrace
change and chooses to grow in new soil.
Deliverables:
1. Character description that includes all the information
above.
Deadline:
- Week 4 (to propose and discuss with lecturer)
Progression 3 (Apply Story Spine)
Apply story spine in your story based on the
structure:
ACT 1
1. Once upon a time... A Kalanchoe Pinnata leaf
grows on its mother tree in a plantation of familiar
plants.
2. Every day... It hopes that when it grows old
enough, it can fall and root next to its mother
plant.
3. Until one day... A strong gust of wind
blows it far into the sky, away from its mothering
plant.
ACT 2
4. Because of that... it sees a bushfire
chasing up to his home field.
5. Because of that... It panics and tries to
return to its mother despite knowing it will burn.
6. Because of that... The fire almost reaches the
leaf, and it is almost burned.
ACT 3
7. Until finally... rain pours and puts out the
flame, simultaneously releasing the leaf from the
sky.
8. And ever since then... The leaf grieves the
loss of its family plantation but is able to root into a
new plant after some time.
The moral of the story is... Sometimes grief may
seem like a setback, but we have to learn to accept that
it is part of our journey in life.
Final Short Story Report
