Final Idea

After more research and taking on board the feedback I received from my interim crit, I created this, as my final storyboard:

I decided to raise awareness for suicide in young people, since this issue has been increasing over the past few years, so I feel if the audience knows that it's becoming a common issue, then the suicidal people might realise that they aren't alone, and that other people feel the same way. And if the audience isn't suicidal personally, then they might see the signs of depression in others, and be able to help them before it's too late.

The story itself has a lot in it for a short space of time, but I feel it will get across a valid point that you are not the only sufferer of depression/suicidal issues. The scenes of him walking/close ups will allow me to experiment with animating the right body language for this task - where I'm used to happier characters, this person is the opposite; which will allow me to re-evaluate the weight and posture of the body.

I decided to use a male main character, because it might reach out to a wider audience; whereas if I used a female then boys will only think it's a girl's problem. This is because the statistics show that more girls have called ChildLine about suicidal thoughts - which doesn't necessarily mean that boys don't feel the same; they might just be too embarrassed to talk to someone about it.

This is what my story looks like in an animatic:


After reviewing this, I realise some parts of the story move too fast for the mood that I'm trying to set - if it's a sad film then he should move slower and heavier, which should be reflected in the whole film. I will start animating with these timings and see if the story moves too fast.