2.3 Secondary Characaters

These are the initial studies to the minor or secondary characters in Madman Diaries including the balloon vendor, Finn's mom, Nurse Tifanny and Jessica, the kid shown at the hospital. 

2.2 Finn and Nigel Lee: The Twins of Tragedy and Horror

          

             Nigel and Finn Lee Character Turn-arounds. 

 Nigellius "Nigel" Mark Lee (Wang Kyu Lee) left South Korea for good with his mother and twin brother months after the death of his father. In London, he spent most of his time with his twin brother, Finn whom he considers as his best friend. But then, an unfortunate event happened to Nigel which haunts Finn for almost 10 years living only with fear and guilt in his heart.  

2.1 Finn Lee Character 'Head' Design Studies

Designing Finn's face was one of he most difficult tasks I have done during my pre-production stage. From the first one I had, I came up with numerous studies for Finn's final head look. At first I tried out some cartoony stuff and mixed them with a creepy feel. But towards the end of designing this part, I realized that Finn needs a stronger facial design that could deliver his emotions which is one of the core factors of this story. Therefore, I came back to my original pegs which some were 'Corpse Bride' by Tim Burton and  Death Note's 'L' and came up with the final design of Finn.

 

1.2 CONCEPT ARTS: The Road to Madness

Before coming up with the final designs of my characters and backgrounds, I came up with multiple early studies picturing what they would look like in the final film. However, due to a lot of circumstances (which are good ones :3 ), these designs evolved gradually into what will you see in my future posts containing some of the final look of my film :)

Take a look at these concept arts which I made during the actual phase of Madman Diaries actual pre-production phase.

           'Hide and Seek' Concept art by Joseph Cartaño and Bea Manalo (Digital)

The final look of these two concept arts which I created roughly two years ago were done through the help of my friend, Bea Manalo, who happened to be my Photoshop master :)

Above are my first few attempts of using texture for backgrounds and flat colors for characters to develop the final style of my project.

These 2 concept arts above features my protagonist placed on top of background designs included in the early draft of my thesis. On this particular script draft, I still had a dark forest area where Finn escapes from an unknown monster.

Lastly, here are some of my oldest character studies for my character, Finn. In these studies, Finn was designed in a semi-rounded and cartoon'ish' style. 

1.1 THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE STORY

During my first trials with the story of Madman Diaries, I gathered as much information needed to keep my story nailed to the ground. I have always wanted to execute my story's fantasy elements through realistic or factual ideas. And in line to that, I have here a list of my scientific research that molds the heart of the story. I also included some concept arts I made for the project to back them up.


 Psychology- scientific study of the mind and behavior.

    Finn's Brain Map (Digital)


Clinical Psychology- branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems.

Insomnia- defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both, despite adequate opportunity and time to sleep, leading to impaired daytime functioning. Insomnia may be due to poor quality or quantity of sleep.



    'The Ghost of Nigel' Concept art (Digital)


Depressive disorder- an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with a depressive illness cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression

Hallucinations- false or distorted sensory experiences that appear to be veridical perceptions. These sensory impressions are generated by the mind rather than by any external stimuli, and may be seen, heard, felt, and even smelled or tasted.




    'Cold Bloody Night' Concept Art (Digital)


Delusion- a false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everybody else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture

    'The Unexpected' Concept Art (Digital)

Physical death- the separation of the soul from the body.

Spiritual death- is the separation of the soul from God.

    'False Perception' Concept Art (Watercolor and Colored pencils)





Emo and Goth- forms of Hardcore Punk and Experimental Underground Music.
The Emo and Goth movements both represent sub cultures in post-industrial or post-modern civilization. They are both based in the punk rock movement of the late 1970’s that spread internationally and continues to influence art, culture and media around the world.

   'The Death of Me' Concept Art (Watercolor/ Markers)

2. Phinneas John Lee: The HERO that never was

 Phinneas John Lee or Finn Lee(Lee Baek Yeol/ 이 백열) was born on November 7, 1995 in Seoul, South Korea by his mother, Anne Margaret Lee, a fashion model/magazine editor from London and father, Geun Suk Lee, a young  Korean businessman and a military doctor in South Korea. He was a younger brother to his twin, Nigellius Mark Lee/ Nigel Lee(Lee Wang Kyu/ 이 황규) who died in a street accident in London 10 years ago, the day after their immigration.

            Finn Lee Character Turn Around

                                                       

 In 2002, after his Father’s death Finn and his family moved to London, the home city of his mother where they stayed for good. As a teen ager, Finn faced a lot of emotional problems at home and in school, not including the culture gap that he is experiencing over the years after their migration. 

 

             Finn Lee Character Construction

            Finn Lee Character Expressions


In school, Finn has always been known as a mysterious Asian guy with mysterious personal issues and one who doesn’t talk much to his schoolmates and even to his teachers. However, he also has few friends who plays with him in an amateur rock band. He also likes photography and always keep his raw pictures in his room.

           Finn Lee Character Poses

In "Madman Diaries", experiences a great emotional breakdown which lead him to venture into unknown worlds that only him can see. Will he be able to get out from those realms that he created himself? And even so, can he survive the reality that slaps him hard in his face when he gets back? 

1.0 THE STORY

                             'Madman Diaries' First Official Poster

10 years has passed and Finn still cannot accept or even forget the death of his twin brother Nigel. Due to extreme fear, anger, guilt and sadness, he gradually suffers from insomnia that sooner lead him to manic episodes that his only family left, her mother Margaret is unaware of. Then one night, Margaret who works now as an editor of a fashion magazine arrives at their house and finally discovers the truth about Finn’s illness.

Because of this “shameful” situation, Margaret brings Finn to a mental institution far from the city of London where they live. Margaret leaves his son carrying the guilt of bringing him to what she thinks is a place for freaks and dangerous persons. In the hospital, Finn suffers from more demonic episodes which greatly represents his FEARS, ANGER, GUILT and SORROWS. And at the same time, in his hallucinations and delusions he tries to escape from his unwanted memories of his brother... the memories that brought him there.

Will Finn be able to free himself from those memories and defeat the monsters that he created himself? Can he still save his life from this insanity through ACCEPTANCE of his flaws? When can he FORGIVE himself for what happened to his brother? And most of all, when all of his problems are resolved, what will he do to survive the JUDGEMENTAL foundations of the real world?

Madman Diaries: Blood, Blade, Balloon and the era of my new beginning

 

Hi! This is Joseph Angelo Cartaño, a 4th year AB-Animation student from De La Salle- College of Saint Benilde, Manila, Philippines. I am majoring in 2d animation with a huge interest in taking part on pre-production stages for professional animations in the future. I am currently in the middle of the production stage of my thesis project, Madman Diaries: Blood, Blade, Balloon. 

Madman Diaries officially started as an animation short project in mid September 2011. It came out by it's pre-production name, 'Hide and Seek' which plot mainly revolves around a teen age guy who's been haunted by the ghost of his past and eventually travels into various false dimensions made up in his head only to find out the truth about his twin brother's death towards the end. 

During the story building stages of this project, it garnered mixed reviews/comments from my friends and mentors. Many liked how the story was told but there are also some point of views which doesn't agree of how the mystery was being unfolded and found it too confusing. 

To reach out to a larger audience, with the help of my mentors, I developed the story into something not too far from the original concept but with a clearer vision of the story and more interesting character development arc posed by its main protagonist.

Now, the project has been running into full completion by its new title, Madman Diaries: Blood, Blade, Balloon, a psycho-horror-fantasy-thriller that centers around the story of a British-Korean teen age boy named Finn Lee (or Lee Baek Yeol in Korean) who suffers from a mental breakdown years after the tragic death of his twin brother, Nigel Lee (Lee Wang Kyu). After being sent to a mental institution by his mother, Finn travels into worlds beyond reality and finds himself in a journey towards madness.


This is all for now. I'll dig further with the story and the characters in my future posts. :)