Final Assignment – Noor – E – Khuda

Artwork:

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Script:

EXT. STREET – SUNSET

People quickly pace through the streets, by foot or car. SHAHVEER, a young, little boy sits in the corner near a gutter. His attire is overall scruffy and unkempt. Dust marks contour his face, and the bags under his eyes highlight his fatigue. A broken cardboard box resides next to him, filled with a couple of coins, gum, and a button. The words ‘SEEKING HUMAN KINDNESS’ is marked is a faint black pen.

SHAHVEER
(extending his arms and cupping his hands)
Please can you spare some change.

People continue to hurry past without giving a second glance. A couple appear on the street.

SHAHVEER
(staring, tear-eye, at a passing couple)
Please Sir and Madam, if you have anything, otherwise I will go hungry tonight…

THE MAN
(Looking at his date)
Errrrr, hold on a sec
(Tossing a coin into the box)
Here ya go.

SHAHVEER
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The couple leave, and another group of teen boys walk in there place

SHAHVEER
If you can kindly spare some change please. Anything please.

TEENAGE BOY
(scoffs and faces his friends)
Urg, it’s like you can’t get rid of these no good peasants.

TEENAGE BOY 2
(shaking his head)
Honestly, same. Literally ruins your mood.

TEENAGE BOY 3
(scrounges through his back pack)
Hey kid, ya want sumtin huh.
(Emptying his garbage)
Aahahah have this!

TEENAGE BOY
(laughing and high-fives teenage boy 3)
OMG! You crack me up bro

The group of teens run along and Shahveer looks for any trace of food in the empty packets. He finds nothing. A police office pats his shoulder.

POLICEMAN
(hitting his baton in his hand)
Oye, how many times do I have to tell you that you can’t beg here. Get out!

SHAHVEER
(standing up nervously)
I… er… I…

POLICEMAN
I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want your lousy excuses. Get outta here right now!

Shahveer grabs his box in an instant and runs away
EXT. OUTSIDE A MOSQUE – TWILIGHT

Shades of magenta, cyan and yellow softly glow in the scarcely lit sky. The sun appears just below the horizon, gradually declining. Shahveer finds shelter under the arc of a mosque. He chucks the box on the floor.

SHAHVEER
(scream)
Arggggggggggggggggh!

The sound of the his scream echoes back to him

SHAHVEER
(kicking the box on the floor)
I hate this! Why me huh? Why?
(slides down the wall and falls to the floor in exhaustion)
Everyday I end up with nothing! I sleep empty stomached and I sleep on outside on the streets. How long huh? How long will I have to deal with this?

Tears stream down Shahveer’s face and he covers his eye with hs hands.

SHAHVEER
First you take my mother away from me. Then my own father leaves me. I have no one. God, why?
(wheepingly)
I just want all this to stop. I miss you mama. Please come back to me. Please.
(realising)
Ah of course. Here I am again begging. Begging, begging, begging.
(looking up at the sky)
Do you think I like begging God? Do you think I like people feeling sorry for me or treating me like scum? What did I do to deserve this?

Shahveer sits up into a praying position

SHAHVEER
(cupping his hands)
Oh lord. Please give me my mother back. That’s all I want. She told me that I’d always have her and you stole her from me! I am only asking you for this one thing. Please…

Minutes pass by and Shahveer continues to sob with his eyes held shut, until he hears flutters. His eyes open wide to see several dragonflies fly around him. Their translucent wings reflect the small glow of light in the sky, as if encircling him with small beams.

SHAHVEER
(rubs his eyes in confusion)
Woah, woah, woah. What is going on?
(in shock)
Ohhhh my! I never thought i’d see these in person. Mama used to love dragonflies. Gosh I still remember her tattoo of one on her arm. Aha, I hope they don’t bite.

The dragonflies flutter away, except one. It lands on his hands.

SHAHVEER
Awwww hey there little guy… Go fly to your family.

The dragonfly stays still and looks at the boy with it’s beady eyes. Shahveer takes a photo out from his inner pocket with his other hand. The photo depicts his mother hugging him. There on her arm is a dragonfly that closely resembles the one currently laying on his hand.

SHAHVEER
(hesitatingly)
Mmmmm….ma?

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Title –

This is Urdu for the ‘Light of God’. It refers to the idea that God guides people by paving the right path with light. The light is positive and blesses the person it hits. This is relevant to the scene, where a young boy begging is depicted. The sky illustrates the lacking but not complete disappearance of this light. The slight slow creates a sense of hope.

I chose these words from the list:

Beggar – This word can be used to describe someone that lives on the street and asks for money because they have been reduced to poverty or focus on the act of begging (wishing for something).

Twilight – The soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the reflection of the sun’s rays from the atmosphere. It is a period of ambiguity. The title – ‘Noor E Khuda’ which refers to the light of God, is metaphorical of the light in the sky. During twilight, the sun is below the horizon, and for the boy, his faith in God’s goodness has reduced. Yet, there is a slight glow, creating a sense of hope.

Dragonflies – Symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.

The genre I have picked is Fantasy Drama

Character Description

Shahveer –

The young boy has been reduced to poverty after the death of his mother and the abandonment of his father. He is forced to live his life on the streets and beg for charity. His faith in the God is beginning to suffer due to this. It is clear that he is in need of guidance. The bitterness in his prayers emphasise his loneliness and mourning of the death of his mother. He is begging in a literal and spiritual way.

The Dragonfly / Late Mother –

There are several dragonflies painted across the sky. One dragonfly in particular is given importance to by the boy. It is implied that this insect possesses the spirit of the young boy’s mother. It is welcomed into the story immediately after Shahveer cries for God to send his mother back. It also resembles the dragonfly his mother had as a tattoo. We are told that his mother adored them, which emphasises the strong link. Metaphorically, they link self-realization, and at the end the young boy assumes that this insect is the spirit animal of his late mother.

God / Khuda –

Shahveer constantly questions and begs towards ‘God’. With the dragonflies soon appearing after Shahveer’s prayer, it is implied that the figure of ‘God’ has heard and answered his wishes

The Passers By –

Several small character roles are presented in order to emphasise Shahveer’s loneliness and desperation. The couple who pass by are the only ones to make a donation, but based on the man looking at his date, it is suggested that this moral act doesn’t occur out of kindness, but rather the man wants to impress his date. The group of teens act cruelly towards the protagonist. They mock him and throw garbage at him. Therefore, the community that surrounds Shahveer are not helpful or understanding of his situation. The policeman is a man of authority. The way Shahveer stutters around him shows that he is scary. As an adult, he fails to protect Shahveer, who is young and weak.

World Description

In this scene we are shown the real living world, with an underlying presence from the afterlife. Therefore, there are two worlds, where one is literally shown in the painting and the other is implied through the text.

The Present Life –

This word is based on the current world we live in. In the scene painted, the silhouette of a building can be shown. The arc of the architecture suggests a middle eastern location. In the text it stated that the building is a Mosque, therefore creating room for faith and belief in the afterlife. The colours of twilight in the sky means that the viewer is unable to pin point the time. Similarly, a beggar’s only source of time is that of the state of the sky. A sense of uncertainty is created by this. The dragonflies help to create a natural, and beautiful landscape.

Earlier, the setting of a busy street is used. This strongly contrasts with the tranquillity that exists outside the mosque. The dialogues from the people who pass him by suggest a cruel and ungiving world. A world where the young boy exists in loneliness.

The After Life –

The dragonflies are symbolic of this. They act a connection between the present and after life. Even though the afterlife isn’t physically painted, the text confirms its existence. This is because the child’s relationship with his passing mother, and interaction with the dragonflies imply a link. Shahveer keeps shouting aloud while facing the sky. It seems that he is talking to someone (God) in another world.

 

 

List of my favourite illustrators/ illustrations:

Inkquistive – https://www.instagram.com/inkquisitive/?hl=fi
EH Shepard – https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149636892532/
Janice Sung – https://www.janicesung.com/shop/
Egon Schiele – https://www.wikiart.org/en/egon-schiele
Kehinde Wiley – http://kehindewiley.com/works/
Fred Augis – http://conceptartworld.com/news/life-is-strange-concept-art-by-fred-augis/
Florent Auguy – https://www.florent-auguy.com

Building a character from simple shapes

This task was so random and weird, but really funny to do. we had to:

1) Draw some simple 3-dimensional shapes of fruit and vegetables, such as peanuts, beans, green and red peppers, potatoes, lemons, pears etc.

2) Using the vegetable or fruit shape as your basis, design some humanoid cartoon characters.

Spirited Away

Now our focus shifted onto the bigger picture – the world in which the character inhabits. We were asked to analysis the world depicted in one of Ghibil’s films. Of course I picked Spirted Away:

The film Spirited Away is a Japanese animated film created by Hayao Miyazaki. It is about a young girl called Chihiro (also known as Sen). We are introduced to her when she is at her most vulnerable. Her parents are transformed into pigs because they indulged in food that was dedicated to the Gods. This leaves her lost in a magical land, alone and desperate to find a way to transform her parents back into their human forms.

The real world is set in Southern Japan, which gives us a sense of culture.  After the transformation, the exact location is not given in order to allude the idea of magic. However, Japanese culture continues to persist, with more emphasis on spirituality and the Gods. Travelling between both worlds seems near impossible, with the only escape ticket being to remember your name. This was initially stolen by in Yubaba, who forever binds them to a contract that forces them to work at the Bathhouse. She is a witch and owns the Bathhouse, which is the main location in the spiritual realm. It is a place of relaxation for the Gods, and the other creatures are their service. The town itself contains very little technology as the creatures are often working by hand. Only the train and spa use coal in order to work.

Many different mythical creatures live there. There are no families other than the witch and her son. The rest all come into this world alone, not recognising anyone and having anyone to rely on. Ghosts also inhabit this spiritual realm, with No-Face taking interest in the protagonist. All these details help to create a very unsettling atmosphere. The director said that the bathhouse acts as a subtext to the Red-Light district, such as young women changing their names, being owned by someone and sold because of their parents’ debt, and the witch acting as a pimp. These characters illustrate greed, where the witch poses magical powers that allow her to control people. The spa itself confides the protagonist. However, Chihiro manages to escape, therefore creating a sense of hope for the other human characters. Haku, a young boy also trapped, was sure he couldn’t escape, however after seeing the protagonist escape, he has a little hope for freedom. The spiritual world gave Chihiro the strength a bravery to walk her own path instead of just following other people’s orders. She takes this chracter development into the real world.

Conflict Drawing and Script

Our task to do independently was to use our own images or Mapcrunch and create a conflict between two or more people. We had to create gesture drawings to capture the tension and write a script for the dialogue. I’ve never wrote a script in screenplay style so it was an enjoyable experience.

EXT. OLD TOWN RIGA – AFTERNOON

People pass by, going on with their daily lives. Loud groups of friends, small families, and intimate couples fill the surroundings. OCTAVIA, a young, pretty woman who looks like she belongs from a beauty magazine, sits on the wall of a fountain. Next to her sits her boyfriend NOAH, a tall, good-looking man whose fashion seems lazy for the occasion. He is eating is lunch.

OCTAVIA

(Facing Noah’s back while sighing)
Noah…Noah…Noaaah?

NOAH
(Continues to MUNCH loudly on some crisps)
Hmmmm…

OCTAVIA
Well I was thinking we should check out that really cool art museum I told you about yesterday. It’s going to close soon so we should really get a move on…Shall we go?

NOAH
(Still eating)
Hmmmm…

Abruptly gets off of the wall and walks around Noah in order to face him directly

OCTAVIA
You know what? I’m done! I’m sick and tired of your attitude. If you’re going to keep ignoring me then what is the point? How about you stay here stuffing your face and I’ll go by myself. I already feel like I’m alone when I’m with you anyways so it won’t be any different!

NOAH
(Looking rather confused. He puts his food down)
Woah, woah, wooooah…calm down

OCTAVIA
Psst, calm down? And here I was thinking I couldn’t get any more madder with you, but surprise, surprise.

NOAH
(Slides of the wall)
I was lit-eral-ly just eating. How is that a sin?

OCTAVIA
That’s not the point! It’s how you ignore me when I speak to you. It’s how you face away from me while you eat. This was mean’t to be a romantic weekend getaway, but it sure doesn’t feel that way.
(pauses for a brief moment, and looks down)
Honestly, what’s even the point anymore? Look around, see that couple over there…
(points towards a man and a woman in embrace)
That used to be us, that intimacy, that spark. Where is it now?

NOAH
(Puts his hands on Octavia’s shoulders)
Tavia…don’t say that. You know exactly how I feel about you. I mean just earlier when you were haggling with the shop keeper, trying to get a discounted price for a silly magnet… I couldn’t stop looking at you, with your fierce attitude and you’re endearing stubbornness. All I could think was how lucky am I to have you,

OCTAVIA
(faces down, fiddling with her fingers)
I…

NOAH
(moving Octavia’s hair out of her face, puts his hand behind her ear)
No look, I know I don’t say it enough, maybe it’s because I’m so comfortable around you… but it’s no excuse. I’m sorry.

OCTAVIA
(Slowly lifts her head and looks eyes with Noah)
No, I’m sorry. You know how I am, I tend to over analyse everything.

NOAH
And that’s one of the things I adore about you. Aha, I was just hungry Tavia.

OCTAVIA
(Chuckles, shaking her head)
You genuinely demolished that packet, no joke.

NOAH
I see something I want, and I take it!
(Stares at Octavia’s lips and bites his a little)
Like this…

Kisses Octavia for a long, passionate moment. When he stops, Octavia, who is caught off guard, pulls Noah in a long, tender embrace.

OCTAVIA
I love you Noah

NOAH
I love you to Tavia.

They stop hugging and Noah checks his watch

NOAH
Well shit, we best start heading there if we want to catch that exhibition.

OCTAVIA
(Smiles and locks hands with Noah)
Lead the way.

Noah and Octavia walk hand in hand into the distance.

Drawing from Imagination

In class, our professor asked us to go around the art building and do some live drawing. Then she gave us scenes and we had to create gesture drawings from those briefings.

Character from Screenshot

Our first task was to find someone that seem interesting to us on Mapcrunch (like google maps). I was looking for ages because it was hard to find someone that you could view properly, without the camera distorting it because pixilation. Eventually I found this really sassy poser in Disneyland. We had to draw a chracter from that, and write their inner thoughts.

Inside the mind of Erika
Okay so the plan is to act natural, so I can capture this picture as candid. Gosh I hope Brian is taking a good photo of me. I think he’s too close and the angle is going to make me look fat. Urg, I just need a hot photo of me, so I can post it on Instagram so that my ex can see what he’s missing out on. He’ll see me looking bomb on his feed and regret dumping my ass. SHIT! Would holding this coffee make me look basic? I don’t even know anymore. Aw man, I hate having to pose in front others, I just feel so damn awkward. I can see that lady looking at meal judgy from the corner of my eye. Don’t get distracted Erika, I gotta look hot for this picture. Wait, I don’t think you can see the Disneyland castle from this direction. FUCK! Now we gotta start all over again…