IVP3 Adeeb Yunus

My project is an animated rendition of Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game. This tale is of a hunter named Sanger Rainsford who crashes on an island owned by the bloodthirsty General Zaroff. The General has hunted many animals--buffaloes, tigers, jaguars--and has grown bored with hunting. To entertain himself, he brings people onto his island and hunts them. Rainsford is forced to be his next catch. General Zaroff tells Rainsford that if he survives for three days, the General will let him leave. Rainsford tries to make a confusing path in order to vex the General but is found. The General lets him live, wanting to play the game a little longer. As a result, Rainsford assembles traps to kill Zaroff. He makes three in total (one each day)--but they are only successful in killing the General's hounds and bodyguard. Zaroff chases Rainsford through the jungle until Rainsford jumps off a cliff and supposedly to his death. The General returns home, only to find Rainsford waiting for him. Rainsford then kills the General. This story was always a favorite of mine and so when I saw the syllabus, this project came to mind.

For my film, I wanted to keep the theme of games throughout the story. In order to do so, I used board games as the set and characters. The Clue gameboard was an easy choice for the General's mansion. While looking for character pieces, chess pieces were the most easily available. These pieces were very useful since a hierarchy of the pieces is already well-known. Thus, dividing the General, the bodyguard Ivan, and the dogs was simple. On the other side, Rainsworth was also a simple choice. When thinking of which gamepiece was the most clever, I instantly thought a Mousetrap piece. The other major choice I had to make was the three traps that Rainsford installs. And so when I went to my dorm's collection of board games and I saw a box of Dominos and Connect Four--great traps. Of course, I had to use the Mousetrap trap as the final trap as well.

In terms of filming, I reread the story a number of times and worked from there. The process came easily since I had done a stop-motion film earlier in the semester. All in all, I had to collect two gigs worth of pictures and clips.

Editing was the most difficult portion. iMovie on my computer seemed to have a difficult time after over a minute of film. Regardless, I got through it and was very satisfied with my product. Choosing music was also difficult but I was able to get very lucky in finding songs that fit the timing and theme of my movie.

The clip above is one of my favorite features of my movie--the Connect Four trap. I really like the slow motion and how the music moves the story.