Synopsis
A Bite of the cherry is a holiday romance animation about a forty-year-old, staid English schoolmistress, Eleanor Redfarn, who is caught swimming naked on a secluded beach in Spain, by a seemingly oblivious man called John. Mortified by her out of character behavior she returns to the beach but this time fully clothed and modest. To her dismay, she witnesses the same man swimming in the nude then strolling towards her.
Eleanor and John begin an unlikely romance and enjoy dinners together and dance the nights away. However, Eleanor must soon return to her dull life in England.
On a visit to an art gallery back in gloomy England, Eleanor witnesses the new work of an artist that reminds her of her time in Spain. Inspired by the work and the sudden realisation that the artist is John, she determines to become more carefree and to live her life doing what makes her happy. Deciding to take another bite of the cherry.
Treatment
LOGLINE
On a whim, prim schoolmistress Eleanor Redfern swims naked in the sea unaware she is being watched. An unlikely romance ensues but soon she must return to her dull life in England.
Character Descriptions
Eleanor Redfarn
Eleanor Redfarn is a plump forty-year-old, uptight schoolmistress on holiday in Spain. She has two appearances/personas in the animation. When she is portrayed as the Schoolmistress, uptight persona she wears boring dull two pieces with her bun tied neatly on top of her head. When Eleanor is shown being carefree, she is shown naked. Eleanor is torn between living life happily and being freer and her worn out job in England as a teacher.
John
John as a character is very different from Eleanor. He unlike her, embraces the carefree life as he left England in his thirties after a disastrous marriage and now makes a living as an artist, selling his work. He is shown wearing loose shirts with red braces and ankle length jeans. He only ever wears flip-flops. Physically he is tall and thin with very long hard-edged features and brown hair with a receding hairline.
Spanish Scenes
For the Spanish scenes, I want the colours to be very vibrant and warm.
English Scenes
In comparison to the Spanish scenes, I want the England scenes to be as dull as possible. I want it to be dark and gloomy and sometimes rainy to emphasise the paradise of Spain.
For the gallery paintings on the wall, I want them to be vibrant just like Spain to remind Eleanor of her Holiday and also to create that link to the viewer.
Scene 1- Floating in the sea
In this scene Eleanor is seen floating naked and careless in the Spanish sea, leaving behind her uptight, schoolmistress persona. She begins to think about her working life back in England, she thinks about the horrors of the school children misbehaving, and the workload that will need to be done when she returns from her Holiday. Disturbed by this thought she decides to stand up.
I want this scene to be very calm and start with the camera high above the sea with a very small Eleanor in the middle. At this point, we are too far away to notice that she is naked. We only realise this as the camera moves down towards her. I want the children to appear in the sea as her thoughts that disturb her, as she’s disturbed I want them the wash away.
Scene 2- The Witness
Eleanor is now stood in the sea and starts brushing the water from her hair and body, not noticing the man on the beach drawing. As she looks up and sees the man she dives back into the waves with embarrassment. Eleanor treads water for seemingly forever as the man continues to sketch seemingly oblivious on the beach. The man eventually stands up and leaves the beach and allows the exhausted Eleanor to crawl her way back onto the beach.
This scene is done as a comedic sequence with Eleanor’s scenes being very frantic and quick whilst Johns scenes on the beach are very relaxed showing that he is calm and collected whilst Eleanor is in panic.
Scene 3- Naked man
It’s a new day and outraged by her previous behavior Eleanor is seen laying on a beach towel in an all-black bathing suit, reading a book with a drink. Never to be reckless again.
Eleanor notices a pile of clothes across from her on the beach, she moves her attention towards the sea and sees a man in the nude snorkeling. The same man that saw her the other day. To her horror, the man then walks in her direction, Eleanor hides behind her book and hopes he doesn’t come near her. He does, however, then lie down next to her, he hands her a cherry which is a visual metaphor for John telling her to take another bite of the cherry and live her life carefreely and doing what makes her happy. The scene ends with Eleanor’s hand holding the cherry.
Scene 4- The dinner date
In this scene, Eleanor is shown as her formal, uptight, schoolmistress self, with her hair in a bun. The first shot shows Eleanor cautiously holding up her glass as a toast. We then see John holding up his glass also but seeming more confident and in control in comparison to Eleanor. They make their toast, then John notices a flamenco dancer performing nearby. John grabs Eleanor’s hand and they both dance and spins around each other, they end the dance holding each other close. After they finish dancing together, Eleanor moves away from John and walks away pulling a suitcase to show that she is now leaving for home.
For this scene, I want to follow the Cohen Brothers technique of showing people having a conversation at a table. I will place Eleanor to the left of the scene with crooked paintings behind her to show she’s uncomfortable. I will do the same for John but the paintings and he will appear upright compared to her. This shows he is in control of the situation and is comfortable.
Scene 5- Back home to England
Eleanor is then seen walking back through the English streets, gloomy, dull and unhappy, Eleanor’s walk sequence continues but the background and her clothes change as she is shown going back to work, walking through the classroom holding a mass of paperwork, then walking in the rain towards a gallery with an umbrella.
I want this sequence to be very dull in colour and seem to drag on to emphasise how Eleanor feels about her life in England. I want the three different phases to merge together to show the passage of time.
Scene 6- The Gallery
Eleanor walks past a poster reading “T.J Levine exhibition”. Curious Eleanor visits the gallery to have a look. Once in the gallery, she sees paintings along the wall containing aspects of Spain that reminds her of her holiday. This is shown from her POV. She notices a large group of people looking at a large painting in the room. She decides to go over and look only to realise it was a painting of her standing in the sea showing her two personas. One side her is coved with a swimsuit with half of her hair in a bun and the other side is naked with loose flowing hair. Her hand is raised holding a bunch of Cherry’s to her mouth again emphasising the bite of the cherry idea. After looking at the painting she bursts into laughter and with new realisation leaves the Gallery to pursue her new life being carefree and happy as she undoes her bun.
Sophie9442 