Reflection: Preparing Our Week 7 Presentation

What We Covered Today

Today's session focused on preparing us for our Week 7 pitch presentations, specifically on how to structure a professional pitch deck and organise our adaptation ideas into a coherent visual argument.

Key Takeaways from Case Studies

Love, Death and Robots - "Jibaro"

This episode demonstrated storytelling with minimal dialogue through surreal imagery. The director spent two weeks living in the forests, capturing authentic sounds and visuals. Each episode was pitched as a standalone world with defined tone, style, and production approach - precisely what we need to achieve.

Aardman's Robin Robin

Their early pitch materials used character maquettes, visual tone boards, and rough animatics to communicate tone before production. Key principles: originality, clear visual communication, working within restrictions, and empathetic characters.

My Adaptation Approach

I need to remember: my adaptation must be transformative - reinterpreting, not remaking.

Looking for:

Contained sequences (1-2 minutes)

Scenes with emotion, conflict, or atmosphere

Achievable within my timeline and skill set

Recontextualization techniques:

Change time/place or shift perspective

Alter medium (naturalistic to stylised)

Visualise emotion through lighting and composition

Guiding principle: "Ask not how faithfully you can recreate a scene, but how powerfully you can translate its meaning through your own process."(Robert, 2025)

My Pitch Deck Structure (6-10 slides)

• Title & Logline - Project name and one-sentence description

• Original Story - Source and why I chose it

• Adaptation Concept - How mine differs (setting, tone, medium, focus)

• Visual Language - Colour palette (3-5 colours), mood board, references

• Style Frames - 3-5 images showing final look

• Pipeline - Production workflow stages

• Production Plan - Timeline with key milestones

• Audience & Intent - Emotional takeaway

• References - Sources and influences

Key Reminders

• Document alternatives I've tried and why I chose my approach

• Keep audio quality high - bad audio switches audiences off faster than visuals

• Lead with visuals and emotion, not text

• Use only 3 colours consistently

• Rehearse for 5-7 minutes

• Deadline: Upload to Blackboard by Sunday, 2nd November

Next Steps

• Finalise scene selection and document process

• Create mood boards and colour palettes

• Develop 3-5 style frames

• Map production pipeline

• Build deck and practice my presentation

• The clearer my intention, the stronger my creative direction will be.

Love, Death and Robots episode "Jibaro" (2022) Image 01

Aardman's Robin Robin (2021) Image 02

References:

Image 01. Was Jibaro Animated Or Live Action? How Love, Death & Robots Made It. [online] ScreenRant. Available at: https://screenrant.com/was-jibaro-animated-live-action-love-death-robots/.

Image 02. app-aardman-cms-prod.azurewebsites.net. (n.d.). Robin Robin | Aardman. [online] Available at: https://www.aardman.com/film-tv-games/robin-robin/.

Robert, D. (2025). Preparing for Week 7 Presentation. Ask not how faithfully you can recreate a scene, but how powerfully you can translate its meaning through your own process.