With the characters established, we now move into developing the world they inhabit. Here we must decide how it characters interact with it and how it shapes them and their experience in the story.
The overall setting for my short film is a fictional small town in the California desert called Haven Falls. The town takes inspiration from several real-life towns based around the Salton Sea in California, such as Salton City and Bombay Beach. Like these towns, Haven Falls was once a thriving vacation spot in the 1950s and early 1960s due to its beaches on the local bay. At its peak, various unexplained phenomena began occurring in Haven Falls, including reported abductions and large, dark masses spotted in the sky projecting beams down onto the Earth. City officials tried to play up the notion of aliens and make it a tourist attraction like Roswell, New Mexico. However, it was revealed the water in the bay was becoming increasingly contaminated, with some believing there was a connection between this and the strange events. As a result, most people fled the area, leaving only a few hundred residents.
Today, the town is largely abandoned, littered with rusted, crumbling remains of cars, buildings, and boats from the time. Throughout the town, many either live in small houses, trailers, and occasionally RVs while the buildings such as gas stations, motels and restaurants retain the Googie architecture that was popular when the town was at its peak. Meanwhile, because of the rapid decline of the town, many houses under construction were left unfinished. The overall population is generally lower middle class, and there are only a few businesses still running in the area. Children in the area went to schools in neighboring towns and there is only a small community college in the county. Meanwhile, the only sort of tourism that comes in are paranormal enthusiasts who want to investigate the rumors of aliens in the area.
Once a promising hotspot for beachgoers, it is now largely a ghost town riddled with relics from its peak. This is where our protagonists have been born and raised. As there is so little to do, the three and others had to find their own entertainment, which is what led Duncan to become so interested in doing experiments. However, the three perceive the area in different ways. For Ryan and Zack, this is their world. They have grown up here with no chance of getting out and have accepted this, and have tried to simply find their place in this small community. However, Haven Falls is a prison to Duncan, who wants to go onto bigger and better things. By feeling trapped in this dead end town, Duncan is driven to find a way out and he feels actually finding evidence of the reported UFOs in the area. Ultimately, this small community is partially responsible for the unity between the protagonists. Because the population is so small and secluded, they only have each other to rely on. If they don't have each other, they don't have anybody.
In the short itself, we find the main characters searching for UFOs, they are on the outskirts of town, based out of an old abandoned gas station, again in the Googie style. At this station, all that remains are a couple of old gas pumps and a rusted car out front. A welcome sign with a design from the 1950s is nearby, but is rusting and the paint is faded and chipping. In the distance, we see some of the actual town itself. There are a few old buildings such as a restaurant and a fire station, but mostly we see residential buildings. The nearest building is Mr. Winters' particularly dilapidated trailer, with his lawn chair where he usually sits out front.
In Ideas for Animated Short, the authors explain how elements like texture and color can help inform the mood and atmosphere of the scene. In the case of Haven Falls, the overall color scheme is comprised of warm colors like oranges, yellows and browns combined with the blue of the sky during the day and the purple at night. Meanwhile, the texture of the overall area's texture is a mix of graininess and corrosion. I want to present a world that comes across as hostile to outsiders but is more welcome to the protagonists and is home to them. A number of buildings and signs feature styles popular in the 1950s when the town was at its peak, representing optimism and potential. Meanwhile, it is juxtaposed with the decay and the inhospitable environment that surrounds the town. This juxtaposition is symbolic of the relationship between the three, with the relics from Haven Falls' peak representing Duncan and his ambition and optimism and the abundance or rust and corrosion represents Ryan and Zack, who are more cynical than their friend. Together, the elements fit together to create the community of Haven Falls today, which still survives in its own unique way.
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