The Wolves Within - Update

Lots of activity over at The Wolves Within - I'm just updating things over here.


Refined Approach + Storyboard
In transcribing the original Cherokee tale of Two Wolves, our idea now consists of a race between the two wolves of good and evil, as they seek to control and dominate our actions by reaching the metaphorical representation of the human soul/psyche first (currently represented as a Native American Doll).

Throughout the race, we will see the wolves’ effects on the neutral landscape of the inner psyche; where the evil wolf brings chaos and destruction, the later brings harmony and life. Neither wolf will gain a decisive advantage, culminating to a stand-off between the two wolves. This in turn reflects the eternal strife within us where our conscience seeks to guide us to do right or wrong.


With this narrative in mind, Jolanta and I have been working on some thumbnails and storyboards which you may have seen earlier. Here we have arranged our ideas together to form our preferred approach thus far.

Essentially, the race is broken down into three acts: the evil wolf initially takes the lead demonstrating his destructive effects to the environment, then the good wolf later manages to take the lead restoring life to landscape, before finally culminating to a stand-off between the two wolves as they approach their goal.

More to come as we'll begin to form some concept art and animatics.

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Thumbs/Storyboards/References
Some work in progress storyboards



Initial thumbs


Further references


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Freud's Id, ego, super-ego
In discussion of the very core of our narrative, we found that it captures the essence of the conscience seeking to direct our lives and goals, not dissimilar to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis of the id, ego and super-ego. While not straying too far from the point, we briefly drew parallels from Freud’s theories to elements of our narrative.

Id
The evil wolf comes to represent the dark, inaccessible part of the Id, where primal instincts drive the subject to satisfy pleasures and desires in complete disregard to all else. The evil wolf brings chaos and destruction to the environment with its relentless pursuit of its goal.

Ego
Conversely, the good wolf can come to reflect the Ego, as it seeks to control the Id’s primal instincts. It too desires to control the human psyche, but to suit long term benefits as reflected in its restoration of life to the surrounding environments.

Super-ego
Lastly, the super-ego is found in the culmination of the human soul and psyche of the Native American doll. Being influenced by both id and ego (the two wolves in this case), it strives to maintain a balance to suppress the unacceptable urges of the id and make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather than on simple realistic principles. It is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

This helps to discern the essence of what each element in our narrative may come to represent.