Like the topic suggests, the main intention of the project was to give children a platform where they got the freedom to think, write, draw and express themselves through the medium of stories. My research revolves around studying and analyzing the stories the children write, to understand how they construct stories, their influences, inspirations, and difficulties faced while doing so. I also had to observe how they go about when asked to illustrate their own stories. Along with conducting workshops and interacting with children I did a brief survey of magazines, newspapers and other avenues that allow children to participate and provide them with a scope for creativity. Through my project I have tried to come up with different ways for encouraging children to write and draw their own stories both at personal level as well as on a larger scale.

The theme i chose for my project is ‘Fear’. I always wanted to make a film on a topic or theme I really felt for or I really connected with. I believe the secret of good film making is the story that comes right out of the narrator’s heart. I always identified myself to be a big horror/thriller movie fanatic and I wanted my 1st film to belong to this genre. Naturally the first topic that came to my mind for my project was ‘Fear’. I enjoy these movies and I find fear very exciting. The thrill that comes while watching such movies can be sometimes spine-tingling and very heady. This elating experience is purely the reason why I chose Fear as my project topic. Through this project I aspire to evoke similar reaction amongst the viewers and learn the subtle characteristics of narrative style, treatment, ideas and reasons behind a successful horror/thriller films in terms of its effectiveness.

The short film “The boy and his Umbrella” is an exploration of relationship shared between a small child, his grandfather and a huge umbrella. The film is about a boy who is completely enthralled by the size of his grandfather’s umbrella and is eager to take it out in the rains, and the various events that occur while he is carrying out this mission. The film revolves around emotions of love, affection, disappointment, attachment and attraction and the ups and downs that one experiences with subtle overtones of humour. Style and treatment used. Since the roots for my project were my childhood I used the classic black and white editorial style illustration. The film is looks like moving illustrations.