Group narrative (7/10/2013)

Put into a group of four we started to put together our group narrative that you can read below.

It takes inspiration from 'Studio Ghibli' movies and 'The Lord of the Rings'. We modeled the layout of the story as a three act structure, though we plan to make it a Heroes Journey when we are done, providing we find the time.

First Act:

• Two blacksmiths, a father and son don't see eye to eye as the father wants the son to inherit the business, whereas the son wants to be a hero like the one he is told of in his stories. 
• The king wishes for a sword from an abandoned castle, the father can not leave as he is creating weapons for the army, therefore the king commands the son to go in his place to fetch it as the son has courage. And, whereas the father has more strength he doesn't have the courage to say no to the king. The son, although told to go, is also curious about the outside world he hasn't seen, thus it is his curiosity that also sends him off.
• On his way the son crosses through the remains of a great battle and discovers a talking skeleton who joins him on his travels. Thus the skeleton represents what the son could become and tries to drive him away from temptation / the things the dead solider did in his lifetime and regrets. The skeleton also has a crystal in his hand which bestows wisdom and insight into future events.

Second Act:

• The skeleton uses the crystal to teach the boy how to fight through past battles. During which the son takes part in a battle that shows him the horrors of war and that he isn't ready for such things. Likewise, the skeleton remembers why he enjoyed fighting.  
• Having lost the battle the blacksmiths son is showed how to fight by the skeleton who tells him he was the king's brother. He also explains that, although he lost the battle he also survived and and can come back from this.

Third Act:

• The crystal smashes and therefore they lose their insight and have to fight a monster on their own.
• After defeating the monster the son returns home with the sword and a new understanding from the lessons he has learn't throughout his journey. 

We then decided to come up with some further ideas over the weekend and meet up again next week in order to add to it.