Doll Face: A Perfect Story in 4 Minutes · 5:45pm Mar 18th, 2015
Before we begin, watch this video:
Firstly, I am not going to discuss what the story was about, the underlying messages, or etc. That's all subjective.
What I wanted to say is that the above video illustrates a story that is mechanically perfect. That is not to say it's a good or bad story, just that it is, from a mechanical standpoint, perfect.
Let's break it down:
0:13 - 0:30 -- Story begins. Here the audience is made aware of the setting: and empty white room. A Television unit hanging from the ceiling, metal box on the floor.
0:30 - 1:46 -- Box opens, a doll robot thing pops out. It's eyes open, and the audience meets the protagonist. The television turns on, revealing a visage that is both similar yet different from the protagonist's. This sets up both the conflict: Protagonist vs Antagonist (Doll Face vs Television) and the plot of the story.
1:46 -- Doll Face looks up at the television and smiles. Miniature climax and resolution of the conflict.
1:47 - 2:28 -- Television pulls up into the ceiling, revealing another visage. Doll Face rises to meet it (literally). This resumes the rising action and the conflict.
2:28 - 3:10 -- Television rises into the air again. Rising action. Doll Face again rises, only to find that it has reached its limit. Final confrontation.
3:11 - 3:18 -- Climax. Doll Face's support breaks, and it falls to the floor. TV goes white. Resolution of conflict (antagonist wins.)
3:19 -- Exposition. Doll Face is destroyed, or at least broken beyond repair. End.
Thematically, I didn't care for the video all that much. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. I mean, how did Doll Face know what it looked like? Why did it want to like the face on TV? Doesn't make much sense.
But as I said before, this story is a study in mechanics. Whether or not you like it, you can't deny that it know what it's doing.
