Telling Tales// Choosing 'Adrift' as a title

After participating in a small work meeting over coffee today with my work partner to discuss the possible story choices for this project, we've both decided to choose 'Adrift' as our focus title and the concept 'A character detaches from reality and is unable to call out to their friend; but their friend reaches out instead and reassures them they're here for them. We both agreed this concept was far the most interesting and unique out of the bunch we had originally created, not just related to the title 'Adrift' but to all of the other titles. All other concepts were comical, which wasn't a bad thing; but more, we both wanted to work on something more meaningful. Not only that but the possibilities for characters and visual scenaros we could mould out of this concept seem far more interesting then what we could achieve if we decided to work with one of its siblings.

This concept involves two characters;
one is seen as the 'supportive' character, and the other the 'detaching' character. The two characters are portrayed as having a deep connection, whether romantic or otherwise. However, out of the blue, the 'detaching' character beings to disconnect from reality. Visually, we want this to represent depression, dissociation and anxiety, with the 'detaching' character being unable to control this feeling that occurs out of the blue for no reason. The 'supportive' character is at first oblivious to their friend’s disconnection from reality, however ultimately reaches out to and comforts their friend, reassuring them they’re there for them – something which brings them back to reality.

Concerning the narrative, we're leaning towards a poetic monolog to describe the sensation of disconnection from reality. We'd also quite like to incorporate sound effects to emphasise the distance and numb sensation of feeling so far away from reality you might as well be trapped within a bubble; for example, fuzzy static sounds and disorientating voices or street sound.    

As far as research I'd like to look into mental health cases, involving the sensation of 'dissociation' perhaps even interview sufferers in person. I'd also quite like to plunge deep into the internet to fish up some similar concepts in cinema, be it animation or not. For such a deep subject to focus on I'm leaning towards making the visual imagery rather stylised and approaching cartoony; to balance out the dark theme.