Fruits Basket live-action, Kumori-style

[Washougal_Otaku]

You know what?  I think we here at Kumoricon need to beat Hollywood to the punch!  Let's make our own live-action Fruits Basket movie!!!

[@random]

Live-action series, done by fans instead of someone trying to make money and "Americanize it"... I kinda like the idea. Can I call dibs on Hatori? 


_{(But if this really does go beyond the joking-around stage, it would need a new thread in Plan Your Own Adventure)}

[VampireFangs103]

I agree! We could make an epic movie compared to Hollywood. XP

I call dibs on Akito. >w> I'll make a cosplay just for it. XD

[Washougal_Otaku]

Live-action series, done by fans instead of someone trying to make money and "Americanize it"... I kinda like the idea. Can I call dibs on Hatori? 
_{(But if this really does go beyond the joking-around stage, it would need a new thread in Plan Your Own Adventure)}

I call dibs on Akito. >w> I'll make a cosplay just for it. XD

If this were to actually happen, I'd say that every single role should be auditioned; no dibs.  You're right about the new thread idea, random.  If this DOES become something serious, we should make a second thread for this purpose in Adventure.

[superjaz]

also needs a script first

[Saki-the-cat]

If this actually happens and we actually get a live action series done by fans going, i'll join ^^....Once i finish the series....

[@random]

If this were to actually happen, I'd say that every single role should be auditioned; no dibs.  You're right about the new thread idea, random.  If this DOES become something serious, we should make a second thread for this purpose in Adventure.

You're quite right about "No dibs".

I don't know that we can call it something serious yet, but I did split the thread. (But the more I thought about it, it belongs in Fan Creations rather than Adventure.)

[Romo]

This sounds like it'd be very interesting. Even if it's still just an idea I'd be willing to help in any way I can if it really gets going. c:

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

If you need any help, you got this theatre major on your side. ;P

[sandrobotticelli]

Uh, this sounds pretty much amazing. If it happens I would be interested, especially since I already have a Fruits Basket cosplay completed <3 :3

[camname21]

If no one declares they will write a script it will go no where, but fun to talk about heh

[bou12345318]

I call dibs on yuki

[@random]

If no one declares they will write a script it will go no where, but fun to talk about heh

Just a crazy idea... why not use the manga as a script? In most cases, the dialogue can be used verbatim.

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

Exactly what Random said!
If we don't follow the manga, what is the point? The only things that would really need to be written down is that sequence of events that we wish to have and which specific chapters we wish to use.
And even if we need other dialogue, it's not that hard to come up with and doesn't really need to be written down.
All we would need is a group meeting of staffers with a ton of copies of the series so we can all look at it and decide things. And a laptop with someone who can type really fast to copy down specific dialogue or page numbers for reference.


Then you have people like me. As soon as I read about this, I already had an opening sequence playing out in my head and how we would be able to start off the movie with Tohru's background.

[AllyKat]

Writing a script for a screen play is a LOT different then writing a manga, or a book.

It takes vision of visual and personal direction as well as what is best translated onto the silver screen by live people.

And... If I can... I'll write you up some examples... but.. I'm not promising I can be lead script writer on this project...
I just enjoy Fruits Basket a lot and I think I could give someone something to work with.

-Ally

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

Actually, it's not quite that different. Screen Writing is the base work for writing material such a book or a manga. If one can understand the way to read a play, then they can easily switch over to reading a book and understand it just as well if not better than before.

My platform for Miss Tri-Cities was Literacy Through Theatre Arts so I did a lot of research on it. ^^

Plus, my background is in theatre and I have dealt with translating books into plays before for classwork as well as my senior project.
A lot of people don't realize that all literature is actually created from the same starting point and can easily be translated from one version to another if taken apart and put back together in the right sequence.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Writing a script for a screen play is a LOT different then writing a manga, or a book.

It takes vision of visual and personal direction as well as what is best translated onto the silver screen by live people.

And... If I can... I'll write you up some examples... but.. I'm not promising I can be lead script writer on this project...
I just enjoy Fruits Basket a lot and I think I could give someone something to work with.

-Ally

Hence why Hollywood sucks.

[AllyKat]

Actually, it's not quite that different. Screen Writing is the base work for writing material such a book or a manga. If one can understand the way to read a play, then they can easily switch over to reading a book and understand it just as well if not better than before.

My platform for Miss Tri-Cities was Literacy Through Theatre Arts so I did a lot of research on it. ^^

Plus, my background is in theatre and I have dealt with translating books into plays before for classwork as well as my senior project.
A lot of people don't realize that all literature is actually created from the same starting point and can easily be translated from one version to another if taken apart and put back together in the right sequence.

But are you talking about movies or theater? Because those are also two completely different things.

What transfers well on page/stage/screen are NOT equal. As a writer, and someone who has both written and directed stage-plays and written a couple lame screenplays and performed in them I can tell you that you do not just copy and paste and add stage direction, its about camera angles, shot sequences, the flow of a scene and transparency of ideas. What can be conveyed in a look on a movie screen has to be written out in a book, what can be conveyed in thoughts in a book has to be developed through actions or over-voice in a movie. It gets tricky quickly.

I'm not saying it has to be difficult, but I am saying that if you don't properly research your source material, and prepare yourself for some scenes and images that just wont translate, you are going to be fighting yourself the whole time.

But honestly, all that matters is people have fun

[Romo]

There's one significant detail that I was thinking about a lot over the past couple of days and I wasn't quite sure how it was going to happen in our version were we ever to get things up and actually going.

The transformations. How are we gonna pull those off? Not only do they have lines, meaning we'd have to animate actual animals into talking via computer stuff, but we'd also have to HAVE said animals to use in whatever way we need for the scene at hand. Unless I'm just not thinking of something that is. Some are simple; like a black dog, orange cat, gray rat, etc. But then there are things like getting a cow, a seahorse, a baby sheep, a baby tiger; etc. I am just personally stumped on how we'd do that.

Unless of cousre we had people dressed as animals but that'd be kinda bizarre.

[Washougal_Otaku]

CGI

[camname21]

The transformations. How are we gonna pull those off? Not only do they have lines, meaning we'd have to animate actual animals into talking via computer stuff, but we'd also have to HAVE said animals to use in whatever way we need for the scene at hand. Unless I'm just not thinking of something that is. Some are simple; like a black dog, orange cat, gray rat, etc. But then there are things like getting a cow, a seahorse, a baby sheep, a baby tiger; etc. I am just personally stumped on how we'd do that.

Unless of cousre we had people dressed as animals but that'd be kinda bizarre.

farm, aquarium, farm, adult cat look alike

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

We could do CG if we get the technology.
But we are doing it con style so furries would work since we are cosplayers.

[camname21]

Yes furries and stuffed animals would work as well.

[Washougal_Otaku]

I suppose so...

[camname21]

Someone could just make moving mouths and heads and you would just shoot it for the puppetiering.*   Lots of things to do, its just what kind of realism you want in the film.

[@random]

This might be the most troublesome technical aspect to the shooting if we're going to exactly follow the manga without adapting it... where do we get the film-trained cow and horse?

We could theoretically use stuffed animals for some scenes (i.e. Tohru hugging Momiji when he tells her about his mom for the first time), though it might be more troublesome in others (Kyo and Yuki's arguments). It would work a lot better for keeping the cute feel. But even after thinking about it a number of times since Washougal first brought up the idea, I still have absolutely nothing for how to handle Haru and Rin.

For anyone else who's seen Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (the live-action), you know how difficult it can be to use stuffed animals without it looking really silly... any ideas? All I've got is "Try to keep their 'actions' to a bare minimum, keep them oblique to the camera, and keep them farther away if they have to face the camera."


(It wouldn't work well to try to make their mouths move, and might not be necessary... I don't think the issue of "how do animals that can't reproduce human phonemes/sounds talk?" has been resolved, and we could make an argument for it being telepathy. Having a simple voiceover would be much less distracting to the viewer than any attempt we could make at realistic mouth movements for speech. But actors who can effectively convey emotional nuance and tone without the use of body language would be a must.)

[Washougal_Otaku]

Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I've been thinking about having this movie not being a re-telling of the already existing story, but rather a story to add to that which already exists.  You know?  Put them in a new situation, rather than reinvent one that's already happened.

[@random]

^ That might be a really good first undertaking, or even telling a short story from something that happened in the manga after the anime ended. Unless we start with something small and get good feedback from it, I think it'd be dreadfully easy to get discouraged about an undertaking as massive as "the entire manga."

[Washougal_Otaku]

or even telling a short story from something that happened in the manga after the anime ended.

That sounds really good!

[@random]

Thank you. (^_^) Would've never thought of it without your apt observation, though.

So, open question to everyone: What would make a good "pilot" to pique people's interest without being too spoilerrific?

[Washougal_Otaku]

Do you mean in terms of writing/creating this movie, or publicizing it?

[Seraph]

Interesting.  I may audition for a side role or something.  I doubt I can act well enough for one of the major characters.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Well, if we do make this, high-level acting won't be too big of a deal.  Yeah, the better the acting, the better the film.  But if we make this, it won't be too high of a priority.  (At least I think so).

[Mew*Haruko]

This sounds like such a cool idea. * u *
They killed all the live-action anime movies. D:
I cried when I watched DragonBall Evolution. ; A ;

[camname21]

Vary few live actions are any good outside of a single person's acting.

[Washougal_Otaku]

^ ...and the directing, and the script writing.