Influence Map for Environment/ Setting 1

Diner and Kitchen Influence Map

Influence Map for Characters 1

Chef Influence Map

Insect Influence Map

Diner/ Kitchen suggestions

I have found more references to diners and restaurant kitchens just to understand more of what the space could look like before I begin drawing up ideas. The kitchen area has got me thinking about how certain equipment could be hanging up around the space as demonstrated by the pans in the second image. Also to reallly link the diner and the kitchen, I think it would be good to include a window latch where the food can be passed through and orders given to the chef more easily to feel more of the period. I also will design a door leading through to tie in the devastation of the state of the kitchen at the end.

Insect Character Ideas

I have narrowed the character down to be either a fly or a wasp as they make perfect sense in the surrounding kitchen environment. I feel some of these sketches are working well and just need to be pushed further to suit the charateristics of the theme and how want it to portray in the story.

Character 2 - Insect Suggestions

I have decided that the animal character that will be set against the chef is an insect because it feels logical to the story as a customer would want a hygenic food and the chef would want a clean space to work in so has reason to be set against the character. Also there are moments in the soundtrack where I heard so different pitches of buzzing which led me to a flying insect.

These are some examples that I think might work, realisticly a regular blue bottle or horse shoe fly would be the obvious choice. However a mosquito or a wasp might work with sections where the character could fight back not be completely vunerable.

Chef Character Ideas 2

I found this next batch of ideas easier with more image refencing and this time I used biro to draw over the basic pencil structure which speed the process along. They are improved from the first set but there is still a lot of designing to do before deciding what will work as a strong charater.

Villian References

This a range of villians from animations and cartoons, I will use these to reference what features and shapes should appear on the chef character and hopefully this will make the designing process stronger.

Chef Character Ideas 1

This was the first set of ideas but without proper referencing it was hard to get the right characteristics but this was just an early start to think about a direction I could go with it.

Story ideas - Starting Points

Plot Sceneario Ideas for Chef Theme


These are three ideas I wanted to try with the chef theme, the ideas are just a basic skeleton to work what sort of characters and spaces I want to be present in the story. I feel scenario 2 is the strongest and has great potiential as the elements will fit closely to the soundtrack and would also work well if I decided to actually use the soundtrack within the piece.

More research inspiration for Chef

I have found existing examples that could influence other ways to interpretate my theme, for instance the cartoon hat character could inspire me to think of an inanimate object instead of a human character. The example in ratatouille of the chef befriending a creature that would usually be considered a pest and helps him become the successful chef in the end. The various sketches in Tom and Jerry based in the kitchen explores the rivarly between two animals and how human characteristics could be given to those roles. I still not sure what attribute and personality I want to give this character yet so I will draft up some rough plot lines and listen to the soundtrack again to understand what role I want the character to play within the story.

Inspiration from The Little Mermaid - Chef Louis

This scene is a good set up of how the chef appears as a villain to the eyes of the villain in the eyes of the food he is cooking. I like how this sequence begins with chef Louis as cocky due to the way he prepares the fish and sings a tune to himself and then the moment when he discovers Sebastian the crab and the rhythm of the soundtrack becomes much faster as Louis desperately tries to catch him with his various kitchen utensils. Also the end is another section that I could draw inspiration of the third character entering the aftermath of the chef's frantic attempts to capture the escaping creature.

Research Chefs and Diner Waitresses

I found images that are the perfect stereotype for the chef, e.g the white suit and the large white hat. The fourth image with the chef chasing the turkey has made me think of how could spin the characteristics so that the audience feels pity for the food trying to escape rather than the chef that has bad luck that occurs.

While researching the diner I thought of maybe introducing the waitress character as a possible extra character that links to the moment of the customers order and then pressuring the chef with the deadline of that order. I havent quite decided if a waitress character is needed yet but it is a possiblity if the right scenerio presents itself.