Coraline/ Story Beat Sheet

Story Beat Sheet

CORALINE           

GENRE: American stop-motion 3D horror/fantasy film.            

DATE: 2009

Opening Image : Through each credit there is an image of a mechanical hand pulling apart a doll and remaking it. 

Set-Up:-Coraline walks around the garden of her new house and meets a boy about her age that she finds annoying. Coraline is rude and abrupt.

-Coraline also meets a strange black cat.

-Coraline is rude to her parents but also her parents don't give her any attention and are both focused on writing a gardening catalogue together. The father writes them and the mother edits them. They also can't cook. 

Theme Stated:
-Coraline starts to explores the150 year old house and discovers a small hidden door.
Corlaine falls asleep and wakes up to find a jumping mouse that indicates for her to follow her to the small door.
-Corlaine crawls through the door...will she go in? what will be on the other side?
The other parents start showing her a really good time when she awakes and crawls through the door and lives in the other dimension of life away from her real parents.
–Midpoint
-Coraline wakes up but not in the real world still in the other world as she never really slept.
-Coraline escapes but is still trapped inside the house and meets the other mother whos body shape has turned into a spider type figure with thin mechanical fingers, shown at the start of the film.
-The last image is of the house that all of this took place in. There is a sign saying pink palace apartments and the creepy black sat is sitting on the sign alot like Alice in wonderland cat walks off the sign but inside magically slinks into the pole that is holding up the sign.

-She asks her mother to open it. Her mother finds a button shaped key and unlocks the small door in the living room.

-Corlaine pics up a photos of her friends she misses them all and tucks herself into bed.

Catalyst:

Debate:

-She crawls through and meets her other parents with buttons sewn on their eyes.

-The other parents are overly nice and cook a good meal for Coraline and make her feel welcome she is slightly unsure about it all but falls asleep and wakes up back through the small door.

-Corlaine tries to tell her parents about about has happened and yet they won't listen to her, they don't believe it happened

Break into Two:

Fun and Games/B Story:

-The other parents make the next door neighbor boy for coraline he has buttons on his eyes and can't talk as Coraline found him annoying talking so much. so now she finds herself seeking adventures by watching shows the other dimension and meeting new people.

-She is noticably happier away from her real parents and real life.

 -Coralines mother locked the small door to the other world 

-Coraline has trouble with her real parents and her mother won't buy her a pair of colourful gloves she wants.

-Coralines mother tries to defuse Coralines temper with saying she might find school good to get into. But you see how much Corlaine is not tempted by school because of the fun she is having in the other world.

-Coraline decides to sneak the key and unlock the door and crawl through. 

Bad Guys Close In:

-The other parents have made Coraline some new clothes and their is a pile of baked goods on the table with a note saying to go and watch the show that's on.

-The creepy cat comes back and he can talk to Coraline in the other world. He warns Coraline that the other parents are that good. She asks him why and the cat say that the next door neighbor boy told him.

-Corlaine watchs the show downstairs and is sweeped up in the theatrics of it all.

-You start to see when the other parents are that good as the next door neighbor boy goes home after watching the show with Coraline. Behind Coralines back he is not happy but can't talk. The other mother indicates to him to fake smile and keep the world happy that Coraline is living in. She shuts the door.

-When Coraline get back inside the upstairs the other parents ask her if she is happy living here and Coraline agrees. The other parents say in order for you to stay here you need to have buttons sewn into your eyes.

-Corlaine freaks out and does not want to stay.

All Is Lost:

-She is trapped inside that world and tries to escape and the creepy black cat wants to help her. When she tries to escape the other mother changes her body figure into a thins threatening character and when Coraline back chats her, the mother throws her in a locked room.

-When trapped in the room she meets three children who had died and lost there eyes because the other mother had sewn them into the childrens eyes. In order to free there sprit Coraline has to find there eyes and escape.

Dark Night of the Soul:

-She finally escapes but when returns to home she finds herself left with no parents they are missing and are nowhere to be seen. Coraline cries in her bed and makes a pretend mother and father out of pillows and falls asleep next to them.

-Coraline knows her parents are trapped in the other world and decides to go back to the other world and look for the missing eyes for the children and her parents.

-She finds the eyes and the creepy black cat helps her to find them. 

-Coraline reaches the other mother and finds her parents trapped inside a snow globe that her real father owned.

-She breaks them free and escapes the other mother through the small door.

Break into Three:

-When she comes back her real parents are home and know nothing of what has happened.

-She makes friends with the black cat and tells the cat that they need to set the children free with the eyes they collected.

-When they fall asleep the children tell her it's not over and Coraline walks in the garden and comes arcoss one of the other mothers mechanical hands that grabs her.

- The next door neighbor boy crushes the rock and destroys the hand and saves Coralines life.

Finale:

-The dark clouds lift off and the family are all in the garden with the neighbor including the boy and his nana whos daughter was one of the children who were trapped in the other world with button eyes.

-Coraline takes round pink lemonade to them all while they plant red tulips.

Final Image: