Prologue - breast cancer metastasis

This entry is a follow-up to "Prologue - the metastacizing cell". Here, I will reveal my second storyboard idea (Figure 1) for the beginning for my animation (although this idea was actually on the first ideas that I came up with a couple of months ago).

While the previous idea of "the metastacizing cell" would be very science heavy, "breast cancer metastasis" will be much lighter. This latter idea will define metastasis, and talk about etiology, of risk and prevalence. At the moment, the former is geared towards the graduate/science community, and the latter is geared towards a patient audience.

FIGURE 1

Figure 1 shows two column of panels. The one on the left, "Breast Cancer Metastasis", will play out like this... The scene will start from black to reveal a faint silhouette of a woman. The camera will be zoomed in quite close to the body just above the level of the breast where her hands will be held. Very faint lights will play over the surface of the body so that there will be undulating light and shadows, and every so often, it will fade to near black. (The best way to describe the feel is that its very much like the intro to a 007 movie, but without the sexual overtones.)

The camera will continue to pan downwards. The outline of the body, remember, will be just barely discernible. So, once at the level of the femur, the undulating shadows will take the shape of trabecular bone. This is how I intend to transition into the bone marrow where the main story will take place.

The narration of this piece will likely commence along these lines:

A metastasis if a malignant development at a secondary site apart from its origin. For example, patients suffering from cancers of the lungs and prostate have a chance of developing a metastatic tumour of 50% or higher. Breast cancer patients have an 80% chance of metastasis. And, the most common site of breast cancer metastasis is in bone, such at that of the thigh. A tumour implanted here will result in one of the most painful conditions a patient may experience.

The column of panels seen on the right of Figure 1, entitled "Metastacizing Cell", shows the earlier draft of what became the video clip shown in "Prologue - the metastacizing cell". The really important thing I want to point out about this strip is that, similar to the left column, the prologue scene will be like a film noir, with a black background, and a strong cast light. At the end of the scene, the background will fade in to reveal the metastatic cell within the bone marrow.