Hi everyone...below are 3 premises for my thesis...please comment! Which one is your favorite?
I'll post some visuals soon.
Hop the Question
PREMISE: Ribbert Hopkins is finally popping the question to his girlfriend, Anne Phibian. To make the big night special, he enlists his friends, Lily, Ralph, and Tiny to do errands while Ribbert readies his pad. Each of their duties goes awry in Seinfeldian fashion, and the four stories intertwine as the evening approaches.
STYLE: Flash animation. The frogs will be variations on the same round body with arms, legs, and a face. Backgrounds will be simple. Music will be fun and quirky and reflect the swamp setting.
PROS: Easy execution; low risk; silly story will be fun to animate; lots of potential for fun characters.
CONS: No experimentation with style; runs risk of looking/feeling childish; stereotypical “Joe” fare; very much in my comfort zone.
Every Playdate Comes to an End
PREMISE: Norm’s Mom takes the neighborhood kids to the playscape to run around. Everyone is having a blast until Norm’s Mom reminds them they’ll have to leave at 5. The kids all develop different methods for coping with this horrific news. What follows is a humorous take on how humanity copes with mortality. Some of the kids form a religious group, believing that they can extend their play past 5 o’clock by not using certain slides and by praising Norm’s Mom. Some kids stop playing and mope instead, totally preoccupied with their 5 o’clock deadline. Some kids turn to science and some try to hide. Only one little girl, Joy, goes off by herself and enjoys the playground for what it’s worth. When it’s time to go, she leaves her Teddy behind to enjoy the playground when she’s gone. When all the other kids cry themselves to sleep in Norm’s Mom’s van, Joy is the only one to thank her. Joy drops off too and the van drives away into the sunset.
STYLE: Undecided. Probably Flash animation with some After Effects.
PROS: Meaningful story; potential for subtle acting.
CONS: Likely to contain copious dialogue; story may be confusing to children; animation of children will become repetitive; little room for fun surrealist animation; large cast; will have to handle story with great care to keep it funny.
Doggone Murderer
PREMISE: Danny prepares a big dinner for his girlfriend, but all goes awry when his roommate is inconveniently murdered that very night.
SYNOPSIS: It’s Danny Barkowitz’s anniversary with his girlfriend, Ginger (tentative names – they’re both dogs). He forgot her birthday, which, in dog years, is like 7 birthdays, so he’s gotta make this the most romantic night ever. His roommate, Feathers, is supposed to be flying south for the winter today, but when Danny comes home from the grocery store, he finds Feathers dead on the couch – murdered. Danny considers alerting the proper authorities, but he can’t let this ruin his night with Ginger, so instead he has to hide the body – just for the evening. He tries burying Feathers in the backyard, but Ginger arrives at that moment. Danny is forced to hide the body in obvious places, using increasingly extreme methods to distract Ginger. Amazingly, the date goes superbly, culminating in Ginger giving Danny a kiss (a big wet lick on the face). Unfortunately, that’s when Feathers falls out of the freezer into plain sight. Ginger is horrified, and Danny can only convince her he isn’t the murderer by reminding her that Feathers still owed him rent money. Ginger reads the note that was pinned to Feathers and realizes the murderer will be coming back (for whatever reason). He does, and Danny and Ginger are nearly murdered themselves, but they pull together to capture the murderer and everything ends up happily. (I’d like to even resurrect Feathers somehow, if possible…there could be a running gag in which the audience knows Feathers isn’t dead, but Danny and Ginger keep knocking him unconscious and obliviously stuffing his live body into horrible places, trying to flush him, etc.)
STYLE: Flash animation with some After Effects (for multiplane effects). Cinematography will mimic live action suspense thrillers. Color palette will be a combination of bright colors and blacks. Orchestral score.
PROS: Potentially complex, flawed characters; manic story will be fun to animate; potentially entertaining to adults as well as children; many opportunities for twisted humor, silliness, and puns; intricate story with psychological core (Danny has serious prioritization issues); I really, really like this idea and want to see where it goes.
CONS: Very, very ambitious, even if kept to 5 minutes; character designs are relatively complex.
I really like the last idea of yours. The characters sounds like a lot of fun. I think it's ambitious, but when you get to storyboarding and animatic you'll probably get a feel for what you can cut. My 2nd choice would be #1
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally deleted this earlier. This one here says the exact same thing.
ReplyDeleteI like #2 the best. It's the most original and mature of the three. You could do some really funny stuff with the kids, having them explain their methods in adult terms and whatnot. It's got a really nice ending, too.
If you do end up picking it, I recommend downplaying the fact that it's an obvious commentary on the way society handles religion. (Or, at least, that's what I got out of it.) I'd have some of the kids build some kind of fort and arm themselves against the mom (Hint hint: the military-industrial complex), that way it's more about 'society in general', and not just 'society and religion'. That's all I'd change, though.
But, since I get the vibe that you're going to pick #3, I'll say that you should cut out the part where Danny is trying to hide Feathers from Ginger. I'd have her show up, lick Danny in the face, and immediately notice Feathers is dead, and then they spend the rest of the time trying to catch the murderer. Otherwise it's kind of a weird U-turn when Danny is trying to hide the body, then they just start looking for the killer. Also, that should help shorten it down.
You could still keep the 'I don't want this to be a bad date' issue, since their date is solving a dear friend's murder. At the end we can find out that Ginger was having fun all along, and catching a murderer with her boyfriend was the best date she's ever had. Or something, or whatever.