Story Thumbs

Hey folks, First pass of boards have been completed (not just by me, but mine are the only ones I have here), so now we can begin a performance pass. DQ suggests that the story is there, and it will come out of the boards we make focusing on character and that character's performance. The goal for the weekend is to board as many scenes and as many possibilities as you can see for the character to behave and act in the scenes: make it funny.

Here's the boards to refer to, sorry about the messed up read-order. Oh, and we changed the end so that you're left to wonder for a second if he made it to the rocket in time. Also that he lights the wick with it in his hand, then realizes he's glowing - at the moment he should really be realizing the wick is burning.

Notes from the meeting:
-Panic is central theme of story, needs to be established strong in beginning, and continue right up until he loses his glow... then silence. Picks up again when he's running to catch rocket.
-When he's yelling at the monkey after losing his glow, his monologue needs to embellish what the problem is, and why it's so bad
-Seeing his silhouette in the flames of the rocket taking him home can be funny
-The island is scorched from the big rocket, leaving one palm tree standing (to be knocked over at the end by the moon)
-The rocket breaks apart in space, as he's hanging on for dear life, and trying to pull his way up to the top (to build tension), then rocket can split into two directions (big one goes left towards moon, little one takes him back to where he came from on the right)
-At the beginning he may be faint, so at the end when he's the brightest star it is significant, if we want to work that idea in.

~Gord

The Story - THE FINAL VERSION (on DQ's authority)

Okay, so now we have a new model of how the old story can work. No volcano, and the characters stay together... in fact they are trapped together on a little tiny island.
No explanations, the story picks up with fireworks coming from an island, and a star falls down (seemingly alone at first) and panics.

Here is the Arc of the story (click to enlarge)


- A possible running gag for the story is having the star with a prominent posterior, which is constantly being burned by matches, fireworks, and what have you

- The star makes the connection that the fireworks got him up there, while yelling at the monkey "Listen you stupid primate! This went up there and... it went up there! Quick! Light it!" at which point he can stick out his butt and the firework tucked under his arm, and the monkey lights his butt


- The mega rocket can be handled easily as a 3D component, using a MEL script in Maya

- The losing glow can be handled as a penis joke, if it's a close cut and he looks down and says "Oh NO! I'm losing my twinkle!"

- We can have a NASA joke where the final mega rocket has components that detach, and also it takes a long time to gather momentum

- The moon could fall with the rocket stuck in his eye WITH the end frizzled and curled (like a gag cigar)


So that's basically it. I think it works, we just need to board it out and figure out the particulars, as well as decide a thing or two. If we can think of a creative alternative to the fireworks for getting the star up there, then we can add more of a twist. But personally, I don't see an option on such a tiny vacant island. This is why I like the idea that he has to catch the rocket, to add tension back to that moment. But we'll discuss it.

Peace

~Gord

2 Ways to Sing the Blues

Okay guys, we're now down to the final boarding. Version 1 and version 2 need to be boarded out, making the performance and general flow of the story clear enough to make a final decision. I will now post a basic analysis of both premises. Remember that problems will turn up, so new ideas can be introduced to make stories work as long as the subject stays the same - but beware of getting lost in explanations.

Version 1: The Monkey Doesn't Know He Did It

1. A monkey on an island playing with fireworks knocks down a star.
2. He doesn’t see the star fall and upon meeting thinks it is a starfish (gags)
3. He shows it a firework “man you should see this, it’s soooo neat”, but the star isn’t interested, he is panicked and just wants to get home.
4. He runs up the volcano in panic (asks for help from his brothers = joke)
5. He decides that if he can’t get home, he doesn’t want to live, so he tries to kill himself by jumping into volcano.
6. It doesn’t work, and the volcano boils over, sending him down a lavaflow to the beach among the other starfish who squirm away from this 'scary intruder'.
7. He accepts his fate until he hears the fireworks exploding.
8. He runs over to the monkey who exclaims “see? I told you these were gnarly, man!”
9. The star freaks out and causes a massive detonation which sends him back home
10. The monkey carries on and knocks down the moon, which he shows a firework, but the moon isn’t interested…

Version 2: The Monkey Does Know He Did It


1. A mischievous yet cautious monkey (who knows he is up to no good –> character conflict: wants to, but knows he shouldn’t) playing with fireworks on an island knocks down a star
2. Monkey watches as star falls down right in front of him on the beach
3. Star is panicked and is looking to find a way back home, monkey feels guilty and tries to hide fireworks crate from curious star, but crate bursts open
4. Star gasps, realizing he can use the fireworks to get home… but he doesn’t actually know what they really are or how they work and he tries to construct them together to get back up – (Builds Space Shuttle “I saw this on the moon once.”)
5. He gives up and becomes depressed as he goes on saying things to increase monkey’s guilt (i.e. “somebody sure was being irresponsible” “who do you think could have done a thing like that?” “Etc.”)
6. Monkey feels extremely guilty (performance of expression) and finally blurts out a confession (verbal or pantomime)
7. Star gets really angry and climbs on top of the fireworks pile from collapsed construction and detonates them all from the flames of his anger (star=sun=fire=boom), creating a huge explosion that turns him into a shooting star
8. Explosion leaves one last firework, and the monkey can’t help but send it off, knocking down the moon.

Please remember that our group hasn't 'split', but rather we are all doubling our efforts in a genuine attempt to make both of these stories "work". Generate as many ideas as you can for both, and draw them out in as much detail as you can (detail = particulars, not line quality). Tuesday we choose!

We can do this!

~Gord

Monkeys

heres some rough monkey concept designs. If theres any designs or drawings you like tell me, ill push em further.

-jen

DQ's monkey design

the monkey doesn't need a pot anymore, other then that you can be very flexible when you draw this monkey

DQ's thumnails

well there are some confusing parts there but you can read typed in version down there

Star character arc

OK now our story is more like...most entertainment comes from the monkey but star's

character arc is what moves the story forward, so...

Star falls down

Dazed in the water looking up the sky

realization(that he fell down on earth)

panic

super panic

hyper panic

Dazed in the lava looking up the sky( curious about the fireworks happening above)

realization(that monkey took him down)

anger

super anger

blasts up

The sequences of Refined Story

There are some changes
We took out the low phobia part and starfish joke part
The reasons for low phobia part,
one thing is the story is now more about monkey as apposed to the star (sorry but it happened to be that way it actually works better than ever) so not enough time to explain all that about the star. Story flows well only with the motivation of returning home anyway, so why not trim down excess fat.
Moreover, DQ came up with this beautiful image when the star gets on the top of the volcano, falls into and floating on the lava looking up the sky thru volcano frame (so he is floating on the top inside the volcano) and wake up by fireworks ( shot up by the monkey) exploding in that view (so he sees the fire work already there then before drifted down the lave stream). This ties in really well with the scene at the beginning when the star falls into the water and floats there looking up the stars in the sky while ‘also’ dazed and wakes up by the ‘monkey’ again.
So, these two scene become like the major points that everything ties into
The reason for star fish part is, since we strongly agreed on that the monkey shouldn’t talk, we didn’t want to go thru all that troubles to visualize it without saying ‘star…. Fish’ part.
Also, it is the only part left that doesn’t tie in with any other parts and gets on the way of those two tied in scenes( in order for the first floating on the water scene to match better and clearly with the floating on the lava, we’d better not have the starfish around)
So, the story goes….

l establishing moon stars volcano island
l box arrival
l establishing monkey roasting bananas as if he roasts weenies with the flam from lava
l monkey sees the box as box of bananas( instead red stripe fire crackers, yellow plain fire crackers maybe)
l monkey struggles opening the box and busts the box open different sizes of fire crackers are sprung out scattered all over the place
l monkey roasts one of the firework crackers the fire cracker gets shot up in the sky monkey finds it very exciting
l monkey tries to roast bunch of crackers at once crazy fire work happening
l monkey tries to hide under a tree that turns out to be a huge fire cracker
l monkey hugs put it on the lava and shoots it up
l crash the star out of sky
l monkey’s tail(or ass depending on which character design we will choose) on fire from that huge firework blasting
l star falls down into and extinguished in the water
l monkey puts his ass in the water
l star on monkey’s ass
l monkey throw star back
l star floating on the water dazed looking up the stars in the sky
l drown star( wakes up star)
l star gets on monkeys head and says ( who what where???)
l star panics quickly jumps on the rock-tree-up the volcano
l star does panic hop on the top of the volcano and fall into volcano
l star floating on the lava dazed looking up the stars in the sky
l star sees fireworks explosion
l star investigates who is doing it
l star stream down the lave to where monkey is shooting the fireworks
l star finds out that monkey did it and gets angry
l star jumps on the box and confronts monkey
l star ignites the fireworks inside the box
l monkey drawn back away
l monkey plugs his ears with his fingers getting ready for the bang sound
l star says listen to me you!! And stuff
l monkey close the lid of the box
l star launches
l monkey very happy watching it
l star back
l monkey tumbles over a giant firecracker
l monkey launches it
l big bang
l monkey reaction to falling moon
l crash
l moon tucked into the volcano
l rumbling
l monkey plugs ears for the disaster
l end

Ohh, and this one

Something magical about a tree at the top of a volcano..isnt it?

concepts

cool volcanic island..
underwater pov

-Vlad

Acrophobia

from wikipedia.org:

"Acrophobia (from Greek ἄκρος, meaning "summit") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It is a particular case of specific phobias, which share both causes (differing in the source of the phobia) and options for treatment.

Acrophobia can be dangerous, as sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Some acrophobics also suffer from urges to throw themselves off high places, despite not being suicidal.

This extreme fear can be counter-productive in normal everyday life though, with some sufferers being afraid to go up a flight of stairs or a ladder, or to stand on a chair, table, (etc.)."

-cliff

Pitch Package

Sorry guys I know some of you wanted this earlier today...I am putting up a zip file of our pack for now...pages will be posted later...

Pitch Pack

~Bon