My Previous Ideas

At the beginning of the academic term I came up with a few ideas which I believed could really test my skills in character animation.

My first idea is called 'Mr Pennel' and involves a musical pod which acts like a bus transporting people to different destinations whilst providing fun along the way. The main character is a lonely old guy in his 60's that doesn't like technology or see the need for change. Then one day the mail hits his door and he discovers he has won an experience on 'The Pod'. Altough he is unsure and slightly cautious about technology he loves the idea of experiencing his favourite era, the 70's...

The pod arrives and the man gets on and has a menu of different themes that he could experience, and one of them themes is the 70's which reminds him of his youth. As soon as the 70's theme kicks in he is overjoyed and can't help but dance to one of his old favourites.

The pod suddenly stops to pick up another passenger. The guy dancing doesn't realise it has stopped until the doors have opened and he feels slightly embarrassed as the new lady passenger caught him dancing.

The snobby lady looks disgusted and shuffles on and presses her destination. I wanted to use two characters with conflicting personalities to create an interesting story as well as push me to practice character interaction in my animation.

After I received feedback from my animatic, I took on board the comments and looked at giving my story a bit more meaning and making it easier too understand.

My Current idea - The Dreammaker



My story concentrates on an elderly couple that win a free pass on the dreammaker which allows them to revisit memories from their past.
The story starts with the old lady bringing her husband a cup of tea as he watches tv.
The husband watches an advert about the dreammaker and he leans forward slightly with interest thinking about what he could visit before being put off when the advert reveals that it does cost money.




Script Part One..

Old Lady

"oh look we forgot to open the post today"

Old man

slight grunt ( he's not really bothered.)

She reads the letter and sees that they have one something!

"I think we've won something dear"

Old man

"haay, what u on about?"

She rushes over all excited and shows him the letter "look it says it'll be here tomorrow"

The Old man looks too find an excuse not to go.

"well we can't tomorrow it's washing day"

Old Lady looks upset

"oohh... we never win anything"

The Old man looks over and as he likes to make his wife happy he says

"Well I suppose we could leave the washing till wednesday"

She's pleased and leans over and gives him a kiss.

The next scene starts with the old lady excited announcing that the dreammaker has arrived and they both head out towards it. We then see different shots of the dreammaker and a car or two hover past.

The old couple enter, the old man is a bit cautious but he is excited too and they both sit down.

The dreammaker looks great from the outside but is a bit scruffy inside and the seats look like there from an old hairdressers.

The dreammaker then starts up and we are taken to the memory created by the dreammaker and we can see the characters looking younger and enjoying themselves in a 70's nightclub.

We see a dreamy drinking scene where they are laughing and joking, followed by a groovy dance scene, and then a scene where they go in for a kiss.

When they are about to have their romantic kiss the dream is suddenly stopped.
The Dreammaker says - "For more time on the dreammaker sign up now at www.dreammaker.com"

They both wake and get their bearings, the old man finds it a little amusing that their memory was stopped. The old lady is a bit disappointed it ended early and the old man comforts her and says "we dont need no dreammaker dear, do we?" she replies "no course not" and they walk off hand in hand.

Concept Design

Characters by Matt Bayfield.

My Animatic